sort of man to release it until he has put us all in the ground.”
“I would say we took reasonable precautions to cover our tracks,” Vera said, “but we had to get bandages. Those we obtained from village women going down to the river in the morning to draw water and wash clothes. And so all depends on whether Graymane is interrogating those people.”
“We must move as soon as you are able,” Feronantus concluded.
“I will only delay you,” Vera returned. “You must go without me.”
“That is noble of you,” Feronantus said, “but you are assuming that the Khazars will allow you to stay.”
Here Feronantus was alluding to developments that Vera could not have known about.
Since the startling arrival of Vera and Alena yesterday afternoon, the behavior of the Khazars had been complicated enough to arouse Raphael’s curiosity. No people could have been more hospitable in bringing all sorts of aid and succor to the wounded Shield-Maidens. But it would be a mistake to draw too many conclusions from this alone, for these were mountain tribesmen, and such people always extended hospitality toward guests. More telling had been the behavior of the rabbi, Aaron, and the merchant, Benjamin, with whom they had been talking when Vera and Alena had arrived. Aaron seemed greatly troubled by the news that the two wounded Shield-Maidens might have led a Mongol unit directly here. Which only proved that Aaron was an intelligent man.
No visible crack had yet appeared in his facade of hospitality, but his anxiety was obvious. To judge from the lights in the windows of his home, he had spent much of the night awake, talking to Benjamin, who, at first light, had begun making preparations to leave.
Finding himself somewhat useless for the time being-since Vera seemed on the mend and there was nothing to do in her case but wait-Raphael excused himself from the tumbledown house and strolled through the half- abandoned village to the more modest but better-maintained structure, less than a bowshot away, where Rabbi Aaron dwelled.
Benjamin was pacing about restlessly in the stable yard, keeping an eye on a pair of servants loading goods and luggage onto a short train of packhorses. Benjamin saw Raphael approaching, and guessed his intentions. But he was polite enough to begin the conversation by expressing condolences over the death of Alena and inquiring after the state of Vera’s health.
They were speaking in the
At their introduction, Raphael had assessed Benjamin as too old and fat to accompany them on such adventures. At each subsequent encounter, however, he had lowered his estimate of the Khazar’s age and finally saw that what he had at first taken for fat was just an uncommonly stocky build padded by heavy clothing. Benjamin had probably not yet reached the age of fifty. He carried himself well and was as capable as any man of undertaking the journey they now contemplated.
Raphael badly wanted not to lose him.
“You could be thinking,” Raphael ventured, with a nod toward the packhorses, “that the obvious attractions of doing business with us might not make up for being hunted across the steppe by a force of joyless Mongols.”
Benjamin did not laugh-he was far too reserved and formal for that-but he did reveal a bare trace of dry amusement. “Perhaps if we knew each other better,” he said, “I would be willing to partner under such ominous circumstances. Or perhaps, if I could make any kind of sense out of your errand…I would find some way to align our interests. But neither condition pertains.”
Before Raphael could respond, they were interrupted by the voice of Percival, rising over the wooden fence that surrounded the stable yard. He was but a few yards away.
“Allow me to help settle both matters with a few words,” he said. A moment later, he appeared in the gate and entered the yard.
Reacting to the annoyance on Raphael’s face, Percival continued. “I was following Cnan-not eavesdropping. But I’m afraid I’ve lost her.”
“What is she up to?” Raphael asked, with a glance at Benjamin.
“At the end of Vera’s narration, she slipped away.
” “I was unaware of that.”
“As no doubt she intended. But I was not so distracted and happened to catch sight of her borrowing one of our ponies.”
“Or stealing it.”
“No, she will return,” Percival said, with that placid confidence which alternately fascinated and infuriated Raphael.
During the side conversation about Cnan, the Shield-Brethren had veered into Latin, and Benjamin might have understood a few words. But Benjamin was not interested in Cnan. He was far more intrigued by Percival’s first remark.
“What did you mean,” Benjamin said, returning to the
“In order that you should better know us and see how our interests align, it is simplest for me to tell you what we are doing,” Percival said.
Raphael naturally assumed that Percival had come up, on the spur of the moment, with some clever stratagem. The Frank was going to tell Benjamin some plausible-sounding cock-and-bull story about their errand, innocuous enough to assuage all the Khazars’ fears.
And so it was with a light heart and giddy expectation of quick success that Raphael now rounded up Feronantus and Rabbi Aaron and got them all together in the latter’s little house, with Percival standing before them, ready to spring his clever tale.
As soon as Percival opened his mouth, however, Raphael saw it had been a terrible mistake. He knew this even before Percival uttered a word. He knew it because of the look on Percival’s face: the utterly open, childlike guilelessness-and that weird effulgence that surrounded him whenever he was seized by whatever angel or demon took delight in toying with him.
“Weeks ago, I had a vision,” Percival announced, “that we should set our course for Kiev, where we would find something of inestimable value, without which our quest was doomed.”
Benjamin shifted and threw Raphael an irritable look. His instincts were clearly telling him to run away. The packhorses were neighing restlessly in the stable yard. Yet here they were, trapped in a conversation with a Frank who suffered from supernatural visions.
Feronantus had little choice but to play the role of the dignified leader and see this through as if he had expected it all along.
All unaware of this prickly dynamic, Percival continued. “I assumed, at first, that this benison would be some sort of holy relic. And when Vera told us of the tunnels and catacombs below the city, filled with treasures, I naturally assumed that what I sought would be found there. Instead, we uncovered nothing but a few odds and ends, and I lost my best friend in battle.”
Percival’s face darkened-literally. The effulgence took on a grayish hue, which Raphael observed with both alarm and deep curiosity. He threw a glance at Benjamin, who had cocked his head to one side, mouth open a little, eyes searching. Their gazes met. Raphael gave the merest shrug.
“In the weeks since,” Percival said, “I have prayed and meditated upon these events, imploring God to send me understanding. This morning, God answered my prayers. The object of our quest to Kiev was not some artifact but the Shield-Maidens themselves. Vera’s return to our group is confirmation of God’s will. She was destined all along to join us and ride with us into the East.”
Benjamin seemed embarrassed. “You have too many quests for me to keep track of,” he muttered.
Percival shook his head forbearingly. “For us, there is only one,” he said.
“The one that takes you into the East, following the caravan trails?”
“The same.”
“And what, pray tell, might be the object of that quest?”
“Don’t!” Feronantus sat forward and stretched out an arm toward Percival. But it was too late.
“We will ride into the heartland of the Mongols’ empire. We will find the Great Khan, and we will slay
