Gil looked about him. The Provost was nearby, with a small detachment of his men; they had left their weapons in the porch, of course, but their buff jerkins were conspicuous. Midway down the nave he could see Sir Simon and the party from the pilgrim hostel, and Maistre Pierre was easy to pick out even in this crowd. (Does Pierre know yet? he wondered. No, I must not be distracted.) He went on searching, and made out the Muir brothers by one of the pillars, and a number of off-duty vergers by another. Distantly down the nave he could see Peg Simpson’s man, the porter Billy Baird.
The choir embarked on another psalm, and the procession returned. Once again the processional cross, the two candles on their long bearing-poles, the smoking censer went past; they must have replenished the censer, Gil thought. A junior cleric bore a bell, another held a smaller candle, the Gospel returned on its cushion. But behind them came the clergy, stripped of their brocades and embroidered vestments, robed in black and purple as if it was Lent. A murmur ran through the crowd. Archbishop Blacader, the Dean, the Chanter, Canon Cunningham, Canon Muir — Gil counted twelve high-ranking priests following the archbishop up onto the platform before the choirscreen.
Blacader turned and faced the crowd. The choir found the end of the psalm, and stopped. Without preamble, the Archbishop began to speak in Latin.
‘Quicunque vehementer percussit,’ he declaimed, in a voice which carried effortlessly to the far corners of the nave, ‘whomsoever violently slew the woman Ellen Shaw in the chapel dedicated to St Catherine, desecrating its stones with her blood: let him be separate, with his accomplices, from the precious body and blood of our Lord and from the society of all Christians. We declare him excommunicate and anathema, we judge him damned. ’
As the weighty sentences rolled on, the heavy delivery and emphatic tone leaving their intent unmistakable, Gil looked about the church again. Otterburn, solemn but alert; the group of vergers long faced. Townsfolk frowning intently, trying to recognise the Latin words, one or two translating for neighbours. Many were crossing themselves, alarmed by the portentous recital. The clergy flanking Blacader watched impassively, their mourning robes in heavy dark folds, the ends of all their purple stoles stirring in the draught. Covered all over in purple and pall, Gil thought.
Blacader had switched to Scots.
‘Let him be damnit wi the condamnit, let him be scourgit wi the ingrate, let him perish wi the proud. Let him be accursit wi the heretics. Let him be accursit wi the blasphemer. Let him be-’
On and on it went. Accursed in drinking, accursed in eating, accursed in sitting, accursed in standing. Gil could see his father-in-law frowning, Lockhart and his entourage of women crossing themselves. Some people were sobbing aloud.
‘- saving only if he repent and mak amends,’ concluded the Archbishop. Gil counted silently, one, two, and all twelve of the black-robed priests stirred and said in deep unison,
‘Fiat!’ So be it.
Blacader reached out and took the bell, and tolled it once. It made an incongruously sweet sound in the midst of the daunting ceremony. He closed the Gospel on its cushion before him, with a thump which made the book-bearer stagger slightly, then took the single candle from its bearer, snuffed it and threw it down. It rolled down the steps, watched by all the people around it. A child wailed, and was hushed. There was a huge silence.
‘No! No, no, you canny!’ howled a voice. Blacader looked out across the heads as Gil turned, hunting for the source. ‘I’ll no have it, I’ll no let you!’
Austin Muir hurled himself towards the choirscreen, thrusting bystanders aside, his face contorted with fury. Behind him his brother snatched vainly at his gown and sleeves, calling for him to stop, to come back.
‘You’ll no snuff me out!’ declared Austin, as he reached the foot of the steps. He swooped on the candle and snatched it up. ‘Here, light it! Light me again!’
‘Austin!’ panted his brother behind him. ‘Leave it, man! Leave it be! He’s run mad,’ he said to the nearest man, who was pushing his wife out of danger. ‘Help me wi him!’
‘Light me again!’ demanded Austin, and sprang up the steps. The two tall candles were out of his reach, and their bearers hidden behind the ranks of the choir; he snatched the censer from the thurifer and knocked its cover off, prodding with the candle at the smoking grains of incense inside it. Behind Gil, Euan and the maidservants were attempting to drag Alys away to safety, some bystanders were pushing closer, other people were backing away, but Otterburn and his men were thrusting their way through the crowd. Gil followed Austin up the steps, elbowing bemused clergy aside, and tried to lay hands on the man.
‘Austin Muir,’ he said, ‘leave that be and come wi me.’
‘I’ll no!’ Austin straightened up, the chains of the censer in his hand, and backed away. ‘Get away! I have to light this!’
‘He’s run mad,’ said his brother again. ‘Austin, come away, man!’
‘I’ll no!’ Austin swung the censer now like a morningstar, scattering hot coals and smoking incense. A songman made a grab for it and was knocked aside in a smell of singed woollen vestment. Robert Blacader and his circle of clergy seemed frozen, staring appalled. Gil caught Austin’s eye and said,
‘Give me the candle, then and I’ll light it for you.’
‘Take me for a fool, do you?’ retorted Austin.
‘You’ll never light it if you throw incense all about,’ Gil said. Behind the man, Lowrie was moving carefully, quietly; the people around them were shouting, though the sound was miles away, and Otterburn and his men were at the foot of the steps now.
‘You’ll no get me that way!’ Austin said wildly, swinging the censer again. Another of the songmen tried to grapple with him and was struck by the weapon, falling sideways against his neighbour, who fell in his turn. Incense wafted everywhere, and people began to cough.
‘Put it down and give me the candle,’ Gil prompted. ‘Come on, man, be reasonable.’
‘Never!’ said Austin, shortened the chain round his hand and swung his smoking morningstar again. A huge waft of smoke billowed from it, and he choked, coughed, briefly withdrew his attention from his surroundings. Gil pounced, and Lowrie reached the man in the same moment. Gil seized the censer, Lowrie grasped his wrist and twisted it up behind his back. Gil handed the censer to the nearest pair of hands, and his uncle’s voice said, ‘Well done, Gilbert.’ Two of Otterburn’s men arrived to take a fierce hold of Austin, two more laid hands on Henry, and as Gil stepped back he finally heard the uproar in the building.
Canon Muir surged out of the black-gowned row of clergy, his purple stole awry, exclaiming in distress.
‘No! Och, no, there’s some mistake! Austin, Henry, you canny ha done sic a thing? Oh, my dear laddies!’ He attempted to pull one of Otterburn’s men away from Austin, and was firmly but politely put aside by another.
‘Take them away, lads,’ said Otterburn at Gil’s side. ‘That was well done.’
Blacader stepped forward and raised a hand for silence. To Gil’s amazement, he got it, in a spreading pool of stillness which flooded out from the foot of the steps. When the church was quiet, apart from the scuffling of Austin Muir being manhandled out of the building, his brother silent beside him and Canon Muir still lamenting behind the procession, the Archbishop scanned his flock with a minatory glare and said resonantly,
‘Sic a fate lies waiting for all who commit sacrilege, ye may be sure o that. Ye ha seen God’s justice done afore your een. Pray for that man’s repentance and forgiveness. Confess yir ain sins, find forgiveness yoursels. And now go in peace.’
He raised his hand again, and recited a lengthy blessing, then turned and to the obvious surprise of his remaining cohort vanished through the choirscreen arch into the chancel, towards the high altar. With some milling about they collected themselves and followed him, in silence and in due order, and after a few moments, as the buzz of conversation rose in the nave, the first words of Compline floated out.