Ancient Things We Hold

Chapter 20

The Mourning

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When the shutters of the old, musty bedroom were pulled open, a strange sigh came from the corner of the bedroom. The room was now bathed in morning light, so dust could be seen swirling about the air before it rested on the unkempt surfaces.

Candles had been placed all over the wooden floorboards. Their dim light flickered through the cage of air that surrounded it, yet barely illuminated the space around them. While this cluster may seem normal for a nighttime, wintry scene, despair was evoked at the sight. After all, the candles were replacing the fresh morning light evoked by the autumn.

The only people ready to replace candles with sunlight were those who wanted to obstruct the outside world.

With the visibility restored to the room, a shadow could be seen in the corner. It was the same shadow that groaned once light had fallen upon it. The figure was huddled up in a ball as the sounds of a creaking floorboards followed.

He was no longer in pain from his arrow wound. That was not a valid excuse for his bed rest, even if he pretended it was. He just didn't want to face his family. Lord Daegel and Alfred had left with the King the moment the men returned with his unconscious body, all the while pretending as though he was forever gone so that the King would not seek vengeance. However, both his mother and three of his siblings remained.

His mother did not speak for the Jews, nor Aldwyn. Perhaps she was frightened about what would happen if she had defied her husband. Nothing could be worse that what had truly occurred, though.

He could not blame Lysa or Mercia for their silence on the matter. They were young girls so would not be listened to anyway, but their interference would have caused them to be far greater punished than any of his brothers. They could have been if they did the same things Aldwyn had done.

On the other hand, Godric had power as the heir. He could have spoken up, yet he allowed the King's cruelty to be taken as justice. How could he sit idly by knowing all that was happening?

When Ariel told him the news, she had been sobbing. She was greatly impacted by the carnage. Despite his sensitives, he did not weep as he thought he would. It was too unbelievable. He already knew that they had be condemned to death, but the manner in which it had been undertaken..shocked him. He could not imagine their fear, their terror.

The village itself had not survived, but there were reports of some returning from the woods to live amongst the rubble now the mob had been dispersed. That was at least some consolation, albeit a pitiful one.

Ariel moved across the room and over to the bed. She pulled the curtains aside, revealing a pitiful sight that she desperately wished would sit up. He almost looked like death. "Will you be seeing your people today, Master Aldwyn?" she asked.

"Nobody wants to see me about the respectful halls of this estate. I'm of the Jewish faith and they want all those that follow it dead," he pointed out.

It wasn't true that the servants wanted him dead. They just...didn't know him anymore. They wished him to be safe, but they also wished him gone. It would not do for the likes of him to be amongst them. The things he had done and the person he had become were beyond the pale.

"But your sisters don't feel that way," said Ariel, "Why don't you let them see you?"

His voice was so quiet. She could barely hear it over the gentle hum of the castle. "I shan't have their reputations tarnished even more than they already are. The sooner I can leave, the more at rest all will be," he said. He had lost his position as a clerk ever since he admitted to being a Jew, but he had been saving his wages for a long time now. He just needed to gather them so that he could depart.