The Dream Weavers by Barbara Erskine (books you have to read txt) 📕

of Eadburh’s chamber was burning low and the room was almost dark. The building was silent. There were no shuffling steps outside in the long corridor, no noises from the cloister below her window, no creak of the wind on the shutters. She had heard the great bell in the tower strike three times to signal lauds. The nuns would be in church. She rose stiffly from her bed and pulling her heavy fur-lined cloak around her shoulders went over to the table. It was perhaps the benefit of being abbess she most appreciated in winter, the fact that her chamber was situated over the warming room, while the sisters had to freeze in their cells at night, waiting for the rare moments when they could go into the room down there to thaw their cold hands and feet. She groped on her table for a taper and held it to the wicks in the beeswax of the bronze lamp on the prayer desk. The walls of the chamber were visible now.

The knock at her door was barely audible. She frowned. No one would normally dare to interrupt her sleep. She had made it clear she did not attend lauds. The abbey ran smoothly under her guidance. It was wealthy, well organised and a place she could feel safe. The system was efficient and her household officers and servants well trained. A disturbance in the early hours of the morning was unheard of.

Clutching her cloak more closely round her shoulders, she moved across to the door and pulled it open. One of the sisters who helped run the guest house was standing there with a candle in her hand, a tall figure barely visible behind her in the shadows.

‘Mother Abbess,’ she stammered. ‘I’m sorry, but your visitor insisted.’

‘How dare you!’ Eadburh shivered as the icy draught blew down the long passage, making the woman’s candle flicker. Behind her the flames on her lamp flared and smoked.

‘It was I who dared.’ The man stepped forward. ‘I have travelled hundreds of miles to see the lady abbess. You may leave, Sister.’ He turned to the nun with a little bow. ‘And you will make no mention to anyone of my visit. Your abbess and I have important matters to discuss in private.’

The sister bowed her head obediently and turned away. She moved silently out of sight around the corner and the shadows followed her, leaving the man standing in the darkness of the passage.

Eadburh was staring at his face, unable to see it clearly in the light of the lamps, but remembering the voice so well. Her heart performed a frightened, incredulous leap in her chest. ‘You?’

He stepped inside the room and closed the door silently behind him. ‘Me.’ He put his arms around her and pulled her close. As she raised her lips to his, she managed only one word. ‘Elise.’

‘Are you all right, my dear?’ The voice at her shoulder made Bea jump. Her awakening was so sudden and so outrageous she couldn’t at first work out where she was.

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you, only you’ve been sitting there a while and what with it getting dark I thought I would check.’

Bea stared round, bewildered. The stone walls of one of Charlemagne’s newest and best-endowed convents with its state-of-the-art buildings and fabulous frescoes in the latest Byzantine style, lit by bronze tripod lamps and beeswax candles, had vanished and she found herself sitting in a lonely clearing in the forest. The only similarity was the encircling darkness.

They had met again, Eadburh and Elisedd. He had taken her into his arms. And then, as they were about to kiss, the scene had disappeared and they had vanished into the shadows.

She looked up at the old man, confused. ‘I must have fallen asleep.’ She scrambled to her feet.

‘But you’re all right?’ The elderly man at her side was genuinely concerned. There was an equally elderly golden retriever at his side and both looked worried as they surveyed her. Rain was beginning to fall; she could hear it patter on the leaf litter around her feet. ‘I’m sure it’s safe out here,’ he went on, but it’s lonely in the dark.’ He gave such a sweet smile her heart warmed to him. Somehow she dragged her attention back to the present. ‘That’s kind of you. I must have been more tired than I realised. I’ve got a car nearby.’

He stood back. ‘Then I’ll leave you to it. I’m sorry to have disturbed you.’ With a click of his fingers to the dog, he walked off down the ride. She stared after him then, with a little shiver, she turned back the way she had come. Nesta had vanished into the trees long since and Eadburh and Elisedd? She found she was smiling. So, he had found her. Was it true? Was there to be a happy ending after all to the story? If that old man hadn’t woken her, she might have discovered the answer to that question. She might have witnessed their reunion.

Hers was the only car left in the car park. She made her way across to it and climbed in, instinctively locking the doors against the night before she inserted the key in the ignition. It was late and she felt exposed and vulnerable and very alone and she needed to go home. To Mark. To her study in the attic. To the story.

Picking up the note on the kitchen table, Bea read it with a rueful smile. Back soon. Love you, M xxx

Walking over to the sink she picked an empty glass off the draining board and filled it from the tap. Sipping slowly she looked out of the window at the garden. It was dark out there but it had stopped raining. With a sigh of exhaustion she opened the back door. Sitting down on the bench, huddled in her coat, she closed her eyes and listened for a while to the gentle trickle of the