The Ruins

By Daniel Bristow-Bailey

Aged fifteen and fresh from fighting the natives on the Western border, Edward is sent to the labyrinthine palace of Lord Norbert to be baptised into the newly-fashionable Christian faith and to learn how a member of the Saxon nobility should behave. Amid the ancient ruins, Edward encounters a dangerous mix of politics, religion and sexual desire.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jul 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781326737313

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The Ruins

­The Ruins

6x9_Front_Cover.jpg

by Daniel Bristow-Bailey

Copyright

Copyright © 2016 by Daniel Bristow-Bailey

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or scholarly journal.

The cover Image is from the Utrecht Psalter. www.utrechtpsalter.nl

ISBN 978-1-326-73731-3

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The Ruins

Brother Benedict told Edward that when the time came he would be unashamed of his nakedness. For you will bear the likeness of Adam, he said, who was naked in the garden, and was not ashamed.

And now the time has come and Edward steps forward and bends to unlace his shoes and pulls them off. He straightens to unpin the cloak at his shoulder and lays it and the ornate silver brooch – a gift from his mother – on a stool beside him. He unbuckles his sword-belt and puts it aside and wriggles out of his heavy shirt of chain-mail with as much dignity as he can.

Edward looks around the room. He and the congregation of perhaps a dozen people are gathered around a circular pool surrounded by a low stone wall. The water is green and the air is thick with steam. He catches Brother Benedict’s eye and cannot help but smile. He slides off his tunic and is naked. But as Benedict promised he is unashamed.

Father Dominic is already in the pool, the bottom of his white robe floating around his knees. He beckons Edward forward and says As you put off your tunic you put off the Devil and his deeds. As Christ was naked on the cross, and by his nakedness put off from Himself the principalities and powers, and openly triumphed over them on the tree.

Father Dominic pauses while Edward climbs into the pool. The water is warm.

Do you believe in the name of the Father, the Son, and of the Holy Ghost?

I do, says Edward, and he does, although until this moment he was not sure.

The priest puts a hand on Edward’s shoulder and pushes him down. Edward kneels and the water comes to his chest. Father Dominic pushes him under, face-first. The water smells of flint and sulphur, and tastes brackish. This is it, thinks Edward. Washed clean in the blood of the Lamb.

He opens his eyes but all he can see is green. Father Dominic has a tight grip on Edward’s shoulders and is surprisingly strong for a man of his age. It would not be right for Edward to struggle but he has to fight the urge. He wishes he took a bigger breath before he went under.

He moves, pushing back. Father Dominic’s grip tightens, one hand gripping the back of Edward’s neck, holding him under.

Brother Benedict said that the priest would not let Edward out of the water until he was washed clean of all sin, both that he was born with and any he has picked up along the way. Maybe there is something there that the waters cannot reach. What could he have done to stain his soul so deeply?

I am going to drown, he thinks. Woden save me. I mean Jesus. In Jesus’ name. Help.

I said that I believe.

I do believe. Help me.

What did I do? How did I sin?

And as the green fades to black Edward wonders where he went wrong.

*

And he thinks back to last summer, when he first came here.

He rode in through a mass of people in the streets. A wool-market was in town with fleeces piled high on the stalls and smelling of sheep. His horse was unused to crowds and he was frightened that it would panic and trample someone.

Since then he has only seen the inside of the Earl’s palace, although where its courtyards and outlying wings end and the rest of the city begins is difficult to tell. Like the city much of it is in ruins and one can only dream how great it must have been.

In those first weeks the sky is covered with cloud and the air is heavy with a warm mist that seems to rise up out of the earth. The stones of the city glisten with damp and flags