The Ringed Castle - Dorothy Dunnett [303]
‘Then I must run the risk,’ Lymond said. And, his anger revealing itself only in the coolness of his voice, ‘But you did have the army, Guthrie. Hoddim, Plummer, and a group of first-class Russian captains. The army, the weapons and the money. Were they all powerless against a Lithuanian princeling and a woman?’
‘They were powerless against the Tsar,’ Guthrie said. The red of anger showed also, in his cheeks. ‘Do you think I allowed it to happen, like a sergeant surprised in an alehouse? The Tsar impounded our money and weapons, imprisoned my captains and gave us the choice of fighting under Dmitri Vishnevetsky or leaving the country. We were lucky to get away with our lives.’
‘And Plummer?’ Lymond said.
‘Plummer is already building the Tsar a new summer palace. Plummer has retired from the rude exchanges of the battlefield,’ Alec Guthrie said. ‘He will stay in Russia. We left. We crossed Sweden and Norway to bring the news to you. And when we got to Trondheim, we found the Philip and Mary, wintering there, with all your gold aboard.’
‘Still?’ said Lymond. ‘They will have impounded it.’
‘No. It is safe,’ Guthrie said. ‘And ready to go wherever you want St Mary’s to go.’
Fergie Hoddim, cleared his throat, spoke for the first time. ‘Assuming, that is, that the present litigious business, whatever it may be, is happily concluded for all parties. May we speir the nature o’ the process, and the condescendance, and the name o’ the pursuer?’
‘The Crown is the pursuer,’ said Lymond. ‘And the matter is treason and espionage. I had asked both Hercules Tait and Hislop to waylay some compromising papers being brought from Venice to London. They both seem to have failed. And d’Harcourt, who to my knowledge had never heard of the matter, seems to have got himself arrested as well.’ He wheeled round suddenly, so that Adam started, in his dark place by the door. ‘Did you know of these papers?’ Lymond said.
Adam Blacklock shook his head. Then he said, ‘But you told Danny?’
‘Danny was the only one I did tell,’ said Lymond. He was still looking at Blacklock.
‘Then d’Harcourt may have followed him,’ Adam said.
‘But,’ said Lymond gently, ‘didn’t you hear Arundel? D’Harcourt launched the attack first. There is another odd thing. Why did the Ambassador manage to reach Sittingbourne unimpeded before he was attacked, and before Hislop was apparently warned he was coming? There were men hired to await him at each possible stopping-place, with orders to steal that casket, no matter what happened.’
‘I think I can answer that,’ Guthrie said. ‘The box was probably too heavily guarded. Your Peter Vannes must have been on his guard already, by an unsuccessful attempt to take the box before they ever landed in England. I thought you knew: the men who brought us here told us about it, though not about Vannes and the papers. They have Hercules Tait in London, also a prisoner.’
Lymond turned. ‘Ah,’ he said at last. ‘Now, that is bad news.’
‘Compared to all the good news?’ said Adam bitterly.
‘One thing at a time,’ Lymond said. ‘I shall deal with the news from Russia when I am free to go there. I shall be free to go there when that casket has been opened and the contents found innocuous. But——’
‘But if Tait and Hislop and d’Harcourt have all failed in their efforts, the papers are still in their casket, undisturbed?’ said Guthrie dryly.
‘It seems so,’ said Lymond. ‘And three of my officers are now implicated. I have still to find out what happened at Sittingbourne. I should like to know something else as well. How long is it since the Philip and Mary made her first landfall on English soil?’
‘Ten days,’ said Fergie Hoddim, after some thought. ‘Near enough. They sent a party on shore for water at Orwell Haven. We didn’t go.’ He paused. ‘Why, sir?’
‘Why?’ said Lymond transferring the question to Adam. And Adam, looking at the furious blue gaze knew suddenly what the answer