warm, the copper and brass pans, pots and cutlery hung orderly on their hooks. The corpses were laid out on the floor. Stephen stared at the ghoul-like faces, twisted and frozen in their final death agonies. Beauchamp and Cutwolf, who had conducted a swift search of the other chambers, strode into the kitchen. ‘Nothing!’ Beauchamp declared. ‘Nothing at all.’ Everyone remained silent while Anselm administered the last rites. Once completed and the corpses covered, Cutwolf and the rest guarded the door. The two Carmelites, Beauchamp, Sir William, Gascelyn and Almaric gathered around the great kitchen table.
‘The fire broke out suddenly, without warning,’ Sir William began. ‘It would seem Parson Smollat, God save him, together with his woman Isolda, started it. They moved oil, kindling and other combustibles into the church.’ He pointed at the keys. ‘Parson Smollat apparently had these all the time. Brother Anselm, you found them and that scrap of parchment on his corpse. Both his hands and those of Isolda were stained with oil and pitch, saltpetre and even grains of cannon powder.’
‘I would agree,’ Anselm declared.
‘Did they commit suicide?’ Stephen asked abruptly.
‘So it would seem.’ Anselm sighed. ‘There is no trace of force or imprisonment on their corpses; I was most vigorous in my inspection. My only conclusion is that Parson Smollat and Isolda, for God knows what reason, started that fire then hanged themselves in the shade of that yew tree.’ He gestured around. ‘Look at this house. Sir Miles, you have searched as carefully as any royal surveyor — nothing is out of place! Both the parson and Isolda appear to have lived a normal life. They apparently finished their evening meal in the kitchen then decided on their own deaths and the destruction of the church they served. Parson Smollat must have quietly purchased oil and other materials.’ Anselm paused to clear his throat. ‘Parson Smollat even wrote what might be a confession. We shall come to that. However, did he and Isolda act in their right minds? I don’t know. The parson also held the keys, which raises the strong possibility that he may have had a hand in Simon the sexton’s mysterious death. Was all this deliberate? Or did the infernal powers which haunt this site possess both him and his woman?’ Anselm shook his head. ‘Sir William, I would be grateful if you would make a careful search of what Parson Smollat bought over the last few days.’
‘I can answer that.’ Almaric spoke up. ‘Parson Smollat was very busy. A cart-load of purveyance was delivered just before Nones today. I thought they were the usual supplies but he must have bought oil and the other kindling.’
‘Perhaps,’ Sir William spoke up, ‘the poor be-knighted fool thought he could cleanse this place.’ The merchant knight scratched his unshaven, sweaty cheek. ‘Perhaps he and Isolda then regretted it and decided to take their own lives. I shall miss them,’ he added sadly. ‘Smollat was a good man, though easily frightened. Perhaps he viewed all that had happened as a judgement on himself. Yet in a way he was correct about the purification.’
‘What do you mean?’ Beauchamp asked sharply.
‘Sir Miles, our church is burning. There is nothing we can do about that — let it burn. The ward has been alerted — let the flames spend themselves. Once it is done, we will cleanse this site. I promise,’ Sir William became more invigorated, ‘a new and splendid church will rise like a phoenix from the ashes.’
‘The corpses?’ asked Anselm gently. ‘If they are suicides, can they have Christian burials? When the news spreads, Sir William, not everyone will be as charitable as you. They will demand that both cadavers be taken to a crossroads outside the city, a stake driven through their hearts and their remains buried beneath some gallows post. Deranged, possessed?’ Anselm stretched across the table. ‘I cannot say. Parson Smollat certainly scrawled this note. He had it with the keys.’ Anselm picked it up. ‘It is Parson Smollat’s writing?’
‘Undoubtedly,’ Sir William replied. ‘Both myself and Almaric have compared it to other documents found here. Yet it is strange, Brother Anselm. Read it again.’
‘“
Beauchamp leaned across and took the parchment script. He read it and handed it back, a fleeting smile crossing his lean, saturnine face. Anselm, too, stared at the parchment and gave it to Stephen, who studied the large bold letters, ‘
As the novice stared down at the text he felt a shift, a tug at his very soul. ‘Now!’ a voice whispered. ‘All will be revealed. For the fowler’s snare will spring, as it shall on every living soul.’
‘We should leave.’ Beauchamp rose, gathering his cloak and staring at Anselm. ‘Let the fire burn itself out. Keep the wardsmen vigilant against sparks. Sir William, I will have my henchmen remove both corpses to the Chapel of Saint Peter Ad Vincula in the Tower. The chaplains will bury them there. No one need know. I have searched this house — there is nothing to prove Smollat or Isolda were members of any coven. Once the corpses are removed, my men will lock and seal the house. .’ He stopped short at the sound of a hideous crash which echoed across the cemetery. Beauchamp picked up his cloak and hurried out, the others following.
‘It’s the roof,’ Cutwolf explained. They entered the cemetery and stared across, the flames leaping through where the roof had been. ‘So intense,’ Stephen whispered.
‘Remember,’ Anselm murmured, ‘the benches, the chantry chapels, the pulpit, all the furnishings, the drapes, the carvings, those heavy rafter beams. Parson Smollat must have soaked the place in oil.’ Anselm’s voice trailed off. ‘Sir Miles is certainly correct — there is nothing more to be done, and all,’ he added in a whisper, ‘for a piece of useless rock which is probably lying at the bottom of a slime-filled pond.’
‘And the rest of the treasure,’ Stephen added.
‘That, too,’ Anselm declared. ‘So many deaths, Stephen — for what? Does it really profit a man if he gains the whole world’s treasure but suffers the loss of his immortal soul?’
Words Amongst the Pilgrims
The physician paused in his tale and filled his water cup. This time no one stirred; his fellow pilgrims realized he was approaching the climax of his story and waited restlessly. Chaucer glanced swiftly around. The haberdasher was drinking so heavily, Chaucer wondered if the man would be fit to ride the next morning. The Wife of Bath’s plump red cheeks were wet with tears. The summoner just sat with a sombre look on his face.
‘I remember this.’ The knight spoke up. ‘I, too, was on secret business for the Crown. There were whispers about blood-drinkers roaming the streets and alleyways close to the river, though they weren’t the monsters I hunt. And the fire? I was in London at the time. In the end a fine new church was built. Sir William must have. .’
‘Hush now, Sir Godfrey,’ the physician called out. ‘Softly, let me finish.’ The knight nodded in agreement, going back to cradling his tankard.
‘Yet this tale is certainly true.’ The usually taciturn shipman spoke up. ‘Master physician, I have kept a still tongue in my head but I was on board the cog which Rishanger tried to reach. I served my apprenticeship with its captain,’ he grinned sourly, ‘from whom I learned so much. I watched Rishanger’s clash with those assassins on the quayside, his flight up river.’
‘Oh, yes,’ the physician assured him. ‘This is all true.’
‘Cloaked in secrecy, it was,’ the franklin rose, fingering his snow-white beard.
‘What was?’ the friar demanded.
‘The business at Saint Michael’s,’ the franklin replied, pointing at the physician. ‘A hideous tragedy, yes?’
‘Gentle pilgrims all,’ the physician stretched out his hands, ‘please let me finish my tale.’
The Physician’s Tale
Part Six
The fire at St Michael’s had burnt itself out by late the following morning. A heavy pall of smoke hung over the blackened remains of the church. The roof and east wall had collapsed, as had the top sections of the tower. At Beauchamp’s order the mysterious deaths of Parson Smollat and Isolda were kept secret; for the rest Sir William Higden came into his own. He hired bully boys under Gascelyn to guard both the cemetery and the church. Of
