The guard hurried away. I looked around for Hrype, a happy smile on my face, for surely he would hasten to go with the guards to welcome Sibert back into the world and I wanted to share the moment with him. He wasn’t there; I guessed he had foreseen Sibert’s release and had already gone.
The men who had led me out to the pit had all stepped back as if, out of embarrassment, they were distancing themselves from someone who had been treated like a criminal and had just proved, in quite spectacular fashion, that she was nothing of the sort.
I stood alone, for Edild too had melted away. There was no time to wonder where she’d gone because all at once my mother was pushing her way through the awestruck, chattering villagers, my father, my granny and my siblings hard on her heels, and I leapt up and threw myself into her arms.
‘I’m all right!’ I cried, laughing and crying at the same time. ‘I’m all right! I proved I was telling the truth and Sibert’s going to be freed!’
‘I know!’ she sobbed, her hug fierce and strong. Then, shaking me so hard that my teeth clattered together, she cried, ‘Oh, Lassair, Lassair, don’t you ever do anything like that again!’
TWENTY
In a joyful, overwhelmingly relieved band, laughing, chattering, we made our way back to our house. I was skipping along hand in hand with Elfritha and Haward, both of them clutching on to me as if I was about to be wrenched away from them to face an even worse ordeal, when Edild caught up with us.
‘You feel no pain?’ she asked.
‘None!’ I cried jubilantly. ‘I could dance all night!’
She smiled briefly. I realized she looked exhausted. I detached myself from my brother and sister, saying I’d follow along presently, then stopped and faced my aunt.
‘Thank you,’ I said quietly. ‘I don’t know exactly what you and Hrype were doing as I walked the coals, but I do understand that I couldn’t have done it without you.’
Her smile widened. ‘Yes you could, Lassair. You believed in yourself and you did as you were told.’
Slowly I shook my head. ‘You did something,’ I insisted. ‘Something that exhausted the pair of you and made you sweat as if you’d just run a mile over rough country. And,’ I added, lowering my voice as I remembered, ‘it wasn’t just you — I thought I saw your guides. Yours was a silver fox and Hrype’s was a bear.’
For an instant her eyes widened and she muttered something, then her expression cleared and she said mildly, ‘I don’t think so, Lassair. It was probably just the excitement and the stress of the challenge.’
I held her eyes and I thought she sent me a silent message. I thought she said, You are right but these things are not to be spoken of.
I nodded, just once. Then she took my arm and we hurried after the others.
The next joy was when Hrype and Froya arrived, because walking between them, grinning sheepishly, was Sibert. He was still pale but he looked very different from the last time I’d seen him, in Lord Gilbert’s hall. Hrype must have taken him home as soon as he had been released and he’d had a wash — his fair hair was still wet — and changed his clothes. There were neat bandages on his wrists and ankles where the iron shackles had bitten into his flesh.
We all gave him a great welcome. My father had tapped a barrel of the best beer and we were rapidly making our way through it, so that already we were tipsy and loud. Sibert accepted congratulations modestly, his head lowered, and in time he made his way to me.
‘I didn’t think you’d have the courage to do it,’ he said. ‘I’m not sure I could have done the same thing for you.’
I felt a little hurt. ‘Thank you wouldn’t go amiss,’ I remarked.
‘Oh, Lassair!’ Surprising me greatly, for he was usually so distant, especially in a physical sense, he opened his arms and embraced me in a hard hug. Just as quickly he let me go again. ‘Thank you,’ he said. ‘You saved my life.’
Now I felt embarrassed. ‘You’ll just have to save mine, then,’ I said lightly, ‘then we’ll be even.’
We went on staring at each other. Neither of us seemed to know how to end the awkwardness, but then we heard a commotion and, spinning round, I saw Lord Gilbert standing in the doorway, flanked by several of his men.
We all fell silent. His face was grave and it was obvious he hadn’t come to add his congratulations and accept a mug of ale.
‘What has happened?’ My father’s voice was wary.
‘The gold crown has gone,’ Lord Gilbert said. Somebody gasped. ‘While Lassair walked the fire pit, my hall was left all but unguarded, for my wife and my son were tucked safely away in her chamber and everyone else was outside watching the ordeal. When the guards went to release Sibert, one of them noticed that the chest in which I had locked the crown while its ownership is decided had been broken open.’
‘I did not take it!’ Sibert cried out.
I smiled grimly. It was understandable, I suppose, for him to instantly defend himself, for he had only just been set free from Lord Gilbert’s cell and obviously didn’t want to be thrown back down there. As a general rule, though, it is unwise to protest your innocence before you’ve even been accused.
Lord Gilbert had turned to Sibert, and I heard him say, ‘No, Sibert, I know that. You could not possibly have done, for you were still under lock and key when the theft was discovered.’
‘Whom do you suspect?’ my father asked.
I knew. Before Lord Gilbert answered, I knew what he would say. I had seen Baudouin slip away and, although at the time I had been far too full of my triumph to think about where he might be going, now it was obvious.
‘Baudouin took it,’ I piped up.
‘Hush!’ my mother and my father said together, both turning to glare at me.
‘He must have done!’ I persisted. ‘Now that we all know Sibert didn’t kill Romain, the real murderer will have to be found and brought to justice and that could take ages, and meanwhile Baudouin’s desperate to get his manor back and he needs the crown to persuade the king to be merciful!’
Nobody spoke. Lord Gilbert and the men with him were staring at me. It was all so obvious to me and I couldn’t understand why they were prevaricating. ‘He — Baudouin — must have realized that he’d accused the wrong person when he said Sibert was a murderer,’ I pressed on eagerly. ‘That man Sagar can’t have been close enough to see who the killer was, but Baudouin was so desperate to bring someone to account for Romain’s death that he picked the obvious person, which was Sibert.’
There was a squawk of protest from Sibert and Lord Gilbert said, ‘Why was Sibert the obvious person?’
‘Because he was there!’ Really! ‘Well, he wasn’t there, not in the clearing when the murder was committed, but he’d recently been in the vicinity and Baudouin must have known that. He — Baudouin — was worried about Romain, aware he was planning something reckless to try to help win back Drakelow, and in order to protect him, Baudouin was following him. He probably saw me and Sibert and when Sagar said Sibert killed Romain, there was no reason for Baudouin to disbelieve him.’
‘Hmm.’ Lord Gilbert looked thoughtful. Then, as if suddenly tired of the whole perplexing matter, he said, ‘I do not intend to pursue Baudouin. The crown was, after all, found on his land, or what used to be his land, and I had all but decided to return it to him anyway.’ Lord Gilbert quite often showed a tendency to do the easy thing as opposed to the right thing; we had all noticed it. ‘My involvement in this sorry business,’ he went on grandly, ‘only came about because one of my people was accused of murder; wrongly, as it turns out’ — he flashed me a smile — ‘and now that this has been resolved, I am content to let a matter belonging to the manor of Dunwich find its eventual resolution in Dunwich.’