He stopped in front of the figure, his breath steaming all around him, hot tears burning his cheeks. It was Miller. His hair and eyebrows were white, his shoulders and arms glittering with frost. It made a sharp contrast with the dried black blood on his wrists where the spikes had been hammered into the fencing posts.
Sophie arrived at his side breathlessly. When she saw Miller, tears filled her eyes, too. 'Oh, Mallory, I'm sorry
She might have said more, but he didn't hear it. His head was filled with a fantasy of what would have happened if he'd taken Miller with him when the young knight had made his desperate plea for help. Self-loathing consumed him and he had to turn away so Sophie couldn't see it eat at his face.
Bitterly, he drew his sword and cut the ropes around Miller's ankles and then gently prised his wrists over the spikes while Sophie supported the slight frame. Finally, the limp form fell into Mallory's arms.
Gently laying him on the snow, Mallory blinked away his tears, which splashed across Miller's face. 'I'm sorry,' he whispered, knowing it meant nothing.
'Wait!' Sophie said. 'I saw his eyes move!'
They flickered again. Mallory brushed the snow from Miller's eyebrows; his skin was as cold as the surrounding ground. His lips moved a little, as if he were trying to speak, but no sound issued.
'It's just the end of him. Look at his hands,' Mallory said quietly. Under the white layer lay the deep purple of severe frostbite. 'He's been out here too long… the shock of what they did… all that time without food… he won't last much longer.' He glanced back at the thin form until he couldn't bear it any longer, than looked up to the darkening sky.
After flailing around for a moment, he found another emotion that would help him go on. 'You stay with him,' he said, sheathing his sword. He was ready now, and he wouldn't fail.
'But I need to-'
'No. I don't want him to die on his own.'
This made sense to her, but he could see she still felt he was jeopardising their success by leaving her behind. 'When he's gone,' he said, 'when you're sure he's gone, catch up with me.'
He picked Miller up and carried him to the steps of the west front; the body was as light as a bundle of sticks. He laid Miller down and covered him with his cloak. 'If anyone comes, hide,' he said.
'I'll fetch some blankets for him,' she said. 'Make him comfortable.'
Mallory dropped down beside Miller and briefly rested one hand on his chest before hurrying into the twilight.
The cathedral was dark and cold; no candles had been lit, no one was preparing for compline.
In the Trinity Chapel, the cordon still lay around the relic box. Before, Mallory had always felt a faint charge in the air around it, but now there was nothing. It had to be the relic; all the terrible things had happened after the Blues had brought it into the compound that night. He recalled the burned knight, the speed with which they had carried the box through the gates as if they were being pursued. Whatever it was, its power was phenomenal, he mused. The cures it had wrought were astonishing. What wonders could it carry out if it was used wisely by someone in the community? He thought of the dying husband and his pitiful wife. Instead, it had been locked away as some arid object of veneration. If it was a gift of God, would He want it wasted in that way?
Yet that very same power made him anxious. Could it kill as well as cure? Cautiously, he stepped over the cordon and paused in front of the box, flexing his fingers in anticipation. He had little choice. In one rapid movement, he flung open the lid and stepped back.
The box was empty.
'It's long gone, man.'
A knight was sitting in the shadows behind him, the cross on his shirt glowing in the dark. Mallory couldn't see the features, but the voice was distinctive.
'Gardener,' Mallory said coldly. The Geordie must have been sitting there all along, so still and quiet that Mallory hadn't seen him.
'Never expected to see you back here,' he said gruffly.
As if it was a natural movement, Mallory lowered his hand on to the hilt of his sword; was Gardener the one who harboured the thing they brought back from Bratton Camp? 'Bad pennies and all that, Gardener.'
'Aye. But I always figured you for a bloke with good sense, Mallory. A smart man would be putting miles between himself and this fucking place. I'd be doing it myself… if I was smart.'
Mallory picked up no sense of danger, but he wasn't going to take any chances. 'I thought this was the New Jerusalem for you.' He couldn't keep the bitterness out of his voice.
There was a long silence that was almost painful. 'I was just praying. I don't even know if He's listening any more.' The bleakness in his voice was almost unbearable. 'It all went to hell pretty quickly after you left.'
'It started down that road a long time before.'
'Aye. Aye, it did, man.' His voice grew muffled as he bowed his head; akhough Mallory couldn't see, he thought Gardener's hands were over his face. 'They started testing everybody… using that bloody thing in the box. We all thought hardline was the way to go, but it got out of hand.'
'Miller
'Aye.' A sob. 'Bloody harmless lad. Did a bad thing, but you know him… Poor bastard.' He was wracked by a juddering sigh. 'There's been no food since you were gone. The old ones started dropping like flies, and the sick. We buried them at the start, till none of us had the strength to dig. And still that cunt was doing his bloody tests!' His voice rose sharply before bursting in another sob. 'We put the bodies up in the old infirmary… till we found someone had been at 'em.'
Mallory was sickened, but not surprised. He tried to imagine the desperate atmosphere that must have permeated the cathedraclass="underline" a world filled with food just beyond the walls, but everyone trapped in an intense, claustrophobic jail, unable to reach it, the wild energies of the relic unbalancing minds.
'Then we started burning them… until we ran out of strength even for that,' Gardener continued desolately. 'Now we just leave 'em where they fall.' There was a pause. 'No, that ain't right. James and some of the others… they still try to do the right thing. But the rest of us, the miserable ones…'
'Lost your faith, Gardener?'
'No.' The denial was adamant. 'I was only trying to do the right thing… we all were. It just got out of hand-'
'That's one way of looking at it.'
'You don't have to get on your high horse, Mallory. You're as bad as me. Worse… you don't believe in anything.'
Mallory could have argued, but there was no point. The facts were clear for anyone with the eyes to see them.
'Stefan… Blaine… they've gone mad,' Gardener said. 'We all went mad, and the thing is, I don't know when it started. When that thing got here…' He waved a hand towards the box. '… or a long time ago. Hundreds of years ago.'
'Where's the relic gone?' Mallory asked.
'Stefan took it. The Blues came with him one night, transferred it to another box. Stefan… Blaine… the Blues… I think they've got a secret stash of food. Not much, but enough to keep them going.'
'Where did they take it?'
Gardener sat up in the pew, a hiss of air escaping between his teeth. At first, Mallory thought he wasn't going to answer, but then he said, 'I need you to help me. You do that and I'll tell you.'
'I haven't got time-'
'You do this or you'll never find out!' His voice cracked with hysteria again.
Mallory sighed. 'What do you want?'
'I want you to help me to rescue Daniels.'