The Ringed Castle - Dorothy Dunnett [11]
Lymond’s eyes turned to him, open. Then changing position, he seated himself, and placed his hands gently on the table before him. ‘Sir will do,’ said Lymond calmly, ‘unless you receive divine witness to the contrary. I thought all our Knights of St John had hastened back for the Grand Master’s election on Malta?’
D’Harcourt answered: a burly, soft-footed man with wrestler’s features and a schoolboy tangle of pale, tightly curled hair. ‘Malta will manage without me. I wished to fight Mohammed in Russia.’
Lymond was watching his fingers. ‘And if the Tsar in his wisdom decides to fight the Lithuanian Christians and not the Koran-worshipping Tartars?’ He looked up.
‘I will fight,’ d’Harcourt said. ‘I am a mercenary, and I fight for the leader who pays best.’
‘So are we all mercenaries,’ Lymond said. ‘I would have you remember that, all of you. There is no precedent for what we are about to do here. We are about to offer this kingdom an army, and there will be no place whatever for anyone’s private crusade.’
‘An army!’ said Alec Guthrie.
‘Can you possibly imagine,’ Lymond said, ‘that I brought you all from France to rush about on demand, killing Tartars?’
‘Eight of us?’ said Adam diffidently.
‘Nine of us,’ Lymond said dryly. ‘To find out what exists, and plan what we want to exist. To create the prototypes, and instruct the instructors. And then to muster and train and equip a national army.’
‘Dealing meanwhile with such aggravation or reaggravation as molesting invaders may offer us,’ said Fergie Hoddim. ‘Yon’s a long business, sir.’
‘Yon’s a lifetime,’ said Danny Hislop. ‘Fergie’s all right. He isn’t married.’
‘Neither are you,’ said Adam sharply.
‘No, but the women are all the right shape for Fergie,’ said Hislop.
‘Then you will have to decide, won’t you,’ said Lymond, ‘between women and money? It will be a stay of five years. Are you prepared for it?’
Guthrie said, ‘Are you staying five years?’ And his blunt, bearded face turned squarely to Lymond’s.
Lymond said, ‘I am not staying anywhere unless we are granted fees on a scale greater than anything we might earn in Europe. That, on your behalf, I can promise. In return, I shall offer the Tsar five years from this spring of our services. After that, you may take your fortune and go.’
‘And you?’ said Guthrie again.
‘You need not, I think concern yourself about me,’ Lymond said, his brows lifted slightly. ‘D’Harcourt!’
‘It was me,’ said Danny Hislop. And as Lymond continued to look at him, he added bright-eyed, ‘I only said you were gorgeous.’
Francis Crawford threw down the card he was holding. ‘The buffoon of the party,’ he said. ‘You have, I am sure, enlivened the long summer evenings round the camp fires. Your men, I am certain, find your quips irresistible and your effrontery something to talk about, slapping their knees with their girl friends. With me, you refrain.’
Danny Hislop, hanging his head, was mouthing a long and inaudible apology. Guthrie half rose to his feet but sank back at a brief glance from Lymond. Lymond said, ‘Since you are still with St Mary’s, I assume your ability is unquestioned and your performance impeccable. It would be a pity to have to take both unsung back to the Bishop. This is a country with no middle degree. Between the top rank, which you will hold, and the bottom rank, which you will be controlling, there is a chasm. If you bridge it this way, you will bring yourself and your friends into ridicule. The proceedings in this room are formal because I intend all our proceedings in Russia to be conducted with the utmost formality. Whatever has been the custom before, in this company we shall use surnames only; and that applies to you all. We are a coterie of foreigners in an old and alien and bigoted society, and to conquer it, we must move away from each other and employ no codes and forget even our language.… What are the defences of Moscow?’ He was looking at Danny.
‘Us,’ said Danny. After a second he added, ‘The walls and the rivers.’ His colour was high.