The Chester Chasuble (The Chronicles of Brother Hermitage Book 14) by Howard of Warwick

Author:Howard of Warwick [of Warwick, Howard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Funny Book Company
Published: 2019-04-14T14:00:00+00:00

Caput XIV

Into Saint John

‘Brother?’ Hermitage didn’t like to be rude, but being dragged into Saint John’s by his arm seemed unnecessary. All he wanted was some information.

‘Follow.’ Only when the door was closed behind them did the monk release Hermitage’s arm. He then strode away with the simple word of instruction.

Hermitage quickly concluded that he’d really rather not follow at all. This monk raised his suspicions, which were never easily motivated. Being inside Saint John’s with the door locked was not comfortable. However, if he was going to find anything out at all, including the location of any other exits, he would have to do as he was told.

The monk led away from the door and into the body of Saint John’s. They were immediately in a large courtyard which, to Hermitage’s eye, had something wrong with it. A frown creased his brow as he sought to identify exactly what it was.

There were several other brothers in the space, all of them working at some task or other. Some were sweeping, some appeared to be carrying out repairs to parts of the building while others were wheeling barrows, taking rubbish away or bringing supplies for the works.

The whole place was remarkably clean, well-ordered and neat. That was it. He’d never been in a clean, well-ordered and neat establishment before. Saint Werburgh’s was obviously a massive improvement on his old home of De’Ath’s Dingle, but that dread place set the standard against which all others were measured. Any place worse than De’Ath’s Dingle probably wasn’t capable of supporting life at all anymore.

Saint Werburgh’s had appeared to be a very average sort of community. Yes, the brothers kept it in order, but they didn’t go mad. You still needed straw scattered about, in case the need to use it came over you when you were in the middle of something. And there was really no point scrubbing the refectory after every meal; after all, you were only going to use it again.

The brothers in this courtyard almost appeared to putting the stones of the floor in order.

‘Very, erm, neat,’ Hermitage offered.

His escort gave him a very odd look; more questioning how Hermitage had the temerity to speak at all, rather than surprise at the comment.

The monk now led the way around the edge of the courtyard, keeping close to the walls of the buildings. As they turned a corner, it became clear that they were heading for a place on the opposite side of the yard. Walking straight across would have been much more direct, but Hermitage could already see that walking on the courtyard would not be allowed.

With only a short time inside the walls, he had already formed a good impression of what sort of place this Saint John’s was going to be. And he knew it wouldn’t suit him.

He was all for devotion, commitment and adherence to the rule. After all, that took away all the worries that people outside the monastic life had to deal with. It enabled concentration on the life spiritual.

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