Simon Scarrow - Sword and Scimitar

‘I think it’s time that you told me the whole story.’

‘Why?’

‘Because I need to know. If my mission here is to succeed then I have to be aware of any potential dangers, or advantages, that might affect the outcome.’

‘And I suppose you might make good use of any information

that might help you to have some kind of hold over me?’

‘Of course,’ Richard replied flatly. ‘That is the nature of my employment.’

‘Then have you ever questioned the ethics of that employment? Perhaps you should.’

‘I serve Sir Francis, who serves Cecil, and both serve our Queen and country. Therefore my ethics are beyond reproach. And nothing will stand between me and my purpose here.’

‘Come now, Richard. You are not quite the iron man you pretend to be. You are well trained, but your feeling for others has not been trained out of you. I saw that clear enough in the fight on the galley. And again just now when you considered the plight of that slave.’ Thomas leaned over and tapped his squire’s breast. ‘You have a heart. Don’t try and starve it of nourishment, else you will cease to be a man and become a mere device.’

Richard glanced over towards the latrine ditch where Sir Martin was already squatting down.

‘Tell me exactly what happened, before he comes back,’ he demanded.

‘If I refuse?’

‘Then you compromise my mission.’

‘And what if I don’t care about that?’

Richard smiled shrewdly. ‘But you do care. I, too, can peer into another man’s heart. If we fail to fulfill our task then many others will suffer. That is something you, Sir Thomas, will not conscience. So tell me what I want to know.’

There was a tense silence before Thomas bowed his head and thought. Little needed to be kept secret and in any case, he could surely find out the details if he was diligent in his enquiries. Thomas ordered his memories before he began. ‘Very well. Some twenty years ago I was serving with one of the Order’s galleys off the coast of Crete. La Valette was the captain. It was clear that he was destined for one of the senior posts in the Order and it was considered an honour to be chosen to serve on his galley. It had been an uneventful voyage, we had had no luck in finding any Turkish shipping. Then we put into a port on the south coast and discovered that a galleon had passed by the day before so La Valette set off in pursuit. By the time we tracked them down to an isolated bay further along the coast they had been joined by two corsair galleys. As you have seen, the Grand Master is not the kind of man who is discouraged by unfavourable odds, so he launched a surprise attack just before sunrise. We sank one galley and captured the galleon and the other galley. I was placed in command of the galley and ordered to return to Malta. It was as we were searching the hold that we came across a captive, a woman.’ Thomas paused as he felt the familiar longing in his breast. ‘Maria was the daughter of a Neapolitan noble and betrothed to the son of an aristocratic family on Sardinia. Her ship had been taken by the corsairs and she was to be held for ransom.’

Thomas looked at Richard, feeling foolish as he continued. ‘I tell you I had never seen such a woman in my life. She was slight and darkly featured with the most beautiful brown eyes. It would not be honest to say that my first thought was of love. I was just flesh and blood, despite my vows to the Order - not that many knights strictly observed their vows. Indeed, I was not the only one captured by her charms. However, there was some spark of deeper affection between us from the outset. If you had a cynical nature you would no doubt be smiling at what you consider to be my naive feelings, scoffing at the folly of youth, but I tell you, with all my heart and experience of life, that she is the one real love I have ever known. I had never felt the fierceness of such feeling before then, and the barely endurable ache of it ever since. I tell you, Richard, love is forever balanced between a paradise of passion and infernal torment. That is its price . . . and it is the price I freely paid at the time and have regretted ever since.’ Thomas winced and shook his head. ‘No. That is not my regret. My regret is that I was not stronger.’

He was silent for a moment, struggling to restrain the rage and self-loathing that threatened to consume him.

‘Go on,’ Richard coaxed coldly. ‘Tell all.’

Thomas gritted his teeth and snatched a deep breath with a soft hiss. ‘We loved unwisely, and without restraint, during the summer months, while word was sent to her family that she had been found and was safe. We both knew the danger of what we did but could not master our desires. So we met in secret, or so I thought, until La Valette ordered me to cease contact with her. Of course I did not. And the inevitable happened. We were discovered together one night. I say discovered, but we were not. Maria had been spied upon and followed, by Sir Oliver Stokely, who had thought himself a rival for her affections because she had shown him kindness. But that had been her nature. She was kind to all. He considered it a token of something more, something he would have had, were it not for me. So he gathered some men at arms as witnesses and caught us together. We were arrested and taken before the Grand Master of the time.’

‘And then?’

Thomas rubbed his brow. ‘The fault is mine. I should have obeyed orders, and I should have been aware of the danger Maria faced as a consequence of our affections. Even La Valette could not save me from expulsion, and I would not save myself. I did not deserve any form of clemency, and I did not deserve her love. Because of me her life was ruined. Her family disowned her. I never saw her again. I was put on a galleon and taken to Spain and ordered never to set foot on Malta, nor attempt to find Maria. La Valette sent me one last private message, that he would attempt to have me recalled when the time was right. And so I waited. Year after year. Wondering if Maria lived, if I would ever be permitted to rejoin my comrades. My hopes dying by a tiny but incremental measure each day. Until the summons arrived.’ Thomas breathed in deeply to release the tension in his chest. ‘This is my chance for redemption. It is too late for me to make good what I did to Maria, but I might yet prove worthy of the life that has been given to me.’

Thomas glanced up and saw that Sir Martin was making his way back from the latrine ditch. There was little time left to say any more for the present. He turned back towards his squire but before he could speak the sharp blast of a trumpet cut through the still air. Up on the wall of the fort Colonel Mas leaned forward on his hands and bellowed, ‘The break’s over! Back to work!’

The slave overseers picked up their whips made from the dried penises of bulls and set about driving the slaves back on to their feet and down into the ditch. The other members of the work party stirred with weary groans, some still hurriedly finishing off their rations. Thomas placed his hand firmly on Richard’s arm.

‘Whatever happens here, do not dishonour yourself as I did. Whatever your masters have ordered you to do, only do what is right.’

‘And how will I know that?’

‘Trust your heart. Not your ambition.’

Richard shook his head with a look of pity and pulled himself free of Thomas’s hand and reached for his pick. ‘I need neither heart nor ambition. I just do my duty. That is all that should concern a man. Perhaps if you had thought the same, you might have saved yourself from a life of torment, Sir Thomas.’

‘Upon my soul!’ Sir Martin puffed as he trotted up to them. ‘A fellow needs a break long enough to eat and perform his ablutions, eh? This won’t do.’