Liars and Thieves (A Company of Liars short story) by Karen Maitland

somewhere beyond the camp.
    ‘Dye! You must help her, Osmond. You must,’ Adela begged.
    Rodrigo lumbered off in the direction of the sound, Jofre sprinting after him. Osmond, still scowling, followed. I was hurrying after them when a flash of white made me glance down. I had forgotten about our little mouse, or should I say cat? Narigorm was squatting on the ground, bouncing two small sharp pebbles in her hand.
    I followed the sounds of the running feet ahead. When I emerged through the trees, I found myself staring at the backs of Rodrigo, Jofre and Osmond. They had stopped a few yards away from Pecker, and I could see why. Pecker still had Dye in his grip, but they were standing on the very edge of the gullet. He was facing her, gripping her by the upper arms and bending her backwards over the stinking water where Holy Jack’s body still floated.
    ‘Tell me! Tell me!’ he yelled. ‘Where’s that fecking stone? If you don’t give it to me, I swear you’ll be joining your lover down there.’
    Dye was wide-eyed with fear, but plainly afraid to struggle in case she slipped from his fingers and fell. ‘I didn’t take it! I told you, something flew at me, hit me in the face. That’s what made me cry out. I can still feel the mark. See!’
    ‘Yes, the mark of the nail!’ Pecker spat. ‘But I’m a fair man, not like those justices who marked me. I’m going to give you another chance to prove your innocence. I’m going to swim you. If you sink, I’ll believe you’re as innocent as the dew from the moon. Can’t be fairer than that, can I? Go on, jump in with your dead lover. Prove to me how innocent you really are.’
    Suddenly, I understood what Narigorm had done.
    ‘Let her go, Pecker,’ I shouted. ‘She’s speaking the truth. Narigorm threw a stone at her as you drove the nail in, that’s why she cried out.’
    Pecker briefly turned his head. ‘And why should the brat do that, old man? She told the truth about Dye last night, right enough. The woman’s a whore and a murderer. She stabbed her own husband while he slept, did you know that?’
    He had relaxed his grip slightly on Dye, who managed to pull herself upright, though he was still holding her right on the edge of the pit.
    ‘I told you about that myself, you bastard. Told you he beat me, till I couldn’t take no more. I stabbed him when he’d fallen into a drunken stupor ’cause I knew he’d never let me go. He’d have killed me if I hadn’t.’
    ‘So you say,’ Pecker growled. ‘For all I know, he was some meek little worm that was stupid enough to trust you, same as I did, and poor old Jack there. I should have beaten you myself. Maybe then you’d have learned—’
    He broke off, staring at something among the trees on the other side of the gullet, his eyes widening in fear. A man was walking towards us, out of the grey mist of rain, and that man was unmistakably Holy Jack.
    Pecker stared at him and then down into the gullet. He lifted his hands as if he was warding off an avenging ghost. As he let go of Dye, she teetered backwards on the very edge of the pit. We stared at her, certain she was going to fall, but in one desperate effort she flung herself forward, knocking against Pecker as she sprawled face down on the grass. Pecker tried in vain to right himself, but his foot slipped over the edge of the gullet. The ground was too muddy for him to get a purchase and with a howl he plunged down into the pit. We heard the great splash. All three of us rushed forward, as Dye crawled on her hands and knees away from the edge and collapsed into the mud.
    Pecker was shrieking for help and flailing wildly in the water. It was evident he couldn’t swim and even if he could have struck out for the side, nothing save a lizard could have crawled up those sheer rocks. Someone pushed me aside. It was Dye. She had snatched up a fallen branch. She flopped down on her belly and, lying flat on the ground, she thrust the branch down towards Pecker