are hot! Move away quickly!"
Perfectly regular French! In fact an ever increasing flood of pretty vernacular curse words.
I burst out laughing, stomping my foot and pointing to them, as I looked at Gabrielle.
"A curse on you, blasphemer!" one of them screamed. Then the fire licked at his hands and he howled, falling backwards.
"A curse on the profaners, the outlaws!" came screams from below. It caught on quickly and became a regular chorus. "A curse on the outlaws who dared to enter the House of God!" But they were scrambling down to the ground. The heavy timbers were catching, and the fire was roaring to the ceiling.
"Go back to the graveyard where you came from, you pack of pranksters!" I said. I would have thrown the fire down on them if I could have gotten near the window.
Gabrielle stood still with her eyes narrow, obviously listening.
Cries and howls continued from below. A new anthem of curses upon those who broke the sacred laws, blasphemed, provoked the wrath of God and Satan. They were pulling on the gates and lower windows. They were doing stupid things like throwing rocks at the wall.
"They can't get in," Gabrielle said in a low monotone, her head still cocked attentively. "They can't break the gate."
I wasn't so certain. The gate was rusted, very old. Nothing to do but wait.
I collapsed on the floor, leaning against the side of the sarcophagus, my arms around my chest and my back bent. I wasn't even laughing anymore.
She too sat down against the wall with her legs sprawled out before her. Her chest heaved a little, and her hair was coming loose from the braid. It was a cobra's hood around her face, loose strands clinging to her white cheeks. Soot clung to her garments.
The heat of the fire was crushing. The airless room shimmered with vapors and the flames rose to shut out the night. But we could breathe the little air there was. We suffered nothing except the fear and the exhaustion.
And gradually I realized she was right about the gate. They hadn't managed to break it down. I could hear them drawing away.
"May the wrath of God punish the profane!"
There was some faint commotion near the stables. I saw in my mind my poor half-witted mortal stable boy dragged in terror from his hiding place, and my rage was redoubled. They were sending me images of it from their thoughts, the murder of that poor boy. Damn them.
"Be still," Gabrielle said. "It's too late."
Her eyes widened and then grew small again as she listened. He was dead, the poor miserable creature.
I felt the death just as if I had seen a small dark bird suddenly rising from the stables. And she sat forward as though seeing it too, and then settled back as if she had lost consciousness, though she had not. She murmured and it sounded like "red velvet," but it was under her breath and I didn't catch the words.
"I'll punish you for this, you gang of ruffians!" I said aloud. I sent it out towards them. "You trouble my house. I swear you'll pay for this."
But my limbs were getting heavier and heavier. The heat of the fire was almost drugging. All the night's strange happenings were taking their toll.
In my exhaustion and in the glare of the fire I could not guess the hour. I think I fell to dreaming for an instant, and woke myself with a shiver, unsure of how much time had passed.
I looked up and saw the figure of an unearthly young boy, an exquisite young boy, pacing the floor of the chamber.
Of course it was only Gabrielle.
Part III Viaticum For The Marquise Chapter 6
6
She gave the impression of almost rampant strength as she walked back and forth. Yet all of it was contained in an unbroken grace. She kicked at the timbers and watched the blackened ruin of the fire flare for a moment before settling into itself again. I could see the sky. An hour perhaps remained.
"But who are they?" she asked. She stood over me, her legs apart, her hands in two liquid summoning gestures. "Why do they call us outlaws and blasphemers?"
"I've told you everything I know," I confessed. "Until tonight I didn't think they possessed faces or limbs or real voices."
I climbed to my feet and brushed off my clothes.
"They damned us for entering the churches!" she said. "Did you catch it, those images coming from them? And they don't know how we managed