Disorderly Knights - Dorothy Dunnett [288]
‘Yes.’ Lymond laid down the pen with care. ‘At Martinmas I kill my swine, and at Christmas I drink red wine. An act of rather less than Christian charity. But war on the infidel is the Order’s prime rule, isn’t it, Jerott?’
‘So also is chastity,’ said Jerott, his strong voice blanched still with distress. He took a deep breath and added, ‘I have come to tell you that I am rejoining Sir Graham at St Mary’s.’
Under the candle flame, brightening as the hills outside dimmed towards night, Lymond’s hands moved slowly together and united, with great care. When he looked up his underlit lashes starred his face with spiked shadow, like a doll’s. ‘No, Jerott,’ he said. ‘Some of us might deceive Gabriel; but you, never.’
From his rare advantage of height, Jerott Blyth stared down at the seated man. ‘Yes, of course, that’s what you would think,’ he said. ‘That I was proposing to spy for you.’
The hands in the candlelight lay still. Lymond said, ‘Surely there are only two intelligent reasons for returning to Gabriel now. One is to spy for me. The other is to betray me. I assumed you would hardly visit me in the latter case to tell me so.’
Jerott Blyth’s black brows were straight above his shadowed eyes, and his lips pressed together before he answered at last. ‘My reason is not an intelligent one. I have seen what intelligence can do.’
‘Ah, yes,’ said the pleasant voice. ‘My heart mourneth sore of the death of her; for she was a passing fair lady, and a young. Also a cold-blooded little trollop. Desert me, Chevalier, because I dodged, but for God’s sake don’t feel called upon to wash the stains from the murderer’s hand.’
‘For God’s sake,’ said Jerott Blyth, ‘I am called upon to care for Graham Malett’s impaired soul, not to drive him to further excesses.’ With an effort, he made his voice level. ‘I shall give him no information, naturally, about your whereabouts or plans. And I shall have the hunt for you stopped.’
‘In the teeth of the whole bloody French army, M. l’Ambassadeur du Roi d’Oisel included? Don’t be a raving fool, Jerott,’ said Lymond. ‘It’s out of Gabriel’s hands now, as he meant it to be. Use your brain. This isn’t a giant strayed. It’s a clever and powerful man who can find pleasure in a vast, despotic scheme like this and work towards it secretly for years if necessary. The Order taught him to kill his infidel, and by heaven, he’s using the knowledge on every one of us standing in his way. I’ve great respect for the power of prayer to dislodge devils, but in this instance, I’d prefer to use a hundred pounds or so of round stone shot, at close quarters.’
‘As St Mary’s teaches,’ said Jerott. ‘Really, there isn’t much to choose between you, is there?’ His dark eyes rested on the mess of papers on the bright table. ‘He will hang when you have your evidence, without a thought for all that is great in him. You would have killed him yourself, I know well, except that it wasn’t convenient to martyr him. You didn’t see him in Malta in the great days, preaching, fighting.… His name rang round the Mediterranean.’
‘Before he gave up hope of deposing the Grand Master. So,’ said Lymond, and unclasping his hands, he lifted the table away with a movement of unexpected violence, and got up. ‘As soon as you begin to lead him into the paths of righteousness, he will do one of two things. He will kill you, because of what you obviously know, or he will promptly become converted for exactly as long as it suits him to achieve his object. Either way your respective souls are going to emerge a little dog-eared. You are risking innocent lives to indulge in a quite hopeless piece of missionary work.’
There was no heat in the hut. As the shadows gathered and the candle began to flicker low, Jerott saw his opponent only as a lit shirt-sleeve and long, smooth line of dark hose, leaning back against the tough mud wall, his hands tucked into his trunk-band. Breathing hard, his face flushed, Jerott did not feel the cold. He said, ‘Have you counted how many have lost their lives since you took the great matter of Graham Malett in solitary