[Mediaeval Mystery 06] - Cast the First Stone by C. B. Hanley

Author:C. B. Hanley [Hanley, C. B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780750991957
Amazon: 075099195X
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2020-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Edwin was staring into the flame of a candle when he became aware of his name being shouted.

He was in the earl’s council chamber; he’d wanted to come here straight after his conversation with Arnulf, but remembered that Father Ignatius would be saying Mass in the keep’s chapel, which was on the same floor, so he’d hovered outside in the cold until he saw the priest come out. Fortunately, Sir Roger was with him; Edwin wasn’t quite sure whether he wanted to speak to the knight until he’d got a few more things straight in his own mind.

He’d drawn back as they passed, and their attention was on each other anyway so they didn’t see him. He caught a few pieces of their conversation. Sir Roger was saying ‘He can’t stop me,’ to which Father Ignatius made an inaudible reply, and the knight continued with ‘… going there now,’ and then they were out of earshot.

Edwin then slipped into the council chamber; once again it was cold and empty, and he’d lit a candle by taking a spill to one of the torches in the stairwell. Since then he’d been deep in thought, and he had no idea how much time had passed.

Now he looked up. It was around noon, judging by where the light from the window was falling, and footsteps were sounding on the keep’s staircase.

A boy burst into the room, and Edwin recognised young Wulfric, who ran messages for William Steward. He was gasping for breath and his expression was serious – horrified, even.

Edwin jumped to his feet. ‘What is it? Has something happened to William?’

Wulfric shook his head and gasped out a few jumbled sentences. They weren’t very reassuring to Edwin, though, containing as they did the words ‘murder’ and ‘now’.

He grasped the boy by his shoulders. ‘Stop! Stop. Good. Now, start again.’

‘William sent me to warn you. You’re accused of murder. They’re on their way to get you but I was faster. William says –’ The footsteps on the stairs came closer and his voice rose to a squeak. ‘Too late!’

Edwin felt strangely distant as armed men burst into the room, as though he wasn’t there at all. He was surely somewhere else, somewhere where this wasn’t happening. The men made no move to attack, just simply surrounded him.

He patted Wulfric on the shoulder. ‘Off you go, then, there’s a good lad.’ He looked up at the nearest guard. ‘It’s nothing to do with him – he was just looking for me the same as you were.’

The man nodded and the group parted to let Wulfric through. As he left he passed Everard, the sergeant-at-arms, in the doorway.

Everard moved to stand in front of his men. ‘I don’t like this, Edwin, not at all. But an accusation has been made against you, and until Sir Roger gets back to tell us what to do, we’ll have to treat you like anyone else.’

Edwin still felt that strange dissociation as he nodded. ‘Very well.’ There was a pause.

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