LITMIR.BIZ

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of red silk. The old man knew this kind of priest, hard and ambitious, rich and clever, the kind who did not minister to the poor, but climbed the ladder of clerical power into the company of the rich and privileged. The priest turned and gazed at the old man with hard green eyes. ‘Tell me,’ he said, ‘where is la Malice?’

      The old man hesitated a second too long. ‘La Malice?’

      ‘Tell me where she is,’ the priest demanded and, when the old man said nothing, added, ‘I come from the Holy Father. I order you to tell me.’

      ‘I don’t know the answer,’ the old man whispered, ‘so how can I tell you?’

      A log crackled in the fire, spewing sparks. ‘The Black Friars,’ the priest said, ‘have been spreading heresies.’

      ‘God forbid,’ the old man said.

      ‘You have heard them?’

      The count shook his head. ‘I hear little these days, father.’

      The priest reached into a pouch that hung at his waist and brought out a scrap of parchment. ‘The Seven Dark Lords possessed it,’ he read aloud, ‘and they are cursed. He who must rule us will find it, and he shall be blessed.’

      ‘Is that heresy?’ the count asked.

      ‘It is a verse the Black Friars are telling all over France. All over Europe! There is only one man to rule us, and that is the Holy Father. If la Malice exists then it is your Christian duty to tell me what you know. She must be given to the church! A man who thinks otherwise is a heretic.’

      ‘I am no heretic,’ the old man said.

      ‘Your father was a Dark Lord.’

      The count shuddered. ‘The sins of the father are not mine.’

      ‘And the Dark Lords possessed la Malice.’

      ‘They say many things about the Dark Lords,’ the count said.

      ‘They protected the treasures of the Cathar heretics,’ the priest said, ‘and when, by the grace of God, those heretics were burned from the land, the Dark Lords took their treasures and hid them.’

      ‘I have heard that.’ The count’s voice was scarce above a whisper.

      The priest reached out and stroked the hawk’s back. ‘La Malice,’ he said, ‘has been lost these many years, but the Black Friars say she can be found. And she must be found! She is a treasure of the church, a thing of power! A weapon to bring Christ’s kingdom to earth, and you conceal it!’

      ‘I do not!’ the old man protested.

      The priest sat on the bed and leaned close to the count. ‘Where is la Malice?’ he asked.

      ‘I don’t know.’

      ‘You are very close to God’s judgement, old man,’ the priest said, ‘so do not lie to me.’

      ‘In the name of God,’ the count said, ‘I do not know.’ And that was true. He had known where la Malice was hidden, and, fearing that the English would discover her, he had sent his friend, Fra Ferdinand, to retrieve the relic and the count assumed the friar had done that, and if Fra Ferdinand had succeeded then the count did not know where la Malice was. So he had not lied, but nor had he told the priest the whole truth, because some secrets should be carried to the grave.

      The priest stared at the count for a long time, then reached out his left hand to take the jesses of the hawk. The bird, still hooded, stepped cautiously onto the priest’s wrist. He lifted it down to the bed and coaxed the bird to stand on the dying man’s chest, then gently undid the hood’s laces and lifted the leather from the bird’s head. ‘This calade,’ he said, ‘is different. It does not betray whether you will live or die, but whether you will die in a state of grace and go to heaven.’

      ‘I pray I shall,’ the dying man said.

      ‘Look at the bird,’ the priest commanded.

      The Count of Mouthoumet looked up at the hawk. He had heard of such birds, calades, which could foretell a man’s death or life. If the bird looked directly into a sick person’s eyes then that person would recover, but if not, they would die. ‘A bird that knows eternity?’ the count asked.

      ‘Look at him,’ the priest said, ‘and tell me, do you know where la Malice is hidden?’

      ‘No,’ the old man whispered.

      The hawk seemed to be gazing at the wall. It shuffled on the old man’s breast, its talons gripping the threadbare blanket. No one spoke. The bird was very still, but then, suddenly, it darted its head down and the count screamed.

      ‘Quiet,’ the priest snarled.

      The hawk had sliced its hooked beak into the dying man’s left eye, pulping it, leaving a trail of bloodied jelly on his unshaven cheek. The count was whimpering. The hawk’s beak made a clattering noise as the priest moved the bird back down the bed.

      ‘The calade tells me you lied,’ the priest said, ‘and now, if you wish to keep your right eye, you will tell me the truth. Where is la Malice?’

      ‘I don’t know,’ the old man sobbed.

      The priest was silent for a while. The fire crackled and the wind blew smoke into the room. ‘You lie,’ he said. ‘The calade tells me you lie. You spit in the face of God and of His angels.’

      ‘No!’ the old man protested.

      ‘Where is la Malice?’

      ‘I don’t know!’

      ‘Your family name is Planchard,’ the priest said accusingly, ‘and the Planchards were ever heretics.’

      ‘No!’ the count protested, and then, sounding weaker, ‘Who are you?’

      ‘You may call me Father Calade,’ the priest said, ‘and I am the man who decides whether you go to hell or go to heaven.’

      ‘Then shrive me,’ the old man pleaded.

      ‘I would rather suck on the devil’s arse,’ Father Calade said.

      An hour later, when the count was blinded and weeping, the priest was at last convinced that the old man did not know where la Malice was hidden. He coaxed the hawk onto his wrist and placed the hood back on its head, then he nodded to one of the mailed men. ‘Send this old fool to his master.’

      ‘To his master?’ the man-at-arms asked, puzzled.

      ‘To Satan,’ the priest said.

      ‘For God’s sake,’ the Count of Mouthoumet pleaded, then jerked helplessly as the man-at-arms thrust a fleece-stuffed pillow over his face. The old man took a surprisingly long time to die.

      ‘We three go back to Avignon,’ the priest told his companions, ‘but the rest stay here. Tell them to search this place. Pull it down! Stone by stone.’

      The priest rode east towards Avignon. Later that day some snow fell, soft and thin, whitening the pale olive trees in the valley beneath the dead man’s tower.

      Next morning the snow had gone, and a week later the English came.

      PART ONE

       Avignon

       One

      The message arrived in the town after midnight, carried by a young monk who had travelled all the way from England. He had left Carlisle in August with two other brethren, all three ordered to the great Cistercian house

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