“It’s nothing.A pleurisy.”He moved on, Fen’s arm around him.Fen had learned an unobtrusivehold that kept him on his feet.He had promised to use it until Caitold him to stop, until his failing body took the choice from him.He kept it in place until they were on the frosty path to thechurch, and then let him go so he could make the final stretch onhis own.
Cai was glad of it.News of thearrival had spread, and brought not only as many of the brethren ascould be spared from their tasks down to see, but half thepopulation of the villages as well.Quite a crowd was shiftingabout, the flames of the cressets lighting up faces of wonder,cynicism, blank incomprehension.As Cai approached, all turned tohim, the cluster of bodies parting.Did they think he had answersfor them?Well, perhaps he did.Ecgbert was a man of faith, but itwas not the same faith as Cai’s.Perhaps only the pure faith of aSaxon king could keep dead flesh incorruptible.What would happenwhen a man who had read Theo’sGospel of Sciencelooked inside?
The bier had been lifted from its cartand carried inside the church.Around it, the king’s honour guardstood at attention.They were clad in royal livery and well-enougharmed to deter any attention their rich attire brought down, butthey too had had a long trek through the dark.They were lookingdisdainfully at the farmers, women and children milling about inwhat once had been—as it should be still, Cai knew, byecclesiastical law—an enclave of holy men.
Hunger and cold did nothing to easerelations.Cai smiled and nodded at Hengist, who had been doing hisbest to bring some order to the crowd.He stopped in the doorwayand clapped his hands.“Gentlemen,” he said into the ensuingsilence, looking at the guards.“These people are my friends and mybrethren, and much excited by the news you bring.Show patience tothem.You must be in need of food and drink.Hasanyone—”
“I have.”Hengist steppedforwards, flushed with eagerness.He had a real kitchenagain—another work of Celtic andvikingrhands—and could barely contain his desireto refresh the royal visitors.“Mead and hot flatbreads.Gareth andEyulf are fetching them now, and our evening broth is ready at yourcommand.”
“My command…” Cai shook hishead.Ecgbert would think he ran this place like a Roman fort.“Thank you, Hengist.Now, the rest of you…take orderly placesaround the church, just as when you come to prayers.This is asolemn occasion.”
Hard for him to say, when Godric’srosy wife was standing before him, beaming from ear to ear, onelaughing infant peering at him from her skirts, the baby in herarms flailing and crowing at the fun of it all.“Abbot Cai, theysay he died in the odour of sanctity.Can it be so?”
“I don’t know.”Cai saidthat to them often—always disappointing them but increasing theirrespect for his answers when they came.Not knowing didn’t scarehim as it once had.He didn’t know if he would last out thesetorchlit minutes, even with Fen’s warm presence at his back.Hischest was tight, a coppery taste in his throat.“It’s a very wideworld, Barda, isn’t it?I have come to see.Now, my friends, bemindful—we are in the presence of a king.”
Poor Ecgbert, for all his gold andbrocade, had almost been forgotten.Now he stepped forwards, andCai’s brethren and friends did him honour after their own fashion,ceasing to shuffle and murmur, touching fringes, bowing heads.Nobody knelt.Distractedly Cai wondered if their education wastaking effect, and whether it would bring them in the end toliberty or destruction.
He had to open the coffin.That waswhat he had come here to do.Why was he suddenly reluctant?It wasbest, wasn’t it, to dispel any illusions beginning to gather aroundthe old man’s death?He went and laid his hand upon the casket.Itwas a very plain one.Cai caressed the grain of the wood—Addy’schoice, he was sure, not the gorgeous Northumbrianking’s.
“My friend,” he saidquietly.“I’m sorry you died so far from your seals and your birds.Forgive me for disturbing your rest.”
Footsteps pounded on the turf outside.Cai didn’t have to look to recognise Eyulf’s uneven, shamblinggait.He turned in time to see the boy gallop into the church.Hengist had clearly sent him off like an arrow for supplies, and hewas coming back the same way.His arms were piled high withwineskins and loaves wrapped in linen.He couldn’t possiblysee.
The night had spread a fine, barelyvisible carpet of frost into the church.Eyulf tried to slow, andhis feet shot out from under him.Before anybody could move or tryto catch him, he had crashed to his backside on the flags.Hisloaves and flagons went flying.The next thing Cai heard was thedeep hollow thud of his skull cracking off Addy’s bier.
Cai put a hand to his mouth.Fencrossed his arms—turned aside and hid his eyes.All around thechurch, jaws were dropping, the first snorts of laughter—echoes ofthe one Cai was still fighting to restrain—breaking out.
Cai bit his lip.“Hush,” he commanded,his voice unsteady.He strode over and knelt by the poor boy.Somuch for the solemn occasion.“For the love of God, Eyulf.Don’tyou know that’s King Ecgbert over there?”Eyulf was flat on hisback, staring up at the newly thatched roof.“Well, never mind.Areyou hurt?Sit up and let me see.”
“Brother Cai?”
Eyulf hadn’t moved.His gaze wasstill fixed on the rafters, or some fascinating point beyond them.Cai hadn’t heard himself calledBrotherfor such a long time.He smiled at thesound of it.And then he realised who had said the words.“Eyulf?”
Eyulf looked at him.Not through him,or past him, or with dim comprehension that someone was there.Notas a sheep or an ox.“Brother Cai,” he repeated, his voice roughbut clear.“Caius.”He sat up, Cai putting a hand to his elbow inwonder and easing him upright.“It’s Caius, isn’t it?Myfriend.”
Cai had never heard him form a singlecomplete word.“Yes,” he said faintly.“Yes, I’m yourfriend.”
“You hid me in the barn, Cai.Yousaved me from the raider.And Fenrir…” He twisted to look at Fen,who had crouched wide-eyed beside him, and broke into laughter.“Doyou remember?”Growling, he twisted his face into the old mask thatmeantViking.“And yet Brother Fen caught me when I fell down from thetower.”
He started to struggle to his feet.Caihelped him, oblivious to the surge of pain in his lungs.“Eyulf, isit...Is it you?”
“Yes!”Eyulf beamed at him.He stared around him.“I have been lost in the dark for so long.But here are all my brethren… I knew you were there.My God—allthose years, and not a cross word from any one of you.Not onesingle act of unkindness.My God, my God…”
He began to sob.Cai took hold of him,and he collapsed into his arms.Cai placed a hand on his skull.Helooked across his shoulder to the gaping villagers, to the monkswho did not know whether to laugh or burst into tears with theboy—to the poor bewildered king, and finally to Fen, who would seethat his words were brought into action.Fara was not a Roman fort,but Fen was now Cai’s general.Cai loved him more than sunlight,more than breath.
“I do not wish this coffinopened,” he said.“Do you understand me?The man inside it was myfriend.And His Majesty Ecgbert, king of this realm, has declaredand witnessed that Aedar has died and remained incorruptible.Whoare we to doubt his word?Go back to your work and your homes now,all of you, and be at peace.”
“Fen, what are we doinghere?Oh, God—did I fall asleep again?”
“No.You didwell.”
“I fell asleep.Please notat the table.”
“No.You were a perfecthost—good enough for a king.You just became tired at the end, andI brought you away.”
“Carried me.”
“You weigh less than a goatwet through.Does it shame you?”
