Forsaken Soul Read Online Free PDF Page B

pushed his way through the crowd toward the entrance to the inn.
    “Don’t go in there!” someone shouted at him.
    “It is a monk from the priory. Prioress Eleanor has sent aid!”
    “Brother Thomas!” another cried out. “Praise God and the holy priory for sending you to us!”
    “May God forgive my sins!” A fat man collapsed to his knees as the monk passed. “Save us from the Evil One, and I will bring the priory an offering at daybreak. I swear it, Brother!”
    Thomas hesitated a moment, recognized the man as one more prone to fair sayings than fine acts, and hurried on through the inn door. Shutting it carefully, he pressed his back against it, made the sign of the cross for protection, and looked around for imps or their fiendish prince.
    There was nothing. He relaxed. How shabby an empty inn looked, he caught himself noting, and was oddly troubled by the observation.
    Near the bottom of the stairs, he saw Signy standing beside her uncle and walked toward them. Their faces were pale; their staring eyes dark with fear.
    “What happened?” he asked gently.
    Startled, Signy gasped and her hand flew to her heart. “How did word reach the priory so quickly?”
    “It has not,” Thomas said. “I was sitting with old Tibia after she took a potion sent by Sister Anne. When I heard shouting, I rushed here to find the cause.”
    The innkeeper grunted. “It’s well you did. Our crowner is in the loft alone, except for a corpse and a whore. Some claim Satan is flying about up there with his dark angels. Now that good King Henry is dead, the Prince of Darkness has little reason to show respect for a king’s man. What’s needed upstairs is a man of God to get rid of any rank spirit and save the crowner!”
    “The Devil may be evil but he is not stupid,” Thomas replied. “King Edward is coming home from the Holy Land.” Looking up the stairs, he could see little and heard only the thud of footsteps mixed with muted speech. If Ralf was confronting Satan, they were both behaving in a most courteous fashion. “Satan knows how much God favors a crusader king and would face our crowner knowing that.”
    “I am so grateful the herb woman left the inn before this happened!” Signy hugged herself to keep from shaking. “Is she well, Brother? Should I go to her now that you are here?”
    “The drink caused her to fall into a deep sleep. Methinks she will be well enough until morning.” He turned to the innkeeper. “You said our crowner is in the loft with a corpse and a harlot. Then the Devil came? Or was this in reverse. I do not understand.”
    The man puffed his florid cheeks out. “My business did not need this. It is hard enough to keep good customers with the common twists and turns of trade, but news of violent death in an inn scares people away faster than rotten meat.”
    Thomas raised an eyebrow at the reply. If the innkeeper was now worrying more about trade than fork-tailed imps, he was recovering from his fright. Any conclusion that Satan had made a personal appearance here was also growing less likely.
    “A man is dead,” the man continued. “When the news spread, someone claimed to have seen a black-winged imp with a bloody mouth fly out the door. My customers fled and now rumor is rife that my inn has been taken over by the Prince of Darkness.” The innkeeper waved at the crowd outside. “My trade suffers! The ale I bought turns stale, and the stew grows rancid. Those men outside should be drinking and eating in here.” He blinked, then began to grin at Thomas with new hope shining in his eyes. “Could you do an exorcism to scare the Fiend away, Brother? Done while the whole village could watch? Doesn’t the Devil flee in a great puff of smoke, or something like that, to prove he’s left?”
    “Uncle, I think we might show some concern for the safety of our crowner—and the whore as well,” Signy said through clenched teeth.
    The innkeeper’s expression did not suggest he was