Timeline

"And this farmhouse?" Kate said. "How does that happen?"

Marek shrugged. "Maybe your father was killed in the forest by peasant bandits. Maybe your brother had too much to drink one night, wandered off, and was murdered and stripped naked by peasant bands. Maybe your wife and children were traveling from one castle to another and vanished without a trace. Eventually, you are ready to take out your anger and frustration on somebody. And eventually, you do."

"But – "

Marek fell silent, pointing ahead. Above a line of trees, a fluttering green-and-black banner moved quickly to the left, carried by a rider galloping on horseback.

Marek pointed to the right. They moved quietly upstream. And they came at last to the mill bridge, and the checkpoint.

On the river bank, the mill bridge ended in a high stone wall with an arched opening. A stone tollbooth stood on the other side of the arch. The only road to La Roque ran through the arch, which meant that Oliver’s soldiers, who controlled the bridge, also controlled the road.

Above the road, the limestone cliffs were high and sheer. There was no alternative but to go through the arch. And standing by the arch, talking with the soldiers by the tollhouse, was Robert de Kere.

Marek shook his head.

A stream of peasants, mostly women and children, some carrying a few belongings, was walking up the road. They were heading for the protection of the castle at La Roque. De Kere talked to a guard, and glanced at the peasants from time to time. He didn’t seem to be paying much attention, but they could never walk past him undetected.

Eventually, de Kere went back inside the fortified bridge. Marek nudged the others, and they set out on the road, moving slowly toward the checkpoint. Marek felt himself start to sweat.

The guards were looking at peoples’ belongings, and confiscating anything that looked valuable, tossing it onto a heap by the side of the road.

Marek reached the arch, then continued through. The soldiers watched him, but he did not meet their eyes. He was past, then Chris, and then Kate.

They followed the crowd along the river, but eventually, when the crowd turned into the town of La Roque, Marek went in the opposite direction, toward the river’s edge.

Here there was no one at all, and they were able to peer through foliage at the fortified mill bridge, now about a quarter of a mile downstream.

What they saw was not encouraging.

At each end of the bridge stood massive guard towers, two stories high, with high walkways, and arrow slots on all sides. Atop the nearest guard tower, they saw two dozen soldiers in maroon and gray peering over the battlements, ready to fight. There was an equal number of soldiers atop the far tower, where the pennant of Lord Oliver snapped in the breeze.

Between the two towers, the bridge consisted of two different-size buildings, connected by ramps. Four water wheels churned below, powered by the flowing stream, which was accelerated by a series of dams and watercourses.

"What do you think?" Marek said to Chris. This structure was, after all, Chris’s particular interest. He’d been studying it for two years. "Can we get in?"

Chris shook his head. "Not a chance. Soldiers everywhere. There’s no way in."

"What is the building nearest us?" Marek said, indicating a two-story structure of wood.

"That’s got to be a flour mill," Chris said. "Probably with the grinding wheels on the upper floor. The flour goes down a chute to bins on the bottom floor, where it’s easier to sack the flour and carry it out."

"How many people work there?"

"Probably two or three. But right now"  –  he pointed to the troops – "maybe none at all."

"Okay. The other building?"

Marek pointed to the second building, connected by a short ramp to the first. This building was longer and lower. "Not sure," Chris said. "It might be for metalwork, a pulper for paper, or a pounder for beer mash, or even a woodworking mill."

"You mean with saws?"

"Yes. They have water-powered saws at this time. If that’s what it is."

"But you can’t be sure?"

"Not just by looking, no."

Kate said, "I’m sorry, why are we even bothering to talk about this? Just look at it: there’s no way we can ever get in."

"We have to get in," Marek said. "To look at Brother Marcel’s cell, to get the key that is there."

"But how, Andre? How do we get in?"

Marek stared silently at the bridge for a long time. Finally, he said, "We swim."

Chris shook his head. "No way." The bridge pylons in the water were sheer, the stones green and slippery with algae. "We’d never climb there."

"Who said anything about climbing?" Marek said.

09:27:33

Chris gasped as he felt the chill of the river. Marek was already pushing away from the shore, drifting downstream with the current. Kate was right behind him, moving to the right, trying to align herself in the center of the stream. Chris plunged after them, glancing nervously toward the shore.

So far, the soldiers hadn’t seen them. The gurgle of the river was loud in his ears, the only sound he heard. He turned away, looking forward, toward the approaching bridge. He felt his body tense. He knew he had only one chance  –  if he missed, the current would sweep him downstream, and it was unlikely that he would ever make his way back up again without being captured.

So this was it.

One chance.

A series of small stone walls had been built out from the sides of the river to accelerate the water, and he moved forward more rapidly now. Directly ahead was a watercourse slide, just before the wheels. They were in the shadow of the bridge. Everything was happening fast. The river was white water, a rushing roar. He could hear the creak of the wooden wheels as he came closer.