Quest of Hope(105)

Heinrich ground his teeth. He stood to his feet and paced the floor. Dressed in his common homespun he felt powerless and weak. Perhaps I am being selfish, he thought. Perhaps their offer is best for all and maybe I ought take what I can while I can. He tried to avoid the accusing eyes of Wil.

Heinrich suddenly felt ashamed for doubting the world that ruled him. It was all too much to bear and the man yielded. “I… I accept your terms.” Heinrich sighed in resignation and collapsed into his chair, exhausted.





Chapter 16



LIFE





Heinrich’s hand shook as he accepted the offer with a few carefully witnessed scratches of a quill on parchment. The deal done, the baker was hurried out of the prior’s chamber and escorted to the novice cloister where he and Wil made a brief appearance before the abbey’s lay-instructor, Herr Laurentius.

Laurentius fixed an intimidating stare into the face of the lad who would become his pupil. Wil stood stiff-jawed and silent and studied his schoolmaster with equal determination while he received a brief orientation of the day to follow. The boy said nothing but finally offered a respectful bow as Laurentius finished his lecture.

“Thank you, m’lord,” said Wil. “I shall do m’best.”

“Aye, the lad shall work hard,” added Heinrich. With that, the pair stepped into the abbey’s courtyard and began their journey home.

After a long period of silence, Wil finally spoke. “He’s a terror. He held the rod like he loved it and I think he’ll use it often!”

“If he uses it too often I’ll use it on him!” boasted Heinrich. The two walked up the long slope leading away from Villmar and said little. Heinrich’s mind ran over the business of the day and he shook his head. “Methinks I should have done better.”

“Aye, you let them trick you.”

Somehow knowing that Wil was right, Heinrich hung his head.

The two finally arrived home in the dark hours of that most difficult day. Wil knew only that he hated everyone he had met and was in dread of the morning’s hike to his first day of school. Heinrich stared at his hovel door as nervous as a cat approaching an angry hound. He knew his wife would demand an explanation for all that had transpired, and he knew that his answers would likely be derided no matter what they were. He entered his home with trepidation.

“And where have you two been? The mush is stiff and cold; you’ve a few dried peas and a hard-boiled egg. ‘Tis more than you deserve for coming home like this!”

Dietrich was half-asleep on the floor. He sat up to his elbows and groused, “What kind of man comes to his meal at this hour. I tell you, Marta, I wouldn’t put up with it!”

Heinrich closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. “We’ve much to tell, wife,” he began. He sat at the trestle table by the cook-fire and dipped his fingers in the mush bowl. “First, your son begins his instruction tomorrow by terce. His master is a young man from—”

“Cologne,” interjected Wil. “And he’s a brute. He hates me; I can see it in his eyes.”

“Nay, nay, Wil,” said Marta. “He needs keep good order. ‘Tis no hate in that.”

Wil grunted and looked carefully at his father, wondering how he would share the rest.

“And there’s other news.” All eyes turned toward Heinrich as Karl climbed playfully into his lap. The man hesitated. He would need to be more clever now than he had been a few hours earlier. “Wife,” he began slowly, “what say you to bartering our land from Emma for our freedom?”

“Freedom? Nay! Better to stay safe in these times. I’d rather be rich and safe than poor and free!” She suddenly fixed a hard eye on her husband. “What did you do, Heinrich? What sort of fool thing did you do?” Her voice was shrill and loud. Heinrich wanted to stuff his ears with wool. Instead, he drew a deep breath and sighed.

“No, fear not, you are not free.” Wil noted a subtle hint of sarcasm in his father’s voice. The man continued. “What say you to keeping the lands for their rents?”

“Nay!” the woman growled suspiciously. “Your head is thick and filled with dung. I’ve told you time and time again we cannot trust land on the other side of the world, and I do not trust that Templar!”

Dietrich grumbled as he climbed to his feet. “You’ve always been a dolt, Heinrich. Your uncles, ja, those are men who are men! But you? Ha, you learned nothing from them. Your papa, Kurt, he was—”

“Enough, Father,” ordered Marta. “Heinrich, what have you done?”

Heinrich would have liked nothing better than to throw the old intruder out the door. He bit his tongue, then answered his wife. “Would you have me barter the land for more land here, by Weyer?”