Page 279 of The Pillars of the Earth

Aliena was consumed with curiosity about this poor girl who had taken on the role of William’s wife, the role Aliena herself had refused seventeen years ago. Unable to restrain herself, she said: “I used to know William when I was a girl. What’s he like now?”

“I loathe him,” Elizabeth said with passion.

Aliena felt deeply sorry for her.

Elizabeth said: “How did you know him?”

Aliena realized she had let herself in for this. “To tell you the truth, when I was more or less your age, I was supposed to marry him.”

“No! And how come you didn’t?”

“I refused, and my father backed me. But there was a dreadful fuss. ... I caused a lot of bloodshed. However, it’s all in the past.”

“You refused him!” Elizabeth was thrilled. “You’re so courageous. I wish I was like you.” Suddenly she looked downcast again. “But I can’t even stand up to the servants.”

“You could, you know,” Aliena said.

“But how? They just don’t take any notice of me, because I’m only fourteen.”

Aliena considered the question carefully, then answered comprehensively. “To begin with, you must become the carrier of your husband’s wishes. In the morning, ask him what he would like to eat today, whom he wants to see, which horse he would like to ride, anything you can think of. Then go to the kitchener, the steward of the hall, and the stableman, and give them the earl’s orders. Your husband will be grateful to you, and angry with anyone who ignores you. So people will get used to doing what you say. Then take note of who helps you eagerly and who reluctantly. Make sure that helpful people are favored—give them the jobs they like to do, and make sure the unhelpful ones get all the dirty work. Then people will start to realize that it pays to oblige the countess. They will also love you much more than William, who isn’t very lovable anyway. Eventually you will become a power in your own right. Most countesses are.”

“You make it sound easy,” Elizabeth said wistfully.

“No, it’s not easy, but if you’re patient, and don’t get discouraged too easily, you can do it.”

“I think I can,” she said determinedly. “I really think I can.”

Eventually they began to doze. Every now and again the wind would howl and wake Aliena. Looking around in the fitful candlelight she saw that most of the adults were doing the same, sitting upright, nodding off for a while, then waking up suddenly.

It must have been around midnight that she woke with a start and realized that she had slept for an hour or more this time. Almost everyone around her was fast asleep. She shifted her position, lying flat on the floor, and wrapped her cloak tightly around her. The storm was not letting up, but people’s need for sleep had overcome their anxiety. The sound of the rain blowing against the walls of the church was like waves crashing on a beach, and instead of keeping her awake it now lulled her to sleep.

Once again she woke with a start. She wondered what had disturbed her. She listened: silence. The storm had ended. A faint gray light seeped in through the windows. All the villagers were fast asleep.

Aliena got up. Her movement disturbed Elizabeth, who came awake instantly.

They both had the same thought. They went to the church door, opened it, and stepped outside.

The rain had stopped and the wind was no more than a breeze. The sun had not yet risen, but the dawn sky was pearl-gray. Aliena and Elizabeth looked around them in the clear, watery light.

The village was gone.

Other than the church there was not a single building left standing. The entire area had been flattened. A few heavy timbers had come to rest up against the side of the church, but otherwise only the hearthstones dotted around in the sea of mud showed where there had been houses. At the edges of what had been the village, there were five or six mature trees, oaks and chestnuts, still standing, although each of them appeared to have lost several boughs. There were no young trees left at all.

Stunned by the completeness of the devastation, Aliena and Elizabeth walked along what had been the street. The ground was littered with splintered wood and dead birds. They came to the first of the wheat fields. It looked as if a large herd of cattle had been penned there for the night. The ripening stalks of wheat had been flattened, broken, uprooted and washed away. The earth was churned up and waterlogged.

Aliena was horrified. “Oh, God,” she muttered. “What will the people eat?”

They struck out across the field. The damage was the same everywhere. They climbed a low hill and surveyed the surrounding countryside from the top. Every way they looked, they saw ruined crops, dead sheep, blasted trees, flooded meadows and flattened houses. The destruction was appalling, and it filled Aliena with a dreadful sense of tragedy. It looked, she thought, as if the hand of God had come down over England and struck the earth, destroying everything men had made except churches.

The devastation had shocked Elizabeth too. “It’s terrible,” she said. “I can’t believe it. There’s nothing left.”

Aliena nodded grimly. “Nothing,” she echoed. “There’ll be no harvest this year.”

“What will the people do?”

“I don’t know.” Feeling a mixture of compassion and fear, Aliena said: “It’s going to be a bloody winter.”

II