Pilgrim of Death: The Janna Chronicles 4 Read online

  To take her mind off her wild imaginings, Janna cast her thoughts back to her conversation with Ralph. Just the thought of him warmed her. How kind he was. How thoughtful. In spite of her shamed admission, he still treated her with courtesy and care. She remembered how closely he had held her, how intently he had watched her. Her breathing quickened. She couldn’t deny that he made her heart beat a little faster.

  Her thoughts ran on. Ralph knew of her humble origins yet, unlike Hugh, he seemed unconcerned that she had no connections, no dowry, no property that she could call her own. More, he had offered to help her find her father. That, in itself, formed a bond between them. At the thought, she cautiously lifted her kirtle and opened her purse. She took out the ring and fitted it onto her thumb. It would be safe enough, just for the short time it took to show Ralph before finding a convenient hiding spot to stow it away once more. If he could help her, if they came closer because of it, might his care and thoughtfulness become the foundation of something infinitely more precious and wonderful? Janna smiled to herself in the darkness. It was an exciting possibility. It was certainly something to dream about – if only she could fall sleep!

  *

  Once again Janna awoke with a start, but this time the wail of distress was real, for the sound continued after she’d opened her eyes. Her heart thumped with fright as she looked about. She could see nothing but the huge dark shape that loomed above her like a disembodied ghost. She startled back, trembling with fear. At least she was not alone; she could hear voices raised in agitation, while the thin wailing continued like an echo of her dream. Janna blinked, and remembered where she was. She saw that a thick mist had descended, obliterating all trace of the stone circle save for the lonely giant that towered above her.

  She stood up and leaned against it, feeling shaky and needing support. The voices grew louder, the wailing continued. Janna extended her arms in front of her and cautiously felt her way toward the source of the noise. Something was terribly wrong. She could not shake the sense that Juliana was at the heart of the trouble, nor could she shake a growing chill of terror.

  It was as she’d suspected. She found Juliana weeping and shouting for Bernard. Golde and Winifred stood with their arms around her, begging her to stay calm. As she noticed Janna approach, Juliana quietened for a moment to gather the last shreds of her strength together.

  “You should have listened to me!” she cried, her voice tremulous with grief and despair. “You should have gone when I asked you to go!”

  “What’s happened?” Janna looked about for Bernard to calm his mother, then remembered that he’d probably already left the henge. Her gaze fell on Ulf, and he hastened to explain.

  “Adam has disappeared, and Bernard along with him. Mistress Juliana fears for her son’s safety.”

  “Master Bernard told me he had to leave us for a short time. He said there was something he had to do,” Janna explained carefully.

  “But Adam has also gone. He would never have taken Adam with him!” Juliana choked off a sob. “Something has happened to my son, I know it. I feel it here!” She clapped her hand to her breast.

  “Why should Adam’s disappearance have anything to do with Master Bernard? They might have left the henge quite separately.” Juliana had let her morbid imaginings get the better of her, Janna thought. Bernard had said he was going to deliver the message to the empress, and that he would leave under cover of darkness. He must surely have told his mother the same thing. Really, there was no trouble here.

  “You don’t understand anything!” Juliana snapped.

  “Where did Master Bernard say he was bound? Perhaps we could mount a search, if you are worried about him?” Ralph addressed his question to Janna, who looked to Juliana for guidance. The old woman folded her arms and turned away. Ralph waited for an answer.

  “He didn’t say where he was going.” Janna hated lying, but she’d given her word to Bernard and she couldn’t break it now.

  “And Adam? What about him?” Ralph asked.

  The pilgrims looked at each other, and shuffled their feet. Finally Morcar spoke up. “He would go if he could, but Bernard would have done all in his power to prevent him leaving, as would I. I kept close to both of them in the night, but I heard and saw nothing.” He and Juliana exchanged glances.

  “It may be that Adam is still here?” Golde said. “If so, we need to find him. I suggest we split up and search the henge and its surrounds before we move on. He may be off exploring, or even sound asleep elsewhere.” From her tone, it was clear she didn’t think it likely. There was little hope in her voice as she added: “We can’t leave without him.”

  Why not? But Janna didn’t like to voice her question.

  “Surely he can catch up to us if he still wants to travel in our company?” Ralph objected.

  “No!” Morcar said sharply. “Golde’s right. We cannot leave until we have found him.” Even as he spoke he was moving away through the mist, while Golde stumped off in a different direction.

  Bewildered, Janna watched them go. She knew she hadn’t imagined the hatred in the glance Golde had given Adam. Why now this insistence on finding him?

  Ralph rolled his eyes and heaved a dramatic sigh. “If we are to make this search, which I suspect will prove futile, at least let me have the pleasure of your company, Janna?” he said, and offered her his arm. Janna felt a little flustered as she slipped her hand through the crook of his elbow, and even more so as he pulled her hand close to squeeze it against his side.

  “Stay here and rest, my lady,” Ulf told Juliana. “Keep Adam with you, and Bernard too if either of ’em comes your way.” He cast a dubious glance around the henge. Janna noticed that the mist had begun to lift slightly, burning away in the warmth of the rising sun. The stones and the ground around them were becoming more visible. At least they’d be able to walk about without bumping into anything.

  “We’ll return as soon as maybe,” Ulf continued. “Unless they’ve already left, I doubt they’ll be far away. It won’t take us long to search the henge.”

  Juliana nodded, but her eyes were dull, her expression without hope. “What I most feared has come to pass. It’s too late for Bernard, but look for Adam, I pray you. He may be able to tell us what has happened to my son.”

  Janna wondered anew why everyone was so determined to locate Adam. The pilgrim had done little to befriend them. No-one seemed to like him even though there always seemed to be someone with him. What did it matter if he’d finally left the pilgrim band? The real question was why he’d stuck with them for so long when it was obvious he loathed their company.

  One thing seemed clear to Janna: Bernard hadn’t managed to convince Juliana that he had to leave. Janna was sure he’d kept to his intention and that it was a waste of time looking for him. But it seemed that Adam was more of a mystery than she’d realized, and she was intrigued to find out more.

  “Shall we start in the center and spread outward?” Ralph suggested. Janna nodded. It seemed as good a place to try as any. They picked their way between the monoliths, stubbing toes against smaller stones that had fallen and now lay half obscured in the long grass. They encountered several bodies, still asleep, and circled them carefully, but with not much hope. There was no sign of Adam or Bernard among them.

  The full orb of the sun was now above the horizon, bringing light and warmth to the day. Janna gestured toward the embankment that enclosed the henge. “Shall we try over there?”

  Ralph nodded, and together they walked between two stone pillars and out beyond the circle. Now that the last tendrils of mist were burning away, Janna noticed that the sun was beaming a path of light down the avenue. It reached right into the very heart of the stone circle. The huge monoliths shone radiant where the sun’s rays touched them, and cast long shadows before them on the grass. Other travelers were now rising, packing up and getting ready for departure. Janna noticed a young woman dressed in flowing robes and with a garland of flowers around her neck. Sh
e danced among the light and shadows of the stones, her movements slow and graceful, her hands outstretched as if in supplication. It all looked very peaceful, quite different from her feverish imaginings of the day before.

  “He seems a man of mystery, your pilgrim leader.” Ralph’s voice broke into Janna’s thoughts.

  She nodded, appreciating that it might well look that way to an outsider. Nevertheless, she had already been indiscreet; she would not be drawn again. And so she said nothing.

  “He told you he was going away, that he had something to do?”

  “Yes.” This much Ralph already knew.

  “But he didn’t say where he was going or what he needed to do?”

  “No.” Janna made sure her denial was firm enough to convince Ralph.

  He clicked his tongue in frustration, but whether it was over her unwillingness to speak, or his impatience over their delayed departure, Janna couldn’t say.

  “Why didn’t he leave earlier if his mission was so urgent? And how does Adam fit into Bernard’s plans? Why has he gone missing? Why is everyone so determined to find him?”

  “I don’t know.” Janna was pleased that, for once, she could speak with conviction.

  “But you, too, are on a secret mission,” Ralph observed, seeming to read her mind. “I see you wear your father’s ring on your hand. And you have a letter. Are you going to show them to me?”

  “I only have the ring to show you. The letter is private.”

  “Give it to me then.”

  Janna slipped her father’s ring off her thumb, and handed it over to him. He studied it silently for a few moments, gave Janna a sideways glance, and nodded thoughtfully.

  “Do you recognize it, or anything about it?” Janna asked eagerly.

  “I may know something about it,” he said cautiously. “Tell me about this letter – who is it from? And to whom is it addressed?

  “It’s a message from my father to my mother, explaining his absence.” Janna hesitated. She wasn’t used to sharing information that was so close and so personal. But Ralph had shown an interest, had even offered his help. She owed him the truth in this, at least. “It seems my father was betrothed to someone else. But he was determined to wed my mother, and so he had to travel to Normandy to explain the situation to his own father.” Bastard-born she might be, but Ralph should know that her parents had loved each other and had wanted to wed.

  “And is that all you carry in your purse?”

  “As well as my father’s ring, there is also a brooch. And I found a small statue of a mother and child from the forest near where I used to live. There’s also…” But no, she wouldn’t tell him about Emma’s reward, the silver coins she was now using to pay her way in her search for her father. She liked Ralph; she found him exciting – but she hardly knew him. All she had to go on was that he was a man of quality, of importance, a dare-the-devil sort of man, from the look of him and from his manner. But Eadgyth’s admonition not to judge people by their appearance had been repeated more than once; the thought brought a wry smile to her lips as she lightly smoothed her hand down her own fine gown.

  “Also – what? Do you have other letters, Janna? They can tell us so much more than mere objects, especially if you know what to look for.” He handed the ring back into her safe keeping.

  “No. I have only the one letter from my father.”

  “And you say your father’s name is John?”

  “Yes.” Janna hesitated. It was time to ask some questions of her own, she decided. She wanted to know more about this dangerously attractive mystery man who seemed so much more worldly than the pilgrim he called himself. “What about you, Ralph? What secrets do you keep in your pack?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean nothing!” Janna laughed at his wary expression. “You asked me about my family, and now I return the compliment of your interest, that’s all.”

  Ralph looked a little sheepish. “What do you want to know?”

  Everything about you! But Janna was wise enough not to voice her thoughts lest she frighten him away. “Where is your home?” seemed a safe enough question.

  “Winchestre.”

  Janna was impressed. She knew that the royal treasury was housed at Winchestre, and that it was an important seat of power. “Do you think my father could be there?” she asked impulsively.

  Ralph smiled. “It’s possible. Especially if he is who I think he may be. Tell me, Janna, whose side does he support in this battle for the crown between the lord king and his cousin, the empress?”

  “How can I know that if I don’t know who he is?” Janna countered.

  “I thought you might have an opinion on the matter.”

  “I met the empress when she came to Wiltune Abbey earlier this year.” Caution warned Janna not to say more of their meeting or of how she now wholeheartedly supported the empress’s bid for the throne.

  Ralph stopped and turned Janna to face him. “You have something of her look about you.”

  Janna was shocked into momentary silence. So, too, had the empress’s own tiring woman commented on her appearance, although Janna had been quick to deny any royal connection.

  “Only because my hair is fair. It makes my eyes look darker than they really are, as dark as the empress’s own,” she hurried to explain, all too conscious of his careful scrutiny. “Others have made the same mistake.”

  Ralph’s eyebrow lifted in query. Janna felt uncomfortable, and sought to divert him with the question now burning on her tongue. “So you’ve also met the Lady of England?”

  “I don’t know the lady personally but I have seen her, yes.”

  “I understand her promised coronation came to naught, for the Londoners turned against her and she was forced to flee to Oxeneford. And from what that young lad was saying yesterday, she is now at odds with the king’s brother, the Bishop of Winchestre.”

  “You are well informed for someone so newly come from an abbey,” Ralph commented. “What else do you know?”

  “Nothing, other than what I overheard yesterday. But I’m interested in the empress’s changing fortune. Will she try again for the crown, think you?”

  Ralph lifted his hands and shrugged.

  “Do you think she’ll ever become queen?”

  “It’s possible.”

  Janna thought he could have sounded somewhat more enthusiastic than he did, and felt some indignation on the empress’s behalf. “A queen can rule as well as a king, do you not think so?”

  Ralph smiled. “We shall see,” he said enigmatically.

  “She is her father’s rightful heir, after all! I understand the barons all swore an oath to King Henry that they would recognize her as their queen after his death.”

  “I see you have strong opinions on the matter, Janna.”

  “But isn’t it a matter of right and wrong?” she said. “As I see it, King Stephen usurped the throne and, now that he’s been captured and imprisoned, perhaps it is time for the rightful heir to claim her crown?”

  “So you don’t know that King Henry changed his mind about his daughter on his death bed, and released the barons from their vows?”

  “No!” Janna was stunned by the news.

  Ralph smiled at her innocence. “Hugh Bigod was present to witness the king’s change of heart. It was he who informed the Archbishop of Canterberie that Stephen’s claim to the throne was legitimate, and the king’s coronation proceeded from that. You should remember, Janna, that Stephen is an anointed king and, as such, is recognized by the pope. Can there be a new queen while an anointed king still lives?”

  Janna was silenced by his argument. “You know so much of affairs of state,” she said at last. “Whose side do you favor in this battle for the crown?”

  Ralph laughed, and shook his head. “We live in uncertain times, Janna. You should know that it’s dangerous to take sides, and even more dangerous to be seen to be doing so.”

  “Yet that didn’t stop you asking my opin
ion!”

  “I beg your pardon, Janna.” He stepped closer, transfixing her with his blue gaze. “I’m interested in you, and everything about you. I’m sorry if you think my curiosity was misplaced.”

  Janna’s heart skipped with excitement. She was about to reassure him that she’d taken no offence when a sudden shout stopped her.

  “I’ve found Bernard! Come quickly! He’s over here!”

  “Come with me.” Ralph grabbed her hand, and hurried her toward Morcar. He was standing beside the monoliths that guarded the entrance to the henge, waving his hands and shouting to attract everyone’s attention. Janna ran to keep pace with Ralph. She was filled with a deep foreboding. Something must be terribly wrong, for Bernard would have answered for himself if he could. What had changed his mind, why had he delayed when he’d seemed so anxious to be gone? Her steps faltered, but Ralph dragged her on.

  The shout had attracted everyone’s attention, and people streamed toward its source. Janna stopped abruptly as the scene she had imagined on their approach to the henge sprang vividly to life. The limp figure of a man lay sprawled across the stone altar, his tunic soaked red with his blood. Blood had spilled over the stone and onto the earth below.

  “No!” she gasped, and turned aside, and felt Ralph’s arms close around her. He pulled her to him and she burrowed into his chest, shivering with fright.

  “Shh,” he soothed her. “Don’t look. You don’t have to look.”

  But Janna had already looked, and had seen all that she needed to know. Someone had killed Bernard, had slashed his throat and left him to die. Bile rose in her throat, bitter and choking. She swallowed hard, trying not to be sick.

  A loud howl rent the air. Juliana. The old woman must have hobbled over as soon as she heard Morcar’s call. She had warned Bernard, had warned Janna too, but they hadn’t believed her, had made light of her fears. And now it was too late. Too late to make amends. Too late to protect Bernard and keep him safe. The only thought to bring some comfort to Janna was that her presence or otherwise would have made no difference at all to what had happened here.