Scales of Gold - Dorothy Dunnett [152]
He wore a half-suit of armour, and there were fifteen armed men in mail at his back. Bel of Cuthilgurdy dropped a slight curtsey and Gelis, when prodded, did likewise. Dear oh dear, thought Mistress Bel. Dear oh dear, shellfish.
No one spoke. Jorge looked like a killer snake faced with another. Nicholas, his face bland as a pat of butter, said, ‘Signor Doria, you may always be sure of entertaining us. And, of course, may be further assured we shall cause you no trouble. Senhor da Silves, gentlemen, no trouble, d’you hear?’
The last words, spoken as quietly as the first, were in Portuguese; and as he said them he walked slowly forward, blocking Bel’s view. She realised why he was blocking her view, and felt queasy.
‘That is wise,’ said Doria. ‘The ladies may sit. There are mats. Did you receive some refreshments? I have sent for more. Messer Niccolò, you will remove your cloak very slowly and unbuckle and drop whatever weapons you carry below it. Senhor da Silves the same; and then all the rest of you. Then they will be collected, and you will be searched. As you see, there are fifteen crossbows trained upon you.’
Nicholas said, ‘No, padre.’
‘But yes,’ said Godscalc, walking up to Doria and dumping a box before him. Bel wondered, not for the first time, why he had chosen the Church, and not made use of his build, his ability, his muddled belligerence to serve as a happy warrior in some freebooting troop. And Doria, with his firm, meaty face and machicolated teeth, looked less the Caesar than the hard-headed trader he probably was. But the sword at his side was real enough.
Godscalc opened the box. ‘Perhaps you wish to search that for arms? I came here to celebrate Mass before the black heathen. Why are you, a Christian, preventing it?’
‘Why did your friends, supposedly Christian, fire on the Fortado?’ said Doria. ‘And from the stolen ship of my dead cousin? Why did you cheat and lie at the Senagana, employing even your ladies to rob us of trade? I brought you here; there is no question of Mass – the King has his own mumbo-jumbo and would not listen. I brought you here because I wished to express my disappointment. And you will agree that I have not been unduly cautious. You come oddly prepared for the sacrament.’
‘I knew nothing of this,’ said Father Godscalc. The hidden arms, rattling down, formed a buckled pile at the feet of every man from the Niccolò with the exception of Saloum and Ahmad. Nicholas, if not bearing the forecastle mortar, had been fortified with a small Turkish bow and a quiver and a very handy short sword, all now in an untidy heap slightly behind him. Three of Doria’s searchers began to move forward.
‘Goats,’ said Nicholas shortly, in Flemish.
Behind him, plump on the floor beside Gelis, Bel stared at his back. Behind him, the previous occupants of the compound, uneasily cornered, sniffed the foreign smells and eyed the butchers’ knives on the ground. The leader, a great beast with curled horns, suddenly squealed at the top of his voice, leaped straight into the roof, and then bolted. Gelis withdrew her pin. The rest followed.
Dust rose. The heaps of arms tumbled with the vibration. Bel braced herself for attack: for the clash of swords and the thud of arrows as Nicholas and the rest snatched their weapons.
They did not snatch their weapons. Nothing happened because Doria’s crossbowmen stood firm, their bows already stretched, their barbs levelled. A charge by Nicholas, whatever its outcome, would have cost the lives of some of his party. And Nicholas had preferred not to make it.
The three soldiers, stepping forward, resumed their uplift of arms. Hemp was brought, in great coils. The seamen were tied hand and foot. Nothing had happened, except that Doria’s men, now cackling, had been given a fright. Nothing, except that Gelis, she saw, now had two knives inside her chemise and a quiver lodged between that and her tunic. And the object she was thrusting towards Bel was a bow.
As it chanced, Bel had already come well provided with helpful objects matched to her contours and headgear. Reassembled,