Read Online Behold a Pale Horse by Peter Tremayne - Free Book Online Page B

the young, enthusiastic face of Sister Gisa and wondered how the girl could be involved in a conspiracy to murder.
    ‘Are you well enough to undertake this journey, Brother Faro?’ she asked. It passed through her mind to use the young religieux as an excuse to delay so that she might find out more about whatever was happening. But the young man nodded vigorously.
    ‘The wound is healing well. I hardly feel it. And the sooner we get to Bobium, the better.’
    ‘I have already given orders for your horses to be ready. Alas, other matters need my attention,’ Radoald said, ‘otherwise I would gladly offer you my company on the journey.’
    Magister Ado seemed content. ‘We shall be safe from here on. Bobium is not far now, Fidelma. We should be able to reach it before midday.’
    Fidelma followed the others out into the courtyard and carefully scrutinised those who were to be their companions for the rest of the journey. There were two men with pack mules, and the two warriors. To her relief, none of them appeared to have any features in common with the erstwhile attackers. The two with the pack mules were small, rotund men, looking as she imagined typical farmers might look. The two warriors were of average height. She noticed, with interest, that Lord Radoald had provided Sister Gisa with a horse, but she insisted on leading their mule. There was no sign of Suidur when they bade their farewell to the young Lord of Trebbia.
    The small caravan set off without fuss. One warrior rode at the head. Magister Ado and Fidelma came next, then Brother Faro and Sister Gisa with their mule. Behind them were the two merchants and their mules. The second warrior brought up the rear.
    For a while, Fidelma rode in silence, her eyes watchful on the surrounding countryside.
    ‘You seem pensive, Sister,’ Magister Ado finally commented after they had ridden in silence for a while.
    ‘Having been ambushed once, I felt that we should be constantly alert,’ she replied apologetically.
    Magister Ado grimaced. ‘So you think those bandits will try again to waylay us?’
    ‘Why not?’ she asked innocently. She did not explain what she had witnessed in the night.
    The elderly religieux shook his head. ‘I do not think we shall be in any danger in Lord Radoald’s territory so near to Bobium.’
    ‘I bow to your knowledge, Magister Ado,’ she replied. ‘But there is a good saying, however: semper paratus .’
    Magister Ado was amused. ‘Always prepared? It seems a good maxim, lady. But by midday, or soon after, you will see the great walls of the Abbey of Bobium and your fears will then be proved unfounded.’
    Fidelma inclined her head as though in acquiescence. ‘It is hard to accept that there are those prepared to maim or kill because they disagree with the form of Christian creed another has.’
    Fidelma had not meant it to sound so belligerent but Magister Ado only chuckled in good humour.
    ‘You believe that there is something more to it? Some dark secret that I am not telling you? Wait until you have spoken with Brother Ruadán, and you will see that the disagreement runs deep among our people here. Much blood has been scattered in this argument. From what our young friends tell me,’ he glanced briefly behind to where Sister Gisa and Brother Faro were following, ‘Brother Ruadán has suffered more than I have – suffered for his adherence to the Nicene Creed.’
    She did not press the elderly religieux further but rode on in silence. Her anxious eyes wandered constantly over the thickly growing trees that rose up into the mountains on their right. To their left, the turbulent waters of the Trebbia provided a barrier which would have made attack from that quarter difficult. Now and then she glanced back to the plodding farmers behind them.
    Then she saw a movement on the hill to their right. It was a man standing on a jutting rock but almost shrouded by the surrounding trees.
    ‘A man is watching us,’ she whispered