Tyrant of the Mind (20 page)

Chapter Thirty-Six

Sister Anne bent over the shivering woman. “Do you need another blanket, my lady?” she asked gently.

Isabelle drew her knees up toward her chin and continued to stare. Her eyes did not blink.

“May I call Brother Thomas to bring you comfort?”

The woman’s only response was a broken cackle.

Sister Anne stood up, beckoned to Isabelle’s maid to keep watch over her mistress, and walked out of the room. Just outside the door, Brother Thomas was standing, head bowed in thought.

“She’ll have none of you, brother.”

“If not, perhaps she will see me?” Eleanor asked, as she emerged from the stairwell, then shook her head. “Indeed she will whether or not she wishes it,” she said and walked into Isabelle’s room, slamming the heavy door behind her. Thomas and Anne looked at each other and shuddered. There was something in the tone of their prioress’ voice that neither of them had ever heard before.

***

The maid having been dismissed, Eleanor sat next to Isabelle. The widow’s eyes were closed. Her arms hugged her knees close to her body. Blood still stained her hands and fingernails.

“Isabelle?”

“Go away.”

“I think not. You need to hear what I have to tell you.”

“You? What could you possibly have to tell me?” The widow snorted. “Bloodless, unsexed thing that you are.”

“Unsexed? Bloodless? Not long ago you were accusing me of everything but playing mare to George’s stallion. I shall lay that aside, however. What I have to tell you has little to do with sex or love, yet all to do with fear and hate.”

Isabelle blinked, her face grew mottled.

“You did not kill him you know.”

Isabelle put one stained hand over her mouth.

“You wanted to, but the sin was in your heart, not in your deed.”

“How did you know…”

“Henry’s corpse spoke well enough. When you opened your door, you knew it was not your husband. He had been safely banished to the barracks and your maid sent off to sleep elsewhere as well. You had hoped that Robert would come to your room and thought it was he. Were you horrified to see Henry? Did he whisper at your door, disguising his voice?”

Isabelle lowered her hand and stared at Eleanor, then gave her an almost imperceptible nod.

“Tell me where I err. He grabbed you? You clawed at his face? Did you then twist away from him? Somehow you got that knife. A small woman’s knife. And you stabbed him. All you could think about was the time he had raped you.” Eleanor hesitated. Was she right in this or was she about to make a horrible situation worse? She swallowed and continued. “Or was it you who seduced him and drove him wild with lust until he took you and gave you the child you could use to marry his father? Did you stab him to protect your honor or did you want to silence him…”

Isabelle sat up, then spat at Eleanor. “How dare you say I willingly enticed Henry to couple with me! I loathed him more than any imp of Satan.” A light now danced wildly in her eyes. “Yes, I thought it was your precious brother at the door. At dinner, my hand invited him and his cock most willingly accepted.”

Eleanor felt the heat of rage flood her face but willed herself to say nothing.

Isabelle then shut her eyes and her color paled. “When I opened the door and saw Henry’s face, his lust and anger twisting his piggish features, I drew back, but he grabbed me. I clawed at him, but he forced me against the wall. On the chest next to me was the knife I used at dinner. I grabbed it, then struck at his face, his neck, anything I could reach. He drew back at my assault, and it was then I struck him in the side.”

Eleanor bent over and touched the trembling woman on her arm. “You believed you had killed him.”

“He fell backwards. I must have fainted. When my eyes opened, my husband was standing over me. I was lying naked in my bed and he was wiping Henry’s blood from my body. My husband then threw a robe at me and told me to go to the door, that I should scream but not until he had escaped back toward the tower.”

“Henry’s body was outside in the corridor.”

“Aye, and then I heard a sound from the stairwell just as my husband disappeared into the shadows. I shut the door and, when I opened it again, Robert was bent over Henry’s body, his hand upon the corpse to check for life and wound. For cert I knew not what to do. When your brother saw me, he stood, his hand red with Henry’s blood, and gestured for the candle I held to light the hallway torch. I gave it to him, then screamed.” Her voice rose hysterically. “My nightmare had come true. I would be accused of Henry’s death. I knew I would be hanged…”

Eleanor shook her. “Your dream did not come true.”

Isabelle blinked, then continued as if unaware of what she had just said. “I screamed. I did as my husband had bidden me. I did not know otherwise. It was then the corridor filled and the guards came and Robert stood accused of the deed I had done.”

“A deed your husband had done, Isabelle. You may have stabbed Henry in the side, but it was your husband who gave him the fatal blow in the back.”

“If you know what I did, how many more…”

“I tell you that your husband did kill his own son to protect you, and you are still most worried about yourself?” Eleanor could not keep the contempt from her voice. “Fear not. As you heard, Sir Geoffrey took full blame for the murder. Indeed, he loved you very much to have done so. He remained silent about what you might have done, and anything said in confession is cast into eternal silence. It is the corpse that suggested what you did, a corpse soon to be buried.”

“And my guilt?”

“Is between you and God. Your act might be construed as defense of your honor…”

Isabelle snorted and grabbed Eleanor’s hand. Her eyes were dry as sand. “Honor? What honor had I when I showed myself naked at my chamber door in hopes of enticing Robert into my bed? What honor have I left when I whored after your brother to gain a child I will now never have?”

“I meant the rape.”

“Rape? What about the rape of my heart, the ripping away of each meager tenderness I have had from this world?” Tears overflowed down Isabelle’s cheeks like a flooding stream. “Mother, babe, and now sister have abandoned me!”

“And your husband, Isabelle? Sir Geoffrey gave you the tenderness of a father when he took you into his household. Then he married you, as you wished, even though it was a sin. How could you wish to cuckold him, and do you not grieve his loss? I do not understand…”

“Grieve? One can only weep so long over a corpse. He died when his first wife did! And all I wanted was to give my husband the child he could never father himself. Wasn’t that a kindness? He had my lands. He could share
my
child.” She howled with pain. “But what can you understand about love? When I spoke of you and George, I was mocking you, Prioress. There were no such tales about the two of you. You would never play such lusty games. You are a leech that bled yourself of life and longs only to bleed others, like George who may have loved you. Had Juliana married Robert, she might have kept her womanly nature and remained near to warm me with it, but she chose to follow your example and become just as bloodless as you.” Then she wailed, “Where is the sin in wanting a mother’s love, a child’s smile, a sister’s comfort? Where?”

Eleanor looked down at the long scratch on her hand where Isabelle’s nails had dug into her. The white welt was beginning to fill with blood. What more could she say to this woman who was going mad with grief over loves she had lost and would never find again? The prioress wanted to weep for the woman but found she had no tears left. There was much more she wanted to know but found herself bereft of the words to ask the questions. She shut her eyes as if in prayer, but knew that this was one time she had no idea what to say to God.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

“I owe you my life, brother.” Robert stood by as Thomas mounted his horse.

“Nay, Robert. Thank your nephew and your sister instead. Richard had the courage to speak the truth about a grown man who was his grandfather’s dear friend. Not many children could do that. And it was your sister’s idea that I announce, in front of Sir Geoffrey, that Father Anselm had seen the Lady Isabelle kill Henry. Sir Geoffrey was not the sort of man who could let an innocent person take the blame for a murder he had himself committed. Your father and sister agreed on that. Indeed it seems it was always Sir Geoffrey’s hope that no one would ever be accused of the crime.”

“I was and might have hanged for it.”

“Had you faced the hangman’s noose, your own obstinacy might have been more to blame than any other reason, my friend.”

“How could you say that any Wynethorpe was stubborn?” Robert grinned up at the monk. “I cannot imagine how you came to that conclusion.”

Thomas bent down and loudly whispered, “Your sister is my prioress.”

Robert laughed, then grew silent as he stroked the horse’s neck and glanced at Eleanor, who sat easily on her gray donkey, apart from the rest of them, in close conversation with their father.

Thomas waited for him to say more but realized that any secrets this man had been willing to die to keep would not be willingly spoken now. Finally, he put his hand on Robert’s shoulder and quietly asked: “It is of no moment, my friend, but humor me and explain why you thought your betrothed had killed her brother?”

“Why do you think I did?”

Thomas smiled as he patted Robert’ shoulder, then withdrew his hand. “You were protecting someone. The story of the voices did not ring true. You first said that you thought they might have belonged to two lovers, then claimed you did not know if one voice was that of a woman. Or, indeed, whether you had heard any voices at all. The failure to see anyone in the corridor, although you may have just heard the voices was a little strange, especially for a man who is sharp enough of sight to be out safely hunting when the sun is but a promise in the sky. Still, the most telling sign to me was your failure to look either of us in the eye when you told untruths. You are not a practiced liar, Robert.”

“Clever, you are, Thomas, and quite right. After I got to the top of the stairs, I saw Juliana further down in the passageway. As you remembered, my eyes are keener than most in the dark. I saw the body on the floor. I did not stumble, as I told you, but got blood on my hands from touching Henry’s corpse to see if he was alive. And the dagger I found was not a man’s weapon. It was small, a woman’s knife.”

“The Lady Isabelle…”

“…came out as I said, with candle in hand. By then, Juliana had disappeared. At the time, I did not think it strange that the Lady Isabelle was so calm as she let me light the rushes, only to scream when she saw me bend over the body and pick up the knife. My only concern was to protect Juliana. George had told me how Henry had tormented her in recent months. Indeed, he had made crude remarks to me about her as well.” Robert shrugged. “The precise reason I know not. Perhaps he was jealous. I do think their father had greater love for Juliana, and you heard yourself how he spoke to Henry. Whatever the cause, I thought Henry had met his sister in the dark hall, attacked her, and perhaps she had stabbed him in the struggle.”

“And allowed her stepmother to call forth witnesses while you held the dagger with your hands stained with Henry’s blood? Did you not wonder why she did not quickly come to your defense?”

Robert shrugged. “I did doubt my conclusions for a time, then wondered if perhaps her stepmother had heard their argument and had done the deed to save her. Not knowing what had happened, I still felt honor bound to stay silent for the protection of both women.” His face flushed with embarrassment. “In truth, Thomas, I do not always understand the minds of women. I deal better with oxen, sheep, and the occasional goat.”

Thomas smiled. “Juliana did claim she had killed her brother later, but it was Isabelle who seemed to deflect the evidence of guilt on to you in the beginning.” He nodded toward where Isabelle stood. “You could hate her for that.”

“Why, brother? Are we not to forgive those who trespass against us? I am not swinging with cracked neck from a hangman’s noose, and the Lady Isabelle has lost a good husband. I think she will suffer greater pain than I and has certainly lost far more.”

Indeed, Thomas thought, Robert would have made a fine monk, had the man chosen such a calling. Such he had not, however, and the monastic life did not tempt him. Briefly Thomas wondered if Robert had been in the hall the night of Henry’s murder on his way to seek his father’s counsel, as he claimed, or had succumbed to the temptation of Isabelle’s bed. Just as quickly he dismissed the question. The answer no longer mattered. “You are a better man than I,” he said aloud, “and one who deserves a fine wife. Will you now grieve over your lost love?”

“As I said to you some days ago,” Robert said, his voice sad, “Juliana and I were suited, but neither of us, it seems, felt any passion for the union. I told her she was free to pursue her vocation and wished her well in it. My father agreed.” Robert laughed. “Although he did grind his teeth over the loss of lands.”

“I will miss your wit.”

“And I yours. I have not forgotten, however, that you owe me for your insults against my former betrothed. Do not think that you will escape the payment in wine and good tales of your past that you promised as amends.”

“I promise you wine and to tell you tales, Robert,” Thomas said, choosing his words with care.

“Until then, fare thee well, brother, and keep my sister safe. Violence seems to have more fondness for her company than is proper for anyone of either sex.” Robert reached up and briefly took Thomas’ hand, his grasp gentle but his hand rough to the touch.

Robert was a countryman, Thomas thought, hard on the outside but loyal and loving in his heart. Perhaps he was himself finally growing more tolerant of the country himself, as well as becoming a more docile priest. He looked up at the high, gray sky. Docile indeed. Had he not, after all, gone along with the lie his prioress wished him to tell to bring forth the truth of the murder? Had he not remained silent when he suspected the baron of…? Nay, he said to himself, now was not the time to ponder all that. He’d save such thoughts for the long ride back to Tyndal.

Thomas looked back down at the brother of his prioress and grinned. “I promise to do so to the best of my ability, Robert, but she does follow her own mind about what she does and where she goes.”

***

As Robert walked away, Sister Anne, not quite as comfortably settled on her donkey as Thomas was on his horse, looked up at the monk. “You look sad, brother,” she said, nodding at the retreating figure. “Will you miss his company so much?”

He smiled, but his eyes now glistened with imminent tears. “I will miss Robert as a friend, sister, but the one I shall regret leaving most is Richard.”

Anne reached over and patted Thomas’ horse, which was the closest thing to the monk she could touch with any ease. “And he shall miss you, your fine tales, and your great skills in the breeding of hobbyhorses. But grieve not. I have heard our prioress invite the boy to Tyndal for a visit after the weather warms.”

“I look forward to seeing him chase monsters down the halls of the priory.” Thomas looked over at the boy, who was standing with his hobbyhorse and talking to a tall soldier who stood next to him. Richard and Thomas had already said their good-byes, and the monk had felt as much reluctance on the boy’s part as his to end the hug. “Indeed, it may seem strange for a monk to say this, but I quite love the lad as if he were my own son.”

“Not strange at all, brother. His nature is sweet and he has quite won my heart too.” For a moment a deep and inexplicable sadness slipped across her face, then she brightened as she continued. “As to exercising his dragon hunting prowess in the halls of Tyndal,” she smiled as she pointed to Thomas’ head, “he may find you make a fine dragon with all that red hair of yours, although your skills at making hobbyhorses may save your life. The boy will not be parted from the one you gave him, and I am sure he will bring Gringolet with him on his visit. By then, the boy should have many tales of their brave exploits together in the hunting of fantastical beasts.”

“Richard is hero enough at Wynethorpe Castle. His fame for exposing a murderer and saving his Uncle Robert has spread from stone wall to wooden gate. He needn’t tell tales, only the truth.”

“You do sound like a proud father! Nay, blush not, brother. Such a feeling is nothing to feel shame over.”

Thomas smiled down at the nun. “I am only a doting uncle, but I have heard how the Lord Hugh does love him and how he brought his son into his family with joy; therefore, I know his real father will feel much pride in his son when he hears of his deeds this winter.”

Anne watched as he turned his gaze to the south and, not for the first time, caught herself thinking on what his past had been. She was fond of Thomas and had never pried into the life he’d led before coming to Tyndal, but she worried when dark clouds drifted across his eyes as they did now. If she knew more about him, she thought, perhaps she could offer a comfort she had been unable to give heretofore.

“I cannot help wondering how he could have borne separation from the boy, even knowing he’d be well cared for,” he continued.

“I suspect in much the same way you do as you leave him, brother. You must return to your duties to God at Tyndal. The Lord Hugh’s duty took him with Prince Edward on crusade. I doubt either of you grieves less at leaving this dear lad.”

“Do you not think it odd that a monk should love a child so? I swear I have no desire for one of my own…”

“Are you telling me that you did not beget any children before you came to us?” Anne asked, giving him a teasing but openly appraising look.

“I did not, sister, but I confess it was not for lack of trying.” Thomas returned frankness with frankness, then grinned. How grateful he was for the friendship of this forthright nun.

“That, I never doubted!”

“But now…” His eyes turned sad.

“One does not doff love with the donning of a monkish cowl, brother. Sometimes we enter the contemplative life to better understand the many manifestations of that emotion.” Anne nodded at the figure of Juliana standing far behind Baron Adam and well apart from everyone with her head bowed. “There stands such a seeker.”

“Do you think she will find the object of her search?”

“May we all find what we desire,” Anne replied, her pensive gaze resting on the monk.

Thomas looked at the Lady Juliana. As he did, she raised her head and smiled at him. He was startled. Her expression was kind enough, but her eyes were as dark as they had been that day on the parapet when he thought her mad.

Was she? He shifted uneasily in his saddle. Assuming all the secular and religious parties agreed, this woman would be coming to Tyndal, and he would be her confessor as part of his duties to the priory. As he thought about it, he knew that likelihood should have made him more apprehensive than it did. Instead, the prospect was oddly comforting. So Thomas smiled back at Juliana, then continued to study her as she lowered her head and became, once again, a solitary figure standing apart as if waiting patiently for something to happen.

***

As they, too, said their farewells, the baron bent close to his daughter’s ear.

“You shock me, daughter,” Adam said, his voice low and hoarse.

“I do not condemn, father.”

He stood back, arms folded. “You are dedicated to God. How can you not?”

“My vocation does not mean I am less a sinner. As such, I have no right to cast stones.”

“You might as well have. You suggest I have committed a very grave sin. Whether or not you condemn me, the Church would surely judge me harshly for it,” he retorted. “Thus your accusation is as cruel as the wound of any stone cast.”

“Father, I intend no cruelty, and the Church’s judgment is what your confessor deems proper penance.” Eleanor glanced briefly at the auburn-haired Brother Thomas some distance behind. A sigh escaped her. God might condemn her passion for the monk, but for the loyalty he had shown her family and the love he had given so freely to her nephew, she loved him more. Why was she so cursed? She shook her head and turned back to the baron. “Since I am still in my youth, there are many sins I have not yet been tempted to commit. Others, I have. None of us may say what we will or will not do until we are faced with the choice. If we make hard choices with a good heart, God may perhaps deal more gently with us.”

“Something your Aunt Beatrice would say.”

“Perhaps, but do you still deny what I have suggested?”

“A hungry dog with a bone, you are!”

“Why is that? Do I not remind you of someone, father?”

“Your mother.”

“If you will,” Eleanor said, thinking somewhat otherwise. “And how often was she right to pursue a steady course?”

“Often.” He looked down, avoiding his daughter’s eyes. “Usually.”

“Then I am right, am I not? After Sir Geoffrey confessed to Brother Thomas, you came to your old friend, and, in a gesture of mercy, reopened the wound so he would bleed to death. He had neither to face the hangman nor condemn his soul by the taking of his own life. A reopening of the wound would not be uncommon with so grievous an injury. Who would even question such a thing, especially after the distress he suffered when his wife and daughter each confessed to the crime he had committed?”

“Knowing such could happen, why accuse me, or anyone, of deliberately reopening it?”

“Because the rewrapping of the bandages did not quite match Sister Anne’s careful work. She knew from the way they were redone that he could not have tied them so with only one hand and it was certainly not how she had done it. You were the last to see Sir Geoffrey and the one who forbade anyone from entering his room, until he would have died.” She gazed at her father for a long minute. “Father, remember that I am her prioress to whom she owes allegiance. In truth, she is a loyal friend as well. She spoke only to me about this, and, as you should know, I would never betray you.”