(Bell tolls)
♪ Veni, Sancte Spiritus
♪ Mentes tuorum visita
♪ Amen
(Torrential rain)
Urgh!
The year is 1144...
..and civil war, unforgiving and cruel, rages in England.
King Stephen fights to retain his throne against the Pretender, the Empress Maud,
a fight which stretches to the furthest corners of the realm...
..even to the Abbey at Shrewsbury.
(Thunder rumbles)
Yargh! Yargh!
Leave him be!
Even the soldiers of Empress Maud can let a boy live.
Empress Maud?
I fight for the King...
not the Pretender.
I fight for neither.
Let him go!
Brother...
..forgive me.
(Thunderclap)
(Coins fall on coins)
WOMAN: (Sobs) St Winifred will save us, the blessed St Winifred!
Save us from the floods, blessed St Winifred! Save us from the floods to come.
Save us! Save us.
This dreadful rain, Prior Robert. What if it floods inside?
- Flood is not a certainty, Brother Jerome. - We must protect our saint.
We'II take her up to a safe place, away from the highest floods.
- I want you to wrap the casket. - Thank you, Prior Robert.
We didn't carry her all the way from Wales to see her float away in Shrewsbury.
Did we, Brother Cadfael?
True, Brother Prior. Nor to get soaked in our own house.
The pilgrims' generosity will remedy that.
We are fortunate, indeed, that their generosity never fades.
(Bell tolls)
(Hammering)
(Cries of exertion)
(Rumble of thunder)
Brother Cadfael.
Alfred!
Oh, my dear friend.
(Dog barks)
What are you doing here? Why aren't you looking after your sheep?
Sheep are gone. Lost them all in the flood.
That's why you're working here, in Shrewsbury?
I've debts to pay,
else I lose everything.
- Everything? - Everything.
- Alfr... - Brother!
I have need of you.
Take me to Abbot Radulfus. Straight away.
- If you would, Brother. - I said, straight away.
Take care.
- Lord Beaumont. - Alfred.
You've taken a fall in the world?
The faithful have surpassed themselves, Father Abbot.
There's almost 2,OOO shillings.
Their devotion to St Winifred is humbling.
(Knock at door)
Come.
Father Abbot, these Brothers have requested to see you.
Herluin?
Prior Herluin.
- I hardly recognised you. - From Ramsey Abbey?
Yes, Father.
I am Prior Herluin.
And I'm in a better state than Ramsey Abbey.
How did you come? We got no word.
I need no chair.
I will say what I have to say on my own two feet, which is how I got here, to answer your question.
And you had no word because the word is with me.
Something terrible has happened to Ramsey Abbey?
- Empress Maud has burnt it down. - Burnt it?
We live in a civil war, Brother.
But we are here for Ramsey's future.
You must have no doubt, Prior Herluin, Shrewsbury and St Winifred will help.
My novice Tutilo prayed constantly to St Winifred. She held our lives in her hands.
She has a strength beyond all understanding, Brother.
And she had a purpose in bringing you to us.
Tell us what you want and it is yours.
I want St Winifred.
Brother?
Brother Tutilo...has had a vision.
Tell them, Tutilo.
I saw the shrine, Father Abbot,
and a beautiful woman in front of it.
You can't! You can't take St Winifred. Without her, Shrewsbury is nothing.
No, Brother.
Ramsey Abbey is nothing.
It is flat on the ground.
Your duty is clear.
Perhaps I should...tend the Prior before we retire for the night.
I need no tending.
Cadfael is our herbalist, Brother Prior.
After a journey such as yours, it might be best if he sees you,
because tomorrow he goes to the Lady Donata.
Lady Donata of Longner?
She was a benefactor of Ramsey. I will come with you tomorrow.
Father, she is extremely ill.
Perhaps a visit from an old friend...?
She may be too ill.
Then I will pray with her.
Well, that's settled.
Brother Cadfael, you will take Prior Herluin.
Tomorrow, then.
CADFAEL: Ah, are you ready?
Only three of us are going to Donata's.
We've been diving into ditches for the last two months, supporting Maud's men.
- Brother Cadfael is prepared. He was a soldier. - You came to God late, then?
I came when He called.
- Now, can you ride a horse? - I can.
Though I've served God all my life.
Father, we have a day to prepare.
Brother Cadfael's taken Prior Herluin.
I shall not desert him...
..or Ramsey Abbey.
He is a brother Benedictine.
But, Father Abbot, you'll not grant his request?
St Winifred belongs in Shrewsbury.
And now from Shrewsbury she calls across the breadth of England.
She wants Ramsey and Shrewsbury to flower together.
St Winifred goes to Ramsey for a year.
With Herluin?
That year will stretch for ever.
That is my decision.
(Bell jangles)
(Dog barks)
- Are you going in, Brother? - I certainly am.
It's just the Reeve won't let us see the Lady Donata.
Well, if you're here to sell something, I'm afraid the Reeve's word is final.
We're singers and performers.
- Vagrants. - We earn our living.
I'm Remy and this is Daalny and all we want is to show the Lady Donata what we can do.
- Reeve, where's your mistress? - She's in her sickroom.
The Reeve can show me.
Only if I think best.
You?
You, an old soldier, stop a prior?
At Ramsey, you'd be flogged red-raw for that.
Now, stand aside.
Brother Prior, this is not Ramsey Abbey. I will not be flogged and I will not stand aside.
This lady is dying and she is much loved.
You may wait in the anteroom.
Tutilo, come with me!
- Daalny. - What?
Go with them.
Brother, I nursed my mother when she was ill.
Oh, very well, come on, but no bothering her for work.
Now, I've brought you some poppy juice. It will help you to sleep.
And guests, too.
Whom I can't entertain.
I don't need entertaining.
She's a singer called Daalny.
She works with a troubadour.
Oh, no, not love songs.
I thought you worked in the infirmary.
Not for long.
Here you are.
Ugh!
- Snails again. - It will help with the pain.
Now...
There's a...
There's a prior here to see you.
From Ramsey Abbey.
It seems the Empress Maud has burnt it down.
Sensible woman.
More snails?
I nearly lost a son to Ramsey Abbey.
Hateful place.
Always asking for money.
Well, they won't get any more from me.
stop!
Aaargh!
(Neighs)
My son married a pretty girl like you.
She knocked all that Abbey nonsense out of him.
I suppose he's walling himself up, too, that pretty boy squashing grass.
His name's Tutilo.
He's been blessed with a vision of St Winifred's shrine and a beautiful woman.
Oh, was it me?
LADY DONATA: Cadfael.
Surely a face like his should have children?
Oh, yes. Yes, let the ugly ones die off.
You prove the rule, old friend.
Now, this is made with strawberries.
Ugh.
I used to sing when I was young.
Not for a living, of course.
I had a sweet voice.
Mm.
Young men used to sit at my feet.
Music was our life.
But now...
.they run away to war or creep into abbeys.
(Cadfael sighs)
Young man, do you know the name of that instrument?
It's a psaltery, my lady.
Oh. Knows something.
But can you play it?
At my age, I can tempt fate.
♪ Sweet haunting melody
(Daalny and Tutilo sing a romantic ballad)
(Distant singing)
That girl is singing with Tutilo.
She's probably giving a free performance.
- So, she'll see me now? - She doesn't want to see you.
(Singing continues)
Here!
If you think that I've walked 200 miles, so that you can make music with some tavern slut,
you'd better think again.
MAN: There he goes.
(Groans and laughter)
No, please!
MAN: Next time! (Cackles)
Have mercy!
Uhh! Uhh...
TUTILO: I'm a novice.
But lucky. I'm with Prior Herluin.
DAALNY: But his abbey burnt down. - And he will raise it up again.
And, as the Abbey rises, so will I
Perhaps you should have been a stonemason.
They rise up with the Abbey, as well.
Tutilo!
Singer, your child needs respect for the cloth.
She's not my child.
I bought her when her mother died.
Bought her? You mean she's your slave?
- Lord Beaumont! - Remy.
And where there is Remy there must be...
Daalny.
So you're going to charm them in the Shrewsbury taverns, are you?
- (Coughs) - Ah, once more the good Prior.
Well...
I may hear you sing again.
- Eh, Daalny? - My Lord.
REMY: Lord Beaumont, he was our last master.
Paid well. Must have liked Daalny's voice.
Brother Jerome, who told you to cover St Winifred?
- We've wrapped her to carry her from the flood. - There is no need.
She will be on her way to Ramsey before there is any flood.
All because of your vision, Tutilo.
You have your faults,
but you'll do well at Ramsey, with St Winifred.
If that is what God intends for him
and for her, Brother Prior.
Now, then, soldier, you won your little battle over the old woman,
but the victory over the saint is mine.
Were we fighting, then?
And you will question me once too often.
I see little love for St Winifred in Prior Herluin's face.
Well, Father Abbot...
..love may grow.
(Church door closes)
DRIVER: Yah!
Yah!
Whoa. Whoa.
CADFAEL: Alfred! Come out of the rain.
- I'll... - It's all right. You're with me.
So, you're being paid to drive that cart all the way to Ramsey Abbey?
Yes, I sold my wool to Lord Beaumont.
- He gave the lot to Ramsey as a gift. - Alfred!
That's splendid. That's a good outcome.
Alfred, you must be very careful.
It will be a very dangerous journey.
Maud's soldiers are everywhere and, with all this rain, the river is rising fast.
Well, I shall avoid the river. I'II cross the Meole Brook
and take the high ground east to Ramsey through Lord Beaumont's land.
PRIOR ROBERT: Brother Cadfael!
We must go.
(Sniffs)
Sorry. You can't get rid of the smell of sheep.
Especially dead ones.
You can't wrap a holy relic in sacking.
The casket is going in the wool on the cart. The wool is greasy.
This casket contains the sacred remains of the blessed virgin St Winifred.
You mean, it's just bones?
Those "bones" connect the earth to heaven and your presence defiles them.
Brother Prior, she's only helping.
Oh, yes, and slaves have tricks.
They have pretty ways to keep the company of a novice.
The Church disapproves of slavery, not of the slave.
Isn't that right, Tutilo?
I'm sure Prior Herluin knows what is right, Brother Cadfael.
(Door creaks open)
Let us see our saint safely off.
And pray she comes safely back.
Get out of the way.
Simon, what is it? Is it the Lady Donata?
I have a gift for Brother Tutilo.
For me?
(Tutilo reads) For Tutilo and his vision.
This gift should help open his eyes.
Donata.
We'II build our abbey twice over with this.
CADFAEL: Oh, no, Brother Prior.
In this box lies Ramsey itself.
Yes! Those jewels will take Ramsey to the rafters.
- And if we give alms... - We'll roof the rafters.
CADFAEL: Without St Winifred ever leaving us.
We have an agreement.
Brother Prior, you came to Shrewsbury for alms to rebuild Ramsey
and, as Brother Cadfael says, you part from Shrewsbury with them
and without St Winifred.
I see where this comes from. Women!
Singing,
conniving
and plotting to make a fool out of me.
This is a black day for our order, Father Abbot.
Tutilo, with me!
♪ ..gloriosa
♪ Casta, pura, graciosa
♪ Speculum mundiciae
♪ Seda carnis nostra bella
♪ Ne nos volant in procella tenebrae
♪ ..tristiciae
♪ Aaa-aaa-aaa...
(Horse neighs)
(Torrential rain)
(Rumble of thunder)
(Daalny screams)
(Muffled screams)
(Screaming stops)
(Bell tolls)
Can't you wait till morning, Alfred?
They're gifts for Ramsey Abbey. I've got to get ahead of the flood.
Take care! The river is rising fast.
ALFRED: Yah! Come on.
Take care!
Yah! Yah!
(Daalny gurgles and gulps)
(Gurgles)
(Coughs)
(Gurgles)
(Gasps for breath)
BERINGAR: Ah, Brother Cadfael! The rain has done its damage here.
At least the river didn't burst its banks.
The town survived.
Hm, unlike our roof.
Oh, you're surely not putting St Winifred back amongst all this?
She will be safely secured upstairs for the night.
Now that the floods have passed by, people will want to give thanks.
No, no. Careful, please.
How are the villages downstream, Hugh?
Well, some are in a sorry state.
We didn't wrap St Winifred in leather, did we, Brother Prior?
I gave her to your charge, Brother Jerome.
The... The casket!
St Winifred, she's gone!
What Prior Herluin failed to get by agreement, he's tried to get by stealth.
- But, Cadfael, be politic. - Don't worry, Father.
Hugh Beringar shares our secret.
Go with God, Cadfael.
Find that cart and bring St Winifred home.
BERINGAR: Well, it looks like the cart went through the stream here.
But there's marks of other horses, too.
Could be quite a few horses. It's hard to tell, the ground's so wet.
Cadfael?
Cadfael!
Hugh! Come here!
She's still alive.
So, the last thing that you remember is looking at your dress in the guesthouse?
Then I woke up in my box.
I nearly drowned. You don't have to make out I'm lying.
BERINGAR: Well, I would lie if I were a runaway slave.
That's just what a free-born lord would say.
A runaway slave runs for ever.
I'll stay with Remy. At least I know where I am with him.
- We're losing time, Cadfael! - Yes. All right, Hugh.
Whether she ran or not, she's alive.
What's on that cart is dead.
Cart?
I saw a cart in the Abbey courtyard, piled up high.
It was wool on its way to Ramsey Abbey,
with a cargo of jewels and a stolen saint hidden inside it.
Cadfael!
Come on. We must hurry.
They certainly ransacked this.
And the horse has gone. Could be Maud's men needing horses to catch up with her army.
Well, I can't see any blood.
What's happened to Alfred, the driver?
- I was on his cart, then? - Yes, you were.
Drugged and kidnapped.
But why?
Cadfael, here's something. They got a lot more than a horse.
The jewel box! Oh, yes. Empty, of course.
- There's something here. - Hm?
St Winifred's casket. Why have they left that?
(Approaching horses)
Halt!
Lord Beringar of Shrewsbury. What brings you onto my land?
Daalny?
Have you left your master?
We've told you before, the shrine is being cleaned after the flood.
Now, you will see St Winifred soon enough. When we are ready.
Now make sure nobody enters.
(Horse neighs)
Be calm. Please, be patient.
CADFAEL: You stay with me, Daalny.
Brother Cadfael!
We found the casket. Now get it inside, quickly.
Follow me.
If Donata's jewels have been stolen,
Prior Herluin will once more lay claim to St Winifred.
Lord Beaumont, you saw nothing?
If Maud's men attacked the cart, then where's the driver?
If he's still alive, I'm sure he'II come to me.
(Door opens)
So, someone's got my abbey?
Ah, you have heard of the unfortunate events.
Empress Maud has taken my jewels.
But I hear she left the wool
and what it covered.
St Winifred on the cart to Ramsey.
But how did that happen?
Well, she certainly didn't get there by herself.
Think of that night.
River rising. Shrewsbury in danger.
And upstairs, the precious bones of our saint behind a locked door.
In the yard, a cart loaded high with good, warm wool, headed for Ramsey, headed for safety.
Rain pours, river rises,
people run, dogs howl,
cocks screech and the thunder!
And it is done.
A miracle?
The saint's intention is clear, Father Abbot.
To Ramsey.
Simple.
Putting herself on the cart might indicate her intention was to leave Shrewsbury.
Unless someone lifted her on instead.
No, no.
- I think it was a miracle. - Lord Beaumont, with respect...
Off the pedestal,
into the courtyard, onto the cart?
HERLUIN: Yes.
The saint is working her purpose.
And when she stopped the cart on my land, she showed us.
Her purpose is to be with me.
If I allow Herluin to have a case, I must allow Lord Beaumont's.
Father, that casket was removed by human hands, not saintly ones.
And is the slave girl involved in all this?
Find those hands,
or we may lose our saint for ever.
DAALNY: I'd been mending my dress.
And this door, was it er...
closed?
- Open. - It was open?
Did you notice anybody outside?
No, it was so dark.
You didn't, for instance, see anybody near the cart?
I was busy mending my dress.
I told you.
Someone attacked me,
put a filthy rag over my face
and I woke up in the box.
If I hadn't kicked my way out, I'd have drowned.
This rag, did it smell of anything?
- Yes, it stank. - Stank?
How did it stink?
Was it erm...
a sharp smell or was it...cloying?
Was it a flowery smell?
It was very pungent and sour.
Like vinegar.
Vinegar?
Oh, I see.
You knew Donata's jewels were on the cart, didn't you?
What would I do with jewels?
I'm Remy's property.
What I own, he owns.
It's like saying a dog owns its own collar.
And did your master, Remy, know of Donata's gift?
- (Sighs) - Hugh! Here's a rag.
Vinegar.
And hemlock.
Too much hemlock, and the sleeper never wakes.
When you worked in the infirmary at Ramsey, did you ever use hemlock?
Yes. We used it to stop pain.
Hemlock is missing from my shelf.
Daalny was drugged with it.
A little too much and hemlock can kill.
I know what hemlock does.
Yes.
It buys silence.
Now, last night, Daalny was standing in her doorway, sewing. The light was behind her.
Someone, down in the courtyard,
busy with the cart that was going to Ramsey, could have seen her
and thought that she'd seen them.
And what they were doing, they didn't want anybody to know about.
Brother Cadfael, if you think I'd harm her...
We found St Winifred's casket on that cart.
I didn't put it there.
Oh, come on! That's why you're here in Shrewsbury.
You hope to bring honour to Ramsey Abbey and we know how that's achieved, don't we?
- Through possessing holy relics. - I didn't put St Winifred on the cart.
Set against the possession of a saint, what's the death of some poor slave?
I wouldn't harm...
Go on.
You wouldn't harm...?
I wouldn't harm a hair on her head.
I know that.
Well, I'm sure the truth will come out when the shepherd returns.
- The shepherd? - He was driving the cart.
What he knows will decide the fates of priors, novices,
abbeys and inns.
Very well, then.
You come with me.
- Pull him out. - Get him.
Trial by water. Such a cruel way of finding out if someone's lying or not.
DAALNY: Who are they trying? - Men suspected of looting.
He floated.
- He's guilty. - Yes, and now he'II lose a hand.
I do think there are better ways of getting at the truth.
Take that to the infirmary.
And take Daalny back to the guesthouse.
I'll do that, Brother.
BERINGAR: Where's the next one? Come on. Throw him in.
You meet me at the stables tonight.
- What? - After supper, you meet me.
SOLDIER: That one. That one. That one's next.
BERINGAR: Cadfael? Cadfael!
MAN: No! No, please.
Did they tell you anything?
Oh, he put St Winifred's casket on the cart, all right, in some fit of passion, but...
I'm sure he never touched the girl.
And what about the jewels?
Without Donata's gift, the saint's as good as lost.
Daalny was put on that cart because of something she saw,
whether she admits that or not.
But what is she hiding?
The thief of the jewels or the thief of the saint?
And if Alfred's still alive...
I'm the one he'll come to.
He might well come to you, but while you're waiting, I'll be looking.
Yes, yes. Pull him out.
Pull him out. He's guilty.
He will lose a hand.
You won't get a better offer, Remy,
and I need a singer.
I can't trust money during a civil war, my Lord.
And Daalny's a coin that will always keep its value.
Remy, come with us. I want to talk to you.
- What? What have I done? - Show me where you're staying.
- I'm supposed to be singing with Daalny. - Never mind about that.
- Apologies, if you had business with him. - Change your mind, Remy.
- My offer remains the same. - Come on!
(Owl hoots, dog barks)
Why do you bring me here?
- You saw what they do to thieves. - I'm no thief.
I saw you put something on that cart last night.
Now I know it was St Winifred.
You are a thief.
It was my vision.
You stole the saint!
was it just you
or was it that prior, as well?
No.
- Alfred the Shepherd helped me. - Listen to me. You don't lie well enough.
Do you think Brother Cadfael doesn't know what's happened?
When that shepherd returns, he'll give you up to save himself.
You run, before it's too late.
My life is Ramsey Abbey and Prior Herluin.
Herluin will cage you up in Ramsey Abbey.
You'll lose everything.
He'll stop your voice.
You will sing, even when the flesh is off your back, but, finally...
..you will stop.
Daalny?
And I, who have no freedom...
..cannot bear that thought.
BERINGAR: Is this where you're staying? REMY: You'll find nothing, my Lord.
REMY: I don't own anything much.
BERINGAR: Go on. Get in there.
The only thing you're going to find in there is a bit of catgut for my lute.
Just get in.
SOLDIER: You search the loft. - What is on here?
I oil my lute with that.
BERINGAR: You don't get much music out of a cracked box.
BERINGAR: Make sure you go right through that bedding.
What's this?
- It's spirit. - Oh, you drink this, do you?
You're welcome to a taste, my Lord.
I set light to it.
I don't just sing and play the lute. I breathe out fire.
- Nothing up here. - Right.
♪ Oh, my love has golden hair
♪ That shines in the sun
♪ Walking in the morning dew
♪ Catch it in my hea-ea-eart
♪ Catch it in my heart
♪ Oh, who will be my love?
♪ Now my heart is broke
♪ Never more a soldier's love
♪ Never more his golden hair
♪ Who will be my love?
(Abbey bell tolls)
(Bell continues to toll)
(Daalny's singing drowned by bell)
(Rhythmic clapping to song)
♪ ..another keg of ale
♪ Pass another drink, he's feeling lonely...
(Bell continues to toll)
♪ ..another keg of ale
♪ Pass another drink...
CADFAEL: Tutilo? What's happened?
He's here.
Alfred!
He's dead, Tutilo.
Well, you were right about one thing.
Alfred did try to get to you.
Yes, if only he'd reached me.
Well, no-one who knew Alfred would kill him for his purse,
unless they knew he was carrying stolen jewels.
Hugh! He was a decent, hard-working man and he can't speak up for himself.
This branch could have been used.
- No, it's too rotten. - All the same, somebody hit him with it.
See these splinters of rotten wood caught in the cowl?
Yes.
But here at the temple there's what seems to be crumbs of stone.
I can't see any on the cowl.
So he's hit with the wood while his cowl is up?
His cowl was down when I found him, Brother.
There's a bruise on his forehead.
Now, suppose when he's hit with the rotten wood,
he loses his balance and then he...
he falls and he cracks his forehead
and then...
while he's unconscious...
He was finished off.
Yes, but...
What, with a piece of stone?
And then the stone's replaced so that it looks as if it was never moved.
But then why hide a murder weapon that's just a stone?
There's no telling what a killer will do.
I think his killer worked with him and came after him to stop him talking.
CADFAEL: Yes, but talking about what? The jewels, the saint, the slave?
Alfred was an honest man. I'II not have his death seal his guilt.
Nor the wrong one blamed for it.
Well, everything revolves around that cart to Ramsey Abbey.
Alfred was murdered because he was driving it.
Daalny nearly drowned because she was on it.
Donata's gift was stolen from it
and St Winifred was hidden in it.
Relics, slaves and jewels.
Who benefits from the theft of relics?
I do.
And I can see Brother Cadfael's thought as clearly as I can see his face.
He'll be saying next that I burnt down Ramsey Abbey myself.
Oh, no. I'll be saying next you'll build it up.
Nothing will stop you.
You'll use this boy's vision as suits you best.
His vision is true.
He walked across England for St Winifred.
Abbot Radulfus, do you stand silent?
Brother Prior, no-one has ever questioned Tutilo's vision.
You walked him across England 200 miles,
through Maud's soldiers, through floods, through hunger.
You'll not stop.
- You'll stop at nothing. - You accuse me?
You, an old soldier?
Ambition is a vicious mistress.
And a decent man lies dead.
I did it.
Brother Prior knows nothing.
You killed Alfred?
I... I put St Winifred on the cart.
Alfred helped me. I didn't kill him.
Come with me, boy!
You lied to Brother Cadfael about stealing. You're lying now about killing.
Church and saint are beyond my law, but you're not.
Tutilo.
What made you put St Winifred on the cart?
She told me to.
You did it for Prior Herluin. He didn't tell you to, but that's why you did it.
This is a holy theft.
Tutilo was inspired by the saint herself.
His vision brought him here. Her voice told him what to do.
Under Church law, Abbot Radulfus, as you well know, our claim to the saint stands.
Your claim, Brother Prior, stands among others, not least Shrewsbury's own.
Come on!
Get in there. Go on!
You stole the saint and killed the only witness.
Unless we find otherwise, this is where you'll stay.
RADULFUS: You insulted Prior Herluin while believing him innocent.
But I had to remove uncertainty.
An old friend has been killed and I can find no motive.
And though I know Tutilo put the relics on the cart,
I cannot believe that that boy is a killer.
But you do believe the killer is connected with the cart to Ramsey Abbey?
I know a decent man is dead.
I know a young girl nearly drowned.
I know death is following those relics
and I beg you, Father, before someone else dies, decide who is to have them.
If death follows St Winifred, I must.
Or our holy saint will become profane.
Surely Remy told you of my offer?
He did, Lord Beaumont. I think Remy needs me too much.
Daalny!
He would get a good price.
And you...
You would live in a lord's castle.
I often sleep with no roof over my head.
I don't feel the need for a castle.
Brother Cadfael!
I will speak to your master again.
And, at the end of the day, money will speak for you.
- Tutilo's in jail for killing the shepherd. - Yes, I know.
You know he's innocent. You know he can't kill.
- He can steal. - Oh, yes, he can steal, but he's a dreamer.
You seem to know him better than he knows himself.
I was with him at the horse-fair stables last night.
CADFAEL: Ah.
- And when did you part? - I left when I had to sing at the tavern.
- When was that? - Not long after dusk.
I heard the last bells of the day as I left the stables.
I wonder where Alfred was at that time?
All right. I want you to do something for me.
Do you know where the ferry crossing is?
And here, in the year 852, in Bury St Edmunds.
Father, that case took 50 years.
God's truth cares nothing for time, Brother Prior,
and Shrewsbury, Herluin and Lord Beaumont all have claims to St Winifred.
St Winifred will be haggled over like fish in the market.
The cart stopping on Lord Beaumont's land was an accident.
Accidents do not happen to saints.
Prior Robert, those that reside in heaven have only one voice...
..the word of God, written down for all time in the Bible.
I must let that voice speak.
- Trial by the Bible? - Yes.
It's called a Sortes Biblicae.
Now, imagine this herb book is the Bible.
Well, it's opened at random
and then each claimant to St Winifred is blindfolded and they place a finger on a verse.
And the meaning of the verse indicates the rightful owner.
I'm not too sure about that.
- But you're sure enough about trial by water. - Yes.
I've seen that many times. I understand that.
So what you see often is what you understand?
So when the river is water one day and ice the next, you understand why.
We must hope the Bible decides in Shrewsbury's favour.
Well, it may well do so. But is it right, Hugh,
that the word of God should be used to solve a quarrel
about where hard-working pilgrims place their hard-earned pennies?
Because that's how all this started and it may well end when a young man hangs.
He had cause to kill Alfred and he was found with blood on his hands.
He'll only hang if he's guilty.
I only know what I always knew, old friend.
(Door opens)
That you were a decent man
and that what you knew was worth your death.
(Door closes)
Now I must try to save the living.
What did the ferryman have to say?
He rowed Alfred to this side at dusk on the night he died.
At dusk?
And half an hour later, Alfred was at my door.
Now, normally he would have come straight in, but...he couldn't take those last few steps.
- Someone was waiting for him. - Yes.
Half an hour after dusk...
..is the time for the service of compline.
Tutilo was in the stables then.
Was he? I thought you said that you'd left the stables as you heard the compline bells ringing.
- He went back inside. I'm sure he did. - Well, you can only be sure that you left.
Tutilo could easily have come from the stables to my workshop.
He certainly had time to kill Alfred.
Hold that candle closer.
Isn't the thread from Alfred's hood?
No.
No, the colour's obscured by the blood, but it's too fine a thread.
So it may be from his killer?
Fetch me a clean dish from that pile over there.
Yes. Thank you. Now...
We'II need some...
hot wax to hold the thread in place.
Thank you.
And will that save Tutilo?
Brother Cadfael, Tutilo's in jail Lord Beringar isn't going to let him out for one thread.
- What are you putting in that dish? - Salt water and patience.
For now, that's all I have.
CADFAEL: A Sortes Biblicae is a very rare event.
- And you, my Lord... - Mm-hm?
When you were drawn to St Winifred, you didn't expect this.
Drawn to her?
Cadfael, I have an empty chapel.
A pretty nest without an egg.
So it's not a matter of belief or spirit, then?
Oh, I'll play along.
It suits me, Cadfael.
I'm not a man to be pushed or pulled into place, unless I want to be there.
This way.
♪ Gloria Patris et Filii
♪ Gloria...
Silence.
RADULFUS: Bring Lord Beaumont to the Bible.
BROTHER JEROME: "Ye shall seek me and ye shall not find me
and where I am, ye cannot come."
St Winifred and Lord Beaumont can't be in the same place.
RADULFUS: Take Prior Herluin of Ramsey to the Bible.
BROTHER JEROME: "I tell you...
I tell you, I know you not. Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity."
I renounce my claim.
I was deceived by the novice Tutilo.
Everything was a lie.
Tutilo is an agent of the devil
and a murderer!
RADULFUS: Take Prior Robert of Shrewsbuy to the Bible.
"You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you."
The word of God has pronounced.
St Winifred remains at Shrewsbury.
Take up the Bible.
(Door opens)
(Monks pray)
A petal of white blossom is against a verse on the page.
This was Winifred's flower.
"And brother shall deliver brother to death."
This has meaning for someone here.
She speaks to me.
Winifred speaks to me.
I killed the shepherd. I killed Alfred the Shepherd.
Daalny!
Herluin has denounced you.
Denounced me?
He was my teacher.
- They will hang me. - You must not give up. Cadfael will help you.
You cannot come here again. They'll say you helped me.
I will not desert you.
- What mistakes I've made. (Door opens)
I'm not for Ramsey Abbey.
Never could nor should be.
If not for Ramsey, I'd not know you.
And you will live.
You will live. They shall not hang you.
Come on, you! Out!
CADFAEL: So you thought Alfred was Tutilo?
Tutilo tried to steal St Winifred from us.
I hated him.
And you followed Alfred to my workshop?
It was dark. His hood was up.
And Tutilo was missing from compline.
As was I, Father.
And I saw him.
And then I trod on this big stick and I picked it up and followed him.
And I... I ran and I jumped and I struck him.
Show me how.
(Murmuring)
And then she spoke to me in the Sortes.
She knew. "Brother killing brother."
She certainly knew your thought.
But you didn't kill anyone.
Alfred had a bruise on his forehead.
You merely knocked him off balance, that's all.
So I didn't kill him?
With a piece of rotten wood?
No.
But there was someone else there, watching,
who killed Alfred while he lay unconscious on the ground.
So I am responsible.
Responsible? You're a fool.
But Alfred's killer would have made sure of him, whether he was unconscious or not.
Whatever the effect, Brother Jerome, your intention was murder
and your soul stands in peril.
Return to your cell.
You'll leave it only for your punishment.
Father.
This is a good gem.
Do you have more?
I might.
Then I might need more coin.
Then I might return.
I tell you this.
It's Tutilo.
In a fit of passion over Winifred, perhaps,
but Tutilo killed Alfred.
I found this thread in Alfred's hair.
I think it was left by the killer.
- A thread? - Mm.
What do you hope to find from that?
Well, once I've cleaned it, who it belongs to.
But this is a place of pilgrimage.
You've got people coming here from all over England every day.
Yes, that's exactly my point. This doesn't come from a monk's habit.
I agree Tutilo had cause and he had blood on his hands, but that's not enough to hang him.
A thread in a dead man's hair?
Well, even if you do find who it belongs to, that's all it is.
But it opens up doubt, Hugh.
Not in my mind, Cadfael.
But we will put him to the test.
It's red.
(Dog barks)
We've only got your word that Tutilo remained behind here
when you left to go and sing in the tavern.
But I can prove to Lord Beringar we were here, because I heard what he said.
Yes, but it's not that you were here, then,
it's that Tutilo was here afterwards, when Alfred was killed.
How to prove that?
What's a prayer book doing here?
Tutilo must have left it.
It's been marked with the compline service.
Tutilo was here.
He was following the offices from here.
While poor Alfred was being killed.
Tight enough.
Now...
Out...you...go.
And search him.
This means no more than a bit of thread, Cadfael.
But, Hugh, he could hear the Abbey bells.
He was following the service of compline in the stables, on his own, when Alfred was killed.
He could have placed the book for you to find.
I'm sorry, Cadfael.
I'm doing my best for the boy.
MAN: Throw him in!
The water will test him.
If he sinks, it will confirm his innocence.
MAN: He looks guilty, doesn't he?
Throw him in!
(Cheering)
Told you! Told you!
- Guilty! - Hang him!
Pull him out.
He is guilty.
He hangs in the morning.
Remy?
What are you doing?
You don't own a horse.
Well, I do now
and a lot more besides, soon.
My singing days are over.
What do you mean, "over"?
And you can keep the costumes.
I'm buying an inn.
An inn?
Where did you get the money to buy an inn?
Remy!
Tell me how you got enough to buy an inn.
He got it from me.
I told you money would speak for you.
REMY: It's the best for both of us.
I get an inn, you get a castle.
You used to sleep under the stars, Daalny.
You'll sleep much better in a feather bed.
(Hammering)
(Sawing)
Brother Prior.
Daalny said you had abandoned me.
Did she?
I may return to Ramsey empty-handed, but I will still be by your side tomorrow, Tutilo.
And I will pray for your twisted soul.
My soul was never so straight.
I see clearly how I ought to live.
Then confess your guilt.
I will speak for you and you can come back to Ramsey with me.
So you can flog my back till it's raw?
Then stay in Shrewsbury...
..and hang.
And you should take this thought to the rope with you.
The tavern slut has left you.
Daalny?
Never.
She's off to some grand house, Lord Beaumont's.
She's sung for him before.
Oh, she'll sing, all right.
She'll sing and play
and shout.
She'll make the roof shake.
Lord Beaumont has bought her,
voice...
life...
..and body.
Herluin!
Herluin.
Now, that's cleaner.
And it is red.
(Knock at door)
Come in.
DaalnY.
I erm... I've got Tutilo's prayer book still.
Perhaps you'd like to take it to him.
Thank you. He'll be pleased.
And what about you, hm? What will happen to you?
I am bought
by Lord Beaumont.
Oh, I see.
Well, it's a good house.
He offered to buy me before.
Never mind how I'll live.
Tutilo will hang tomorrow.
If I were to give you some poppy juice, you might take it to him.
It will calm him down.
He won't want to be calm.
He'll want to shout out loud he is not guilty, so I'm not the only one who remembers him.
- But you mustn't give him too much of it. - I won't give him any!
You and your potions! All you've got is some stupid bit of thread.
Brother Cadfael, I trusted you!
Listen! You mustn't give him too much of it, because he will fall fast asleep.
And if you mix it in wine, he won't even taste it.
I will take the poppy juice.
Are you sure you understand what I'm telling you to do?
Yes.
Good.
Now, don't forget the prayer book.
Did Lord Beaumont give you that dress?
No, Remy did.
He thinks people like it.
Does...Remy himself wear red, too?
We wore the same.
Now, here's the poppy juice and, if I were you, I'd use all of it.
(She kisses him)
(Sniffs)
What is that stench?
This? Oh, I'm boiling some sheep's wool to get the grease out of it. I use it for my ointments.
So that was the smell with the hemlock?
What, when you were kidnapped?
No. No, no, no. Hemlock doesn't mix in ointment.
(Door closes)
What was it Alfred said?
"You can't get rid of the smell of sheep...
..especially dead ones."
DAALNY: I've brought this for the young monk.
It's his last night.
Please, have some...
..and drink to his health in a better world.
(Whispers) Tutilo?
You said you'd get the money.
These things are never simple, my friend.
- If you will only wait a little longer. - Well, I'm leaving for Bristol.
Well, what can I say? You want your property back?
Yes, I do.
These are the jewels you gave me?
Yes, they are.
I thought I'd have to arrest him myself, Lord Beringar.
These are Lady Donata's jewels. Where did you get them, Remy?
Now, go.
- Run. - Not without you.
I cannot. I'm sold to Lord Beaumont.
You must!
Even if we hide together, we'll still be together.
He'll find us.
Go.
Live for me.
Be free for me.
There is no freedom without you.
Daalny, my pride once weighed me down,
but with your love to hold me up, I shall fly and carry you with me.
You can be free.
Yes.
Of course I can.
- Yah! - There he is.
- Stop him! - Stealing my property, boy?
They'll hang you twice over.
We must claim sanctuary.
Open up! Open up!
Your place is with me, Daalny.
You can't hide in there.
TUTILO: Shut it!
Open this door! Now!
I said, open the door!
(Door opens)
Brother, we claim sanctuary!
Jerome, fetch Beringar.
Come with me, Daalny.
The sale is made.
I am free and with Tutilo.
The boy is living dead.
- He hangs in the morning. - Only the guilty hang, my Lord.
You keep your place, Cadfael.
They claim a saint's sanctuary.
To me, that is stronger than oak.
Does it mean nothing to you, my Lord?
It is nothing.
Men and iron move the world.
Not long-dead girls from Wales.
Oh, so you move the world, do you?
Or just bales of wool and a horse and cart?
Don't try to baffle me, Cadfael.
I want what's mine!
Bought and paid for.
Daalny...
come here.
But she wasn't bought and paid for when you employed Alfred to kidnap her, was she?
The shepherd?
Yes. It wasn't just hemlock you smelt when you were attacked.
It was the stench of dead sheep.
What did you tell Alfred?
Hm?
That you could give her a new and better life?
I bought her from Remy.
With jewels from the cart to Ramsey Abbey. The fool tried to sell them on.
You had to give Remy the jewels you'd stolen.
He'd never sell her, unless you'd set him up for life.
Remy is a singer in a tavern. He lies!
You bought her,
because you couldn't steal her.
You bribed Alfred to kidnap her, carry her to your land.
But the box he put her in fell off the cart, into the water.
Poor Alfred himself ran away.
He was terrified of what you'd do to him.
Daalny...
..come to me and we will forget this.
But then Alfred was a dead man, wasn't he, from the moment he agreed to help you?
You beat him to death with a stone...
..within feet of my door, before he could speak to me.
You'd already seen the monk hit him once. You hoped he would be blamed.
Beringar,
would I stoop so low?
A man who steals a woman, packed and carted to his door?
My Lord, you creep along the ground.
No, Hugh.
Cadfael, you take too much of your own potions.
Oh, no, my Lord.
My mind's not fevered.
It sees the very real marks we all of us leave behind.
You left yours...in Alfred's hair.
It's a pretty thing, isn't it?
As is the casket of a saint...
..the face of a slave...
..the jewels of an old woman.
A red thread woven through with gold.
No tavern singer wears this cloth.
But you do.
A thread?
Is that it? Your proof?
Lord Beringar, this monk has woven a whole cloak from one thread.
I agree.
It's nothing. Say no and it's no proof.
Here. Throw it away.
Hang the boy.
Take the girl.
With you or without you,
she will never be a slave again.
She will always belong with Tutilo.
What did the saint say when you opened the Bible?
"Ye shall seek and not find."
It's love that hides from you, my Lord.
You only know what you can touch.
And that is a slavery...
..without end.
If you won't leave with me, girl...
..then you won't leave, at all!
Kill me, my Lord.
If I leave here with you, I am dead.
A thread of cloth in a dead man's hair.
You hang me, Cadfael.
With that thread.
Cadfael.
Is that my property?
It is Lady Donata's gift box.
Will you wish me Godspeed, Brother Prior?
Well, I will.
Godspeed. To you both.
And good luck.
Thank you.
Brother Cadfael.
HERLUIN: I thought that boy had something, once.
But I mistook his nature.
He is seduced...by coin.
Not everyone belongs in the House of God, Cadfael.
I share that view, Brother Prior.
(Bell tolls)
♪ Mentes tuorum visita
♪ Amen