Thomas lay very still, breathing his last. He had the impression that something with a cold, fishy mouth was tugging at him. His bladder loosed and he breathed out, his chest rattling. He did not inhale. The girl took the Virgin’s hand and forearm up and pressed the two stone fingers, held out in benediction, against the knight’s forehead, just where he had felt St. Sebastian’s thumb the night before. She pressed hard. The thing with the fishy mouth left. Thomas gasped and opened his eyes. And then he slept.
