Read Online There Will Be Wolves by Karleen Bradford - Free Book Online Page B

told was that you were to be tried as a witch. We attended the trial…. By then I was very ill. Without good Bruno I fear I would have collapsed entirely. And then … when the archbishop announced that you were to burn …” The old man stopped, his voice choked. He dropped his head and passed a hand over his eyes. “The trial itself is only a haze in my mind—I was so ill—but the archbishop’s words…. Those words I remember. Those words I will never forget.”
    “I saw you there, Father, and I feared so for you. But how, then…. How did you secure my release?”
    Her father shook his head to clear it and looked back at her. He continued. “I couldn’t move from the spot where I heard the sentence passed. All the folk went away about their own business. No one was left but Bruno. He tried to get me to leave, to go with him, but I was incapable of it. And then, suddenly, a man stood before me. He was dressed in the livery of one of Count Emil’s servants. He addressed me very respectfully and told me the count wished to speak with me. He bade me follow him. I didn’t think I would be able to, but again, with Bruno’s help, I did. When we arrived here, I was ushered into the house, and the count himself received me in a large, magnificent hall. Itwas so splendid, Ursula, my child. So splendid …” His voice trailed off with the memory of it.
    “Go
on,
Father,” Ursula urged impatiently.
    Master William came back to his story. “Well, what had happened, daughter, was that the count’s good doctor had been taken with the pestilence and died, God rest his soul. But the count is making plans to go on the Crusade with the godly Peter, the Hermit, who has been preaching here these last weeks. He has need of someone who has knowledge of herbs and healing to accompany him and he has asked me. He has asked
me,
daughter, to accompany him on the Crusade!” He stopped once more, and his eyes were shining again. “Is it not a miracle?”
    Ursula stared at her father, too stricken to speak. An icy coldness was working its way up her spine.
    “And this is the truly wonderful part, Ursula,” Master William went on, unaware of her reaction. “Do you remember the Hermit saying the pope has. promised absolution of sins to all who go on the Crusade? Well then, the count went to the archbishop, and the archbishop will give you a pardon if you go with us, under my care, and take part in the holy quest to free Jerusalem from the infidels. My beloved child, we are to go together to the Holy Land! We are to go together on the Crusade, and you will be pardoned all your sins!”
    Ursula found her voice. “But Count Emil,Father!” she burst out. “You cannot serve him. He is an evil man. He has brought untold misery to the people of this town. He helped the Crusaders kill David’s family!”
    “I cannot believe that.” Master William’s face took on a stubborn look. “Bruno is a good boy and has helped me immeasurably, but I am certain he was wrong about that. Even if he were right, Count Emil is going on the Crusade, my daughter. The Crusade will cleanse him of his sins, too, as it will cleanse us of our sins to accompany him.”
    “I am guilty of no such sins as he,” Ursula shot back. “I was unjustly accused!”
    “Nevertheless, you were convicted. You were declared guilty of witchcraft by our own archbishop. If it was not for Count Emil, you would this very day be facing the stake.”
    “I cannot go with that man! I
will
not! I’d rather—” Ursula stopped. Rather die, she had been going to say. But would she? The memory of the last few days rose bitterly into her mind. All at once she could smell the smoke again, taste it.
    A knock interrupted them. Bruno peered in through the doorway. Ursula leaped to her feet, and Samson trotted over to greet him.
    “Bruno! Have you heard …? But of course you have.”
    “About the Crusade? Yes,” Bruno said, but there was no enthusiasm in his voice. He reachedout