Less than the rust that stains the careless sword
Less than the need thou, Lord, has of me
Even less am I.’
So it was with a queasy mixture of anger at the beauty of the singing and the numbing boredom of the Mass for the Dead that Cale finally made it back to his set of rooms. What with the aching journey all he wanted to do was lie down and go to sleep, but Bosco wasn’t finished.
‘You’ve done well. But I need you to tell me: do the Purgators have it in them to succeed?’
‘I’m tired.’
‘Briefly. We can talk in detail later.’
‘Probably.’ He instantly regretted giving Bosco the satisfaction. ‘Possibly.’
‘Time is tight, Cale. We must win or die.’
‘Later.’
‘I had not intended to take Memphis. It’s only that I hold the old Marshall and most of his family that prevents their empire taking up arms against us.’ This was no longer true but Bosco thought it best not to unsettle Cale with the fact of their escape. Besides, his knowledge of what had happened subsequently was patchy. He did not know, for example, that old Materazzi was already dead from pneumonia. ‘We cannot take on the Materazzi Empire and the Antagonists.’
‘Shouldn’t you have thought of that?’
‘I thought of nothing else. Your escape made it impossible to do otherwise. Now if you hadn’t gone blundering into Picarbo’s room everything would have been different.’
‘You sent me in there.’
‘So I did. But you’re beginning yourself to realize that almost everything that happens for good or bad has its origin in a blunder.’
Cale laughed.
‘Yours?’
‘No.’
‘I want to sleep.’
‘Very well. But for the avoidance of doubt – you and I are bound together with unbreakable chains. There is nowhere you can go but by my side. As you’ve seen after your frolic in Memphis it’s in your nature to cause every man’s hand to turn against you except through this course now, here, with me. Tell me you understand this.’
Cale looked at him for some time and then nodded, as reluctant as you like. Bosco nodded back.
‘Sleep well. God bless.’
As soon as he had gone there was a knock on the door and Acolyte Model came in. Cale was surprised by how pleased he was to see him.
‘Sir.’
‘You look well.’ And he did. It was not just the extra food that Cale had demanded Model be given but the quality of it. His face had filled out – he was not fat or anything like it but he no longer had that gaunt expression attendant on eating barely enough and doing hours of heavy exercise. His skin glowed even, instead of being patchy and dull. A decent meal a couple of times a day was, as Cale had come to realize, one of the greatest gifts that life could offer. It would be smart to use this on the Purgators.
‘Are you well, sir?’
‘Yes.’
‘We are all excited by your great success.’
‘We?’
‘The acolytes.’
Cale noticed that there was something awkward and hesitant now about him.
‘What is it?’
‘Sir?’
‘Spit it out.’
‘I’ve been sharing the food around with my oppos, sir.’
‘You’re in trouble?’
‘It’s not that. But one of them is on water duty in Clink Number Two.’ He looked even more hesitant. ‘One of the Antagonist spies there waiting the drop, he says he’s a friend of yours.’
Cale was as puzzled as he was shocked. No wonder Model was so uneasy. Passing around information of this kind was like holding poison and no chalice.
‘I don’t know anyone like that but I won’t say anything. Did he give a name?’
‘He wouldn’t say but he gave my oppo a message for you.’ He took a scrap of paper out of an illegal pocket and handed it to Cale. It was clumsily sealed with God knows what. He opened it. There were two words written on a scrap clearly torn from an old hymn book.
‘VAGUE HENRI’.
10
‘Has he been tortured?’
‘Apparently not,’ said Bosco.
‘Did you know he was here?’
‘You must be mistaking me for a middle-ranking official in the Carceral Pelago. Why would I know he was here?’
‘I want him released.’
It took Cale by surprise when Bosco replied calmly, ‘Very well.’ Bosco smiled. ‘You expected me to refuse?’
‘Yes.’
‘Why? He clearly came here to be reunited with you. And we both know you have no intention of going anywhere.’
Realizing he was being mocked Cale changed the subject.
‘Why wasn’t he tortured?’
‘A good question if I may say so. An administrative error. There’s been an outbreak of jail fever in Clink Number Four so overcrowding in the rest. Pressure of numbers and work and a man guilty of Gomorrah was accidentally given the same number as your faithful friend.’
‘They seem to make a lot of mistakes in the prisons here.’
‘They do, though, don’t they? Perhaps it was God’s will.’
‘I’d like to see him now.’
‘I’ll send Redeemer Gil. He knows him. Will that satisfy you?’
It was not that Bosco expected thanks but it amused him to make Cale feel awkward. ‘You don’t mind,’ said Bosco, ‘if I ask how you knew he was here?’
Cale turned back to look at him.
‘No.’
‘Well?’
‘No. I don’t mind if you ask.’
‘How one gets used to change. Cheeking me would once have got you a thrashing.’
‘Yes?’
‘I mean nothing by it. Your acolyte seems very fond of you.’
‘I don’t have an acolyte.’
‘But you do. In all ways. I understand how things have changed between you and me but I wonder if you have. I fear that perhaps, not so deep down, you might still just be an angry little boy.’
‘I thought that’s all I was supposed to be?’
‘Righteous anger is something very different from bad temper. I just thought I might point that out. Vague Henri will be with you within the hour.’
‘I want to go into the convent.’
‘Very well.’
‘You’re being indulgent.’
‘That worries you?’
‘It’s meant to, isn’t it?’
‘Only because I take some pleasure in confounding your expectations of me. You don’t quite seem to have grasped, if I may say so, how things are.’
‘I can do what I want, is that it?’
‘You know very well what the answer to that is. But you’d do well to think more carefully about what’s permitted to you and what isn’t.’
‘I’m just a bad-tempered boy.’
‘For both our sakes I hope that’s not true. The keys to the convent will be brought to you. You may do as you wish there.’ As he placed his hand upon the door handle, Bosco turned back. It had always been a habit of Bosco’s, this – to leave what was really on his mind to the last moment as if it were an afterthought.
‘What do you know about the Laconics?’
‘Soldiers for hire. Expensive.’ He thought for a moment as if trying to remember. Only his years of deadpan insolence stopped him from smiling at this unexpected opportunity to mock his former master. ‘Chrononhotonthologos,’ he added thoughtfully. Bosco looked at him realizing he was being dared.
‘It is not a term I’m familiar with,’ he said, refusing to take the bait.
‘It means a swashbuckler, a desperado.’
‘Really. Anything else?’
‘No.’
‘There has been a rumour that the Antagonists have discovered a silver mine in Argentum. It’s no longer a rumour. Not quite as sure but probable is that they will use this find to pay for a large army of Laconics to fight against us.’
‘I thought they never fought for hire more than three hundred at a time.’
‘And I thought you didn’t know anything about them.’ An impudent silence followed. ‘I’m going to send you a brief concerning them. As your life may depend on it I’m sure I don’t have to ask you to read it carefully.’ He’d had enough of Cale and left without saying anything more.