B00B9BL6TI EBOK by C B Hanley Page A

cathedral, which are still chiming at Matins and Lauds each night, thank the Lord. Tomorrow night and the night after as the bells chime we’ll lower the rope and wait long enough to say three paternosters. After that we’ll haul it back up, so you’ll only have those four chances. Do you understand?’
    Edwin nodded, preparing to swing out over the parapet as the men took the strain on the rope. The knight gripped his shoulder and wished him good luck. He straddled the wall with one leg, swung the other over and leaned precariously outwards. He held his breath as he was lowered over the parapet. Suddenly the ground seemed much further away than it had done before, dizzyingly distant. If the rope were to break he would plummet down to shatter his body on the ground below … don’t think of that! He struggled to regain his composure as he swung slowly down. He was going to need his wits about him if he was to survive the night. Keep calm. Breathe slowly.
    After what seemed like hours his feet finally touched solid earth. He fumbled at the knots around him, forcing his trembling fingers to work them loose. Eventually he was free, and he looked up to the top of the wall in the darkness. He could just make out the shape of the knight’s head as he peered over the edge. A low voice floated down to him. ‘Remember, tomorrow night and the night after, as the bells strike. Godspeed …’
    And then he was alone.

     
    To start with, Edwin could do nothing but hover in the alley, pressing himself back against the comforting presence of the wall, but he knew that he would have to leave it. He strained his eyes out into the moonlit night to try and see across the blank space he would have to cross. Once past that he would be able to hide himself in the streets, or in the rubble of the destroyed houses. But first, he would have to cross the open space. Was there any other way around it? He thought not. There was nothing else for it. Better to get it over as quickly as possible. Taking a deep breath, he waited for another cloud to cross the moon and then pushed himself off from the wall and ran as fast as he could out into the open.
    Surely the space hadn’t been as wide as this when he’d seen it from above? He was exposed, expecting at any moment to hear shouts or the deadly hissing of an arrow being loosed. What did it feel like to be hit by one? An arrow or crossbow bolt would thump into his body, tearing into the flesh as it embedded itself deep inside him. He could virtually sense the searing pain … almost sobbing, he finally hit the ruined wall of a house, hard, and flung himself down in its shadow. His chest heaved as he sucked in huge breaths. He listened but he could hear nothing except for the beating of his own heart. He waited again. Still nothing.
    He stayed in the shadow of the house until his breathing returned to normal – or, at least, as normal as he thought it was going to get – and he could marshal the thoughts properly in his head. He had survived the first stage, but now he had to continue, to the cathedral, then north to the church of All Saints. You need to do this for your lord, for your mother and for your friends.
    Edwin stood up.

Chapter Four
     
    Edwin arrived at the house. This must be it. What if it wasn’t? What would he do? What if …? He raised his hand to knock, wavered, and then lowered it again. Then he lifted it once more. If he didn’t knock, where would he go? There was no way back, so he had better hope that the way forward was safe. He knocked, three times, three times, then twice.
    No sound came from inside. He knocked again, but dared not do it any louder lest he wake everyone else in the street. What if there was nobody there? That was a possibility he hadn’t considered. But as he knocked yet a third time, he heard sounds of stirring in the house. He saw a glimmer of light behind the shutters and sensed someone on the other side of the door. That someone paused for a