Gemini - Dorothy Dunnett [391]
‘So I deduced,’ Adorne said. ‘The gentleman who sent the unflattering message about you to Lochmaben, and who would prefer to see the Duke of Albany on the throne, with English overlords. I am right?’
‘Well enough put,’ said the man. He sat on the desk. He didn’t look crazed, or evil, or personally vindictive. He just looked like a swarthy, unshaven man with a permanent, puzzled frown. He said, ‘It seems better than a mad King with two Burgundian overlords. Others think so as well. I’ve nothing against the Prioress or the Priory. I’ve just come to make sure that neither of you can interfere in this country again.’
‘Interfere?’ said the Prioress. She sounded amused. ‘How can two foreigners of this kind interfere?’
Applegarth glanced down. ‘By manipulating the King,’ he said. ‘That’s what Adorne does. By killing Johndie Mar with magic and poison. That’s what Master Nicol and your Dr Andreas do. And by enchanting Sandy Albany away from his duty tomorrow. But you won’t do that now.’
‘Three against two?’ Adorne observed with mild sarcasm. ‘Impossible odds.’
The man smiled. ‘What do you think that I am? A man with a grudge and six cronies? There are ten more men inside these buildings alone. And if anything happens to me, there are five hundred outside, with orders to enter and burn down the Priory.’
‘Two hundred,’ chided Nicholas. The Prioress pursed her lips. Behind, he heard one of the door-keepers shuffle. ‘And none inside, I’m afraid. You didn’t know about our fifty soldiers? It has been quite an exciting few weeks for the nuns.’
‘Nicholas?’ Adorne said.
The Prioress said, ‘Curb your tongue.’
‘No,’ said Applegarth. ‘Let us hear more. Where are these invisible warriors? You have a lookout, I accept. But you can’t have believed we would be able to walk into the convent. If you have any men, which I doubt, mine will have killed them by now.’
‘How did you walk in?’ Adorne said. ‘Someone climbed over the wall?’
Applegarth smiled. ‘Someone let us in. I told you that others think as I do.’
‘I don’t believe you,’ said Adorne.
‘Would you like to meet him?’ Applegarth said. He raised his voice. ‘Open the door.’
The two guards were still there. One of them brought out his sword, and the other jerked open the door. Mick Crackbene was standing outside it, holding his sword with its point on the floor. The blade was red. He surveyed the room, beginning with Nicholas and Adorne, and ending with Applegarth. He said, ‘I was just coming to tell you. All the bastards are dead but these two.’
Grinning, he lifted his sword. The grin, swinging round, was for Nicholas. The sword was for the first of the doormen, who took it through the chest, just as Nicholas kicked the legs from under the second, and Crackbene dispatched him as well. Adorne made a move to the desk, and then stopped.
‘Very clever,’ said Applegarth from his perch. ‘And do I kill the Prioress now, or will you let me escort her to the gate? I think you should. As I said, unless I appear, my whole force will make themselves very unpleasant. And some of them, I fear, are vigorous men of the land, with primitive urges.’
The Prioress said, ‘And the Duke of Albany is employing men like yourself? It saddens me.’ The knife laid at her throat unflatteringly reflected the wart on her chin. Her expression, of faint distaste, didn’t change, but her eyes had moved from Nicholas to the door, and back again.
Nicholas stirred, in an unthreatening way. He said, ‘I don’t suppose Albany knows that he’s here.’
He had barely got out of the way, when the door swung open quietly. ‘Oh there you are,’ Julius said and, walking forward, cast the knife in his hand straight at Sander Jardine of Applegarth. It sank into his chest. Jardine’s eyes and mouth opened. For a moment, his knife continued to stand against the Prioress’s neck, then it slackened, and Applegarth fell.
Nicholas sprang round the desk. Adorne was already there, between the Prioress and the body. After a moment he rose and turned to care for the Prioress.