‘Which port did he sail into?’ Josse asked. They had drawn up at a place where the road divided, branching off due south or south-east.
‘Pevensey, I think,’ Ninian replied. ‘That’s where Sir Piers and I landed, and I believe he was hard on our trail.’
‘Then my guess is that he’ll go back.’ Josse spoke with a confidence he did not entirely feel. ‘He’s a stranger here and, although he’ll be aware there are many other ports, he’s in a hurry so he’ll probably do the easiest thing, which is return to the port he already knows.’
Ninian grinned. ‘Good enough for me. Come on!’
Side by side they kicked their horses to a canter and plunged off down the road that led south.
They asked repeatedly after a well-dressed man on a white horse. One or two people said they had seen such a man and confirmed that he had been riding fast in the Pevensey direction. Eager now, Josse and Ninian urged their tired horses to a last effort. They pulled up on the quayside and, leaving Ninian to tend the horses, Josse hurried to speak to the captains of the variety of craft tied up there.
Quite quickly he returned to Ninian. ‘He’s gone,’ he reported. ‘Sailed about two hours ago.’ Ninian muttered a curse. ‘But it’s not all bad,’ Josse added, ‘because we now know he’s landing at Dieppe, which I would say confirms that he’s making for-’
‘Chartres,’ Ninian supplied.
‘Aye. He’s murdered the man who was making the carving for the cathedral so he’s going to put the goddess figure there instead. Do you agree?’
‘He must not do so,’ Ninian said vehemently. ‘The Knights of Arcturus are bad men and any deed they do — especially de Loup — cannot help but be tainted. Besides,’ he added with utter confidence, ‘she belongs at Hawkenlye. She wants to be there by the oak tree.’
It was not the moment, Josse thought, to go into why the boy was so sure; even less to ask him just how the figure had communicated her wish. Josse was not sure there was ever going to be a time to ask that.
‘… another ship sailing for Dieppe?’ Ninian was saying.
‘Hmm? Oh, aye — we can sail this afternoon. Small craft down there — ’ he pointed — ‘will set us down in Dieppe late tonight.’ He saw Ninian’s very evident frustration at the delay and, with a brief touch on his arm, added, ‘The wind’s changing, lad. Hadn’t you noticed? It was blowing out of the south-west all morning but it’s gone round to the north. And since Dieppe is virtually due south, we’ll have it filling our sails all the way and we’ll make landfall not long after de Loup.’
As Josse had predicted, the crossing was swift, the sea made choppy by the strengthening wind. Ninian checked frequently on the horses, slung in hammocks under their bellies that kept them level as the ship pitched. Josse was impressed with the boy; whoever had taught him the duties of a squire had done a good job. They made themselves comfortable in a sheltered place amidships, where the motion was less violent, and both of them dozed. Josse had procured food and drink before they sailed and they ate a generous supper before they landed. It would be a long night.
They rode through the night, the north wind that had hastened their crossing at their backs hurrying them on. They stopped before dawn and found a sheltered place in a pine wood, where they slept for several hours. Ninian fed and watered the horses and then they set off again.
They approached Chartres at twilight the following day. For the last few miles of the journey Josse’s senses seemed to have become almost painfully alert. He told himself that it was because they were closing in on Philippe de Loup and what was happening was simply a soldier’s reaction to the approaching fight, but he did not entirely convince himself. Chartres was where he had last seen Joanna. Other than in his dreams and his imagination, she had not returned to the Hawkenlye forest — it appeared that she might never do so — and that suggested that she was still here. He had no idea if she was alive or dead — silently, angrily, he cursed the Domina, who would not or could not explain — but the singing in his blood told him that, in whatever body or form she now inhabited, Joanna was close.
He looked across at Ninian. The boy’s face was grey with exhaustion, although he had not uttered a word of complaint. His determination is strong, Josse thought; he has a precious object to rescue and a death to avenge. I would not, he added silently, wish to be in Philippe de Loup’s shoes.
Did the lad know that his mother had been in Chartres? Josse thought back. Speaking of the forest hut, Ninian had said, she isn’t there any more. I’ve looked and looked and I can’t find her. He had also said he thought she was dead, but swiftly Josse turned his mind away from that. So the boy knew she wasn’t in the forest. It was, however, a long jump to assume he knew she had gone to Chartres. It was a difficult decision, and Josse wondered if he had any right to make it, but in the end he made up his mind. I shall not tell him, he told himself. The lad has enough to worry about in this pursuit of de Loup and what he carries. It would be unfair to burden him with the information that his mother may be close.
Did she know? he wondered suddenly. She had been in the habit of watching her precious, lost son in her scrying ball, even though she had once told Josse ruefully that it gave her a sick, blinding headache that at first had left her fit for nothing for at least a day. So had she done that now? Had she sensed that Ninian was on his way to Chartres, and was she looking out for him? What a reunion it would be, for she had not seen him in the flesh for… Good Lord, it was seven years since she had asked Josse to help her find a place for her son and he had taken the boy to train as a page in Sir Walter Asham’s household.
Without his volition, Josse’s mind wandered back to that time. He too was tired and it seemed that he entered a dreamlike, half-asleep state in which the present faded away, to be replaced by the vivid past. Joanna had conceived Meggie in that cold, hard February. Josse had not known it — he did not meet his child until she was well over a year old — but Joanna had taken up a place in his heart that, whether or not he would ever see her again, would be hers for ever.
‘Josse, we’re coming up to the city walls.’ Ninian’s voice broke into his reverie.
With a disturbing mixture of regret and relief, Josse brought himself back to the present and turned his thoughts to finding somewhere out of the way where he and Ninian could stay.
Fourteen
In the morning, Josse set about enquiring after Philippe de Loup. Again, several men had heard the name and their faces registered varying levels of disapproval and disgust, but nobody had seen him recently.
‘He’s here for a secret purpose,’ Ninian said as he and Josse ate a hasty lunch, ‘so it’s not very likely he’ll be strolling around openly advertising his presence.’
‘You are quite convinced he’s got the figure and intends to place her in the new cathedral?’ Josse asked through a mouthful of bread and dry spiced sausage.
‘Yes,’ said Ninian firmly.
Josse chewed thoughtfully. Then he said, ’Well, he won’t do it in broad daylight. We’d better rest now, lad, so that we’ll be fresh for later.’
Ninian watched him. ‘What are we going to do?’ The excitement in his face suggested that he already knew.
Josse wiped his eating knife and stuck it back in its sheath. ‘We’re going to find a nice little hiding place behind one of those huge pillars and keep watch.’
He heard Ninian’s quiet exclamation. Then the boy said softly, ‘Yes!’
They had found a place to stay in a humble establishment in an area of lodgings huddled out by the town walls. Josse had selected it because it was unobtrusive; he did not want word of his presence reaching de Loup’s ears. To pass the remaining hours of daylight, they returned to their lodgings and Ninian, restless with pent-up energy, set about giving the horses and their gear a thorough refurbishment. Josse found a shady place in the small courtyard and, leaning back comfortably against a hay bale, watched Ninian work until his eyes became heavy and he went to sleep.