He ballooned his cheeks and slowly released the pressure. ‘We’re stuck. No one will take us. The only vessels sailing south are the four ships in harbour. And they’d have left days ago if this wind had relented.’
Hero felt his throat. ‘The wind that thwarts them could be carrying our friends back.’
‘They’ve had westerlies for a week. That sea captain was right. The storm either sank them or blew them so far south that they couldn’t find their way to Iceland.’
Hero’s head drooped.
Vallon drummed his fingers. ‘I tried to purchase berths on the Norway convoy.’
Hero’s head jerked up. ‘With Helgi?’
‘Not him. I sought out the other sailing masters. All of them peddled the same excuse. Every place taken. It’s Helgi’s doing. He intends to keep us here until he returns. He thinks his revenge will taste sweeter the longer it simmers.’
Vallon stood and leaned against the doorpost, looking out into a miserable rain. He drew his sword and made a lazy sweep.
‘We still have a chance. Drogo has challenged me to combat.’ Vallon turned his head. ‘I forgot to tell you. Drogo’s found shelter with Helgi.’ He looked back into the rain. ‘Helgi wants me dead, too. I’ll oblige them both. I’ll face them in combat — the two together if necessary.’
‘You said that Drogo wasn’t fit to fight.’
‘He will be by the time we reach Norway. That’s the challenge and that’s the contract. We get a passage to Norway and in return I face Drogo in combat.’
Richard bolted up. ‘Drogo won’t honour it. Whatever terms he agrees, he’ll break them.’
‘Not if he’s dead. Have more faith in me.’
‘I have faith in Wayland and Raul,’ said Hero. ‘I know they’ll come back.’
Vallon didn’t seem to hear. His lips moved as if he were forming words in his mind. ‘I’ll couch my challenge tomorrow. In public so that neither dare refuse.’ He gave an ugly laugh. ‘Injured pride? Nobody has suffered more injury than I have. I’ll teach them.’ He slashed his sword into the doorpost. ‘I’ll teach them!’
‘Wake up,’ Hero whispered. ‘It’s getting light.’
Richard rolled away. ‘What’s the point?’
‘We mustn’t abandon hope.’ Hero looked through the dim to where Vallon lay sleeping. ‘I know what makes him despair. He lay entombed for months, resigned to a slow death. Although he escaped, the horror still preys on him. For Vallon, waiting is hell. But just because he’s lost hope, that doesn’t mean we have to do the same.’
‘It’s too late. Vallon will deliver his challenge today.’
‘Then let’s stand a last vigil.’
Richard buried his face in the pillow and rocked his head.
Hero stood looking down at him, then went out.
He was cinching his saddle when Richard stole into the stable. ‘I’m sorry,’ he mumbled. ‘My hopes were crushed the day Drogo turned up.’
They rode towards the coast with their capes drawn across their faces. A following wind as fresh as this could have blown
They reached their lookout and sat their horses, watching the rollers flooding in until their eyes watered. They retreated to the lee of a rock. Hero kept getting up to scan the sea.
‘Vallon should never have let them go,’ Richard said.
Hero slid down beside him. ‘Do you think Drogo will accept his challenge?’
‘I don’t see how he can refuse. That’s what scares me. The prospect of sailing to Norway with my brother.’
‘We don’t have to go. We could stay here. Vallon would understand. Without the falcons, the journey has lost its purpose.’
‘What would we do?’
‘The bishop will take us in. You heard him lament the shortage of Latinists. We could teach at his school.’
Richard blew into his hands. ‘Spend the rest of our lives in Iceland?’
‘Only until next summer. I don’t want to leave until I’ve found out what’s happened to Wayland and Raul.’
Richard fell quiet.
‘What are you thinking about?’ Hero asked.
‘Staying here. Never tasting another apple or smelling another rose. Never being able to lie in the shade of a tree on a hot day. Dried fish morning, noon and night.’
Hero laughed. ‘Our lives won’t be that awful.’ He stood and offered his hand. ‘We’d better tell Vallon before he issues his challenge.’
Richard struggled up. ‘Do you really think the bishop would take us in?’
‘I know he will.’
They mounted and cast their eyes seaward one last time. Hero had already turned his horse when Richard stuck out a restraining arm.
‘I saw something.’
Hero squinted into the wind.
‘Something white,’ said Richard.
Hero gave him a sharp look. Every part of the ocean was highlighted by white. Foam creaming on the waves. Fulmars gliding between the troughs. An island blanched by guano.
‘It’s gone,’ Richard said. ‘No, there it is again. It comes and goes.’
‘Show me.’
Richard heeled his horse and leaned across. ‘See the island? Look beyond its north shore. Almost at the horizon.’
Hero shielded one eye and squinted along the line indicated by Richard’s hand. ‘I don’t see it.’
‘There!’
Hero wiped his eyes with the hem of his cloak and peered again. It popped into focus. A shape as pale as a tooth. It vanished and then appeared again, rising and sinking in rhythm with the rollers.
‘Are you sure it isn’t waves breaking on a rock?’
‘It wasn’t there yesterday, or any other day we’ve stood here.’
Hero studied the speck and a tingling sensation crept over him. It was moving. ‘You’re right. It’s a sail.’
‘And heading from the right direction.’
Hero and Richard stared at each other as if they stood on the verge of a revelation.
Hero slapped Richard’s horse. ‘Fetch Vallon.’
‘Wait until the ship reaches harbour. I don’t want to miss them.’
‘No. Quick. Before he makes his challenge.’
Richard wheeled his horse and galloped away. Hero clutched his cloak about him and watched the ship riding the combers. So small and frail. He looked behind him. He wanted Vallon to be here, not to shame him for his doubts, but to show him how hope could ride out the billows of fortune.
The ship was only about a mile from land when Hero heard a cry behind him. It was the rest of the company. ‘We met on the road,’ Richard shouted.
Vallon threw himself off his horse, strode to the edge of the cliff and leaned into the wind, his cloak flapping behind him. When he turned, his eyes were streaming. From the wind or emotion, Hero couldn’t tell.
‘It’s
Garrick and Richard crossed themselves. Vallon regarded Hero with a rueful expression. ‘You were right,’ he said. ‘But so was I. I always discount miracles.’
Three riders appeared below them, spurring towards the harbour.
‘Let’s be there to welcome them,’ Vallon said.
They rode down in a laughing and whooping chorus. They weren’t the only ones heading for the harbour. It looked like half the county was converging on the haven. Vallon’s company clattered onto the jetty. Their voices
