Brother Cadfael 06: A Virgin In The Ice

parting probably lifelong, copied the tribute and offered an olive cheek. He did not wonder at Cadfael's silence, for after all, the night demanded silence and discretion.
    Cadfael did not stand to watch them go, but closed the wicket again, and went back to sit beside Brother Elyas, and let the wonder and the triumph wash over him in wave on wave of exultation. Nunc dimittis! No need to speak, no need to make any claim, or trouble in any way the course Olivier had set himself. What need had he now of that father of his? But I have seen him, rejoiced Cadfael, I have had him by the hand in the darkness, I have sat with him and talked of time past, I have kissed him, I have had cause to be glad of him, and shall have cause to be glad lifelong. There is a marvellous creature in the world with my blood in his veins, and Mariam's blood, and what does it matter whether these eyes ever see him again? And yet they may, even in this world! Who knows?
    The night passed sweetly over him. He fell asleep where he sat, and dreamed of unimaginable and undeserved mercies until the bell rang for Prime.
    He thought it politic, on reflection, to be the first to discover the defection and raise the mild alarm. There was a search, but the guests were gone, and it was not the business of the brothers to confine or pursue them, and the only anxiety Prior Leonard expressed was for the fugitives themselves, that they might go in safety, and come safely to their proper guardian. Indeed, Prior Leonard received the whole affair with a degree of complacency that Cadfael found faintly suspicious, though it might have been only a reflection of the distracted elation he himself could not quite dissemble. The discovery that Ermina had stripped the rings from her fingers and left them, with the carefully folded habit, on Sister Hilaria's sealed coffin as an offering, absolved the runaways from the charge of ingratitude.
    "But what the deputy sheriff will say is another matter," sighed Prior Leonard, snaking an apprehensive head.
    Hugh did not present himself until it was time for High Mass, and heard the news with a very appropriate and official show of displeasure, only to shrug it off as of secondary importance, considering the weightier matters he had dealt with successfully.
    "Well, they have saved us an escort, then, and so they get safe to d'Angers, so much the better if it's at his expense. We have rooted out that lair of wolves, and sent a murderer off this morning towards Shrewsbury, and that was the chief of my business here. And I'm off after my men within the hour, and you may as well ride with me, Cadfael, for I fancy your business here is just as well concluded as mine."
    Brother Cadfael thought so, too. Elyas had no more need of him, and to linger where those three had been had no more meaning now. At noon he saddled up and took his leave of Leonard and rode with Hugh Beringar for Shrewsbury.
    The sky was veiled but benign, the air cold but still and clear, a good day for going home well content. They had not ridden thus knee to knee in peace and without haste for some time, and the companionship was good, whether in speech or silence.
    "So you got your children away without a hitch," said Hugh innocently. "I thought it could safely be left to you."
    Cadfael gave him a measuring and mildly resentful look, and could feel no great surprise. "I should have known! I thought you made and kept yourself very scarce overnight. I suppose it wouldn't have done for a deputy sheriff with your reputation for sharpness to sleep the night through while his hostages slipped away quietly for Gloucester." Not to speak of their escort, he thought, but did not say. Hugh had noted the quality of the supposed forester's son, and even guessed at his purpose, but Hugh did not know his name and lineage. Some day, when wars ended and England became one again, some day Hugh might be told what now Cadfael hugged his heart in secret. But not yet! It was too new a visitation, he could spare none of the miraculous, the astonishing grace. "From Ludlow," he said, "I grant you could hardly be expected to hear the wicket at Bromfield open and close at midnight. You did not leave Boterei in Dinan's care, then?"
    "I was none too sure there would not be another departure in the night," said Hugh. "He is Dinan's tenant. We have taken confession from him, but I would rather have him safe under lock and key in Shrewsbury castle."
    "Will he hang, do you think?"
    "I doubt it.