The Serpent Amongst the Lilies (Matthew Jankyn, Book 2) by Paul Doherty

Author:Paul Doherty
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780755395781
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2013-06-06T04:00:00+00:00

ELEVEN

As I said, I had taken part in the battle of Patay, but, whilst being entranced by the Maid and her pervasive influence, I could not bring myself to kill fellow-countrymen in such a cold-blooded manner. I came out of the fracas unscathed except for a knock on the head which, at first, I dismissed. However, the following day I fell ill with a fever. Delon found me sweating and delirious in one of the out-stables of a house where the Maid was staying. Thanks to his kindness and generosity, I was returned to Orleans and the widow’s house on a makeshift stretcher. The journey was a nightmare. Sometimes, in my thoughts, I was back in England, and at other times in some gold-enriched chamber with Beaufort sitting on a throne with the Maid next to him smiling evilly at me. Ghosts from the past, both men and women whom I had loved or hated, all crowded in, eager to seize my soul.

Looking back on the pages I have written, or rather what this cantankerous little priest has written, I apologise if I have given the impression that the widow in Orleans was a little trollop. She was more than that. She was kind and loving. A few days after my return to her house the fever abated, but I was still in a weak state. The widow put the infection down to bad food and drinking dirty water. I just wondered whether it was a sickness of the mind, with my blood and humours turning at what I had seen, coupled with anxiety about my future. I lay ill at Orleans for weeks with the widow tending me with potions, herbs, hot soups and good, white bread. I begged her, whenever I gained consciousness, not to allow any physician near me. She smiled and nodded. Speaking softly to me in French, she wiped the top of my brow like a mother does with a child.

I have always dreaded doctors. They know as much about the human body and the human spirit as a gnat! If I had my way, I would herd them, together with lawyers, and put them all in the country’s gaols. I notice the priest who is transcribing this looks at me strangely. If he is not careful, I will add that I believe the same fate should await priests. I cannot stand any of them. Anyhow, I wander. The fever finally broke but I was as weak as a babe, fit only for sitting up in bed or walking very carefully around my room. I think it is only now, whilst looking back down the years, that I realise how close I was to death. I sometimes wonder if I had been poisoned, for I have a stout physique and a strong body. The suddenness of the illness and the effect upon me was quite horrid.

I listened to rumours of how the Maid had persuaded the Dauphin to go to Rheims for consecration. I could

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