Brother Cadfael 07: The Sanctuary Sparrow

needed. He is needed now.'
    Iestyn looked back at her without a word, and then turned as silently as he had come and ran as she had bade him.
    It was not so late as all that. At the abbey the dortoir was still half awake, an uneasy stirring in certain cells, where the brothers found sleep difficult or remembrance all too strong. Brother Cadfael, having stayed late in his workshop to pound herbs for a decoction to be made next day, was just at his private prayers before sleep when the porter came edging along the passage between the cells to find him. He rose at once, and went silently down the night stairs and through the church, to confer with the messenger at the gatehouse.
    'The old dame, is it?' He had no need to fetch anything from the herbarium, the best of what he could give her was already supplied and Susanna knew how to use it, if its use was still of any avail. 'We'd best hurry, then, if it's so grave.'
    He set a sharp pace along the Foregate and over the bridge, and asked such questions as were necessary as they went.
    'How did she come to be up and active at this hour? And how did this fit come on?'
    Iestyn kept station at his side and answered shortly. He had never many words to spare. 'Mistress Susanna was up late seeing to her stores, for she's forced to give up her keys. And Dame Juliana rose up, belike, to see what she was still about. The fit took her at the top of the stairs and she fell.'
    'But the seizure came first? And caused the fall?'
    'So the women say.'
    'The women?'
    'The maid was there and saw it.'
    'What's her state now, then? The old dame? Has she bones broken? Can she move freely?'
    'The mistress says nothing broken, but one side of her stiff as a tree, and her face drawn all on a skew.'
    They were let in at the town gate without question. Cadfael occasionally had much later errands and was well known. They climbed the steep curve of the Wyle in silence, the gradient making demands on their breath.
    'I warned her the last time,' said Cadfael, when the slope eased, 'that if she did not keep her rages in check the next fit might be the last. She was well in command of herself and all about her this morning, for all the mischief that was brewing in the house, but I had my doubts ... What can have upset her tonight?'
    But if Iestyn had any answer to that, he kept it to himself. A taciturn man, who did his work and kept his own counsel.
    Walter was hopping about uneasily at the entrance to the passage, watching for them with a horn lantern in his hand. Daniel was huddled into his gown in the hall, with the spendthrift candles still burning unheeded around him, until Walter entered with the newcomers, and having seen them within, suddenly became aware of gross waste, and begun to go round and pinch out two out of three, leaving the smell of their hot wicks on the air.
    'We carried her up to bed,' said Daniel, restless and wretched in this upheaval that disrupted his new content. 'The women are there with her. Go up, they're anxious for you.' And he followed, drawn to a trouble that must be resolved before he could take any comfort, and hovered in the doorway of the sick-chamber, but did not step within, Iestyn remained at the foot of the stairs. In all the years of service here, most likely, he had never climbed them.
    A brazier burned in an iron basket set upon a wide stone, and a small lamp on a shelf jutting out from the wall. Here in the upper rooms there were no ceilings, the rooms went up into the vault of the roof, dark wood on all sides and above. On one side of the narrow bed Margery, mute and pale, drew hastily back into the shadows to let Brother Cadfael come close. On the other, Susanna stood erect and still, and her head turned only momentarily to ascertain who it was who came.
    Cadfael sank to his knees beside the bed. Juliana was alive, and if one sense had been snatched from her, the others she still had, at least for a brief while. In the contorted face the ancient eyes were alive, alert and resigned. They met Cadfael's and knew him. The grimace could almost have been her old, sour smile. 'Send Daniel for her priest,' said Cadfael after one look at her, and without conceal. 'His errand here is more now than mine.' She would appreciate that. She knew she was dying.
    He looked up at Susanna. No question now who held the mastery here; no matter how they tore each other, she of all these was Juliana's blood, kin and match. 'Has she spoken?'
    'No. Not a word.' Yes, she even