Read The Broken World for Free Online Page B

a slow canter and followed the trail of dust back to the city. Poul was waiting for him at the gates, and they walked back through the busy streets at a more sedate pace before handing over the horses to a couple of stable hands. Isobel greeted them with a look of worried excitement on her face.
    ‘Errol, it’s good to see you up and about. I hope you’re feeling better.’
    ‘Much, thank you. But I’m a little tired. If you don’t mind I’d like to have a rest before this evening.’ Errol smiled and bowed. He could see that Lady Gremmil wanted to tell her husband something important, and he had no desire to intrude upon their business any more than he already had.
    ‘Of course, of course.’
    ‘Lord Gremmil, I am indebted to you. To you both.’ Errol bowed once more, then turned away, heading for the stairs. But he couldn’t help overhearing what Lady Gremmil had to say to her husband.
    ‘A messenger arrived not ten minutes ago. The king has put out another call to arms, and he’s sending one of the war council out into the country to see the job’s done properly. Poul, he’s coming here. He’ll be here by nightfall.’
    ‘Who’s coming, Bella?’
    ‘That horrid man, Duke Dondal.’
    Errol almost fell down the stairs when he heard the name. He could feel panic rising in him. Dondal would recognize him in an instant. There was no way he could stay here any longer. Ignoring the ache in his head and the weariness in his arms and legs, he slipped past the stairs and out through a side door. The yard was a bustle of activity, but no one paid him any heed as he walked across the cobbles towards the stables. He was still wearing the riding cloak given to him by Lady Gremmil, and he pulled it around his shoulders, turning up the collar against the late afternoon breeze. The two horses were still tethered outside their stalls. A boy was taking the saddle off Lord Gremmil’s animal. Errol hurried over, trying not to look anxious.
    ‘Here, lad. Don’t worry yourself with the other one. I think I’ll take him out for another ride.’
    ‘Not at all, sir. Less work for me.’ The boy grinned and untied the horse. Errol pulled himself up into the saddle, grateful for Captain Osgal’s rough tutoring in horsemanship.
    With a nod of thanks to the stable boy, he kicked the horse lightly in the ribs and steered it out through the castle gates. Errol retraced his earlier journey down through the town, getting no more than a casual glance from the guards at the town gate, but as he rode away from the walls, heading out along the road through fields of swirling barley, he felt like his back was naked, just waiting for a killer blow. Any moment now, he thought, there’ll be shouting and the sound of galloping hooves. A troop of
men will run me down, take me back and throw me into a dungeon.
    It took longer to reach the grain stores than before, and as he approached the huge stone buildings it occurred to Errol that they were too far from the castle to be easily defended. They had been built at the crossroads where they were most accessible to the local farmers; Lord Gremmil had no fear that they would ever be attacked, since they were deep in the heart of Llanwennog here. The town walls were a reminder of an earlier time, before the House of Ballah had united the country in peace.
    So wrapped up was he in his musings that Errol didn’t notice the shouting until he was almost upon it. Fortunately he was out of sight, hidden by the bulk of the nearest grain store, but he recognized one of the voices instantly.
    ‘You’re able-bodied men. Why are you here working on barns when the king needs every man for his army?’
    ‘Your Grace, we’re needed to bring in the harvest.’
    ‘Harvest, pah. Women can cut barley as well as men. Are you cowards? Is that it?’
    Errol slipped out of his saddle and let himself down to the ground behind one of the open grain store doors without a sound. Leaving his horse, he crept out of the