The Book of Fires by Paul Doherty Read Free Book Online Page A

he indicted?’
    ‘Certainly. Lady Isolda was arrested on a Friday but Vanner abruptly disappeared on the Thursday beforehand. He has been put to the horn with a price on his head, dead or alive. Every skull-cap, outlaw-hunter to you, Brother, in London is searching for him.’
    ‘And Lady Isolda’s defence?’
    ‘She was advised by one of the best attorneys this side of Hell, Nicholas Falke. If rumour be true, Master Falke was deeply taken, as most men were, by Lady Isolda, but to no effect. He could protest and argue but both judge and jury thought different.’
    ‘And her maid?’
    ‘Rosamund Clifford, although very loyal to her mistress, appears to have no dealings with her in this matter. I understand she was grievously sick, confined to her bed when Sir Walter was poisoned. She was not called to give evidence by either party.’ Cranston sighed noisily. ‘In the end Lady Isolda was found guilty by a jury of her peers. I suspect those three justices delighted in passing harsh sentence on her.’
    ‘And the ancient punishment for a wife murdering her husband,’ Athelstan murmured, ‘is death by burning.’
    ‘
Sine misericordia
,’ Cranston agreed, ‘without mercy. All three justices insisted no gunpowder pouch be hung around her neck to hasten death. Nor could the Carnifex, the Smithfield executioner, go through the smoke to strangle her or slit her throat.’
    ‘There is more?’
    ‘Oh, yes, my good friend, much more, a veritable maze of mystery. Lady Isolda was lodged in Newgate for almost a month before her execution. She met death bravely enough. I learnt this from Lady Anne Lesures. Lady Anne is the widow of a former comrade I stood shoulder to shoulder with in France. He used the ransoms gathered there to amass wealth as an apothecary and a spicer. Adam Lesures also served with the Luciferi and returned here with Sir Walter. He died some time ago. Since then Lady Anne has devoted herself to noble causes. She is Abbess of the Order of St Dismas, a secular order which visits the city prisons and ministers to those condemned to die – she and her mute servant, Turgot, who follows her everywhere like Samson does Flaxwith. Anyway, she visited Isolda virtually every day to give her comfort.’
    ‘Did she believe Isolda was innocent?’
    ‘No.’ Cranston paused. ‘Not really. Lady Anne is shrewd – she keeps her own counsel. I do respect her. Others, however, believe Lady Isolda to be a true innocent, such as Edward Garman, who also served in the Luciferi, a former Hospitaller and now prison chaplain, appointed to Newgate by the Bishop of London. Garman may have shriven Isolda. He certainly accompanied her to execution and always believed she was innocent. Like her lawyer, Falke, he worked desperately to obtain a pardon or some form of commutation but he was crying into the dark. Gaunt was obdurate. No pardon, no mercy.’ Cranston turned in his seat and lowered his voice, ‘Brother, have you ever heard of “The Book of Fires”, or to be more precise, “The Book of Fires attributed to Mark the Greek”?’
    ‘Yes,’ Athelstan replied slowly. ‘Our library at Blackfriars possesses a few extracts, though not very clear ones. A greatly prized manuscript?’
    ‘It certainly is! That book, together with the writings of the Franciscan Roger Bacon, provides a treasury of information about gunpowder and other such combustibles. Mark the Greek in particular describes what is known as Greek, sea or water fire, supposedly invented centuries ago by Kallinikos of Heliopolis.’
    ‘Sir John,’ Athelstan exclaimed, ‘you have been very busy!’
    ‘Yes, and I will tell you why. I visited the great library in Westminster Abbey. Dominus Matthew the archivist was a treasure of information about secret manuscripts.’
    ‘Sir John, what were you pursuing?’
    ‘Beaumont had a copy of “The Book of Fires”, which went missing from his chamber either just before or after his death. He had promised to allow