Speaks The Nightbird Part 42

"The blemish is on your vow, sir!" Woodward said, with a measure of fire that belied his watery const.i.tution.

"Very well, then! I'm going." Bidwell reached up and adjusted his wig, which had become somewhat tilted during his ascent from the floor. "Can you blame me for wanting to know? I've waited so long for it!"

"You can wait a little longer, then." Woodward motioned him away. "Matthew, close the door." Matthew resettled himself, with the box on his knees and the writing materials and paper before him.

"Read it again, " Woodward said.

"Yes, sir." Matthew took a deep breath. "On the Charge of the Murder of the Reverend Burlton Grove, I Find the Aforesaid Defendant-"

"Guilty, " came the whispered answer. "With a stipulation. That the defendant did not actually commit the murder... but caused it to be committed by her words, deeds, or a.s.sociations."

"Sir!" Matthew said, his heart pounding. "Please! There's absolutely no evidence to-"

"Silence!" Woodward lifted himself up on his elbows, his face contorted with a mixture of anger, frustration, and pain. "I'll have no more of your second opinions, do you hear me?" He locked his gaze with Matthew's. "Scribe the next charge."

Matthew might have thrown down the quill and upset the inkjar, but he did not. He knew his duties, whether or not he agreed with the magistrate's decision. Therefore he swallowed the bitter gall in his throat, redipped the quill-that b.a.s.t.a.r.d weapon of blind destruction-and spoke again as he wrote: "On the Charge of the Murder of Daniel Howarth, I Find the Aforesaid Defendant-"

"Guilty, with a stipulation. The same as above." Woodward glared at him when Matthew's hand failed to make the entry. "I should like to finish this sometime today."

Matthew had no choice but to write down the decree. The heat of shame flared in his cheeks. Now, of course, he knew what the next decision must be. "On the Charge of Witchcraft... I Find the Aforesaid Defendant-"

"Guilty, " Woodward said quickly. He closed his eyes and rested his head back down on the stained pillow, his breathing harsh. Matthew heard a rattling sound deep in the magistrate's lungs. "Scribe the preface to sentencing."

Matthew wrote it as if in a trance. By Virtue of the Power Ascribed to Me As Colonial Magistrate, I Hereby Sentence the Aforesaid Defendant Rachel Howarth to... He lifted his quill from the paper and waited.

Woodward opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling. A moment pa.s.sed, during which could be heard the singing of birds in the springtime sunlight. "Burning at the stake, as warranted by the King's law, " Woodward said. "The sentence to be carried out on Monday, the twenty-second of May, sixteen-ninety-nine.

In case of inclement weather... the earliest necessary date following." His gaze ticked toward Matthew, who had not moved. "Enter it."

Again, he was simply the unwitting flesh behind the instrument. Somehow the lines were quilled on the paper.

"Give it here." Woodward held out his hand and took the doc.u.ment. He squinted, reading it by the light that streamed through the window, and then he nodded with satisfaction. "The quill, please." Matthew had the presence of mind-or rather the dignity of his job-to dip the quill in the inkjar and blot the excess before he handed it over.

Woodward signed his full name and, below it, the t.i.tle Colonial Magistrate. Ordinarily an official wax seal would be added, but the seal had been lost to that blackhearted Will Shawcombe. He then returned the paper and the quill to Matthew, who knew what was expected of him. Still moving as if enveloped in a gray haze, Matthew signed his name beneath Woodward's, along with the t.i.tle Magistrate's Clerk.

And it was done.

"You may read it to the defendant, " Woodward said, avoiding looking at his clerk's face because he knew what he would see there. "Take Bidwell with you, as he should also hear it."

Matthew realized there was no use in delaying the inevitable. He slowly stood up, his mind yet fogged, and walked to the door with the decree in hand.

"Matthew?" Woodward said, "For whatever this is worth... I know you must think me heartless and cruel." He hesitated, swallowing thick pus. "But the proper sentence has been given. The witch must be burned... for the good of everyone."

"She is innocent, " Matthew managed to say, his gaze cast to the floor. "I can't prove anything yet, but I intend to keep-"

"You delude yourself... and it is time for delusions to cease."

Matthew turned toward the man, his eyes coldly furious. "You are wrong, sir, " he added. "Rachel is not a witch, she's a p.a.w.n. Oh yes, all the conditions for a burning at the stake have been met, and all is in order with the law, sir, but I am d.a.m.ned if I'll let someone I know to be innocent lose her life on hearsay and fantasy!"

Woodward rasped, "Your task is to read the decree! No more and no less!"

"I'll read it." Matthew nodded. "Then I'll drink rum to wash my mouth out, but I will not surrender! If she burns on Monday, I have five days to prove her innocent, and by G.o.d that's what I intend to do!"

Woodward started to answer with some vinegar, but his strength failed him. "Do what you must, " he said. "I can't... protect you from your nightbird, can I?"

"The only thing I fear is that Rachel is burned before I can prove who murdered her husband and Reverend Grove. If that happens, I don't know how I can live with myself."

"Oh, my Christ." It had been spoken as nearly a moan. Woodward closed his eyes, feeling faint. "She has you so deeply... and you don't even realize it."

"She has my trust, if that's what you infer."

"She has your soul." His eyes opened; in an instant they had become sunken and bloodshot. "I long for the moment we shall leave this place. Return to Charles Town... civilization and sanity. When I am cured and in good health again, we'll put all this behind us. And then... when you can see clearly... you'll understand what danger tempted you."

Matthew had to get out, because the magistrate had been reduced to babbling. He couldn't bear to see the man-so proud, so regal, and so correct-on the verge of becoming a fever-dulled imbecile. He said, "I'm going, " but he still hesitated before he left the bedchamber. His tone had softened; there was no point now in harshness. "Can I get anything for you?"

Woodward drew in a suffering breath and released it. "I want... "he began, but his agonized throat felt in jeopardy of closing and he had to start again. "I want... things to be as they were... between us. Before we came to this wretched place. I want us to return to Charles Town... and go on, as if none of this ever happened." He looked hopefully at Matthew. "All right?"

Matthew stood at the window, staring out at the sunlit town. The sky was turning bright blue, though the way he felt it might have been a dismal downpour out there. He knew what the magistrate wanted him to say. He knew it would ease him, but it would be a lie. He said quietly, "I wish it might be so, sir. But you and I both know it will not be. I may be your clerk... I may be under your watchcare, and live in your house... but I am a man, sir. If I fail to fight for the truth as I see it, then what kind of man am I? Surely not the kind you have taught me to be. So... you ask for something I am unable to give you, Isaac."

There was a long, torturous silence. Then the magistrate spoke in his dry husk of a voice: "Leave me."

Matthew walked out, taking the hateful decree downstairs to where Bidwell was waiting.

Twenty-Six.

"The magistrate has made his decree," Matthew said. Rachel, who was sitting on her bench with the coa.r.s.e robe around her and the cowl shielding her face, hadn't moved when Matthew and Bidwell entered the gaol. Now she simply gave a brief nod, signifying her acknowledgment of the doc.u.ment that was about to be read.

"Go on, let's hear it!" Bidwell had been in such a hurry that he'd demanded they walk instead of waiting for the horses and carriage to be readied, and now he was truly champing at his bit.

Matthew stood beneath the roof hatch, which was open. He unrolled the doc.u.ment and began to read the preface in a calm, emotionless voice. Behind him, Bidwell paced back and forth. The master of Fount Royal abruptly stopped when Matthew reached the portion that began: "On the Charge of the Murder of the Reverend Burlton Grove..." Matthew could hear the man's wolfish breathing at his back. "I Find the Aforesaid Defendant Guilty."

There was a smack as Bidwell struck his palm with his fist in a gesture of triumph. Matthew flinched, but kept his attention focused on Rachel. She showed no reaction whatsoever. "With a Stipulation, " Matthew continued. "That the Defendant Did Not Actually Commit the Murder, But Caused It to be Committed by Her Words, Deeds, or a.s.sociations."

"Yes, but it's all the same, isn't it?" Bidwell crowed. "She might as well have done it with her own hands!"

Matthew kept going by sheer force of will. "On the Charge of the Murder of Daniel Howarth, I Find the Aforesaid Defendant Guilty, With a Stipulation." At the word guilty, this time Rachel had given a soft cry and lowered her head. "That the Defendant Did Not Actually Commit the Murder, But Caused It to be Committed by Her Words, Deeds, or a.s.sociations."

"Excellent, excellent!" Bidwell gleefully clapped his hands together.

Matthew looked fiercely into the man's grinning face. "Would you please restrain yourself? This is not a five-pence play requiring comments from the idiots' gallery!"

Bidwell's grin only broadened. "Oh, say what you like! Just keep reading that blessed decree!"

Matthew's task-performed so many times at the magistrate's behest over criminals common and extraordinary-had become a test of endurance. He had to go on.

"On the Charge of Witchcraft, " he read to Rachel, "I Find the Aforesaid Defendant..." and here his throat almost clenched shut to prevent him from speaking, but the horrible word had to be uttered, "... Guilty."

"Ah, sweet deliverance!" Bidwell all but shouted.

Rachel made no sound, but she put a trembling hand to her cowl-shrouded face as if the word-which she had known would be delivered-had been a physical blow.

"By Virtue of the Power Ascribed to Me As Colonial Magistrate, " Matthew read, "I Hereby Sentence the Aforesaid Defendant Rachel Howarth to Burning at the Stake As Warranted by the King's Law. The Sentence to be Carried Out on Monday, the Twenty-Second of May, Sixteen-Ninety-Nine." When the distasteful ch.o.r.e was finished, he dropped the doc.u.ment down by his side.

"Your hours are numbered!" Bidwell said, standing behind Matthew. "Your master may have torched the schoolhouse last night, but we'll build it back!"

"I think you should leave, " Matthew told him, though he was too drained to raise his voice.

"You may go to your reward knowing that all your work to destroy my town was for nothing!" Bidwell raved on. "Once you're dead, Fount Royal shall rise to fame and glory!"

Rachel gave no response to these cutting comments, if indeed she felt them through her sphere of misery.

Still Bidwell wasn't done. "This is truly the day that G.o.d made!" He couldn't help it; he had to reach out and clap Matthew on the back. "A fine job you and the magistrate have done! And an excellent decision! Now... I must go start the preparations! There's a stake to be cut, and by Christ's blood it'll be the best stake any d.a.m.ned witch was ever burned on!" He glared at Rachel through the bars. "Your master may send every demon in his barn to cause us woe between now and Monday morn, but we'll weather it! You may rely on that, witch! So tell your black-c.o.c.ked dog that Robert Bidwell never failed at anything in his life and Fount Royal will be no exception! Do you hear me?" He was no longer speaking directly to Rachel now but was looking around the gaol, his voice thunderous and haughty as if he were sending a warning to the very ears of the Devil. "We shall live and thrive here, no matter what treacheries you send against us!"

His chest-beating complete, Bidwell stalked to the door but stopped when he realized Matthew had not followed. "Come along! I want you to read that decree in the streets!"

"I take my commands from the magistrate, sir. If he requires me to read it for the public, I shall, but not until he so orders it."

"I've neither the time nor inclination to wrangle with you!" Bidwell's mouth had taken on an ugly sneer. "Ohhhh... yes, I see why you wish to dawdle! You intend to console her! If Woodward could see this lovely scene, it would send him two steps nearer his death!"

Matthew's initial impulse was to advance upon Bidwell and strike his face so hard that what served as the man's brains might dribble from his ears, but the ensuing duel that would likely follow would provide no good purpose save work for the gravedigger and a probable misspelling of his own name on the marker. Therefore he reined in his inclination and simply glowered daggers at the man.

Bidwell laughed, which acted as a bellows to further heat Matthew's banked fires. "A tender, touching moment between the witch and her latest conquest! I swear, you'd be better off lying in the lap of Mrs. Nettles! But do as you please!" He aimed his next jibe at Rachel. "Demons, old men, or babes in the woods: it doesn't matter what flavor your suckets! Well, take your rapture, as you shall be paying dearly for it come Monday!" He turned and made his leave like the strutting bird whose gaudy blue colored his suit.

In the aftermath of Bidwell's departure, Matthew realized that words were not potent enough instruments with which to communicate his sorrow. He rolled up the doc.u.ment, as it would have to be placed on official file in Charles Town.

Rachel spoke, her face still shielded. "You have done what you could. For that I thank you." Her voice, though weakened and listless, yet held a full measure of dignity.

"Listen to me!" Matthew stepped forward and grasped one of the bars with his free hand. "Monday is still a distance off-"

"A small distance, " she interrupted.

"A distance, nevertheless. The magistrate may have issued his decree, but I don't intend to stop my inquiries."

"You might as well." She stood up and pushed the cowl back from her face. "It is finished, whether you accept it or not."

"I don't accept it!" he shouted. "I never shall accept it!" He shut his mouth, shamed by his loss of control; he stared down at the dirty floor, searching within himself for any semblance of an articulate response. "To accept such a thing... means I agree with it and that is impossible. I can never, as long as I live, agree with this... this wrongful execution of an innocent victim."

"Matthew?" she said softly, and he looked at her. They stared at each other for a moment. Rachel approached him but stopped well short of the bars.

She said, "Go on about your life."

He found no answer.

"I am dead, " Rachel told him. "Dead. When I am taken on Monday to be burned, my body will be there for the flames... but the woman I used to be before Daniel was murdered is no longer here. Since I was brought to this gaol, I have slipped away. I did have hope, at one point, but I hardly remember what it felt like."

"You mustn't give up hope, " Matthew insisted. "If there is one more day, there is always-"

"Stop, " she said firmly. "Please... just stop. You think you are doing the right thing, by encouraging my spirit... but you are not. The time has come to embrace reality, and to put aside these... fantasies of my life being spared. Whoever committed these murders is too smart, Matthew. Too... demonic. Against such a power, I have no hope and I wish to cease this pretending. It does not prepare me for the stake, and that above all else is what I must do."

"I am close to learning something, " Matthew said. "Something important, though I'm not sure yet how it relates to you. I think it does, though. I think I have uncovered the first strands that form a rope, and the rope will lead me to-"

"I am begging you, " she whispered, and now there were tears in her eyes though her face displayed no other betrayal of emotion, "to cease this playing with Fate. You can't free me. Neither can you save my life. Do you not understand that an end has been reached?"

"An end has not been reached! I'm telling you, I have found-"

"You have found something that may mean something, " Rachel said. "And you might study it until a year from Monday, but I can't wish for freedom any longer, Matthew. I am going to be burned, and I must-I must-spend the time I have left in prayer and preparation." She looked up at the sunlight that streamed through the hatch, and at the cloudless azure sky beyond. "When they come for me... I'll be afraid, but I can't let them see it. Not Green, not Paine... especially not Bidwell. I can't allow myself to cry, or to scream and thrash. I don't want them sitting in Van Gundy's tavern, boasting over how they broke me. Laughing and drinking and saying how at the end I begged for mercy. I will not. If there is a G.o.d in Heaven, He will seal my mouth on that morning. They may cage me and strip me, dirty me and call me witch... but they will not make me into a shrieking animal. Not even on the stake." Her eyes met Matthew's again. "I have a single wish. Will you grant it?"

"If it's possible."

"It is. I wish you to walk out of here and not return."

Matthew hadn't known what to expect, but this request was as painful-and as startling-as a slap across the face.

Rachel watched him intently. When he failed to respond, she said, "It is more than a wish, it is a demand. I want you to put this place behind you. As I said before: go on about your life." Still he couldn't summon an answer. Rachel came forward two more paces and touched his hand that gripped the bar. "Thank you for your belief in me, " she said, her face close to his. "Thank you for listening. But it's over now. Please understand that, and accept it."

Matthew found his voice, though it was near perished. "How can I go on about my life, knowing such injustice was done?"

She gave him a faint, wry smile. "Injustice is done somewhere every day. It is a fact of living. If you don't already know that to be true, you are much less worldly than I thought." She sighed, and let her hand fall away from his. "Go away, Matthew. You've done your best."

"No, I haven't."

"You have. If you need me to release you from some imagined obligation to me... there." Rachel waved her hand past his face. "You are released."

"I cannot just walk out of here like that, " he said.

"You have no choice." Again, she leveled her gaze at him.

"Go on, now. Leave me alone." She turned away and went back to her bench.

"I will not give up, " Matthew said. "You may... but I I swear I won't." swear I won't."

Rachel sat down and leaned over toward her waterbowl. She cupped her hand into it and brought water to her mouth.

"I won't, " he repeated. "Do you hear me?" She pulled her hood over her head, shrouding her face once more, and withdrew into her mansion of solitude.

Matthew realized he might stand here as long as he pleased, but Rachel had removed herself to a sanctum that only she could inhabit. He suspected it was the place of reflection-perhaps of the memories of happier times-that had kept her mind from cracking during the long hours of her imprisonment. He realized also, with a twist of anguish, that he was no longer welcome in her company. She did not wish to be distracted from her inner dialogue with Death.

It was indeed time to leave her. Still he lingered, watching her immobile figure. He hoped she might say something again to him, but she was silent. After a few moments he went to the door. There was no movement or response from Rachel. He started to speak once more, but he knew not what to say. Goodbye seemed the only proper word, yet he was loath to utter it. He walked out into the cruel sunlight.

Shortly the smell of charred wood drifted to his nostrils, and he paused at the pile of blackened ruins. There was hardly anything left to attest that it had ever been a schoolhouse. All four walls were gone, and the roof had fallen in. He wondered if somewhere in the debris might be the wire handle of what had been a bucket.

Matthew had almost told Rachel about his findings of last night, but he'd decided not to for the same reason he'd decided to withhold the information from Bidwell: for the moment, the secret was best kept locked in his own vault. He needed an answer to the question of why Winston was spiriting infernal fire from Charles Town and using it to set flame to Bidwell's dream. He also needed from Winston further details-if the man could supply them-of the so-called surveyor who'd come to Fount Royal. Therefore his mission this morning was clear: to find Edward Winston.