Read Online Brother Cadfael 14: The Hermit of Eyton Forest by Ellis Peters - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Ellis Peters
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he was forced to slacken and let Cadfael ride on before at his best speed, the youth trotted doggedly and steadily behind, bent on getting back to the woodland cottage, it seemed, rather than to his master's cell. He had been a good friend to Eilmund, Cadfael reflected, but he might come in for a lashing with tongue or rod when he at last returned to his sworn duty. Though Cadfael could not, on consideration, picture that wild, unchancy creature submitting tamely to reproof, much less to punishment.
It was about the hour for Vespers when Cadfael dismounted within the low pale of Eilmund's garden, and the girl flung open the door and came out eagerly to meet him.
'Brother, I hardly expected you for a while yet. Cuthred's boy must have run like the wind, and all that way! And after he'd soaked himself in the brook getting my father clear! We've had good cause to be glad of him and his master this day, there might have been no one else by for hours.'
'How is he?' asked Cadfael, unslinging his scrip and making for the house.
'His leg's broken below the knee. I've made him lie still, and packed it round as well as I could, but it needs your hand to set it. And he lay half in the brook a long time before the young man found him, I fear he's taken a chill.'
Eilmund lay well covered, and by now grimly reconciled to his helplessness. He submitted stoically to Cadfael's handling, and gritted his teeth and made no other sound as his leg was straightened and the fractured ends of bone brought into line.
'You might have come off worse,' said Cadfael, relieved. 'A good clean break, and small damage to the flesh, though it's a pity they had to move you.'
'I might have drowned else,' growled Eilmund, 'the brook was building. And you'd best tell the lord abbot to get men out here and shift the tree, before we have a lake there again.'
'I will, I will! Now, hold fast! I don't want to leave you with one leg shorter than the other.' By heel and instep he drew out the broken leg steadily to match its fellow. 'Now, Annet, your hands where mine are, and hold it so.'
She had not wasted her time while waiting, but had hunted out straight spars of wood from Eilmund's store, and had ready sheep's wool for padding, and rolled linen for bindings. Between them they completed the work neatly, and Eilmund lay back on his brychan and heaved a great breath. His face, weatherbeaten always, nonetheless had a fierce flush over the cheekbones. Cadfael was not quite easy about it.
'Now if you can rest and sleep, so much the better. Leave the lord abbot, and the tree, and everything else that needs to be dealt with here, to me, I'll see it cared for. I'll make you a draught that will ease the pain and help you to sleep.' He mixed it and administered it to Eilmund's scornful denial of the need, but it went down without protest nonetheless.
'And sleep he will,' said Cadfael to the girl, as they withdrew into the outer room. 'But make sure he keeps warm and covered through the night, for there may be a slight fever if he's taken cold. I'll make certain I get leave to go back and forth for a day or two, till I see all's well. If he gives you a hard time, bear with him, it will mean he's taken no great harm.'
She laughed softly, undisturbed. 'Oh, he's mild as milk for me. He growls, but never bites. I know how to manage him.'
It was already beginning to be twilight when she opened the house door. The sky above was still faintly golden with the moist, mysterious afterglow, dripping light between the dark branches of the trees that surrounded the garden. And there in the turf by the gate Hyacinth was sitting motionless, waiting with the timeless patience of the tree against which his straight, supple back was braced. Even so his stillness had the suggestion of a wild thing in ambush. Or perhaps, thought Cadfael, changing his mind, of a hunted wild thing trusting to silence and stillness to be invisible to the hunter.
As soon as he saw the door open he was on
It was about the hour for Vespers when Cadfael dismounted within the low pale of Eilmund's garden, and the girl flung open the door and came out eagerly to meet him.
'Brother, I hardly expected you for a while yet. Cuthred's boy must have run like the wind, and all that way! And after he'd soaked himself in the brook getting my father clear! We've had good cause to be glad of him and his master this day, there might have been no one else by for hours.'
'How is he?' asked Cadfael, unslinging his scrip and making for the house.
'His leg's broken below the knee. I've made him lie still, and packed it round as well as I could, but it needs your hand to set it. And he lay half in the brook a long time before the young man found him, I fear he's taken a chill.'
Eilmund lay well covered, and by now grimly reconciled to his helplessness. He submitted stoically to Cadfael's handling, and gritted his teeth and made no other sound as his leg was straightened and the fractured ends of bone brought into line.
'You might have come off worse,' said Cadfael, relieved. 'A good clean break, and small damage to the flesh, though it's a pity they had to move you.'
'I might have drowned else,' growled Eilmund, 'the brook was building. And you'd best tell the lord abbot to get men out here and shift the tree, before we have a lake there again.'
'I will, I will! Now, hold fast! I don't want to leave you with one leg shorter than the other.' By heel and instep he drew out the broken leg steadily to match its fellow. 'Now, Annet, your hands where mine are, and hold it so.'
She had not wasted her time while waiting, but had hunted out straight spars of wood from Eilmund's store, and had ready sheep's wool for padding, and rolled linen for bindings. Between them they completed the work neatly, and Eilmund lay back on his brychan and heaved a great breath. His face, weatherbeaten always, nonetheless had a fierce flush over the cheekbones. Cadfael was not quite easy about it.
'Now if you can rest and sleep, so much the better. Leave the lord abbot, and the tree, and everything else that needs to be dealt with here, to me, I'll see it cared for. I'll make you a draught that will ease the pain and help you to sleep.' He mixed it and administered it to Eilmund's scornful denial of the need, but it went down without protest nonetheless.
'And sleep he will,' said Cadfael to the girl, as they withdrew into the outer room. 'But make sure he keeps warm and covered through the night, for there may be a slight fever if he's taken cold. I'll make certain I get leave to go back and forth for a day or two, till I see all's well. If he gives you a hard time, bear with him, it will mean he's taken no great harm.'
She laughed softly, undisturbed. 'Oh, he's mild as milk for me. He growls, but never bites. I know how to manage him.'
It was already beginning to be twilight when she opened the house door. The sky above was still faintly golden with the moist, mysterious afterglow, dripping light between the dark branches of the trees that surrounded the garden. And there in the turf by the gate Hyacinth was sitting motionless, waiting with the timeless patience of the tree against which his straight, supple back was braced. Even so his stillness had the suggestion of a wild thing in ambush. Or perhaps, thought Cadfael, changing his mind, of a hunted wild thing trusting to silence and stillness to be invisible to the hunter.
As soon as he saw the door open he was on
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