Free I, Coriander by Sally Gardner

am Arise Fell,’ said the preacher. ‘My name speaks my purpose, to raise you out of your wickedness so that you may never fall into sin again.’ He put his hands together in prayer and continued, ‘Arise, O Lord, save them, for God is our light and our salvation.’
    I felt a shiver go down my back, as I had done when I first saw him that day on the bridge.
    Then, looking straight at me, he said, ‘Ann, daughter of Eve, come here.’
    I wondered to whom he was speaking and turned to look round the room in case anyone had come in while he had been preaching at us. Hester gave me a nudge. Slowly and uncertainly I went forward.
    ‘Ann, what do you see?’ he asked, holding his thin empty hands out towards me. He had dirty fingers and a long yellow thumbnail that curled over like the claw of a bird.
    ‘Nothing,’ I said.
    He turned his hand palm up.
    ‘What do you see now?’
    ‘Still nothing,’ I said, puzzled.
    ‘In this hand,’ said Arise, slowly advancing his empty right palm, ‘is the wrath of God. In the other is His salvation. Now tell me again, what is your name?’
    ‘Coriander Hobie,’ I replied.
    A cruel smile curled the corner of his mouth and he slapped me hard across the face. I was so startled that I stood my ground, unsure as to whether it had really happened.
    ‘I will ask you again. What is your name?’
    ‘Cor-i-an-der,’ I said very slowly, and this time he hit me so powerfully that I found myself halfway across the floor.
    ‘Leave her,’ said Arise as Hester bent to help me. ‘Get up,’ he commanded, towering crookedly above me. ‘Get up now.’
    He grabbed me by my jacket and dragged me up to my room, his long thumbnail jabbing into the back of my neck. He pushed me into my chamber and locked the door.
     
    I sat on my bed feeling bewildered and angry, certain that at any minute my father and Danes would come and rescue me and have the crooked man thrown from the house. I waited as the hours ticked mournfully past.
    At last the key turned in the door and Danes stood there. I rushed to her and threw my arms about her.
    ‘I am sorry, my little sparrow,’ she said. ‘It has taken me the best part of the morning to find the key. He had it hidden.’
    ‘Where is my father?’
    ‘I wish I knew,’ said Danes. ‘He told me there was a warrant out for his arrest for helping the King escape. He is in a lot of trouble, that much I know.’
    ‘I just want him to come back and tell the crooked man to leave.’ Tears of rage were rolling down my face. ‘What right has he to be here?’
    ‘Shush, my little one, shush,’ she whispered, and she took me down to the kitchen where I was given ale to drink and the rest of a turkey pie to eat.
    I stayed by the kitchen fire with Danes most of that afternoon. At last Arise walked in, my stepmother following behind like a small round pig.
    ‘What is the meaning of this?’ he said. ‘I thought I had made it quite clear that this child was to stay in her room until all sinful vanity had fallen from her.’
    ‘You have no right to give orders in this house, sir,’ said Danes, standing up straight. ‘When Master Hobie returns I will tell him how you conduct your lessons.’
    ‘You will not be seeing Master Hobie again,’ said Arise calmly. ‘He is to be arrested for plotting against our great and mighty Lord Protector, Moses himself. He has been aiding and abetting the sinners from Babylon, smuggling them out of the country, helping the son of the Devil to escape these shores.’
    ‘You have no right to speak of my father so,’ I shouted. ‘This is not your house.’
    ‘Silence, child, or the hand of wrath will find thee,’ said Arise.
    ‘How dare you,’ said Danes. ‘The Lord said suffer the little children -’
    ‘Oh, I have,’ interrupted Maud, ‘I have suffered them much, I have.’
    ‘Do you know what is written here, Mistress Mary Danes?’ said Arise, shaking a bundle of papers he was holding.
    ‘No, how could I, sir?’