Read Online The Stumpwork Robe (The Chronicles of Eirie 1) by Prue Batten - Free Book Online

Liam and swung away down the stairwell. Liam followed her. He would see without being recalled, waft in and out of a crowd, listening and asking questions and no one would remember him after they had answered. A fug of smoke and steam smelling of wet wool, tobacco and horse wrapped round him as he entered the room. People gabbled and shouted and asked questions, and a roar soared as a bear of a man yelled above the rest. ‘QUIET, THE LOT O’ YER!’ Bruin the pub-keeper stood his ursine bulk on a table. The crowd hushed on seeing his ruddy face with its long side-whiskers. His eyes sparked with impatience. ‘Let the poor men have a sup and then Jimbo, can yer tell us what yer know?’
    Jimbo flushed as heads turned but he took a long swig of his ale, wiped his head vigorou sly with Tara’s proffered cloth and stood on the table next to Bruin. ‘Jonty Bellingham’s gone!’
    Those of the muttering crowd who had been out in the night nodded in agreement and then buried their faces in their tankards and left the young ostler to tell the story.
    ‘Go on,’ Bruin nudged him.
    ‘He didn’t come home and by dark the boss were worried. So he got a group of us estate workers together and we followed the track from the farm, we took the dogs an’ all.’ He stopped, took another slug of his drink an d wiped his mouth with the cloth. ‘The boss were dead set the young fella would have come home ‘cos they had to organise the big announcement fer today. Anyhoo, we searched the paddocks and the hedgerows and finally got to Buck’s Passing and there were a mess of horse prints as though someone had been through and the boss made us get down and search on foot and it were me...’ He stopped again and paled and put the cloth to his eyes with a shaking hand.
    Bruin put his arm along the lad’s shoulders. ‘Come on, its orright.’
    Jimbo nodded. ‘Well you see, I found him. Well, it weren’t him, it were...’ he swallowed. ‘Bits of him.’
    A sharp intake of breath from the crowd sucked the atmosphere of the tavern dry. Liam leaned against the wall, arms folded and tapping his biceps with bored fingers.
    ‘You see, it were the Cabyll Ushtey. Everyone knows Buck’s Passing is his lair. We all take it at a gallop. Anyhoo, I didn’t just find bits of him...’
    ‘What bits?’ Someone earned a savage glare from Bruin as Jimbo’s shoulders shook with a stifled sob at the question but he bravely answered.
    ‘His innards. You know how they always say the Cabyll Ushtey don’t eat innards.’ The audience nodded sagely as if they all had intimate knowledge of the water monster and its habits. ‘Anyhoo, I found bits of his clothes and you could see blood washed up along the shore and not a sign of his horse.’
    There was a ghastly silence filled only with the crackle of the fire and Tara swishing past Liam, muttering under her breath.
     
    ‘What did you say?’ He whispered just loud enough to gain her attention and she coloured as if caught in a misdemeanor. She glanced around, surveying the otherwise engaged crowd and then leaned closer to him.
    ‘I said no loss, sir!’ Her angry eyes turned on the crowd and Liam raised a prompting eyebrow. ‘He raped me,' she continued, her arms wrapped round her body. 'I hate him What if I’m pregnant? The Bellinghams’d kill me to kill the babe, cos I’m just a serving wench! Good luck to the Cabyll Ushtey I say!’ Her agitated whisper hit the walls and bounced back. Liam reached out a hand and ran it down her arm and she calmed. ‘But you know,' she continued more equably, 'it’s a blessing and a sadness in a way. The announcement Jimbo mentioned? Well, Bellingham was to be betrothed to Ana Lamb. Aine sir, I tell you - she’s as gentle as her name and she would definitely have died under his family's care. It's a madhouse. But now she’s gone and run away, all for nothing.’
    Liam’s interest concentrated itself fully on the girl and Tara melted like butter in the