The square in front of Sant-Nasari was filled with people. With a glance over her shoulder to make sure no one had followed her, Alais opened the door and slipped inside. There were people sleeping in the nave. In their misery, they paid little attention.
Candles burned on the main altar. Alais hurried up the north transept to a little-visited side chapel with a small plain altar where her father had taken her. Mice ran for cover, their tiny claws scuttling over the flagstones.
Kneeling down, Alais reached around behind the altar, as he’d shown her. She paddled her fingers over the surface of the wall. A spider, its hiding place disturbed, darted over the exposed skin of her hand, then was gone.
There was a soft click. Alais slowly, carefully, eased out the stone and slid it to one side, then stretched her hand into the dusty recess behind. She found the long, thin key, the metal dull with age and disuse, and put it into the lock of the wooden latticed door. The hinges creaked as the wood scraped over the stone floor.
She felt her father’s presence strongly now. Alais bit her lip to stop herself breaking down.
This is all you can do for him now.
Alais reached in and pulled out the box, as she had seen him do. No bigger than a jewellery casket, it was plain and undecorated, with a simple clasp. She lifted the lid. Inside was a sheepskin pouch, as it had been when her father showed her this place. She gave a sigh of relief, only now realising how much she feared Oriane would somehow have been here before her.
Aware of what little time she had, Alais quickly concealed the book beneath her dress and then replaced everything exactly as it had been. If Oriane or Guilhem knew of the hiding place, it would at least delay them if they believed the casket was still in its place.
She ran back through the church, her head covered by her hood, then pushed open the heavy door and was swallowed up in the tide of suffering people milling aimlessly through the square. The sickness that had claimed her father spread quickly. The alleyways were filled with decaying and decomposing carcasses – sheep and goats, even cattle, their swollen bodies releasing foul-smelling gas into the foetid air.
Alais found herself heading for Esclarmonde’s house. There was no reason to hope she would find her there this time, having failed so many times in the past few days, but she could think of nowhere else to go.
Most of the houses in the southern quartier were shuttered and boarded, Esclarmonde’s included. Alais raised her hand and knocked on the door.
“Esclarmonde?”
Alais knocked again. She tried the door, but it was locked. “Sajhe”?“
This time she heard something. The sound of feet running and a bolt being shot.
“Dame Alais?”
“Sajhe, thank God. Quick, let me in.”
The door opened just wide enough to allow her to slip inside.
“Where have you been?” she said, hugging him tight. “What’s been happening? Where’s Esclarmonde?”
Alais felt Sajhe’s small hand slip into hers. “Come with me.”
He led her through the curtain to the room at the back of the house. A trap door was open in the floor. “You’ve been here all along?” she said. She peered down into the dark and saw a calelh was burning at the bottom of the ladder. “In the cellars? Has my sister been back-”
“It wasn’t her,” he said in a quavering voice. “Quick, Dame.”
Alais went down first. Sajhe released the catch and the trap door clattered shut above their heads. He scrambled down after her, jumping the last few rungs to the earth floor.
“This way.”
He led her along a damp tunnel into a small hollowed-out area, then held the lamp up so Alais could see Esclarmonde, who was lying motionless on a pile of furs and blankets.
“No!” she gasped, running to her side.
Her head was heavily bandaged. Alais lifted the corner of the padding and covered her mouth. Esclarmonde’s left eye was red, everything covered by a film of blood. There was a clean compress over the wound, but the skin flapped loose around the crushed socket.
“Can you help her?” said Sajhe.
Alais lifted the blanket. Her stomach lurched. There was a line of angry red burns across Esclarmonde’s chest, the skin yellow and black where the flames had been held.
“Esclarmonde,” she whispered, leaning over her. “Can you hear me? It’s me, Alais. Who did this to you?”
She fancied she saw movement in Esclarmonde’s face. Her lips moved slightly. Alais turned to Sajhe. “How did you get her down here?”
“Gaston and his brother helped.”
Alais turned back to the brutalised figure on the bed. What happened to her, Sajhe?“
He shook his head.
“Has she told you nothing?”
“She…” For the first time, his self-possession faltered. “She cannot speak… her tongue…‘
Alais turned white. “No,” she whispered in horror, then strengthened her voice. “Tell me what you do know then,” she said softly.
For Esclarmonde’s sake, they both had to be strong.
“After we heard that Besiers had fallen, Menina was worried that Intendant Pelletier would change his mind about letting you take the Trilogy to Harif.”
“She was right,” she said grimly.
“Menina knew you would try to persuade him, but thought Simeon was the only person Intendant Pelletier would heed. I didn’t want her to go,” he wailed, “but she went anyway to the Jewish quartier. I followed, but because I couldn’t let her see me, I stayed back, and so I lost sight of her in the woods. I got frightened. I waited until sundown, but then imagining what she would say if she returned home and found I’d disobeyed her, I came home. That’s when I…” he broke off, his amber eyes burning in his white face.
“Straight away I knew it was her. She had collapsed, outside the gates. Her feet were bleeding as if she had walked a long way.” Sajhe“ looked up at her. ”I wanted to fetch you, Dame, but I didn’t dare. With Gaston’s help, I got her down here. I tried to remember what she would do, which ointments to use.“ He shrugged. ”I did my best.“
You did excellently well,“ Alais said fiercely. ”Esclarmonde will be very proud of you.“
A movement from the bed drew their attention. They both turned back immediately.
“Esclarmonde,” said Alais. “Can you hear me? We’re both here. You’re quite safe.”
“She’s trying to say something.”
Alais watched her hands working frantically. “I think she wants parchment and ink,” she said.
With Sajhe’s help, Esclarmonde managed to write.
“It says Francois, I think,” said Alais, frowning.
“What does it mean?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he can help,” she said. “Listen to me, Sajhe. I have bad news. Simeon is almost certainly dead. My father – my father also has died:
Sajhe took her hand. The gesture was so thoughtful, it brought tears to her eyes. “I am sorry.”
Alais bit her lip to stop herself from crying. “So for his sake – Simeon. Esclarmonde also – I must keep my word and find my way to Harif. I have…” she faltered again. “I regret I have only the Book of Words. Simeon’s book is gone.”
“But Intendant Pelletier gave it to you.”
“My sister took it. My husband admitted her to our chamber,” she said. He has given his heart to my sister. He is no longer to be trusted, Sajhe. It’s why I cannot go back to the chateau. With my father dead, there is nothing to stop them.“
Sijhe looked to his grandmother, then back to Alais.
“Will she live?” he said in a quiet voice.
“Her injuries are severe, Sajhe. She’s lost the sight in her left eye, but… there is no infection. Her spirit is strong. She will recover if she chooses to do so.”