Scales of Gold - Dorothy Dunnett [161]
Gelis had been asleep, lulled by the warmth of the fire and the knowledge that sentries had been posted. Waking suddenly she saw that Bel, too, had recoiled from the three grotesque, firelit faces suspended above them. Nicholas let himself down, his hose ripped, his shirt tattered. ‘It’s us. It’s all right,’ he said. ‘Doria’s gone, and if Bati’s men were going to attack us by night, they’d have done so. But I want to get away before morning. What do you want to do? If you wish to come with me, you can. Or you can wait for four months on the Niccolò. I’m not sending her north to risk losing her.’
‘No, why should you?’ said Gelis. ‘How do you know Doria has gone?’ Her gown, although weak at the seams, was reasonably intact, and her hair had kept most of its pleating. Her muscles had stiffened.
‘Ahmad went back to the hut,’ Diniz said. ‘He reads footprints. Can you imagine it? Doria just abandoned his dead and disabled. Ahmad says six survivors have gone off downriver as if to board the Fortado, and four, including Doria, went east. We think they’ve gone to join the pinnace with Lopez, and get ahead as fast as they can to the gold mines. Nicholas says they’ll sail day and night, but Lopez will try to delay them.’
‘How trusting of Nicholas,’ said Gelis. ‘But even so, can a bark canoe catch a pinnace? Doria has a long start.’
‘I know. We had to refloat the ship,’ Nicholas said. ‘We’ll catch Doria on land, I should think. Do you want to go or stay?’
Bel cleared her throat. She said, ‘It isna a matter of Ethiopia any more, is that right? The gold mines come first.’
‘Lopez comes first,’ Nicholas said. ‘And speed is everything. Anyone sick will have to be left until later. I’d prefer to take a fast party myself, but as a group we’re safer together.’
‘Until we catch up with Doria,’ Gelis said. ‘How many men will he have? Since we seem to be embroiled in your war?’
Tonight, nothing really came near provoking him. He said, ‘Melchiorre saw three men in the pinnace. By now, Doria will have added himself and three more.’
‘And Lopez,’ Gelis said. ‘Eight. And your party?’
‘So far thirteen,’ Nicholas said. ‘Jorge of course, and seven crewmen, including Filipe. Saloum will come with me, and Vito and Manoli; and Diniz I think has decided. The padre is still consulting his conscience.’
‘Two-thirds of your strength. I should have guessed,’ Gelis said. ‘Leaving an altruistic eight on the Niccolò, either too sick or too high-minded for gold-hunting. Plus, you are suggesting, Bel and myself?’
Nicholas said, ‘Our caravel has no cargo to rob, and if you stayed, Gnumi Mansa would attempt to protect you. The Fortado is full, so, unlike us, Doria has had to leave the bulk of his seamen to guard it. Both ships could sail if they had to.’
‘If no one comes back,’ Godscalc said. It was the first time he had spoken. He had probably been making his opinions known, Gelis thought, all the time he and Nicholas were shifting the Niccolò.
‘Padre?’ said Bel. ‘Are ye for going?’
‘I have been invited,’ said Godscalc. ‘It has been made clear that I shall find no Christians, since no Christians have ever come here. And that, should I pause to offer my doctrine to the princes of Guinea, I shall be left behind.’ Brawny, filthy, half-naked, he spoke with precision.
‘Until we find Lopez,’ said Nicholas.
‘And Doria,’ said Godscalc. ‘I assume you will now kill Doria; unless he pre-empts you. But eight against fourteen, he can have little hope.’
‘Fourteen? You are coming?’ said Nicholas. ‘And the ladies?’
‘Answer first,’ Gelis said. ‘What will you do to Doria?’
‘In detail?’ said Nicholas. ‘It rather depends on what he has done to Lopez.’
‘So we’re coming,’ said Bel. ‘Sixteen against eight. Against seven, if we’re lucky. And all the heathens and wild beasts of Africa.’
‘Good. I have to go,’ Nicholas said. ‘We have a canoe. We should leave in an hour. Listen to Diniz. He will give you your orders.’
They launched the great hollow bark an hour later, and scrambled aboard,