Friar Tuck and the Christmas Devil (Kindle Single) by Steven A. McKay

Author:Steven A. McKay [McKay, Steven A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Broadsword Publishing
Published: 2020-01-02T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

“Where is she?”

Tuck wiped his wet mouth drowsily, irritated to be woken from a nice dream although it fled as he tried to return to it and the freezing air in the room hit him.

“What? Where's who?” The mug in his hand clattered onto the floor and he tried to pull his grey robe in about him snugly, rolling onto his side as if he was in a nice comfy bed. It was an extremely uncomfortable position with his body on the floor and his head on Jeannie's low sleeping pallet but he stubbornly refused to come fully awake.

“The girl! She's gone.”

Father de Nottingham's words slowly penetrated his consciousness and he opened one eye, squinting against the bright, cold sunshine that seemed to flood the little hovel.

“Damn it, why would she leave?” He groaned and, with a heavy sigh pushed himself to his feet, right hand on the wall to steady himself. “I promised we'd take care of her.”

“I heard,” the priest replied. “I also heard her stop talking when you were questioning her. As if she's afraid of something. Maybe we should just leave them alone – they seem to be doing all right on their own.”

Tuck poked at the still slightly-glowing embers in the fire, blowing on them and adding a couple of dry twigs from the small pile stacked next to it. His first thought was to fill his belly with something warm and then…

What? What was he going to do? The girl and her brother were long gone, there was no chance he'd be able to track her even with the snowy ground outside.

“We can't just forget about them,” he growled, finally getting a flame to flicker beneath the porridge pot which held just enough to furnish the two churchmen with a meagre but nutritious and warming meal. “They need our help.”

“You're forgetting they're criminals,” de Nottingham grunted. “They've caused a lot of trouble in the village, and stolen from people too. If we capture them the people might just string them up by their necks.”

“No-one is killing children while I'm around,” Tuck retorted angrily. “That's all they are: frightened children trying to survive the only way they know how. Not demons – children, and I promised in God's name to help them.”

There wasn't much porridge left in the big cauldron and it was soon bubbling so the friar spooned it into bowls before it burned, handing one to the priest and beginning to eat the warmed oats himself, almost burning his tongue so eager was he to fill his belly.

“What time is it anyway?” he muttered between mouthfuls. “Looks like the sun's been up awhile.”

There was a tap at the door and the churchmen glanced at each other before the voice of Eustace, the headman, came through the door to them.

“Father de Nottingham? Brother Michael? Are you still in there? We've come to see this devil you've captured.”

Tuck groaned as a chorus of growled agreement from the people gathered in the street followed Eustace's words.

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