The Outlaws of Ennor: (Knights Templar 16) by Michael Jecks

Author:Michael Jecks [Jecks, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: _MARKED, _rt_yes, blt, Fiction, General
ISBN: 9781472219770
Google: Xv4iAwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2014-02-27T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

‘William? It’s me, Isok.’

The priest threw open his door with a rattle. ‘Good God alive, Isok, what is this?’

He was justifiably annoyed to be woken. All those who lived in the vill knew that it was after his hour for sleep. By this time he had completed the round of services, and it was his routine to finish the day with a large cup of wine, followed by a good long sleep, ready to wake for Matins. He had been asleep for about an hour, and now this idiot wanted to talk? He noticed that Isok was carrying something. ‘Are you mad, man? Whatever you’re carrying, get rid of it! Do you want Ranulph’s guards to come here and find you with contraband?’

Isok stared at him bleakly. ‘I have some fish in my boat, but no contraband today. This is more your line of work, Priest.’

He entered, shouldering William aside, and allowed his burden to fall to the ground.

‘Jesus’s cods! What have you done, you moron?’ William demanded, falling to his knees and feeling Luke’s face, hands, wrists. ‘He’s dead!’

‘Of course he’s dead,’ Isok said coldly. ‘Whether he drowned or not, I don’t know. But look at him more closely, and you’ll doubt it, I expect. I found him out on Arthur’s Porth. There were bits and pieces of boat all about him.’

‘Why?’ William wondered.

‘Someone killed him and threw him into a boat,’ Isok shrugged.

‘You mean his murderer thought that when the body was found, people would think he’d been killed in an accident?’ William said scathingly. ‘Any fool can see he’s been stabbed!’

‘Perhaps the killer thought Luke’d just sail into the distance and never be found,’ Isok grunted. He had discovered William’s mazer, and was filling it from the priest’s large cask.

‘Hey!’ William snarled, and snatched it back. He spilled a little, but the rest he eagerly poured down his throat. ‘This is a complete mess. What can we do?’

‘You have to deal with it,’ Isok said flatly. ‘If it gets suspected that it was someone on my island, it could be troublesome. The men at La Val would welcome an opportunity to come and destroy our vill.’

‘You think it could come to that?’ William breathed, but then he nodded. ‘Yes. It makes sense. Ranulph has sought to impose his will on the island for the entire time I have lived here. You’ve seen it too.’

‘Yes – and the murder of a priest is enough justification for him.’

‘Leave it to me. I shall do what I can.’

Isok thanked him, and was about to leave when William stopped him. ‘Where are you going? You can’t sail back home at this time of night.’

‘No,’ Isok said, his eyes downcast. ‘But I wanted to speak to Hamadus. I haven’t had a chance to see him for a while.’

William was tempted to ask whether he wanted to see the old man about his marital problems, but something stopped him. The younger man looked like a fellow who had been tightened and tightened

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