The Rose Demon

strength.’

    Matthias paused as he heard the floorboards creak above him and, grabbing his small leather bag in which he had placed some bread and fruit, he rushed down the passageway and out of the front door. He slipped over the cemetery wall and ran through the long grass, relishing the wet dew, which splashed his hands, and the morning breeze, which cooled his brow.

    Within a short while he was in the village. The high street was empty. A dog ran out barking but, recognising Matthias, slunk away. Two fat sows, rooting amongst the midden-heap, looked up, great ears flapping, before they returned to their work. The doors and windows of the Hungry Man were shuttered and locked. A few of the peasants were already up, ready to leave for the fields. Fulcher’s younger daughter, Ethelina, went by with a yoke across her shoulder from which hung two pails of milk: the blacksmith was a wealthy man and had his own small pasture with a few fat-bellied cows. Any other time Matthias would have stopped to beg for a drink but he was frightened that someone might learn where he was going and decide it was best to check with Parson Osbert.

    Matthias sped on, only slowing down when he noticed the old woman sitting on the gallows stone, a basket of herbs in her lap. Old Bogglebow: the hag, Margot, from Baron Sanguis’ manor house. No one really knew why the manor lord kept her but the gossips whispered that Baron Sanguis, interested in the black arts, had used Margot to divine the future. Indeed, or so Parson Osbert had whispered, Baron Sanguis had asked Margot to discover whether York or Lancaster would be victorious in the war. Only then did the Sanguis family make its decision, pinning its hopes to Edward of York. Six weeks earlier the baron, accompanied by his son, twelve yeomen and six men-at-arms, had marched east for the great road to London to place their swords at the disposal of the Yorkist princes.

    Old Bogglebow rarely came into the village - sometimes to beg. Other times she’d wander in the forest to collect flowers and herbs for her potions and elixirs. No one dare insult this ancient, one-eyed crone with a face as lean as a hatchet, twisted mouth and a tongue steeped in bitterness. Matthias had occasionally glimpsed Margot as she moved like a spider through the village. Now he walked slowly: he did not want to show he was frightened of Old Bogglebow. He meant to pass her by and had almost done so when she called out.

    ‘Matthias, isn’t it? The priest’s brat. How is your father, and the fair Christina?’

    Matthias stopped and turned. The old woman studied him, her one good eye gleaming like a freshly washed, black pebble, the other hidden by loose flaps of skin. Her face was snowy-white, her hair too, and the boy wondered if she had rubbed some powder into both; her bloodless lips parted in a half-sneer. She was holding one of the flowers the hermit had pointed out yesterday. Matthias recognised the venomous monkshood.

    ‘Aye, Matthias,’ she declared. ‘So, where does Matthias go?’

    ‘About my own business.’

    She got up and hobbled towards him. Matthias recalled how she was supposed to have been born with a club foot.

    ‘Clever, clever boy,’ she declared. ‘They say,’ her head came forward, scrawny neck now tight, ‘they say you are a clever boy.’ One hand, thin and cold like a claw, reached out and touched him gently on the cheek. Matthias flinched but held his ground. ‘I know where you are going, boy. To the village of the dead, to meet your friend the hermit.’

    She was trying to be sweet but Matthias caught the venom in her words. She was now watching him closely, her one good eye studying his face as if she intended to remember every feature.

    ‘Can’t I go with you?’ she simpered.

    ‘The hermit’s not your friend,’ Matthias replied. ‘If you want to see him, you should go yourself.’

    ‘One has to be invited into a great lord’s presence,’ she cooed back. ‘But remember me to him, won’t you, boy? Say sweet things about poor Margot. Tell him how fond I am of you.’ She drew closer and Matthias caught her stink. ‘I am your servant, Matthias. Anything you want, a potion, an elixir . . . ?’ She grasped him by the shoulder, her nails dug deep into his skin.

    Matthias squirmed. ‘Let me go!’ he cried. ‘You are hurting me! I’ll tell--’ He was going to say his father but he stopped short because the change in Margot was so dramatic.

    She