No Law in the Land: (Knights Templar 27) Read Online Free

she’ll come after us as soon as they release
     her from her leash? Did you not think they would follow her to us? Did you not think
at all
? Sweet Jesus, save me from mother-swyving churls like this one. I’ll have to take her back.’
    ‘You can’t go and—’
    ‘Monk, shut up! You will have to push the cart back while I do this. You won’t be able to. So put your back into it, and get
     the cart back safely. You hear me?’
    Osbert stepped quietly and very cautiously as he returned to the camp. The body of the pup lay still in his hand now. He had
     snapped its neck like a coney’s. It would be a short while before he reached the camp, he thought. The smell of burning wood
     was in his nostrils already from the fire the evening before. Now it had been banked, there was but a dull glow from the mass
     of the embers. Nothing to give him even the slightest of shadows.
    All about there were the peaceful sounds of sleeping people. Achild up with the travellers had a sniffling whimper – he recalled that the brat had a cold – and his mother gave a murmured
     remonstration before rolling over again. The remaining archers were snoring, while Anselm’s companion was whiffing out little
     breaths as though he was panting in a dream. He lay in the midst of the archers, the seven about him guarding him better than
     they had their precious cargo.
    There was no guard. Not now. Only one sentry had been set, a man who was content to wander about the camp with jealousy, eyeing
     the sleepers, but not one of them. When Osbert had offered to join him and keep him company until his watch was changed, he
     had been pathetically grateful. Then Osbert had grabbed him from behind and his dagger had made short work of him, plunging
     into the man’s liver five times, while Osbert’s hand stayed clamped over his mouth, stifling the desperate screams for help.
     No one heard anything, not out here at the edge of the camp where the man had gone to relieve himself. Osbert had left the
     body out there so that it couldn’t be immediately discovered, were someone else to wake.
    No one had. As he stood here, near the archers and their master, it was clear that there had been no alarm. All was as he
     had left it.
    The dog was awake, though. She lay with her head resting on her paws, just as she had every night. It was no bad thing that
     Anselm had chosen to keep the pup in his robe when they had left Tavistock, Osbert reckoned. It made the bitch less distressed
     to sleep without him. She had grown accustomed to having her pup back during the day, but sleeping alone.
    Osbert silently made his way to the bitch. He heard her stir, and then give a low growl. It was as he had expected. Quickly
     he threw the puppy’s body to her, and he saw her move in a flash, turning to sniff at the little corpse. As she did, he stepped
     forward and slipped his dagger into her back, grabbing her muzzle as he did so. The surprised yelping lasted only a moment
     or two, and then there was nothing to worry about.
    In some haste now, he retraced his steps to the bushes, and was soon in among them, moving fast for a man of his age and size.
     But for all that he was over two and forty years old, he had lived here in this area for most of his childhood, and he knew
     the land well. The cart, he knew, had gone off northwards from here, and he would meet it later. Rather than head north, he
     would take the steeper, slightly more swiftroute east, down the valley’s side to the river, and up the other side. The cart would rejoin the trail a full half-mile further
     on.
    He made his way down the slope, slithering on the soggy grasses, almost tripping twice in thick tussocks, and then splashed
     his way through the river, which was quite full after the rains. On the other side, he was about to make his way up the slope
     when he heard the hoofs.
    There were twelve of them. The man in front he knew, and the son at his side. He knew that they were noted for their