Free The Crowfield Curse by Pat Walsh Page B

where all this was leading. “We lived in Iwele. My father was the miller.” He paused. Master Bone seemed to be waiting for more. “The mill burned down over a year ago.”
    â€œIs Iwele near the abbey?”
    William shrugged. “A day and a half’s walk away.”
    â€œDo you ever leave the abbey? Perhaps to go into the woods hereabouts?”
    What a strange question , William thought. “I often go to the Wednesday market in Weforde with Brother Gabriel, and I collect firewood and take the abbey pigs to forage in Foxwist Wood.”
    William glanced at Shadlok, who was standing behind his master’s chair. He was watching William with a disturbing intensity. The firelight lit his face and William saw him clearly for the first time. The scars on his cheeks and neck were old, just thin white lines against his pale skin. They looked like slashes from a blade. The man’s eyes, deep-set above sharply jutting cheekbones, were ice blue. There was something about them that made William shiver. An unsettling thought slid into his mind: They were the eyes of a wild animal, not a man.
    William looked away, but he could still feel Shadlok’s cold, unblinking stare. It was as if he could see inside William’s head and was picking through his thoughts and memories.
    William edged away from the fireside. “I have to see to the horses,” he said, glancing at the yard door, anxious to be away from the guest chamber and its strange occupants.
    â€œVery well. We will talk again.” Jacobus Bone lifted a hand in dismissal. The cuff of his long sleeve slipped back just far enough to reveal part of his hand. Or what was left of it. William stared at the stumps of two fingers and a thumb and caught his breath in shock.
    Jacobus Bone was a leper. That was why he wore the mask, to hide what the disease had done to his face.
    William met Master Bone’s steady gaze and felt the blood burn up into his cheeks. His first impulse was to turn and run from the room. Hot waves of horror washed over him as he remembered how he had handled Master Bone’s possessions, his bedding and the golden lute. He had touched everything that leprous body had touched. He shuddered and took a step back from the man in the chair.
    The thought of the lute was like a thump in the middle of William’s chest. He would never hear it being played now.
    William turned and walked quickly to the door. He glanced back once before he left the room. Master Bone and Shadlok were still watching him, silent and unmoving. It was a relief to close the door behind him and set off across the yard, to lead the horses to the stables.
    Why had Prior Ardo allowed a leper to live alongside his monks? It seemed very out of character for the usually cautious prior. Then he remembered the snatch of conversation he’d overheard between the prior and Brother Gabriel. The prior had mentioned being paid for something. Was it to let Master Bone stay at the abbey?
    William lit the lantern just inside the stable door. He led the horses into stalls and took off their bridles and saddles. He dried their damp flanks with straw, rubbing their chilled bodies to warm them. The abbey’s solitary horse, Matilda, whinnied softly to the new arrivals. William fed his two charges and gave the elderly gray mare an extra couple of handfuls of oats.
    When the horses were settled for the night, William stood in the stable doorway and stared uneasily out into the darkness. He had the oddest feeling that there were things moving through the fog, slipping silently and unseen across the yard toward the abbey. He thought he could feel the passing of fleet-footed bodies, disturbing the damp air so that it swirled through the light from the lantern and brushed William’s face like deathly cold fingers.
    Alarmed, he quickly stepped back into the stable and closed the door. Nothing would persuade him to leave the stable until he was sure that they