‘I am sure that will please the Lord,’ Alice says at length, and seems to be about to say something else, but just then the bell begins ringing for prime. They look at one another before they brush the snow from their cassocks, adjust their veils, fold their hands into their sleeves and walk towards the cloister and the safety of church.

Neither hears the soft tap of a shutter being pulled closed above their heads.

3

‘ALARM!’ HE SHOUTS. ‘Alarm!’

It is just after first light and the canons are gathering for prime in the western arm of the cloister. They react as a herd of cows might to a barking dog. Only the Dean steps forward.

‘What is this, Brother Thomas?’ He stands with his hands on his hips and a scowl on his face.

‘There are horsemen without.’ Thomas points. He can hardly breathe for running. ‘They are armed. They are coming for us.’

The Dean snaps into movement, as if this is something for which he had planned.

‘Brother John!’ he barks. ‘Brother Geoffrey! Secure the main gate. Brother Barnaby, sound the bell to summon the lay brethren! Let it ring sharply now. Brother Athelstan, have the Prioress secure the postern gate in the sisters’ cloister and shutter every window. She must gather the sisters in the chapel. Brother Anselm, bring reed and ink and some paper to the Prior in the secretarium. Brother Wilfred, have the ostler saddle a horse. And tell Brother Robert to come.’

Three canons are sent to take the books from the library to the secretarium, and two more to take axes to the buttery, ready to open the barrel and let the wine run to waste if the priory walls are breached. The bell in the belfry begins an urgent peal.

‘How many, Brother?’ the Dean asks.

‘Four, I believe, although one has been sorely treated.’

‘You harmed him?’

Thomas hesitates. He does not wish to mention the two sisters.

‘I did, Brother, may God forgive me.’

‘Good man,’ the old soldier says. ‘I am sure He will find it in His heart to do so.’

The Prior stands before the iron-bound door of the secretarium, frowning at the sound of the bell. He is dressed only in an alb, and the white circle of hair around his head is in disarray, and he blinks.

‘Why is the bell ringing so, Brother Stephen?’

‘We are under attack, Father. Brother Thomas here was waylaid while without by four armed men.’

The Prior’s gaze switches to Thomas.

‘What was their purpose?’

‘Their captain threatened to invest the priory and to have me killed.’

The Prior turns to the Dean.

‘You have alerted our sister the Prioress? Good. And secured every gate and window?’

‘All is done, Holy Father, although I have not yet sent for aid from Cornford.’

The Prior looks thoughtful.