Sarum - Edward Rutherfurd [375]
But it was Walter who had seen his family’s moment in history. Like a sailor sensing the turning of the tide, he had known exactly when and how to move; he had seized his opportunity and driven them forward.
For the Wilson family, the critical moment was the Black Death.
He was fifteen when the plague arrived. When young Peter suddenly fell sick he and his other brothers and sisters were ordered out of the house. They stayed in Grovely Wood, sleeping out, but returning periodically to the cottage to collect scraps of food. Then the rest of the family went down, one by one: his mother, his brothers and sisters – some with the disease in the lungs, others with the buboes, until only he and his father and his brother Elias – a half-wit but with the strength of an ox – were left. Elias stayed at the cottage then, while he remained in the wood. And finally, even Walter succumbed. He saw the swellings under his father’s arms; then he fled.
Three weeks he stayed in Grovely Wood, and lived well enough, for the Forest Laws were temporarily forgotten. He set snares for a variety of small animals; he even killed a young deer. And no one came by to trouble him. Several times, he wandered towards one of the nearby villages, watching cautiously from a vantage point; but as he saw the people there carrying out their dead for burial, he retreated back into the safety of the wood. Often he considered returning to Shockley farm but the terrible memory of his family dying there made him tremble and he avoided the place.
And then he saw his father.
It was early one morning. Walter was moving slowly, limping up the slope from the direction of Shockley, one foot dragging in the newly fallen leaves so that he made an uneven rustling sound as he moved that was strangely frightening. His face was distorted with pain and, even from fifty yards off, Edward could see that the buboes had spread to his neck. Obviously he must be dying, but what had made him go into the woods to do so the boy could not guess. He did not wait to find out, but fled. As he did so, he heard his father cursing behind him.
He did not go back to the spot but spent the day roaming around the edge of the high ground before returning to another part of the wood to sleep.
Darkness had fallen and he was just dozing when he felt the long thin hand close over his throat. He tried to scream, but the steely grip prevented him. He knew it was his father.
“Fool,” Walter’s voice hissed, close by his ear. He smelt his father’s breath. For some reason it smelt of fish.
He let his body relax. Perhaps if he could get his father off guard, he could suddenly slip out of his grip. But the steely hand only tightened.
“Want to slip away? Think I’m going to give you the plague?”
Of course he did. He heard Walter laugh softly.
“Still afraid of me?” Walter seemed pleased at the thought. All his family had been afraid of him.
Then Edward felt his other hand being taken and, though he fought with all his strength, it was pulled slowly but inexorably towards his father’s face. Now Walter was pressing it against something – a small, hard bump.
“That’s my neck,” he hissed. Edward groaned as his hand was shifted again, and jammed against something hairy this time where there was another hard bump. “Armpit,” Walter whispered. “I had the plague. Didn’t kill me though. Gone now; you won’t catch it.” He released Edward’s throat, but kept a hold on his arm. “You come with me,” he muttered. “Work to do.”
Edward smiled now, at the thought of the days that followed. They were a revelation.
Elias never even caught the plague. “Too stupid to catch anything,” his father commented sourly. The rest of the family were neatly buried in a small trench above the cottage. “Half Sarum’s dead,” Walter informed him the next morning. “Go to your cousins. Bring anyone here who’s alive. Get back by evening.”
“Why?” he asked. But when Walter made to strike him he ran quickly off and did as he was told.
The little group – the remnants of Walter’s brothers’ and sisters’ families – was not impressive.