Lucius, Teilo, and Justan had discussed for months how to escape the island by boat and make it to the mainland for the big Giamonios festival. Blond-haired, blue-eyed Lucius was the natural leader of the pack, which was nicknamed “the triumverate” by the older brothers. Genial and daring, he was the one who most often slid into the kitchens at night to pilfer bread, cheese, and honey for the boys in the dormitory. Sometimes he even managed to smuggle out a whole goat-skin of vinum, which the boys then passed around in their secret gathering place behind a thicket of trees.

The monks suspected that the boys were responsible for the sudden shortfalls in the kitchen stores but declined to make a fuss, thinking a silent tongue a virtue. When there was no longer enough bread and cheese to go around, Abbott Mihael would simply declare a day of fasting, a subtle but effective punishment for the boys.

Lucius excelled at his studies and had already memorized whole biblical chapters, to the delight of Abbott Mihael.

Teilo had dark brown curls and a faintly sprouting moustache, of which he was inordinately proud. He sprang from one of the fisher families from across the bay and had intimate knowledge of the rocks, shoals, and sandbars between Inissi Leuca and the mainland. Where Lucius was quick and bright, Teilo was strong and could be counted on to lift a body high into a tree or over a wall to snatch apples or grapes. Abbott Mihael despaired of the boy ever perfecting his reading or his letters.

Justan, youngest of the three, idolized both Lucius and Teilo and followed their every command. With dark blond hair and moss-green eyes, he was self-effacing and quiet, shy and gentle as a deer. He rarely spoke unless addressed first.

Like Lucius, Justan had been placed at the monastery as an infant when his father died and his mother could no longer afford to keep him. He felt to the depths of his soul that his mother must have found him unlovable, else why would she have given him up so easily? When he spoke in the schola, it was usually to bring up a philosophical point upon which he had ruminated for days.

Unlike Lucius, Justan lacked self-confidence, and while he also lacked the physical vigor of Teilo, he did have quick and dexterous fingers. Abbott Mihael thought he might make a fine scribe one day and even suspected genius in the boy, but despaired how to pry it out of him.

After Vespers, the three engaged in one last game with a wool-filled leather ball until Brother Trillo was ordered by the abbott to shepherd the boys into the dormitory; “Omnes ergo in unum positi compleant! Since everyone is gathered, let them say Compline, the last prayer of the day,” he directed in Latin. He was always seeking ways to further their erudition.

The days were growing longer, and it was becoming ever harder to corral them into their beds.

After Brother Trillo heard their bedtime prayers, blew out the candle, and left, the boys scrabbled under their straw mattresses and dug out the tunics and pants they had secreted away over time. They couldn’t be seen in town wearing their brown wool scholar’s robes, so Teilo’s sister Gwen had given him a piece of clothing each time he went home for a visit. Teilo shared these with his friends. They had also done small favors for the monks and visitors to the island, and over many months had each successfully hoarded a pocketful of coins for food and drink in the town.

That night the moon was nearly full, so the boys knew that the Giamonios festival would begin the very next day. After midnight, when the rest of the monastery was deep in slumber, they crept from the dormitory. To avoid the guard at the gate, they clambered over the old earthen vallum that surrounded the inner grounds to shelter the monks from the sea winds. Once free of that barrier, they walked around to the landward side of the island in the clear moonlight as quietly as they were able and edged along the beach to find a particular clump of greenery. They pulled a small leather curach from under the bushes where Teilo kept it hidden and carried it to the shoreline, hoisted up their trousers, and waded into the brine. Squeezing themselves into the shaky craft and drawing up their knees, they found themselves in a position where it was very difficult to paddle.

“Good thing the sea is calm tonight, or we would never make it over,” said Teilo in a hoarse whisper. He cast an expert eye on the small, chopping waves.

“We can do it!” said Lucius out loud, with his usual optimism, causing Teilo to shush him disapprovingly.

Justan said nothing but peered nervously at the sky, clutching the frame of the coracle. He was terrified of storms.

At length, they made it to the other side of the bay, dragged the small craft ashore, and lifted it over their heads to carry it to a clutch of large rocks well above the tide line. They rolled it upside down, hid the oars underneath, and covered the whole with seaweed to disguise it from thieves.

“I’m freezing!” said Teilo. Justan too was shivering, his lips already turning blue.

“We forgot to bring cloaks!” said Lucius with a slight feeling of panic.

“Well, we could dig a hole and pull the curach upside down over our heads. At least we would be out of the wind,” said Justan.

It was a brilliant suggestion, all the more startling because of its source. They immediately set to work digging a hole in the sand, and finally, after pulling the craft overhead, curled together like puppies for a few hours of sleep.

The next morning, emerging turtle-like from the damp leather shell, they were horrified to see that the sky had clouded over. The sea had only a slight chop, but a steady breeze from the ocean, plus the sight of sea birds heading to shore, told them that a squall was coming.

“We have to go back now!” said Teilo.

“Yes, let’s go right now!” echoed Justan.

Lucius considered their predicament. “No, I’ve been waiting years for this chance; I’m not going back. You can if you want to, but I’m staying here.”

“You can’t stay. How will you get back? And what will we tell Abbott Mihael?” Teilo argued. Justan shook his head.

“I can’t go back. Not yet.” Lucius’s words were determined. “If you go back now, no one will even know that you left. Tell them you don’t know what happened to me.” He looked from one to the other. “It won’t be a complete lie.” He gave them his lopsided smile, the one that said he was way beyond them. It was the smile that had convinced them before, and they had never been sorry.

Teilo and Justan looked at each other, and then back at Lucius once more. Reluctantly, but with a growing sense of urgency, they went for the leather boat, hoisting it on their shoulders and making for the sea.

“I’ll be all right!” yelled Lucius, waving towards the departing craft as it breached the swelling waves. The wind was already so strong that the departing two-thirds of the triumverate did not even hear him.