Belaset's Daughter - By Feona J Hamilton Page 0,30

a curtain and gazed out of the window. The fog was thinning, torn apart as the wind rose, and she could see that they were running along the inlet and out to sea. The shore receded from them as the bay widened, before it became the sea itself. As the shore slipped astern, Bonami called a short order, the ship turned and they were BOSON BOOKS

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Belaset’s Daughter

running up the coast. Within minutes, she could see the figure of a man standing by a horse, holding its bridle and staring in their direction. The man waved and she knew that it was Isaac, waiting as promised. He was standing on a long, wooden jetty. Behind him, Judith could see large boulders, and then a stretch of turf and scrub. A cluster of half-ruined huts stood to one side, no sign of life in them any longer. The back of the wagon she had travelled in with the Hanuchins poked out from behind one of the ruins. He must have picked a precarious way to the jetty, leading the horse. She could imagine how carefully he had found his way, soothing the nervous beast and encouraging it to come along behind him.

The ship seemed to be heading straight at the shore. The seabed must slope steeply at this point, she thought. As they crept ever nearer, Bonami’s shouted instructions led to them turning slowly, until they were broadside on to the jetty and very close to it. There was a gentle bump and Judith saw Isaac place his hand on the horse’s nose, stroking it gently. It pricked its ears forward, but nothing more. Men jumped from the ship, with the mooring ropes in their hands and a gangplank was run out of a place on the side of the ship, so that it was level with the deck. Two more men, both burly, appeared in her line of sight, as they trotted across it. Isaac handed over the bridle to one of them, who tugged at it, urging the horse forward.

As it stepped on to the gangplank, the other man, standing behind it, clapped his hands and shouted. Startled, the horse jumped forward, the front man tugged with a will, and the whole party clattered over the gangplank and on to the deck, in a great rush of hooves, men shouting and clapping, and the terrified whinnying of the horse. Judith could hear it dancing nervously on the deck. She dared not go out and speak to it her voice would give her away instantly. She sat, every nerve tense, willing the horse to calm down and get over its fear.

She could hear a man’s voice making soothing, clucking noises. The horse quieted as the man began talking softly. Then she heard the sound of its hooves as it was led away along the deck, and she relaxed. There was another flurry of orders, the thud of feet and slide of the gangplank, as it was brought in again, and the ship turned away and headed out across the sea. Now that the wind was freshening, the waves were making little slapping sounds against the wooden hull. The noise and slight, rhythmic rocking motion of the ship were comforting rather than disturbing. Judith lay back against the cushions and closed her eyes.

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Belaset’s Daughter

CHAPTER SEVEN

William Foville sat at his desk and stared across it at his visitor. The man, gaudily and expensively dressed in parti-coloured hose and green jerkin with gold thread embroidery, stared disdainfully back. His long, tapering fingers tapped impatiently on the arm of the chair in which he sat. A large ring, set with a dull black stone, gleamed fitfully with the movement. The man’s heavy fur-lined cloak lay across one end of the Prior’s desk, where he had flung it.

"I asked where is your messenger?" he said. "As I have asked these two days past."

"And I, sir," said Foville, angrily. "I ask again who you are and who sent you?"

The man’s eyes flashed and he coloured faintly at the tone of Foville’s voice.

"I will not be quizzed by a monk in this manner!" he said. "I am instructed to collect the packet which your man will bring and carry it on to its destination."

"Which is...?"

The man remained silent, holding the Prior’s gaze. It was Foville who glanced away first, shocked by the ferocity in the other man’s eyes. Who was this stranger, who had somehow entered the Priory undetected three times, made his way to the Prior’s