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.Razi met Christopher’s eye across the water-slopped table.‘The slaves are dead,’ said Christopher.‘The Wolves are lamenting their loss.’‘I don’t want to be their Boy!’ cried Anthony.‘That man said I must! But I don’t want to! He said I must, but—’Wynter snagged his tunic, pulling him in.‘Shush now,’ she said softly.‘It’s nothing at all to do with you.The Prince is your master.That is an end to it.’‘Will these deaths be a problem?’ snapped Alberon.‘Will they seek revenge?’Razi shook his head.‘David has too much at stake to run amok over this,’ he said.‘He feels secure in your protection and will not be foolish enough to jeopardise his future.’ His eyes flickered to Christopher’s livid face, then back to Alberon.‘It is over,’ he said, picking nervously at his cuff.‘I am certain of it.’Christopher just stared at the terrified little boy and said nothing.THE DEFIANT GESTURE‘YOU VERY quiet,’ said Sólmundr, eyeing Christopher across the neck of his horse.Christopher shrugged, tightened the girth on his saddle and snapped his stirrups into place.‘You feel not good?’‘I’m fine,’ he grunted, swinging into the saddle and pulling his horse around.‘Stop acting the old biddy and saddle up.’Sólmundr met Wynter’s eye.Christopher had been silent and prickly since the night before, and Sól, usually so easygoing, had nagged at the young man’s ill humour like an anxious hen.He was making Christopher worse.The sooner Razi and I get them from camp the better, thought Wynter.She tugged her saddlebags into place and glanced across to where Razi stood in conversation with Jared.The Lady Mary had refused Razi’s protection, as Alberon had known she would.To Wynter’s surprise, however, the priest had been remarkably open to the idea.Wynter was trying hard to be gracious about his intentions, but it was easy to suspect that this had less to do with Mary’s welfare, and more with the hassles of trailing a pregnant woman all the way home.‘I shall speak with her again,’ said Jared.‘Try and convince her of the sense of it.’‘Please do,’ said Razi.‘And do your best to convey my sincerity, won’t you? There will be nothing of the beggar’s taint involved.No unsavoury implications.The Lady D’Arden will have every dignity, and her child the best of care.You do believe me, Presbyter? You will press my case?’Jared sighed and ran his hand across the gleaming whiteness of his scalp.‘I’ll try,’ he said, ‘but it is vital I leave today.If I cannot convince her to stay, I must take her with me.There’s naught else for it.’ He tutted.‘If only the Blessed Virgin had not made that damned journey on an ass, my Lady might feel less inclined to risk the same.oh, God forgive me for saying so!’ he said and blessed himself quickly, three times in a row.‘She is an exasperating woman, though,’ he muttered.‘I’m not so certain you’re wise in taking her on.’Razi extended his hand.‘Do your best,’ he said quietly.Wynter paused in the act of tying her blanket roll, and stared as the priest gripped Razi’s dark hand and shook it.She did not know why, after all the things she had witnessed in the last few months, but this sight arrested her – a Midland priest shaking an Arab’s hand, their faces set in solemn accord.The two men were caught in a slanting shaft of early light, and it rimmed them in gold, throwing their shadows long and misshapen against the sloping sides of the Merron quarters.As Jared released Razi’s hand and turned away, Hallvor emerged from the darkness of the tent behind them.She carried Sólmundr’s bright wool cloak in her arms, and as she slipped past Razi the sun glanced hotly from her bracelets and glowed in the fluid blackness of her hair before she crossed back into shadow.It was a moment so vivid and so inexplicably sad that it stole Wynter’s breath.Úlfnaor ducked from the other tent and waited while Razi watched the priest leave.Then the big Aoire smiled and bowed, offering his hand to Razi in farewell [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]