You make a rush for the cowled figure, and manage to take him by surprise, slamming him in the stomach with your head and knocking him into the wall. Unfortunately, he manages to slice your side with his knife. Both of you roar with pain, and back a few steps away from each other. All along the hall, doors bang open. Your attacker lashes out at you again; you can feel the air move past your head, too close for comfort.
You make a run for the door, yanking it open and emerging into the dimly lit hallway.
Several of the other visitors are there, and a young lady rushes to your side. "What happened?" she asks, pointing to the quickly reddening gash in your clothing. "Someone is in my room!" you exclaim when you catch your breath. "With a knife." She leans over you, tearing the bottom of her gown and pressing it up against the wound to stop your bleeding. Another man, who you take to be her father, lights a candle and says to the rest of the assembled people "well, let us go in there and apprehend this assassin."
Reluctantly, several other people join him, just as the Baron Ellsworthy appears in his doorway, pulling a cloak about his shoulders. Three people open the door to your cell and you hear them cry out in shock.
"Has he got away?" You ask the lady, but a moment later the reason for their shock is clear as they pull the Prior from your cell.
"Unhand me!" He exclaims indignantly. "First I'm attacked with a knife, and now you are treating me like a common criminal!"
"You tried to kill me!" you cry angrily.
"I did no such thing", the Prior says. He points at you. "You asked me to come to your room with a sleeping draught tonight, because you have been having trouble sleeping lately. How was I to know that you would be waiting there for me with a knife?"
Taken aback, you have no idea what to say for a moment.
The young woman clears her throat, and says to the Prior, "It is not very seemly for a man of the cloth to be in a visitor's room at this time of night. Why did you not bring the sleeping draught earlier, when most of us were on our way to bed?"
He glares at her. "Are you casting aspersions on my character, young lady?" he asks tartly. "And poor me, just trying to help a young soul who purported to be suffering great grief."
"Is there anyone who can say that they knew what you were doing here?" asks the girl's father.
The Prior looks around wildly, and then his eyes settle on Baron Ellsworthy. He smiles. "Why yes, the Baron here was present when this young scamp told me the story of not being able to sleep properly. Fool that I am, I believed it and offered to be of help."
"Is this true?" the father asks the baron.
The baron shakes his head vehemently. "No, it is a complete lie. I don't appreciate this man trying to involve me in whatever he was doing here tonight."
"What?" shrieks the Prior. "You don't think you can get away with this, Ellsworthy! I'll tell them everything I know!"
"Take him away," the Baron says to two of his retainers. "The Abbot can talk to him, and the sheriff can see to him in the morning.
The retainers drag the Prior off, still shouting at the top of his lungs about the wrath of Bjorn. The young lady and her father help you to the infirmary, where you have your wounds dressed, and spend the rest of the night in fitful, painful sleep.
In the morning the Abbot sends for you. His face is very grave and sad. He motions to a chair. "Sit, child" he says heavily.
"It remains of course for the court to decide what happened, but from the Prior's own mouth I have a confession. It seems that our house has done you great wrong. He has told me that he was involved in conspiring to kill your teacher, in order that Baron Ellsworthy might lay hands on a certain treasure map they believed your master to possess. The baron promised to donate a fortune and some lands to our monastery in return for his help. They hired people to do the job, and these people searched the house from top to bottom but didn't find the map. A few days later, you arrived and told the Prior your story. He is, apparently not quite right in his head, and chose to take this as a sign from Bjorn that he was meant for certain to have the map. Believing that you must possess it, he crept into your cell last night with the intention of murdering you and stealing the map. I am deeply sorry."
You stay on at the monastery for a few more weeks, and eventually the baron and the Prior are tried. Both are found guilty. Since the baron is childless and the last of his line, you are offered the lands that he held.