Gemini - Dorothy Dunnett [387]
Adorne was in the Priory parlour, with Katelinje Sersanders and de Fleury. He looked calm. ‘Prospero. We are receiving word of a cavalry skirmish not far off. They have found trampled snow and some blood, and tracks that seem to point to Dunbar. Now our lookout tells us that two armed horsemen are coming this way. Crackbene has taken men to intercept them. We should know soon who they are.’
‘Sooner than soon,’ said the young woman. ‘Jordan is up on the roof, and I suspect Rankin is trying to join him.’
‘Sooner than soon indeed,’ de Fleury said.
The door burst open upon his son, streaked with peat-soot. His son exclaimed, ‘Father! It’s Master Julius, covered in blood; and Monseigneur de St Pol of Kilmirren is riding beside him!’
‘Ah,’ said de Fleury. The girl looked at him, but he was gazing at Adorne. De Fleury said, ‘It sounds as if they’re in trouble. How fortunate that we are still here to help them.’
• • •
FAMILIAR WITH THE detritus of battle, the nuns were not shocked, but dealt efficiently with the wounds of the handsome man with the slanting eyes and pleased smile, by name Master Julius. He was in better shape in some ways than the lord of Kilmirren who, though unhurt, was not of the age or the build for strenuous skirmishes. He had been on his way to the Priory with a troop led by Lord Home’s own grandson, he said, when they had been attacked by a superior force from Dunbar. Master Julius (a lawyer) had been travelling with the Homes for security, and managed to get himself and the old man away. The rest had been captured.
‘Really?’ said M. de Fleury, who had lain in contented repose in the window-seat ever since the two gentlemen were brought in. ‘Couldn’t you save them, too, Julius? You mean Alex Home is now back in Dunbar, a prisoner of his own former master, and facing all those men he threw over when he crossed to the King? That was unkind.’
‘I felt unkind,’ said the lawyer. He was testing his arm-sling and smiling. ‘I think, like you, that he had a hand in what happened at Lauder. Anyway, it’s over. Reverend Mother, Sisters, how can I thank you?’
The ladies withdrew, with reluctance, leaving the gentlemen to their affairs. Some expected the demoiselle to depart also, but she remained by her uncle, who had seated himself beside the fat lord. The old man, almost recovered, was staring at M. de Fleury, who gazed tranquilly back. M. de Fleury said, ‘I hope you thanked Julius. You threw him out last time you met.’
‘It was a mistake,’ the lord of Kilmirren said.
The door closed. Inside, no one spoke for a moment. Then Anselm Adorne said, ‘We are glad to see you both safe, but perhaps we ought to be quick. My lord, why were the Homes coming here? Do you know?’
Kilmirren stirred. In his mid-seventies, he no longer wore armour. His only protection today had been a jerkin of leather beneath his jacket and cloak, and a helm on his head, which he had taken off, leaving a strapped cap beneath, set into the descending cataract of his jowls. His dress was stained, and his chest rose and fell still with hard breathing. Julius, encountered by chance, was dressed more for hunting than battle, and his sword-cuts were all on his arm.
Kilmirren said, ‘Fortunately, I can tell you all that Home could. Albany is renewing his service to England. Avandale suggests you go to Whitekirk tomorrow, but the chances of an agreement are slighter than they once were.’
He expounded, with concision. It came to Kathi that she had often heard his voice raised in mockery,