Sackett's Land (1974) Read Online Free Page A
Author: Louis - Sackett's 0 L'amour
knew your father."
"Barnabas has an enemy, too," Jublain said, irritably. "What of him?"
"Rupert Genester? An evil man, but one with power in many places. You could have no worse an enemy. He is an ambitious man, an heir, a man filled with pride and hatred. He was laughed at and that he cannot abide."
We drank our ale, then Hasling mounted and was gone, returning by a different route that I suggested.
Standing at the gate, I listened to the beat of hoofs as his horse carried him away. Walking back to the cottage I belted on a sword and dagger. I charged the pistols afresh while Jublain watched me, his eyes bright with irony.
"You learn quickly." He emptied his cup.
We among the fens were an independent lot. We were a people whodid , with contempt for all who did nothing.
For centuries smugglers had used the fens, bringing their craft up the secret waterways. We paid them no mind, but knew them and their ways. Few of us entered the army, fewer were impressed into the fleet. We went our ways, content with them.
From a chest I took a casque that had belonged to my father, and the weapons from the walls. I took bacon, hams, dried fruit, cheese, and meal. We loaded them into my punt.
Returning to close the door of the cottage, I was turning from it when they rushed upon me, a half-dozen armed men. They came at me, and my sword was out.
"Kill him! I want himdead ! Do you hear?"
I heard the shout as they closed, but when battle was joined I was not one to dally about, so I had at them, sidestepping to place one between myself and the others, parrying his thrust and thrusting my own sword home with one movement.
Quickly withdrawing my blade as the man fell, I had a moment when they hesitated. Shocked to see one of their own die, for they had come to murder a farmer, not to die themselves, they paused, appalled. It was the moment I needed, and with a shout, I went at them.
I feinted, thrust ... the sword went deep. Then they were all about me and my sword was everywhere, parrying, thrusting, knowing I could not continue long, when suddenly there was a shout from behind.
"Have at them, men!" It was Jublain. "Let not one escape!"
They broke and fled. Murder is one thing, a fight another. They had the stomach for one, only their heels for the other. They did not wait to see if there were more than two, but fled, unheeding their master's angry shouts.
As they fled we ran toward our punt. Three men were down and a fourth had staggered as they fled. I heard a voice call out: "I know you now! I know you forever, and you shall not escape!"
It was Rupert Genester.
Chapter 3
The country of the fens was not so large as most of us believed it to be, but to us it seemed endless, a vast, low-lying, and marshy land where remnants grew of the once great forest that had covered England.
The Romans, who understood the reclaiming of marshy land, had begun the drainage of the fens, but once they departed the Saxons let the canals fill and the fens return to fens.
It was said that even now Queen Bess was talking to a Dutch engineer, a man with much experience at draining land below sea level. This we did not oppose, for reclaiming land might make some of us rich.
Myself, for instance. I owned but a few acres of tillable land, but owned by grant more than two square miles of fen. Once drained, such rich land would make me wealthy.
Yet I was now a fugitive. Had my case come to trial it might possibly have turned out well for me. Occasionally a commoner won such a case, but the occasions were too rare to make me confident. I had the thought that it would never come to court, for the hand of Rupert Genester could reach even into prison to kill me, easily.
For some time I rowed until Jublain asked impatiently, "Are you lost, man? You are rowing in circles."
"Almost a circle," I agreed cheerfully, "but not lost."
Fog lay thick down the tips of the blades of grass. No movement was in the water, no sound but the chunk of my oars in the
"Barnabas has an enemy, too," Jublain said, irritably. "What of him?"
"Rupert Genester? An evil man, but one with power in many places. You could have no worse an enemy. He is an ambitious man, an heir, a man filled with pride and hatred. He was laughed at and that he cannot abide."
We drank our ale, then Hasling mounted and was gone, returning by a different route that I suggested.
Standing at the gate, I listened to the beat of hoofs as his horse carried him away. Walking back to the cottage I belted on a sword and dagger. I charged the pistols afresh while Jublain watched me, his eyes bright with irony.
"You learn quickly." He emptied his cup.
We among the fens were an independent lot. We were a people whodid , with contempt for all who did nothing.
For centuries smugglers had used the fens, bringing their craft up the secret waterways. We paid them no mind, but knew them and their ways. Few of us entered the army, fewer were impressed into the fleet. We went our ways, content with them.
From a chest I took a casque that had belonged to my father, and the weapons from the walls. I took bacon, hams, dried fruit, cheese, and meal. We loaded them into my punt.
Returning to close the door of the cottage, I was turning from it when they rushed upon me, a half-dozen armed men. They came at me, and my sword was out.
"Kill him! I want himdead ! Do you hear?"
I heard the shout as they closed, but when battle was joined I was not one to dally about, so I had at them, sidestepping to place one between myself and the others, parrying his thrust and thrusting my own sword home with one movement.
Quickly withdrawing my blade as the man fell, I had a moment when they hesitated. Shocked to see one of their own die, for they had come to murder a farmer, not to die themselves, they paused, appalled. It was the moment I needed, and with a shout, I went at them.
I feinted, thrust ... the sword went deep. Then they were all about me and my sword was everywhere, parrying, thrusting, knowing I could not continue long, when suddenly there was a shout from behind.
"Have at them, men!" It was Jublain. "Let not one escape!"
They broke and fled. Murder is one thing, a fight another. They had the stomach for one, only their heels for the other. They did not wait to see if there were more than two, but fled, unheeding their master's angry shouts.
As they fled we ran toward our punt. Three men were down and a fourth had staggered as they fled. I heard a voice call out: "I know you now! I know you forever, and you shall not escape!"
It was Rupert Genester.
Chapter 3
The country of the fens was not so large as most of us believed it to be, but to us it seemed endless, a vast, low-lying, and marshy land where remnants grew of the once great forest that had covered England.
The Romans, who understood the reclaiming of marshy land, had begun the drainage of the fens, but once they departed the Saxons let the canals fill and the fens return to fens.
It was said that even now Queen Bess was talking to a Dutch engineer, a man with much experience at draining land below sea level. This we did not oppose, for reclaiming land might make some of us rich.
Myself, for instance. I owned but a few acres of tillable land, but owned by grant more than two square miles of fen. Once drained, such rich land would make me wealthy.
Yet I was now a fugitive. Had my case come to trial it might possibly have turned out well for me. Occasionally a commoner won such a case, but the occasions were too rare to make me confident. I had the thought that it would never come to court, for the hand of Rupert Genester could reach even into prison to kill me, easily.
For some time I rowed until Jublain asked impatiently, "Are you lost, man? You are rowing in circles."
"Almost a circle," I agreed cheerfully, "but not lost."
Fog lay thick down the tips of the blades of grass. No movement was in the water, no sound but the chunk of my oars in the
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