The Devil's Domain

urgent! It’s from Blackfriars!’
    The friar hurried across to take the parchment and walked into the house. It was cool and quiet after the frenetic activity of the church. He examined the seal, broke it and quickly read what Simeon the archivist had written. Athelstan smiled to himself.
    ’At last!’ he said.
    ’Good news, Brother?’
    ’Good news, Sir Maurice.’
    ’Are we going to visit the nuns of Syon?’ the knight asked hopefully.
    ’I think not.’ Athelstan leaned over and grasped the young knight’s wrist. ’Why should we go there, Sir Maurice?’
    ’Why, to see the Lady Angelica.’
    ’I do worry about you, Brother Norbert,’ Athelstan teased. ’Sometimes I think that all you can think of is Angelica!’
    ’I love her. I go to sleep thinking about her. I dream of her. I see her face in crowds. Haven’t you ever loved, Brother?’ The knight bit his lip. ’I am sorry.’
    Athelstan sat down on a stool. The knight stared at him.
    ’I — I didn’t mean to embarrass you, Brother.’
    Athelstan closed his eyes and thought of Benedicta.
    ’Is it hard?’ Sir Maurice asked , intrigued by this olive-skinned little friar who seemed so sharp and kept his emotions under such firm control.
    ’Is it hard? When you are a priest, Sir Maurice, it’s not the love act you miss, though the demands of nature do make themselves felt.’ Athelstan laughed quickly. ’But that passes. It’s the terrible loneliness, the feeling that you are watching the world go by and cannot become part of it. Sometimes, just sometimes, you meet someone! Thank God, not often, but you can see it in her eyes or face, the way she looks at you. Your heart beats quicker; your blood drums a little faster in the brain; your mouth becomes dry.’
    ’And what do you do?’
    ’You get on your knees, Sir Maurice, and you pray that you never ever fall in love. That you are never put to the test because, if you are, there’s every chance that you’ll be found wanting.’
    ’And do you envy men like me, Brother?’
    Athelstan smiled up at the knight.
    ’You are a good man, Sir Maurice, you would have made a good priest, an excellent Dominican.’ The smile widened. ’Particularly when it came to counselling young nuns.’
    Sir Maurice laughed and fastened on his war belt.
    ’Believe me,’ Athelstan continued. ’You will marry the Lady Angelica but keep praying! Pray,’ Athelstan repeated, ’that your love never dies, never wavers but grows stronger by the day.’
    ’Oh it will.’
    ’Yes, I am sure it will. Now, go and find Sir Jack and tell him to wait for me at Parr’s house but Sir Maurice, do not now or in the future tell Sir Thomas, or indeed anyone, what you learned last night.’ Athelstan went to the door. ’I’m going to talk to Godbless about his adventures in Venice and a man who should have died but didn’t.’
    Maltravers left as fast as a greyhound. Athelstan went across to the death house, chattered to Godbless then returned to collect his writing-bag and slipped out of the house down to the riverside.
    He found Moleskin with other boatmen on the quayside watching the executioners despatch a river pirate from the gibbet which stood like a great black finger poked up against the sky. The felon had been pushed up the ladder. A huge, burly oaf, he kept threatening the hangman and spitting out at the waiting crowd. Athelstan sketched a blessing in his direction. The pirate saw this and made an obscene gesture with his middle finger.
    ’Come away, Moleskin!’ Athelstan called.
    The boatman swaggered across, his cheery, leathery face dour, his eyes hard.
    ’You shouldn’t watch such sights,’ Athelstan said. ’It’s terrible to see a man such as he about to fall into the hands of the living God.’ Moleskin looked over his shoulder at the gibbet.
    ’I couldn’t think of a better place, Brother. That bastard is responsible for the deaths of three boatmen to the north of London Bridge . You know the marshes? Well, he kept a wherry there. He poled out, took their money and slit their throats.’
    Athelstan followed his gaze. The rope was now round the felon’s neck. There was a shout from the crowd. The executioners slithered down. The ladder was pulled away and the felon began his dance of death.
    ’It’s over!’ Moleskin said. He clapped the friar on the shoulder. ’Now come on, Brother, tell me what happened last night and where do you want to go?’
    ’I’ll let the others tell you about all