The Investigator's Kingdom (The Chronicles of Brother Hermitage Book 26) by Howard of Warwick

Author:Howard of Warwick [of Warwick, Howard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Funny Book Company
Published: 2022-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

Caput XV: Recover The Body

Bart returned with a large blanket, this time without anyone following him complaining about his theft of their blanket.

‘I said it was for the sanctum,’ he explained. ‘That did the trick.’

‘Bring it over here,’ Wat instructed. ‘The magus appears to be dead, but Mrs Grod is still alive.’

Hermitage had said that she was warm, he hadn’t said she was alive. He hoped no one would be disappointed.

‘Hermitage, help me get the table out of the way,’ Cwen said as she took hold of one end.

Hermitage stood at the other end and between them, they lifted the table up and out of the way to reveal the task before them.

Mrs Grod lay on the ground hard up against the back wall. If they were to get her onto the blanket, they would have to roll her over onto her face; no easy task. Still, Hermitage thought, perhaps the indignity of being rolled over would rouse her.

The magus was lying across her legs as if they had fallen together. There seemed nothing to be done for that poor old fellow.

Now that they could see a little more clearly, albeit in the light of a torch, there was no doubt the man was dead. Of course, Hermitage had no idea what the local procedure was for a dead magus, but he didn’t imagine it involved being rolled into a blanket.

Haelgard, who had been pacing back and forth like some caged animal, now came over and gazed down at the bodies on the floor. He howled a bit more.

Hermitage wondered if howling was a thing here. He had heard of people having strange calls for when there was a death, perhaps the village of Blore did howls.

‘The magus is dead,’ Haelgard pronounced in what sounded very much like an announcement. An announcement that was largely unnecessary as they could all see perfectly well that the magus was dead. From the staring eyes, the complete lack of movement and the position on the ground, there was no doubt that this was a dead magus.

The way the arms and legs were sprawled about made Hermitage wonder if he had been dead before he hit the ground. He had certainly collapsed in a heap.

Was Mrs Grod dead as well? In the gloom, there was no way of telling whether she was breathing or not so they had to get her out. If she was still alive, it was only just, and Hermitage thought that getting her into the air was essential.

He’d given no serious thought to what might have caused two people to fall in this place, but the air was so oppressive that some miasma was the likely cause.

And the magus had been an old fellow who would be more likely to succumb. If Mrs Grod had survived the evil vapours, getting her out of them as soon as possible was vital.

‘Here,’ Wat instructed Bart. ‘Spread the blanket on the floor.’

Bart did as he was told and the recumbent Mrs Grod now had a blanket next to her.

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