Page 78 of The Road to Avalon
Her cousin’s head swung around, a matching smile on her face. The woman at the head of the line turned on her heel like a snake about to strike. “Sister Mary,” she snapped, like the most ferocious of sergeant-majors. “Eyes down.”
Reaghan dropped her gaze to her dirty bare feet.
I drew in an angry breath and stood up. I was the Queen, and no holy woman was going to get the better of me. I had twenty years of entitlement behind me, and didn’t lack for confidence. “Stop,” I said, as loudly as I could without shouting. “I need to speak with my niece.”
The woman turned her harsh gaze on me. Whether by choice or by compulsion, she’d scraped her hair back so tightly from her face it had pulled her eyes almost slanted, and she looked as though she’d had a bad facelift. Her grubby headdress perched on top of her head as if remaining in place by willpower alone. Gray eyes, cold as the winter sea, regarded me in something akin to scorn, her thin lips forming a downward curving line under her hooked nose. Not a looker.
“Who are you and what do you want here?” she asked, as the five young women stood in line, heads down, waiting in an oppressed silence. Only Reaghan peeped at us sideways.
I drew myself up taller, conscious of Gildas’s all too good disguise and that I didn’t look like who I claimed to be. “I am your queen, and I need to speak with Reaghan.”
The woman– mother superior, abbess, whatever– fixed me with a glacial stare. “This is not an order that welcomes visitors. Sister Mary is not free to talk with you.”
I wasn’t having any of that. “Myniece,” I said, glowering at the woman with all the regal presence I could muster, “is nothing but a novice.” I was guessing here, based on the small amount of knowledge I had of modern nuns. “She’s been with you a matter of weeks only. And I am your queen. You will do as I say.”
The woman wavered. Uncertainty flickered in her mean, pebble eyes.
I pounced. “Take your other women away with you, and leave Reaghan here with us. We do not wish to be disturbed.”
She didn’t want to go, but with a resentful glare, she did, chivvying the remaining four young women in front of her before they showed signs of wanting to rebel as well. Reaghan stood where she’d been left, still studying her feet.
Archfedd threw me an impressed grin, and hurried to her cousin, catching her in her arms in a bear hug. “Reaghan, I’ve so missed you.” She planted a kiss on each unresponsive cheek.
Reaghan lifted her head, a furtive, frightened look in her eyes. “Not here,” she said. “She’ll be listening. This way.”
We followed her along the ridge for a good three hundred yards to where a low stone wall surrounded a well. She sat down on the wall, and we did too, one on either side of her.
“That woman’s awful,” Archfedd said. “What on earth are you staying here for?”
Reaghan pulled a wry face. “I can’t go back to Din Cadan, that’s why.”
My ears pricked. “Why ever not?”
Hot color rose up her neck to her cheeks. “I can’t say, but I have to stay here… where it’s safe.”
“Safe?” Alarm bells rang in my head.
“What d’you mean?” Archfedd asked. “Safe fromwhat?”
Reaghan fidgeted in discomfort. Her fingers, the nails bitten to the quick, much like Archfedd’s, pulled at the coarse threads of her habit. If that was the right name for the plain, calf-length sack she was wearing. It made mine and Archfedd’s garments look like haute couture.
I took one of her hands in mine, and Archfedd grabbed the other. We had her sandwiched between us, unable to get away. An unclean smell hung about her, as though she hadn’t been able to wash since she’d arrived here. “You can tell us anything,” I said, as gently as possible. “No one will judge you or think you silly.” I squeezed her hand. “We’re here to help you, if you need it. Your mother is missing you very much.”
Reaghan studied her toes and shook her head. “Ican’ttell you.” Her words came out as a mutter into her chest.
The feeling there was more to this vocation than met the eye grew stronger. I let go of her hand and put my arm around her shoulders, pulling her against me. “Don’t worry. I won’t let anything bad happen. Just tell me what’s wrong. I’m sure I’ll be able to help you.”
For answer she burst into tears, her shoulders shaking.
Archfedd met my gaze over her cousin’s bent head, eyes wide with shock. She shuffled closer as well, and squeezed her arm around Reaghan’s waist. “I’m here now,” she cooed. “I’m with you to keep you safe. We’re together again like we’re meant to be. I can look after you now.”
Even though it was really her who needed keeping safe. Ironic.
I tried to gather my thoughts. Reaghan had discovered her vocation very quickly while we’d been away at Caer Dore and Din Tagel. Very quickly. Too quickly, even. I’d been puzzled at the time, but had dismissed it as a whim of hers and tended to agree with Arthur that she’d be back as soon as the bad weather set in. What was I missing?
I tightened my hold around her shoulders. “Reaghan, whose idea was it that you should become a religious?”
She wiped her eyes on her bare arm. “M-mine… I think.”
