Race of Scorpions - Dorothy Dunnett [116]
Nicholas rose slowly, and spoke as if thinking aloud. ‘He had drawn his sword. He may have been defending the boy. When he died, the boy may have fled.’ He turned his head suddenly.
Primaflora said, ‘I heard it, too.’ She urged her horse forward, and the smoke from her torch veiled her hair. ‘The killers may be still here, under the cliff, in the bushes.’
The soldier said, ‘Then that’s easily dealt with,’ and drew back his arm with the torch in it.
Nicholas grasped his shoulder. His face, streaked with mud and speckled with soot, seemed merely watchful. ‘I shouldn’t do that. The negro’s gone over there, and he doesn’t show up in the dark. Tobie?’
But Tobie had already started to run to the cliff, feeling for his sword hilt with slippery hands. He could hear Nicholas following. Nicholas said, ‘Lopez? Are you listening? Be careful. Tobie, don’t draw your sword. Astorre, stay with the women, and you, sir. Lopez!’ His voice on the one word was raucous.
Echoing, the negro’s voice answered him. ‘There’s a cave, senhor. There’s someone in it. Ah! I have got you!’
Someone screamed inside the cave. Nicholas said something wildly and shouldered past Tobie, whose torch lit only glistening cliff face and boulders. Then he saw the dark entrance and Nicholas disappearing into it, so that the mud of its ceiling turned rosy. He dashed to follow.
It was not a large cavity, but formed a passage of reasonable length, scoured by flood water and ejected boulders. At the far end a light silhouetted the curled head and broad shoulders of Loppe, crouched over something. He said in Portuguese, ‘Senhor, we are friends. The Knights have been looking for you. Your aunt the lady Katelina is outside. Are you hurt?’
The boy. Not his killer, but the boy himself. His neck bent, Tobie scrambled further in. His hair sizzled, and he laid down his torch. Nicholas, ahead of him, had come to a halt and was not advancing. Beyond him, he could see nothing for Loppe’s bulk, although he could hear the murmur of voices. He said, ‘Let me past. Is he hurt?’
‘No,’ said Nicholas. ‘A sprained ankle. They shot at them both from above, and thought he’d run off when they came down to check. Four, he says.’
The boy’s voice, raised, said, ‘That is Senhor Niccolò.’
Loppe turned, giving Tobie a view. Diniz lay rigid on the rock floor, his mask of mud streaked by his tears. Loppe said, ‘He led the party that came to find you. And here is Master Tobie, his doctor, to help you.’
Tobie pushed forward. The boy did not move. He said, ‘My father is dead.’ His eyes were on Nicholas.
Nicholas said, ‘A nobleman’s death. I want to find who killed him.’
‘Why?’ said Diniz.
‘Why should they live?’ Nicholas said.
The boy was in shock. Tobie passed his hands over the swollen ankle and then leaned back. The boy said, ‘They are still close at hand. Two of them. Two others took fright and fled.’ He gulped and said, ‘There are snakes here. In the cave, and outside. My father trod on one. He cried out. The men heard him, and killed him.’
Nicholas said, ‘They are still looking for you? What do they –’
He didn’t finish, because of the scream outside the cave. The boy sobbed. Loppe turned round. Nicholas said, ‘Stay there,’ and without his torch edged round and flung himself towards the cave entrance. Disobeying instantly, Tobie followed.
Katelina lay collapsed on the ground by the dead man. Rising beside her was Captain Astorre, a blur of silver and white. The torches had been extinguished. Primaflora said, ‘They shot her. From above the waterfall.’ Her voice was quite out of its normal pitch. A horse trampled and Tobie caught sight of the soldier from the Palace, one foot in his stirrup.
Nicholas said to him, ‘No. Stay.’ He was bending over Katelina. Astorre said, ‘She’s all right. I pushed her. The arrow went through her cloak. What do you mean, stay? They’re up there, the murdering villains.’
‘I meant, our friend should stay with Lopez