World Without End

The crisis came the very next day.

Godwyn sensed that his orders had been accepted by Saul and the other monks in a provisional way. Everyone was taken by surprise, and on the spur of the moment they could think of no great objections; and so, in default of a strong reason for rebellion, they instinctively obeyed their superior. But he knew the time would come when they would have to make a real decision. However, he did not expect it so soon.

They were singing the office of Prime. It was freezing cold in the little church. Godwyn was stiff and aching after an uncomfortable night. He missed his palace with its fireplaces and soft beds. The gray light of a winter dawn was beginning to appear in the windows when there was a banging on the heavy west door of the church.

Godwyn tensed. He wished he had been given an extra day or two to consolidate his position.

He signaled that the monks should ignore the knocking and continue with the service. The knocking was then augmented by shouting. Saul stood up to go to the door, but Godwyn made sit-down signs with his hands and, after a hesitation, Saul obeyed. Godwyn was determined to sit tight. If the monks did nothing, the intruders must go away.

However, Godwyn began to realize that persuading people to do nothing was extraordinarily difficult.

The monks were too distracted to concentrate on the psalm. They were all whispering to one another and looking back over their shoulders toward the west end. The singing became ragged and uncoordinated and eventually petered out until only Godwyn's voice was left.

He felt irate. If they had followed his lead, they could have ignored the disturbance. Angered by their weakness, he at last left his place and walked down the short nave to the door, which was barred. 'What is it?' he shouted.

'Let us in!' came the muffled reply.

'You can't come in,' Godwyn shouted back. 'Go away.'

Saul appeared at his side. 'Are you turning them away from the church?' he said in a horrified tone.

'I told you,' Godwyn replied. 'No visitors.'

The banging resumed. 'Let us in!'

Saul shouted: 'Who are you?'

There was a pause, then the voice said: 'We are men of the forest.'

Philemon spoke up. 'Outlaws,' he said.

Saul said indignantly: 'Sinners like us, and God's children, too.'

'That's no reason to let them murder us.'

'Perhaps we should find out whether that's what they intend.' Saul went to the window on the right of the door. The church was a low building, and the window ledges were just below eye level. None of them was glazed: they were closed against the cold by shutters of translucent linen. Saul opened the shutter and stood on tiptoe to look out. 'Why have you come here?' he called.

Godwyn heard the reply. 'One of our number is sick.'

Godwyn said to Saul: 'I will speak to them.'

Saul stared at him.

'Come away from the window,' Godwyn said.

Reluctantly, Saul obeyed.

Godwyn shouted: 'We cannot let you in. Go away.'

Saul looked at him with incredulity. 'Are you going to turn away a sick man?' he said. 'We are monks and physicians!'

'If the man has the plague, there is nothing we can do for him. By admitting him, we will kill ourselves.'

'That is in God's hands, surely.'

'God does not permit us to commit suicide.'

'You don't know what is wrong with the man. He may have a broken arm.'

Godwyn opened the corresponding window on the left of the door and looked out. He saw a group of six rough-looking characters standing around a stretcher that they had put down in front of the church door. Their clothes were costly but dirty, as if they were sleeping rough in their Sunday best. This was typical of outlaws, who stole fine clothes from travelers and made them shabby very quickly. The men were heavily armed, some with good-quality swords, daggers, and longbows, which suggested they might be demobilized soldiers.

On the stretcher lay a man who was perspiring heavily - even though it was a frosty January morning - and bleeding from his nose. Suddenly, without wishing it, Godwyn saw in his imagination that scene in the hospital when his mother lay dying, and the trickle of blood on her upper lip kept returning, no matter how often the nun wiped it away. The thought that he might die like that made him so distracted that he wanted to throw himself from the roof of Kingsbridge Cathedral. How much better it would be to die in one brief instant of overwhelming pain than over three, four, or five days of mad delirium and agonizing thirst. 'That man has the plague!' Godwyn exclaimed, and he heard in his own voice a note of hysteria.

One of the outlaws stepped forward. 'I know you,' he said. 'You're the prior of Kingsbridge.'

Godwyn tried to pull himself together. He looked with fear and anger at the man who was evidently the leader. He carried himself with the arrogant assurance of a nobleman, and he had once been handsome, though his looks had been marred by years of living rough. Godwyn said: 'And who are you, that comes banging on a church door while the monks are singing psalms to God?'

'Some call me Tam Hiding,' the outlaw replied.

There was a gasp from the monks: Tam Hiding was a legend. Brother Jonquil shouted: 'They will kill us all!'

Saul rounded on Jonquil. 'Be silent,' he said. 'All of us will die when God wills it, and not before.'

'Yes, Father.'

Saul returned to the window and said: 'You stole our chickens last year.'

'I'm sorry, Father,' said Tam. 'We were starving.'

'Yet now you come to me for help?'

'Because you preach that God forgives.'

Godwyn said to Saul: 'Let me deal with this!'

Saul's internal struggle was evident on his face, which looked alternately ashamed and mutinous; but at last he bowed his head.

Godwyn said to Tam: 'God forgives those who truly repent.'

'Well, this man's name is Win Forester, and he truly repents all his many sins. He would like to come into the church to pray for healing or, failing that, to die in a holy place.'

One of the other outlaws sneezed.

Saul came away from his window and stood facing Godwyn, hands on hips. 'We cannot turn him away!'

Godwyn tried to make himself calm. 'You heard that sneeze - don't you understand what it means?' He turned to the rest of the monks, to make sure they heard what he said next. 'They've all got the plague!'

They gave a collective murmur of fear. Godwyn wanted them frightened. That way they would support him if Saul decided to defy him.

Saul said: 'We must help them, even if they have got the plague. Our lives are not our own, to be protected like gold hidden under the earth. We have given ourselves to God, to use as he wishes, and he will end our lives when it suits his holy purpose.'

'To let those outlaws in would be suicide. They'll kill us all!'

'We are men of God. For us, death is the happy reunion with Christ. What do we have to fear, Father Prior?'

Godwyn realized that he was sounding frightened, whereas Saul was speaking reasonably. He forced himself to appear calm and philosophical. 'It is a sin to seek our own death.'

'But if death comes to us in the course of our holy duty, we embrace it gladly.'

Godwyn realized he could debate all day with Saul and get nowhere. This was not the way to impose his authority. He closed his shutter. 'Shut your window, Brother Saul, and come here to me,' he said. He looked at Saul, waiting.

After a hesitation, Saul did as he was told.

Godwyn said: 'What are your three vows, Brother?'

There was a pause. Saul knew what was happening here. Godwyn was refusing to engage with him as an equal. At first, Saul looked as if he might refuse to answer, but his training took over, and he said: 'Poverty, chastity, obedience.'

'And who must you obey?'

'God, and the Rule of St. Benedict, and my prior.'

'And your prior stands before you now. Do you acknowledge me?'

'Yes.'

'You may say: 'Yes, Father Prior.''

'Yes, Father Prior.'

'Now I will tell you what you must do, and you will obey.' Godwyn looked around. 'All of you - return to your places.'

There was a moment of frozen silence. No one moved and no one spoke. It could go either way, Godwyn thought: compliance or mutiny, order or anarchy, victory or defeat. He held his breath.

At last, Saul moved. He bowed his head and turned away. He walked up the short aisle and resumed his position in front of the altar.

All the others did the same.

There were a few more shouts from outside, but they sounded like parting shots. Perhaps the outlaws had realized they could not force a physician to treat their sick comrade.

Godwyn returned to the altar and turned to face the monks. 'We will finish the interrupted psalm,' he said, and he began singing.

Glory be to the Father

And to the Son

And to the Holy Ghost

The singing was still ragged. The monks were far too excited to adopt the proper attitude. All the same, they were back in their places and following their routine. Godwyn had prevailed.

As it was in the beginning

Is now

And ever shall be

World without end

Amen.

'Amen,' Godwyn repeated.

One of the monks sneezed.