The Black Chalice

Twenty-Two

The wall of heat was impenetrable.

Sir Lowick couldn't follow his young charge into the chapter house.

"He is lost to you," the monk said, as Lowick threw himself once more at the flames.

"I refuse to believe that," he spat stubbornly.

"Why, when it is the truth?"

"It isn't the truth. It is just words."

"And like words, it is written. The tragedies of this day have long been known to us."

"You expect me to swallow that? What sorcery is this? Futures written? Do you huddle over a scrying mirror, or perhaps read the entrails of sacrificial lambs? You are supposed to be pious men. Christian men!" the knight spat.

"There is no sorcery here. We are merely entering the final act of an-age old ballad. We knew this day would come. We did not know when. Likewise we did not know who would deliver our damnation. We thought, perhaps, it would be the reivers when they came, but their part was merely to lead death here, not to deliver it."

"There will be no more dying here today," the knight said.

"It would be nice were that true, but there is yet dying to be done. Breathe in the air, smell it. It is heavy with violence to come. It reeks of it, especially around you. But then, you still have a part to play in the killing."

"Do I now?" The knight said sceptically. "And I am to believe you knew we were coming and that this is all some ancient prophecy unfolding, or some such folly? I will kill because the stars are in alignment, perhaps? Or did some soothsayer predict the sharpness of my blade and foulness of my mood?"

"Who is to say that you will be the one doing the killing?" The monk offered. His expression was unreadable.

The knight shuddered.

Above them, the streaked glass in the huge window shattered. Dagger-sharp shards of glass rained down.

"You cannot help him," the monk said, as though reading his mind. "Your future lies down a different path," he pointed toward an archway between the granary and the kitchens. "Follow the path to the misericord, and on through the rose garden to the infirmary. Behind it you will find a door in the sea wall, and through it a narrow stair that leads down to the wharf. Death waits on you there."