‘Dame Asa, you must not do this.’
The fear and weakness in Twig’s voice cut to his heart. Einar sprinted to them, dropping to his knees and taking hold of Asa’s shoulders. How had she the strength to pull so?
‘You can let go now, Twig, I have her. Bless you.’ Einar leaned down to whisper in Asa’s ear, ‘Forgive me. Forgive me for not telling you all I knew about Bernard.’ He felt her hesitate and used the moment to pull her away from the water, falling onto his back with her above him. She blinked, bringing her eyes away from whatever had been calling her.
‘Forgive?’ she whispered.
He eased her to one side and rose, bending to lift her in his arms. He carried her into the house, nodding to the dragon as he passed. She nodded in response.
Twig stoked the fire and heated water. He helped Einar settle Asa on the bed. The bandage on her hand was soaked, of course, but with blood as well as river water.
Einar set about fixing a calming draught for her and told the lad to pour himself a bowl of ale.
‘Mother will not like to smell it on my breath.’
‘Tell her I insisted you drink it for warmth and calm after you saved a woman’s life and almost fell into the water yourself,’ said Einar. He smiled as the lad drank. ‘You are a hero this day, Twig. All will hear of this. You have rewarded Dame Magda’s trust in you a hundredfold.’
‘I’m no hero. I was afraid.’
‘That’s part of being a hero. You followed your heart, not your head. Your heart told you that her life was worth saving, fear be damned.’
The lad beamed. Einar patted his back. ‘Now. I must change her bandages and I will need your help. Are you sufficiently recovered?’
A flash of alarm as the boy glanced at the bloody bandage, but he straightened, puffing out his chest. ‘I am.’
Asa’s moans pierced Einar’s heart, and as he worked his remorse over his betrayal of her consumed him. Only when the mangled hand was freshly wrapped did he notice Twig’s distress.
‘Too much blood?’ he asked softly.
The lad shook his head. ‘I’m not brave. I saw something and never told anyone because I should not have been where I was. And a man died.’
Magda stepped away as the friars lifted the dying man into their cart. They would take him to a building at the friary where they tended those dying of the pestilence, including their own. Time at last to return to Asa in this quiet moment before the Death revealed itself among the folk on the river. They had been touched. Weakened by poverty, many would succumb. Too many.
‘Dame Magda,’ Twig’s mother called to her as she pushed through the onlookers, the lad stumbling to keep up as she pulled him along behind her. ‘My son has a confession to make.’
At last. Magda had been aware for a long while that the lad held something inside. She guided them toward the riverbank, and the coracle. Another with much on her mind waited there. Lettice Brown.
‘I watched Einar’s encounter with Captain Archer and his men,’ said Lettice. ‘They had Gavin Wolcott, Bernard the leech, Gemma Toller, and the men from the warehouse. They can no longer harm me. I am ready to tell the captain all that I know.’
Gemma Toller among them. Magda nodded to herself. She looked to Twig. ‘Dost thy confession pertain to the Wolcotts and the Tollers?’
The boy mumbled a yes.
‘He saw the men grab Sam Toller and toss him into the flood,’ said Twig’s mother.
‘Go together to the captain,’ said Magda. ‘It is time he heard all.’
Returning from the castle late in the afternoon, Owen stopped in the apothecary to see how Jasper was coping. No line of customers in the lane, a few in the shop. Jasper glanced up as he spoke loudly to an elderly man who cupped his ear to hear his instructions and gestured toward the workroom.
Owen found Lucie there, crushing roots in a mortar.
‘Back at work so soon? What of Beatrice?’
‘Edith, the midwife, is with her.’
‘How did she become involved?’
‘I sent Luke Ferriby with more of the unguent and a message that I might need her advice about Beatrice. She returned with him. With her arm still immobile she cannot deliver babies, but she wants to help and suggested she sit with Beatrice. They are up in the guest room.’
‘This is for Beatrice?’
‘A purgative.’ Brushing her hands on her apron, Lucie drew him to the bench near the garden door, well away from the shop. ‘Jasper and I tested the contents of the jar the maidservant gave you. We found rue and feverfew, which Edith agreed would cause the excessive bleeding and cramping. But there is something far more dangerous I did not mention to her – hemlock.’
‘So they were poisoning Guthlac.’
‘And then Beatrice, yes. I had put her soiled clothing in a sack and brought it here in case we might salvage any of it. She had worn a sleeveless surcoat over her gown, and beneath it was a stain smelling strongly of the mixture in the jar. I will not call it a physick, it is such a jumble, as if Alan added anything that might cause harm.’
‘Bless you.’ It was just the proof Owen needed to hang Gavin if Alan Rawcliff and Beatrice Wolcott pointed the finger at him. Would they cooperate? He stood up, rubbing his face. ‘I pray you get some rest.’
‘And you. We thought we would shut early. None of us have eaten since early morning.’
Owen stepped out to see whether Jasper needed help. He was talking quietly to Twig and a woman who must be his mother, nudging the lad forward, kindly but firmly. Behind them stood the missing Lettice Brown. All three were out of breath.
‘Lettice!’ Lucie rushed to her, taking her hands. ‘God be praised.’
‘Dame Magda took care of me, body and soul,’ said Lettice. ‘And now, knowing what Captain Archer did today, I feel I can speak out without endangering my family. But first I pray you allow this young man to speak. His heart is heavy.’
‘It will be best if we go to the house,’ said Lucie, guiding them through the workshop and across the garden.
Kate looked up with surprise. ‘More for late dinner?’
‘We will not be long,’ said Twig’s mother. She drew her son down onto a bench by the fire. ‘He’s a good lad, my Twig. Saved a woman’s life today. But he’s confessed something you need to hear, Captain Archer. Said nothing before because he was where I had forbidden him to go, you understand. But it’s been gnawing at him.’
‘Well?’ Owen asked. ‘You know you can trust me, Twig.’
The lad nodded, but Owen could feel the fear rolling off him.
‘You are brave to come forward. And I am grateful for anything you can tell me that will help bring the murderers to justice.’
‘We sneak into the city some nights when the tide is out. We find things stuck in the mud. But we all know we shouldn’t be there. Folk drown.’
A tsk from his mother.
‘Go on,’ said Owen, crouching so they were eye to eye.
‘I saw a man hit on the head and tossed into a boat. The men rowed him upriver for a while and then threw him overboard, rowed back.’
‘When was this?’
‘The night that man went missing, the one fetched up on the bank, the one Dame Magda found.’
‘Where was he when they came upon him?’
‘Under Ouse Bridge. We watched it all, me and my mates. Swore to each other we’d say nothing.’
‘Would you know the two men if you saw them?’
Twig shook his head. ‘It was too dark. But they were big.’
‘Thank you, Twig. This is important. But that’s not all, is it? Your mother says you saved a woman’s life today?’