“I say, are we free or bound? We’ve all wondered about it since we began the journey home, but none would e’er speak of it.” Tomas turned his face to Heinrich. “What say you?”
The baker shook his head. “I … I cannot surely say. The law says if we live for a year and a day unclaimed by our lord we are free.”
“That’s what Pieter says the law is,” added Alwin. “I am not so sure of this.”
“But we’ve served on crusade!” blurted Otto. His green eyes were now blazing, and a tone of insistence laced his words. “By the saints, I’ll not be bound again! We paid our price. The lives of the others should have been manumission enough.”
Wil nodded. “Ja, Otto. It should be so. Weyer’s paid the debt for us all with the lives of many. You, Otto, have given your brother, Lothar, and I m’brother, Karl. Ingrid and Beatrix are gone, and m’cousins Wolfhard and Richarda are probably dead as well. Weyer sent more than a score to the cause, and I doubt any are come home.”
“It will not matter,” said Pieter slowly. He sighed and knelt by Solomon. “Perhaps I’ve put my hopes for you ahead of the facts. I fear the order is what it is. It cannot abide its folk declaring themselves free. The lords and the churchmen see you as bound to them. They conspire to keep you in your place under the ruse of it being for common good. But what they say we are and who we really are is oft not the same at all.” The priest turned to the baker. “Heinrich, do you really believe that the abbot shall deem you free?”
The man looked at his feet and shrugged.
Pieter drew close. “But do you want your freedom?”
Heinrich raised his face angrily. “Of course!”
“Are you so sure?” The old priest peered deeply into Heinrich’s soul. He knew the baker had been badly bitten by sentiment and nostalgia. The siren call of security in things familiar had already begun to tempt the exhausted man away from his calling. “Are you?”
The company stared at the man quietly. His answer would guide them all. Heinrich turned his face toward the village once again and toward the clearing where Emma’s cottage once stood. Oh, Emma, would that you were here. A breeze brushed the field of grasses at his feet, and as it whispered by his ear, it was as if he could hear the beloved illuminator’s voice.
… Come flutter ‘tween flowers and sail o’er the trees
Or light on m’finger and dance in the breeze.
Since change is your birthright, fly free and be bold
And fear not the tempest, the darkness, or cold.
Press on to new places, seek color and light,
Find smiles and laughter and joy on your flight….
Filled with fresh vision, Heinrich answered boldly, “Ja! I will not yield that which God has granted me: liberty!”
A loud cheer rose up around him. “Aye! And neither shall I!” cried Otto.
“Nor I!” cried the others.
Pieter was leaning on his staff and smiling broadly. “Men may call us bound or free, foolish or wise, brave or cowardly, even saintly or wicked, but it is heaven that has already declared who we truly are.
“Hear this, my precious ones: we will live as we have learned to want. Freedom comes from the wanting.” He stretched his arms over his beloved and pronounced, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free! Behold, old things are passed away; all things are become new. Forgetting those things that lie behind, let us reach forth unto those things that lie ahead!” He then lifted his face to heaven. “God is good; His mercies endure forever! O Lord, protect us from our enemies. May God have mercy on us all. Amen.”
The circle echoed, “Amen.”
The company faced one another with hearts lifted, then turned to look at Weyer once again. “So will you enter to make your claims, or do we go elsewhere?” Helmut asked.
Wil shuffled uneasily. “I think—”
“I needs first find my wife,” blurted Heinrich flatly. “It is a matter above all else. Then I must know about my bakery and my land, else I shall never rest.” He laid a hand on his son’s shoulder and looked at him squarely. “I do sincerely pray for your mother’s good health, lad. I’ll not pretend a heart of great affection, but I do wish for her well-being.”
Wil nodded, then added, “And I pray for the law to fall upon Pious.”
It was noon, and the bells of sext pealed gently over Weyer when the homecoming crusaders descended the eastern slope that rimmed the village. They soon stood in the shade of gray-barked beech trees and old oaks, of pungent pine and ash. At their feet bubbled the happy Laubusbach as it had since time was not recorded. Heinrich reached into his satchel and retrieved the stone he had carried for all these years. He held it in his palm and stared at it quietly until Frieda joined him.