[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

reading them again, Jay looked up at him coolly.
"Are you familiar with the contents of this missive?" he asked.
In fact, Arnault was intimately acquainted with Jay's orders, but he knew better than to admit as much.
"My role is principally that of courier," he said diplomatically. "It is for you to decide, on the basis of your
own instructions, whether or not it is appropriate to tell me anything more."
This response earned him a look of calculating scrutiny, but Arnault kept his face expressionless. After a
moment, the Master of Scotland grudgingly yielded to logical necessity.
"With regard to the Scottish succession," he informed Arnault, "it has been deemed desirable that the
Order should bear fair and honorable witness to the proceedings of the court of claims. As Master of
Scotland, I am directed to assemble a delegation of suitable observers and proceed to Berwick, there to
take note of all that transpires.
"That my own presence should be required is perfectly reasonable," he went on, leaning back in his chair
with a somewhat supercilious smirk. "It would be an insult to the dignity of the King of England to send
anyone other than the Master of Scotland to head such a delegation. You, as the Visitor's agent, are
likewise an appropriate choice, especially since the pair of us were instrumental in negotiating the ill-fated
Treaty of Birgham. What I do not understand," he finished with a sour grimace, "is why I find myself
specifically enjoined to include Brother Torquil in the delegation. Furthermore, he appears to have been
taken permanently from under my command."
Arnault was careful to keep his response both neutral and noncommittal. "I am given to understand," he
said, "that the Visitor has been quite satisfied with his work over the past two years-due in part, I have no
doubt, to the excellent preparation he received before leaving Balantrodoch," he added, in oblique
compliment to Jay. "In addition, since Brother Torquil is a Scot, I believe it is hoped that he may be able
to provide a native's insight at the court."
Jay was clearly less than pleased, but he accepted the logic of this explanation without further demur.
"Very well. It appears that decisions have been made by those superior to both of us. I hope you're
prepared to earn your keep in the meantime," he remarked with an affected jocularity that made no
secret of his true feelings. "Scotland may be a long way from Outremer, but we still make a point of
keeping up military standards of behavior and performance. You may go."
Both Arnault and Torquil had been aware that the Master of Scotland would be given leave to make his
own selections in filling out the complement for the Berwick delegation. The return to Balantrodoch after
a two-year absence had convinced Torquil that any close associate of Jay's was likely to prove tedious at
best; but that hypothetical aggravation gained a more worrisome aspect at the next morning's chapter
meeting, when Jay announced the names of the remaining appointees: A Yorkshire knight called Thomas
Helmsley and the younger of the two de Sautre brothers, Robert, whose involvement in the
disappearance of the Pictish grave goods had already given Luc cause for concern. The elder, John,
would assume command at Balantrodoch during Jay's absence.
The de Sautres, like Jay himself, were of Anglo-Norman descent, new to the Scottish preceptory since
Torquil's departure two years before. Both were black-haired and dark-eyed, but beyond that, they
were so dissimilar that had they not shared a surname, no one would have guessed that the two were
Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
closely related. John, the elder of the pair, was raw-boned and taciturn, with a sparse beard, sallow skin,
and a lantern-jawed scowl that occasionally turned calculating. His brother, by contrast, was plump and
fresh-faced as an overgrown choirboy, with an officiously busy manner and full red lips that pouted within
the bush of his black beard when he was not smiling somewhat inanely.
John was inclined to keep to himself; Robert was sociable to the point of being intrusive. Later on the day
of their appointment, the latter seemed to make a point of seeking out Torquil during one of the leisure
periods provided by the Rule among the offices and duties of the day. Torquil was sitting on a bench
outside the common hall, methodically cleaning and polishing his sword while he enjoyed the Scottish air,
when his rubicund counterpart came sauntering over and sat down uninvited beside him.
"Since we're to be riding together on this Berwick junket," he told Torquil breezily, by way of greeting, "I
thought we might as well get better acquainted. Where are you from, and what made you decide to join
the Order?"
Strictures of knightly courtesy forbade Torquil to utter the first words that sprang to mind. Perhaps
primed by Luc's remarks of the previous day, he had taken an instant dislike for both de Sautre brothers.
"My family holds a manor in the earldom of Lennox," he told the younger de Sautre. "I have an elder
brother who is the heir, so I chose to follow the way of the cross."
Robert de Sautre flashed one of his fleeting, facile smiles. "You needn't have joined the Order to fight in
the Holy Land."
"True enough," Torquil agreed, and added reluctantly, "The Abbot of St. Kenneth's, near my home, was
the one who suggested I should seek knight service among the Templars, and his advice seemed worth
taking."
Abbot Machar had been a crusader in his youth, serving with distinction in one of the many defenses of [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]