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no-one's watching them...”
     
    * * *
     
    The Hospitallers had left the tunnel, apologising to the workmen they'd disturbed – Sir Richard even giving the glowering foreman a small donation of silver for their trouble – and made their way back to St Luke's to await dusk. The family of the man who had died in his sleep had gone to stay with relatives according the Father Vitus, leaving his body in the care of the priest to be prepared for the funeral. The Greek quizzed them on their investigation's progress but the knight gave nothing away, simply asking for a meal and some wine before he and Jacob retired to their room for a nap.
    They awoke refreshed and ready for their night's work in Krymmeni Thesi. The sun was just setting, its red light throwing sinister shadows across the buildings outside the Hospitaller's bedroom window as they climbed through it into the street rather than alerting Father Vitus to their movements.
    Sir Richard didn't believe the priest had anything to do with the disappearances or the strange religion that apparently operated out of the tunnel in Krymmeni Thesi, but he didn't see any reason to tell the secretive little man where they were going tonight. The less people that knew, the better.
    That said , the big knight mused, scratching his beard as they jogged through the street, our guide from earlier seemed to think Vitus must have known about Krymmeni Thesi. So why didn't he tell us when we asked about it?
    It was a question for another day – they had enough to worry about that night.
    They reached the village soon enough; thankfully the strange figure that had been standing in the field observing them earlier in the day hadn't returned. Sir Richard didn't want the volatile Jacob chasing through a field, sword drawn, to deal with the 'straw man'.
    No, the journey was uneventful, although the very air again seemed charged with negative, oppressive energy. Two normal men might have given up and gone home, but the Hospitallers had seen, and done, much fighting for Christ. The idea of devils and demons wasn't enough to stop Sir Richard's investigation.
    The houses stood silent and unlit, just as they had the previous night when the Hospitallers had fought and killed two of the black-eyed men. The unearthly, threatening atmosphere that had followed them ever since they'd left St Luke's became almost unbearable as the two soldiers walked silently towards the tunnel entrance they'd visited earlier in the day.
    The five workmen from earlier – the very same ones from the look of them – still stood on guard at the top of the stairs, although Sir Richard growled at their incompetence as they again lounged about the low, ancient stone wall that marked the staircase down to the tunnel.
    As they watched from the shadows a couple, dressed in dark hooded robes approached the entrance, showed something they wore around their necks to the guards and were waved down and through the entrance without a word passing between any of them.
    “Interesting,” Sir Richard muttered to his sergeant. “If we had a couple of those amulets or whatever that was they had we might be able to just walk straight through. But, since we haven't,” he stood up, beckoning Jacob to follow, “we need a diversion to get them away from the entrance.”
    Jacob shook his head. “A diversion? What for? They might outnumber us but they're just farmers and labourers. We can take them.”
    Sir Richard crept away to a nearby house, gesturing his sergeant to follow.
    “We can't just walk up and butcher them,” he replied. “We have no proof they're doing anything wrong and you can be sure their foreman told his superiors that we were sniffing around earlier. If they were all to die violently, without any hard evidence of wrong-doing, the locals will go crazy and the Grand Master'll have our heads.” He halted, peering into the windows of the house, checking no one was around. “Make sure no one appears from a side street like