Gemini - Dorothy Dunnett [299]
The stables were buildings of splendour, and led to the kennels, and the mews. ‘You must come hunting one day,’ the Preceptor said. ‘Once this Albany nonsense is over.’ Outside, he wore his black robe with the spectacular cross. The great dog at his side nudged against him and he lifted his eyes. A groom, instantly responsive, whistled the animal off.
John le Grant said, ‘Where have I heard that whistle before?’
‘Probably at Blackness,’ the Preceptor said. ‘The Keepers get their dogs here. Lord Cortachy was asking the same. It’s something to remember, I suppose. A Torphichen hound will only respond to one call, and will always remember its master.’
They had reached a gate, at which he turned gravely. ‘I am very pleased that you came to the Preceptory. We have been under the same roof often enough, but it is not until you meet a man in his setting that you know him. Give my regards to our mutual seagoing friends. I hope we shall find our ships in the water next year, and for trading, not fighting.’
‘I hope so, too,’ Nicholas said. John remained polite, also, until they were out of earshot.
Nicholas listened, with half an ear, until they were both on the road. Then he said, ‘I thought you admired him for his cheek.’
‘I’d admire him more if he shed the daft accent. Aberdeen! That’s a man with Norman roots if ever I saw one.’
‘I dare say,’ Nicholas said. ‘But you know how they interbreed with the natives. His grandfather was sheriff of Berwick. The Order’s vessels load there. Their hide and salmon would come equally custom-free under the English.’
‘I know,’ said John, calming. ‘All frontier merchants face every way, and he may do the same. But he doesn’t like Archibald Angus, that I’d swear. And he likes Jamie Liddell’s land in the Mearns a good deal more than he likes Jamie Liddell. I heard that from Julius. Julius thinks Knollys has Liddell watched. And what was that about Davie Simpson?’
‘They were on opposite sides, he and Knollys. Simpson set the Newbattle traders against him.’
‘And Adorne?’ the engineer said. ‘I’ve come to like the man well, but one of his sons is a Knight of St John, and there’s always the thought that the Preceptor might have Adorne in his pocket. They were both lords in Council, remember.’
‘The Preceptor still is,’ Nicholas said. ‘But if he sponsored Adorne, he didn’t appear at his induction. I think Adorne is treading carefully. He does have friends with the Knights, and wants to keep the Pope’s favour: he’s in the middle of juggling Aberdeen prebends again for his sons. But I don’t think he’s in anyone’s pocket.’
‘I’d like to think that,’ said John. ‘Anyway, for what today’s sounding is worth, I doubt if Knollys will risk backing Albany. Scotland’s his personal milch-cow and it’s giving him all that he wants.’ He paused. ‘At the same time, it would do his character no harm to be faced with a hint of a threat now and then, such as just now. You’re a real treat to listen to, Nicol. And so smooth! Where did you learn it?’
‘Tommaso Portinari,’ Nicholas said. ‘It was before your time. The greatest courtier of the age.’
‘The Medici manager? But—’ began John.
‘I know,’ said Nicholas. ‘Married a girl thirty years younger than himself and went bankrupt. He kept getting painted.’
‘What colour?’ said John. Coming up to a war, John was never gloomy for long.
THAT SAME APRIL, 1482, Alexander, Duke of Albany, brother of the Scots King James, Third of the Name, left France for Southampton in a Scots caravel captained by one Jamie Douglas, and by the fourth day of May was quietly lodged with his servants at the Hospice of the Herber, Thames Street, London, at the King of England’s expense. The King of England had already, at Easter, raised an army of twenty thousand armed men against Scotland, to march north under the Duke of Gloucester his brother. An additional seventeen hundred men were to follow.
On the tenth day of May, King Edward ordered his army to prepare to march north, at fourteen days’ notice.