Read Online Come Twilight by Chelsea Quinn Yarbro - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Chelsea Quinn Yarbro
Tags: Fiction
Ads: Link
in the smaller chapel, so that they may be in a holy place and safe from storms and thieves and wolves alike. As soon as the snow has gone, we will seek to lay all of those who perish, to good, Christian rest.
The Frater-tertiary who carries this to you will vouch for all I have said here. He is a simple man, and humble, but his devotion to truth is beyond question. On behalf of your cousin, who brought the Frater-tertiaryTerio to Archangeli, I ask you to house and clothe and feed him in your cousin’s memory. You will find him reliable and faithful; God has given him great strength of body, that he may make his way in the world. I should tell you that he is easily frightened and therefore unsuited to the battlefield; his strength is best employed in building and similar tasks.
I have charged him to make note of all he sees in his journey to you, and to make a full and faithful account to you, telling only what he him self has witnessed. There are rumors everywhere, and in each of them, the Great Pox is worse; what Frater-tertiary Terio sees he will tell you, no more and no less. You may rely on him to report aright, and without guile, for so he is charged to do, on pain of eternal damnation. You may find such information useful as the seasons warm and the sickness is absorbed into the air from the infected earth.
May God reward you for your charity to Frater-tertiary Terio. May He open the doors of Paradise to your cousin, our Primor, and show him God’s Peace. May you not suffer the visitation of the Great Pox. May all your family remain untouched by it. May your lands be in good heart. May your fields and orchards be bountiful. May your herds and flocks thrive. May you live in favor with your peers. May your enemies be struck down. May your coffers fill with treasure. May your name be spoken with respect from now until God comes again to deliver His People from the pains of this world.
Frater Morduc, Scribe
Half-brother to Episcus Honorius of Caesaraugusta
at Archangeli monastery near Roncesvalles, written on the 21 st day of
January in the 622 nd year of God’s Incarnation, in the calendar of
Sanct’ Iago.
3
A band of jugglers had arrived the day before Sanct’ Germain and his escort, and so the villa of Gardingio Witteric was filled with activity: musicians playing bladder-pipes and drums rushed about, creating noise, their half-masks transforming them into otherworldly beings as their fantastical clothing flapped in the icy wind. There were soldiers and men-at-arms lounging in the central courtyard—a heavily fortified addition that had been erected after the Romans left—laughing at the musicians and watching the entertainers put their talents to balancing and throwing and other feats of skill. Two large braziers provided as much smoke as heat to those who crowded around them, seeking their warmth even as they batted at the soot and coughed. A dozen large dogs watched all this uneasily, occasionally growling when one of the musicians ventured too close. Servants and slaves did their best to continue at their tasks in spite of this distraction: a few actually succeeded.
The sartrium at the gate looked over the new arrivals, accepted a few silver coins from Sanct’ Germain, and agreed to introduce him to the Gardingio at once instead of demanding the usual delays. “Your men may put their mounts in the open stalls—the box-stalls are for our horses. They’ll have to curry their animals themselves, and see to their feed and water—Gardingio Witteric does not care for the animals of those not in his household, or of his invited guests.” He laid heavy emphasis on the word
invited.
This was not unusual, although Sanct’ Germain knew his escort would complain. “Well enough. My bondsman will supervise the rest, if you have no objection.” He paid no attention to those who stared at his black pluvial over a black-and-silver Byzantine hippogaudion riding habit and high boots of red
The Frater-tertiary who carries this to you will vouch for all I have said here. He is a simple man, and humble, but his devotion to truth is beyond question. On behalf of your cousin, who brought the Frater-tertiaryTerio to Archangeli, I ask you to house and clothe and feed him in your cousin’s memory. You will find him reliable and faithful; God has given him great strength of body, that he may make his way in the world. I should tell you that he is easily frightened and therefore unsuited to the battlefield; his strength is best employed in building and similar tasks.
I have charged him to make note of all he sees in his journey to you, and to make a full and faithful account to you, telling only what he him self has witnessed. There are rumors everywhere, and in each of them, the Great Pox is worse; what Frater-tertiary Terio sees he will tell you, no more and no less. You may rely on him to report aright, and without guile, for so he is charged to do, on pain of eternal damnation. You may find such information useful as the seasons warm and the sickness is absorbed into the air from the infected earth.
May God reward you for your charity to Frater-tertiary Terio. May He open the doors of Paradise to your cousin, our Primor, and show him God’s Peace. May you not suffer the visitation of the Great Pox. May all your family remain untouched by it. May your lands be in good heart. May your fields and orchards be bountiful. May your herds and flocks thrive. May you live in favor with your peers. May your enemies be struck down. May your coffers fill with treasure. May your name be spoken with respect from now until God comes again to deliver His People from the pains of this world.
Frater Morduc, Scribe
Half-brother to Episcus Honorius of Caesaraugusta
at Archangeli monastery near Roncesvalles, written on the 21 st day of
January in the 622 nd year of God’s Incarnation, in the calendar of
Sanct’ Iago.
3
A band of jugglers had arrived the day before Sanct’ Germain and his escort, and so the villa of Gardingio Witteric was filled with activity: musicians playing bladder-pipes and drums rushed about, creating noise, their half-masks transforming them into otherworldly beings as their fantastical clothing flapped in the icy wind. There were soldiers and men-at-arms lounging in the central courtyard—a heavily fortified addition that had been erected after the Romans left—laughing at the musicians and watching the entertainers put their talents to balancing and throwing and other feats of skill. Two large braziers provided as much smoke as heat to those who crowded around them, seeking their warmth even as they batted at the soot and coughed. A dozen large dogs watched all this uneasily, occasionally growling when one of the musicians ventured too close. Servants and slaves did their best to continue at their tasks in spite of this distraction: a few actually succeeded.
The sartrium at the gate looked over the new arrivals, accepted a few silver coins from Sanct’ Germain, and agreed to introduce him to the Gardingio at once instead of demanding the usual delays. “Your men may put their mounts in the open stalls—the box-stalls are for our horses. They’ll have to curry their animals themselves, and see to their feed and water—Gardingio Witteric does not care for the animals of those not in his household, or of his invited guests.” He laid heavy emphasis on the word
invited.
This was not unusual, although Sanct’ Germain knew his escort would complain. “Well enough. My bondsman will supervise the rest, if you have no objection.” He paid no attention to those who stared at his black pluvial over a black-and-silver Byzantine hippogaudion riding habit and high boots of red
Similar Books
