To Lie with Lions - Dorothy Dunnett [254]
‘Yes,’ Nicholas said. ‘You don’t want to come?’
‘I’d cede my place,’ Moriz said. ‘I have had my fill of John and his guns for a while. Do you have to go?’
‘I have a contract,’ Nicholas said. ‘The business depends on good faith. It will be over in four months or five, and then we can arrange for the winter in Scotland.’
‘The barony?’ Julius said, with friendly insolence. ‘You can manage your business from there?’
‘I don’t expect to indefinitely,’ Nicholas said. ‘And meantime, I have you and Diniz and Moriz and Gregorio, not to mention those who do the actual work. I can get to Bruges in two weeks, and Venice in six if you make a mess of it. We’ll talk after supper.’
‘You have something else to talk of,’ said Moriz. ‘The boy.’
‘That foul-mouthed little blackguard?’ said Julius. ‘Lock him in the Steen and get rid of the key. Or he really will kill someone one day.’
‘Will that help?’ Moriz said. ‘His father might be even more dangerous.’
‘Send him to Simon,’ said Diniz.
Gelis glanced at him. The others showed no surprise at his curtness. Diniz and Simon de St Pol were related; but not even kinship could make Diniz excuse the boy Henry.
Gelis said, ‘Simon has left Madeira, it seems. If you free Henry, they might both go to Scotland.’
Julius had walked to the door, apparently hearing a step. He said, ‘If they do, I think the kindest thing you could do, Nicholas, is to find some baronial reason for hanging them. My lady?’ Opening the door, he was ushering somebody in. He said, ‘Nicholas? Have you met the Gräfin Anna von Hanseyck?’
No monumental countess appeared; merely the violet-eyed apparition of the morning, with her dusky hair bound up in voile. She smiled. She said, ‘You don’t remember. You were asleep on your feet. How do you do?’
‘Better than I did this morning, thanks to you,’ Nicholas said with extreme smoothness. He wondered how on earth Jan had made such a mistake. He wondered how on earth Julius had met her. He knew Gelis was watching.
Julius said, ‘We were talking about what to do with the monster. What do you think?’
She walked across and sat beside Gelis. Her gown of fine taffeta was cut plain as a child’s. Gelis had met her, of course, in Cologne. Gelis could have corrected Jan’s mistake, if she had heard it. The Gräfin Anna said, ‘What do I think? That we should none of us waste our time guessing. Lord Beltrees has decided already.’
‘Nicholas,’ Julius corrected her, smiling.
‘We do not know each other well enough,’ the Gräfin said; and Nicholas did not contradict her, for he disliked the free use of his name. Her French, though inflected, was well managed.
He said, ‘Yes, I have decided what to do about Henry. There is nothing you need to arrange. I shall be taking him with me tomorrow.’
His eyes were on Gelis. She said, ‘Where?’
‘To my camp,’ Nicholas said. ‘He has been taught the arrogance of a knight. Now he ought to practise the knock-about life of a soldier.’
Moriz got to his feet. ‘Are you serious? A boy of eleven, made to live with a mercenary company at war! Is this your punishment?’
‘Yes, it is,’ Nicholas said.
‘Well, I must say,’ said Julius in astonishment, ‘I’d rather like to see that. My God, he would get his deserts. From the other men, if not from the enemy. Mind you, if he survives –’
‘If he survives, he will turn into a professional thug,’ Gelis said. ‘And whether he survives or not, Simon will come for you. What are you thinking of?’
‘Jordan,’ Nicholas said. It silenced her, for the moment.
‘But also the boy?’ said the Gräfin beside her. ‘Forgive me: my child is a daughter, but spirited. She may become wilful one day, but will always follow a noble example. This boy has been unwisely reared. He may find a new inspiration.’
‘It is too late,’ Gelis said. ‘The bond is too strong. Simon depends on him. It will not make Jordan safer.’
‘Then, failing the army, Henry must be dealt with by the law,