A Prayer for the Damned by Peter Tremayne

Author:Peter Tremayne [Tremayne, Peter]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
Tags: _NB_fixed, blt, _rt_yes, Fiction, Suspense, Clerical Sleuth, Medieval Ireland
ISBN: 9780312348335
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2006-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

The squeal of a hunting horn came faintly through the gloom of the dark oak trees of the forest and the surrounding thick brush.

Gormán bent forward in his saddle, listening for a moment.

‘The dogs have made contact,’ he announced in satisfaction.

They could hear the hounds taking up the cry and suddenly the noise was joined by the sound of several horns echoing through the forest. The short staccato blasts rose to a volume that left no one in any doubt that the quarry had been sighted.

In front of them, Colgú raised his bir, his hunting spear, and gave a cry, leading the way forward. From almost a standstill, the horses of the hunters sprang into a canter that was soon a gallop.

‘Best take it easy,’ cried Gormán but, undeterred, Eadulf dug his heels into his mount.

‘I don’t want to lose contact with Muirchertach,’ he called.

Although he was the first to proclaim that he had little ability on horseback, he bent forward along his horse’s neck, his thighs tightening against its flanks, hands gripping the reins close into the neck, trying not to yank on the leather leads or hold them so tightly that they restricted the nodding motion of the beast’s great head as it moved forward after the others. He tried to focus on the piebald of Muirchertach but soon his own mount’s flying mane obscured his vision. He clung on and hoped that the horse knew where it was going.

Now and then low branches, and even bushes growing along the side of the track, seemed to rush towards Eadulf as if to strike him from his mount, but the horse seemed to pass them by easily with Eadulf clinging on firmly, almost lying on top of the animal’s broad back. He could just hear the thunder of Gormán’s mount behind him but he dared not raise his head to look back. He was trying to focus on the horses before him.

Soon the crowd of nobles began to draw ahead, in spite of the best efforts of Eadulf’s horse, which seemed aware of its rider’s limitations. At one point the track narrowed so much that the beast itself decided to slow the pace without any help from Eadulf. When it emerged into a clearing, with no sign of the riders ahead, Eadulf finally managed to halt it. Gormán came up behind him in a moment.

‘I’ve lost them,’ Eadulf said in disgust.

Gormán cocked his head to one side, listening. ‘I think that they’ve split up. Some have gone down that path to your left, some to the right.’

There came the sound of staccato calls on the horn to the right. They sounded close by.

‘That way!’ cried Eadulf, turning his mount. It responded immediately, believing another canter was required of it. But this time Eadulf kept to a steady, controlled trot, Gormán at his side.

The trees soon began to thin out and they came to shrubland, then open fields crossing the hills where crops had been planted. Stone hedges bordered some of the fields.

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