The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett [208]
They walked up the High Street, entered the castle by the back gate, and then walked past the keep and down the hill to the jail. Aliena recalled what Odo had told her yesterday, when she had asked whether Father was all right. “No, he’s not,” the jailer had said. “He’s dying.” She had thought he was exaggerating to be cruel, but now she began to worry. She said to Meg: “Is there anything wrong with my father?”
“I don’t know, dear,” Meg said. “I’ve never seen him.”
“The jailer said he was dying.”
“That man is as mean as a cat. He probably said it just to make you miserable. Anyway, you’ll know in a moment.”
Aliena was not comforted, despite Meg’s good intentions, and she was full of dread as she walked through the doorway into the evil-smelling gloom of the jail.
Odo was warming his hands at the fire in the middle of the lobby. He nodded at Meg and looked at Aliena. “Have you got the money?” he said.
“I’ll pay for them,” Meg said. “Here’s two pennies, one for me and one for them.”
A crafty look came over Odo’s stupid face, and he said: “It’s twopence for them—a penny for each.”
“Don’t be such a dog,” Meg said. “You let them both in, or I’ll make trouble for you with the merchant guild, and you’ll lose the job.”
“All right, all right, no need for threats,” he said grumpily. He pointed to an archway in the stone wall to their right. “Bartholomew is that way.”
Meg said: “You’ll need a light.” She drew two candles from the pocket of her cloak and lit them at the fire, then gave one to Aliena. Her face looked troubled. “I hope all will be well,” she said, and she kissed Aliena. Then she went quickly through the opposite arch.
“Thank you for the penny,” Aliena called after her, but Meg had disappeared into the gloom.
Aliena peered apprehensively in the direction Odo had indicated. Holding the candle up high, she went through the archway, and found herself in a tiny square vestibule. The light of the candle showed three heavy doors, each barred on the outside. Odo called out: “Straight in front of you.”
Aliena said: “Lift the bar, Richard.”
Richard took the heavy wooden bar out of its brackets and stood it up against the wall. Aliena pushed the door open and sent up a quick silent prayer.
The cell was dark but for the light of her candle. She hesitated in the doorway, peering into the moving shadows. The place smelled like a privy. A voice said: “Who is it?”
Aliena said: “Father?” She made out a dark figure sitting on the straw-covered floor.
“Aliena?” There was incredulity in the voice. “Is that Aliena?” It sounded like Father’s voice, but older.
Aliena went closer, holding the candle up. He looked up at her, the candlelight caught his face, and she gasped in horror.
He was hardly recognizable.
He had always been a thin man, but now he looked like a skeleton. He was filthy dirty and dressed in rags. “Aliena!” he said. “It is you!” His face twisted into a smile, and it was like the grin of a skull.
Aliena burst into tears. Nothing could have prepared her for the shock of seeing him so transformed. It was the most dreadful thing imaginable. She knew instantly that he was dying: the vile Odo had told the truth. But he was still alive, still suffering, and painfully pleased to see her. She had been determined to stay calm, but now she lost control completely, and fell to her knees in front of him, weeping with great racking sobs that came from deep inside her.
He leaned forward and put his arms around her, patting her back as if he were comforting a child over a grazed knee or a broken toy. “Don’t cry,” he said gently. “Not when you’ve made your father so happy.”
Aliena felt the candle taken from her hand. Father said: “And is that tall young man my Richard?”
“Yes, Father,” Richard said stiffly.
Aliena put her arms around Father, and felt his bones like sticks in a sack. He was wasting away: there was no flesh beneath his skin. She wanted to say