The Wolf Sea

ringed hand and drew out my Thor hammer, one finger hooked distastefully in the sweat-dark leather of the thong.

`You are not, it seems, followers of Jesus,' he said, bringing the amulet up to eye level and studying it as it swung. 'Yet you travel with a Christian priest — and not a Roman one from Constantinople. One from the uttermost west. Such monks are rare in these parts in these times.'

`We are Christ-men,' I answered carefully, 'dipped in holy water, as is the custom. That is a Christ sign you hold.'

I often think,' he replied flatly, 'that we True Believers deny ourselves much grace and pleasure by not allowing artisans to form figures. This, for example, is a masterpiece of ambiguity. If this little mannikin is your god, then the Christian Jesus seems to have lost his cross and gained some sort of hammer.'

`Thor,' I answered, giving in. 'God of Thunder, son of Odin and guardian of men.'

As I thought. You are not People of the Book, though this little jinni seems more powerful than the Christian god,' replied al-Dauda, dropping the amulet distastefully into the palm of my hand. 'He spared you, whereas the infidel priest's god seems to have failed him.'

Strangely, I found that irritating, dangerously so.

And the woman? Did Allah fail her?' I prompted.

His face never flickered, but he cocked his head to one side with interest that I should know the name of his own god. `She was an Armenian, a whore and was as much an infidel as you or the Christians.

Obviously the defiling goddess she worshipped failed her, as all false deities will,' he answered crisply.

'What I am more interested in is why she and the priest died at the hands of one of your own followers.'

`When you know, please tell me.'

He sighed at that, lacing his ringed hands. His eyes were chips of jet. 'I have two dead infidels and several injured followers of the True Faith, not to mention property damaged. There was almost a riot. You have not been more than a few hours in the city and came across the desert, or down from Damascus. I ask again: why was the priest killed?'

Sweat trickled down my back, for his tone was steel-cold now I spread my hands and smiled. 'You must ask him. His name is Halfred and, until I saw his face after chasing him over the roofs and — unfortunately

— into the street traders, I did not even know it was him. Until then, I also thought him a friend.'

His gaze was dark, stooping like a hawk. 'He has been asked. At length. He does not deny culpability, but I can make no sense of his reasons for it. Something about a Greek, by name Balantes.'

Even though he made mush of the name, there was enough in it to bring my head up and he saw it.

`You know that name, then?'

I nodded. 'A Roman lord who doesn't like me. He has, I am thinking, used this Halfred for his own ends and the first arrow was meant for me. Brother John simply got in the way. The woman, I believe, was paid to lure me to where Halfred could shoot. He killed her to silence her tongue.'

He nodded, his bearded mouth pursed like a cat's arse. `More or less as he says it and I had deduced,' he replied evenly. 'Which makes you a victim rather than a suspect.'

Am I free to go?'

`Scarcely that,' he replied flatly, with no sign of amusement. I want no more trouble and so the sooner you leave the city the happier I will be for it. You will be returned to your men and then escorted from the city when it is dark. The body of the priest will be returned to you, so you may deal with it decently as you see fit. A useful gesture would be to contribute to the damage caused — I suggest the price of two of those camels you have.'

I bowed. Bloodprice I knew — the Norse were no strangers to it and we were lucky to have got off so lightly — but the sick loss of Brother John robbed me of any sense of triumph, lay coiled round my heart like Nidhogg in the roots of the World Tree.

I have, however, a commission for you.'

I could not have been more surprised if he had suddenly lifted his robes and danced a jig. At first I thought I had misheard him and simply opened and closed my mouth like a stranded fish, which cracked the first smile on him that I had seen. Having seen it, I did not wish for a repeat.

Out in the desert are a band of brigands,' he said. 'At first I thought you were part of them. But these have been described to me as Greeks and runaway slaves from one of the mines further north and you look neither like slaves, nor runaways, nor Greeks.'

`Just so,' I managed weakly.

I thought also that you were these Mamluks that the Abbasid unbelievers are so fond of, for they are no decent men but Turks and Slays and worse. But they have embraced Allah, albeit on the wrong path, which you clearly have not.'

`Good Odinsmenn, all of us,' I agreed, swallowing. 'In a Christly fashion, of course.'

`So,' he said. 'You are those rusiyyah I have heard of, swords for hire — is that not so?'

`Well,' I began, caught his look and drifted off into eloquent silence and a weak, ingratiating smile.

`So, I will give you provisions and letters, which will state you to be in my employ, as retainers. You will seek out and destroy these brigands for me. I need my soldiers in the city.' He paused and stroked his beard with the price of a good farm in rings on his fingers. 'When I have heard — and I will — that they are scattered or dead and their leader dealt with, you may return to me for reward. Should you decide otherwise, I will, reluctantly, be forced to deal with you as with them. Since this will cause me considerable trouble and expense, you need not look for mercy at the end of it.'

I thought about it. No fee had been mentioned and, when I looked at him, I realised none would be and if anything came by way of reward, I would take it and back out from his presence, my arse in the air and my life in his hands.

But that letter would be useful in the lands south of Jorsalir. He knew I had seen that, too, and nodded.

'Good. It is settled.'

And Halfred?'

He looked surprised that I had even asked. 'He is guilty of murder. We will hang him in a cage from the walls for all the People of the Book to stone him until he dies. So justice is seen to be done, by the will of Allah.'

They let me see Halfred before they turned me out of the tower, escorting me to a small, heat-drenched room where he lay on a cot, rolling with sweat yet in no real discomfort, for they had expertly treated his broken leg and even given him something for the pain — after they had inflicted enough for him to tell all he knew.

`So,' I said to him as he turned his face, pallid beneath the wind-blast and tan, the eyes flat and grey as a summer sea, one still looking over my shoulder while the other looked at my face.

Indeed so,' he answered and sighed. 'It seems my luck has flowed away from me. Loki luck, mine. I had hopes of going home with something to show.'

`What did Balantes promise you and why?' I asked, hunkering down beside him, for there was no other furniture in that place.

A hundred ounces of silver,' he answered. About the price of thirty milch cows. He saw the look on my face and rasped a bitter chuckle. 'I know, not much to think on now But then I had just spent five years in a stone quarry, so it seemed a good price for killing someone. Anyway, it was only to be done when you showed that you would double-deal the Greeks and steal that leather pouch rather than deliver it as arranged.'

An age away. I remembered us on the beach, backing under cover of shields towards the Elk and the arrows smacking my shield from behind. Now I knew where they had come from and shivered at how close he had come to succeeding. Odin, it seems, prized me still, if only to keep around to taunt.

`You.took your time over it,' I said.

He shrugged. 'I tried once or twice,' he grunted with a twisted smile and I remembered him at Kato Lefkara, his bow strung, arrow nocked and a look on his face like a boy caught in the winter store with honey round his mouth.

Once we had escaped Balantes I actually thought it a good thing and that you would lead us all to this treasure hoard we heard about,' he went on. 'So I decided to let you live.'

`Generous,' I replied. 'Should I thank you now?'

He ignored it and went on. 'I was even prepared to stick by you in that fight we had near Aleppo. I did quite