Vallon noticed how strained Wayland looked. ‘Do you want to stay?’
Wayland shook his head.
Vallon took his elbow. ‘Come on then.’
Walter gripped Wayland’s other arm. ‘You don’t have any say in the matter.’ He was still smiling. ‘Wayland’s my personal property, affirmed by legal process. You probably heard how I found him starving in the forest and took him into my household.’
‘Norman law carries no weight in these parts. If Wayland wants to rejoin your service, I won’t stand in his way. He can answer in his own words.’
‘Is that a joke? The boy’s dumb.’
‘I’m not your slave,’ Wayland said. ‘I serve Vallon as a free man.’
‘That seems clear enough,’ said Vallon.
He led the way out. Walter caught up with them. ‘Not so fast, Vallon. How much did my mother raise on her estate?’
Vallon kept walking. ‘A hundred and twenty pounds.’
‘It must be worth at least twice that.’
‘It was all the moneylender was prepared to advance. I’ve got the papers.’
‘How much is left?’
‘Nothing. It’s all gone.’
‘You’ve spent more than a hundred pounds of my mother’s money and all you have to show for it is one gyrfalcon?’
‘The price was much higher than that.’
‘How much have you kept for yourself?’
Vallon halted. ‘Not a penny.’
Walter only just stopped himself from poking Vallon in the chest. ‘Coming from a mercenary, I find that hard to believe. I expect a full accounting.’
Vallon looked at Walter’s outstretched finger. ‘One thing I have to add. You were misinformed about your brother’s death. He’s here, lodged in the Emir’s camp.’
Walter’s face went blank. ‘You told me that Richard died on the Dnieper.’
‘I’m talking about Drogo.’
The blood drained from Walter’s cheeks. ‘Drogo was killed in Scotland.’
‘He travelled north, that much is true. But only in pursuit of us and with the aim of wrecking our attempt to win your freedom. I know it casts a bleak light on our enterprise, but when I explain the circumstances that led to—’
‘Say no more.’ Walter backed away, pointing. ‘You swagger into my quarters claiming that you’ve come to redeem me, and in the next breath you casually admit that you’ve brought Drogo.’
‘Sir Walter, let me explain.’
‘There’s only one explanation. The moment I looked into your cold eyes, I knew I faced an enemy.’
Hero forced himself in front of Vallon. ‘Let me speak. Sir Walter, the very fact that Drogo is here argues our good intentions. If we meant you harm, do you think we would have willingly brought along your worst enemy? Give me leave to explain how we were saddled with his company.’
But the old sibling rivalry had tapped into a part of Walter’s brain immune to reason. A strangled sound escaped from his throat. ‘I don’t know what plot you and Drogo have hatched, but I warn you not to trifle with me. The Emir holds me dear. When I tell him you came here with murder in your hearts, you’ll find his reaction cruelly disappointing.’
On the walk back to their lodgings, Vallon saw Hero darting glances of reproach.
‘You think I handled the encounter badly.’
‘Dismally. Why couldn’t you have been more diplomatic?’
‘It wouldn’t have made any difference.’ Vallon looked back, shaking his head. ‘The ingrate didn’t even thank us for our efforts.’ He stalked on through the camp. ‘God help me, I almost prefer Drogo.’
Hero hurried to keep pace. ‘We’ll never see the lost gospel now.’
‘We lost our chance when the ransom hawks died. One thing Walter said was true, and I didn’t need him to confirm it. I saw it at last night’s audience. The Emir isn’t a man who’ll soften his terms.’
They entered their quarters and Vallon fell onto his bed, covering his eyes with his forearm. Hero wandered about in a pall of misery.
The entrance flap parted and Drogo looked in, wearing a smile from the gallows. ‘Well, how did you find him?’
Vallon breathed deep. ‘Less charming than his reputation had me believe. To think that Richard and Raul sacrificed their lives for that vain wretch. And here’s what makes the pill even harder to swallow. It seems that Walter’s free to leave whenever he pleases. Or he was. Our arrival without the full ransom only complicates the situation and makes him resentful rather than grateful.’
Drogo laughed. ‘How did he react to the news of my presence?’
‘With fear, rage, blind hatred. He’s not without influence in the Emir’s court. If I were you, I wouldn’t walk alone at night and I’d employ someone to taste my food before eating it.’
Drogo looked down on Vallon with something close to pity. ‘You should have listened to me. You wouldn’t have grasped the challenge so eagerly if you’d known what kind of man my brother was.’
Vallon uncovered his eyes. ‘If we knew the outcome of our actions before we committed to them, we wouldn’t get up in the morning.’
Prayers mingled with smoke as the company made their way to the Emir’s pavilion. Stars streamed across the plateau in a misty arch and a splinter of moon hung between the icy cones to the south. The throne room was packed. The Emir must have decided to make the occasion a public demonstration of his judicial wisdom. He carried a ceremonial mace and sat aloof, picking his nose, while the infidels abased themselves. Faruq ordered them to stand.
‘Certain new facts have reached his Excellency. He’s asked me to examine them.’
Vallon could guess who’d brought them to the Emir’s attention. Walter stood to one side of Suleyman’s counsellors watching Drogo with a stare you could have strung beads on.
‘I’ll deal with this,’ Vallon told Hero. He bowed to Suleyman before addressing Faruq. ‘Excuse my poor Arabic. What little I have I picked up while I was a prisoner of the Moors in Spain.’
Murmurs rippled through the crowd and those at the back stood on tiptoe to get a better view.
Faruq hushed the chamber. He didn’t speak until the loudest sound was the guttering of the oil lamps. ‘Here is the first difficulty. You say that you came here to rescue Walter.’
‘There was no other motive.’
‘Yet you brought with you his step-brother, a man who nurses hatred for Walter.’
‘Drogo’s presence wasn’t part of my plans. The very opposite. He tried to thwart our efforts at every turn. When we escaped from England he was so determined to stop us that he followed us to Iceland.’
‘Where you had him at your mercy.’ Faruq pointed at Drogo. ‘Yet look. Here he is.’
‘He’s a hard man to get rid of.’
‘You could have killed him.’
‘I could, but if I had, we wouldn’t have completed our journey.’
The interpreter cupped his chin. ‘Oh, yes?’
‘Drogo fought bravely with me against the Vikings and Cumans. After standing shoulder to shoulder with a man in battle, it’s hard to dispose of him.’ Vallon glanced at Suleyman. ‘It is for me, anyway.’
Faruq began to pace, enjoying his role of prosecutor. ‘So, you allowed Drogo to live.’ He smiled at the audience and they responded with sceptical shakes of the head. He whirled and shot out an accusatory hand. ‘Do you deny that you used the moneys entrusted to you by Walter’s mother to line your own pocket?’
‘Every penny was spent on the enterprise. We kept accounts. Examine them if you wish.’
‘But you’re a mercenary who undertook the enterprise for personal gain.’
‘I hoped we would profit from trade. Unfortunately, our expenses exceeded our costs. It’s all in our accounts.’
‘Accounts you kept yourself. How much is Drogo paying you?’
‘Drogo doesn’t have any money. He’s only here by my charity.’
‘I don’t believe you. Walter doesn’t believe you.’
Vallon felt as if he were sinking in a mire. ‘Believe what you like. It’s the Emir’s decision that counts, and I’ll bow to his judgement.’
Faruq glanced at Suleyman before striking another judicial pose.
‘This is what I think. You travelled here with Drogo for the purpose of releasing Walter only so that you could kill him. With Walter dead, Drogo would inherit his father’s title and estate. In return he would reward you with gold.’
Vallon’s answer came out as a snarl. ‘If I wanted to get my hands on Walter, I wouldn’t have arrived with only one quarter of the ransom.’
‘Stay calm,’ Hero whispered.
Vallon nodded and faced Faruq. ‘Examine the bare facts rather than dig for ulterior motives. Interrogate us separately if you wish. We travelled here from the grim north and in the course of that journey we lost many men and all the falcons but one. His Excellency has inspected the haggard and I know that with all the powers and forces at his command, he couldn’t obtain one half so beautiful. Does it satisfy the conditions or not?’
Faruq and Suleyman engaged in close debate, the audience straining to interpret the outcome. At last the Emir waved Faruq aside and began deliberating. He expounded for a long time, swaying on his throne and using both hands to indicate how painstakingly he’d weighed the merits or otherwise of their case. The audience nodded as he made each point. Finally the Emir lowered his mace and Faruq stepped forward to deliver judgement.
‘His Excellency has heard with interest the story of your labours. He commends you on your perseverance, offers his condolences for the deaths of your companions. The falcon you have brought him is a bird of rare beauty and promise. Nevertheless, it doesn’t satisfy the terms of the contract. The problem is this. His Excellency asked you to bring him four falcons. You have delivered only one.’ Faruq pressed a finger to his lips. ‘Now, in all his dealings his Excellency is a man of his word. If he undertakes to grant one of his captains two horses, two horses is what he will give the man. Likewise, if a captain pledges ten archers for a campaign, ten archers is what his Excellency expects to receive. There can be no exceptions. How could it be otherwise? If today his Excellency were to ignore the deficit in your ransom, tomorrow his followers would expect him to demonstrate the same leniency towards themselves. They would say, look at the forbearance with which our lord treated those infidels. How much more generously will he overlook the shortcomings of his own people.’
‘Sir Walter told me that his Excellency would have given him his freedom, ransom or no ransom.’
Suleyman darted a poisonous look at the Norman.
‘Sir Walter presumes too much,’ said Faruq. ‘What is in his Excellency’s power to give is also in his power to withhold.’
‘If he’s decided to keep Sir Walter a prisoner, I have nothing more to say. My task is finished and my interest in these proceedings is exhausted.’
‘The proceedings are finished when the Emir says so.’
Vallon shrugged.
Faruq approached him with an expression of contrived friendliness. ‘His Excellency is intrigued to learn that you were a prisoner of the Moors. Presumably you bought your release with a ransom. Yes?’
‘No. A ransom was promised but never delivered. After eighteen months of degrading captivity, I killed my guard and escaped.’ Vallon looked at the Emir. ‘It was because I’d been a prisoner myself that I felt a degree of empathy with Sir Walter.’
Suleyman ignored Walter’s attempt to attract his attention. He stroked his moustache and studied Vallon and then summoned Faruq and murmured into his ear. When the interpreter addressed Vallon again his tone was as soft as balm.
‘There is a way to resolve the difficulty to everyone’s satisfaction.’
Vallon saw Walter grin and nudge one of his companions. Whatever cat-and-mouse game the Emir was playing, Walter was part of it. Possibly the instigator.
Faruq walked away. ‘You brought with you two things that exceed even the falcon in beauty. I refer to the women.’
Vallon’s cheeks grew hot. ‘The women aren’t chattels.’
Faruq pretended he hadn’t heard. ‘The captain who escorted you here wishes to take for his wife the girl with the sun in her hair and the moon in her eyes.’
‘Syth is betrothed to Wayland and is carrying his child.’
Wayland stiffened. ‘You mentioned Syth’s name.’
Vallon shook his head. ‘Later.’
The Emir gave an airy wave when he heard of Syth’s condition. ‘Very well,’ said Faruq. ‘His Excellency will not separate a man from his wife. He’ll say no more on the subject.’
‘It’s all right,’ Vallon told Wayland.
‘What’s all right? What’s going on?’
Vallon hushed him as Faruq began speaking again.
‘His Excellency understands that there is no such claim on the Varangian woman called Caitlin. The Greek youth who speaks such good Arabic told us that her family is dead and that she’s alone in the world. His Excellency takes pity on her and pledges to place her under his personal protection. Agree to this and the Emir will discharge all other claims. He will release Walter, if that’s what he wants, and you’ll be free to continue on your way. Separate ways.’
It occurred to Vallon that the Emir had wanted Caitlin from the start and that all the posturing was directed to that end.
Drogo tugged his elbow. ‘What’s he saying about Caitlin?’
Vallon took one pace forward. The audience craned.
‘Hero is misinformed about my relationship with the Icelandic woman. The truth is, I sealed a union with Caitlin in Novgorod.’
‘You’re betrothed?’
‘We’re lovers.’
Hero gasped. A moan rose from the audience. Their Emir had been humiliated in public. Suleyman’s face set in a scowl. He said something to Walter that made the Norman wince.
‘Once again we have two stories,’ Faruq said. ‘One from the Greek and one from you. Where lies the truth? Be warned. His Excellency will find it.’
Suleyman shielded his mouth and held muttered discussions with his counsellors. Vallon’s company all spoke at once, Drogo demanding to know why Suleyman had mentioned Caitlin and Hero apologising for creating the awful misunderstanding. Out of the clamour it was Wayland who made himself heard.
‘Ask him why he needs two casts of gyrfalcons.’
‘Because that’s what he demanded. Forget it. This is no longer about the falcons.’
‘No, I mean what practical purpose do four falcons serve? Ask him. Go on.’
Vallon put the question wearily and passed on Faruq’s blunt reply. ‘He says that one falcon can’t catch a crane.’