Egelric returns with bad news

Egelric had returned from his trip into the hill country. The Duke had sent him on behalf of the King to visit the church and fix a date for the baptism of young Prince Caedwulf. The trip should have taken no more than three days, but it was a week before he came home, and the Duke came to meet him as soon as he saw him riding up the hill.

“We had begun to worry, what happened?”

“I hope Your Grace will forgive me, for I had to go as far as the city. We have trouble.”

“What is it? Why couldn’t you arrange matters in the village? We were able to baptize my son there.”

“That was last spring. The… mood has changed. I don’t know quite how to say this…”

“Go ahead, Goodman.”

“The fact is… they refuse. The village church and the city church both.”

“Refuse?”

“You know that they say this valley is cursed.”

Alred frowned.

“They no longer wish to allow us to enter the church. Any of us. Once they learned who I was and where I was from, people started making signs to protect themselves against the evil eye, and I was turned out of one of the inns.”

“This is serious. Have you told anybody here?”

“No. I came directly here.”

“Very well. Tell no one. I do not wish to alarm the ladies—or the peasants. Would it be possible for His Majesty the King, my lord Earl, and myself to meet in your home this evening?”

“I would be honored.”

That night the Duke and the Earl came early to discuss how they were going to explain matters to the King. Egelric waited in the hall while they talked. He reminded himself that he didn’t believe in curses… but the ruined church was just across the road… and his wife had been so strange lately… and it had been chilling when he realized that the townspeople had believed that he could give them the evil eye. Had a curse fallen upon him after all? Could the townsfolk see something he could not?

A soft knock broke his reverie, and he opened the door for the King. He bowed deeply.

“Good evening, Goodman Wodehead. Is your wife well?”

Egelric only bowed again.

The Earl opened the door to the hall. “Sigefrith, come in. You too, Goodman. We will need you to tell His Majesty what happened in town.” So that was how they planned to explain to him! Egelric hoped he would not make a fool of himself with his simple speech.

“Go ahead, Goodman,” the King said gently.

Egelric repeated the story he had told the Duke. He explained what the priests had said, and how the people had hissed at him and tried to ward off his evil eye. As he spoke, he began to realize that he too had come to believe in the curse, for everything in his life had gone wrong since he came to the valley.

“Your Majesty, I—forgive me, I can’t help but think that it’s true! Perhaps we are cursed! Perhaps the people are right! Oh why, oh why did I ever come here?” he moaned.

“That’s enough, Goodman,” the King said coldly. “Leave us now.”

Egelric sobbed and stepped into the bedroom. Elfleda was lying on the bed, staring at the wall and humming a lullaby. Egelric sat on the edge of the bed and reached for her hand, but she turned her back to him and continued humming.

“Forgive him, Sigefrith,” Duke Alred said. “He has a hard time with his wife. He’s a good man.”

Sigefrith shook his head. “I’m not worried about him. You know and I know that there is no curse, but what are we supposed to do if we aren’t able to go back into town?”

“If the people—and I mean the peasants—believe that there is a curse, then there might as well be a curse,” Duke Alred said.

“There’s no curse!” the King cried.

“Sigefrith, keep your voice down,” the Earl said. “Now listen. Our first big harvest is beginning, and after that we shall have all the food we need. What do we need in town besides the church? We have a blacksmith, a potter, a cartwright, and so on. All we need to buy in town are nice things for our ladies. If we explain the situation to them, they can do without for a while. And the peasants will be none the wiser.”

“We still need a church.”

“We have a church,” the Duke said. “It just needs to be cleaned up and a roof put on it. The walls are good. Why don’t we say that we have decided to repair our own church in time for and in honor of the baptism of the Prince?”

The King reflected. “But we need a priest,” he argued. “We can’t send to the city for one—and God knows we can’t send to London.”

“Colburga’s half-​brother is a priest in Paderborn,” Cenwulf offered. “I’m certain he would come if she could send him word.”

The King was silent.

“One more thing, Sigefrith,” Alred said. “I think we should ask Goodman Wodehead to take responsibility for cleaning up the church and let him oversee the construction of the roof. If he really believes he is cursed, perhaps it would do him good to help restore the church. And I know he can be trusted.”

Sigefrith knocked on the bedroom door and called Egelric back into the room. He explained what they had discussed, and asked him if he would be willing to oversee the rebuilding of the church.

Egelric nodded gravely. “I have sometimes thought that we should have done this long ago, Your Majesty.”