But the old man had accepted Josse’s gesture with grace and a courteous ‘Thank you’. He had even deigned to take Josse’s proffered arm as they climbed up the slippery path.
I like the man, Josse decided, blowing on his herbal drink to cool it. If indeed man is what he is. .
But that thought was disturbing, even in the sunshine of early morning. He put it aside, instead announcing to Yves that they must go and seek an audience with the Abbess because he had something important to tell her.
Helewise, once over the shock of learning that Josse had been abroad in the night and consorting with a sorcerer, discovered that she was not surprised that John Dee had declared himself for Josse. Watching his earnest, honest face as he repeated to her what Dee had said, she thought, I, too, would place my trust in dear Josse over the Prince. What a pity it is that Josse cannot ascend the throne if King Richard leaves it vacant.
But that thought, she was well aware, was treasonable. She said a quick and silent apology, and turned her full attention back to Josse.
‘We have, if nothing else, now managed to identify the poor young man murdered in the Vale,’ she observed when, after quite some time, he finally finished all that he had to say. ‘An agent of Prince John’s, did Dee say?’
‘Aye, he did. And-’ Josse frowned, apparently thinking hard, but, after a moment, gave up and said with a shrug, ‘There was something else he said, but I can’t seem to bring it to mind. Something about the young man not standing a chance. .’ Turning to Yves and then back to Helewise, he added, half-apologetically, ‘It’s an odd experience, talking to a sorcerer. He — well, you get the feeling that he makes sure you only recall what he wants you to recall.’
Yves made a faint sound of awe. Helewise, managing to control her reaction, merely said, ‘He is a powerful man, this John Dee.’
‘That he is,’ Josse agreed fervently. ‘And knowledgeable! Why, he told me things about this Eye of Jerusalem that only the very wise could know!’
‘Yes, you said,’ Helewise interrupted. Fascinated though she had been with Josse’s tale of the Eye’s history according to John Dee, she did not want to hear it all over again. ‘And he is going to ensure that the jewel comes to you, its rightful owner.’
‘That’s what he said, aye. And I believe him.’ Josse stuck his chin up.
‘I am sure you are quite right to do so,’ she said soothingly. ‘Although, of course, that presupposes that the Magister is right and the Eye is indeed on its way to you.’
‘All this talk,’ Yves put in, sounding as if he had had to steel himself to speak, ‘it unnerves me.’ He addressed his brother: ‘Josse, you make it sound as if this here Eye has a mind of its own. As if — as if-’ With a shrug, he gave up. ‘I don’t know. But, like I say, I’m — well, I’m afraid. We seem to be dealing with matters outside the normal, everyday world that I know.’
Helewise could feel his unease, and she both understood and sympathised. ‘Do not forget, Yves,’ she said gently, ‘that your brother here has spent the night in the company of a great magician. Fortunately for Sir Josse — indeed, for all of us here — it seems that Dee approves of the family of Acquin, and means them no harm. Whether or not Dee does in fact have power, I think we can be fairly confident that he does not intend to turn it against us.’
‘Thank you, my lady,’ Yves said, bowing to her. ‘Your words reassure me. But if this Eye turns up, what then?’
‘I suggest,’ she said, as calmly as she could, ‘that we worry about that when, and if, it happens. Now, Sir Josse, to return to the matter of the poor dead young man. Did Dee supply a name?’
‘No, he said he did not know it, but he promised to speak to Prince John this morning. I think, my lady, that, come evening, we shall have an identity for the body buried out there.’
‘I am glad of it,’ she replied. She was silent for a moment as she thought, then she said, ‘I don’t know if you agree, but to me it seems likely that the Prince’s man must have picked up the trail of Galbertius Sidonius and followed him here to Hawkenlye. Perhaps he intended to steal the Eye from him, perhaps he was merely intending to report back to the Prince that Galbertius was here, and await further instructions.’
‘I imagine his instructions were quite clear,’ Josse put in. ‘The Prince probably said, find the man, steal the stone and bring it to me.’
Helewise watched him. He was, she thought, becoming quite possessive about the Eye of Jerusalem. Which, although in many ways understandable, did not entirely seem to accord with what she knew of his generous, open-hearted nature.
It was, perhaps, something to watch out for. ‘If that is so,’ she said, ‘then we can only assume that someone else was already on the Prince’s man’s trail. And that he killed him before he could carry out his intention of stealing the Eye.’
Yves said excitedly, ‘But then, before the killer could creep up on Galbertius and take the Eye, the old man died and his own servant stole the stone and made off with it!’
‘Then, for some reason, the lad was making his way back here when the killer caught up with him and murdered him!’ Josse cried. Then, the light fading from his face, he concluded, ‘So this skilful, brutal murderer now has the Eye.’
‘But Dee is convinced that the Eye will be brought to you,’ Helewise said. ‘Which can only mean that the killer, whoever he is, intends to redress the original theft of the Eye by the Lombard — or rather Galbertius, to call him by his name — and give it back to you, Sir Josse, whom he sees as its rightful owner.’
Josse’s eyes met hers, and his distress was evident even before he spoke. ‘If an assassin who can slay two innocent men wants to give me the Eye, I am not so sure I want it.’
It was exactly what Helewise had been thinking. But she said smoothly, ‘Wait and see, Sir Josse. We do not know the whole tale yet — far from it — and we should not prejudge.’
‘You speak sense, as always, Abbess Helewise,’ Josse said with a grunt. But, just the same. .’ He left the sentence unfinished.
Suddenly Yves said, ‘My lady, Josse told me that the first victim was killed with a Saracen knife.’
Helewise looked enquiringly at Josse. ‘Indeed? How so?’
‘My father had a similar knife, my lady,’ Josse explained. ‘I am certain that the murder weapon was of Outremer origin.’
She was thinking hard. Could her conclusion be right? There was little to support it, other than her strong feeling that she had hit on the truth. . Raising her head to look at the brothers, she said, ‘What if the killer did in fact acquire his knife in Outremer? Can we deduce that he, too, was on crusade with Sir Geoffroi and the Lombard? That he is driven simply by the desire to possess the Eye of Jerusalem, which he has followed all the way north to Acquin and thence here to Hawkenlye?’
Josse stared at her with his mouth open for a moment. Then he said, ‘Your proposal is sound, my lady, up to a point. But we must not forget that Dee says the Eye will come to me. Why should a former crusader go to such lengths — travel all that way, kill two men — to steal the jewel, then give it away?’
She shook her head. ‘You are right, Sir Josse. Why indeed.’ But the thought would not go away, even in the face of such a credible undermining; she said tentatively, ‘Unless there were some great compulsion, some higher motive. .’
‘We speak here of a killer, a cruel, efficient murderer,’ Yves put in. ‘Can such a man have a higher motive?’
She looked at him and smiled. ‘No, Yves. Probably not.’
‘But yet-’ Yves began, only to be interrupted by a vexed sound from Josse. ‘Josse? What ails you?’
‘I keep thinking that I am beginning to see this whole mystery clearly, that the solution is almost to hand, but then it seems as if a mist, or a fog, rises up suddenly and obscures my sight,’ he said, frustration evident in his angry voice. He shook his head violently. ‘I try and I try, but it’s as if that sorcerer has put an enchantment on me. As if his one desire is to make quite sure I do not see the solution.’ He glared furiously at Helewise but then, as if remembering where he was, abruptly dropped his eyes. ‘I apologise, my lady. And to you, Yves.’ He touched his brother’s shoulder. ‘I hate men who take out their bad temper on innocent bystanders.’