'Haven't you been listening-' Blaine began, but Stefan silenced him with a raised hand.
'Why that particular spot?' he said curiously.
'Because it's protected.'
This intrigued Stefan greatly. 'Protected? In what way?'
'In the same way that the cathedral and its grounds are protected.'
'The cathedral is protected because of the Glory of God,' Stefan said.
Mallory sensed the traps lining up before him. His position was already weak; he couldn't risk offending anyone. And the way Blaine had acted earlier, he felt there was more than his reputation at stake. 'It seems, from what I've heard-'
'Where?' Stefan interrupted.
'Here and there.' Mallory fixed his gaze on Stefan's and refused to break it. 'That the strength of our belief… our faith… has… empowered the land so those things can't come on it. It's the same in the camp.' 'They have accepted the Lord into their lives?' Stefan plainly knew otherwise.
'They have very strong beliefs.'
'They are Christians?' Stefan's gaze didn't waver.
'No. They're a mixed bunch.' He paused, but it was obvious Stefan wasn't going to let him get away with skirting over the issue. 'Some nature- lovers. Probably… Odinists. Wiccans. Druids, maybe-'
'Pagans?' Stefan raised his eyes to look at the ceiling. 'What you are saying sounds very much like blasphemy.'
'Oh, for God's sake!' Julian snapped. 'Does it matter who they are? If it provides us with a way out of this mess we're in, then we should go for it.'
'I think the chancellor doesn't believe in equality of worship,' Mallory noted, with a little more acid than he'd intended.
'We are at war, Mr Mallory,' Stefan replied, 'for the very future of Christianity itself. We cannot afford insipid liberalism. Woolly ideas that appeared to work when times were good do not hold now.'
'You believe the future of Christianity should starve rather than allow contact with the corrupt?' Mallory said.
'Of course not.' Stefan moved his hands behind his back. 'You are sure this camp is protected?'
'Yes.'
'You have been there yourself?'
'I have.'
Stefan nodded thoughtfully; Mallory felt there was a wealth of unspoken comment in that simple movement. Stefan turned to Cornelius, bowing his head deferentially. 'I feel this is a matter we should discuss in private, your Grace,' he said. His body language suggested Mallory had not only been forgotten, he had already been dismissed.
'We can't test what he says,' Julian said. 'We should just do it. What other options do we have? We need to start digging immediately.'
Stefan smiled coldly. 'In private,' he repeated.
Blaine caught Mallory's eye and nodded sharply towards the exit. As Mallory left, the door closed firmly behind him.
The light was already starting to fade as Mallory made his way across the lawned area of peaceful walks and sheltering trees now enclosed by the transformed cathedral buildings. The air was cool and damp and fragrant with nature, and the garden would undoubtedly have felt tranquil if not for Mallory's growing awareness of troubling events developing just beyond his perception.
He found Daniels sitting on a bench with a young man who appeared to be hanging on Daniels' every word. The brother was in his late teens, with an open, good-looking face and long brown hair that framed it in such a way that he appeared almost angelic. Daniels was telling some tale in a voluble, entertaining way, and they were both engrossed, as much with each other as with the story. From their body language, half-turned towards each other, Daniels' arm stretching out along the back of the bench, it was clear there was an attraction between them.
Daniels spotted Mallory and called him over with a wave. 'Mallory, meet Lewis. He has this misguided belief that our leaders know what they're doing.' Lewis smiled bashfully.
'Don't spoil him with your cynicism, Daniels.' Mallory slumped on to the bench next to them.
'They established the knights,' Lewis said shyly. 'That was a stroke of genius. All the brothers know you're going to be our saviours.'
Daniels and Mallory exchanged glances. 'Better start praying,' Mallory said drily.
'You're filled with the power of the Lord,' Lewis pressed. 'With belief and hidden knowledge and…and… bravery.' He looked from Mallory to Daniels adoringly.
Mallory watched the stars start to appear in the dark blue sky. He had never expected things to go this way at all. He'd been running away to a simpler life, not trying to find even more responsibility, more trouble and suffering.
'Thank the Lord for the knights,' he said sardonically.
Mallory was the first to the refectory, and took a table for them in a quiet corner. Miller joined him soon after, with Daniels and Gardener arriving together. Daniels was in unusually high spirits, enjoying some mocking banter with Gardener who responded with dry wit and an impassive face. Mallory had overheard Gardener defending Daniels to one of the fundamentalist brothers who had been objecting to something or other in a bigoted way. Daniels, too, had been steadfast and loyal in support of Gardener, especially when Mallory had complained about the events in the travellers' camp.
'Evening, Cyclops,' Mallory said as Daniels sat down.
Daniels wasn't perturbed in the slightest. 'You're just jealous because I've got this chick-magnet eyepatch, you bony-arsed white boy.'
'And it's no use to you at all,' Mallory said.
'It's a benefit to all of us, Mallory,' Gardener said, dunking his bread into his bowl of vegetable soup. 'If I come up on his blindside I get to the food before he takes his greedy bastard portions.'
'Man-sized portions,' Daniels corrected. It was a lame joke now that the kitchen staff had cut the rations to subsistence level.
'I feel guilty about this,' Miller said, looking around. 'It's as if we're plotting.'
'We're not plotting against the authorities,' Gardener said with his mouth full. 'If anything, we're plotting for them. We're the only ones who can see everything's changed here, so we're the only ones who can decide if anything needs to be done about it.'
'I'm wondering if Stefan's got something to do with it,' Mallory said.
'Stefan? He's the chancellor,' Miller said naively.
'I don't trust him. He's manipulative. He's got some sort of scheme going on here — I think he reckons he can take over from Cornelius.' Mallory could see the whole room from where he was sitting. It was slowly filling up, but he was mostly paying attention for Blaine or Hipgrave.
'He's certainly a slippery character,' Daniels said, 'but doing something like this? How could he? How could anybody?'
'Somebody made it happen,' Mallory said. 'I don't think it's a random manifestation.'
'Look, we don't even know it's a bad thing,' Gardener noted. 'Maybe it is what I said… God's will, a miracle. That's no crazier than all the other stuff going on. Maybe that's the way of the world now — little miracles before the Fall, bloody big bastard miracles now.'
'He has a point,' Daniels said. 'There's been no sign that it's anything bad.'
'Not yet,' Mallory said. He prodded at the unappetising chunks of indistinguishable vegetables. 'But if you're right, why are the spirits growing restless?'
Miller told the others about the ghost in the kitchens that morning. 'It's not a one-off,' he added. 'Down at the workshops they're all talking about it. Spooks all over the place. Old bishops, canons, scaring the stuffing out of people. It's getting worse, they say.'
'Like I said, the dead are growing restless.' Mallory looked around the table. 'In this world we're stuck in, we need to start thinking with a medieval mindset — not hard in this place. Signs and portents. We've got unquiet spirits. Something's bothering them. The graves stood tenantless and the sheeted dead did squeak and gibber in
