The Unicorn Hunt - Dorothy Dunnett [308]
She said, ‘There are twenty chapels with altar gold in them, and possible hiding places by the hundred. You will lose your mind, and not trace it. Talk to the Abbot. Talk to Brother Lorenzo. He comes from Crete. Tomorrow we’re going to pray in the church, and see the holy tomb and touch the relics. Then we climb Mount Sinai at night after Mass, and after dawn, we’re going on to the top of St Catherine’s. Will you come with us?’
‘Why?’ he said.
She unfolded her dirty feet and stood. She said, ‘Because you are a stupid man and so is my uncle, and I don’t want to see you smite one another from now till the Day of Resurrection. I can’t cure you. The Lord might.’
He gazed at her, or through her. ‘Then why not leave it to the two of us?’ he suggested. ‘Or theologically, is it a quorum?’
The Arabs arrived as he spoke, thundering up on their horses outside, thirty feet under the delivery gable, to get their dole of bread loaves lowered by windlass. It was why they left the Christians unmolested. She looked, hoping to see him startled, but he remained where he was.
He said, ‘The monks are generous. They send fruit and gums to the Sultan. The Emir of Tor is partial to Sinai water and grapes, and remits to Sinai a modicum of the Tor customs. The King of France has offered an annuity of two thousand ducats. A magnate of Crete has made a princely donation of twice that amount. The demon gold has its uses.’
‘I know what you are saying,’ she said. ‘But still, it is for the Convent. And some think that the purity and prayers of the Convent may balance the sins of the world. So, if you find the gold, what will you use it for?’
‘Trade,’ he said. ‘As your uncle would do. It is our métier. And you might say that, without it, there would be no world to save.’
When she turned to leave, he made no effort to keep her.
In fact, he remained where he was, rolling up the plans before the monks filtered back from their service. When Tobie came to see to the dressings, he was already standing bent under the ceiling, apparently prepared to make his way back to the guest-quarters.
‘We’ve put the girl in your room,’ objected Tobie.
‘Then get her out,’ Nicholas said.
‘Adorne and the rest are next door. They’ll have you flung out for witchcraft.’ He sounded furious.
‘They will anyway. Katelijne has seen it,’ said Nicholas. He had the scroll under his arm.
‘She found you?’
‘She was looking chiefly, I think, for the gold. I’m not sure it’s here.’
‘What?’ said Tobie. Since the desert, his face seemed to wear permanent lines.
‘The only place left is the church. Do you think he could have hidden it in the church? The saint’s bones? The Bush? A Godfearing pirate like Ochoa?’
‘If he didn’t, he went to some lengths to get us here.’
‘Oh, a lot of people did,’ Nicholas said.
Tobie was silent. Then he said, ‘Is that what you’re looking for? Gold?’
‘Yes,’ said Nicholas. ‘I know what you are asking. I saw Gelis. She has gone with da Bologna. I’m not following her. She didn’t, I think, have anything directly to do with what happened in Cairo. She doesn’t want me dead – or not yet. Sometime I shall tell you what happened, or part of it. But first, I want to settle this matter of gold. If it isn’t here, we can leave.’
‘And go home?’ Tobie said.
‘This isn’t home?’ Nicholas said.
It had been a stupid question.
The Abbot, leading the procession into the basilica, was alert to the enmity of the two sets of Franks walking behind his Council of Fathers. He had been warned of it by Lorenzo; and, of course, the two chief protagonists had each come, if briefly, to see him. The Flemish-Genoese nobleman on holy pilgrimage for whom Brother Lorenzo had formed a respect; and the Flemish banker with Venetian affiliations who had arrived with the Sultan’s recommendation.
He knew, as it happened, what they both wanted. Westerner fell out with Westerner;