I said nothing.
We danced on — he was very good, light on his feet and as practised in the steps of the old dances as any of the villagers — and presently I noticed that he had guided me to the edge of the clearing where the surrounding trees cast deep shadows.
Was this deliberate? Did he want to be alone with me in the darkness? Did he want to kiss me?
The thought was both thrilling and alarming. Nobody had kissed me like that before. I was young for my age — all my female relatives kept saying so — and my body was boyishly straight. The sensible part of my mind had already worked out that Romain must have something other than sex in mind when abruptly he stopped dancing, dragged me to a halt beside him and, ducking down beneath the trees, whispered, ‘There’s someone else here who wants to see you.’
My sweet and short-lived little fantasy of collapsing into Romain’s strong and manly arms as his firm mouth found mine gave a wave of its flirtatious hand and melted away.
I followed Romain through the undergrowth. I had no choice, for he had hold of my wrist and I could not break away. He moved quickly and, afraid that my beautiful shawl would be snagged on a bramble and spoiled, I said quite sharply, ‘Slow down!’
To my great surprise, for he seemed preoccupied and intent, he did. Then, after progressing more decorously through the thin woodland for perhaps another hundred paces, we emerged into an open space where a shallow stream ran over stones. Somebody was there, leaning against a tree. He stepped forward into the moonlight and I saw that it was Sibert.
We had not parted on good terms. I said rudely, ‘What do you want?’
He gave a guilty smile, just like Squeak when he’s been found out in some bit of mischief he thought he’d got away with. ‘Now, Lassair, don’t be unkind,’ he began, holding out his hands palm down and patting at the air as if by so doing he would soothe me out of my anger. ‘You-’
‘I thought you were my friend,’ I shouted, ignoring his protest, ‘and did you come to see me when I was told I had to come and look after Goda? Did you sympathize and promise that you’d come to visit me in my exile, if you were allowed to? Did you even bother to say goodbye?’
‘I-’
‘No you didn’t!’ I answered for him, at a considerably higher volume than he would have done. ‘You were barely speaking to me at Goda’s wedding and afterwards you — you — disappeared, and I didn’t know if I’d offended you or if it wasn’t just me and you were cross with the whole world, and you never gave me the chance to find out because every time I saw you, you ran away!’
I stopped, listening to the echoes of my furious words on the still air. Goodness, I hadn’t realized how much his defection had hurt me and now, oh, no, now I’d blurted it out and neither of us could be in any doubt at all.
I felt deeply embarrassed. I felt the hot blood flush up into my face and was very glad of the darkness. All cats are grey in the dark, they say, and hopefully, by the same token, all faces too.
After a moment Romain cleared his throat and said diplomatically, ‘Er, actually, Lassair, I’m afraid it’s all my fault.’
I spun round to face him. ‘All what?’ I demanded.
‘Um — Sibert’s preoccupation. His disappearance.’
Disappearance? I was puzzled. ‘You mean he left the village? He left Aelf Fen, with you, and that’s why I didn’t see him?’ No, that couldn’t be right, because I had seen Sibert once or twice, but he had refused to meet my eyes or speak to me.
‘No,’ Romain said. He took a deep breath and then went on, ‘I have asked Sibert to do something for — I should say, with me. We are’ — he paused and shot a glance at Sibert — ‘conspirators. Accomplices.’
‘Oh,’ I breathed. It sounded alarming. Intriguing. Exciting. I thought they had better explain. ‘What exactly do you mean?’
Again, Romain sent that quick glance at Sibert. I could have been mistaken — the only light, after all, was from the moon and the stars — but I thought I saw Romain give a tiny nod. Probably I did, because it was Sibert who spoke.
‘Romain and I have much in common,’ he began pompously, and I almost laughed because, as far as I was concerned, they could not have been more different and all that united them was their age, although Romain was maybe two or three years older. ‘You don’t understand,’ Sibert was hurrying on huffily, as if he’d sensed my reaction, ‘but it is the truth. We have decided to combine our efforts to achieve a certain clandestine purpose, and it is profoundly in both our interests to do so.’
He was speaking, but the words did not make much sense. Furthermore, they did not sound like Sibert’s natural speech. I’d never heard him use words like clandestine and profoundly and I was almost sure that, although Sibert was doing the talking, Romain had told him what to say.
‘So what is this great purpose?’ I asked, not disguising the sarcasm. ‘What is it going to gain and why’ — I really ought to have asked this first — ‘are you telling me?’
‘The purpose involves a search,’ Romain said smoothly. ‘I know the rough location where the search must be carried out and Sibert knows about the — er, the object of the search. It is quite possible, indeed likely, that we will find what we seek ourselves. However, Sibert has told me that you have a very particular talent, and so we thought it was worthwhile approaching you to see if you would care to help us.’
‘I’m a dowser,’ I said shortly. I was becoming tired of his flowery way of speaking.
‘Yes, I know.’ He gave me a beaming smile. ‘So, would you like to help us?’
My suspicions were growing. He was making it sound as if it would be quite useful to have me along, although far from essential. Yet he had started to sweat and the muscles of his jaw were working and I knew that a great deal depended on my answer.
I knew I was going to say yes. Whatever this business was all about, it was just too enticing to refuse. But I decided to make them wait.
‘What sort of help would you want?’ I asked, making my voice feeble and scared. ‘Finding something, I realize that, but where would I have to look? Here?’ I looked around me. ‘In Aelf Fen?’
‘Neither, exactly,’ Romain said cautiously. ‘You — in fact, Lassair, our purpose would necessitate a journey.’
‘A long journey?’ I was finding it hard to keep up the pretence of nervous little ninny, but I did my best. ‘Oh, I don’t know if I’d be brave enough for that.’
Sibert, I noticed, was eyeing me closely. I had better be careful.
‘Oh, not that long!’ Romain gave a very false-sounding laugh. ‘We have to go — er — to the coast.’
The nearest sea to where we stood was about thirty miles north. Eastwards, it was maybe forty-five or fifty miles. ‘Oh dear,’ I whispered, ‘that sounds a very great distance.’ I was thinking hard, for I urgently needed to know more about this business than they seemed prepared to tell me. ‘How long would I be away? I’m looking after Goda, you know, and I don’t think she would want me to leave her, especially now when the baby’s birth will surely be quite soon.’
‘She must not know where you’re going!’ Sibert said quickly. ‘You can’t tell anyone, Lassair!’
I certainly can’t unless you first tell me, I almost said. I stopped myself. ‘Then I suppose I would have to think of an excuse,’ I said, frowning as if this was going to be difficult.
‘Can you do that?’ Romain asked, unable to keep the anxiety out of his voice. ‘Can you tell a convincing lie?’ He didn’t know me very well.
‘Oh, I expect so,’ I replied innocently. I felt Sibert’s quick, suspicious glance. He, on the other hand, knew me much better.