The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett [192]
The verderer’s wife heard the horses and came to the door. The man said to her: “A young lord and lady, alone in the forest. Give them something to drink.” He turned to Aliena. “In you go. I’ll see to the horses.”
Aliena did not like his peremptory tone—she would have preferred it if she were the one giving instructions—but she had no wish to unsaddle her own horse, so she went inside. Richard followed. The house was smoky and smelly, but warm. There was a cow tethered in one corner. Aliena was glad the man had mentioned an outhouse: she had never slept with cattle. A pot bubbled on the fire. They sat on a bench, and the wife gave them each a bowl of soup from the pot. It tasted gamey. When she saw Richard’s face in the light she was shocked. “What happened to you?” she said.
Richard opened his mouth to reply but Aliena forestalled him. “We’ve had a series of misfortunes,” she said. “We’re on our way to see the king.”
“I see,” said the wife. She was a small, brown-skinned woman with a guarded look. She did not persist in her questioning.
Aliena ate her soup quickly and wanted more. She held out her bowl. The woman looked away. Aliena was puzzled. Did she not know what Aliena wanted? Or did she not have any more? Aliena was about to speak to her sharply when the verderer came in. “I’ll show you the barn, where you can sleep,” he said. He took a lamp from a hook by the door. “Come with me.”
Aliena and Richard stood up. Aliena said to the wife: “There is one thing more I need. Can you give me an old dress? I’ve got nothing on under this cloak.”
The woman looked annoyed for some reason. “I’ll see what I can find,” she muttered.
Aliena went to the door. The verderer was giving her a strange look, staring at her cloak as if he might be able to see through it if he looked hard enough. “Lead the way!” she said sharply. He turned and went through the door.
He led them around to the back of the house and through a vegetable patch. The shifting light of the lamp revealed a small wooden building, more of a shed than a barn. He opened the door. It banged against a water butt that collected the rain from the roof. “Take a look,” he said. “See if it suits you.”
Richard went in first. “Bring the light, Allie,” he said. Aliena turned to take the lamp from the verderer. As she did so, he gave her a powerful shove. She fell sideways, through the doorway and into the barn, cannoning off her brother. They both ended up in a tangle on the floor. It went dark and the door banged shut. There was a peculiar noise outside, as of something heavy being moved in front of the door.
Aliena could not believe this was happening.
“What’s going on, Allie?” Richard cried.
She sat up. Was the man really a verderer, or was he an outlaw? He could not be an outlaw—his house was too substantial. But if he really was a verderer, why had he locked them up? Had they broken a law? Did he guess that the horses were not theirs? Or did he have some dishonest motive?
“Allie, why did he do that?” Richard said.
“I don’t know,” she said wearily. She had no energy left to be upset or angry. She got up and pushed at the door. It would not move. She guessed that the verderer had put the water butt up against it. In the dark, she felt the walls of the barn. She could reach the lower slopes of the roof, too. The building was made of close-set timbers. It had been carefully constructed. It was the verderer’s jail, where he kept offenders before taking them to the sheriff. “We can’t get out,” she said.
She sat down. The floor was dry and covered with straw. “We’re stuck here until he lets us out,” she said resignedly. Richard sat beside her. After a while they lay down back to back. Aliena felt she was too battered and frightened and tense to go to sleep, but she was also exhausted, and within a few moments she fell into a healing slumber.
She woke up when the