To Lie with Lions - Dorothy Dunnett [74]
Kathi sighed. ‘You know Sandy likes M. de Fleury. It doesn’t automatically mean the end of the Adornes.’
Her brother gazed at her. ‘Why do you use the first name of a Duke, and the second name of an illegitimate artisan?’ He got up and taking the board from her looked at it with astonishment.
She said, ‘Because one of them has given me leave, and the other hasn’t. Tilde calls him Cousin Nicholas and he detests it. You liked him well enough when you fell off your horse.’
‘That was two years ago,’ her brother said shortly. He laid down the board and started to walk up and down. After a moment he added, ‘As a matter of fact, I hardly blame him. She should never have done what she did.’
‘But you’re wary of him again. You think, don’t you, that Uncle Adorne is going to bring the Boyd family with him to Scotland, and that the King will have Thomas Boyd put to death, and deprive Uncle Adorne of his lands and title and send him home, if not worse; for by that time Nicholas de Fleury will be the King’s Burgundian favourite?’
Her brother stopped walking. He said, ‘If you can see that, why keep taking his side?’
There was no point in being exasperated because Anselm was fond of his uncle. Kathi said, ‘It’s a game. Think of it as a game. He’ll try to best you. He’ll play against anybody, even his own wife. So make your move first. Write to Uncle Adorne. Tell him not on any account to bring the Earl and Countess of Arran to Scotland. Tell him not to bring Jan. If I thought he would do it, I should tell him not to bother coming himself. Or not until this business of the Boyds has worked itself out.’
‘Are you crazy?’ said her brother. ‘You’ve just pointed out that one man can hardly bring about the end of the Adornes. Anyway, the Vatachino are here. Martin, the red-headed agent. He’ll take care of Nicholas.’
‘Well, fine,’ Kathi said. ‘Let him take care of Nicholas first, and then Uncle Adorne can decide whether it’s worth his while coming or not.’
‘You said Nicholas,’ said Anselm, diverted.
She permitted herself a howl of frustration which split into three unintentionally at the end. ‘So help me God, but I did. I shall take my parrot and enter an enclosed order. The Patriarch of Antioch advised it.’
‘He was talking to the parrot,’ her brother said. After a moment he added, in a different voice, ‘Kathi? Nicholas owes you a favour. Tell him to go home.’
‘Tell him to go home,’ repeated Katelijne. She gazed at him. ‘Do you know what he brought in on that ship?’
‘Of course he’s trading,’ said Anselm. ‘Of course he won’t want to land himself with a loss. But there are rich pickings in Burgundy, surely.’ He paused. ‘Do you know?’
Kathi picked up and unfolded a paper. It was not part of the bursar’s accounts. She read aloud. ‘Four culverin. Twenty handguns. One great cannon. Five baths with tables and canopies; a mechanical clock, and a bell.’
‘Tables and canopies! What!’ said her brother.
‘Plus fifty boxes of Secrets, packed in straw along with Heaven and Hell, fourteen haloes, twelve suns, nine choirs of angels, pulleys for Judas, harness for the Ascension, two vats of thunder and the Red Sea in a bundle of sheepskins. Also a barrel of souls.’
She held out the paper. ‘The bill of lading. And that’s just the first page of it.’
He took it. ‘How did you get it?’
‘Poisoned bird seed,’ said Kathi obscurely. She clarified. ‘The caravel put into Berwick, and word got out to Coldingham. It’s not the whole list.’
‘It’s enough,’ said her brother, looking blank. ‘A clock?’
‘And a rather nice spinet, Ada says.’
‘Ada?’
‘She’s here on a visit from Coldingham. She works for the nuns. So M. de Fleury isn’t going home,’ Kathi said. ‘And I’m not going to spy for you or for him. If I were you, I’d stick by him and see what happens. Can you bang on a drum?’
He looked impatient. ‘Anyone can bang on a drum.’ Then, evidently reading her face he said, ‘What good would that do? I don’t want to be rolling drunk in the Castle with Willie Roger.’
‘It was only an idea,’ she said. She wished he understood what