Merlin's Booke Read Free Page A

study when the mother superior herself came bursting into the room. Ordinarily she would have sent a messenger for me, but such was her agitation, she came herself, sailing into my study like a great prowed ship under full sail.
    â€œâ€˜Father Blaise,’ she said, ‘you must come to my parlor at once, and alone. Without asking a single question of me yet.’
    â€œI rose, picked up a breviary, and followed her. We used the back stair that was behind a door hidden by an arras. It was not so much secret as unused. But Mother Agnes knew of it and insisted we go that way. As we raced down the steps, dodging skeins of cobwebs, I tried to puzzle out the need for such secrecy and her agitation and fear. Was there a plague amongst the sisters? Had two been found in the occasion of sin? Or had something happened to little Ellyne, now called Sister Martha? Somehow the last was my greatest fear.
    â€œWhen we arrived in her spare, sweet-scented parlor, there was a sister kneeling in front of the hearth, her back to us, her face uplifted to the crucifix above.
    â€œâ€˜Stand, sister,’ commanded Mother Agnes.
    â€œThe nun stood and turned to face us and my greatest fear was realized. It was Sister Martha, her face shining with tears. There was a flush on her cheeks that could not be explained by the hearth for it was summer and there was no fire in the grate.”
    Blaise’s voice was becoming ragged again, and the abbot offered him a sip of barley water, holding the cup to his mouth. Geoffrey’s pen finished the last line and he looked up expectantly.
    â€œWhen she saw me, Sister Martha began to cry again and ran to me, flinging her arms around me the way she had done as a child.
    â€œâ€˜Oh, Bobba,’ she cried out, ‘I swear I have done nothing, unless sleeping is more than nothing.’
    â€œMother Agnes raised her head and thrust her chin forward. ‘Tell Father Blaise what you told me, child.’
    â€œâ€˜On my faith, father, I was asleep in a room several months ago, surrounded by my sisters. Sisters Agatha and Armory were on my right, Sisters Adolfa and Marie on my left. Marie snores. And the door was locked.’
    â€œâ€˜From the outside!’ said Mother Agnes, nodding her head sharply, like a sword in its downward thrust. ‘All the sisters sleep under lock, and I and my prioress hold the only keys.’”
    â€œA barbaric custom,” muttered Abbot Walter. “It shows a lack of trust. And, should there be a fire, disastrous.”
    Blaise coughed violently but after a few more sips of barley water, he was able to go on.
    â€œEllyne folded her hands before her and continued. ‘In my deepest sleep,’ she said, looking down as if embarrassed by the memory, ‘I dreamed that a young man, clothed in light and as beautiful as the sun, came to my bed and embraced me. His cheeks were rough on mine and he kissed my breasts hard enough to leave marks. Then he pierced me and filled me until I cried out with fear. And delight. But it was only a dream.’
    â€œâ€˜Such dreams are disgusting and violate your vows,’ spat out Mother Agnes.
    â€œâ€˜Now, now, mother,’ I interrupted, ‘all girls have such dreams, even when they are nuns. Just as the novice monks, before they are purged of the old Adam, often have similar dreams. But surely you did not call me here to confront Ellyne … ah, Sister Martha … about a bad dream which is, at worst, a minor venial sin.’
    â€œâ€˜A bad dream?’ Mother Agnes was trembling. ‘Then, Father Blaise, what call you this?’
    â€œShe stripped away the girl’s black robe, and Sister Martha stood there in a white shift in which the mark of her pregnancy was unmistakable.”
    Geoffrey’s quill punctuated the sentence with such vehemence that the ink splattered across the page. It took him several minutes to blot the vellum, and the abbot bathed