The King of Thieves: (42 page)

But then he realised that the dampness was not blood, it was wine from his skin. He felt the hot despair return. Would he
never
die
? Was he doomed to a long, solitary life? Must he continue to exist without the solace of any woman he could trust? Life without
his Maria was nothing.

The red, raw wrathful frenzy took him over at last, and he lifted his fist.

Hélias watched as the man stared at his breast. She thought he looked strangely magnificent. True, he was small and scrawny,
like so many who had starved, but he had some dignity. Even her men seemed a little overawed by him as he slowly stared down
his body, and then his head snapped up again, suddenly gaving a hoarse bellow of pure ferocity, like a bear baited by the
hounds.

Jacquot tried to punch, but he was too late. Michel moved in, his club swinging, and she saw little Petit André lift his hatchet,
saw the flashing of blades rising and falling, then the boots swinging as Jacquot collapsed. A few moments later there was
nothing except the pattering of boots along the cobbles, as her men fled. That, and the soft, liquid soughing of the last
breaths of the man who lay bleeding to death.

She walked to him. Not out of sympathy. She wanted to spit in his face as he expired, to tell him that this was all because
he had killed a man she had respected – a man she had loved. But she couldn’t.

Because as she looked down at him, all she could see in his eyes was a kind of gratitude as his soul left his body to go and
greet his family.

It was a look that made her envious.

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Saturday, 7 September 1303

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Monday, 9 September 1303

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Monday, 15 July 1325

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Thursday, 15 August 1325

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Thursday, 29 August 1325

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Wednesday, 17 July 1325

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Thursday, 18 July 1325

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Saturday, 20 July 1325

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Wednesday, 24 July 1325

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Saturday, 3 August 1325

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Tuesday, 13 August 1325

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Thursday, 29 August 1325

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Saturday, 31 August 1325

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See
Prophecy of Death
by Michael Jecks

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Monday, 2 September 1325

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Wednesday, 4 September 1325

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Thursday, 5 September 1325

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Saturday, 7 September 1325

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Monday, 9 September 1325

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Tuesday, 10 September 1325

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Thursday, 12 September 1325

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Visitation – 2 July

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Tuesday, 17 September 1325

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Wednesday, 18 September 1325

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Tuesday, 24 September 1325

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Wednesday, 25 September 1325

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Thursday, 26 September 1325

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Friday, 27 September 1325

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Saturday, 28 September 1325

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Sunday, 29 September 1325

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Monday, 30 September 1325

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Wednesday, 2 October 1325

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Thursday, 3 October 1325

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Friday, 4 October 1325

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Saturday, 5 October 1325

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Monday, 7 October 1325

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Tuesday, 8 October 1325

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Tuesday, 8 October 1325

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Wednesday, 9 October 1325

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Thursday, 10 October 1325

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Friday, 11 October 1325