[Roger the Chapman 02] - The Plymouth Cloak by Kate Sedley Read Free Book Online

 
    One of the brothers hurried across, attracted by the raised voices, his round-cheeked face pink with anxiety, his manner flustered. 'Please cease this bickering immediately,' he said. 'Remember that you are in the House of God.'
    'Then get this idiot off my back,' Philip protested. 'The argument's none of my making. I just want to be left alone.'  
    'I'm not going until I get what's due to me,' Silas Bywater snarled. 'Two years I've been dreaming of this meeting and now, quite by chance, it's here. And to think I nearly didn't come up to the fair! Don't plead poverty, either! You look prosperous enough.'
    'I've told you!' Philip roared, losing his temper. 'You'll get nothing from me, not ever! So slink back to whatever kennel you've crawled out of and let me be!'
    I decided it was time to take a hand. The little monk was making ineffectual noises and looking around him for reinforcements, but none was forthcoming. His fellows were either in their cells preparing for Compline or about their allotted tasks, and no one else seemed inclined to interfere. I swung my legs over the bench and rose slowly to my feet, pulling myself up to my full height as I did so. Reaching out, I forced Silas Bywater's hand from my companion's shoulder, gripped both his wrists and spun him round to face me.
    'Leave my friend alone," I told him quietly, 'or you'll have to deal with me as well.'
    He swore furiously and tried to free himself, but in my youth I had enormous strength in my hands. No matter how much he writhed and squirmed, I was still able to hold him without much difficulty. In the end, he had to admit defeat and stared up at me, panting from his exertions. Philip had also risen and was standing beside me, a look of such contempt on his face that I was not surprised when my captive made one last effort to break away. In his shoes, the object of such scorn, I, too, would have wanted to lash out with my fists. I tightened my grip until I heard one of his bones crack. Silas shrieked with pain and I let him go, to sink down on a bench, nursing his injured wrist and pouring forth a flood of imprecations. The little monk pressed both hands over his ears in horror.
    I turned to Philip Underdown. 'Let's get out of this. We're attracting too much attention. We've an early start in the morning. It's time we were asleep.'
    He nodded, and I gathered my black-handled knife from the table and my bundle and cudgel from beneath the bench, where I had placed them at the start of the meal. In silence, but uncomfortably aware of everyone's eyes upon us, we made our way to the refectory door. As we reached it, Silas Bywater shouted: 'Don't think you've heard the last of this, Master Underdown! I know things about you that you wouldn't want made common knowledge, and don't forget that! I'll get you yet, you hell-hound!'
    It was already dark and the bells were ringing from the Abbey church for the last office of the day. I should have liked to share in the brothers' worship, but I dared not leave my companion's side, and instinct told me that Philip Underdown was not a religious man. Of course, he believed in Heaven and Hell like the rest of us, but I guessed that he would have to be in extremis before he seriously considered the state of his soul.
    'Do you know where the Infirmary is?' I inquired.
    He shook his head. 'No, but we can always ask.' One of the brothers, late for Compline, flapped towards us out of the gloom. In answer to our query, he pointed towards a building which stood a little apart from the others and confirmed that, at present, all the beds were empty, the aches and chills and agues of autumn not yet having begun to take their toll of the community. We thanked him, and I led the way across the courtyard. The door of the Infirmary creaked slightly as I opened it and edged inside.
    The interior was very dark, and the only thing I could make out immediately was the cruciform window at the farther end. But as my eyes grew accustomed to