Whose voice had it been? The young man did not know. He heard voices quite frequently. Often they issued warnings concerning the other men: That one doesn’t like you. That one is whispering behind your back. That one means you harm. At first he hadn’t known whether or not to believe the voices, but lately he had begun to think that they — whoever they were — were his only true friends. When the voice had told him to creep after the lord, he had obeyed without question.
He had watched carefully, and he had seen what the lord was looking at so intently. It hadn’t taken him long to come up with his brilliant idea. Everyone knew about the lord. The men exchanged the stories freely amongst themselves, always making sure the lord wasn’t in earshot, and it was thrilling to sit there and hear all about the things he had done. What a man he was! He was afraid of nothing and nobody, and he dismissed the boring old greybeards of the church and all their thou-shalt-nots with a snap of his fingers and a cruel laugh at their gullibility.
He did just as he pleased, their lord.
The young man wanted more than anything to be recognized, welcomed, taken into that precious inner circle of the favoured. It is my right, he told himself. Very few of the others are to him what I am.
The lord knew his identity, of course he did, but it did not seem to make any difference. The lord did not know what the young man was really like, so he would just have to show him. I am clever enough to know what pleases the lord, the man thought, and I am resourceful enough to find it for him.
Find her…
Yesterday he had stayed carefully concealed as the lord watched the two figures walk away, only emerging from his hiding place once they were gone. The young man had remained hidden as the lord strode off, out from under the trees and away to where the other men were waiting for him. He had heard the lord’s shouted command and the jingle of harness metal and stirrups as the party had ridden away. He had hesitated for an instant — he would be in trouble when they discovered he hadn’t mounted up and gone after them — but he had decided that the lord would readily forgive him once he knew what he had been doing.
Once the lord and the men had gone, the young man had set about finding her. It had been quite hard at first because she and the other person had gone to sit out in the open, in full view of the great abbey that sprawled on the edge of the forest. They were joined by an older woman, and for a while he believed that his wonderful plan would come to nothing. Then they all came back towards the trees and he had to hurry to hide. He followed them, always staying out of sight. Although the dark-haired young woman with the lights in her eyes sometimes stopped and stiffened, listening intently as if she sensed the presence of someone or something that should not be there, she did not see him.
Then the older woman left, and he stayed close to the other two. Later, he followed them right across the forest — he had been frightened then — and over to where the trees began to thin out on the far side. He heard them chattering to each other and realized they were about to part, and he had to hurry on ahead so as to intercept her.
Then that amazing thing had happened. She caught sight of him, and, although he swiftly turned his back, he believed the game was up. But she thought he was someone else. Someone she knew and trusted. He heard her say goodbye to the dark-haired one — ‘Goodbye, Meggie!’ she called — and he risked a quick glance to watch as this Meggie turned away, back the way they had come.
The girl came right up to him, calling out to him: ‘Hello, Ninian! Thank you for waiting — shall we walk home together?’
He would not have believed he could think so fast. He was extremely proud of his resourcefulness. He said swiftly, ‘Not Ninian, I’m afraid, but he sent me to come and meet you. We’re not going home; we’re all going to meet up at Meggie’s hut.’
She looked up at him. ‘That’s where I’ve just come from,’ she said uncertainly. ‘Meggie didn’t say anything about us all meeting there.’
‘That’s because it’s a surprise!’ he said, smiling broadly.
‘A surprise?’ Still the doubt clouded her wide, dark eyes.
‘Yes! Ninian and the rest are taking food and wine over there, we’re going to make a big fire, and there’ll be singing and dancing!’
Then she smiled. ‘I love dancing.’
‘So do I! Let’s dance together, shall we? I’d like that.’ As he spoke he was hurrying her away, back towards the western fringe of the forest, although not along the same track that the other woman had taken. That would not do, not at all.
They went on chattering together, just as if they were old friends, and at last they emerged from under the trees close to the chapel.
The girl looked anxious. ‘We’ve missed the path to the hut,’ she said. ‘We’ll have to go back into the forest and I’ll see if I can find it. It’ll be easier coming from this direction, because the path is clearer and-’
He had to stop her. He said winningly, ‘I’ve got a horse and he’s really fast. Shall we go for a ride? We’ve got time. It’ll be ages till the food’s ready.’
She stared at him, and he realized she was beginning to have her suspicions. ‘He’s jet black and his name’s Star because he’s got a star on his brow,’ he said. ‘You can ride behind me and I’ll show you how he goes. You really love horses, don’t you?’
It was a gamble, but the voice in his head suggested it and the voice knew what it was about. Her face brightened into an eager smile, and she said, ‘Come on, then!’
He took her little hand and hurried on to where he had tethered his horse earlier in the day. His horse was standing half-asleep, grass trailing from its mouth. He tightened the girth strap and helped her up, settling her behind the saddle, then he mounted. ‘Put your arms round my waist,’ he said and felt two slim, strong arms snake round him. ‘Ready?’
‘Yes!’ she cried.
It was some time before she told him to turn back. When he refused, she became first upset, then angry, then, finally, afraid. ‘Where are we going? Where are you taking me? I want to go home!’ she cried, over and over again until he thought he would go mad.
He found a desolate spot where a stand of trees grew in a bend of the river. He drew rein, dismounted and helped her on to the ground. He kept a firm grip on her wrist.
He looked down into her face. Night was advancing fast, and he could only just make out her features.
‘I’m afraid we’re lost,’ he said, with some truthfulness since, in the darkness, he only had a vague idea where they were and he knew he would be lucky to find his destination if they rode on. ‘I’m really, really sorry.’
She studied him, her eyes narrowed in concentration. He sensed she half-believed him. ‘What should we do?’ she asked.
‘We’ll stay here,’ he said decisively. ‘I have a thick blanket in my pack and you can have that. I’ll put on my heavy cloak. We’ll light a small fire — ’ if he made sure to stay within the trees, nobody would see — ‘and we’ll have our own little camp. How does that sound?’
She looked at him dubiously. ‘Is there any food?’
He had some dried meat and a couple of apples in his pack. ‘Yes.’
She sighed. ‘Very well, then.’
That had been last night. This morning it had been much, much harder. In the end, he’d resorted to telling her where they were really going. She was both excited and afraid, but most of all worried because her family didn’t know where she was and what she was doing.
He had to lie about that, too. He had told so many lies that his head was spinning. She was clever, too clever, and once or twice she had caught him out. That had led to more lies, all of them echoing around in his mind and competing with the voices that were shouting at him now.