My voice wobbled and to my horror, I found I was going to cry in front of Dr Bairstow. I struggled on. ‘I don’t know why I’m here. Or how I got here. I don’t know what’s going on. I …’
My voice died away. I could not continue, but he was Dr Bairstow and Dr Bairstow always understood.
‘You are here, alone, in a place that’s both familiar and hostile at the same time. You have been running for your life. You are exhausted and hurt. You did not get a chance to say goodbye to Leon and you’ve just learned that you may never see him again. I can only imagine how very isolated and afraid you must feel at this moment. Please allow me to assist you.’
He handed me a box of tissues and tactfully retired to the window while I disgraced myself.
Fifteen minutes later, I accepted the assignment.
*
There’s nothing good about the 14th century. It opens with the Battle of Bannockburn, Edward II’s humiliating defeat at the hands of the Scots. After a disastrous reign, he was overthrown by his wife. Serves him right. What sort of idiot marries a woman known as The She-Wolf of France?
The country was right in the middle of the Hundred Years’ War with France. As usual, England had started well and then failed to follow through. Edward III dissolved into senility. His grandson, the erratic Richard II, embarked on a long minority rule and was eventually overthrown. The century closed with his imprisonment and murder.
In the middle of all this, the country suffered repeated occurrences of the Black Death, which resulted in over 20 million deaths throughout Europe. A third of the population died. Whole villages were wiped out by the plague and were lost from all knowledge until the arrival of aerial photography revealed their sad outlines under the soil.
The huge decrease in population meant there weren’t enough people to work the land, no matter how much they were paid. The price of bread rocketed and more riots broke out. Unable to stand the strain, the feudal system began to crumble. Peasants defied their lords and left the lands worked by their forefathers or commuted their labour for money. The faint beginnings of tenant farmers were born.
This social upheaval led to the Peasants’ Revolt and Wat Tyler. A feeling that God had abandoned them contributed to religious turmoil. Even the weather was dire.
It was definitely not a good time to be alive.
Guess where we were going?
I was kitted out in Wardrobe. They gave me a long, linen shift with loose sleeves, a thick, brown woollen dress, with another lighter and shorter surcoat to be worn over the top. I eased my feet into soft leather shoes. There was none of the usual banter. Mrs Enderby handed me a square of linen and they all watched in silence to see what I would do with it.
I sighed. Everything was a test.
I’d already plaited my hair and pinned it up. I twisted the square and tied it tightly around my hair, tucking in the ends. No mirror and all achieved in about five seconds flat.
Normally, I’d be squirreling away the traditional historian’s arsenal of stun gun and pepper, but not on this assignment. I shrugged my shoulders a couple of times to let everything settle, walked a few paces to check the shoes were comfortable, tied a battered leather scrip to my belt, checked myself in the mirror by the door, said, ‘Thank you, everyone’, as I always did, and left them to make what they could of that.
Peterson met me outside Pod Three. He also wore brown. He carried a cloak, a staff, and a wide-brimmed pilgrim’s hat.
I looked up at the gantry. A row of silent people stared down at us. There were no insults, no unhelpful advice, and no jokes that were only funny if you worked at St Mary’s.
We looked at each other in silence. I would not allow myself to think of the last time Tim Peterson and I went out together.
He folded his cloak over his arm.
‘Anything I should know?’
‘Such as?’
‘Well, which language will we be speaking?’
Sometimes, I’m my own worst enemy.
‘Oh, that’s easy. At street level, it’s Middle English. The clergy speak Latin. Your social superiors will speak Middle French. Remember that most words have a final e, which you should pronounce if the following word begins with a consonant. Except when that consonant is h, w, or y, of course. If the following word begins with a vowel, then that e is silent. Every letter in a word should be pronounced. If in any doubt, remember the ph in banana is always silent. Any questions?’
Dieter broke a fairly unfriendly silence by telling us to get a move on.
‘In your own time,’ said Peterson, indicating the console and stowing his gear.
I was strongly reminded of my first assignment, when we’d jumped to London, to Westminster Abbey. On that occasion, I’d done everything while he apparently fell asleep. This felt very similar, although I was prepared to bet he wouldn’t be taking his eyes off me this time.