Doctor Mirabilis Read Online Free PDF Page B

Hall for nearly a month,
     what with duties, observances and arrangements; but he had a three days’ journey ahead of him, and he knew better than to
     force the animal. He had had a fair dawn to start in, warm for November, so that the snow was going, and the road was soon
     to be a motionless river of mud; but this early in the day the earth was still frozen, and the high sky was an intense, almost
     Venetian blue without a finger of cloud. Before him stretched the reddish, chalky-loamed downs in a broad undulating sweep,
     littered by the thousands with those huge blocks called sarsen stones or grey wethers (and to be sure they did look a little
     like a motionless flock of sheep from a distance) which had been used by the unknown builders of the enigmatic and faintly
     sinister structures at Stonehenge and Avebury. Had Merlin truly been their architect, as one of the
romans
would have it – and bywhat magic had he moved such enormous stones, some of them as long as twenty feet and as big around as forty feet? There was
     another
roman
which called the great circle at Avebury a monument to the last of the twelve Arthurian battles, in which case Merlin could
     hardly have been involved, having been by that time himself ensorcelled by Vivien – had there ever been any such magician,
     a question which, like that about the’ stones, did not strike Roger as very profitable. Still, the stones
had
been moved, some of them over long distances, so it was plain to see that there must be at least
a
method – whether it had been Merlin’s or not – and that was discoverable.
    The horse tired and began to amble again, so that before noon by Roger’s stomach – which reminded his brain that today was
     the eleventh of November, and the eleventh of November was Martinmas, and Martinmas was the time to hang up salt meat for
     the winter, and there was salt meat in his saddlebag, and he was hungry – he was beginning to fear that he would have to spend
     the night out alone on the Plain. There was a good deal of danger in that, for the Plain was bloody ground, a favourite spot
     for pitched battles and for thieves alike.
    Nevertheless, Roger had to face the prospect. From this point in the road – little more than a track, meandering around the
     hills, following the contours of the land – there was no inn or habitation in sight, and none, very likely, this far out.
     It was, of course, perfectly possible that he had got lost.
    Abruptly, his eye was distracted by a flurry of movement ahead: straight out from behind the next wave of low hills something
     small, dark and compact went hurtling into the blue sky like an arrow. It was a hawk. Roger watched it soar with astonishment
     and increased disquiet, for he could not but regard it as ominous. No such bird would be hunting in the middle of the Plain
     at this time of year – it would be an unusual sight at any season – and why would a human hunter be hawking in such cheerless,
     unfruitful country?
    But hunter it was, human or devil; he topped the rise nowon his horse, a tall burly figure, bearded and cloaked, and pulled to a stop while he was joined by two more riders. The hawk
     wheeled high above them, screaming disconsolately. The three, plainly regarding Roger where he had halted on the ancient,
     pre-Roman trackway, talked among themselves, leaning in their gear. After a while, the tallest of them raised his left hand
     as if in salute; cautiously – it could not but pay to offer friendship, or at least neutrality, especially as he was outnumbered
     – Roger saluted back, and immediately felt like a fool, for beyond him the hawk screamed again, stooped and came down, sculling
     to a perch on the gauntleted wrist with a noble display of wingspread.
    Roger lowered his arm and loosened his sword. Though, as a clerk, he was under the protection of the Church, he was not naive
     enough to expect this to be respected by a pack of highwaymen. Furthermore, as a clerk he