The two descended to the chapel. Aillas went on down the path to the old lime tree; he lifted the sitting-stone and found a crevice into which he placed Persilian and the bag of gold and gems.
Suldrun went to the door of the chapel, where she paused to wonder at the candleglow from within.
She pushed open the door. Across the room sat Brother Umphred, dozing at the table. His eyes opened; he looked at Suldrun.
"Suldrun! You have returned at last! Ah, Suldrun, sweet and wanton! You have been up to mischief! What do you do away from your little domain?"
Suldrun stood silent in dismay. Brother Umphred lifted his portly torso and came forward, smiling a winsome smile, eyelids halfclosed, so that his eyes seemed a trifle askew. He took Suldrun's limp hands. "Dearest child! Tell me, where have you been?"
Suldrun tried to draw back, but Brother Umphred tightened his grip. "I went to the palace for a cloak and a gown... Let go my hands."
But Brother Umphred only pulled her closer. His breathing came faster and his face showed a rosy-pink flush. "Suldrun, prettiest of all the earth's creatures! Do you know that I saw you dancing along the corridors with one of the palace lads? I asked myself, can this be the pure Suldrun, the chaste Suldrun, so pensive and demure? I told myself: impossible! But perhaps she is ardent after all!"
"No, no," breathed Suldrun. She jerked to pull away. "Please let me go."
Brother Umphred would not release her. "Be kind, Suldrun! I am a man of noble spirit, still I am not indifferent to beauty! Long, dearest Suldrun, have I yearned to taste your sweet nectar, and remember, my passion is invested in the sanctity of the church! So now, my dearest child, whatever tonight's mischief, ' it will only have warmed your blood. Embrace me, my golden delight, my sweet mischief, my sly mock-purity!" Brother Umphred bore her down to the couch.
Aillas appeared in the doorway. Suldrun saw him and motioned him to stand back, out of sight. She drew up her knees, and squirmed away from Brother Umphred. "Priest, my father shall hear of your acts!"
"He cares nothing what happens to you," said Brother I Umphred thickly. "Now be easy! Or else I must enforce our congress by means of pain."
Aillas could constrain himself no longer. He stepped forward and dealt Brother Umphred a blow to the side of his head, to send him tumbling to the floor. Suldrun said in distress: "Better, Aillas, had you remained away."
"And allowed his beastly lust? First I would kill him! In fact, I will kill him now, for his audacity."
Brother Umphred dragged himself back against the wall, eyes glistening in the candlelight.
Suldrun said hesitantly, "No, Aillas, I don't want his death.''
"He will report us to the king."
Brother Umphred cried out: "No, never! I hear a thousand secrets; all are sacred to me!"
Suldrun said thoughtfully. "He will witness our wedlock, he will marry us by the Christian ceremony which is as lawful as any other."
Brother Umphred struggled to his feet, blurting incoherent phrases.
Aillas told him, "Marry us, then, since you are a priest, and do it properly."
Brother Umphred took time to settle his cassock and compose himself. "Marry you? That is not possible."
"Certainly it is possible," said Suldrun. "You have made marriages among the servants."
"In the chape at Haidion."
"This is a chapel. You sanctified it yourself."
"It has now been profaned. In any case, I can bring the sacraments only to baptized Christians."
"Then baptize us and quickly!"
Brother Umphred smilingly shook his head. "First you must believe truly and become catechumens. And further, King Casmir would be rageful; he would take vengeance on us all!"
Aillas picked up a stout length of driftwood. "Priest, this cudgel supersedes King Casmir. Marry us now, or I will break your head."
Suldrun took his arm. "No, Aillas! We will marry in the manner of the folk, and he shall witness; then there shall be no talk of who is a Christian and who is not."
Brother Umphred again demurred. "I cannot be a party to your pagan rite."
"You must," said Aillas.
The two stood by the table and chanted the peasant litany of wedlock:
"Witness, all, how we two take the vows of marriage! By this morsel, which together we eat."
The two divided a crust of bread and ate together.
"By this water, which together we drink."
The two drank water from the same cup.
"By this fire, which warms us both."
The two passed their hands through the flame of the candle.
"By the blood which we mingle."
With a thin bodkin Aillas pricked Suldrun's finger, then his own, and joined the droplets of blood.
"By the love which binds our hearts together."
The two kissed, smiled.
"So we engage in solemn wedlock, and now declare ourselves man and wife, in accordance with the laws of man and the benevolent grace of Nature."
Aillas took up pen, ink and a sheet of parchment. "Write, priest!
Tonight on this date I have witnessed the marriage of Suldrun and Aillas,' and sign your name."
With shaking hands Brother Umphred pushed away the pen. "I fear the wrath of King Casmir!"
"Priest, fear me more!"
In anguish Brother Umphred wrote as he was instructed. "Now let me go my way!"
"So that you may hurry to tell all to King Casmir?" Aillas shook his head. "No."
"Fear nothing!" cried Brother Umphred. "I am silent as the grave!
I know a thousand secrets!"
"Swear!" said Suldrun. "Down on your knees. Kiss the sacred book you carry in your pouch, and swear that, by your hope of salvation and by your fear of perpetual Hell, that you will reveal nothing of what you have seen and heard and done tonight."
Brother Umphred, now swearing and ashen-faced, looked from one to the other. Slowly he went to his knees, kissed the book of gospels and swore his oath.
He struggled to his feet. "I have witnessed, I have sworn; it is my right to now depart!"
"No," said Aillas somberly. "I do not trust you. I fear that spite may overwhelm your honor, and so destroy us. It is a chance I cannot accept."
Brother Umphred was momentarily speechless with indignation. "But I have sworn by everything holy!"
"And so, as easily, you might forswear them and so be purged of the sin. Should I kill you in cold blood?"
"No!"
"Then I must do something else with you."
The three stood staring at each other, frozen a moment in time.
Aillas stirred. "Priest, wait here, and do not try to leave, on pain of good strokes of the cudgel, as we shall be just outside the door."
Aillas and Suldrun went out into the night, to halt a few yards from the chapel door. Aillas spoke in a husky half-whisper, for fear Brother Umphred might have his ear pressed to the door. "The priest cannot be trusted."
"I agree," said Suldrun. "He is quick as an eel."
"Still, I cannot kill him. We can't tie him or immure him, for Ehirme to tend, since then her help would become known. I can think of a single plan. We must part. At this moment I will take him from the garden. We will proceed east. No one will trouble to notice us; we are not fugitives. I will make sure that he neither escapes nor cries out for succor: a vexing and tedious task, but it must be done. In a week or two I will leave him while he sleeps; I will make my way to Glymwode and seek you out, and all will be as we planned."
Suldrun put her arms around Aillas and laid her head on his chest.
"Must we be parted?"
"There is no other way to be secure, save killing the man dead, which I cannot do in cold blood. I will take a few pieces of gold; you take the rest, and Persilian as well. Tomorrow, an hour after sunset, go to Ehirme and she will send you to her father's hut, and there shall I seek you out. Go you now to the lime tree, and bring me back a few small trinkets of gold, to trade for food and drink. I'll stay to guard the priest."
Suldrun ran down the path and a moment later returned with the gold. They went to the chapel. Brother Umphred stood by the table, looking morosely into the fire.