To Sleep No More by Lake Deryn

Author:Lake, Deryn [Lake, Deryn]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Endeavour Press
Published: 2015-03-09T16:00:00+00:00

Twenty-six

The flow of the seasons, one into the other, could not be better observed than from the little vantage point beside Benjamin’s well. It was from there, as she drew their daily water, that the carpenter’s bride watched the stainless blue sky, the wine-grape hills, the vivid fields, give way to the first fine fingers of scarlet, the russet threads, the blaze of spice that suffused the trees beneath a hunter’s moon.

Then she saw follow the whole rich panoply of autumn: villagers dancing in the fields when the harvest was gathered in, clapping hands and jugs of ale, and the old fiddler working till he dropped. And then blackberry time and stained fingers and flying dark hair as Benjamin chased his dear love until they fell, laughing, beneath the haystack.

Finally there came winter, and the hills glittering white, every pond sparkling diamonds, and a great silence lying over the land as out of the sky fell that soft and gentle blanket that brought death and sickness in its wake.

Most unusually, for she was strong as she was tall, Jenna fell victim to quinsy and no sooner was Christmas out and the end of the year but a day or two away, than she took to her bed, unable to raise her dark head from the pillow. And it was then, for the first time since her marriage, that she found she no longer had the strength to mix the posset of jessamine which, every week without fail, she had poured into Benjamin’s ale.

It was then that old thoughts came to torment the carpenter, as he sat by the fire, his wife asleep in the room above. Thoughts of his affection for Debora before Jenna burst upon the scene, of the strange twist of fate which had brought Benjamin’s former love to marry Richard Maynard.

Angry with himself for his disloyalty, Benjamin stood up and walked about the room. But still his mind wandered down dangerous paths and as he thought of how close he had been to marrying Debora, he wondered what would have happened if the revelation about Jenna had not come to him.

As if she sensed something was amiss, Benjamin heard his wife call his name from upstairs and, hurrying up, found her leaning against the pillows, her face white and drawn.

‘Benjamin,’ her voice was weak. ‘I heard you pacing about. Is anything wrong?’

‘Nothing, my sweetheart,’ he lied. ‘But how are you? Is there anything I can get you?’

‘Only a drink containing herbs. But I would rather prepare that myself.’ As if she could read his mind, Jenna added, ‘What news of Debora? Have you seen her about the village?’

‘No, her child is due in February and Richard is keeping her indoors, at least so I am told.’

Jenna got out of bed. ‘I must mix her some potions to ease the birth. Agnes can take them to Baynden. I doubt Debora would receive them from my hands.’

Benjamin shook his head. ‘I never thought you to have any liking for Debora Maynard — and now here you are struggling up to compound possets for her sake.

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