Free A Plague on Both Your Houses by Susanna Gregory

the floor prising up the floorboards. What I thought was Augustus lay on the floor. As I entered, whoever it was that I thought was you leapt to his feet and came at me before I had the chance to react.
    He had a knife, and we grappled together. Then he
    pushed me down the stairs, and I heard footsteps. He
    did not come down the stairs because I fell against the door and he could not have opened it without moving
    me. I went back up the stairs, but could find no trace of him, either in Augustus’s room or the dormitory.
    Then you came round and I realised that Augustus was
    missing.’
    Aelfrith frowned. ‘These commoners sleep very
    soundly,’ he said. “I am knocked on the head, and
    probably fell with quite a clatter. You have a fight
    on the landing virtually outside their room, and
    none of them wake. Now, we stand here speaking to
    each other, and not a soul stirs. Curious, would you
    not say?’
    He strode into the centre of the commoners’ dormitory, and clapped his hands loudly. Jocelyn’s snores
    stopped for a second, but then resumed. Aelfrith picked up a pewter plate from a table, tipping off some wizened apples, and banged it as hard as he could against the wall, making an unholy row. Jocelyn groaned, and turned onto his side. D’Evene and Jerome began to stir, but did not wake.
    The cold feeling of unease that had earlier been
    in Bartholomew’s stomach returned. He knelt down by
    Alyngton and felt his neck. His life beat was rapid and erratic. He pulled back his eyelids, noting how the pupils responded slowly to the light. He moved to one of the
    old men, and went through the same process.
    He looked up at Aelfrith. ‘They have been drugged,’
    he said. ‘Of course! How else could an intruder hope to ransack a room and steal a body?’
    Aelfrith stared back. ‘My God, man,’ he whispered.
    ‘What evil is afoot in this College? What is going on to warrant such violence?’
    Augustus’s words of the previous day came back
    to Bartholomew: ‘“Evil is afoot, and will corrupt us all, especially those who are unaware.”’
    ‘What?’ asked Aelfrith, and Bartholomew realised
    he had spoken aloud. He was about to explain, when
    something stopped him. He was confused. The events
    of the past few hours seemed totally inexplicable to him, and the brightness of the day seemed suddenly dulled,
    as suspicion and distrust settled upon his thoughts.
    ‘Just quoting,’ he mumbled dismissively, rising to
    check on the others.
    ‘Here!’ exclaimed Aelfrith. Bartholomew spun
    round. ‘This must be it!’ He held a large pewter jug
    in his hands, similar to the ones used to serve the wine at meals in the hall. Bartholomew took it gingerly. At the bottom were the dregs of the wine, and a few cloves.
    Evidently, Master Wilson’s good wine had been replaced with inferior stuff that needed spicing when the feast had reached a certain point. But there was something else too.
    Swirling in the dregs and drying on the side of the jug were traces of a grey-white powder. Bartholomew smelled it
    carefully and detected a strong hint of laudanum. The
    commoners must have been drunk indeed not to have
    noticed it, and, at this strength, mixed with the effects of a night’s drinking, would ensure that the commoners slept at least until midday.
    He handed the jug back to Aelfrith. ‘A sleeping
    draught,’ he said, ‘and a strong one too. I only hope
    it was not too strong for the old folks.’ He continued his rounds, lying the torpid commoners on their sides
    so they would not choke, and testing for the strength of their pulses. He was concerned for one, a tiny man with a curved spine who was known simply as ‘Montfitchet’ after the castle in which he had been born. Montfitchet’s pulse was far too rapid, and he felt clammy to the touch.
     
    “I wonder whether it was consumed here, or in the
    hall,’ said Aelfrith thoughtfully. ‘We will find out when they awake. When will that be, do you think?’
    ‘You