The Riverwoman’s Dragon

‘Could not tell you. Sam admired her, and pitied her. She loved her children.’

‘And her husband? Did Sam pity her for being wed to a man so much older than she?’

A wince. ‘He never said as much, but something made me think he did. I could not swear to it. Nor whether she was unhappy. I always thought her oddly unfriendly to Dame Emma, the kindest of women.’

Finishing the bowl of ale, Owen thanked Luke for his help, and his information. ‘I have much to do before nightfall.’

‘I am glad to help. I will miss the “gardener” when Gavin and the mistress are gone.’

Slinging the pack over his shoulder and lifting the chest, Owen took his leave. His stomach growled as he turned back toward the Fuller house. But there was much to do before he turned homeward.

Janet Fuller wept to see the chest. ‘My Jack was so proud to be master of a ship.’

‘Would you inspect the contents, tell me whether anything is missing? Go inside, where it is comfortable.’

‘You should not come into the hall, not with Cilla–’

‘I will wait here.’

While he stood without, watching the street, Owen glimpsed a familiar lope and hailed Alfred.

‘Any sign of the leech?’

‘No, Captain.’

‘Are you headed home?’

‘I was. But if there’s aught I might do for Dame Janet and Cilla …’

Hearing how Alfred’s voice changed when speaking Cilla’s name, Owen wondered whether she was the young woman he had once hoped to wed. ‘Stand watch until I find someone to take your place?’

‘Gladly, Captain.’

Janet appeared, a smile assuring him that all was as it should be. ‘Alfred. Are you to guard Cilla and me tonight?’

‘As long as I am needed, Dame Janet. How is Cilla?’

Owen slipped away, turning toward the Cooper house, not too far. Edwin supported Alan. Might he hide him?

With the waning light, he noticed lamps lit in many homes. One burned in the kitchen of the Cooper house. Several men congregated in the cooperage yard, two rolling new barrels to a pile beneath the eaves, two watching, talking in low voices.

‘Is Edwin Cooper about?’

‘Aye, he is. But what he’s about, well, see for yourself.’ The man gestured toward the workshop.

The shutters on the window beside the door were opened. On the floor, illuminated by a lamp on a worktable he glimpsed a man’s bare backside, hiding some of the naked woman beneath him. Cooper cried out, begging God’s forgiveness as the woman beneath him laughed. Owen recognized her as a servant in the household. Much ado here, but nothing to do with Alan Rawcliff.

Nodding his thanks, Owen turned toward Hempe’s house. He would ask him to send someone to relieve Alfred’s watch, arrange for help with tomorrow morning’s plan, and then go home. He needed Lucie’s clear-eyed counsel. He would leave the visit to the mayor’s home till morning, when he passed it to attend the mass for Jack Fuller. Near the bridge he encountered a pair of friars praying as two men loaded several corpses onto a cart. Victims of the pestilence, from the stench. Covering his nose and mouth with a scarf he, like all folk in the city, wore round his neck right now, Owen hurried along.

It was only when Owen entered his own gate and saw Lucie, Jasper, and Kate sitting by the fire, heard the murmur of their talk, that he felt his stomach unclench. He had turned away Lotta Hempe’s offer of food and drink in his haste to make certain all was well at home.

‘Have you eaten?’ Lucie asked.

He could not recall when or what he’d eaten. Certainly not at Magda’s. Nor since then. He vaguely remembered some bread snatched up as he left for the Fuller home in the early morning. ‘No.’

While Kate prepared a bowl of stew and cut bread Owen poured himself a mazer of ale and sank down before the fire. Lucie stood behind him, massaging his temples.

‘We will talk,’ she said, ‘but first you must eat and rest awhile.’

He took a long drink. ‘He calls himself a healer,’ he growled.

Lucie shushed him. ‘Eat first. Jasper told me the extent of Asa’s injuries. I know, my love, I know.’