Unholy Innocence Read Online Free PDF Page B

samples. Comparing the colours on the chart with that of the specimen I concluded that the King’s humours contained far too much black bile which might explain his temper and I said as much to the French doctor.
    ‘ Bon ,’ he nodded approvingly. ‘I concur.’ He then sniffed the specimen and held it out for me to do the same, which I did and nearly choked.
    ‘Urgh! Fish.’
    ‘Aha!’ squealed the Frenchman delightedly. ‘You noticed.’ Then he did what I was expecting next but had been dreading: He dipped a manicured finger into the warm, viscous liquid and sprinkled a few drops of it on to his tongue. But before he could offer me the bottle to do the same we were mercifully interrupted by shouting coming from outside the bedroom door which burst open and one of our brothers fell heavily in followed by one of the beefy guards. The man’s eye was swollen badly and he had a large cut on his lip from which blood was oozing. His hands had been bound in front and a stick inserted through his elbows behind thereby thrusting his chest painfully forward. The guard kicked the hapless monk onto his knees in front of the King’s bed where he scrambled to look up, absolute terror contorting his eyes.
    ‘This is the pervert who poisoned the King,’ growled the guard.
    ‘Brother Alric!’ said the startled Samson and immediately turned to the Archbishop. ‘What is the meaning of this outrage? This man is one of my congregation. How dare he be treated this way?’
    The Archbishop merely shrugged and walked away. But Samson would not be fobbed off so easily.
    ‘You!’ He pointed at the guard who had kicked the monk. ‘Whose man are you? I’ll have you horsewhipped for this impertinence. Release Brother Alric at once!’
    The guard hesitated and looked to de Saye who with a resigned gesture waved him aside. The guard immediately released his hold on the hapless monk who fell towards the bed. So, I thought, not only an ill-mannered rogue this uncle of the Justiciar, but a bully too.
    John scrabbled to the edge of the bed to peer at the man more closely. ‘Is this him?’ he gasped looking at the terrified monk. ‘Is this my poisoner?’
    ‘No poisoner, I beg of you, sire,’ whimpered Alric pathetically. ‘I am the baker. That’s what I do. I bake – bread, cakes, biscuits. Pretty little confectioneries to sweeten your tooth. Why would I want to poison the King?’
    ‘Why indeed!’ John wrinkled his nose and grabbed Alric by his robe. ‘I’ll have you roasted on your own spit, you murdering knave. Whose pay are you in? Eh? His?’ he pointed at Abbot Samson. ‘Philip’s? God’s bowels!’ he bellowed. ‘Will no-one protect me from this nest of traitors?’
    Right on cue de Saye stepped forward again. This time he grabbed the unfortunate Alric by the throat himself and started to throttle the poor man twisti ng the ropes to make him scream. Fortunately for Alric, at that moment John had another attack of colic, gasped and let out a terrible final cry then rolled onto his back distracting de Saye long enough for Alric to wriggle from his grasp and scuttle as fast as he could to the other side of the room. De Saye made a grab for him but Samson stepped between them, to de Saye’s evident fury.
    But now another quarrel had broken out , this time between the Archbishop and the Justiciar. It appeared to be over the ability of the King in his current condition to continue governing the country, the Justiciar saying he wasn’t competent, the Archbishop insisting that he was.
    While this new distraction was going on I took the opportunity to make a more detailed diagnosis of the King’s condition now that I was closer to the patient. My mind had gone back to the banquet the day before and suddenly all became clear to me. What had ‘poisoned’ the King were all those lampreys he had eaten. He’d certainly had enough. Loathing the slimy creatures myself , I had taken a particular interest in the King’s evident