The Riverwoman’s Dragon
- Автор: Робб Кэндис
- Серия: Owen Archer #13
- Год: 2021
- Язык: английский
- Год: Severn House
- ISBN: 978-1-4483-0563-6
- Жанр: Исторические детективы
Электронная книга - «The Riverwoman’s Dragon». Краткое содержание книги:
When the wise woman Magda Digby is suspected of murder, Owen Archer sets out to prove her innocence in this intricately plotted medieval mystery.
May, 1375. Owen Archer returns from London to find York in chaos. While the citizens are living in terror of the pestilence which is spreading throughout the land, a new physician has arrived, whipping up fear and suspicion against traditional healers and midwives. With the backing of the new archbishop, he is especially hostile towards Magda Digby, the wise woman who has helped and healed the people of York for many years. At the same time, Magda is uneasy about the arrival of two long-lost kinsfolk. Though they say they are seeking her help, she senses a hidden agenda.
Magda’s troubles deepen when she discovers a body in the river near her home – and finds herself under suspicion of murder. Days later, fire rips through a warehouse in the city. Amongst the charred debris lies the body of a man – not burned, but stabbed in the back. Could there be a connection to the corpse in the river?
Determined to prove Magda’s innocence, Owen sets out to find answers – but the more he uncovers, the deeper the mystery becomes…
‘The fear is here. And the pestilence is at the gates. It has come to Clementhorpe,’ he said. He told her of Dame Marian’s offer.
‘Magda is grateful. The time may come …’ She told Owen of the plague death near Easingwold.
‘Carn told me. So it surrounds us.’ Owen stared into the fire, wishing– He did not know what he wished. So much. ‘I find myself doubting that Matthew’s murder and the burning of his home arises from the fear.’
‘What, then?’
‘That’s the rub. Until Matthew’s murder I thought the fire had been meant to destroy Thomas Graa’s warehouse, or that part of it near the Browns’ home. But why then murder him?’
‘So many questions.’
‘Living so near, might whoever set the fire suspect Matthew witnessed something that would incriminate them? Or that Lettice knew something and might have told him?’
‘Why Lettice?’
‘A laundress knows much that happens in households.’
‘In which case she is in danger if yet alive,’ said Magda.
‘How did Sam behave the night he came to you?’
‘Ill at ease.’
Owen told her what Beatrice had said of his mission.
‘He said naught of that. He warned Magda not to enter the city. But the warning had not been his intention until he sat there with Magda.’
‘What changed?’
‘Magda does not know. He had money with him. Perhaps Dame Beatrice had sent him.’ Seeing Owen’s frustration, Magda touched his arm, waited until he looked her in the eye. ‘Thou hast been home but a day. Such inquiries take time. Thou hast burden enough without adding more weight with thine impatience.’
He was about to respond when she reached out and gently touched the patch over his blind eye. The needle pricks eased. She moved to touch his jaw beneath the beard, and he felt the muscle release. Withdrawing her hand, she breathed with him, slowly, deeply. Owen closed his eye and allowed some time to pass in companionable silence.
‘I saw Guthlac today,’ he finally said. ‘He is incapable of either discovering anything or expressing such an anger.’ He described what he’d seen.
‘Difficult to hear. It need not have been so.’
‘Had you seen any sign such a decline would come?’
‘The deaths of his young children weakened him, but he was gaining strength and had every cause to expect an active life for some years.’
‘Could the leech Bernard have purposefully weakened him to his present state?’
‘If thou hast a suspicion that he is a danger, or that someone has acted to harm Guthlac, it is thy charge to find the truth.’
Could she not, just this once, speculate? Owen struggled to hide his reaction, but she would sense it, of course she would. ‘I ask because you were caring for him.’
‘At the time of their bereavement Magda sat with them. But a fortnight past the harvest moon Beatrice felt there was no more need.’
‘You were not caring for them? Gavin did not send you away?’
‘No. Beatrice had been sending a servant to fetch the physicks, then one day she said she would no longer be doing so, her mistress thanked Magda and wished her well.’
Not the stuff of rumors. ‘You had not seen Guthlac since autumn?’
‘Magda saw him from time to time. He would hail her on the street.’
So he had been out and about. ‘When did you last see him?’
‘No more than a week before Magda heard the tale of her being sent away.’
‘And he was well then?’
‘Well enough to be out on an errand.’
They sat in silence for a while, Owen turning various possibilities over in his mind. When Magda suggested he needed his rest, he bestirred himself to ask about Einar and Asa.
‘I met him,’ he added.
‘So he said. Asa would darken his heart toward thee. The invitation to St George’s Field was clever, but perhaps not enough.’
‘I understand she would have Alisoun believe he is her son, but that is not so.’
‘Of little importance. Magda believes they share a common mission, pursuing someone in the city. Who it is, what they want with him, and why they arrived when they did – none of that is clear. It is puzzling that Asa would journey now, when it pains her to walk. She says she came for the healing, but her distress was not their purpose. At least not that distress.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘A long time she has suffered, taking more and more willow bark for the pain until her blood pooled in her feet, blackening them. She knew to stop the bark, mix a potion to thicken the blood, lie with feet propped up, rest. But instead she continued, worsening her condition with a journey. Magda did not turn her daughter away, doing what Asa knew to do. Now Asa leaves before her blood has thickened. To pursue whoever it is in the city. Given her history, she intends to punish them for betraying her.’
‘About what?’
‘Magda does not know.’
‘And Einar?’
‘A mystery.’
‘You believe they mean trouble?’
‘Of some sort. Whether to Magda, to this man, both, Magda knows too little to guess.’
Owen muttered a curse. Magda pressed the middle of his forehead. ‘Look within, trust thyself.’
‘The prince summoned me because he believed I had the Sight. He wanted to know what lies ahead for him and for the realm.’
‘Thou hast a gift, a seeing, but it is a selfless tool for thy work. For healing the community. As Magda’s is for healing the body and spirit. Folk want it to be more. A power. Something to help them rise above.’ Again she pressed the middle of his forehead. ‘Thou hast gathered the questions. Now thy work is to follow where they lead.’
‘While keeping my one good eye on all in the city. And out here.’
‘Magda will see to Galtres. Thou hast more than enough work in the city.’
A shower of needle pricks, gentler than before, yet an alert. ‘Why do I feel as if you know more than you are saying?’
‘No doubt that is true, for thee as well. Asa and Einar puzzle Magda. She must shelter a mother about to birth twins. The manqualm creeps close.’ Hearing the weariness in her voice Owen regretted his irritation. ‘This is a dark time, Bird-eye. There is much work to do. Magda asks a favor of thee.’ Taking some coins from somewhere in her skirts she offered them to him. ‘Magda is caring for a family of five children, two about to be born, the father crippled. They need clothing. Good but modest cloth, so that they might make new clothes. And some to make clothes to sell.’
‘So that you need not come into the city. Of course. I will ask Lucie.’
‘Thou art a good friend, Bird-eye, doing this kindness despite thy frustration with Magda.’
She had noticed. Waving away his apology she stepped outside with him, walking to face the south bank. He joined her, curious as she stood still, studying the bank upriver and down in the fading light.
‘What is it?’
‘For a moment before returning to the rock Magda sensed someone over there. Almost it felt her calling to Magda.’
‘Asa?’
Magda shook her head. ‘Whoever it was, she is gone.’
5
Arrows
At first light, Magda packed her basket with all she might need through the morning, including a skin with wine mixed with herbs to warm and calm, and set off upriver. She stayed close to the bank, slipping in and out of the morning mist as she pricked her ears for the sound of someone moving along the far bank. Across from the nest of the swans she settled on a piece of wall to afford the presence she had sensed the opportunity to reveal herself. The wine was for her, to warm her after a night in hiding.