The Fragile Fall At Tallow Bridge (The White Blood Chronicles Book 1)

by Mark G Heath

  “ Mmmm, me too,” chimed Elvina.

  A pair of Campion’s disciples, mused Thaindire. He was hardly surprised.

  “ Did you see Isobel commit any witchcraft?” asked Thaindire.

  “ No, she obviously kept it hidden, but she could not escape Father Campion’s keen nose for sniffing out hags,” spat Kendra.

  “ Anyway,” smiled Elvina leaning forward and running her hand up and down Thaindire’s firm right thigh, “ we don’t want to talk about that witch, we would much rather you tell us more about your travels.”

  “ Oh yes,” added Kendra reaching out and placing a hand on Thaindire’s left arm. “ Lancester sounds such a vibrant and exciting place, tell us more about it,” she urged, squeezing his arm and licking her lips.

  “ Well, you should visit it sometime, don’t you have occasion to travel there?” asked Thaindire.

  “ Sadly no, our work is here in the village and we have no cause to go further a field,” explained Kendra.

  “ But you could just head there for a visit?” suggested Thaindire.

  “ A visit?” answered Elvina wrinkling her nose. “ Hmm, I suppose we could do that, you would have to tell us the places to visit Samael.”

  Kendra tipped the bottle and found it to be empty. She plonked it down on the table and twisted around looking for service.

  “ Hey Kathryn!” she shouted across the room, “ More wine here!”

  Kathryn gave a curt nod and made her way behind the bar as Elvina moved her stool so she could get closer to Thaindire, her hand still massaging his thigh, slowly making its way upwards. The three fell silent for a moment as Thaindire watched Kathryn heading towards them, carrying a third bottle of wine.

  “ Why don’t we take this bottle to our house?” Elvina suggested as she nuzzled into Thaindire. Stiffly, he edged away slightly finding her closeness uncomfortable in such a public a setting.

  “ He stays here,” said Kathryn firmly as she placed the bottle on the table.

  Her abrupt comment caused Elvina to sit up.

  “ Says who?” challenged Kendra, her lips curling.

  “ Says I. He needs rest, not the attention of you two strumpets,” announced Kathryn.

  “ Ha! She calls us strumpets yet often warms the beds of lonely travellers. You are the village whore,” snarled Kendra.

  “ Whore eh?” repeated Kathryn as she leant low, so her face was up against that of Kendra’s.

  “ Yes, the whore of the tavern who raises her skirt for any handsome traveller. Oh you aren’t the first Samael,” commented Kendra turning to Thaindire. He was about to interject and seek to calm all three of the women down when Kathryn’s hand whipped across Kendra’s cheek. The latter let out a sharp cry and raised her hand to her cheek as Kathryn took a step backwards. Kendra held her cheek for a moment, her dark brown eyes wide with shock, before she took away her fingers revealing them to be bloodied red. Three long scratch marks bled on her cheek, Kathryn having struck with surprising speed.

  “ Fucking bitch!” screamed Kendra and Thaindire was taken aback as he swore that her widened mouth, as it framed the insult, drew back to reveal her tongue which bore a fork. Thaindire blinked and suddenly Kendra had launched herself at Kathryn, knocking her back into the patrons sat behind her. There was a smash of glass as Elvina broke the empty bottle and rose to her feet. Thaindire reached out and grabbed her wrist.

  “ Not your fight,” he said firmly. He held her gaze and noticed with concern that her eyes had turned yellow. Elvina glanced away and shrugged and lowered the fractured bottle back to the table. Thaindire placed a hand on her shoulder and pushed her back into a seated position as he stepped around the table to try and address the catfight, which was raging in the centre of the bar. Kathryn and Kendra were locked together, pulling at one another until Kendra managed to fling Kathryn off her feet. She slid across the floor and banged into the bar. Kendra ran at her fists raised as suddenly a booted foot from Kathryn caught her in the mid-driff causing her to double up and stagger backwards. The landlord’s daughter unsteadily got to her feet, stretching to relieve the pain in her back, waiting for her opponent to rectify her stance also. Thaindire intervened and grabbed Kathryn’s arms pinning them to her sides.

  “ Enough!” he yelled. He manoeuvred her so that her back was to the bar and was relieved to notice that Dromgoole had eventually come to life and had his vast forearms around Kendra, lifting her off the floor from behind as she snarled and swore.

  “ Home time for you Kendra,” ordered Dromgoole as he carried her towards the door. She wriggled and fought within his grasp but he had her clasped tight.

  “ You too Elvina,” he shouted over his shoulder. Elvina walked forward in obedience as a farmer opened the tavern door. With a heave, Dromgoole shoved Kendra outside. She skidded on the icy cobbles and lost her footing, crashing to the floor. Elvina scurried to her side, reaching out to help her out.

  “ Go home, the pair of you,” declared Dromgoole. Kendra got to her feet and with a baleful stare at Kathryn, who Thaindire still had pinned in his own grasp; she turned away with Elvina taking her arm. Dromgoole turned back into the pub a large grin on his face.

  “ Women eh?” he laughed, finding the incident wholly amusing.

  Thaindire felt Kathryn’s resistance cease and he tentatively released his hold on her.

  “ Are you alright?” he asked.

  “ Of course I bloody am, that tart can’t hurt me,” she said her blood still up.

  “ Seemingly so,” answered Thaindire.

  “ The pair of sluts were all over you, I know their kind.”

  “ Do you now?” remarked Thaindire raising his eyebrows. She caught his look and snorted, pulling herself away and adjusting her torn dress. She took a moment to reflect as the general hubbub of the pub returned after the brief fight.

  “ Thank you, anyway.” She gave a short smile.

  “ No matter, they were only being friendly. Really.”

  Kathryn raised a hand to Thaindire’s cheek, cupping it.

  “ Oh my sweet Samael, how naïve you are,” she commented. She looked down and then back up into Thaindire’s eyes, the fire of fight now replaced with the smouldering gaze of desire.

  “ Will you come to me tonight?” she asked.

  Oddly, Thaindire found himself considering the proposal rather than rejecting it outright and such hesitancy perturbed him.

  “ No, as you said yourself, I must rest,” he replied gathering his resolve despite the entreaty in the eyes of Kathryn.

  “ Very well. I can wait,” she replied. “ Can I attend to you in anyway?”

  “ No, thank you, the day has been a full and varied one. I can feel slumber creeping up to take me, so I shall bid you a restful night and retire.”

  “ Good night Samael,” she answered and placed a lingering kiss on his cheek, her potent scent all of a sudden rising up and surround him. He savoured the softness of her lips upon his stubbled cheek and closed his eyes, momentarily overtaken by the rising desire until he found himself again and snapped open his eyes. He coughed, smiled and made his way to the staircase and to his bed. He hoped that his rest would be much improved, as he needed his strength in anticipation of leaving Aftlain and returning to his Order, brimming with news.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The click of the door closing awoke Thaindire. He blinked and rubbed at his eyes, yawning as he stretched in the bed. His foot slipped from beneath the blanket and he immediately recoiled from the chill of the room, bringing his foot back into the warmth of the blanket around him. Breakfast lay on the usual tray and he reasoned it must have been Kathryn who had been in the room. With a groan he hauled himself into a sitting position, trying to distribute his weight so that the pulsing throb in his back lessened. Despite his tiredness, the lump on his back had given him repeated aggravation, pulsating and aching even when he lay on his side until sheer exhaustion dragged him into sleep in the small hours of the night. He swung his le
gs around giving a gasp as his feet became exposed to the cold that permeated his room. Kathryn had stirred the fire but it had yet to warm the room so he quickly stood up and dressed. As he did so, Thaindire looked out of the window over the square. A thick frost remained on the cobbles and the sky was an unbroken grey, as if it threatened snow. He felt a little warmer now dressed and made for his breakfast when the door swung open and Kathryn entered carrying a bag.

  “ Good morning Samael,” she greeted.

  “ Good morning,” he replied.

  “ Ah you are dressed, I had come to check on your back,” she explained.

  “ By all means lift my tunic and take a look, damn thing gave me a terrible night.”

  He lay face down on the bed as she carefully lifted his tunic and he felt her cool hands patting the affected area. Oddly her touch did not bring any spasm of pain, the discomfort originating from within rather than from contact.

  “ It is very swollen, you really ought to remain in bed,” she counselled.

  “ No, I’m not doing that, it will relieve me of my senses remaining in this room all day with nothing but the incessant throb of my back for company.”

  “ As you see fit Samael, I can apply something to try and numb it. I wonder if it might need lancing, to draw out any infection,” she considered.

  “ Try and numb it before you start poking my back with sharp things,” he said.

  “ Calm down I won’t lance it yet.” He heard her rummaging in her bag and then the sound of a lid being prised off something. After a moment a cool sensation began to spread across his lower back as Kathryn smeared an ointment across the lump.

  “ That is helping,” admitted Thaindire as he lay and savoured the soothing sweep of Kathryn’s hands, gliding across his back and administering the cream.

  “ All done,” announced Kathryn wiping her hands together and standing up.

  “ Thank you,” murmured Thaindire as he squirmed to the edge of the bed and sat up.

  “ What are you going to do today?” asked Kathryn as she walked over to the window.

  “ I have not decided yet. I take it you aren’t going to hunt Kendra and Elvina down,” remarked Thaindire with a smile.

  Kathryn snorted.

  “ They will do well to stay out for my way for a few days yet. Mind say Kendra will be sporting that wound for all to see,” Kathryn responded chirpily. She continued to look out of the window.

  “ Well, I had best head back downstairs, father has a list of chores for me to attend to. I shall see you later in the day,” she declared and blew him a kiss, exiting with a skip. Thaindire watched her exit and then turned his gaze back to his sword which was hung in it its scabbard over the rack and there he saw the glow of the sapphire in the pommel and felt disappointment although not surprise rise within him at the blue light that emanated from the blessed gem.

  Thaindire spent his morning waiting in his room in case Priestcote arrived with the liquid and provided him with the means by which he could depart the village. He updated his maps and notes following his breakfast and periodically looked out of the window in the hope of seeing the seamstress heading across to the alchemist’s abode, but his frequent lookout met with no such success. Instead he watched as the village went about its usual business, the villagers working at the stores across from him, occasionally a customer attending on them to make some purchase. The frost remained coating the village, the tendrils of winter making themselves known with no sun to melt away the ice. His mind drifted to the homunculus that had jumped down the well the previous evening and he wondered whether it had come back yet and more to the point, where had it been? Thaindire felt his impatience increasing, causing him to pad up and down his room. He could stay no longer in this village with its ungodly ways and too many secrets. He craved the familiarity of the Order and being able to report on the wickedness that enshrouded Aftlain that would soon be arrested and then its hidden unnatural practices would be exposed and addressed.

  The church bells rang out twelve and there was no appearance by Priestcote. He would have to trust to her word that she could secrete the aqua fortis in his room, as he needed to escape his room. Buckling on his scabbard and placing his cloak around him, he headed downstairs passing Lancaster who stood in his doorway smoking a pipe and nodding in greeting to Thaindire as he passed him. He entered the bar area and found a couple of early drinkers at the bar conversing quietly with Dromgoole who bid Thaindire a cheery hello, before he stepped outside.

  The air was still, cold and heavy with the promise of something as he paused outside the tavern. He glanced left towards the cousins’ home but there was nobody emerging into the square. Thaindire was pleased to note that the throbbing of his back had largely been alleviated by the concoction, which Kathryn had placed upon him and whilst untrusting of its provenance he had to confess that he was glad of the relief that it brought. Thaindire looked across the square considering where he might venture and promptly decided that the mill would be worthy of further exploration. Whilst he had been there twice, he had not been able to search the mill or its immediate environs and he sensed that the residence of the Maunsells had more to declare and besides it would pass some time whilst he awaited the assistance of Mistress Priestcote.

  Thaindire paced along the northern edge of the square following it as it bent around until the Captain’s house loomed ahead, prominent on the corner. He could see Reznik ahead, stood outside, and smoking.

  “ Afternoon Master Thaindire,” Reznik greeted, removing his pipe.

  “ Afternoon Captain Reznik.”

  “ I hear your harem got a little excited last night,” commented Reznik with a wide grin. He ran his tongue over his teeth giving a salacious smile.

  “ Good job you stepped in, those girls can fight eh? I wish I had been there actually.”

  “ Something and nothing,” replied Thaindire dismissively. Reznik stuck out his bottom lip and then replaced the pipe in his mouth, toking on it, causing blue-grey wisps of smoke to rise into the air. Savouring the taste of the smoke, Reznik once again withdrew the pipe from his mouth.

  “ A cold day. One better spent besides the fireplace with a warming brandy in hand, don’t you agree?”

  “ It has its attractions but I am in need of the day’s air.”

  “ Ah, well if Master Thaindire desires the fine, fine air of Centopani then I have a suggestion he may like.”

  “ What might that amount to?” asked Thaindire.

  “ Well with the onset of winter the wolves, as I explained last night, will be making their presence known and won’t be too far away. In fact, did you not hear them howling last night?”

  Thaindire shook his head.

  “ No matter, I am going hunting and perhaps you would take the opportunity to join me, someone with your swordsmanship will be particularly useful,” offered Reznik.

  “ Hunting? Where?” asked Thaindire.

  “ In the forest, to the south of here,” explained Reznik pointing over the rooftops in the direction of the tower, which Thaindire had yet to discover its purpose.

  Thaindire carefully regarded the soldier.

  “ We go hunting with swords?” he asked.

  “ Yes and crossbows too, got to slow the bastards down first, even I am not that quick,” laughed the captain.

  “ I have no crossbow.”

  “ You can borrow one of mine. I take it you know how to shoot? Of course you do.” Reznik patted him firmly on the shoulder. “ Wait here and I will fetch the kit.”

  Minutes later Thaindire and Reznik were striding down the alleyway behind the farrier’s towards the impenetrable barrier of the forest. Reznik had supplied Thaindire with a crossbow, which Reznik explained was made from dark birch wood, ensuring it was strong yet remarkably light. Thaindire walked with the crossbow slung across his back and a quiver of bolts belted to his left side.

  “ You should know that me joining you in hunting is not me joining you as per your proposal last
night,” called Thaindire after Reznik’s retreating back as he marched at a fair pace.

  “ As you wish,” called the captain back to him. “ The offer will remain open and is capable of acceptance at any time,” he added as they came to the wall of trees.

  “ Where now?” asked Thaindire.

  “ This way,” declared Reznik and he strode into the trees, which seemed, just as they had with Thorne and Priestcote, to shrink away as Reznik walked between them.

  “ Keep up!” urged Reznik as Thaindire half-ran behind him, feeling the bushes alongside his legs scrape at him, the branches occasionally hitching his cloak requiring him to yank it free. Thaindire reckoned that they pushed through the forest in this manner for some five minutes, possibly longer until Reznik halted. Thaindire could see that the forest was slightly more spacious now, the trees set further apart and the forest floor less cluttered with the vines and bushes, which impeded any progress from the village. The frost clung to the bark of the trees and coated the grassed floor of the forest, a vast silvery-white sheen. It was as if they had forced their way through some strange barrier, which wrapped around the village and now had emerged into the natural forest, one where the branches did not shrink and envelope. There was no sound, no birdsong, and no breeze through the trees, just a thick, blanketing silence.

  “ Come on, this way,” said Reznik and he set off, winding his way between the trees, his breath clouding in the cold air, as Thaindire followed him.

  The pair meandered through the trees carefully looking all about them lest they be surprised by any roaming wolves but at a rate which enabled them to make considerable progress through the depths of Centopani Forest. Neither man spoke, preferring to concur with the hush of the forest, the only sound being that of the occasional broken twig or the scrunch of the frosted grass beneath their booted feet.

  “ Right, this will do us,” commented Reznik halting by a large fallen tree trunk adorned with moss. The trunk was huge, easily ten or so feet at its widest, the mangled roots still cloyed with soil following the toppling of the tree.