‘You mean that he is only interested in the money and lands he might receive from confiscations by inquisitors?’
‘That is my opinion.’
‘So he welcomes the pope’s legation in Languedoc, but his brother the king is suspicious of it?’
‘Alphonse may be hoping to receive something but the king knows that he has not paid his taxes, and he knows that the pope can confiscate and keep the property of a condemned heretic. Did you not hear the inquisitor mention this fact? You must see to your ears, boy.’
‘But monks are poor, master, they do not own property.’
‘Individually they do not, my good Christian, but communally, communally they may be very wealthy. Many monasteries are richer than whole kingdoms.’
‘What about the grand master? Why is he interested in the monastery?’
‘Perhaps it is the case that the Cistercians, our order, the Romans, the king, and his brother are all vying for the same thing.’
‘What thing?’
‘That is what we must find out.’
‘And if we do, whom shall we turn to, master? The king or the grand master?’
‘Perhaps neither, perhaps both,’ he answered, ‘and if things go wrong we must not expect a legion of knights to come to our defence.’
‘You mean our order will desert us?’ I cried in disbelief.
Andre brought a finger to his lips. I had not noticed that I had been speaking loudly. ‘Calm down. All I am saying is that there must be something here in this abbey which is of great value, but also in some way incriminating. The question is, what are Cistercians doing on Templar ground? Then also, why do we find a rose cross on the door, and furthermore, a black virgin holding a rose and a cross on the window in the church? These things are physical signs that may help us solve our puzzle but to be sure of more things we must somehow get a look at the great book in the chapter house, the one which catalogues dates of deaths, admittances and so on. This may help us to find out where these monks came from, and perhaps why they are here.’
‘Why do you not simply ask the abbot, master?’
‘He will not tell us, his lips are sealed, as he told us. Perhaps there is a vow that he cannot break? Or he has learned something in the confessional. No, I am afraid we must find out for ourselves.’
‘But what obliges you to go poking around in the abbey’s business, master? Are we not here simply to see that no injustice is done by the inquisition?’
‘The abbot has done what he could by asking me to seek the ‘evil roaming the abbey’, whose words echo those of Ezekiel that day before his death, if you will remember, and yet, in the end, nothing obliges us to do anything we will not do willingly, out of a desire to know, am I right?’
‘So our next move is?’
‘I would say that at this point, with all that has happened, our first priority may be to prevent the inquisitor from using our bones as faggots – but you will be glad to know that, among all these questions, we do know something, and that is, that there is a tunnel beneath the abbey that no one wants to mention and that the abbot seems anxious to safeguard. There have been two deaths, not one, and under similar suspicious circumstances. I don’t yet know what one thing has to do with the other – perhaps nothing, perhaps everything. But we must remember that if we know these things it is only a matter of time before the inquisitor also learns of them, that is, of course unless he has known about them all along . . . in which case this abbey is doomed.’
Having said these things my master lapsed into a pensive silence and it was some moments before I had occasion to tell him of my conversation with the cook. He listened quietly and then rubbed his hands together, very pleased, ‘Good,’ he seemed cheered, ‘he may be of great help to us.’
‘Really? I don’t see how a cook can be of any help, master, after all, how much could such an ignorant man know?’
‘Why, you are a stupid boy!’ he looked surprised. ‘A living dog is better than a dead lion! We must not confound learning with intelligence for here is another who says those with garrulous tongues die in this abbey, and we had better start listening.’
‘And what shall we hear?
‘Something that will point to where we must investigate. I shall question him later . . .’ saying almost to himself, ‘but for now, we must look about us, and as Peter has said, we must be sober, we must be vigilant.’
‘What must we look for, master?’ I shivered.
‘Everything and nothing at all!’
‘But how does one go about looking for nothing?’
‘Christian, must I explain what should be as apparent as the colour of my skin? Nothing is only anything devoid of everything, or rather, a something lacking, which can be just as significant as its opposite.’