Brother Cadfael 06: A Virgin In The Ice

relatively secure peace held at this time. But no help for it, the truth would out.
    "My lord," owned Herward, sighing, "Laurence d'Angers is willing and anxious to make search for his nephew and niece, but for that he requires your countenance, or the special dispensation of his Grace the king. For he returned home as an Angevin owing allegiance to the Empress Maud, and had attached himself and his men to her forces at Gloucester." He hurried on, to have all said while speech was allowed him, for the sheriff's level brows had drawn together into a steely bar above eyes now narrowed and bright in understanding. "He had not arrived in Gloucester until a week after the attack, he took no part in it, knew nothing of it, cannot be held responsible for it. He came only to discover that his kin were lost, and all his desire is to find them and see them into safety. But it is impossible for a man of Gloucester to come near Worcester now, or to enter the king's lands except by special safe-conduct."
    "So you," said Prestcote after a daunting pause, "are acting on his behalf - the king's enemy."
    "With respect, my lord," said Herward with spirit, "I am acting on behalf of a young girl and a boy of tender years, who have done nothing to make them enemies to king or empress. I am not concerned with faction, only with the fate of two children who were in the charge of our order until this evil befell. Is it not natural that we should feel responsible for them, and do all we can in conscience to find them?"
    "Natural enough," allowed the sheriff dryly, "and moreover, as a man of Worcester yourself you're hardly likely to feel any great warmth towards the king's enemies, or want to give them aid or comfort."
    "We suffered from them, like the rest of Worcester, my lord. King Stephen is our sovereign, and as such we acknowledge him. The only duty I feel here is to the children. Consider what must be the dismay, the anxiety, of their natural guardian! All he asks - all we ask for him - is leave to enter the king's lands, not in arms, and search for his niece and nephew without hindrance. I do not say such a man, however innocent of this murderous raid, and even with his Grace's safe-conduct and countenance, would be utterly safe among the men of our shire or yours, but that risk he is willing to take. If you will give him safe-conduct, he pledges himself to pursue this quest, and no other end. He will go unarmed, and with only one or two attendants to help him. He will take no action but to find his wards. My lord, I entreat it of you, for their sake."
    Abbot Radulfus added his own plea, very restrainedly. "From a Crusader of unblemished repute, I believe such a pledge may be accepted without question."
    The sheriff considered, darkly and in frowning silence, for some minutes, and then said with chill deliberation: "No. I will issue no safe-conduct, and if the king himself were here and minded to grant it, I would urge him to the contrary. After what has happened, any man of that faction found in any part of my territory will be treated as a prisoner of war, if not as a spy. If he be taken in any ill circumstances, his life may be forfeit, and even if on no wrong errand, his liberty. It is not a matter of his intent alone. Even a man so pledged, and true enough to his pledge, might take back with him knowledge of castles and garrisons that would stand the enemy in good stead later. Also, and above all, it is my duty to combat the king's enemies and reduce their forces wherever chance offers, and if I can pluck away a good knight from them I will do it. No affront to Sir Laurence d'Angers, whose reputation, as far as I know it, is honourable enough, but he shall not have his safe-conduct, and if he ventures without it, let him look to his head. No doubt he did not come home from Palestine to rot in a prison. If he risks it, it is his own choice."
    "But the girl Ermina," began Herward in dismayed appeal, "and her brother, a mere child - are they to be left unsought?"
    "Have I said so? Sought they shall be, to the best I can provide, but by my own men. And if found, they shall be delivered safely to their uncle's care. I will send out orders to all my castellans and officers, to look out for such a company of three, and make due inquiries after them. But I will not admit the empress's knight to the lands I administer for the king."
    It was all they would get from him, and they knew it by voice and face, and made the best of it.
    "It