Gemini - Dorothy Dunnett [115]
Behind her, Nicholas gave a half-laugh, and her heart eased. He said, ‘That’s marriage for you. I’m sorry. Begin again. What was the matter?’
‘Tell her to go,’ Henry said.
‘She’s bringing the wine,’ Nicholas said. ‘And I’ll only have to repeat it all anyway. Is it Mar?’ Gelis reappeared.
‘Mar!’ said Henry. ‘Why should I come to some failed out-of-work mercenary for advice about Johndie Mar? No. I want back the horses you stole from me. With three more, to compensate for my trouble. And if you don’t tell me where they are now, I’ll get that woman under me the way that my father did.’ He had his sword in his hand. Nicholas started slowly to move, and then stopped.
‘Well, about time,’ Gelis said. Lowrie, entering with a tray, laid it down, caught Nicholas’s eye and left. She said, ‘Sit down, both of you. You can’t drink, Henry, with a sword in your hand. Why on earth should your uncle steal horses? Nicholas, if you don’t sit, I shall take Henry at his word and carry him off to the bedroom. And that will frighten him silly.’
Nicholas started to laugh, and did sit. Henry reddened. Gelis walked across with a cup and stood before him. His jaw was set, and his lashes were as long as a woman’s. She said, ‘I heard how you bought Nicholas’s horses. It was a trick, but it was legitimate. If they’re stolen, I suppose you might at once think of him. But why should he do it? If he didn’t complain then, and he didn’t, why should he invite trouble now? You were bound to want redress. The theft was bound to come to light.’ She paused. ‘You have his groom, haven’t you? What does he say?’
‘He’s off sick,’ said Henry. ‘But I’m told that if I make you come with me to Eck Scougal, I’ll find the horses all right.’ He looked down at his wine, and suddenly drank some.
‘Deliberately placed there?’ Nicholas said, half to himself and half to Gelis. ‘No. Eck would never allow it. In any case, the horses don’t matter: someone will have locked them up somewhere and we may or may not find them again. It was all just to get you to call on me, and hope that youth would prevail over a failed out-of-work mercenary.’
‘You were meant to fight one another?’ Gelis said. It was hard work.
‘I suppose so. Henry, who told you I’d taken the horses?’
The boy set down the cup. ‘No one. I still think that you did.’
‘All right,’ Nicholas said. ‘Then you make a proper complaint, and the Lords in Council will conduct the enquiry. We’ll go now.’
‘I’m afraid,’ Gelis said, ‘that something else is going to happen.’ Her voice trembled. ‘Henry, did you say something about a squad of armed men?’ She could see them through the panes of the window. Lowrie was outside, expostulating once more. She looked at Nicholas, who had very seriously poured himself a second cup of the extremely strong wine. She knew how he felt.
Henry said, ‘I didn’t tell anyone to come.’ He stood up.
The door crashed back on its hinges. A man, rather more heavily armed than Henry and considerably older, stood on the threshold. ‘Ser Nicholas de Fleury of Bruges? I have an order from the Reverend Abbot of Blackfriars to take and place you in detention forthwith.’
‘Why?’ said Nicholas, rising.
‘It isn’t horses?’ said Gelis. ‘I can see horses outside.’
‘Is it horses?’ said Nicholas. Henry’s head turned from one to the other.
The armed man said, ‘These are horses, yes. They brought us. We are to escort you to Blackfriars.’
‘But the horses came from Kilmirren,’ Gelis said.
The man was becoming impatient. ‘They are from the stables at Blackfriars. I do not know where they belong.’
‘Henry?’ Nicholas said. ‘Could the Abbot have stolen your horses?’
There was a moment’s pause. Then Henry said, ‘By mistake, of course. But it’s always possible. Could I see them?’
‘Could he see them?’ said