“I see,” Master Archer said after a while in a voice which sounded devoid of emotion.
They walked in silence and Emma had occasion to think upon what the priest had said. The priest had threatened Rowena, and Emma began to wonder if Rowena was the only woman in the parish to have been threatened by Father Alcuin.
“He is vile and sinful... the priest. We cannot be silent about it, can we? To think how many others he might have tried to prey upon. To think how many others he might have already hurt,”she found herself saying, unable to refrain from speaking what she knew was right and true.
Arthen glanced at her in sheer astonishment.
“You never used to care,” she heard him mutter after a while.
She opened her mouth to speak, knowing she would have to tell him the truth of who she was, no matter the cost, because she could no longer live in deception. Yet he did not let her speak.
“But it is as you say. It’s an injustice that needs to be righted,” he now said.
The words called back into her mind the stories of the hooded outlaw he often told Robin and the other boys.
“What shall we do?” she asked with widened eyes, knowing Father Alcuin was a man of the Church whose word held weight.
“What needs to be done,” Arthen replied steadily.
He then calmly and dispassionately began to lay out a plan to her, and Emma soon felt a cold reassurance descend upon her.
CHAPTER 17
Emma spied Father Alcuin's hooded figure as it stealthily approached the place of their assignation. By the guarded way he was walking, it seemed he was wary of meeting her in a place of ill-repute. Alcuin now believed he would at last get his heart's desire of bedding Rowena, yet Emma had called for him only in order to fulfil the plan she and Arthen had conferred upon. The priest should be punished for the wicked way in which he sought to prey upon his parishioners, it was a thing upon which both Arthen and Emma found themselves in agreement. But at this time Emma looked upon the priest from her place of hiding and started wondering whether the plan which had seemed so sound wasn't fraught with peril for both Arthen and herself. What if Alcuin suspected what they had in store for him?
Emma herself had had misgivings that Alcuin would wish to meet her in a house which everyone in their neighbourhood knew belonged to a man who rented it to those who sold their bodies.
“Alcuin fancies himself a man of God. Even if I call for him and tell him I'll give him what he craves, he will not want to step inside a house where wretched people come."
"Wretched?" Arthen had countered drily. "Who are you calling wretched? The unfortunate women who have to sell their bodies for a few coins?"
"Nay. Not them. I was thinking of the men who pay for coupling. They are wretched. Far more wretched and far more sinful than the women who have to sell themselves," Emma had countered in turn.
Arthen had said nothing, just casting her an unfathomable look.
"Alcuin has cunning. He's not that foolish as to go there," Emma had persisted.
"Even cunning men can be fooled. And I reckon he's already a fool over you. Isn't it so, wife?" Arthen had told her in the same dry voice as before.
Emma had blushed fiercely, knowing the time would soon come for her to share the truth with him. He still believed the worst of her.
"I swear I did not lie with him!" she pleaded.
It was the truth, but not in the way Arthen would understand it. Yet it was plain Rowena had not shared her body with the priest. And that was why Alcuin was now so desperately seeking to have her. As if in echo of her thoughts, Arthen said in a calm, resolute voice, "Then more foolish he'll be. He will be frenzied to possess what you have denied him, and hurry to do just as you ask."
It had turned out that Arthen had been a good judge of character. In spite of Emma's misgivings, the priest had agreed to meet her at the place she'd wished. So far, the plan seemed to have worked. But Emma's heart started to thump fiercely in her chest, because the next part of their plan was perilous indeed. And Arthen risked life and limb if they were to be discovered.
She no longer had time to ponder on the folly of what they'd both resolved. Arthen's hooded figure emerged from the placewhere they'd been hiding, starting to tread behind the priest with soft, cat-like steps. Alcuin had been wary, and, in spite of Arthen's stealth, he soon perceived someone was walking behind him. However, at this time he'd already reached the door of the place he'd been seeking and there was nowhere he could run from there. He shook in fear as the hooded man paused to look upon him. Mightily trembling, he extinguished the light he'd been carrying, no doubt willing to evade his pursuer in the dark. Yet there were two torches burning by the entrance of the house, which, it was well known, were kept burning at most times, since the place was meant to welcome those who sought the cover of night for what they wished to do. Emma held her breath when Alcuin opened his mouth to screech, yet the hooded man didn't give him the opportunity to call for help. Lightning-fast, he unslung his bow from his shoulder and released a thwacking arrow which whizzed with dangerous precision.
Emma's eyes had always been keen, and even in the torch-light, she was able to perceive that the arrow had lodged itself into the priest's garment, right above his left shoulder, pinning him to the door. Alcuin's call for help turned into a pitiful yelp, as the priest vainly struggled to free himself, but the hooded man didn't waste any time. He released five more arrows which struck with the same unfailing precision. Emma held her breath each time an arrow found its target, fearful Arthen would miss, and pierce the body of the man in front of him instead of his cloak and garments. But each and every one of the arrows swiftly found the target Arthen had been seeking. The priest whined in fear each time an arrow pinned him to the door, but the sounds were strangled and raspy, and not loud enough to rouse those who might come to his aid.
Emma decided to emerge from the cover of darkness, although Arthen had cautioned her to remain hidden. She had already resolved that, no matter what Arthen had told her, shehad agreed to be part of this and would not hide behind him as he did what they'd planned.
Alcuin was crying softly when he glanced upon her.
"I did not lie with you. Please tell him, woman!" he blabbered, having understood only too well who the masked archer was.
"Aye, you did not," Emma conceded, but hardened her heart against a man who made a mockery of the holy robes he wore. "But you wished to. I wonder how many other women you lay with. Women you threatened just as you threatened me."