ismenin

Hello! Yes, it's Sunday again, and a beautiful day it has been, too. My sis brought me strawberries and they were delicious. Me likes fruit. :D

Anyway, on with it, my friendies. Here is Part 27!

Thanks as always,

ladysunrope for beta.

Part 27

As Sister Conna entered the room, Dom glanced up from his notes, and looked carefully at the young woman sitting before him.

He had been present at her previous interview, but admitted to himself that he had not given the occasion his full attention. He had just identified the knife that had killed Claudia as his own, and more than half his mind had been taken up with that conundrum.

Now his mind was fully concentrated on the problem before them. The girl had raised her eyes as she had entered the room, and glared at Elijah. A chord vibrated in Dom's mind. There was something familiar about her... and it came to him in a flash. Stewed gooseberries! Well, God's bones! he thought. But Elijah was speaking.

"I must tell you, girl, we know you killed both Odilla and Claudia, and we know why you did it. All we need to know, now, before you are taken before a Bishop's tribunal, is how?"

The girl leapt from her seat and made to rush out of the door, but both the abbess and Sir Jefroi were with her in a moment. The abbess firmly took her arm, and pushed her, not ungently, back onto her seat.

The sheriff stationed himself by the door, lounging negligently against the wall. There was no escape.

"Well?" Elijah inquired, tilting his head to one side in the way he had when interested in something. "What have you to say?"

Conna shook her head. "I do not know what you mean, my lord. I am an innocent girl. I loved Odilla and Claudia. They were very dear to me. Why should I wish to kill them?"

She put up a hand to wipe tears from her face, and Dom saw something else which intrigued him a great deal. But it would have to keep.

Elijah was resting his elbows on the table in front of him. "You loved them, yes - but you were jealous. 'I am the little mouse who sits by the fire', you once said to me, and for a while I believed it. But you are a mouse with a jealous temper, Sister Conna."

The abbess spared him a glance, but said nothing.

St Aubin nodded. "So too, I discovered. Did you not slash Sister Claudia with a knife a few months ago? Sister Aefre told me of it when I, er...spoke with her."

This was obviously news to the abbess, and she glanced at the girl, stricken. One of her girls! It was unthinkable.

Conna tossed her head. "That was nothing. I did not mean to hurt her. She and Odilla and Aisley were ever together, talking and giggling in the recreation hour. There was no room in the friendship for me."

The anger was plain in her voice. She continued, clasping the edge of the table with rough, red hands. "They had gone to the kitchens and sneaked a basket of food. Sister Wilfrida never notices these things. There was a fair capon in it, and I asked for some, for I had not liked the fish we had had at dinner. They refused, saying it was for a special occasion, and was for Odilla alone. They had their secrets, and I was not allowed to be privy to them."

"I wanted some of the fowl, so I took out my knife and made to cut off a leg. Claudia got in the way, that is all. She came between me and the capon."

Elijah cleared his throat, not knowing how to speak to this girl who thought more of a capon's leg than her friend's arm.

"Sister Aefre said it was a nasty cut, girl," St Aubin continued, from the doorway. "Seven stitches of linen thread she had to put in it."

Conna slewed round in her chair. "Well, it served her right! Always coming between me and Odilla. Talking secrets, taking her off on walks when I wished to have her to myself..."

Elijah broke in on her angry words. "You were jealous, Sister Conna, that we know. But why did you need to kill Odilla, and her unborn child? And how did you accomplish it alone?"

The girl smirked. There was a look about her face that was not quite sensible. "Odilla was stupid. She had not told me of the babe, but I knew of it. We shared a cell. There are things..."

She broke off, disconcerted. St Aubin's quiet voice was heard again. "Yes, I have questioned Sister Aefre concerning these...feminine matters. Of course, sharing a room so closely with her, you would have known."

Elijah was obviously at sea, and Dom's heart warmed anew to his love, who knew next to nothing of women, or the ways of women.

Elijah brought the subject around to what he understood. "Tell us about Odilla, by the stream. What happened there?"

It seemed the girl had forgotten that there was little or no evidence to associate her with the crimes. She seemed almost proud of her actions.

"I had been keeping my eye open for them returning. The three of them, creeping back to the abbey in the dark before dawn. They had their arms about each other and were talking softly. Then Odilla pushed the basket into Claudia's hand and ran back over the stream...for one last kiss, I suppose. Aisley had climbed in, and dashed up the stairs, but Claudia had the basket, and her habit got tangled around her knees, and she was stuck. I pulled her in. She broke her leg," she said, in a satisfied tone.

No-one interrupted her. She glanced at them all, triumphantly. "I went to find Wilda, and told her what had happened, and whilst she was caring for Claudia, I climbed out of the window, and went to the stream to find Odilla."

Her gaze was fixed upon the wall behind the men's heads, as if she were seeing it all take place there. "She was humming a tune as she hopped over the stream. She was annoyed to see me standing there. She said I had spoiled it all. She'd wanted to think about Matt, and I was interrupting. She said I was always in the way, insinuating myself where I wasn't wanted."

"Then she smiled, and pulled me into an embrace, saying she was sorry, that she did not mean it, and that nothing should spoil such a perfect night."

"I stooped down and picked up a rock. While she was still chattering, I grabbed her arm. Then I hit her over the head with the rock, several times. I heard the bone crack. So I would never interrupt her again, you see. It had to be done."

She nodded. "Yes, it had to be done. Wilda understood that - she said so when I told her. I ran back to the abbey, and fetched her. She came with me, and we walked in each other's footsteps as the girls had done. She washed the stone and put it in her scrip, and we walked back to the abbey, and went left until we reached the scythed grass and then entered through the infirmary door which she had left open. It was simple to slip into the corridor, and to my room. Only a few sisters were awake, I had a few minutes before the bell went, and no-one saw me."

The look on her face was one of triumph. "I knew, too, that Claudia and Aisley might wonder if it was me who killed Odilla, and be kinder to me in future. It must be nice to have friends. I have never had any, except for..."

The abbess turned red-rimmed, anguished eyes upon St Aubin. "Sir Jefroi, I will be grateful if you would call for some wine. We could all do with some, I dare say."

Conna turned eager eyes upon her abbess. "Me, too, Venerable Lady? I have never tasted wine!"

The abbess sighed. "Yes, you, too, Sister Conna. I doubt whether you will like it, though - it is an acquired taste."

"Whilst we are waiting, Sister Conna. I would like to know why you sent for Sister Wilda when you needed help, and why you thought she would keep silent concerning your...actions?" Elijah's face was pale, but his voice was even.

St Aubin had returned with a nun carrying a tray. It was Dom who poured out the wine, offering the first cup to the abbess, and the second to Conna. After the abbess had taken a fortifying sip, it was she who answered Elijah's question.

"If my mind had been as sharp as is yours, my lord duke, I would perhaps have seen some complicity in the matter. But I never thought...Wilda was Conna's great-grandmother. It was no secret, here..."

"She was the only person who cared for me, since my mother died!" Conna burst out. "No-one else did, except for Annis, and Astin of course. He used to bring me sweetmeats from the castle."

Here she cast a malevolent glance of her gooseberry green eyes at Elijah. "He is too good a man to be anyone's servant. He should be master of his own household."

Dom knew that Elijah had little idea of what the girl was speaking, but, in his own mind, he had filed away the matter, and was thinking how best to tackle it, preferably without St Aubin being told the whole story.

Elijah had finished his wine. Conna was still sipping hers, keen on experiencing a new sensation.

"We come, now, to Claudia. Had she threatened to reveal that you had pulled her through the window? Or was it something else?"

The girl sniffed. "She had seen Matthew's brother come into the Infirmary - you are very like him, sir," she said, smiling archly at Dom, who found it impossible to respond.

"She had told me, later on that day, that she was going to tell him everything she knew concerning Odilla's death. Well, I could not allow that. She might say something about me - hint that I had been about that morning, whilst I had pretended to be abed - and that just would not do."

"I work in the Infirmary, under Sister Aefre. All I had to do was bide my time, take the knife from under Odilla's pillow in the middle of the night, and go quietly into the Infirmary. Claudia was asleep, so I stabbed her, and walked quietly out again. No-one saw me - the other sick sisters were all asleep, for once.

"Even if they had not been, it would not have mattered. None could see, in the darkness, who I was, or what I was about.
Two hours later, I returned, and 'found' her body. That is all. It did not matter to me that she was dead. I still had Aisley, and I thought she would be friendlier to me with the other two gone. She is, too. I like that. It makes me feel...special."

She held out her cup to Dom. "Could I have some more wine, sir? It is very nice, and I am ever looking to experience something new."

Without a word, Dom poured out another cup of wine, and the girl gulped it down. "Then she turned to the abbess. "Venerable Lady, may I return to my duties, now? It is the day for laundering the whites. We have a lot to do."

Gertruda turned a shocked face to Elijah, who shook his head, slightly. "I am sorry, Sister Conna, but we need you to...er..."

"You are desperately needed in the sewing room, sister," broke in the abbess. There is much darning and mending, and you must know you are the best stitcher in the abbey. You will help Sister Placida and Sister Ava there today. They need your special skills. I will go and inform them," she said, glancing at Elijah as she rose. He followed her out, and stood by as she held a hurried conversation with the head laundress, then they walked quickly to the Infirmary.

Sister Aefre was shocked to hear what the abbess had to say. "Yes, Venerable Lady, I thing Placida and Ava should be able to hold her if she becomes...difficult. They are farmer's daughters and used to handling skittish creatures. Better put Sister Christian in there, too. It will not hurt to be certain. And I will provide them with cords, just in case."

As Aefre bustled off to find the sisters in question, Elijah and Gertruda went to the abbess's office, where Elijah wrote a swift letter to his brother at Canterbury. "He will know best what to do in these circumstances, Aunt Truda. It is clear the girl is not in her right mind. I cannot say what I think ought to be done with her."

"I wish her to be from here! It is dreadful, dreadful that one of my girls should do such a thing." The abbess was trembling, so Elijah made her sit down, and drink a little of the aqua vitae he had brought her whilst she had been sick.

One of the replacement ostlers that Astin had sent to the abbey rode off to deliver the letter to the archbishop, with orders to be swift about it.

In a few minutes, Dom and St Aubin arrived to say that Sisters Placida and Ava had taken Conna to the sewing room. "They said it will be best there. The girl will be in familiar surroundings. I have told them most straitly, not to leave her side, not even in the performance of...er...personal matters," Dom said, blushing slightly.

The bell rang for the midday meal, but the abbess said she did not wish to partake. "If you will forgive me, I will go to the chapel, but do you go and eat."

St Aubin, who had eaten only two short hours before, rubbed his hands and said he would be glad of some refreshment. Dom and Elijah's eyes met. If the occasion had been happier, they would have laughed over it.

Sir Jefroi marched off to the refectory with Elijah, and Dom excused himself, pleading that he needed the defectorum. But instead of going to the privies, he hurried to the chapel, to intercept the abbess before she began her prayers. She was just lighting a candle as he entered. He wasted no time.

"Lady, you know that I have not yet told Elijah that Wenna was murdered. I believe Conna killed her. I have no time to explain why I think so, now. All I ask is that you have her examined for scratches. Tonight, I will tell Elijah the whole story, and tomorrow we must speak to Astin and Annis. But I would have him rest tonight. Tomorrow is like to be...challenging."

The abbess put down the taper with a trembling hand. "Poor Lij. He will be stricken, for he was as devoted to his Wenna as was she to him. It must have something to do with Annis. Conna's sister works at the castle. Holy Virgin! Will it never end?" She sat on one of the wooden benches, and put her head in her hands.

Fortunately for Dom, Sister Aefre came in then, and Dom thankfully left the abbess in her more than capable hands, and rushed off to the refectory. Elijah must suspect nothing, until that night, when they would be alone and unregarded. That was best.

***

They returned to the castle an hour before dinner. St Aubin had refused an invitation to dine with them, as, he said, he was very weary after the day's exertions, and would rest.

In truth he had refused because Dom had taken him apart, and asked him to do so. "There is a further mystery Sir Jefroi, that must be uncovered. One that touches his Grace very closely. Do not fear that I will not reveal it to you, for I shall. But for tonight, let me broach the matter alone."

St Aubin had clapped him on the shoulder. "I trust you implicitly, Sir Domin...I mean, my lord! Tell me when you feel the time be right."

Dom sighed. "That will be tomorrow. I will send for you. Astin will drive you, as your arm is still out of commission."

***

As he accompanied Elijah into the Hall, he resolved once again to say nothing until they were alone together. He ate little at dinner, which drew comment from Elijah, as Dom was usually very fond of his food. They both laughed a little when Dom mentioned St Aubin's prodigious appetite, and if Dom seemed a trifle subdued, well, Elijah thought, it was only to be expected after such a day.

When Dom suggested an early night, Elijah smiled to himself. It was with thoughts of love in his head that he bolted the bedroom door behind them, but when he saw the expression upon Dom's face, everything fled from his mind, for he had seen that look before. There was trouble brewing.

"What is it, Dom? Why do you look so? What has happened to disturb you?"

Dom reached out his hand. "Come, sit by me. I have something to tell you, and it will hurt."

Obedient, but puzzled, Elijah sat beside Dom on the big bed. "Are you not well? Tell me what ails you, Dom, for you worry me, now."

"Lij, I am sorry I have kept this from you. I was waiting until you were stronger, but it will not keep. My love, your Wenna was murdered."

It was a good thing that Elijah was sitting when the revelation broke over his head. He leaned into Dom's shoulder, suddenly dizzy from fear and sorrow. Dom gave him a few moments to get his breath, and put a sustaining arm about Elijah's shoulders. He knew the questions would come thick and fast, as soon as Elijah recovered a little from the shock, so, before he spoke at all, Dom told the tale.

"I saw two long scratches healing on the back of Conna's hand, Lij. And I knew, by then, where I had seen her likeness before. I had questioned her sister, Annis - the girl who said she was with Wenna when she fell down the stairs. But I am not certain it was her. I have a feeling that this Annis was not even present. I think it was Conna. Do not ask me why, it is simply a gut feeling."

Softly, Dom revealed to Elijah all that he knew. Only the details of the secret chamber did he withhold. That was something for tomorrow.

He felt he was right to do so, for Elijah stood up, rather unsteadily, his face pale, his eyes huge and sorrowful. "My poor, dear Wenna! How could this happen? Why would?...and this girl, you say, knows something? I must speak to her...to Astin...I must..."

Dom got up, and, drawing him close, gently unbuckled Elijah's belt and drew the tunic off. "Tomorrow, my Amiloun. After a good night's rest. I forbid you to do it tonight."

Elijah stood as one in a dream, and allowed Dom to disrobe him. As the soft night-robe was put over his head, he breathed deeply. Dom was right. He needed his wits about him.

Soon they were lying in bed, Elijah wrapped gently in Dom's protecting arms. It was not usual for them, for Dom to take charge in such a way; but tonight, Elijah needed it.

He turned and kissed Dom, and ran his fingers over the beloved face. "Without you, I would be nothing. I daily thank God that you were given to me. I have known true happiness in your presence, and have found joy within your arms. But you must know this. Since I came to manhood, life has been difficult for me ...Richard...and...such matters. I never felt truly free to do as I wished, until you came. Even with my high rank, there was always someone else, one station above me, who had the ordering of me, in things I would have liked to choose for myself. You have freed my soul from its shackles, Dom Mortain, and ever will I be grateful for that."

Dom returned the embrace, for he knew Elijah was speaking of his difficult relationship with the king. "So it is with me, Lij. I was happy enough in my work, but never had I hoped to find such a thing as the love we share. In that cellar, holding you, unconscious in my arms, I came to realise that there was nothing more that I wanted than to spend my life at your side - and to lie with you in your bed."

Elijah reached up, and drew Dom down into a kiss. "I want you, now," he said, his voice hoarse with desire. "You are the only thing that I need in this life. Wealth, position - they mean nothing. To love, and to be loved, is all."

Dom kissed him, once more, and went to the chest to fetch the oil. He was not expecting what he found there. A clean, folded sheet, and a new phial of oil, filled to the brim.

"It seems, my love, that Astin has divined what we chiefly need. He is a right good servant."

Elijah turned on his elbow to look at the items. "He knows, indeed. Do not forget that I have lain with the king in this house. Astin sees more than we give him credit for."

He turned on his back, and lay there, quietly as Dom came to him carrying the oil in a careful hand.

Without speaking further, Dom did what he rarely did with his love, and covered him with his body, and entered him. Elijah moaned at that, and pulled Dom down into a kiss.

"Oh, my love!" Dom gasped as he felt Elijah's body contract about him. There was no need for further speech. They found release in each other, and joy in each other, and the comfort Elijah found in Dom's protecting arms was all the solace he needed.

He wept no more tears for his Wenna, lying, now beside her beloved husband in eternal rest, and tomorrow would see the unravelling of more weighty matters concerning her.

Elijah snuggled into Dom's shoulder, and closed his eyes. Tomorrow would come, as tomorrow always did, but tonight, tonight there was only Dom.