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a prayer answered.'
Charis was, as ever, unchanged save in small ways only: her hair she wore in the manner of highborn
British women, thickly plaited with strands of golden thread woven into the braids; her mantle was
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dove-grey, simple, long, and utterly lacking any ornament. Slender, regal, she appeared both elegant and
mysterious, the stark austerity of her garments enhancing rather than diminishing her royal mien. Her eyes,
as they played over my face, were as keen as any inquisitive child's, and held a strength of authority I had
not known before.
She saw that I had noticed the change in her attire, and said, 'Your eye is more than keen, Hawk, to see
what is no longer there.' She smoothed her mantle with her hands and smiled. 'Yes, I dress more humbly
now. Many of the people who come to the shrine have so little; they possess nothing less than nothing,
some of them I do not wish to remind them of their poverty. I could not bear to offend them even by
my clothing.'
'He would be a miserable man indeed who found the sight of you offensive,' I replied lightly.
She smiled again. 'And why your own drab cloak, my son? I cannot find it fitting to your rank that you
array yourself so.'
I spread my hands. 'Like you, I find it easier to pass through the world without proclaiming my lineage at
every turn. Come, you are tired '
'I was," she replied quickly, 'but the sight of you has revived me completely. Sit with me. I would hear
you tell me all that has passed in Arthur's court since I last saw you.'
'And I would enjoy nothing more than to spend the day with you,' I replied, 'for there is much to tell. But
my errand is urgent and I cannot stay one moment longer than necessary. I am sorry. I must return as
soon as '
'Leaving before you have properly arrived!' Both Chads and I turned as the abbot bustled into the room.
Elfodd, in his white mantle and green tunic, greeted me warmly. 'Welcome, Merlinus! Welcome, good
friend. They just told me you had come. Sit, man, you look exhausted.'
'I am pleased to see you again, good abbot. You are flourishing, I see.' He appeared unchanged for the
most part a little plumper perhaps, with more grey in his hair, but the same Elfodd that I remembered.
'Charis has told me you are busy as ever.'
'Run off our feet, matins to evensong,' he replied happily. 'But we thrive. God is good. We thrive!'
'I am glad to hear it.'
'Still,' he grew serious 'it is not so with some who come here. One died last night who was in our
care, and two others with the same illness have been found far gone they were, not even the strength
to drag themselves up the hill.'
He regarded me closely, weighing his next words carefully. I felt I knew already what he would say.
'Merlinus, it may not be safe for you here. I pray I am mistaken, but it seems very like plague. If so, the
one who died last night is but the first of many.'
'Trust me, there will be more,' I told him, and explained the reason for my visit. 'I hoped you would
know some remedy. That is why I have come.'
'Then Jesu help us all, for there is no remedy,' he answered, shaking his grey head sadly. 'The pestilence
cannot be contained: it wanders on the wind; like tainted water, it poisons everything.
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No one is safe.' He grew silent, contemplating the enormity of the predicament looming before him.
'I have been speaking to Paulinus,' Charis began, excitement quickening her speech. 'He is well learned
in this '
'Paulinus?' wondered Elfodd memory broke across his blank features like sunrise. 'Oh, praise God,
yes! Paulinus! Blessed Jesu, of course. With all the tumult, I had quite forgotten.'
'Paulinus has recently arrived,' Charis began.
'Arrived fromArmorica,' the abbot broke in. 'He spent some time in southGauland, I believe, in
Alexandria, where he learned much of healing herbs unknown to us here.'
'They have experience of plague in those places,' Charis said. 'We were speaking of this just before you
came, Merlin. You must talk to him at once.'
'Foolish servant,' cried Elfodd, 'what am I thinking?' He turned on his heel and called out in a loud voice:
'Paulinus! Someone bring Paulinus to me at once!'
A monk appeared in the doorway behind him, acknowledged the abbot's call, and disappeared at a run.
Though early morning yet, it was already hot in Elfodd's cell. 'Let us await him in the cloister; it is cooler
there.'
We stepped from the closeness of the abbot's cell out into the colonnaded walkway. A single tree grew
in the centre of the courtyard, shading the square. The leaves on the tree were dry and drooping for lack
of water. 'I see we must bring some water from the lake for Joseph's tree,' Elfodd said absently.
The land is athirst, I thought, and had my thoughts answered by a calm, deep voice which said, 'The
hammer of the Sun beats upon Earth's anvil. All that is green shall be brown; all that burns is consumed.'
We turned to see an old, spare, bald-headed man step into the light. His face was lean and brown from
many days, perhaps years, in the southern sun. Into my mind came the rejoinder to his quoted scrap of
prophecy. 'And all who pass through the fire will be purified,' I added, holding his gaze with my own.
'So be it!' the monk said; he inclined his head in deference to Abbot Elfodd, who had summoned him.
'Wise Ambrosius, my name is Paulinus. I am at your service.'
He joined us, greeting Elfodd and Charis with simple grace. I saw, to my surprise, that he was much
younger than I had first thought. His bald head, and the leathery appearance of his skin, made him look
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