Belaset's Daughter - By Feona J Hamilton Page 0,14

land to the track she had left so precipitately during the chase. Settling more comfortably in the saddle, she patted the horse’s neck, soothing it, then set off again at a canter.

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Belaset’s Daughter

CHAPTER FOUR

Guy opened his eyes and turned his head. He groaned as the room spun round him and a wave of nausea washed over him. Lying still, with his eyes firmly closed, he waited.

Slowly, the world stopped spinning, and he remembered where he was. The ’priest’ had fooled him completely, he thought, annoyed with himself for falling so easily into the trap of taking a drugged drink.

He listened, but heard only the horse, pawing restlessly in the passage outside. Opening his eyes he sat up cautiously, and leant against the wall beside him, as the dizziness began again. It settled more quickly this time, and his stomach did not protest when he swung first one leg and then the other over the side of the bed. He waited, then stood slowly upright and took a few experimental steps towards the table. He felt weak, but not much else seemed wrong, and his strength seemed to be returning, slowly. Breathing deeply, he lowered himself onto a stool, rested his arms on the table, and put his chin in his hands.

The packet, he could feel, had gone. It might have been important or it might have

been a dummy, to make him think that he had received the expected documents. He had no idea what was in it, only that there was a packet to collect, and take to his father, and that his visit to the church should not be made known to anyone.

Yet somebody obviously had known or how

could the false priest have been there?

What had happened to the real incumbent?

The thought was enough to stir Guy into immediate action. He stood, swaying slightly, and stumbled down the passage that led into the church. A hasty search of the apse and the main part of the building showed him that no-one else was there. Back in the room, he looked around for any clues as to what might have happened before his arrival, but there were none.

The bread an mutton were still on the table, where they had been set by the ’priest’.

Guy seized the loaf and tore off a chunk, surprised at how stale it felt. It was half-way to his mouth when a sudden thought struck him. What if the food was full of poison?

Reluctantly, he threw it back on the table.

Flinging open the door, he went into the other passage, where his horse whickered softly at the sight of him. Guy gave him a rough caress, and squeezed past it, picking his way past the horse’s dung to open the door that would let them out of this place. He stepped out and looked each way; there was nobody in sight. Re-entering, he slid past the horse once more, then took it by the cheekstrap and urged it backwards, out of the door.

The horse clattered back, snorting, and rolling its eyes nervously. Guy soothed it, and stroked its nose, until they were both out. The horse’s breath steamed in the cold, and Guy shivered, as he swung himself into the saddle.

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Belaset’s Daughter

The lane was narrow and he had no choice but to go up it, away from the street from which he had entered. Emerging at the other end, he looked round to see where he was. It was hard to tell, other than that he was somewhere in the centre of the city. There were houses on either side of the street, some of them large and looking as though the people who lived in them were prosperous. Turning the horse to the right, he set off along a wider street, trusting to his instinct to bring him to a place he recognised. There were very few people about, and he wondered what time of day it was. He had reached Amiens very early, and had spent only a short time with the ’priest’ before the drug had taken effect. It should by now be the middle of the morning, he thought, yet the streets were far too quiet.

In his reverie, he had let the horse find its own way along the street. He looked up, and saw that he was coming into a large square perhaps a marketplace.

Yet there were no

stalls, no people bustling about, no cries from street hawkers. Puzzled, Guy brought the horse to a halt, and looked around again.