Crucible #01 - The Nameless Day by Sara Douglass

Author:Sara Douglass [Douglass, Sara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy
Published: 2011-12-18T05:25:14+00:00

* * *

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Prime on the Feast of All Saints

In the fifty-first year of the reign of Edward III

(daybreak Monday 1st November)

— ALL HALLOWS DAY —

— I —

THOMAS SAT AWAKE through the night, wondering, fretting, fuming, and frustrated beyond measure.

After he'd spoken to a guard in the corridor, Will had led Thomas to a small chamber some thirty paces distant from Raby's accommodation. Will sat Thomas on the pallet a guard brought with the clear warning that if Thomas were to leave, he would get a blade through his gut for his presumption.

To make his point, Will had opened the door to reveal three guards outside: battle-scarred, hard-eyed men, who stood with their hands close by their swords, to prove the truth of Will's words.

A prisoner ... of his own countrymen!

And of the Prior General.

And here he was, confined by common soldiers.

Him! A Neville. A Dominican friar. An intimate of St. Michael!

And so Thomas sat awake on his pallet and fumed until well into the early hours of the morning when he finally managed to laugh at himself. Lord forgive my pride, he prayed. It was no wonder both the Black Prince (and King Edward, for all he knew) and his uncle were furious at him. It was no wonder that the Prior General wanted him hauled back to England in chains.

He had, after all, left the friary in Rome without permission. He had wandered through half of Europe without permission. And he had talked of strange visitations by St. Michael and even stranger missions.

Who could possibly believe him?

And especially, Thomas thought further, sobering completely, after the misadventures and misdalliances of his youth and early manhood.

It was no wonder, either, that his uncle and the Black Prince were so angry with him. The English throne and high nobles depended on the goodwill of the Church, and to offend the leader of one of the most powerful orders within the Church—and one that could call the Inquisition down upon their heads!—was a sin almost without parallel.

He took a deep breath. God had sent this predicament to test his mettle and strength of purpose.

He would not fail. Circumstances seemed against him, true, but he could turn them to his favor. The Prior General wanted him back in England? That was good, because that was where Thomas needed to go to find Wynkyn's casket, and if the Prior General was angry enough, it would mean that he would be sent all the faster.

Once he was in England Thomas would decide how best to deal with the Prior General's anger.

For the moment he needed to regain the confidence of his uncle, as of the Black Prince.

And then ... there was her. The witch's appearance in his uncle's bed had been a stunning shock, and yet not a surprise. It only confirmed in his mind the lengths to which the demons would go in order to achieve their ends.

He had thought he could just walk away from her, turn his back, but the woman's place in his uncle's bed meant that he could not so easily avoid her.

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