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tent. He is in charge now, and we are excluded from the & military
decisions.
It suddenly occurred to Falconer that, when David had ducked
back into the tent the first time, he could only have been conferring
with Yeh-Lu about his request to see what they called the  sacred
tent . It had been Yeh-Lu, then, not Guchuluk, who had put
Falconer off until the following day. Bearing that in mind, he
continued the charade of speaking to Yeh-Lu through the agency
of the Nestorian.
 Do you or Yeh-Lu know of anyone who had a reason to kill the
noyan?
The priest paled, but shook his head vigorously.
 And Yeh-Lu?
David looked puzzled, but Falconer persisted.  Tell him what I
said  does he know of anyone with reason to kill Chimbai?
84
David reluctantly did so, and Yeh-Lu laughed, and answered
with a single word.
 What did he say?
The priest blushed, and mumbled,  Everyone.
Falconer was exasperated at Yeh-Lu s obtuseness, and almost
started to question him direct. Perhaps realizing what might
happen, Yeh-Lu spoke again to David, though his eyes never left
Falconer. The priest clearly did not want to translate what was
said, and shot a reply back. His whining tones didn t impress
Yeh-Lu, however, who waved a peremptory hand at David.
Reluctantly, the priest spoke for the other man, fear in his eyes.
 He says there is someone here who was particularly adverse
to how Chimbai ran matters.
Yeh-Lu spoke in the guttural tongue again, obviously urging
David on.
 He says that one man had good reason to kill Chimbai &  He
still hesitated to say the word, but Yeh-Lu s look cowed him into
submission. But before he could utter the name, he had to qualify
it with his own statement. Quietly, but insistently, he warned
Falconer,  You must realize that Yeh-Lu is not a Mongol. He is
from a subject race who do not have the same sense of loyalty.
Falconer smiled inwardly, knowing Yeh-Lu understood
everything that David was saying about him, and nodded.  Yes,
but who is he talking about?
David grimaced, and whispered the name:  Guchuluk.
*
Miles Bikerdyke waited outside the chancellor s quarters,
nervously glancing over his shoulder, and picking the head off
the boil on his neck. The student would have preferred not to
have been seen in Nicholas de Ewelme s doorway, but when he
had knocked to gain admittance, the ancient servant who opened
the door had asked his business, then slammed the oaken door
in his face whilst he carried the youth s message to his master.
Halegod  no one knew his first name  had been servant to the
chancellors of Oxford University for nigh on fifty years. He was
long past being able to cope with his duties, but no chancellor,
least of all de Ewelme, had had the courage to dispense with his
services. So the ancient roamed the halls of the chancellor s
residence, and interfered with the smooth running of the
establishment at every opportunity. His firmest maxim was that
85
no student should be allowed into the house  especially so
after one chancellor, Thomas de Cantilupe, had been almost split
in two by a drunken student s sword during a brawl. The fact that
nothing worse than a tear to the hem of de Cantilupe s ceremonial
robe had resulted, hadn t changed his mind.
Miles was on the verge of fleeing from his prominent position
in the chancellor s doorway when the door was flung open, and
de Ewelme himself pulled the youth inside. The redoubtable
Halegod could be seen scurrying to the rear of the house, clucking
his disapproval at the chancellor s rash act. De Ewelme slammed
the door behind them both, then, as if he had run out of
decisiveness, hovered uncertainly in the gloomy passage that
ran from the front door of the house to the rear. Miles Bikerdyke
rubbed his boil in embarrassment. Finally the older man spoke
up:
 It is done, then?
Miles nodded, and grinned.  It was easy, I just had to be in the
right place at the right time, and & 
De Ewelme held his hands up in horror, staving off the youth s
flow of words.  Please  the less I know about your actions the
better. He thrust a bag of chinking coins into the youth s hand.
 It is sufficient that they have been successful.
86
Ten
I will set fire on Magog and on those who live undisturbed in
the coasts and islands, and they shall know I am the Lord.
Ezekiel 39:6
ometimes, Falconer found the little enclosed world of
Sscholarship quite stifling. He longed for the fresh air and
wide vistas of sea travel, and the excited anticipation of arrival
at an unfamiliar destination. At one time in his youth each great
city on the northern waterway of Europe had been new to him.
Paris, Bruges, Augsburg, Prague and Cracow had all seemed
outlandish, slowly opening up their secrets to him. Then, travels
with merchants had brought him to Naples, Barcelona and
Marseilles, through which flowed oil, wine, rice and grain from
the edges of the world scattered around the Mediterranean Sea.
From there he had gone to the source of those products, until [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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