Pawn in Frankincense - Dorothy Dunnett [104]
Her face red, Philippa said, ‘I’m not bringing him back to anything. I’m taking him away from something.’ And again, Míkál said only, ‘From what?’
‘From the life you’ve described. From being a scholar, and also a page to the Sultan. From dying rich, and dying without kinsmen. From distorting in Islam a temperament shaped for Western philosophies. From wielding a power that may bring him face to face on a battle-plain with his own flesh and blood.… Míkál, will they allow me to buy him?’
‘If thou hast money enough, go to the Commissaries who accompany the levy and make thy wish known. If they are already in Stamboul, then——’ He broke off as Philippa jumped to her feet.
‘The Subject! Of course. Archie, that’s what the message meant. The Subject is at Djerba. Who else is Gabriel tracking so carefully but Mr Crawford! So the Object——’
‘… is the baby,’ said Archie.
‘The Object goes to Stamboul,’ quoted Philippa exultantly. ‘It fits!’ She frowned. ‘But if Gabriel is already intriguing with Turkey, he’ll make sure that they don’t sell the baby to Lymond. We ought to get it back now, before it gets to Stamboul; before Gabriel even knows that we’ve found it. With Mr Crawford chasing false clues all over North Africa, of course Gabriel’s suspicions will be lulled. Think of it,’ said Philippa gloatingly. ‘We let Signor Donati, without suspecting anything, supply another bill of lading in place of the missing one, secret writing and all. Mr Wurmit—you will, won’t you?—travels on the same ship to Malta, sees the Grand Master and exposes Gabriel’s collusion with Turkey. Gabriel is finished, and Leone Strozzi’s expedition to Zuara is a howling success. Meanwhile,’ said Philippa dreamily, ‘Archie and I follow the children, find and pay for our yellow-haired bullock and bear him home to his father on elephants. Paeans, circuses.’
There was silence. Then Archie Abernethy cleared his throat briefly. ‘You’ve overlooked a wee something,’ he observed. ‘If Mr Crawford’s a prisoner on Djerba, it’s on Gabriel’s orders. If anything happens to Graham Malett, Mr Crawford’ll no Uve long after it Man, they’ll fill him with stuffing and bread him. He’s got to get out of Djerba beforehand. Moreover——’
‘Moreover, I’m no blate about going to Malta,’ said Sheemy Wurmit comfortably, ‘but the way winds are, I might well get there two weeks too late. There’s no date set for this attack on Zuara. It might be over, for all you and I ken.’
Philippa’s bony jaw squared. ‘I see,’ said the heir to the Somervilles. ‘It’s the good old freemasonry of gentlemen squires. You want to go straight to Djerba, get Lymond out, and sprint off to Zuara to save the Knights and make leched beef of Blue Panache in person. You’ve forgotten one thing. If Gabriel dies, the child dies. If you go, how do I get to that party of children?’
‘I take you,’ said the Pilgrim of Love. Reclined with grace on a mattress beside them, he had faded from their attention, occupied with planning and argument. Now, as he stirred, the lamplight fell on his graceful limbs and his angular, open-eyed face, and the little bells whispered. ‘In a place known as Usküb, in north-west Macedonia, the children are gathered. They will not have reached Stamboul yet. I shall take you to them, I and my friends. You will be safe. But it means you entrust yourself and your money to me. You are not prepared to do that.’
Philippa considered him. A plain child, her thin face weathered to the colour of good oxblood hide; her hair reduced to mud-coloured thatch by the sun and her hard-worn, voluminous skirts not only grimy but distinctly frayed round the hemlines, she was unequivocably nobody’s moppet. She said, ‘I think I trust you. But Mr Abernethy has more experience of the world than I have. Archie?’
Archie Abernethy drew a deep breath and, from the bottom of what was indeed a profound experience of men and animals, drew of his knowledge of both. ‘Your name is Míkál,’ he said. ‘And you