The Prophecy of Death: (Knights Templar 25) by Michael Jecks Page A

safety. It was a little thing, nothing, in the scheme of
     things. And it wouldn’t hurt the man. Not now.
    No. No sound. Not of wind, nor of people. No rattle of chains, creak of harness or regular step of man or horse. Nothing.
     Just the occasional song of a bird of some sort.
    He dropped to the ground and stood a moment, holding the reins. Still nothing.
    In a hurry now, he went to the bundled clothing and untied the thong holding it to the saddle; his fingers revolted at the
     touch, but there was no time to delay. He was off into the bushes, his nose leading him to the spot.
    Argh! The smell was foul! After only a few days there was no disguising the odour. The weather had been too hot, and it was
     disgusting; he felt a trickle of ice shudder downhis back at the smell. Enough to make a man puke, this was. He had to block his nose and breathe through his mouth, like he
     would when cleaning a gutted pig. The smell was so bad, he could hardly brace himself to continue, especially when he saw
     those already-empty eye sockets, but he had to do it.
    It was a relief to be back on his horse. He set off at a steady trot as soon as he could, but then he had to stop.
    To throw up.
    Wednesday following Easter
7
    Christ Church Priory
    Prior Henry Eastry left the refectory and walked the short distance to the cloisters, which he began to stride up and down,
     considering.
    The King’s Coroner had arrived already, and was studying the body. Not that there was overmuch to learn from it. A corpse
     with the head almost removed. That was all that there was. Poor Gilbert. Mark and Hal had been instructed to look to see if
     there was anything which might explain why Brother Gilbert had been out there, but they had found nothing. And although the
     prior had questioned all his brethren himself, none admitted to knowledge of the crime.
    ‘Prior? May I speak with you?’
    ‘Of course, Coroner. I would welcome your views.’
    Coroner Robert of Westerham was a shortish knight with the look of a man who would prefer to be in the saddle than idling
     indoors. He rested his hand on his sword hilt, and tapped at it whenever he was thinking. There were manycoroners whom Prior Henry had known who had been less than honourable in the way in which they conducted their business, but
     this one at least seemed to try to be fair. At least, he was in his dealings with the priory.
    ‘Your man was killed by a sword, I reckon. When I looked at him, the blade had sunk into the bones of his neck, so that means
     a heavy bladed weapon struck him. Not just a knife drawn over his throat.’
    ‘I see.’ The prior was able to take some solace from that. ‘That means it is less likely to be a brother from the convent,
     then. I am relieved.’
    The coroner nodded. ‘Whoever it was was experienced in the use of swords, if I’m a judge. I suppose many of the brothers will
     have learned swordplay, but how many would have practised recently? There’s another thing: whoever did this would have been
     covered in gore. The blood splashes went all over the hay, and the man who killed him must also have been smothered. But none
     of your monks’ habits seem to have been stained. I have checked.’
    ‘Good. But it still leaves the question of who could have done it.’
    ‘Clearly someone from without the priory. Is there anything stolen from the church?’
    ‘It was the first thing I considered. I had a full account of all the silver and plate made as soon as I was informed of Gilbert’s
     death, just in case it was a robbery.’
    ‘Nothing gone?’
    ‘No. All our church ornamentation is still there.’
    The coroner mulled this over a little while, frowning at the ground while he kicked at pebbles. ‘In that case … is there
     anything else here of value?’
    The prior smiled. ‘We have much of value. St Thomas’sbones, our books … but nothing that a common thief would consider.’
    There was no answering grin on the coroner’s face. ‘This was