Read The Lord of Ireland (The Fifth Knight Series Book 3) for Free Online Page B

will travel with me to my brother’s abbey at Jerpoint ,’ said Dymphna. ‘She will be perfectly safe there.’
    ‘More importantly,’ said Theodosia, ‘I can get news of you, Benedict, and can be with you in a short time if I have to be.’
    Dymphna nodded. ‘She can travel from monastery to monastery, if necessary, to follow your progress with a prayerful one of h er own.’
    He would love for it to be so, but he couldn’t allow it. ‘This is some of the greatest bilge I’ve ever heard,’ said Palmer. ‘You’ll stay at the abbey only until I can arrange to get you home. And that’s my final word.’
    Theodosia’s cheeks flushed again, and he braced for her attempt at refusal. Then all colour left her face, as he knew it did from his own, at a male voice raised in query.
    ‘Which of you is Sister Theodosia?’
    For a wild second, Palmer thought he could spirit her away through the crowd, but a monk walked up to them.
    ‘I am she,’ Theodosia replied with a panicked glance to Palmer.
    ‘Who makes such bold enquiries of this holy sister?’ He took a step in front of her.
    With a wary eye on Palmer, the monk bowed to her. ‘Not merely enquiries, sister. The royal clerk, Gerald, demands your presence . Immediately.’
    Palmer grabbed Theodosia’s bundle of belongings to add to his own. ‘Then let me carry these, so she can hurry.’ It was the first thing he could think of. An argument in this large crowd would only turn curious faces towards them.
    ‘You will wait for me, Mother?’ Theodosia asked Dymphna.
    ‘Indeed I shall.’ The Abbess turned to address the monk. ‘I am her superior, and I want to know what reason Gerald might have to seek her out. My permission for any requests he might make is not to be taken for granted.’
    ‘Of course, Abbess,’ said the monk. ‘Please, sister, make haste and come with me: the King’s clerk is in no fit state to be kept waiting .’
    Palmer didn’t care what state Gerald was in. All he cared about was getting Theodosia away from here to the security of the abbey and then home. They’d humour the clerk and then Palmer would make sure Theodosia left with Dymphna. At once.

    Ushered in by the monk, Palmer followed Theodosia into Regnall’s Tower. It should have been quieter in there, but Gerald’s screams filled the large, circular stone room.
    ‘God release me from my agony!’ Henry’s clerk still lay on the sail in which he’d been carried, placed on a large chest as a makeshift bed. ‘My torment!’
    ‘May God grant you courage.’ Theodosia moved to his side with a hasty sign of the cross.
    The monk who’d summoned them wrung his hands. ‘ Others are out trying to find a barber-surgeon as we speak. But it’s so crowded. It could take much time.’
    ‘Make sure they do not bring me one who is from these shores. They will not be skilled unless it be in the dark arts.’ Gerald twitched, then howled again. ‘Mother of God, even to breathe i s pain!’
    ‘That arm needs to be set as soon as possible.’ Palmer put down the two bundles he carried. ‘Theo—Sister, do you have some linen in your belongings that I can use?’
    ‘Yes, let me get some.’ She bent to her task as Palmer grabbed one of the stools set before the large lit fireplace. He bashed the stool against the stone hearth and freed two of the legs, stepping back quickly to Gerald’s side with the pieces of wood in on e hand.
    ‘Make a move and I’ll have your head.’
    The hard-voiced threat came from behind him.
    Theodosia took a step to Palmer as the clerk shrieked still louder. Palmer turned to see a shorter, muscular, dark-haired knight advancing on him, sword ready in one powerful hand, face drawn in a scowl. Or rather half his face. The right side was tight and red and shiny from a large, hideous scar.
    The monk dropped to his knees in terror as Palmer’s free hand went for his own blade. ‘I mean the clerk no harm.’
    The knight halted, appraising Palmer with his