recall where he’d seen it.
Maybe the physic was right: perhaps Adair was too stupid to grasp something this complex. But eternal life-it was the last thing he cared about, at the moment. He didn’t care if he lived or died. All he wanted was to convince the monk to carry out his plan, and it didn’t matter if he perished in the bargain.
Adair found the monk praying by candlelight in the chapel. Standing in the doorway, he wondered if his seemingly supernatural condition would bar him from entering a sanctified place. If he tried to cross the threshold, would he be thrown back by angels and denied entry? After taking a deep breath, he slipped over the oak threshold with no ill effects. Apparently God had no domain over whatever creature he’d become.
The monk saw Adair and rushed over, taking his arm and hurrying him to a dark corner. “Come away from the doors, where we might be seen together,” he said. “What’s the matter? You seem agitated.”
“I am. I’ve learned something even more terrifying than what I have told you already, something about the physic that I didn’t know until last night.” Adair wondered if he was playing with fire. Still, he was convinced that he was clever enough to take down the physic without incriminating himself.
“Worse than being a worshipper of Satan?”
“He is-not human. He is now one of Satan’s creatures. He revealed himself to me, in all his evil. You have been trained by the church, you know of things not of this world-wicked creatures unleashed on poor mortals for Satan’s amusement and our torment. What is the worst you can imagine, Friar?”
To his relief, Adair didn’t see skepticism in the monk’s round face. The cleric had gone pale and held his breath in fear, recalling perhaps the terrible stories he’d heard over the years, the unexplained deaths, the disappeared children.
“He has made himself a demon, Friar. You cannot think what it is like to have such evil up close, at your throat, the stink of hell on his breath. The strength of Lucifer in his hands.”
“A demon! I’ve heard of demons who walk among men, that they take many forms. But never, never has anyone confronted one and lived to speak of it.” The monk’s eyes bulged in his pale face and he drew away from Adair. “And yet, here you are, alive. By what miracle?”
“He said he wasn’t ready to take me. He said he still needed me as a servant, the same as with Marguerite. He warned me not to flee, that there would be severe penalties if I tried to escape, now that I knew…” Adair didn’t have to pretend to flinch.
“The devil!”
“Yes. He may be the very devil himself.”
“We must get you and Marguerite out of that house this instant! Your souls are in jeopardy, to say nothing of your lives.”
“We can’t risk it, not before a plan is in place. Marguerite is safe enough. I have never seen him raise a hand to her. As for me-there is little more he could do to me that he hasn’t already done.”
The monk drew in a breath. “My son, he can take your life.”
“I would be one among many.”
“You would risk your life to rid this village of such a fiend?” he asked.
Adair flushed with hatred. “Gladly.”
Tears welled in the cleric’s eyes. “Very well then, son, we will proceed. I will speak to the villagers-discreetly, I assure you-and see which can be counted on to move against the physic.” He rose to escort Adair to the door. “Keep watch on this building. When we are ready to act, I will tie a white cloth to the lantern post. Be patient until then, and be strong.”
A week passed, then two. At times Adair wondered if the monk had lost heart and fled the village, too cowardly to stand up to the physic. Adair spent as much time as he could searching the keep for the seal the old man had used to authorize documents back at his estate. After the ceremony at the physic’s castle, it seemed to have vanished, though Adair knew the physic would not risk storing it where he wouldn’t be able to get his hands on it when needed. At night, once Marguerite had gone to sleep and the old man had slipped out on his nightly excursion, Adair went through every box, basket, and trunk, but did not find the heavy gold stamp.
Just as Adair was afraid he’d not be able to contain his impatience any longer, the night came when the white cloth fluttered from the church’s lantern post.
The cleric stood in the entrance to the abbey. He’d suffered since Adair had last seen him, and was feckless no more. His cheeks, once full as a squirrel’s, were now hollow. His eyes, guileless and clear the first time he and Adair had met, were clouded and sorrowful because of the knowledge he now possessed.
“I have spoken to the men in the village and they are with us,” the cleric said, as he took Adair’s arm conspiratorially and drew him into the shadows of the vestibule.
Adair tried to hide his glee. “What is your plan?”
“We will gather tomorrow at midnight and march on the keep.”
“No, no, not midnight,” Adair interrupted, laying a hand on the cleric’s arm. “To surprise the physic, it would be best to come at high noon. As with any fiend, the physic is active at night and sleeps during the day. Approach the keep by daylight for your best chance.”
The cleric nodded, though the news seemed to trouble him. “Yes, I see. But what of the count’s patrol? Do we not risk being discovered in the light of day?”
“The patrol never comes out to the keep. Unless an alarm is sounded, you have nothing to fear from the count’s guards.” This wasn’t strictly true. The guards had visited the keep during the day several times but for one reason only: to deliver a wench for the old man. Such deliveries were infrequent, however. The count had not sent a maid for some time, so the chance was greater, but… Adair figured the odds were still against it and the risk was not worth mentioning to the monk, who might use it as an excuse not to proceed.
“Yes, yes…” The monk nodded, eyes glazed.
The cleric looked stricken. “It is not up to me to determine the man’s future…”
“Yes, Father, it should be your duty as God’s representative. Remember what the Lord says about witches: you shall not suffer them to live.” He squeezed the man’s arm firmly as he spoke, as though pushing courage along the man’s veins.
After a long moment, the cleric cast his eyes down. “The crowd… I cannot vouchsafe that I will be able to control the crowd’s anger. After all, there is much hatred of the old physic…,” he said, his voice stiff with resignation.
“That is right.” Adair nodded, coaxing. “You cannot be responsible for what happens. It is God’s will.” He had to stifle the wild laughter that bubbled up within him. The hated old man would finally get his due! It might be beyond Adair’s power alone to vanquish a man with the devil on his side, but surely the physic wouldn’t be able to fend off half the village.
“I’ll need another day to inform the men of the change in plans, that we’ll go to the keep by daylight,” the cleric added.
Adair nodded.
“The day after tomorrow then, at noon.” The cleric gulped and crossed himself.
A day. Adair had a day to find the seal, or risk having it discovered by the villagers. He returned to the keep, fending off panic. Where could the object be? Adair had searched every shelf, every drawer, gone through every item of the physic’s clothing, even going so far as to go through every trunk to be sure the seal hadn’t been hidden among them. Failure only compounded Adair’s despair and he saw all his plans fall apart, one after the other: he would never escape the physic, never live in the distant castle, never see his family or his beloved Katarina. He might as well be dead, he figured. So complete was his frustration that he might have asked the old man to end his existence out of pity, if his hatred for the physic were not so raw.
The old man was at his desk when Adair returned from his secret appointment, glancing up when his manservant entered the room.
“I will need to go to the village tomorrow, to get feed for the horses,” Adair said to the old man, and a split second later a thought, a possibility, bloomed in his mind.
The old man drummed his fingers on the table. “Your errand must wait a day. I will make a poultice that you can take, to trade with the quartermaster for the oats…”
“My apologies, but due to my inattentiveness, the grain stores are depleted. There has been no feed for
