Brother Cadfael 13: The Rose Rent

shut up. There's nothing within there."
    Nothing now, Cadfael was thinking. But was there something - someone! - there only yesterday? It would seem that Bertred thought so, though of course Bertred could be wrong. He must have known of the abandoned room, he may well have thought it worth putting to the test at a venture, without special cause. If so, it cost him dear. All those dreams of bettering his fortune by a gallant rescue, of exploiting a woman's gratitude to the limit and advancing his own cause step by step with insinuating care, all shattered, swept away down the currents of the Severn. Did he really know something no one else among the searchers knew, or was he speaking only of this hidden room as a possibility?
    "Will," said Hugh, "send a man up to Hynde's house, and ask him, or his son, to come down here and bring the keys. All his keys! It's time I took a look within here myself. I should have done it earlier."
    But it was neither William Hynde nor his son Vivian who came striding down the field with the sergeant after a wait of some ten or fifteen minutes. It was a serving-man in homespun and leather, a tall, bold-faced, muscular fellow in his thirties, sporting a close-trimmed beard that outlined a wide mouth and a jaunty jaw with all the dandified elegance of a Norman lordling, though his build was Saxon and his colouring reddish-fair. He made a careless obeisance to Hugh, and straightened up to measure eyes with him, ice-pale eyes with only the glittering Norse-tinge of blue in them.
    "My lord, my mistress sends you these, and my services." He had the keys in his hand on a great ring, a rich bunch of them. His voice was loud, with a brazen ring to it, though his manner was civil enough. "My master's away at his sheepfolds by Forton, has been since yesterday, and the young master's gone up there to help them today, but he'll be back tomorrow if you need him. Will it please you command me? I'm here to serve."
    "I've seen you about the town," said Hugh, eyeing him with detached interest. "So you're in Hynde's service, are you? What's your name?"
    "Gunnar, my lord."
    "And he trusts you with his keys. Well, Gunnar, open these doors for us. I want to see what's within." And he added, as the man turned willingly to obey: "When is the barge expected, if Master Hynde can spare time to go in person to his flocks?"
    "Before the end of the month, my lord, but the merchant sends word ahead from Worcester. They take the clip by water to Bristol, and then overland to Southampton for shipping, it cuts off the long voyage round. A rough passage they say it is, all round the south-west." He was busy as he talked, unfastening two massive padlocks from the bar of the warehouse doors, and drawing both leaves wide open to let in the light upon a clean-swept, slightly raised floor of boards, on which the lower-grade fleeces had been stacked. This level was empty now. From the left-hand corner within the door a wooden ladder led up through a wide, open trap to the floor above.
    "You're well informed concerning Master Hynde's business affairs, Gunnar," said Hugh mildly, stepping over the threshold.
    "He trusts me. I made the journey down to Bristol with the barge once, when they had a man injured and were short-handed. Will it please you go up, sir? Shall I lead the way?"
    A very self-assured and articulate person, this Gunnar, Cadfael reflected, the very image of the intelligent and trusted servant of a commercial house, capable of adapting to travel, and learning from every experience. By his stature, bearing and colouring he proclaimed his northern ancestry. The Danes had reached no further south than Brigge in this shire, but they had left a few of their getting behind when they retreated. Cadfael followed without haste as they mounted the ladder and stepped on to the upper floor. Here the light was dim, reflected up from the wide doors below, but enough to show the stacked bales stretching the full length of the storehouse.
    "We could do with more light," said Hugh.
    "Wait, my lord, and I'll open." And Gunnar made no more ado, but seized one of the bales in the centre of the array and hauled it down to set aside, and after it several more, until the stout wooden planks of a narrow door were laid bare. He flourished his ring of keys with a flurry of sound, selected one, and thrust it into the lock. There were two iron bars slotted across the door in addition, and they grated rustily as he drew them from the sockets.