I pointed at the closest of the northerners. ‘Take me back to the stern,’ I ordered.
With a reverential bow, he stood forward. He swept me effortlessly into his arms and carried me the twenty yards to where Wilfred had continued his steady watch.
‘I can see three sails, Master,’ Wilfred whispered as I was propped beside him.
I nodded. Was it worth observing that, since our conversation was in Latin, and was about nothing confidential, we had no need of whispering? Probably not. His cough had let up for the moment, and he seemed to be enjoying himself. If Edward had been his usual self, he’d have been calling down how many more he could see. I found it hard to believe the entire battle fleet was still in pursuit. But if it was even half a dozen ships, the slightest diminution of the wind might be disastrous. I looked up at the sky. It had already turned a light purple, and was darkening rapidly from the east.
‘Have you considered the possibility,’ Wilfred asked, ‘of evangelising these men?’
I gave him a funny look.
He stared calmly back at me. ‘When they have completed their training, all the monks in Jarrow will be sent across the northern ocean to rescue those who live there from satanic darkness. This aside, do you not think converting the crew might bring tangible advantages to ourselves?’
Was he supposing that the faint chance of their conversion would make them less dangerous? Or was he looking about for some set-off for his doubtless imaginary ‘sins’? It wasn’t a question I felt up to asking.
‘Let us consider the matter again once we have taken on supplies,’ I said with what I hoped was a reassuring smile. ‘For the moment, since they all seem pleased enough with their Great and Omnipotent Yadina, I suggest it might be expedient to leave them a while longer in the darkness.’
Wilfred nodded inscrutably.
Not for the first time, I felt a slight but growing disapproval in his manner. Well, that would have to be. Like Edward, he was still a child. As with Edward, I had a tendency to forget this. Their only difference lay in the nature of their childish suppositions. I lifted my wig and scratched at the patches of stubble that had grown back since Cartenna. The light was going fast. I looked west and strained until my eyes began to water. There was a faint light back there. I didn’t want to show weakness to anyone by asking for confirmation. Instead, I accepted there was a glow of lights.
‘Get that thing over the side,’ I said to the two northerners closest to where I stood. ‘Get the others up on deck. They can help.’ Ignoring the sudden burst of activity, I switched back into Latin. ‘Do go and call Edward down.’
Wilfred pursed his lips and looked thoughtfully at the towering height of the mast.
I smiled. ‘No, boy, I’m not asking you to go up there. Just call up to him. Tell him the appointed time is upon us.’
There was a general shuffling and grunting as the whole crew came up on deck and stood before me. I waved them towards my contraption. I looked at it again, wondering if it would drift apart in the sea. Too late, however, to direct more ropes. It would have to do. I repeated the order and pointed over the side. It fell the ten-foot height of the deck and made a loud splash in the sea. I pressed my hands into my thighs to cover their shaking. No – it held together. I breathed out and smiled weakly. I looked about for Edward. He was leaning over the side, trying to take hold of the tip of the makeshift mast.
‘Oh, come on, boy,’ I shouted, beginning to feel as pleased with myself as I was trying to look. ‘Just jump down there and do the business. The sea is hardly freezing – as you’d have found to your profit had you taken your clothes off.’
With a hurt look, Edward jumped lightly down on to the larger of the inflated water skins. He slipped on the wet leather, and seemed about to fall into the sea. But he steadied himself on the mast. I glanced round. From the looks on the faces of his audience, I realised it was probably for the best he hadn’t stripped off. Rider of a bolting horse might be too sober an image to describe our situation. If we ever did get back to England, would these creatures be after a reward or a ransom? Could I hold things together even as far as the Narrow Straits?
I forced myself back to the matter in hand. I looked far into the west. As the last beams of the setting sun sank below the horizon, I clapped my hands together. Edward pulled the cover off the lantern that hung halfway up the mast. As he jumped back aboard, someone gave the bundle of skins a smart push with a piece of the broken mast, and it was soon moving steadily off on a divergent course from our own.
‘We have until late tomorrow morning,’ I said to the pilot. ‘We may have less time than that before the trick is discovered. I know it’s night, and we have no lamp of our own. But I want you to set us on a course due south. How fast can this ship go with the wind on our right?’
The details of his answer made bugger-all sense in terms of dynamic analysis. But he had no doubt we could crack on at a good speed even without manning the oars.
‘Then let’s have the tiller pulled round,’ I said. ‘And can you get everyone else to moderate the chanting? You may have noticed how surprisingly well sound can travel at night over the sea.’
Chapter 16
‘It might be Tipasa,’ I said in Latin with another strained look at the shore. ‘From your description, it’s too small to be Caesarea. Anyone who says it’s Carthage is ignorant of geography, and probably has shit in his eyes.’ I made myself not look at the pilot. He’d been increasingly out of sorts with me ever since the African shore had come back in sight. If he couldn’t follow my words, he could certainly get their broad meaning.
‘Edward tells me the place looks deserted,’ Wilfred replied.
Possibly it was. He had sharp eyes and a better view from aloft than any of us. Tipasa had been on the road to extinction when I went through its tax rolls. Twenty years later, it might well be dead. That might have its advantages.
‘Will you be coming with me to get supplies?’ Edward asked as he came up beside me.
I frowned at the boy and pointed back to the top of the mast. He was better employed in looking out for more of those occasional but still distant sails than in assuming any part in the running of the ship. One of the northerners laughed unpleasantly at him as he walked with head bowed over to the mast. Another made a strange cooing sound. I pretended not to notice and sat back on to my daybed. The northerner who’d laughed leaned forward to arrange the cushions and then handed me a cup of what might once have been fairly decent beer. I looked at the brown scum on the browner liquid and put the cup down on the table beside me.
‘I do urge you to see the reason behind my plan,’ I said, now back in the language of the northerners. ‘As in Cartenna, it would not be wise to put into the dock – not until we know the place is safe. This being so, four of you should go with Edward. He can interpret. You can see that he comes to no harm and help with loading whatever he buys into the boat.’
It was a reasonable plan. But I’d already guessed they would have none of it. The two biggest and nastiest of the northerners stood before me on the deck. It was only because we were now down to barely another day of water that they’d consented to putting in at a city, rather than row along the African shore in search of an unguarded river mouth. For all we were growing desperate, though, they were now scared stiff of the cities. And I hadn’t disabused them of the notion that Tipasa was a fully occupied city. I made another effort, this time suggesting that Wilfred and Edward should go with them. Still no success. A small crowd had now gathered on the deck, and there was a low muttering that I couldn’t catch. I sighed and held up my arms. Two pairs of hands helped me gently back to my feet.
‘Very well, gentlemen,’ I said with a look of slight annoyance. ‘We can’t afford to wait around arguing. At the same time, we must at least have water. As I’ve said, we will anchor a few hundred yards from the shore. I will then go ashore myself. I shall need two rowers for the boat. I shall also need both boys with me if I’m to cut any decent figure on land. Everyone else will remain on board and out of sight, but fully armed and in full readiness to row back out into the wind if required. If five of us wave from the docks, the ship will put in. If we don’t all appear on the dock within a reasonable time, I leave further action to the discretion of those still on board. Do I make myself clear?’ I asked firmly.