Original subtitles

# Veni Sancte Spiritus

# Mentes tuorum visita

# Amen. #

I can't go on, Brother Oswin!

You can! You must!

Here. Take my coat, Sister Hilaria.

LABOURED BREATHING

Praise God.

Look, Sister! Look! Shelter!

GASPING FOR BREATH

You are cold, Brother.

Hold me close for warmth.

We must huddle together or perish.

BELL RINGING

Where are you, Oswin?

Where are you, boy?

PANTING

Oh, God, forgive me!

I meant no evil! I meant no evil!

A fine evening, Brother.

# Deus in adjutorium meum intende

ALL: # Domine ad adjuvandum me festina

# Gloria Patri, et Filio, et Spiritui Sancto

# Sicut erat in principio, et nunc, et semper

# Et in saecula seaculorum

# Amen

# Creator alme siderum... #

Go with God.

# Jesu Redemptor omnium, Intende votis supplicum

# Qui deamonis ne fraudibus

# Periret orbis, impetu. #

BELLS

My Lord Beringar. We heard from Subprior Herward of Worcester.

Brother Prior?

He asks after two children, orphans in his keeping.

After the attack on the town by Empress Maud...

he sent them to shelter here.

Many seek a haven here from war.

But not this pair?

No.

Brother, you asked in the infirmary?

Yes, Father, and among new arrivals.

But there's no report on the road.

Who are these children?

A brother and sister of noble birth.

Yves and Ermina Hugonin.

Their uncle begs leave to enter Shropshire to seek them.

Why should he need my leave?

Because...

..he supports Empress Maud's claim to the throne.

Abbot Rodolfus, I was made Under-Sheriff by King Stephen

to keep his lands from her troops.

He gives his word...

solely to seek the children.

He is a knight, my lord.

A Crusader, late of the Holy Land.

I cannot let His Grace's enemies roam the shire.

Father, quick! Brother Oswin is found! He's dying!

Where did you find him?

At first light, by Clee Forest.

I was after a lost sheep.

He needs warmth, or he'll never wake

Hospitaller, heat some stones.

Wrap them in flannel.

He must get to the Infirmary. Quickly!

CHILD CRYING

I gave him wine, but his mouth is broken.

No, no.

His wits are battered, but his head is whole.

Perhaps he should be bled.

He's bled enough as it is.

This knife wound was meant to finish him.

It turned on his ribs. They didn't wait to be sure.

'They', Brother? At least three.

Two held his arms. Here, and here.

Then the third stabbed him.

Why was he so far from home?

He was taking medicine to a holding.

The Drewels' farm.

A strange route. He should not be near Clee Forest.

Such a thing, so close on the Christmas feast.

Do what you can. We are at your disposal.

Come, let us pray for Brother Oswin.

Clover?

Brother Jerome, what are you doing?

Praying for our brother.

We dress his wounds. Then you pray.

Not before.

CHOKING

Oswin, easy! You're home now.

Father, forgive me!

Hilaria!

To kiss - to kiss her lips.

She was so warm.

I meant no evil.

So young.

So... beautiful.

Pay no heed to what he says in this condition.

He spoke of lips, Brother!

Of kisses, of a woman in his arms.

Such things are forbidden.

I have told you.

He's not himself. Now be content.

Will he live?

I've done all I can.

But if his will is broken...

Christ, what kind of man does this?

The kind that kills for sport.

Or pleasure.

What if they meet our orphans, lost on the road?

They left Worcester alone?

A young nun was with them.

Sister Hilaria, tutor to the girl.

She'd be seen. What of the others?

The boy, Yves, is 12, of middle height.

The girl, Ermina, is 15, and fair, like her brother.

The Subprior wrote she could be reckoned very beautiful.

Even Subpriors know beauty when they see it.

Let the uncle seek them.

I admit no Empress's knight to land I hold for the king.

But they're children!

Are they to be left unlooked for?

Did I say that?

We leave at dawn.

We?

You know this land best, even under snow.

He's been dead some days.

Two more here.

Killed by the bandits who attacked Oswin?

They may have come this way.

Certainly. Drewel's is only a few miles off.

What were they doing here?

Cadfael?

A Crusader's tabard, my lord?

Abbot Rodolfus said the uncle was a Crusader, from Jerusalem.

It would seem he sent a rescue party

Would you do less if they were your blood?

They came with good cause, Hugh.

And they have paid.

The uncle is too recent in the crusades to know you?

It's 26 years since I sailed from the Holy Land.

It will all be changed now.

Everything? Even Antioch, and the young widow...

in the Street of Sailmakers? Mariam?

Mariam was a life ago.

I was 18 when I came there. A boy.

And a seasoned soldier of 30 on your return.

I recall, she graced your arrival and departure.

So she did.

SNIFFS

What is Master Drewel burning this time of year?

This was Oswin's destination.

No dead here, except the dogs.

Bandits wouldn't take captives.

They'd kill, not capture.

Not of this simple sort.

My lord.

Who comes upon us?

Hugh Beringar, Under-Sheriff. My men and Brother Cadfael.

John Drewel, my lord. At your service.

Forgive the welcome. I took ye for outlaws.

When did they come?

Four nights ago.

A dozen of them, maybe more.

We could not stand. Only run.

They took my stock.

We escaped, praise God and hounds.

You've no notion who they are?

None.

It seemed they were dressed as Crusaders.

Master Drewel, did Brother Oswin come this way?

He did. The day after the attack.

He brought medicine and left at once

For Shrewsbury?

No, Brother.

Having seen us, he feared for people he had met on the way.

A party in flight from Worcester.

Worcester! You're certain?

He meant to guide them to Shrewsbury

But they went on to a manor they knew.

He said nothing of who was in this company?

A boy and girl, with a nun?

He didn't, no.

But a stranger came asking for such a party.

What was he like?

Not so much as 30.

Five or six and twenty.

Shorter than your lordship, and dark

If you hear of him or the children, send me word at Shrewsbury.

My lord!

One thing more about the dark man.

He called himself a woodsman.

He kept his cloak about him.

In this cold, no marvel.

But as he went, I saw how the folds hung at his side.

Woodsman or no, he wore a sword.

To make the most of the light,...

we should separate and search.

If there are bandits?

They hunt by night.

If the children fled, we can't wait.

Apart, we cover twice the ground.

Are you sure, Brother?

No. But Brother Oswin called her name

and spoke of her in his arms.

A mortal sin.

Or ravings. It could be a result of fever.

What if they aren't?

What else could they be?

Remembrances.

Tell no-one else at present.

Keep close watch on him, Brother.

Steady, boy.

Yves?

I'm Brother Cadfael, of Shrewsbury.

I'm no threat to you.

How do you know me?

You're sought all over the shire!

Where's Ermina and her tutor?

Lost.

I don't know.

We came to Richard's manor...

but bandits attacked.

I tried to follow, but got lost.

Here. You take my cloak.

There. Let's get you back to Shrewsbury.

HALF ASLEEP: Mina. Find Ermina...

We must get home. With luck, Hugh Beringar has found your sister.

SQUEAKING ICE

This should hold us well enough, as long as we go carefully.

Wait here for me, boy.

Is anything wrong?

No. I thought I saw a sheep in the ice.

I was mistaken.

Where was he?

Lost, in Clee Forest.

And his sister?

Watch where you strike.

Subprior Herbert was right.

Lady Ermina was beautiful.

LATIN CHANTING

Straw.

And clover.

Stabbed?

No, there's no wound.

Likely she fought him off.

Or them.

Such vermin hunt best in packs.

Perhaps she drew blood,

clawed face or hand as she tried to force him away.

She starts to bruise.

Her neck shows she wasn't strangled.

But you see this discoloration on her lips and chin.

Smothered, surely. As she was defiled.

Defiled, Brother?

There are signs.

Brother Cadfael?

Brother Cadfael will see you soon.

Go to the guesthouse and wait.

Father, let him come.

He must not!

He's a sensible boy.

We need not pretend violence does not exist.

Yves?

We have here a dead body...

not known to us.

Will you look at this face?

Brother Cadfael, for shame!

There is nothing to fear.

How can she be here?

Dead!

She went with Brother Oswin!

This is Sister Hilaria, who came with us from Worcester.

Then where is your sister, Ermina?

Ah!

Shh.

We met Brother Oswin going to Shrewsbury.

He was bound for Drewel's. He said we could go too,

and he would bring us here.

Why did you not accept?

I wanted to. So did Sister Hilaria.

But Ermina wanted to reach Richard's manor.

Richard?

Richard Boterel.

Her intended husband.

That's what she wanted.

She only left Worcester to go to him

She said we would be safe there.

'Safe.'

And what happened?

At his manor, there was celebration.

Ermina wanted Richard to get a priest to marry them.

All was well at this time?

It was, Father.

But an hour later, we were woken by blows on the door.

Brother Oswin?

Heaven knows how he found us.

He came to warn us.

Praise God. Minutes later, the bandits attacked.

What became of Ermina?

Richard, I think, got her away, but...

it was the fire and fighting.

I ran. We all ran. But...

we lost each other.

And Sister Hilaria?

Last I saw,

she ran for the trees with Brother Oswin.

I prayed that Hilaria and Oswin had escaped.

No shame in tears, that are worth shedding.

None of us have not grieved for him.

Oswin is the gentlest of souls.

No threat, no harm to any.

Has he said what happened?

He hasn't woken yet.

But he is healing, and strengthens daily.

Come. You've seen him now.

The plague needs burning or it spreads, Cadfael.

We must find their hiding place.

It's wild country.

There are hiding places for a 1,000 bandits.

Let's see.

I drew this map to show various herbs in the area.

But it may serve our purpose.

Here's Drewel's holding...

..Boterel's manor,

the field where we found the rescue party,

and Clee Forest, where Oswin was found.

Here was Sister Hilaria.

It's a fair distance from the brook to the forest.

Why, if they ran together?

Hilaria wasn't murdered there, but elsewhere.

Somewhere with a stack of straw, and clover.

Out of the blizzard would suit that vile sport.

I think we may hear worse at Boterel's manor.

My Lord Boterel.

My Lord Boterel!

The King's officer, Hugh Beringar, from Shrewsbury.

And a monk.

Brother Cadfael, my lord.

You are most welcome.

God knows we have need of you.

So I see.

You find us in disarray. I have been in a fever these few days.

My lord, since the Subprior said they were lost

we have sought Lady Ermina Hugonin and her companions.

Her brother, Yves, we found.

Alive?

Oh, yes.

Praise God!

And Sister Hilaria?

Sister Hilaria is dead.

Defiled and killed, likely by those who attacked your manor.

Dead!

Oh, God, no.

I thought she got away with Brother Oswin.

Where is Lady Ermina?

Yves said you escaped together.

She is not here.

Nor do I know where she is.

Ah!

The bandit chief will smart from the nick I gave him.

But in the end he had the better of me.

How does that feel?

Much better, Brother.

You have a healing touch.

I could do no more. I had Ermina to save.

I took her and rode deep into the woods.

How did you come to lose her?

You cannot charge me more bitterly than I accuse myself.

She was frantic for her brother, and went to seek him.

You let her go alone?

No! I went after her...

..but lost her in the dark.

I rode some miles.

I fainted from my wounds and fell from the horse.

Praise God my steward found me.

Well, we must continue our search.

If you hear word, send for us at Shrewsbury.

I will, my lord.

Now I have my legs again,

I go on looking till she is found.

I think you shall rest your injuries a day or two longer.

And your mind. We all have the same quest.

Between us, we shall find Ermina.

A fine man, nursing his grazes when his bride is lost.

Oh, don't be harsh.

He's suffered much.

Where do we look now?

I fear we must break off.

A storm is coming from the east.

Storm? Hardly a breath of winter stir this mist.

BELLS RINGING

Well, I must be getting to Vespers.

Friar Robert and the Brothers have my faults by heart.

It wouldn't do to give them lateness to office as well.

Come back to us, Oswin.

I miss you, boy.

I'll sacrifice a thousand pots to your clumsiness.

Only come back.

You should be in bed.

I don't want to sleep.

Let me watch over him until after Vespers.

Has he said anything to help?

He doesn't remember us?

No, not yet. But he may.

You sit with him if you will.

# Deus in adjutorium meum intende

# Domine ad adjuvandum me festina

# Gloria Patri, et filio et Spiritui Sancto. #

You are not of this house!

But I feel I should know you.

You have known me a short time.

I'm Yves Hugonin.

You warned us at Boterel's manor.

Snow was threatening.

I had medicine to deliver.

How did...

Brother Cadfael found me.

Ermina, my sister, is still lost.

There was a third.

A nun?

Sister Hilaria.

Hilaria.

Oh! Hilaria!

Where is she?

She is here, Brother.

Tended and coffined.

Awaiting her sisters.

She was ravished and murdered.

Dead? No.

It is forbidden to wish her back.

She is with God. Aah!

Dead!

Forgive me! What have I done?

Forgive me, Sister!

Forgive my mortal sin! I have been your death!

Do not vex yourself.

You're too weak to rise.

She clung to me. She had no fear.

So warm and confiding in my arms.

Oh, God, forgive me!

Stay with him. I will fetch help.

What have I done? What have I done?

Oswin!

Deus in filius et spiritus sanctus.

Father Abbot, come quickly! Brother Oswin has gone mad!

Cadfael, it's no good.

We'll never find him.

We must!

It's hopeless!

Any tracks he made are long gone.

We'll try again when it's light.

Come on, come with me. Come on.

Did he say, "I killed Sister Hilaria"?

Give us his words, Brother Jerome.

He said, "Forgive my weakness, my mortal sin. I have been your death."

Why should he run out...

but he is guilty of something?

His guilt is for the law to decide.

It isn't so just because one fragment fits.

So clear a fragment as a confession?

What are you saying?

The rape and murder of a nun?

For my part, I cannot believe Oswin capable.

Cadfael?

I don't want to believe it.

But they were together.

There! Brother Cadfael will not defend him!

And Oswin is his favourite!

That will do, Brother Jerome.

He may have run with Hilaria from the manor.

That does not mean he is guilty.

There is blood on her shift.

And Brother Oswin is wounded.

Could he attack her after such a beating?

If he did it first, wounds by bandits may cover any she gave him.

You might as well say the earth moves round the sun!

An answer to a matter of life and death must explain all.

If it's the wrong answer?

Truth is never a wrong answer.

Brother Oswin!

Turn back! You'll die out here!

You're ill. You should be in your bed.

Yves!

Oswin!

Oswin!

Yves!

Yves!

Oswin!

Yves!

Yves!

Oswin.

Oswin, they've come for us.

Hey! Here! Over here!

Praise God, I thought you'd never find us.

Well, what have we here?

An orphan of the storm.

Let go! How dare you?

Tell them to loose hold.

Guarin, hand me that toy he wears.

Silver, with precious pebbles set at the hilt.

Very fine.

One of a pair, maybe.

Where is the other?

With your sister, perhaps? With Ermina?

Oh, yes, my Lord Hugonin. I know who you are.

Your uncle will pay handsomely for you.

Bring him. Alive.

Good day, my Lady Ermina.

What happened, child? Where were you?

With a kind woodsman...

and his wife. I was lost, after the attack on Richard's manor.

You were coming here when Brother Cadfael found you?

The woodsman told me the way.

It may be a poor exchange gaining me, losing Yves.

Daughter, we are overjoyed to find you well.

If there is anything I can do...

There is one way. Remain here.

Not step outside these walls.

Then your brother can join you.

My Lord Beringar, you can tell Lord Boterel?

Richard survived?

He did. You behaved very foolishly.

Rather than scold me, you had better seek Yves.

And my tutor, Sister Hilaria.

I take it there is no word of her...

..or you would have said?

This is my work.

Nothing of the kind.

A man did this.

He alone must answer for it.

If I had not set my heart on marrying...

if I had gone with Brother Oswin,

Sister Hilaria would be alive.

There's no profit in ifs, child.

We go from where we stand.

We pay for our own evil, and leave the rest to God.

Where was God when she was violated and killed?

He noted all,

and made a place for her beside him.

Would you wish her back from there?

How can I do such harm, and mean none?

There you are.

Now, my lady, I have some questions.

I expect straight answers.

What woodsman...

brought you here, but wouldn't meet us?

I was not with a woodsman.

I found my own way here.

The truth, now. I found footprints,...

much too large for you.

Brother Cadfael?

What would happen to my uncle's men,

found here in search of us?

They would be held as prisoners of war.

It is the Under-Sheriff's duty. But not mine.

You would not betray such a man?

I take no sides.

I am sure Hugh Beringar would not expect me to.

But I should say, he already knows of a stranger nearby.

A dark man, with a sword under his cloak.

His name is Olivier de Bretagne.

Oh, he's French?

Syrian.

His mother was Syrian, his father a knight of the Crusade.

He leant to his father's faith.

He went to Jerusalem, and took service with my uncle.

He wasn't afraid to come to these wild regions?

He fears nothing.

He's bravery itself! If you saw him just once,

you'd hold him in great affection.

Very well.

Your champion is quite safe with me.

I shall not uncover him.

Tell me about Lord Boterel.

I thought I loved him, but...

..it was a childish fancy.

I have brought my brother into danger.

I never thought to hear myself say,

Yves is more to me than Richard.

Strange how the threat of loss makes us see what we value.

Right. You go back to the guesthouse and rest.

Le Gauchet!

Must you go?

Yes, Father, I must.

Since Oswin came,

he's been a son to me.

I should not have left him with Yves

My folly lost them both.

I must put it right.

And if I order against it?

Then go with my blessing.

Thank you, Father.

So, tell me. Where is your sister?

Bitten your tongue?

I speak if I have something to say.

Where is she?

When I ask, boy, wise men answer.

You think I would give her to you?

So that she could end like Sister Hilaria?

I saw what you did, you pig!

Pig, am I? I'd better teach you how to squeal.

Guarin. Get him to tell where his sister is.

Break, but no lasting hurt.

His uncle won't pay if the goods are damaged.

Oswin lay here, Brother.

I almost missed him in the snow.

The brook Hilaria was found in.

How far is it? A mile?

About that.

Tell me, Master Dutton.

Are there places hereabouts for storing fodder?

There are huts we shepherds use.

Where's the nearest?

I think I have the better of you.

And I think we should both have died.

You're quick, for an old man.

And you're careless, for a young one

Always beware the unexpected stroke.

Olivier.

You know my name!

From Ermina, of course.

You're also seeking Yves.

And I heard you call 'Oswin'.

A brother of my house. He fell victim to outlaws nearby.

I think they were here last night.

Two sets of tracks lead from the hut

I found this rolled in the straw.

Oswin's travelling cloak!

But he wasn't wearing this when he left the abbey.

Clover.

A nun's habit, and a wimple.

Blood! What does it mean?

Did Ermina tell you about her tutor, Sister Hilaria?

These belong to her.

She was raped and murdered.

She was thrown in a brook not half a mile away.

She was with your Brother Oswin?

Yes.

Come, come.

Let's see where these tracks lead to

These are last night's tracks.

Many men and horses,

as far as I can see.

And something dripping blood. Slaughtered sheep?

If they had red wine in their veins.

You track well for a monk. But I can follow now.

Yves is my charge.

And mine.

Oswin has a shadow over him for the night of Hilaria's death.

It troubles him still.

I see no sign of Yves or Oswin.

Le Gauchet! I should have known.

You know the man?

Oh, yes, Brother. I know him.

We were all sent here to seek Yves and Ermina.

I was squire to Captain Reynard.

Wait a minute!

The bandits began as rescuers?

What happened?

Out of their lord's view, Le Gauchet and the rest mutinied.

I and two others remained. They struck as we slept.

How did you escape?

Le Gauchet's parting gift.

You are wounded!

The rest were less fortunate.

What of your captain?

The first to die.

Your wound troubles you? Did you use anything?

You have wisdom? A little.

An unguent of my own. Centaury and yellow nettle.

Nothing better. You know your herbs.

It was my mother's art.

Tell me, Olivier, your captain,

he wore the tabard of the Cross?

Oh, yes. He led us in the Holy Land.

You found him?

Yes.

Le Gauchet takes no trouble to conceal his evil.

But tonight we even the score.

Brat! You are more trouble than you are worth.

I'll give you something to remember me by.

Aargh!

My Lord Hugonin.

Olivier de Bretagne, at your service.

He is squire to your uncle.

Brother Cadfael! How...

I'll explain when we are clear. Where's Oswin?

He found us a hut. He is there.

Come. We must hurry.

Get him away. I'll buy you time.

On my honour. Get him clear.

AH-AH!

Aaagh!

Run, boy! Quickly!

Stand back!

Stand off!

If any man draws bow, he dies.

Do as he says - stay back!

No! Leave him be!

I've come for him. He is my friend.

You!

Oh, God. I thought I'd dealt with you.

Run, boy!

Go with God, monk.

If you are done with boys and monks, fight with a man.

Ha! I'll feast on your heart, half-breed.

SNEERING LAUGH

Ugh!

Beware the unexpected stroke.

I wish I knew him better, your saviour.

Who is he, this paladin?

He is... the woodsman who sheltered Ermina.

Remarkable woodsmen in these parts.

What about these animals, my lord?

Take them back to Shrewsbury.

Those who suffered losses can claim their own.

It's over, then.

The banditry, yes.

Le Gauchet paid for his crimes.

But he must not pay for another's.

He cannot speak in his defence.

To say, "This and this I did,

"but the rape and murder of a nun is no deed of mine."

Do you doubt it?

Well, apart from the fatal wound, his body is unmarked.

Then it is not his blood on Hilaria's shift?

No. And more, these bandits leave their victims where they fall.

The murderer hid his crime,

no doubt horrified by what he'd done.

If I hadn't seen her,

she might have lain frozen till spring.

You're sure she was moved?

Oh, certain.

There is a shepherds' hut, some way from where I found her.

They use it to store their fodder. Straw, clover.

Such as I prised from her dead fingers.

Her habit and her wimple were hidden there.

Along with Oswin's cloak.

Yves!

A fine dance you led us all!

Running off into the night!

I could say the same!

Yes, you have much to say, but Yves needs his bed.

But, Brother... No. As your physician, I order it.

My lord. A word.

Prior Robert will see my Lord Beringar alone.

But if they discuss Brother Oswin...

You are not considered impartial.

Not impartial?

You are not the only one with eyes.

You took clover from his hair.

And from Sister Hilaria's hand. You said nothing.

Brother Jerome...

You are not wanted!

Now. Be content.

DOOR OPENS

Lord Beringar says there are doubts

that Sister Hilaria was killed by bandits.

Grave doubts.

And you found Oswin's cloak, stained with blood!

Over the heart.

As it was upon her habit and shift.

So he lay upon her to satisfy his carnal thoughts.

It is sad to say this.

But the sanctity of our house must be kept.

What if his sins contaminate us?

Do you not fear damnation? Our souls are in peril!

What of Brother Oswin's soul?

BREAKING GLASS

Is that not worth saving?

I fear Brother Oswin is condemned out of his own mouth.

Brother Prior, can you judge a man sick in mind and body?

Our only salvation lies in strict obedience to the rule.

Or there is no order. Only the chaos beyond these walls.

If the price is an innocent soul - it is too high!

You are cut. I will tend you.

Thank you.

It's my right hand. Brother Prior... It is the left that bleeds.

The right held the beaker!

If you wish to heal, Brother,

you might start by learning left from right.

And so might I!

I have been to your hut.

You remember?

Where you and Sister Hilaria took refuge from the snow.

It was so cold, Brother!

Indeed.

Two poor souls, in such cold, must lie in each other's arms.

I wanted to lie with her.

Brother, I thought such things.

I must have done them.

She is violated and dead.

Her body was hidden in shame.

Oswin, thoughts are not deeds.

In the space between lies your innocence.

I... am innocent?

Oh, beyond all doubt.

Your cloak and her habit were stained, on the same side.

If you had lain upon her,

you would have left her habit stained on the opposite side.

God!

That I ever left her!

By that, I am guilty of her death.

I should have been strong enough to bear temptation.

Do not blame yourself beyond your due.

All you did was out of care for her.

What else was required?

Courage.

Courage?

What moved you to challenge Le Gauchet?

You saved Yves' life there, at the bandits' camp.

Wasn't that courage?

I knew her only a few hours.

And yet - forgive me, I am unworthy.

Oswin.

You are the best of us.

But you ask too much of yourself.

You undervalue what you do give.

A happy day, Brother!

I never thought to see my Pippin again.

Animals stolen, it would prove a lean winter.

Indeed, Master Dutton.

Good day, my lord!

You have come to reclaim your own.

Aye, Brother.

We are all in your debt.

This fine fellow escaped the raiders

He carried Ermina and me from the attack.

I'll see him stabled for you.

Thank you, Brother.

My Lord Boterel.

I trust I find you in good health.

I am mending, if not mended.

Well enough to ride.

My body heals, my lord. My heart..

WHICKERING

Whoa, whoa.

..until Ermina is found, I will never heal.

Forgive me. I meant to ride to your mother... You have word?

No! But do not despair, my lord.

Your prayers once brought her to you

Come into the abbey.

We shall pray for her. Together.

Gladly, Brother.

Daughter! You have a visitor.

Ermina, my love! Why...

..why did you not send word? I looked for you.

Great mercy you did not find her.

She might have shared the fate of her dear friend.

Coffined here.

Lord Boterel, I accuse you.

I name you murderer of Sister Hilaria.

Brother, what is this?

I know nothing.

Nothing?

Nothing of a hut by Clee Forest?

A young nun sheltering from the blizzard,

only to fall victim to your lust?

Nothing of a freezing brook on the way home?

She was killed by the bandits who attacked my manor.

Oh, yes, of course. Your manor.

That's where you came by your wound, wasn't it, my lord?

But you never drew sword to defend your men - did he?

Ermina, what have you said?

She said nothing. Having chosen a coward, she hid her folly.

I protected my people!

You left them to be slaughtered! All of them!

Including my brother.

And forced me to go with you to 'safety' in the woods.

You were not stabbed in combat by a bandit chief, as you claim.

I saw Le Gauchet fight.

He was right-handed.

He would stab to the heart, as Brother Oswin's wounds show.

I will listen no more!

But the blood on Sister Hilaria's clothes was on the left.

So the man who bled on her was wounded on the right. As you are.

But there was one person out that night who favours the left.

Who had a knife, and the will to use it.

That person was the Lady Ermina.

I said I would never marry a coward.

He did not touch me till then.

When he saw he'd lose the land he stood to gain from my dowry...

it was another tale.

A common practice, to take first, then marry.

I thought I'd killed him.

But he survived and followed you into the night.

You came across the shepherd's hut.

You found Sister Hilaria, alone, asleep,

wrapped against the cold in Brother Oswin's cloak.

That is not true!

You took revenge for all Ermina had done to you.

No!

Her struggles ripped your wound, and you bled.

Then you stripped her.

You left her in the brook to be counted a bandits' victim.

You can prove nothing!

I can prove a grey horse

tore its neck on a nail by the hut where Sister Hilaria was murdered.

I found hairs from its mane caught on that nail.

Shall we match them to the fine grey you have outside?

No.

I only meant to hush her.

Not to kill her.

Oh, God, forgive me.

Oh, dear God, forgive me.

Please forgive me! Please!

Why did it happen to Hilaria?

The kindest and most innocent of souls?

What had she done?

Friar Robert would say such things are sent to test our faith.

There must be better ways.

TOLLING

Brother Oswin is among us once again.

Welcome home, Brother Oswin. You've been dearly missed.

Come, join your brothers in the choir.

DOOR OPENING

Wine on the table.

And two cups.

You would not leave work unfinished.

How did you know?

Beringar guards his prisoner.

When better to get away?

Ermina will be here presently.

Can you be sure I can be trusted? You do not know me.

I know more than you think.

I know your name, and who you serve.

You are from Syria, of a Syrian mother and a knight Crusader.

Ermina has set her heart on you.

And by that amber stare,

that you have set yours on her.

I fear she's somewhat deceived you.

And herself.

For Ermina, no Crusader

can be less than a noble knight.

My father was a man-at-arms in Robert of Normandy's force.

And your mother?

A good woman, of Islam.

I am their bastard.

Got between faiths and peoples.

For all that, I feel well loved, and the equal of any man living.

Half humankind matches without ritual blessing.

By no means the worse half.

I might imagine you speak of your own life.

I was in the world 40 years before this.

I have been soldier, sailor, and sinner.

Even Crusader.

At least that was pure, however the cause fell short of my hopes.

She's dead, your mother?

I'd never have left her otherwise.

She was a poor widow, with a booth in the market of Antioch,

in the Street of the Sailmakers.

What was your father like?

I never knew him.

They had been lovers when he first came to Syria.

He left for England from St Simeon after they last met.

He never knew he had a son.

What was his name?

She would not tell me.

She praised him as brave and kind.

There can be little wrong.

that left her with such love and pride.

She had the name of your Mary.

In our tongue it is Mariam.

Perhaps you met her!

If you were there.

Or knew my father.

Someone like him, perhaps.

Once, long ago.

But your mother...

..from what you say, I'm certain I should have remembered her...

..all my life.

Brother, we owe you much.

Yves, between friends there is no owing.

My son.

Go in peace.

'This was an unexpected stroke.

'I never thought so marvellous a creature could be in the world,

'with my and Mariam's blood in his veins.

'Should I have told him?

'No, what needs he now of a father?

'But by Your grace I have seen him.

'We have talked of the past.

'I have kissed him, I have had cause to be glad of him.

'And cause to feel glad lifelong.

'Does it matter if these eyes never see him again?

'And yet they may.'

You sent your children away?

What else should I do?

Their safety was entrusted to Sister Hilaria. It became mine.

I would not have her mission fail.

Well. They'll be with their uncle in good time for Christmas.

I only regret I never met their guardian, the woodsman.

Who was he, Cadfael?

He was...

He was a son any father would be proud of.

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