Read Online The Spook's Apprentice by Joseph Delaney - Free Book Online Page B

doubt, also folk from hamlets nearby.
    I found the butcher’s shop without any trouble and joined a queue of boisterous women, all calling out to the butcher, a cheerful, big, red-faced man with a ginger beard. He seemed to know every single one of them by name and they kept laughing loudly at his jokes, which came thick and fast. I didn’t understand most of them but the women certainly did and they really seemed to be enjoying themselves.
    Nobody paid me much attention, but at last I reached the counter and it was my turn to be served.
    ‘I’ve called for Mr Gregory’s order,’ I told the butcher.
    As soon as I’d spoken, the shop became quiet and the laughter stopped. The butcher reached behind the counter and pulled out a large sack. I could hear people whispering behind me, but even straining my ears, I couldn’t quite catch what they were saying. When I glanced behind, they were looking everywhere but at me. Some were even staring down at the floor.
    I gave the butcher the silver coin, checked my change carefully, thanked him and carried the sack out of the shop, swinging it up onto my shoulder when I reached the street. The visit to the greengrocer’s took no time at all. The provisions there were already wrapped so I put the parcel in the sack, which was now starting to feel a bit heavy.
    Until then everything had gone well, but as I went into the baker’s, I saw the gang of lads.
    There were seven or eight of them sitting on a garden wall. Nothing odd about that, except for the fact that they weren’t speaking to each other - they were all busy staring at me with hungry faces, like a pack of wolves, watching every step I took as I approached the baker’s.
    When I came out of the shop they were still there and now, as I began to climb the hill, they started to follow me. Well, although it was too much of a coincidence to think that they’d just decided to go up the same hill, I wasn’t that worried. Six brothers had given me plenty of practice at fighting.
    I heard the sound of their boots getting closer and closer. They were catching up with me pretty quickly but maybe that was because I was walking slower and slower. You see, I didn’t want them to think I was scared, and in any case, the sack was heavy and the hill I was climbing was very steep.
    They caught up with me about a dozen paces before the stile, just at the point where the lane divided a small wood, the trees crowding in on either side to shut out the morning sun.
    ‘Open the sack and let’s see what we’ve got,’ said a voice behind me.
    It was a loud, deep voice accustomed to telling people what to do. There was a hard edge of danger that told me its owner liked to cause pain and was always looking out for his next victim.
    I turned to face him but gripped the sack even tighter, keeping it firmly on my shoulder. The one who’d spoken was the leader of the gang. There was no doubt about that. The rest of them had thin, pinched faces, as if they were in need of a good meal, but he looked as if he’d been eating for all of them. He was at least a head taller than me, with broad shoulders and a neck like a bull’s. His face was broad too, with red cheeks, but his eyes were very small and he didn’t seem to blink at all.
    I suppose if he hadn’t been there and hadn’t tried to bully me, I might have relented. After all, some of the boys looked half starved and there were a lot of apples and cakes in the sack. On the other hand, they weren’t mine to give away.
    ‘This doesn’t belong to me,’ I said. ‘It belongs to Mr Gregory.’
    ‘His last apprentice didn’t let that bother him,’ said the leader, moving his big face closer to mine. ‘He used to open the sack for us. If you’ve any sense you’ll do the same. If you won’t do it the easy way then it’ll have to be the hard way. But you won’t like that very much and it’ll all come down to the same thing in the end.’
    The gang began to move in closer and I could