Relics and Romans: The Adventures of Wulfbertie, #3

By Amanita Peridot Festoon

A plague is ravaging the survivors of the flood.  Times are desperate and so is the population.  Having lost their homes and their property times are tough and temptations are... tempting.  And there is gold in the hills.  A  hoard - or so I have heard.  And the children of the town's leaders are making Wulfbertie look bad.  That can't be allowed.  Bertie always looks good. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tilebury Books
• Release date: Apr 29, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223538608

Amanita Peridot Festoon

Amanita is a seventeen-hundred year old Geo-architectural Fungiphile and harpsichordist.   Throughout her long life Amanita travelled widely in all the known lands of the globe (and some unknown ones). Along the way she recorded the interesting stories of people she met. One of those people was Wulfbertie.  Amanita met Wulfbertie when he was an old man living in the Palace at King's Holm, Glewcaster. He remembered all the events of his youth with crystal clarity and Amanita wrote them down for posterity.

Book preview

CHAPTER  I  -  THE BLOODY FLUX

Wulfbertie sat on the grassy knoll amidst the ruins of the old Roman fort.  Water burbled up through the rock beside him and trickled away in all directions, wetting the hem of his habit and drenching his dreams.

Until yesterday, when the church tower had fallen, this had been the second best viewing platform in the valley of Glewcaster.  Now, as Bertie scanned his watery world, desolation met his eyes.

The Roman bridge was broken apart by the force of the flood.  Its stone piers reached up out of the swirling water like a drowning man's fingers.  The river itself was full of broken boats and branches bobbing up and down in the tide.

Water covered the streets nearest the river.  Large patches of brown muck swelled over the slaughter yard, and the latrines.  An awful stink rose from the town.  The very air seemed full of filth.

Wulfbertie forced himself to look at the abbey.  The church tower had completely disappeared into the crumpled wreckage of the roof.  Franc and a few of the monks tried to extract planks of timber from the heap.  Others stood by in despair.  It was a terrible tragedy.

And it was all Wulfbertie's fault.

His heart was heavy.  Though the Brothers spoke kind words, he knew that no-one was going to forgive him for the disaster he had caused by ringing the Great Bell and causing the church to collapse.  It was time to leave.

He looked eastwards.  Somewhere in the hills, near a grotto called Sseverne Springs, was the king's camp, where the army waited for news of Vikings, raiders and bandits.  Wulfbertie had only a matter of days to find the army before it moved on.

A sudden movement caught his eye.  Brother Villum, the town monk, scurried up from the waterfront to St Visitus Gate.  He ran past Brother Porter and continued towards the infirmary.  Moments later Brother Physik, clutching his satchel of potions, followed Brother Villum out of the monastery.  They ran down the dismal streets to the poorest part of town.

What was going on?  Clearly, there was a 'nemergency in Glewcaster.  The army must wait.

Wulfbertie could not know it, but at this very moment, in the cesspits and miskins, in the trenches that drained the middens, in the water that lay as a stinking morass over the graveyards, a dreaded disease was brewing.

Wulfbertie splashed across the watery meadow and darted into the humble lanes between Lode and Dock streets.  He caught sight of Brother Physik, the Medicus, who leapt over a ditch and entered a hovel.

A moment later, Physik emerged from the shack.  His face was grey.  He covered his mouth with his hand.  He spotted Wulfbertie.

Wulfbert!  What are you doing here?  Go back to the abbey at once.  Tell Abbot Pacific we have a crisis.  Tell him - ... tell him it is The Bloody Flux!

The poor had drunk the foul water and absorbed its evil elements.  The sickness worked so fast that the weakest of them fell down in the mud and died where they lay.  The Bloody Flux was claiming souls.

Abba, himself looking pale and sick, called everyone together in the Chapter House.  When the Brothers heard the dreaded news, they all volunteered to help, and Brother Aldate began to make a list.  He would take only the most healthy monks.

Within minutes Medicus was issuing orders.  First, no-one, especially Wulbertie, was allowed to visit the town without his permission.  Secondly, anyone in the monastery who got sick must go to the infirmary at once and stay there until they recovered.

And thirdly, on no account must anyone drink unboiled water, or cook with it.  Wulfbertie went to help Brother Celeriac stoke up the fires in the kitchen to boil water.

What is The Bloody Flux?  asked Wulfbertie.

It is a contagion of poisonous water, common after inundation, said Celeriac.  You must drink only ale or your insides will turn to blood.

Wulfbertie's stomach began to feel fluxick.  He had swallowed a lot of dirty water in the crypt last night.

When homeless people in the Great Hall heard about The Bloody Flux they fled.  Anywhere, even a cave in the hills, was better than a town in the valley of death.

Wulfbertie feared that Ralf and the Widow Trug would head for their den in the hedge again.  He found them as they stood at the gate with their dog Gleva.  People were wary of Mistress Trug because she looked a bit terrifying, wore strange clothes and did not speak the Mercian tongue like everyone else.  Brother Physik was pleading with them.

Please stay, Mistress Trug,  begged Physik.  There will be many sick people, and you have special remedies for illness.

Trug shook her head.  She kept her eyes downcast and a shawl over her head, as she always did whilst in the abbey.

She is afraid,  explained Ralf.  People beg for help and then call her names if they do not get better.  She does not want to bring trouble to the Brothers.  She wants me to stay but I am not going to leave her.

I will tell the people you are acting under my authority.  You and Ralf can stay in the old Dole House by St Sallyport Gate.  Please, Mistress Trug.  We need you.

At last she nodded.  Bertie led Ralf to the Dole House.  He helped Ralf tidy it up while Trug went to work.

When the Brothers returned in the evening, Brother Physik was crying.  Seven children and two adults had died, despite their help.  Moreover, Mistress Trug had been refused entry to some of the houses.  For that, Medicus was very angry.  What they really needed, he said, was not only clean water, but a softening of hearts.

Sheriff Penwahl tried all day to send carts up into the hills to the springs of fresh water, but the roads were impassable.  Lord Bandy had not done his task of keeping the bridges in good repair.  Once the epidemic was over, there would have to be a prosecution.

Wulfbertie asked what a persecution was.  Lavio said it was like an execution only with a purpose.  Which, seemed a bit harsh even for Lord Bandy.

During morning prayers next day, subPrior Riggor collapsed.  Then Lavio and Brother Alvin got sick.

Bertie was kept busy in the kitchen, preparing 'Nostrum', Physik's remedy for the illness.  Into every jug of boiled water, he was to stir a dollop of honey and a scoop of salt.  He would rather have been helping the sick, but his work was crucial to the health of the town.  He had vowed to do something special with his life and, while this might not be it, curing people was a start.

Every hour, Wulfbertie carried jugs of Nostrum to the infirmary.  He could hear the men vomiting from a long way off.  When he peeked past the door, he was surprised to find the Uncles, Eddlinbert, Brin and Burgred, tending the sick.

Lavio and Alvin recovered very quickly.  The subPrior, however, spent another two days lounging on his bed.  Wulfbertie thought it was because of the extra special food Celeriac gave the sick.

A dollop of honey, a scoop of salt, a dollop of honey, a scoop of salt, Wulfbertie chanted.  Then he stirred each jug with a wooden spoon.  He had been preparing Nostrum all day and he was tired.

He wanted to go into the town before the Bloody Flux was over, and serve his magic medicine to the sick, and be honoured for his services to curing Fluxion.

A dollop of salt, a scoop of honey, a dollop of ...

Was that right?  He looked back at the row of jugs all lined up on the table.  Should he taste them?

Celeriac bustled in.  Are these ready?  Right!

He poured the jugs into a large pail to carry into the outer court for any of the townsfolk who needed medicine.  Wulfbertie was left with a white-speckled honey dolloper and a sticky scoop.

+  +  +

The sickness went on and on.  It was not until the end of that horrible week that relief finally arrived.

Wulfbertie heard a whisper about fresh water and rushed to the market.  Women crowded around a sledge brought by Flewellyn of Wiccum ffarme.  Flewellyn was the father of the girls who ran the cabbage and egg stalls in the market. 

Their ffarme had its own