The Pillars Of The Earth Page 0,445

to be a real threat," she said.

He nodded. "With a little help they could be quite dangerous, because they're desperate. But as it is they've no leadership."

Aliena was struck by a thought. "An army waiting for a leader," she said. Richard did not react, but she was excited by the idea. Richard was a good leader who had no army. The outlaws were an army without a leader. And the earldom was falling apart...

Some of the townspeople continued to throw stones and shoot arrows at the outlaws, and more of the scavengers fell. This was the final discouragement, and they began to retreat, like a pack of dogs with their tails between their legs, looking back over their shoulders regretfully. Then someone opened the north gate, and a crowd of young men charged out, brandishing swords and axes, and went after the stragglers. The outlaws fled, but some were caught and butchered.

Ellen turned away in disgust and said to Richard: "You should have stopped those boys from giving chase."

"Young men need to see some blood, after a set-to such as this," he said. "Besides, the more we kill this time, the fewer we'll have to fight next time."

It was a soldier's philosophy, Aliena thought. In the time when she had felt her life threatened every day she would probably have been like the young men, and chased after outlaws to slaughter them. Now she wanted to wipe out the causes of outlawry, not the outlaws themselves. Besides, she had thought of a way to use those outlaws.

Richard told someone to sound the all-clear on the priory bell and gave instructions for a double watch for the night, with patrolling guards as well as sentries. Aliena went to the priory and collected Martha and the children. They all met again at Jack's house.

It pleased Aliena that they were all together: she and Jack and their children, and Jack's mother, and Aliena's brother, and Martha. It was quite like an ordinary family, and Aliena could almost forget that her father had died in a dungeon, and she was legally married to Jack's stepbrother, and Ellen was an outlaw, and-

She shook her head. It was no use pretending this was a normal family.

Jack drew a jug of ale from the barrel and poured it into large cups. Everyone felt tense and excited after the danger. Ellen built up the fire and Martha sliced turnips into a pot, beginning to make a broth for supper. Once upon a time they would have put half a pig on the fire on a day such as this.

Richard drank his ale in one long swallow, wiped his mouth, and said: "We're going to see more of this kind of thing before the winter's out."

Jack said: "They should attack Earl William's storehouses, not Prior Philip's. It's William who has made most of these people destitute."

"They won't have any more success against William than they did against us, unless they improve their tactics. They're like a pack of dogs."

Aliena said: "They need a leader."

Jack said: "Pray they never get one! They would really be dangerous then."

Aliena said: "A leader might direct them to attack William's property instead of ours."

"I don't follow you," Jack said. "Would a leader do that?"

"He would if he was Richard."

They all went quiet.

The idea had grown in Aliena's mind, and she was now convinced it could work. They could fulfill their vows, Richard could destroy William and become the earl, and the county could be restored to peace and prosperity... The more she thought about it, the more excited she became. She said: "There were more than a hundred men in that rabble today." She turned to Ellen. "How many more are there in the forest?"

"Countless," Ellen said. "Hundreds. Thousands."

Aliena leaned across the kitchen table and locked eyes with Richard. "Be their leader," she said forcefully. "Organize them. Teach them how to fight. Devise plans of attack. Then send them into action-against William."

As she spoke, she realized that she was telling him to put his life in danger, and she was filled with trepidation. Instead of winning back the earldom he could be killed.

But he had no such qualms. "By God, Allie, you could be right," he said. "I could have an army of my own, and lead it against William."

Aliena saw in his face the flush of a hatred long nurtured, and she noticed again the scar on his left ear, where the lobe had been sliced off. She pushed down the vile memory