The Plan is Set

Abbess Elinor sat behind her table with her hands folded as Lorenzo, Cedric and Edgar stood before her.

“Thank you for seeing us, Reverend Mother,” Lorenzo said.

Elinor nodded once.

“I am sure the Archbishop told you about the… outcome of our visit,” Lorenzo began, guarding his words.

”He did. You all left a favorable impression.”

Lorenzo then chose his words carefully.

”While in Ansel, we were… blessed… with a…fortuitous intervention. That very intervention is why we have come to see you.”

Elinor’s expression did not change, but her fingers tightened slightly over her books.

Lorenzo paused before speaking her name.

“Lady Duessa.”

The men waited for the abbess's reaction. She made them wait a bit longer.

”We presume that you know her,“ said Cedric.

”She requires Sister Agnes to be induced into a sleep-like state for three days and three nights, “ Lorenzo tried to keep his voice even and calm. “In order for her to confront an adversary named Hauroth. Just like with the river, as doctors, we can only offer our judgement regarding the risks. But this is ultimately your decision… as her guardian.“

Silence settled heavily in the room. Cedric shifted his weight. Edgar simply looked at the floor. Elinor at last spoke.

“Do sit down.”

She was quiet for a long time before speaking again.

“Months ago, when the sisters found Agnes, she was alone at the edge of the orchard, with no memory of her mother, or the life she had known. That night, a woman came to see me. She told me the child was to be sheltered here. In return, she promised that the pestilence would not take this house, or the women I was entrusted to protect. Despite my reservations, I have kept my part of that agreement. While Agnes has been with us, the sickness has never crossed these walls. Not once.”

She then looked at each of the men.

“I found it best to not ask questions. Her promise has been kept.”

Lorenzo exhaled slowly.

“Our positions are vastly different. Our profession demands that we ask questions. You understand, then, why we cannot simply do what is being asked of us.”

“I understand why you came to me,“ Elinor answered. “But a decision cannot be made about Agnes while she’s kept outside the room.”

“She is but a child,” Cedric objected.

”Aye. And the only one who can decide this.”

Elinor called for the vicaress to enter the room and instructed her in a whisper.

Shortly after, little Agnes entered. She was back in her ordinary habit, her veil neat and her hands folded. Elinor gestured toward the stool near the table. Agnes sat; her feet not quite touching the floor.

“Agnes, these men have something to tell you,” Elinor stated.

Obediently, Agnes turned her head towards them, her expression neutral.

Lorenzo cleared his throat and calmly explained the plan again, without sparing her from the gravest risks. Cedric added the medical details and their findings: how long they believed they might sustain the sleep, what signs would mean danger, and how little certainty they had of bringing her back if…

”Oh. I know all that,” Agnes cut him off.

All of them sat in silence.

“You do?” Cedric asked.

Agnes nodded.

”Duessa explained all of this to me last night. I have already agreed to it.”

“Agnes…” Elinor said. “Do you understand what is being asked of you?”

“Yes, Reverend Mother,” she said simply, her tongue touching her loose tooth.

”You will be put to sleep with very strong medicines,” Edgar said.

“I know. But I have the best doctors in the land. All I have to do is sleep.“

No one spoke at first.

Elinor studied her for a long time. At last, she sat back.

“Very well,” she said. “She has spoken. The sisters and I will prepare the chapel. You will stay here and work undisturbed. It is settled.”

All three doctors were astonished beyond words. Cedric lowered his head in frustration. Edgar shook his head, but Lorenzo gestured for both of them to maintain decorum in front of the abbess. So they both sat upright immediately.

“There is another matter we need to discuss about what happened in Ansel, Reverend Mother,” Lorenzo said.

”All right. Little Sister Agnes, you are dismissed,” Elinor said.

Agnes climbed down and skipped out of the room without another last look at the doctors. Lorenzo waited until she was out of earshot before speaking again.

“The knight …Ignatius… joined our traveling party to assist… to provide protection during our journey, but…” Lorenzo drew breath. “He was…we were… there was a misunderstanding with the former knights of the Temple…”

”Misunderstanding?” Elinor scoffed. “That clanking relic has been prying about the convent walls for more than a month, trying to sniff out something to report back to his sanctimonious inquisitors. I suppose by misunderstanding you mean something more serious occurred.”

Lorenzo gasped, then nodded quietly. Her aggressive tone surprised the doctors.

”Indeed. Lady Duessa has since summoned Ignatius on her…mission. But even if he is not here at present, we have reason to believe his brothers are looking for him. For Agnes. For us.”

”All the more reason for you to stay here for the time being. Your only concern is to do this as carefully as human skill allows to keep my littlest sister safe,” she said.

“Abbess, the entire cloister might be in peril,” Edgar added.

Again, Elinor blinked slowly.

“I will handle the Templars.”

The three doctors looked at each other. Lorenzo’s head dropped down in defeat.

”Then… prepare the child for tomorrow,” Lorenzo said, barely above a whisper.

Elinor nodded.

Outside the parlor, the cloister bells began to toll for Terce. Elinor stood, smoothed her habit, and walked without telling the doctors they were dismissed.

Yet, on her way out, she took Lorenzo’s hand and gave it a hearty squeeze.

“All will be well, Plague Doctor Lorenzo.”

And with this, she was gone.

✨✨✨

Agnes awoke with the bell the following morning and whispered Prime alone in the chapel, little hands pressed together, as she had done since her return. Afterward, she ate porridge in a corner of the dining room, though apart from the others, accepting the extra honey Sister Agatha’s slipped into her bowl and the soft piece of bread Sister Bernadette placed on her plate as she passed.

She played and frolicked in the garden. She picked roses, gathered the last of the early apples, and once again chased “Robert Rabbit” between the rows until he vanished under the hedge.

She watched the sisters work on tonight’s supper from afar, with no other job than to play with the convent cat while the work was done.

Later that day, Armando appeared and gave her the long-promised ride. At full speed. When she came back slightly out of breath, Sister Margaret pretended not to have seen her riding a wild stag and giggling like crazy across the forest.

She had time to lie down on the soft grass, blowing dandelions and rolling downhill.

By late afternoon, Ignatius returned.

He came on foot, leading his horse, and stopped just beyond the edge of the orchard. Agnes, who was seated on the cloister wall, adding a flower garland to the black cloister cat, noticed him. But she remained exactly where she was.

Ignatius didn’t move either.

Agnes continued to stare him down in the soft afternoon light.

The knight eventually lowered himself to one knee, drew his sword, and presented it reverently across both hands.

Agnes froze for a second, unsure of what to do next.

She looked around her. Nobody else was there.

She thought for a moment, then rolled her eyes, picked up the cat, and awkwardly walked over to where the knight and his dramatic gesture awaited.

”What?” she asked with an annoyed frown.

”I am being summoned by Lady Duessa,” Ignatius said, humbly.

“So?” she said, the garland-wearing cat still drooping awkwardly from her hands, like a liquid. “Go to her if you love her so much!”

”I cannot go to a lady while I am sworn to another… without a special dispensation.”

”Well, I don’t know what you want me to do about it,” she said. “You’re not my knight anymore. And I don’t know what a dispensation is.”

Ignatius looked up. Something about him seemed sad.

“I didn’t mean for any of this to happen,” he said quietly.

Agnes turned around and went back into the courtyard. The cat still dangled from her arms. And meowed.

✨✨✨

Night fell. Lorenzo couldn't sleep.

He sat on the corner of his bed, his sad gray eyes fixed on the full moon glaring through his small, lonely window.

The same full moon cast its glow through the arched window of the small chapel while Agnes prayed on her knees to the stone angel before her.

Her words were shaky tonight.

Armando wasn’t there. She didn’t want to wake up Duessa during her last night of rest. Elinor had already told her good night, and Agatha had been too upset about the plan to see her.

Agnes closed her eyes tightly and continued to recite her prayer, even as little tears began to stream down her face. She repeated the phrase in Latin, but kept losing her place. She prayed and prayed, eyes tight, until she could no longer continue.

Instead, she slid down and sat on the cold stone floor. She then hid her face in her knees and whimpered and sniffled into the oversized sleeves of her habit.

✨✨✨

Dawn barely rose under a bleak fog.

Red-eyed and with a heavy heart, Alaric came downstairs to meet the three tall shadows waiting by the counter. It was still dark. They had arrived, like specters.

Like soldiers.

Alaric bent down and slowly retrieved the potion he had been tasked to prepare the night before. Reluctantly, he handed them the vial. The rich, tarry liquid glowed with highlights of copper that shone with the meager glow of candlelight. Not a pretty blue. No stars.

None of the doctors liked that vial.

Alaric didn’t like it either.

Back in the convent, the abandoned chapel was quietly being prepared.

Margaret, Magdalene and Beatrice moved through the work nervously and without chatter. Fresh straw was laid beneath the narrow bed. Three other large cots were being assembled and arranged along the far walls for the physicians who would keep watch. A fresh basin was added, new layers of clean cloth and sweet-scented linens. A small brazier was placed near the wall. Elinor supervised.

✨✨✨

Meanwhile, somewhere in Ansel, the cavalry of knights had assembled. Armor and shields gleamed with fresh polish. Horses were being saddled. Squires already stood at attention and swords eased into scabbards. The pious knights rose upright in their stirrups, ready to ride beneath the morning sky. The old white-and-red-crossed standard, once again, was flying.