The Raven and the Rose Read Online Free PDF Page A

at it, her heart ached with longing and she felt as if she might fly there if she only allowed herself. Her feelings were so similar to her longings for her knight that she wondered whether there was some connection. But he was fighting near a castle.
    Then she realized something odd: She saw him in dreams when she was asleep in the dark, but he was always in daylight. Moreover, in her dreams, she wasn’t wearing her habit or her sleeping shift. She wasn’t sure what she was wearing, but knew it wasn’t that. When she tried to pry open her memories to discover more, of course she failed.
    So frustrating! But did these oddities prove her experiences were merely dreams?
    Or did they prove that she had holy visions?
    â€œWork, Gledys!” Sister Elizabeth said sharply.
    â€œYour pardon,” Gledys said, and returned to her task.
    ***
    Michael tried to resist the insanity, but he spent the evening searching for his bride, even though it meant running a gauntlet of envious congratulations, snide comments and eager whores. Eventually he gave up and accepted an invitation to drink with Robert de Waringod. He needed refreshment, and Robert was a friendly knight who was part of the castle garrison. That was one place Michael hadn’t searched as yet.
    Michael turned the talk to what ladies were in residence there.
    â€œLady Ella and her attendants,” Robert said. “And a couple of young daughters.”
    â€œHer ladies?”
    â€œShe sent her younger attendants off with her older daughters, wise lady that she is. No need to court trouble.” He eyed Michael. “We all know you’re particular, de Loury, but stick to whores. Safer in the end for landless men like us.”
    He left and Michael considered his words.
    Landless men. That was what he was, and such men could not marry, but land could be won through a great man’s favor.
    He drained his pot. Tomorrow he’d leave every opponent in the dust, and then he’d fight with heart and soul to put Henry of Anjou on the throne.
    He would win his bride.

Chapter 3
    In late afternoon, Sister Elizabeth was summoned to a meeting with the abbess and cellarer to go over inventory. Gledys was set to record supplies on tally sticks. As she notched the sticks, she gave thanks for a job that took concentration and stopped her mind’s busy whirling. She was tallying the supply of bungs of various sizes when she felt someone behind her. She turned quickly, wondering at the same time why she should feel alarmed. There was no one in Rosewell to fear.
    But this was a stranger. She was a nun, but dressed in black rather than the unbleached wool of the Rosewell habit. The hunchbacked old woman obviously needed the staff in her right hand, and her neck curved painfully as she looked up at Gledys. What had brought her on a journey to Rosewell?
    â€œSister, may I serve you?”
    â€œMy name is Sister Wenna, and I come from Torholme.”
    Gledys felt a tingle of excitement. That was the nunnery close by Glastonbury Abbey, situated at the base of the tor. “It must be a special honor to be so close to the abbey, Sister. It is such a sacred place.”
    â€œIt was sacred before the time of Christ.”
    Shocked, Gledys protested, “Nothing was sacred before Christ.”
    The woman clicked her tongue impatiently. “Why, then, do people revere it?”
    â€œBecause of Joseph of Arimathea. Because our Lord might have visited there.”
    Another impatient click of the tongue. “
Why
did Saint Joseph and our blessed Lord visit there?”
    Gledys stared at such an extraordinary question but she grasped one thing. “They did? It is known?”
    â€œYes, they did,” Sister Wenna said, but as if that were irrelevant. “The question is, why? Because it was a sacred place even then. It and the tor. As you know.”
    â€œI?” Gledys took a guilty step backward. “I know nothing of such pagan