Where the Stones Sing Read Online Free PDF

Dame Maria left her at the gate of the priory and she was led by the gate-keeper to the refectory, where Brother Albert introduced her to the brothers. All the brothers had different work within the priory – some of them looking after the kitchens and the cellar, some riding out to collect the rents from the priory’s farms in Dublin and beyond, some keeping the accounts. There were too many of the brothers for her to take in all their names at once, but one or two faces stayed in her head: Brother Stephen because he was so tall and thin and pale and had such a gentle smile, and Brother Malcolm because he was very handsome and seemed to be looking down his nose at her. The prior, Robert, was a tall, stout man, with a high colour and a hooked nose. He looked energetic and efficient, but he smiled at her kindly.

    ‘Welcome, Kai Breakwater. I hope you will be happy here and learn to praise God well with the holy gift that the Lord has given you. And I see that you have come bearing a gift of sweetness from our benefactress, Dame Maria. Her honey is the best in Dublin. You have done good work today, Brother Albert. Dame Maria has made a generous bequest and it will fill my heart with joy to hear singing in the Chapel of the White Mary of Dublin every day.’
    ‘Kai’s voice is wonderful. He could become the best singer in our little choir.’ Brother Albert said eagerly, and while Kai felt rather odd to have herself discussed as if she was not there, she could not help but be pleased. Now the prior raised his eyebrows and asked, ‘Is his voice as sweet as Roland’s?’
    ‘Sweeter, I think. As sweet as the honey he has brought us from Dame Maria.’
    Jack poked Tom and whispered, ‘And let’s hope his nature is sweeter than Roland’s too.’
    Unfortunately, the prior overheard him.
    ‘Jack, I beg of you, control yourself. We will not have insults made to our brothers in the Lord.’ But even the prior could not resist a smile, as if he knew that Jack’s comment about Roland’s lack of sweetness was a fair one.
    Kai was soon to discover how very sour Roland could be. He had hated the very idea that Kai, a beggar child, was being allowed into the priory. The fact that this new choir member was competition for his place as the soloist of the choir only made him angrier. He frowned when, after themeal had been finished, Brother Albert told the boys to take Kai to their dormitory. ‘We are going to sing in the church, but you children do not have to attend this particular office.’
    Brother Albert saw Kai looking puzzled, and continued:
    ‘The services are called offices. We pray and sing at regular stages during the day and night. You and the other boys are here to sing the special afternoon service in memory of Philip. You will do that every day, but you will also attend some of the other services and sing with us. And of course you will sing with us on Sunday at High Mass. But you look weary, child. It has been a long day for you. Go along now; it’s time you were all in bed.’
    The children’s rooms were near the Great Gate, beside the guest chambers and the prior’s quarters. The monks slept in a dormitory over the chapter house and kitchen, to the east of the cloister. Jack chattered non-stop as they made their way through the cloister, the central square garden which the priory buildings were built around.
    ‘We’ll show you the rest of the priory tomorrow, the chapter house and the scriptorium and the kitchens. And the piggery and the stables. And Hell, of course.’
    ‘Hell?’ said Kai.
    ‘Pay him no heed,’ said Tom. ‘It’s just the name of the little dark passageway that leads from the priory to Fishamble Street.’
    ‘Is it called Hell because it’s so dark?’
    Jack crossed his eyes ferociously.
    ‘That and because there is a demon lives there. The Dolocher. He appears in the shape of a giant black boar with bristles and HUGE tusks.’ Tom said, ‘Oh give over, Jack. He is just trying to