Wolfbreed (28 page)

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Anno Domini 1239

Quia os peccatoris et os dolosi super me apertum est:
locuti sunt adversum me lingua dolosa
.

For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful    
are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.

—Psalms 109:2

andkomtur Erhard von Stendal stood alone with the bodies the men had brought back from the woods. They had laid out the corpses in the chapel at Johannisburg Castle. The remains rested on two long tables, close to the altar. Despite the fact that these were not brothers of the Order, Erhard had told the priest to say the full office of the dead for both of them, and ordered his fellow knights to say the traditional one hundred Pater Nosters usually reserved for deceased brethren.

The dead—Karl Lindberg and one of his squires—weren’t men he had known well. They were just examples of the petty lords and knights that chose to serve God for a few months in exchange for absolution and the favor of the Church.

Erhard concluded his own prayers in the presence of the corpses. He stood in the shadow of the chapel’s simple cross, attempting to reconcile his twin feelings of guilt and cynicism.

It wasn’t right to question a man’s service to God, however that man came to serve. Such judgments were reserved for the Lord. Still, given what he did know about Karl Lindberg, Erhard certainly wouldn’t characterize the man’s service as joyful or without reservation.

And the way he had died did not testify to the man’s righteous character.

The corpses were shrouded in preparation for burial, but Erhard had already seen the damage. At first, it appeared that it wasn’t Lilly’s doing. The wolfbreed killed with tooth and claw, rending their victims flesh from bone. Karl’s squire bore not a mark on him other than the black bruise that encircled his neck. And while Karl Lindberg’s face had been savaged, the marks in what was left of his cheek came from human teeth. Also, his manhood was taken with a bladed weapon—probably his own dagger, which was missing.

The assault was savage, but human. That meant it probably wasn’t Lilly’s doing, despite the missing silver collar.

However, if it was?

My hubris
, Erhard thought.

Günter’s men—that had been unprecedented. Before that point, none of the wolfbreed Erhard had taken to battle—not Lilly, nor any of the three siblings that followed her—had ever laid a hand on a Christian. The three others were years dead, but had all died in their service to God. Nothing, absolutely nothing, would have led Erhard to expect Lilly to turn against her masters.

So Erhard might be excused responsibility for the loss of Günter’s men here.

But these two?

These deaths were upon him. He had his instructions; Lilly was to be exterminated. Was it his own moral weakness that made him order Lilly to be brought back for questioning? Was it asking too much, placing too high a price on his own doubts?

He needed to talk to her, but were his questions important enough to cost the lives of these men?

Erhard stood and walked over to the only other evidence of the debacle last night. The tattered remnants of a peasant woman’s surcoat rested across one of the benches, where Erhard had left it
during his devotions. Now that he had paid his respects, he picked it up and held it in his hands.

The front had been slit open, and the blood spattered upon it gave testament to Karl Lindberg’s ill intentions.

Erhard had been all Lilly had; she knew nothing else, no other source of pleasure or happiness. Escape should have been inconceivable.

Could she still be here?

“Could she have gone insane?” he whispered.

Somehow, the prospect of her going mad was more ominous than the idea of her disobedience. He dismissed the thought. Not only was her mind as strong as her flesh, but her acts were not the acts of someone mad. She hadn’t gone on the bloody rampage he would have expected. She had spent days planning and staging her escape. She had outmaneuvered her guards, and remained hidden.

He remembered telling her that for all her inhuman prowess, surprise was still her most potent weapon.

She had learned that lesson all too well.

He had seen what she could do when given rein to her blood-lust. Sergeant Günter thought he had seen carnage, but he was mistaken. Eight years ago, when this village was little more than a wooden stronghold held by a petty Prûsan nobleman, back when its name was Mejdân,
that
had been carnage. The wrath of God Himself had descended to this spot of ground, killing the occupants of this fortress—man, woman, and child. When the fire cleared and the Order had taken possession of the land, they counted more than fifty victims, but because the stronghold had burned, they probably never found all of them.

The slaughter had the desired effect, and the survivors accepted baptism almost to a man. In Johannisburg now, from what he had seen, the remaining Prûsan population rarely talked about the stronghold’s fall. If they did, it was in hushed tones of superstitious dread. As if naming the evil might cause the demon to return.

Little did they suspect he had brought it back to them.

Perhaps that is why? Someone here spoke your name?

He would have laughed at himself, if he had any humor left. Lilly did not spontaneously abandon seventeen years of training, toss aside the will of her master, just because some ignorant villager uttered too much of what she had wrought here.

However, if her escape was so calculated, why would she stay close to Johannisburg? Her wounds were healed by now. Enough that she would have had little problem killing Karl and his squire, but also enough so she could quit Johannisburg and disappear into the countryside.

But why would Karl use the torc on a woman if he didn’t believe, didn’t
know
? That he did so, and ended up dead for his trouble …

That itself argued that it
was
Lilly. And if so, something was keeping her here.

hen he left the chapel, one of his brother knights was waiting for him by the doorway. The sun had set, and the bailey was deep in shadow.

“Have you been waiting for me long, Brother?”

“Not too long.” He handed Erhard a sealed message. “A messenger arrived while you were in prayer.”

He took the message and stepped back into the doorway where light leaked from the chapel’s lanterns. Above him, bells began to ring Compline.

He hesitated before breaking the seal.

“Is there something wrong?”

Erhard shook his head. “No.” What had given him pause was the presence of a bishop’s miter on the seal.

He opened the message, reading it several times before he lowered
it. He looked back into the chapel and stared at the cross for several moments.

Your path is never easy
.

“What is it, Brother Erhard?”

“We must make preparations for a guest.”

“Who?”

“A personal representative of the pope, Bishop Cecilio.”

s this a good idea, son?” Uldolf’s father leaned against the door frame and shook his head.

Inside the cottage Lilly stood by Burthe, chopping vegetables and humming to herself. Her hair shone black from a fresh attempt to color it. The scratches on her neck had faded to a few red lines. She showed no other sign of the ordeal she had been through four days ago.

Uldolf spoke low, because there was little question that Lilly understood their speech as well as anyone, even if she still had some difficulty talking. “I think we need to know more about what’s going on with Lilly, don’t you?” Uldolf looked away from Lilly, to his father. “We’re actually ahead on planting because of her help. One field’s sown, and you’ve got the horse done plowing so you can pull out the big harrow. You can spare me for a few days.”

Gedim grunted. “Ahead?” He lowered his voice to a whisper. “By my count we lost two days because you had to run after her.”

“I know.”

“I’m not saying it’s your fault, son,” Gedim said. “Or hers even. This is just a bad time.”

“The Germans will be back.”

“You’re sure they …” Gedim glanced over at Lilly. If Lilly heard their conversation, she showed no sign of it.

Uldolf still shook his head. It wasn’t something they should talk about in her presence. Instead he told his father, “There will be rumors. Some word of where she came from, why they’re searching for her.”

“You’re right. I just wish she’d tell us herself where she belongs.” The way Gedim said it made Uldolf think that Gedim had begun to have the same suspicions that Uldolf had. The thought that Lilly had escaped from something too painful for her to dwell upon.

I suppose we both know about that sort of thing
.

“I’ll find out,” Uldolf said.

“Perhaps I should be the one to go.”

“No.” He whispered it loud enough that he heard Lilly stop chopping.

Gedim narrowed his eyes at Uldolf.

“No.” Uldolf lowered his voice. “Better I go. Then the farm’s only losing one arm, not two. And, it’s better that the head of the house is here, if the soldiers come back.”