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The crowd in the hall stirred restlessly, looking about for a sign of the priest, but Je
At the time, it had seemed an unusually pretty day, the sky a cheerful blue, the air balmy. The sun had been shining down upon the abbey, bathing its Gothic spires and graceful arches in bright golden light, beaming benignly upon the sleepy little village of Belkirk, which boasted the abbey, two shops, thirty-four cottages, and a communal stone well in the center of it, where villagers gathered on Sunday afternoons, as they were doing then. On a distant hill, a shepherd looked after his flock, while in a clearing not far from the well, Je
And in that halcyon setting of laughter and relaxation, this travesty had begun. As if she could somehow change events by reliving them in her mind, Je
"Where are you, Tom MacGivern?" she called out, groping about with outstretched arms, pretending she couldn't locate the giggling nine-year-old boy, who her ears told her was only a foot away on her right. Gri
"Ha!" he shouted from her right. "You'll no' find me, hoodman!"
"Yes, I will!" Je
"I've got you!" Je
"You got Mary!" the children crowed delightedly. "Mary's the hoodman now!"
The little five-year-old girl looked up at Je
Smiling reassuringly, Je
"I'm afeert of the dark," Mary confided u
Sweeping her up into her arms, Je
The dishonest admission made the little girl giggle. "Frogs!" she repeated, "I likes frogs! They don't sceer me 'tall."
"There, you see-" Je
"Lady Je
"No she isn-" young Tom began, quick to rise to the defense of the beautiful Lady Je
Tom silenced at Je
" 'Tis Tom's turn to wear the hood," Je
"Lady Je
The veil and wimple forgotten in her hand, Je
"What news?" Je
At the mention of the name Merrick, two of the men at the well suddenly stopped in the act of pulling up a bucket of water and exchanged startled, malevolent glances before they quickly ducked their heads again, keeping their faces in shadow. "Yes," Je
"Aye, m'lady. He's comin' this way, not far behind us, wit a big band o' men."
"Thank God," Je
His face answered Je
"The devil?" Je
Hatred contorted the man's face and he spat on the ground. "Aye, the devil-the Black Wolf hisself, may he roast in hell from whence he was spawned."
Two of the peasant women crossed themselves as if to ward off evil at the mention of the Black Wolf, Scotland's most hated, and most feared, enemy, but the man's next words made them gape in fear: "The Wolf is comin' back to Scotland. Henry's sendin' him here with a fresh army to crush us for supportin' King Edward. 'Twill be murder and bloodshed like the last time he came, only worst, you mark me. The clans are making haste to come home and get ready for the battles. I'm thinkin' the Wolf will attack Merrick first, before any o' the rest of us, for 'twas your clan that took the most English lives at Cornwall."
So saying, he nodded politely, put on his helmet, then he swung up onto his horse.
The scraggly groups at the well departed soon afterward, heading down the road that led across the moors and wound upward into the hills.
Two of the men, however, did not continue beyond the bend in the road. Once out of sight of the villagers, they veered off to the right, sending their horses at a furtive gallop into the forest.
Had Je
"The Wolf is coming!" one of the women cried, clutching her babe protectively to her breast. "God have pity on us."
" 'Tis Merrick he'll strike at," a man shouted, his voice rising in fear. " 'Tis the laird of Merrick he'll want in his jaws, but 'tis Belkirk he'll devour on the way."
Suddenly the air was filled with gruesome predictions of fire and death and slaughter, and the children crowded around Je