The She Wolf of France

The She Wolf of France Read Online Free PDF Page B

Book: The She Wolf of France Read Online Free PDF
Author: Maurice Druon
refectory in which the torches were smoking; the whole garrison was there, fast asleep. Collapsed over the tables, fallen across the benches, lying on the floor, snoring with their mouths open in the most grotesque attitudes, the archers looked as if some magician had put them to sleep for a hundred years. A similar sight met them in the kitchens, which were lit only by glowing embers under the huge cauldrons, from which rose a heavy, stagnant smell of fat. The cooks had also drunk of the wine of Aquitaine in which the barber Ogle had mixed the drug; and there they lay, under the meat-safe, alongside the bread-bin, among the pitchers, stomachs up, arms widespread. The only moving thing was a cat, gorged on raw meat and stalking over the tables.
    `This way, my lord,' said the Lieutenant, leading the prisoner towards an alcove which served both as a latrine and for the disposal of kitchen waste.
    The opening built into this alcove was the only one on this side of the walls wide enough to give passage to a man. 5
    Ogle produced a rope ladder he had hidden in a chest and brought up a stool to which to attach it. They wedged the stool across the opening. The Lieutenant went first, then Roger Mortimer and then the barber. They were soon all three clinging to the ladder and making their way down the wall, hanging thirty feet above the gleaming waters of the moat. The moon had not yet risen.
    `My uncle would certainly never have been able to escape this way,' Mortimer thought.
    A black shape stirred beside him with a rustling of feathers. It was, a big raven wakened from sleep in a loophole. Mortimer instinctively put out a hand and felt, amid the warm feathers till - he found the bird's neck. It uttered a long, desolate, almost human cry. He clenched his fist with all his might, twisting his wrist till he felt the bones crack beneath his fingers.
    The body fell into the water below with a loud splash.
    `Who goes there?' a sentry cried.
    And a helmet leaned out of a crenel on the summit of the Clock Tower.
    The three fugitives clinging to the rope ladder pressed close to the wall.
    'Why did I do that?' Mortimer wondered. `What an absurd temptation to yield to! There are surely enough risks already without inventing more. And I don't even know if it was Edward...'
    But the sentry was reassured by the silence and continued his beat; they heard his footsteps fading into the night.
    They went on climbing down. At this time of year the water in the moat was not very deep. The three men dropped into it up to the shoulders, and began moving along the foundations of the fortress, feeling their way along the stones of the Roman wall. They circled the Clock Tower and then crossed the moat, moving as quietly as possible. The bank was slippery with mud. They hoisted themselves out on to their stomachs, helping each other as
    best they could then ran crouching to the river-bank. Hidden in the reeds, a boat was waiting for them. There were two men at the oars and another sitting in the stern, wrapped in a long dark cloak, his head covered by a hood with earlaps; he whistled softly three times. The fugitives jumped into the boat.
    `My Lord Mortimer,' said the man in the cloak, holding out his hand.
    `My Lord Bishop,' replied the fugitive, extending his own.
    His fingers encountered the cabochon of a ring and he bent his lips to it.
    'Go ahead, quickly,' the Bishop ordered the rowers.
    And the oars dipped into the water.
    Adam Orleton, Bishop of Hereford, who had been provided to his see by the Pope and against the King's wish, was leader of the clerical opposition and had organized the escape of the most important baron in the kingdom. It was Orleton who had planned and prepared everything, had persuaded Alspaye to play his part by assuring him he would not only make his fortune but attain to Paradise, and had provided the narcotic which had put the Tower of London to sleep.
    `Did everythin g go well, Alspaye?' he asked.
    `As well as it could, my
Read Online Free Pdf

Similar Books

Suck It Up

Emma Hillman

Eye Spy

Tessa Buckley

Seduction in Mind

Susan Johnson

Shadow Hawk

Jill Shalvis

The Dutch

Richard E. Schultz

The Wellstone

Wil McCarthy

Claws for Alarm

T.C. LoTempio

Twelve Red Herrings

Jeffrey Archer