To Lie with Lions - Dorothy Dunnett [162]
‘How? You were at Dean Castle,’ he said.
‘Your wife joined us after you’d gone. My brother wrote me from Ayr. The lady Mary talked of your link with the Faroes. She hid in Nólsoy when Tom Boyd and she first fled from Scotland. Her son was conceived there. She speaks with tenderness of the idyll you made possible for her. Her summer alone with her husband.’
‘I note the vinegar,’ Nicholas said. ‘But you didn’t have to come and rebuke me in person. You had only to mention all that to your brother.’
‘But then he would have attacked you,’ she said. ‘Now he can’t.’
‘No. But I can attack him,’ Nicholas said. ‘Nothing personal, of course. But the Bank has a stake in this trade, and I plan to put another through Martin.’
She said, ‘Their ship is bigger than yours.’ She paused. ‘Don’t blame Anselm. I forced him to let me sail with him.’
‘Of course I blame him,’ Nicholas said. ‘And you. I should take you back to him.’
‘Then you would lose your ship and your men. M. le Grant was right. And after all this trouble, I wouldn’t reach Iceland. They were going to leave me till summer in Nólsoy. Nólsoy!’
‘And look what happens there,’ Nicholas said. He spoke absently. He said, ‘Kathi?’
‘Jà,’ said Katelijne. She never blinked.
‘Mother of God, don’t do that,’ Nicholas said. ‘Are you doing all this just because you want to go to Iceland?’
‘Of course,’ Kathi said.
Her eyes shone. She loved adventure. She loved any kind of adventure, as he ought to have remembered. Father Moriz, hauling open the door to the cabin, stopped and looked at them both. He said, ‘What are you doing? What is she doing here?’
‘We are all,’ said Nicholas, ‘going to Hell. Come and join us.’
They got there in three remarkably satisfactory days. Among the crew, it was recognised almost at once that the girl was not the padrone’s young piece, as assumed. This was made exceptionally clear by the priest, who had given his cabin to the young person. Thanks to Kathi (they used her name freely), the Unicorn wouldn’t harm them, and the master wouldn’t force an attack. Why the girl was doing it all was a mystery. She wasn’t sweet on either Mick or de Fleury, far less the two older men and the ‘prentice. She seemed more like a boy than a maid. Christ, did you see her run up those ropes like a squirrel?
Nicholas had her ordered down twice, before he found she was as sure-footed as he was. She was more competitive in all things than Robin. Like Gelis, she could sense the mood of a ship, and work to keep the crew’s loyalty. But Gelis never wasted her time, as Kathi did, with ceaseless activity. Kathi did things because they occurred to her, and not with any permanent object. She was like a storekeeper filling his shelves with delicacies that instantly perished. In time, he let her race where she wanted, and sometimes competed against her. He did not always win.
He had, of course, lectured her about her foolhardiness. She was aboard, among men, with only the priest for a chaperon. The voyage was dangerous. Her reasons, however altruistic, might never be recognised or believed: she could be labelled a traitor, a spy or a hostage.
‘I know,’ she had said. ‘But you can’t put me back on the Unicorn now. It would be suicide. And anyway the damage is done. And further anyway, if we all survive, I can get myself back home with Sersanders, and no one will know I ever left him.’
‘You are absolutely right,’ Nicholas said. ‘I can even suggest what you might do with the two shiploads of men you are going to have to bribe to keep quiet till you’re dead. Kathi, I shall try to look after your brother, but I can’t promise the same for your uncle’s ship. Do you understand?’
The clear eyes didn’t change. He was left to review his own words, and regret them. He saw her follow his thoughts with a half-smile. She said, ‘My uncle has other things on his mind. Yes, of course I understand. Tell me your plans if you like. It won’t hurt me. Sersanders will be doing the same.