The Pillars of the Earth - Ken Follett [462]
“Where are they going?”
“Kingsbridge.” He held up a hand. “Listen.”
Aliena cocked her head. In the far distance she could hear the bell of Kingsbridge Priory tolling fast and incessantly, warning of danger. Her heart missed a beat. “Oh, Jack—the children!”
“We can get back ahead of the outlaws if we cross Muddy Bottom and wade the river by the chestnut wood.”
“Let’s go quickly, then!”
Jack put a restraining hand on her arm and listened for a moment. He could always hear things she could not, in the forest. It came of having been brought up in the wild. She waited. At last he said: “I think they’ve all gone by.”
They left the glade. After a few moments they came to the road. There was no one in sight. They crossed the road and cut through the woods, following a barely perceptible track. Aliena had left Tommy and Sally with Martha, playing nine-men’s morris in front of a cheerful fire. She was not quite sure what the danger was but she was terrified that something might happen before she reached her children. They ran when they could, but to Aliena’s frustration the ground was too rough for most of the way, and the best she could do was jog-trot, while Jack walked with a long-legged stride. This route was harder going than the road, which was why they did not normally use it, but it was much quicker.
They slithered down the steep slope that led to Muddy Bottom. Unwary strangers were occasionally killed in this bog, but there was no danger to those who knew their way across. Nevertheless the waterlogged mud seemed to grasp Aliena’s feet, slowing her down, keeping her from Tommy and Sally. At the far side of Muddy Bottom was a ford across the river. The cold water came up to Aliena’s knees and washed the mud from her feet.
From there the route was straightforward. The alarm bell sounded louder as they approached the town. Whatever danger the town faced from the outlaws, at least they had somehow been forewarned, Aliena thought, trying to keep her spirits up. As she and Jack emerged from the forest into the meadow across the river from Kingsbridge, twenty or thirty youngsters who had been playing football in a nearby village arrived at the same time, shouting raucously and perspiring despite the cold.
They hurried across the bridge. The gate was already closed, but the people on the battlements had seen and recognized them, and as they approached, a small sally port was opened. Jack pulled rank and made the boys let him and Aliena in first. They ducked their heads and went through the small doorway. Aliena was deeply relieved to have got back to the town before the outlaws.
Panting with their exertions, they hurried up the main street. The townspeople were taking to the walls with spears, bows, and piles of stones to throw. The children were being rounded up and taken to the priory. Martha would have gone there already with Tommy and Sally, Aliena decided. She and Jack went straight to the priory close.
In the kitchen courtyard Aliena saw—to her astonishment Jack’s mother, Ellen, as lean and brown as ever, but with gray in her long hair and wrinkles around her forty-four-year-old eyes. She was talking animatedly to Richard. Prior Philip was some distance away, directing children into the chapter house. He did not seem to have seen Ellen.
Standing nearby was Martha with Tommy and Sally. Aliena gasped with relief and hugged the two children.
Jack said: “Mother! Why are you here?”
“I came to warn you that a gang of outlaws is on the way. They’re going to raid the town.”
“We saw them in the forest,” Jack said.
Richard’s ears pricked up. “You saw them? How many men?”
“I can’t be sure, but it sounded like a lot, at least a hundred, maybe more.”
“What sort of weapons?”
“Clubs. Knives. A hatchet or two. Mostly clubs.”
“What direction?”
“North of here.”
“Thanks! I’m going to take a look from the walls.”
Aliena said: “Martha, take the children into the chapter house.” She followed Richard, as did Jack and Ellen.
As they hurried through the streets, people kept saying to Richard: “What is it?”