Race of Scorpions - Dorothy Dunnett [112]
Riding beside the white beach, with the low sun on his right, Tobie found himself watching Nicholas and the girl racing in front, her gilt hair flown aloft like a pennant. The flogging pigtails of Guinevere raised dust from his shoulders, and his earrings jangled like buckets. Primaflora, holding him fast, was speaking into his ear. Over Tobie’s shoulder, Katelina was speaking as well. She said, ‘Can’t you ride faster? I’m supposed to help find the way.’ If she wanted to eavesdrop on Nicholas, Tobie had no objection. He moved up to ride beside Guinevere’s fluttering girdle and sleeves. Primaflora smiled at him sweetly, and stopped speaking immediately. She was an amazingly beautiful woman.
They left the sea, and the ride became much more unpleasant. There was a blustering wind from the north, and splattered mud dashed in their faces. Other men joined them, and before they had gone very far, one or two of the Knights came up quickly. One of them, Scougal, was a Scottish Hospitaller whom Tobie knew. Tobie said, as they rode, ‘What do you think has happened?’
The Knight heard him, but threw an uneasy glance at Katelina. She said, ‘You might as well tell us. I’ve heard the party’s dogs came back, injured, but the horses haven’t been found?’
The Knight said, ‘The gentleman and his son seem to have been deliberately sent where riding is difficult. They had with them two guides who have disappeared too. And if they found their way to the shore from the mountains, they might have run into a raiding party. Without guides, it is a dangerous island.’
‘A raiding party. Of Turks?’ Tobie asked. He was taken aback.
The Knight said, ‘You haven’t seen the burned houses and ruined fields by the shore? The coast of Asia Minor is only seven miles away. The pirates make a quick landing, and pillage and destroy what they can. If someone wished the demoiselle’s family ill, it wouldn’t be hard to snatch them and hold them to ransom. I hear Tristão Vasquez is highly valued. And Muslims esteem handsome boys.’
Tobie said, ‘That’s enough. They’re more than likely just wandering lost on the hills.’
But it was Astorre, not far away, who shook his head. ‘Rhodes is a small place. The first search party must have used dogs. If they didn’t find them, they’re either hurt, or concealed, or off the island.’
Guinevere removed a hank of hair from his teeth. ‘If I were a Turk, I doubt if I’d have heard of the Vasquez. If they were deliberately cut off, it wasn’t the work of a chance raiding party. Demoiselle? Who had a grudge against the Senhor and his son?’
‘You,’ she said. ‘And your men.’
‘But we were kept inside the City. So, business rivals? Who else?’
‘No one else,’ she said. Her knuckles bruised Tobie’s back.
‘That you know of. How were the dogs injured? Did the page say?’
‘He didn’t. They’ll be at Trianda: the stronghold; the monastery. The Knights are sending a servant to guide us. You could have paid someone to do it,’ said Katelina.
‘I could have paid someone to do it on shipboard, but I didn’t,’ Nicholas said. He didn’t sound frivolous, and the earrings looked less a conceit than an irrelevance. Ahead, Tobie saw the wooded height which must be Mount Phileremos with the fortress, the ruins, the monastery on its crown. A group of men, emerging from trees, was running towards them. Among them, leading them, was a hulking black figure he recognised. Tobie slackened his knees, and felt the weight shift behind as Simon’s wife peered round his shoulder.
Katelina van Borselen turned towards Nicholas. ‘I know that black man. He’s your servant.’
Tobie opened his