The Unicorn Hunt - Dorothy Dunnett [252]
Tobie said, ‘The Ciaretti have a good crew. And Adorne’s ship will be full of Muslims for Mecca. He’s an experienced man. He’ll look after her.’ He didn’t specify whether he meant the girl or the ship, and Nicholas didn’t ask. They watched.
The Genoese kept their heads, and all the merchantmen, pinned helplessly there in the harbour. They stayed below, and offered no provocation. By sundown, the amusement had palled and the harbour was beginning to empty, although the streets within the city were still full of deafening noise. The wind had freshened. Nicholas said, ‘You’ve missed the curfew. Come down and have something to eat. Will Katelijne worry that you didn’t come back? How did she take this?’
‘She’s a Sersanders,’ Tobie said. ‘She’s heard war discussed, and seen the results of it. She was afraid for her uncle. The Genoese here didn’t even care about that.’
Nicholas said, ‘Don’t you remember the Cypriots when the Genoese left Famagusta?’ They had reached his room. There was no one there. The fondaco echoed with muffled sound; the outpourings of misery and bereavement. There was nothing they could do. He found some cold meat and two flasks; one of wine for Tobie, one of water for himself.
‘Still?’ said Tobie. ‘Why water, Nicholas?’
Nicholas arranged things and sat. He had been standing for a long time. He said, ‘You ought to go to the Tyrol. You either become an abstainer or crapulous.’
‘And this?’ Tobie said. He had found the bob on its cord and pulled it out.
‘That’s to help me find water,’ said Nicholas. ‘Tobie, I don’t want to fall out again.’
‘But you don’t mind having company,’ Tobie said. He was shrewd enough. He went on, ‘All right. What would you like done tomorrow? De Persis says all the merchants will be allowed to come on shore, although perhaps later than usual. Adorne has already sent over his letters. Credentials from the Senate of Genoa. That gets him officially into the fondaco.’ He stopped.
‘Really? The Senate of Genoa?’ Nicholas said. ‘And he called himself a Burgundian envoy in Milan? I thought this was a family pilgrimage? The route has been a bit odd, and I’m not sure what shrines he visited in Tunis or Sousa or Monastir, but doesn’t he intend to go to the Holy Land?’
‘I’m not going to tell you,’ said Tobie. ‘But you know he’s to be here for some weeks, and you know how pilgrims would be treated. At least he can live decently in the meantime.’
‘Claiming to be a merchant. Yes, it’s natural,’ Nicholas said. ‘Modified dues, guards of Mamelukes, use of the fondaco. He may even have to pretend to do business, poor man.’
There was a short silence. Tobie said, ‘Have you done something?’
‘I don’t remember,’ Nicholas said. ‘You were asking me about tomorrow.’ He hadn’t intended to torment Tobie. It didn’t matter. What was going to happen would happen, with or without Tobie or Anselm Adorne.
Tobie said, ‘I was asking you, as I remember, about your wife. Do you want to come back with me for when Gelis arrives? Or come later? Or would you like me to bring her alone?’
It was the aggravation he meant it to be, in that it thrust before Nicholas a decision he had not so far made. He therefore said all the more briskly, ‘I would like to see Dei first. Or whoever has come from Africa. Would you let me arrange that, and then send you word about Gelis?’
Tobie said, ‘I suppose so. Although if I know Gelis, she will do what she wants.’
‘Which will be?’ Nicholas said.
Tobie said, ‘To join you at the first possible moment, and stay with you. To which she is entitled.’
Nicholas said, ‘Yes, of course. Look, I’ve stopped you eating. There’s the wine. If I can find a servant, I can have John’s bed made up in a moment.’ He paused. ‘Or do you think Katelijne might be anxious? The streets are quieter. The Consul might be able to bribe someone to let you go back.’ The sounds of weeping were fainter, but they were still there.
Tobie said, ‘You’re right. Perhaps that would be best.’
It took Nicholas by surprise: Tobie