Brother Cadfael 07: The Sanctuary Sparrow

token none in, but there is ... there could be. Come and see!'
    Cadfael went where he was led, up through the bushes on the headland, and along the slope in cover, just below the level of the stable roof and at no great distance from it, to the western end of the building. The timbers of the roof projected above the low gable, the fellow to the eastern one in which Iestyn crouched on watch. 'See there - the starlight shows dappling. They let in a lattice there for air.'
    Peering narrowly, Cadfael could just discern a square shape that might well be what Liliwin described, but measured barely the span of hand and forearm either way, as close as he could estimate. The interstices between the slats, which the straining eye could either discern or imagine for a moment, only to lose them again, were surely too small even to admit a fist. Nor was there any way of reaching them, short of a ladder or the light weight and claws of a cat, even though the timbers of the wall below were rough and uneven.
    'That?' breathed Cadfael, aghast. 'Child, a spider might get up there and get in, but scarcely a man.'
    'Ah, but I've been down there, I know. There are toe-holds enough. And I think one of the slats is hanging loose already, and there'll be others ready to give way. If a man could get in there, while you hold them busy at the other end ... She is up there, I know it! You heard, when they ran to hold her, how far it was to run.'
    It was true. Moreover, if she had any choice she would be huddled as far away from her captors as she could get.
    'But, boy, even if you stripped away two or three of the boards - could you do more, unheard? I doubt it! There's not a man among us could get through that keyhole to her. No, not if you had time to strip the whole square.'
    'Yes, I can! You forget,' whispered Liliwin eagerly, I'm small and light and I'm an acrobat, bred to it from three or four years old. It's my craft. I can reach her. Where a cat can go I can go. And she's even smaller than I, though she may not be trained as a tumbler. If I had a rope, I could make it fast there, and take my time opening up the way for her. Oh, surely, surely it's worth the attempt! We've no other way. And I can do it, and I will!'
    'Wait!' said Cadfael. 'Sit you here in cover, and I'll go broach it to Hugh Beringar and get you your rope, and make ready to hold them fast in talk, as far as may be away from you. Not a word, not a movement until I come back.'
    'No madder than whatever else we may do to break this dam,' said Hugh when he had listened and considered. 'If you put some trust in it, I'll go with you. Can he really creep in there, do you think? Is it possible?'
    'I've seen him tie himself in a knot a serpent might be proud of,' said Cadfael, 'and if he says there's room enough there for him to pass, I say he's the better judge of that than I. It's his profession, he takes pride in it. Yes, I put my trust in him.'
    'We'll send to fetch him his rope, and a chisel, too, to pry loose the slats, but he must wait for them. We'll make good certain they stay wakeful and watchful at this end, and try a feint or two, if need be, short of driving them to panic. And let him take his time, for I think we might be advised to wait for the first light, to give Alcher a clear view of that hatch and whatever body fills it, and a shaft fitted and aimed in case of need. If we must let a decent poor lad risk his life, at least we'll stand ready with all the cover we can give him.'
    'I had rather,' said Cadfael sadly, 'there should be no killing at all.'
    'So would I,' agreed Hugh grimly, 'but if there must be, rather the guilty than the innocent.'
    The dawn was still more than an hour and a half away when they brought the rope Liliwin needed, but already the eastern sky had changed, turned from deepest blue to paler blue-green, and a faint line of green paler still outlined the curves of the fields behind them, and the towered hill of the town.
    'Rather round my waist than my neck,' whispered Liliwin hardily, as Cadfael fastened the rope about him among the bushes.
    'There, I see you have the true spirit in you. God keep you, the pair of you! But can she come down the rope, even if you reach her? Girls are not such acrobats as you.'
    'I can guide her. She's so light and small, she can hold by the rope and walk backwards down the wall ... Only keep them busy there at the far end.'
    'But go slowly and quietly, no haste,' cautioned Cadfael, anxious as for a son going