A moment later a helmeted head looked around the gatepost. It belonged to a large man-at-arms. The man saw Richard running toward the church, shouted in alarm, and dashed into the close. He was followed by three, four, five more men.

The funeral party scattered. The men-at-arms ignored them and went after Richard. Aliena was scared and mystified: who would dare to attack the earl of Shiring openly and in a priory? She held her breath as she watched them chase Richard across the close. He leaped over the low wall that the masons were building. His pursuers jumped over it behind him, unmindful that they were entering a church. The craftsmen froze in position, trowels and hammers raised, as first Richard, then his pursuers, charged by. One of the younger and more quick-thinking apprentices stuck out a shovel and tripped a man-at-arms, who went flying; but no one else intervened. Richard reached the door that led to the cloisters. The man closest behind him raised his sword above his head. For a terrible moment Aliena thought the door was locked and Richard could not get in. The man-at-arms struck at Richard with his sword. Richard got the door open and slipped inside, and the sword bit into the wood as the door slammed.

Aliena breathed again.

The men-at-arms gathered around the cloister door, then began to look about uncertainly. They seemed to realize, all of a sudden, where they were. The craftsmen gave them hostile stares and hefted their hammers and axes. There were close to a hundred builders and only five men-at-arms.

Jack said angrily: “Who the hell are those people?”

He was answered by a voice from behind. “They are the sheriffs men.”

Aliena turned around, aghast. She knew that voice horribly well. There at the gate, on a nervous black stallion, armed and wearing chain mail, was William Hamleigh. The sight of him sent a chill through her.

Jack said: “Get out of here, you loathsome insect.”

William flushed at the insult, but he did not move. “I’ve come to make an arrest.”

“Go ahead. Richard’s men will tear you apart.”

“He won’t have any men when he’s in jail.”

“Who do you think you are? A sheriff can’t put an earl in jail!”

“He can for murder.”

Aliena gasped. She saw immediately how William’s devious mind was working. “There was no murder!” she burst out.

“There was,” William said. “Earl Richard murdered Alfred Builder. And now I must explain to Prior Philip that he is harboring a killer.”

William kicked his horse and rode past them, across the west end of the unbuilt nave, to the kitchen courtyard which was where laymen were received. Aliena watched him with incredulity. He was so evil it was hard to believe. Poor Alfred, whom they had just buried, had done much wrong through small-mindedness and weakness of character: his badness was more tragic than anything else. But William was a real servant of the devil. Aliena thought: When will we be rid of this monster?

The men-at-arms joined William in the kitchen courtyard and one of them hammered on the kitchen door with the hilt of his sword. The builders left the site and stood in a crowd, glaring at the intruders, looking dangerous with their heavy hammers and sharp chisels. Aliena told Martha to take the children home; then she and Jack stood with the builders.

Prior Philip came to the kitchen door. He was shorter than William, and in his light summer habit he appeared very small by comparison with the beefy man on horseback in chain mail; but there was a look of righteous anger on Philip’s face that made him seem more formidable than William.

William said: “You are harboring a fugitive-”

Philip interrupted him with a roar. “Leave this place!”

William tried again. “There has been a murder-”

“Get out of my priory!” Philip yelled.

“I am the sheriff-”

“Not even the king may bring men of violence into the precincts of a monastery! Get out! Get out!”

The builders began to murmur angrily among themselves. The men-at-arms looked at them nervously. William said: “Even the prior of Kingsbridge must answer to the sheriff.”

“Not on these terms! Get your men off the premises. Leave your weapons in the stable. When you’re ready to act like a humble sinner in the house of God, you may enter the priory; and then the prior will answer your questions.”

Philip stepped back inside and slammed the door.

The builders cheered.

Aliena found herself cheering too. William had been a figure of power and dread all her life, and it lifted her heart to see him defied by Prior Philip.

But William was not yet ready to concede defeat. He got off his horse. Slowly he unbuckled his sword belt and handed it to one of his men. He said a few quiet words to the men, and they retreated across the priory close, taking his sword. William watched them until they reached the gate; then he turned back and faced the kitchen door once again.

He shouted: “Open up to the sheriff!”

After a pause the kitchen door opened, and Philip came out again. He looked down at William, now standing unarmed in the courtyard; then he looked at the men-at-arms clustered around the gateway on the far side of the close; and finally he looked back at William and said: “Well?”

“You are harboring a murderer in the priory. Release him to me.”

Philip said: “There has been no murder in Kingsbridge.”

“The earl of Shiring murdered Alfred Builder four days ago.”

“Wrong,” Philip said. “Richard killed Alfred, but it wasn’t murder. Alfred was caught in the act of attempted rape.”

Aliena shuddered.

“Rape?” William said. “Who was he attempting to rape?”

“Aliena.”

“But she is his wife!” William said triumphantly. “How can a man rape his wife?”

Aliena saw the direction of William’s argument, and fury bubbled up inside her.

Philip said: “That marriage has never been consummated, and she has applied for an annulment.”

“Which has never been granted. They were married in church. They are still married, according to the law. There was no rape. On the contrary.” William turned suddenly and pointed a finger at Aliena. “She has been wanting to get rid of her husband for years, and she finally persuaded her brother to help her get him out of the way-by stabbing him to death with her dagger!”

The cold hand of fear gripped Aliena’s heart. The tale he told was an outrageous lie, but for someone who had not actually seen what happened it fitted the facts as plausibly as the real story. Richard was in trouble.

Philip said: “The sheriff cannot arrest the earl.”

That was true, Aliena realized. She had been forgetting.

William pulled out a scroll. “I have a royal writ. I am arresting him on behalf of the king.”

Aliena was devastated. William had thought of everything. “How did William manage that?” she muttered.

“He was very quick,” Jack replied. “He must have ridden to Winchester and seen the king as soon as he heard the news.”

Philip held out his hand. “Show me the writ.”

William held it out. They were several yards apart. There was a momentary standoff, when neither of them would move; then William gave in and walked up the steps to hand the writ to Philip.

Philip read it and gave it back. “This doesn’t give you the right to attack a monastery.”

“It gives me the right to arrest Richard.”

“He has asked for sanctuary.”

“Ah.” William did not look surprised. He nodded as if he had heard confirmation of something inevitable, and took two or three steps back. When he spoke again his voice was raised so that everyone could hear clearly. “Let him know that he will be arrested the moment he leaves the priory. My deputies will be stationed in the town and outside his castle. Remember-” He looked around at the assembled crowd. “Remember that anyone who harms a sheriffs deputy harms a servant of the king.” He turned back to Philip. “Tell him that he may stay within the sanctuary as long as he likes, but if he wants to leave, he will have to face justice.”