Candace Robb
The Owen Archer Series:
Book Eleven
A CONSPIRACY OF WOLVES
2019
For my readers.
Dramatis Personae
Owen Archer’s and Lucie Wilton’s household
Owen Archer (Captain Archer) – former captain of guard and spy for the Archbishop of York
Lucie Wilton – master apothecary; Owen’s spouse
Gwenllian, Hugh, and Emma – Owen and Lucie’s natural children
Jasper de Melton – Owen and Lucie’s adopted son and Lucie’s apprentice
Dame Philippa – Lucie’s aunt, recently deceased
Kate – Lucie’s housemaid
Lena – the children’s nurse
Alfred and Stephen – former members of archbishop’s guard, Owen’s lieutenants
Tildy – Kate’s sister, formerly Lucie’s housemaid, now wed to the steward of Freythorpe Hadden
The Riverwoman’s household
Magda Digby (aka the Riverwoman) – midwife and healer
Alisoun Ffulford – apprentice to Magda Digby
Rose and Rob – temporary caretakers; Kate’s twin siblings
The Swann household
Bartolf – patriarch, coroner of Galtres
Hoban – merchant, Bartolf’s son
Muriel – Hoban’s spouse
Olyf – Bartolf’s daughter, Adam Tirwhit’s spouse
Joss – servant
Cilla – servant
The Braithwaite household
John and Janet Braithwaite
Paul – son, married to Elaine
Muriel – daughter, Hoban Swann’s spouse
Galbot – Paul Braithwaite’s dog trainer
Alan – servant
Ned – bailiff’s man, temporary servant
The Tirwhit household
Adam Tirwhit – merchant, brother-in-law of Hoban, son-in-law of Bartolf
Olyf – spouse, daughter of Bartolf Swann
Wren – housemaid
The Poole household
Crispin – merchant, former soldier
Euphemia – widow, Crispin’s mother
Eva – servant
Dun – servant
Residents of Galtres
Gerta – daughter of charcoal-burners
Warin – poacher, and his children
Churchmen
Jehannes – Archdeacon of York; Owen’s good friend
Brother Michaelo – former personal secretary to Thoresby
*John Thoresby – former Archbishop of York (deceased)
*Alexander Neville – newly appointed Archbishop of York
Dom Leufrid – secretary to Archbishop Neville
*Abbot William – abbot, St Mary’s Abbey
Brother Oswald – hospitaller, St Mary’s Abbey
York residents
Bess & Tom Merchet – owners of the York Tavern
Old Bede – regular at the York Tavern
Winifrith – Bede’s daughter
George Hempe – city bailiff and merchant, wife Lotta
*Gerard Burnby – coroner for York
Honoria de Staines – owner of a brothel near the Bedern
*John Gisburne – merchant, MP
Royal household
*Geoffrey Chaucer – in York on a mission for Prince Edward; Owen’s friend
Antony of Egypt – member of Prince Edward’s household
* real historical figures
‘Humans are inclined to see our own species as embattled; we are locked in an eternal struggle in which we defend our own “culture” against the elemental, animal forces of “nature.” And for millennia, our fellow apex predator, the wolf, has been forced to serve as a symbolic stand-in for all of nature, red in tooth and claw.’
‘What do folk see when they see a wolf, Bird-eye? The animal? Think again.’
1
The Dogs in the Night
York, Autumn 1374
The river mist curled round Magda Digby’s rock in the Ouse, dimming the reds and golds of sunset, distorting sound, creating shifting shapes that danced at the edge of Alisoun Ffulford’s vision, chilling her fingers until they were too stiff for the close work. She gathered up the feathers, arrow shafts, and knife with which she had been fletching and returned them to her work basket, then paused, her hand on the door latch, listening to dogs baying. Upriver, she thought, in the Forest of Galtres. ‘May they be safe,’ she whispered. Like St Francis of Assisi, she felt a bond with animals, so much so that Magda handed over to her all animals brought to the house on the rock for healing. Alisoun preferred these patients to the human ones. Their needs were clear, they did not try to mask their illnesses, and, once healed, gladly departed without complaint or blame. She strained to hear the sounds beneath the dogs’ baying. A man’s angry shout. Another. The same voice? She could not be certain. The dogs continued as before, which she took to mean they were unharmed. Good.
She lifted her gaze to the blank eyes of the upside-down sea serpent on the bow of the ship that served as the roof of Magda Digby’s house. A cunning choice of building material, the part of the ship with the figurehead. The sea serpent was widely believed to have magical powers. Not that Magda ever confirmed or denied it, but as folk had the same suspicion about her, their unease about the sea serpent and the Riverwoman gave them pause about crossing either one. Nodding to the enigmatic carving, Alisoun whispered, ‘Whoever disturbs the night upriver will not dare trespass here.’ A subtle draft and a warmth on the back of her neck, as if the figurehead responded in a gesture of reassurance, felt rather than seen. There had been a time when such feelings had frightened her, but that had passed as she learned to trust to the mystery of Magda Digby’s healing gifts. Now, she took it as a blessing.
Stepping inside, she traded the damp chill and rich, earthy scent of the tidal Ouse for an aromatic warmth, the brightly burning fire teasing out the scents of the dried plants and roots hanging in the rafters to dry. Earlier, she had escaped from its warmth to the cool, fresh air without; now, chilled by the mist, she was grateful for the heat, and the homely familiarity. But she was not at ease – the dogs baying in that eerie mist …