The King's Bishop by Candace Robb Page B

blue eyes were levelled at his good one, watching for a flinch.
    ‘I have every intention of returning, my love.’ He put his arms round her. She lifted her chin for a kiss. He sniffed her hair, kissed her forehead, her eyelids, her lips. She slid her fingers up through his hair while her body pressed against his. Sweet Heaven, why must he always be leaving her?
    He was still thinking about that kiss as he joined Jehannes and the company he was to lead to Fountains Abbey.
    ‘You look as if you come to meet your doom, my friend.’ Jehannes grinned, looked round him. ‘I see here no enemies. Do you?’
    Owen looked the men over, nodded to Jehannes. ‘Clearly I am mistaken. No enemies here.’
    ‘It is difficult to leave your family, eh?’
    Owen grinned. ‘Nay, foolish. I ask myself how it is I choose a life of constant farewell. Why can I not stay put?’
    ‘Because you have a questing soul, Owen. And because Lucie loves you the way you are. You know, were she a man I believe she would be much like you.’
    Owen laughed. ‘So I fell in love with my own reflection?’
    Jehannes grinned. ‘Now I have chased the shadows away. Shall we depart?’
    They were well on the road when Jehannes mentioned Don Ambrose. ‘I pity Ned Townley, riding with the secretive friar.’
    ‘Secretive?’
    ‘He came to me the day before he was to depart, begged to be relieved of the task.’
    ‘On what grounds?’
    ‘He would not say. The King’s orders and he would not say why he wished to remain in York.’ Jehannes shook his head.
    Owen felt a prickling under his eye patch. ‘He said nothing more?’
    ‘Nothing.’
    ‘Austins have no love for worldly clerics. But why were they so slow to protest supporting Wykeham?’
    ‘I thought perhaps to delay us,’ Jehannes said.
    Owen turned his head to study Jehannes. ‘You do not believe that.’
    ‘Why did he wait so long to come to me? I had enough to do without bowing to his whim.’ Jehannes winced under the piercing gaze of his one-eyed friend. ‘In truth, I sensed a private devil somewhere withinhim. It made me uneasy. But with no explanation …’ The Archdeacon’s voice trailed off. ‘I was indulging in righteous indignation.’
    ‘You chose a poor time to indulge yourself. A man with a private devil, asking to be relieved of the mission – why in God’s name did you not tell me of this before they rode out?’
    Jehannes looked surprised. ‘You are angry?’
    ‘Ned Townley has enough trouble without the friar’s private devil. But Ned’s as much to blame. He said nothing to me.’
    ‘I did not tell him.’
    Owen reined in his horse. ‘For the love of God, why not?’ he shouted.
    Jehannes glanced back, turned his horse round to face his angry captain. ‘King Edward wished the friar to be in the company. Why should I poison him to his captain?’
    ‘You warn a captain of trouble in his ranks, Jehannes. You warn him!’
    ‘He might have refused to ride with him. You soldiers have no patience with cowards.’
    Owen bit back a curse. ‘What does it matter to the King whether Ambrose accompanies us or not?’
    ‘He had a reason for choosing him.’
    ‘And we had a damned good reason to leave him behind.’
    They rode on in an uncomfortable silence, Jehannes feeling unjustly criticised, Owen wondering what bedevilled the friar.

Nine
Signs of Treachery
     
    I t was late afternoon when the breeze stiffened and a scent of salt air brought Abbot Richard’s head up sharp. He turned to Ned, who rode beside him. ‘I feel a storm coming.’
    Ned had noticed the change, and from the look in the Abbot’s eyes it must be a storm and not just rain approaching. ‘Will it overtake us before we reach tonight’s resting place?’ They were a day’s ride from Fountains Abbey.
    The Abbot paused, studied the sky all round. ‘I fear it will, though our goal is a grange house belonging to Fountains, not Rievaulx, so I am not certain of the distance. I think it close enough to