A Friar's Bloodfeud: (Knights Templar 20) by Michael Jecks

Author:Michael Jecks [Jecks, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: blt, General, _MARKED, Fiction
ISBN: 9781472219817
Google: SAcYAwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2014-02-27T16:43:07+00:00

Chapter Twenty-One

Robert Crokers felt good that morning. He had slept better, and as his bitch lay patiently waiting he knelt nearby, watching.

‘Poor old girl,’ he whispered.

‘You mooning after your bitch again?’ Walter called.

He was not a sentimental man, this Walter. So far as Robert could make out, he’d been a wandering man-at-arms for some while, and only fairly recently had come into the de Courtenay fold. It was a surprise to Robert, because he knew that Lord de Courtenay and his vassal Sir John Sully were both reluctant to take on mercenary fellows. Far better that they should have men who were long-term servants, those who owed allegiance from their oaths rather than selling it for a few coins. Nobody liked a mercenary.

‘She’s always been a good bitch,’ Robert explained as he left her in her corner and walked over to join Walter.

‘So she should be. If a dog don’t work, it has to be made to. If it can’t, has to be killed. That’s how dogs are,’ Walter said unsympathetically.

‘You don’t like their company?’

Walter pulled a face. ‘I’ve been bitten too often to trust the damned things. No, give me a good rache and I’m happy. An animal that’ll hunt for the pot, that’s a useful thing – but a sheepdog? What good’s that to me? All they ever do is snap at your heels or worse. I had one go for my cods once. Damn near got them, too. Had a great bite out of my tunic, and I had to kick it to get it to let go. Damned thing.’

Robert wondered idly what Walter could have been doing when the dog took such exception, but it wasn’t the sort of question a man could put to a mercenary. It was all too likely that he’d hear something he’d really prefer not to know. ‘How long do you think it’ll be before they come back?’

Walter shrugged and glanced out through the doorway. ‘If they feel sure of their ground, it’ll be a long time. If they’re nervous, they may try to come sooner. Doesn’t matter which. They won’t want to kill us. We’re not important to them, and there’s no point killing those who aren’t a danger.’

‘If we’re unimportant, surely that makes it easier to kill us?’

Walter looked at him pityingly. ‘If we were at war, our lives wouldn’t be worth a penny, but as it is, with us over here and no real threat to anyone, they’ll just chase us off the land, and by the time we’re gone word’ll have reached Sir Odo and twenty or thirty men will be here to take the place back again.’

‘So how will it end?’ Robert asked. ‘From what you say, we’ll be harried away, then come back, time after time. Where can it end?’

‘It’ll end when the Lord Despenser comes and forces his case,’ Walter said with another shrug.

‘But if Lord de Courtenay comes and defends the place …’

This time Walter’s glance held more contempt than pity. ‘You think

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