when I tell you that the man who did this will pay dearly for it, I can promise you that. He will pay.'
After Ma left, Talbot came lumbering in with a bowl of steaming water steeped with sage and thyme, cloths, and almond oil and honey to rub in the wounds, as well as a flask of wine. At the sight of the brawny gatekeeper, Finch retreated further under the pallet.
'You want me to get him out?' Talbot growled.
Elena spread her arms defensively in front of the boy.
'No, no, leave him to me. He'll come in his own time.' She added this more to reassure Finch that she would not force him than for Talbot's benefit.
The gatekeeper grunted and made for the door, rolling from side to side on his bandy legs. 'If there's aught else the little runt needs, you fetch me, you hear?' he said gruffly. 'Food, ale, anything he fancies. You just ask.'
Elena looked up, startled by this unexpected softness in the surly gatekeeper. You're a kind man, Talbot.'
Talbot looked. 'Aye, well, no lad deserves to be used like that. I tell you straight, you leave me alone in a dark alley with that bastard and I'd soon teach him what fear is. I'd have him squealing for his mother in less time than it takes for a priest to say a paternoster.' As if he already had Hugh standing in front of him, Talbot clenched his great fists. 'By the time I'd finished with him, he'd not be able to find his own prick to play with, much less someone else's. One of these days that bastard'll get what he deserves; I'll make sure of that.'
He closed the door behind him and Elena could hear his heavy footsteps retreating back down the stairs.
'Everyone's gone now, Finch,' she said softly. 'Come out and let me wash those cuts and put something on them to stop them hurting.'
But the child didn't stir. Elena tried again and again, coaxing him with wine and the promise that she would not hurt him, but still there was no movement. She refused to pull him out. Enough force had been used on Finch already. Finally, she retreated to the far side of the room and sat exhausted, propped against one of the walls, at a loss to know what to do next.
What on earth had Hugh done to the child? She'd been long enough in the stew to know what certain men usually wanted from small boys, but those marks, how had he inflicted those and what else had he done?
From under the pallet, she heard that faint, high-pitched singing again.
Lavender's green, diddle diddle, Lavender's blue.
Lavender's green, diddle diddle, Lavender's blue.
It was a thin, strange little voice that didn't sound like Finch or any child she knew, more like the mewing of an animal in distress. Softly Elena joined in.
You must love me, diddle diddle, 'cause I love you,
Call up your maids, diddle diddle, set them to work.
Some to make hay, diddle diddle, some to the rock.
Let the birds sing, diddle diddle, let the lambs play,
We shall be safe, diddle diddle, deep in the hay.
Without warning the child erupted from under the pallet and flew across the room at her, shrieking and pummelling her in the chest with his small fists. The attack was so unexpected that Elena instinctively turned into the wall, covering her face as the boy punched, kicked and tore at her in a frenzy.
'You promised,' he screamed. You said that if I got dressed everything would be all right. You said the cat wouldn't hurt me, you said . . . you said it couldn't get me. You lied, just like all of the rest. I hate you! I hate you!'
He crumpled on to the ground, exhausted, and lay there sobbing.
Elena hesitated, fearful of another assault, but finally she reached out a hand and gently stroked Finch's curls. He flinched, drawing away from her and twisting himself into an even tighter ball.
'Go away. Leave me alone. I hate you.'
Tears filled Elena's eyes. 'I didn't know he would hurt you, I swear I didn't. I'm sorry, so sorry.'
But what the boy said didn't make sense. She couldn't imagine the cat allowing itself to be mastered by any man it didn't know. Surely not even someone as arrogant as Hugh would be so foolish as to unleash such a beast when it could just as easily have turned on him.
'I don't understand, Finch. Did he let the cat off the