He nodded an acknowledgement. ‘Did you sleep all right?’
‘Yes.’ No need to mention the dreams, good or bad.
He was moving around the room, checking on the small iron cauldron suspended over the fire, fetching wooden bowls and spoons, twitching items on the shelves into line. I realized suddenly that he was nervous. ‘That smells good,’ I said, too brightly, indicating whatever bubbled over the hearth.
‘Porridge,’ he said. ‘Almost ready.’
We ate in silence. The porridge tasted as good as it smelt. He had stirred in some honey, which was a treat. All too soon we had finished, and he leapt up to wash the bowls. Then they were back in their usual place, the remains of the meal had been cleared away, and there was no longer any alternative but to talk to each other.
We both took the plunge together.
‘I must go back and see what’s happened to Gurdyman,’ I began, just as Jack said, ‘I really don’t think you should go back to Gurdyman’s house.’
We stopped. ‘I have to see if he’s all right,’ I said firmly.
‘Yes, of course,’ he agreed. ‘I only meant you shouldn’t go there alone.’
‘Why not?’ I could feel my indignation rising. Was I going to allow Jack Chevestrier to tell me what to do?
He leaned forward, his eyes fixed on mine and full of anxiety. ‘Lassair, we cannot ignore what’s happening,’ he said urgently. ‘Victims are being picked off, to no logical pattern that we have yet determined, and the killer’s hunger seems to be growing.’ His words sent a chill through me. ‘Until we know why he is selecting those he slays, we cannot possibly predict who may be next. All we do know is that there will be more deaths, and you,’ he added brutally, ‘are in as much danger as everyone else.’ He paused, letting his words sink in. ‘Please,’ he went on gently, ‘let me come with you.’
I was briefly at war within myself. The hard-headed, self-sufficient part of me wanted to walk out, head held high, ignoring Jack’s fear for me and insisting I could manage alone. The sensible side of me was busy visualizing a strange silvery hand with cruel, vicious claws and a still corpse with a gap where a throat ought to be. Happily, the sensible side won.
I dropped my gaze. ‘All right,’ I muttered.
I know I ought to have been more grateful but I wasn’t used to people wanting to look after me and it was hard to lower my guard and be gracious. Jack, though, didn’t appear to take offence. He merely nodded, then stood up and reached for a sword that I now noticed stood just inside the door. Beside it was an axe whose edge, I could see from where I sat, was so sharply honed that it glinted pale silver.
Jack buckled on a heavy leather belt and slid the sword into its scabbard. Then he pushed a long knife under the belt, and picked up a smaller knife, which he stuck down the side of his boot. ‘Are we expecting trouble?’ I asked with a small smile.
But he didn’t smile back. He just said, ‘Yes.’
It was earlier than I’d thought, as became clear when we emerged from the total quiet of the deserted village and into the more frequented areas of town. There were signs of activity up at the castle, but the Great Bridge was empty of traffic, and when I looked down at the river and the quayside, the only signs of life were some spirals of smoke as people stoked up their fires to cook breakfast.
We didn’t take any chances, though, for as Jack pointed out, there would certainly be watchmen patrolling. We kept to the back lanes, and soon found our way to the narrow passage leading through to the alley where Gurdyman’s well-hidden house stands. We went inside and, once again, I hurried down to the crypt.
I lit a lamp and stood staring around. Everything looked just as it had done last night, and once more I was struck by how odd the crypt appeared without the normal clutter of Gurdyman’s many activities, interests and projects. The chief reason it seemed odd was because Gurdyman wasn’t there, but I tried not to think about that.
Jack had come down with me, and now stood beside me. ‘What is it?’ he asked quietly.
‘Hmm?’ I turned to look at him.
‘Something has caught your attention.’
‘Oh!’ I hadn’t realized that my preoccupation showed. ‘Someone – Gurdyman, no doubt – has had a very good tidy down here. All his work stuff has been put away.’ I was wandering round the crypt as I spoke, looking at the shelves, touching things. ‘Quite a lot of the materials and implements he uses aren’t actually here at all,’ I went on. ‘I wonder what he’s done with them?’
Then a dreadful thought struck me. ‘Oh, dear Lord – you don’t think someone’s stolen them? That someone’ – I couldn’t bring myself to suggest who – ‘broke in, stole whatever it was he wanted, and – and…’ I couldn’t bring myself to say that, either.
‘I’m quite sure that didn’t happen,’ Jack said with reassuring normality. ‘Nothing has been disturbed and there are no signs of disarray – on the contrary, you just said how tidy everything looks. And,’ he added softly, ‘nobody’s lying dead on the floor.’
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. With one last look around the crypt, I led the way back up the steps. Jack waited in the inner court while I looked around, but, as in the crypt, there wasn’t really anything to see, except that the same unusual order prevailed. Finally, I went up into my little attic room and, feeling suddenly drained of energy, sat down on the bed.
My eyes roamed round the small space. There wasn’t very much in the room, and I could see almost at first glance that everything was just as I’d left it. I’m an orderly person by nature and even if somebody had climbed the ladder to tidy my room, they’d have found nothing to do. I stood up, glancing back towards the bed.
Then I did see something that was out of place.
Deliberately so; instantly I was sure of that.
The floorboard under which I hide my shining stone was infinitesimally out of alignment with the board next to it.
Heart thumping – Oh, no, no, no! – I threw myself down on my knees, two fingernails tearing as I scrabbled to raise the board. The leather bag was where I’d left it, and the stone was inside. I clutched it to my breast, fierce joy coursing through me. I’m not sure I’d realized until that moment just what it meant to me. I wasn’t going to put it back in its hiding place, that was certain; wherever I went, it would come with me. I reached out to replace the floorboard and noticed that there was something else in the dark space.
It was a small object, pale green, with a strangely shaped gold-filled mark etched into it.
I picked it up and held it in my clenched hand. I felt its power, bucking like a living thing against my skin. I sent out a forceful thought to the person who had put it there; who had left it there for me to find, for I knew full well who he was. On the one hand, I was hugely relieved because I now knew where Gurdyman was; or, at least, who he was with, and that he was almost undoubtedly safe. On the other hand, I was angry because this person had not thought twice about coming up into my room – my own, private, precious space! – and reaching down into the secret hiding place where I keep my most treasured possession.
I waited, taking steady breaths, till I was calm. Then I went back down to Jack.
‘I can’t exactly tell you how I know,’ I said, ‘because it involves somebody else, and to explain might very well betray a confidence.’ I wasn’t quite sure what I meant, but somehow I knew better than to divulge what I’d just learned, even to Jack. ‘Gurdyman’s not here, but he’s all right.’
‘He’s left you a message?’ Jack demanded.
‘Er – sort of.’
‘Then we needn’t spend any more time here. Come on!’ He reached for my hand. I’d put the shining stone in its bag into my satchel back in my attic room, and now I swiftly buckled up the satchel straps and took Jack’s hand.