Disorderly Knights - Dorothy Dunnett [85]
‘Forgive me,’ said Lymond. ‘I thought that when you ran crying with your troubles to Mother Church, they put you under oath to fight. I run risks to improve my lot in this life; you to ensure your comforts in the next. You are under orders; I am not. The Turk worships and kills just as you do: what offends you in him?’
Just in time, Gabriel said ‘Jerott!’ and added less urgently, ‘I invited you to air your anger, not to resort to force.’ And to Lymond, a smile in his eyes, ‘You love malice, do you not, and to trifle with blasphemy? Most of us came to the Order for an unworthy cause. Jerott lost a bride; you need not remind him. I’—he hesitated—‘had a power I was reluctant to use in case I became led astray. Some, like Strozzi, came I believe to train in the finest school in the world out of personal ambition. But when you say the Order should die, you are not thinking of that, or of the poor, silly leadership we have, or of our human frailties. You are not thinking of Galatian de Césel or Juan de Homedès, but of the weapon we make.’
‘Against the Turk? He would like the whole world Turkish,’ said Jerott. At Gabriel’s reproach he had flushed. ‘Can’t you see our muézzins climbing St Giles’s steeple five times a day: Allâhu ákbar! Lâ ilâha Allâh! Lâ ilâha ílla’llâh!’
Determinedly patient Graham Malett’s voice cut off the warble. ‘Consider that, unlike us, Francis has come fresh from Europe, and you will see. The struggle for power in Europe and Asia is being fought between four powers—England, France, Turkey and the Empire. This Order serves God. It also serves per se any power which for reasons good or evil wishes to destroy the allies of Turkey. Juan de Homedès is Spanish. He fears for the Order’s possession of Malta, so he supports the Empire in her war against Turkey’s ally France, Christian nation against Christian nation. We drive the Turk out of Bône not because we wish it, but because the Emperor chooses it, and we bring down on ourselves, not on Charles, the vengeance of Suleiman.’
‘Thus, note, playing into the hands of the King of France,’ said Lymond cheerfully. ‘Because the Order, being badly led, badly organized and thoroughly demoralized, cannot defend itself let alone Tripoli, and has forced the Emperor to lock up half his sea and land forces in southern Italy and Sicily to protect the Emperor’s lands from a possible break-through by the Turks, once Malta is overthrown. Since he is also being held in north Italy by France, attacked in Germany by the Duke of Guise and at war with Turkey in Hungary, the failure of the Order in the Mediterranean is about the best thing that the Kingdom of France ever witnessed. You are now what every sect potentially becomes when it loses leadership,’ said Lymond calmly. ‘A tool.’
‘So we allow the Osmanlis to sweep the world,’ said Jerott Blyth, his eyes bright.
‘You either get out, and let the so-called Christian nations, instead of cutting each other’s throats, unite and destroy the religion they all oppose; or you make yourselves so strong that you can dictate your own terms.’
‘Under Juan de Homedès?’ said Gabriel. His eyes had for a long time, never left Lymond’s.
‘No. Nor under Graham Malett,’ Lymond said.
The blood, spreading under the golden skin, over the royal bones, stained Gabriel’s face, as few people had ever witnessed it. Through it, Gabriel smiled steadily still, unaware of Jerott’s hard fists at his side. ‘You are hard,’ he said. ‘Who, then?’
‘Until Juan de Homedès dies, no one,’ said Lymond. ‘After that, the list surely is very short. De Villegagnon is a born soldier and seaman but not truly a man of God, I think. Strozzi is strong but ambitious, with a personal vengeance to fulfil. Romegas is resourceful and gallant but without great personal power. Which leaves—’
‘La Valette. I thought you had hardly spoken to him,’ said Sir Graham. His colour was still high.
‘I have heard of him from every knight I could reach,’ said Lymond. ‘It is sometimes better than meeting the man himself.