The Devil's Domain

hunt, sat on the table delicately lapping a dish of milk. Every so often he would lift his head, his one good eye fixed curiously on his strange, eccentric master. Athelstan tickled the cat’s nose with the tip of his quill. Bonaventure didn’t flinch. He blinked and turned, staring into the far comer.
    ’I know what you are after,’ Athelstan said.
    The friar had seen a mouse scuttle across the floor of the hearth.
    ’But it’s only a small mouse, Bonaventure. A harvest one. He’s probably wandered in and will certainly wander out.’
    Bonaventure purred deep in his throat.
    ’Soft as a shadow,’ Athelstan went on. ’Sleek and fast. What do you think of Thaddeus?’
    Bonaventure, of course, had gone out to inspect both the goat and Godbless. He had brushed the beggar man’s leg with his body and sniffed at the goat. Athelstan, who had been present, knew that this lord of the alleyways regarded Thaddeus as beneath his attention.
    Godbless had certainly made himself at home. Benedicta had kindly provided a straw-filled mattress, a bolster, two blankets, a dish and a pewter cup. Godbless now acted like a lord of the manor while Thaddeus was busy cropping the grass. Athelstan had taken him out a dish of stew from the pot Benedicta had brought together with some bread wrapped in a cloth and a jug of watered wine, a gift from Joscelyn at the Piebald Tavern.
    Athelstan lifted his head and listened to the sounds of the night. Sometimes he would go out and wander the alleyways, stopping to talk to the beggars and night-walkers, the whores and drabs, the flotsam and jetsam of this decayed quarter of the city. Other times, when his mind was teeming, he would climb to the top of the church tower and stare up at the sky. Athelstan felt guilty at such indulgence but, the more he stared at the stars, the more he became aware of the power of God and the sheer beauty of this Creation. If only he could discover more. If he could only test the theories. Did the planets sing while they turned? Why did some stars gleam brighter than others? What held them in their place? They moved but, like the moon, kept their courses. What stopped them from falling to earth? And the meteors, particularly those bright ones which seared the heavens with their fiery tails, did they govern the affairs of men? Athelstan picked up his cup and sipped at it. He really must raise that matter with Prior Anselm. The Church condemned astrology but hadn’t Christ’s birth been heralded by a new star? And when the Saviour died hadn’t the skies been blotted with darkness? Or was Aquinas the great writer correct? Was Creation the reflection of God, nothing to do with the affairs of Man?
    Athelstan stared down at the parchment. ’From the sublime to the ridiculous,’ he observed. He looked at the heading, ’Hawkmere Manor’, and the questions he had listed.

    Item — Five Frenchmen were imprisoned in that solitary place waiting to be ransomed. Was one of them a traitor? Had he revealed to the English Crown the movements of the St Sulpice and the St Denis ? If that was the case, why wasn’t one prisoner favoured more than the rest? It could be arranged. More comfortable quarters in the Tower. Or would that expose him? Show the truth and so make it impossible for him to return to France ?
    Item — How did Serriem die? He was definitely poisoned. But how, if he only ate and drank what the others did? Or had he been inveigled into eating something, a delicacy which, to such an imprisoned man, might prove irresistible? But surely that would put him on his guard? Moreover, in that atmosphere of suspicion, surely no prisoner would want to be seen favoured above the rest?
    Item — Who was the murderer? One of his companions? But where would they get the poison from? And how would they administer it without provoking suspicion?
    Item — Sir Walter Limbright was a bitter, resentful man who hated the French. He claimed there were no poisons in the manor. However, if Vulpina was to be believed, he had been one of her customers; the same could be said of Sir Maurice Maltravers and Master Aspinall. Was the good physician embroiled in the affairs of Hawkmere? Had he taken offence because of a possible liaison with the girl-faced Gresnay?
    Item — What happened the night Serriem died? Who had locked the door? Had anyone checked on the prisoners? What was the state of the room when it was opened?
    Item — Did the French know there was a traitor in their