Our master went to see what the deacon had discovered, and shortly called us all back inside. The blankets and sheets had been torn from the beds, some of which had been overturned. The contents of our chests, where we kept our spare clothes and the few possessions we were allowed, had been spilt on to the floor.
‘Who sleeps here?’ ?thelbald asked as he pointed to where an acolyte stood at the foot of one of the beds.
At first none of us said anything. We all knew it belonged to Wulfnoth, but no one dared be the one to tell, and I certainly wasn’t about to, since that would only invite suspicion.
‘Someone speak quickly,’ ?thelbald said, ‘or else you’ll all be facing the rod. Five lashes for every one of you until I have an answer. Well?’
Wulfnoth stepped forward, looking confused. ‘It’s mine, master.’
?thelbald beckoned the deacon across, who held up Wulfnoth’s cloak for all to see. White marks everywhere, as clear as if one of the bishop’s precious doves had defiled it.
‘And this?’
There was a look of such bewilderment on the boy’s face that I almost wished I hadn’t done it. Almost. He looked at the cloak, then back at Master ?thelbald, not yet comprehending, and then his eyes widened as he began to realise.
‘I don’t know how—’
‘And yet you don’t deny that it’s yours.’
‘Yes, but—’
‘What about these?’ ?thelbald said, hefting two of the lumps of chalk. ‘They’re yours too, aren’t they?’
Wulfnoth shook his head. ‘N-no.’
‘You thought you wouldn’t get caught, didn’t you?’
‘I swear I don’t know where they came from,’ he said.
‘Liar,’ said the deacon.
‘Sacrilege,’ said ?thelbald and spat.
He towered over Wulfnoth, who was short for his age, and not the strongest either, with some of the scrawniest arms and legs you’ve ever seen. If ?thelbald or any of the deacons had asked themselves how he’d managed to climb all the way up the side of the tower, by himself and without a ladder, then they might have worked out he was telling the truth. If they’d paused for even a moment to ask why he hadn’t simply rid himself of the chalk once he’d finished with it, they might have seen through my deception.
But ?thelbald was red with fury and in no mood to ask questions, so they did none of those things. And so Wulfnoth’s fate was sealed.
‘Bishop Brihtm?r will hear about this,’ ?thelbald said as he seized the boy’s arm.
Wulfnoth yelped, but his protests were ignored. I made sure to avoid his gaze as he was led away, for I couldn’t afford to let him see the smile I could feel breaking out across my face. It wouldn’t take him long to realise what had happened; maybe he already had.
As it was, the rest of us didn’t escape unpunished. ?thelbald came back soon afterwards and sent four of us with ladders and rags and pails of water to scrub those disgraceful pictures from the stonework. It was supposed to be a market day in the town but there wasn’t much trading taking place. Instead men and women were gathering outside the church, pointing up at the tower, some laughing and others nudging one another knowingly, much to our master’s displeasure. At first he tried shouting at them to go away, and some did, but they only went and told others, and so he turned his anger upon us, yelling at us to scrub more vigorously, to remove the chalk marks all the sooner.
‘Harder, faster!’ he cried, which of course the crowds thought even funnier.
Poor ?thelbald. I didn’t feel all that sorry for him at the time, but I do now. I hope he managed to live the rest of his years in peace. He deserved that much, especially after everything he had to put up with.
As for Wulfnoth, once the bishop learned the nature of the images that had desecrated his church, there was no reprieve, no chance to make amends. That same day a letter was sent to his father by the fastest rider Brihtm?r could find, informing him of what had taken place and that his son would be returning to him. Wulfnoth’s belongings and clothes were all cleared from the dormitory by midday, and by mid-afternoon he was on his way, escorted from the church precinct by two of the bishop’s retainers while my fellow students and I watched on. He didn’t say anything or even look at us, but kept his eyes fixed on the road ahead so that I couldn’t see if he was angry or upset or even relieved.
I’d done it, I thought, as I watched them disappear down the road. I’d finally rid myself of him.
Did I ever regret what I’d done? Not at all. After all the trouble he’d brought me? No, he deserved everything that came to him. And I would never have to suffer him again.
Or so I thought, until three months ago.
*
‘Why?’ Merewyn asks. ‘What happened three months ago?’
But Tova is one step ahead of her. ‘That was when you joined the reavers, wasn’t it?’
The priest nods. He presses his fingertips hard to his brow, as if the very act of remembering is painful.
‘You mean Wulfnoth was one of them?’ Merewyn says.
‘Not just one of them,’ Guthred replies. ‘He was their leader.’