Brother Cadfael 06: A Virgin In The Ice

myself," said Evrard wearily. "I am ashamed to face the boy here, and own how I let her slip through my hands. It is little excuse to say, however truly, that I had bled too much, and fell into my bed too weak to move. My leech may say what he can for me, I will not plead. But by the next day this prod here in my shoulder had taken bad ways, and the fever set in. By evening, when I had my wits for a while, and asked for her, they told me she had been frantic with tears for her brother, left behind at the house from which I took her. Now that she knew there were such cutthroats abroad in these parts, she could not rest until she knew him safe, and so she took horse in the middle of the day, and left word she would ride to Cleeton to inquire after him. And she did not return."
    "And you did not follow her!" accused Yves, stiff as a lance and quivering by Cadfael's side. "You let her go alone, and stayed nursing your grazes!"
    "Neither the one nor the other," said Boterei, but gently and ruefully. "I did not let her go, for I did not know she was gone. And I did, when I learned of it - as my people here will tell you - I did get up from my bed and go out to hunt for her. It was the cold of that night, I think, and the rubbing of my clothes and the motion of riding, that fetched me down for so long. Sorry I am, I swooned and fell out of the saddle, and those I had with me carried me home the miles I'd ridden. I never reached Cleeton."
    "As well for you," said Hugh dryly, "for that night the very house she was seeking was gutted and burned, and the family driven out."
    "So I have now been told. You do not think I have left things so, and never stirred to try and find her? But she was not there when the holding was attacked. If you have been there, and spoken with those who sheltered her, you know so much. She never got there. I have had men out hunting for her all this time, even though I myself was a useless wretch laid here shivering and raving. And now that I have my legs under me again I shall go on searching. Until I find her!" he said vehemently, and shut his mouth with a snap of strong teeth.
    There was nothing more for them here, nothing to be gained and little to be blamed, it seemed. The girl had set in motion the whole disastrous course, doubly headstrong in decamping with her lover in the first place, and afterwards, because he was stricken down, in setting off alone to try and amend what she had done so sadly amiss.
    "If you hear of any word of her," said Hugh, "send to tell me at Bromfield, where I am lodged, or in Ludlow, where you will find my men."
    "I shall, my lord, without fail." Evrard fell back again among his untidy pillows, and flinched at a twinge of pain, shifting his shoulder tenderly to ease it.
    "Before we go," said Brother Cadfael, "can I not dress your wound again for you? For I see that it gives you trouble, and I fancy you have still a raw surface there that sticks to your dressing, and may do further damage. You have a physician here tending you?"
    The young man's hollow eyes opened wide at this kindly interest. "My leech, I called him, I know. He's none, but he has some skill, from experience. I think he has looked after me pretty well. You are wise in such matters, brother?"
    "Like your own man, from long practise. I have often dealt with wounds that have taken bad course. What has he used on you?" He was curious about other men's prescriptions, and there was clean linen bandaging, and a clay ointment jar laid aside on a shelf by the wall. Cadfael lifted the lid and sniffed at the greenish salve within. "Centaury, I think, and the yellow mild nettle, both good. He knows his herbs. I doubt if you could do better. But since he is not here, and you are in discomfort, may I assay?"
    Evrard lay back submissively and let himself be handled. Cadfael unlaced the ties of the young man's corte, and drew the left shoulder gently out from the wide sleeve, until the shirt could also be drawn down, and his arm freed.
    "You have been out and active today, this binding is rubbed into creases, and dried hard, no wonder it hurts you. You should lie still a day or two yet, and let it rest." It was his physician's voice, practical, confident, even a little severe. His patient listened meekly, and let himself be unwound from his wrappings, which enveloped both shoulder and upper arm. The last folds were stained in a long slash that ran from above the heart down to the underside of the arm, with a thin, dark