Presently, Haemur and Otti appeared with armfuls of provisions for the evening meal. They had bought bread and wine and olives in the market, and a sack full of sardines from a fisherman just returning with the day's catch. Cait commanded the knights to clean the fish, and the seamen to help Olvir cast off.
Rognvald heard the order and came to her. 'I thought we were to buy clothes and weapons in Tyre.'
'I have changed my mind.'
'I think you should reconsider. This is a good place; the city is secure and the markets are renowned. We can get everything we need here.'
'We can get what we need in Cyprus, too. We will stop there.'
'And what if we should be overtaken by Arab pirates before we reach Cyprus?' he enquired.
She had not thought of that, but was determined not to let Rognvald have the last word. 'As we are sailing by night, the pirates will never see us.'
'It is a foolish risk,' he told her. 'If it was my ship, I would not put her, or her passengers, in such needless danger.'
He turned and walked away, leaving Cait furious with him for the second time in as many days. While Svein and Dag gutted the sardines, the others helped Olvir, Otti and Haemur make the ship ready to sail. In a little while, sleek Persephone slipped her moorings and moved out of the harbour. Despite what Rognvald said, Cait was glad to be aboard ship and under sail again.
Once they had entered deep water, Olvir began preparing the charcoal brazier to cook their meal. Soon the deck was awash in the sweet scent of oily smoke and charcoal, and the sardines were sizzling on spits. One by one, the Norsemen were drawn away from the rail and their last lingering looks at the pale Syrian hills, now glowing red in ihe light of a crimson sunset. They gathered around the brazier, watching the fish hungrily. Olvir opened the wine jugs, and soon the wooden cups were making the rounds. While his men sampled the raw Syrian wine, Rognvald strolled around the ship, examining the fittings and ropes.
After their unpleasant exchange, Cait hesitated to join him, but then considered it would make shipboard life too awkward to be avoiding one another every time they disagreed. So, she followed him to the prow where he had stopped and was gazing out to sea. 'My father loved this ship,' Cait remarked, joining him at the rail. 'So much, in fact, that he had two more built just like it. Still, he preferred the original.'
'I can see why,' the Norwegian lord replied amiably. 'She is a handsome craft – suitable for most any water, I should think.'
Otti appeared with his jug of wine and wooden cups. 'It is not so bad, this,' he said, pouring wine into the cups.
'To your good health,' said Cait, raising her cup.
'And freedom,' added Rognvald.
'Health and freedom.' Cait took a mouthful of the wine and almost spat it back into her cup. She swallowed hard and gasped.
Rognvald smiled placidly. 'It is somewhat rough, I think.'
'It is ghastly!'
'Perhaps it would be better mixed with a little honey and water,' he said. 'Permit me.' Taking her cup, the Norseman walked to where the others were dosing their drinks to taste. She observed him among his men: genial and unassuming, his authority genuine, and therefore unpretentious and unaffected.
Perhaps I have not made such a poor bargain after all, she thought to herself as she watched him returning.
'Try this,' he said, offering her the cup. 'I think you will find it more palatable.'
She took a tentative sip; he watched her reaction. 'Oh, that is much better. Very much better.' She thanked him, and they both sipped from their cups. 'If Galician wine is half so good, we should not go thirsty.'
'Is that where we are going?' he asked. 'Galicia?'
Realizing she had said more than she intended, Cait looked at him over the rim of her cup. Well, it was no use denying it now. 'Yes,' she told him. 'After Cyprus we sail for Galicia. Do you know it?'
'No,' he replied, shaking his head. 'We saw the coast from a distance, but the king was eager to reach Jerusalem, and so we did not stop.'
'I have never been there, either,' said Cait. 'My father was there once, on his way home from the Holy Land. He said it was a fine place-all steep hills, deep valleys, and rocks, a great many rocks. But the people, he said, were friendly to a fault.'
At that moment, Olvir called out, saying the supper was ready. Glad for a chance to break off a conversation which she did not care to pursue, Cait turned and walked to the platform before the mast where Olvir was handing around the wooden skewers. Accepting a fresh-roasted sardine, she retired with her cup and a piece of bread to the pilot's bench where she sat down to eat. The others remained clustered around the brazier, watching hungrily as Olvir set more skewers of fish on the coals. The knights, growing garrulous as the wine loosened their tongues, joked and laughed as they plied Olvir and Otti with questions about their homeland.
On the platform, Alethea sat with Abu and both appeared so deeply absorbed in their discussion that neither one was eating; the skewers were untouched in their hands. Cait was just thinking that she would have to have a word with Thea about encouraging an unseemly familiarity with the servants, when Rognvald approached and asked to join her.
'If you like,' she said indifferently. The Norseman regarded her with pursed lips, but said nothing. 'What?'
'It is a large enough ship. I can easily find another place to sit.'
'Please,' Cait relented. 'I insist.'
His smile was ready and affable. 'Since you insist, I accept.' He sat down happily beside her, put his cup on the deck and began pulling steaming bits offish from the skewer. He chewed quietly for a while, and when Cait thought he might let their former discussion pass without comment, he said, 'If Galicia is so full of friendly people, why do you need a bodyguard of fierce and terrible Norwegians?'
Cait could feel his eyes on her, but she stared straight ahead and deliberately stripped off a piece of fish and put it in her mouth and chewed slowly to give herself time to think how to answer. Rognvald sipped from his cup and waited.
'We are going…' she began at last, then paused. It was no good trying to concoct a plausible explanation on the spot. 'The truth?'
'Well, why not?' said Rognvald. 'It saves so much time and trouble in the end. Yes, let us begin with the truth.'
She looked at him sideways. 'The truth is, I do not know.'
He nodded thoughtfully, considering this odd revelation. 'Then,' he said after a moment's reflection, 'if you do not mind my asking, why are you going?'
The way he said it-neither opposing, nor disapproving-made Cait smile. She could hear Duncan adopting the same tone, and she liked it. 'As to that,' she said, 'I am not altogether certain.'
'That would follow.' He slapped his knee with his palm. 'Well now, it is good to have that settled.' He thanked her for telling him and rose abruptly, saying that if she should ever receive any further leading in the matter he would much appreciate a word.
'Are you always so headstrong and haughty?' she called as he stumped away. When he did not stop or look around, she relented. 'Oh, very well. I will tell you.'
He turned around and retraced his steps. 'Everything,' he said, standing over her.
'Yes,' she conceded, 'everything. Just sit down so I do not have to shout up at you.'
Rognvald sat, leaned back against the tiller rail, clasping his cup in both hands. 'Proceed.'
'First,' Cait said, 'I must know if you hold any regard for the Poor Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon.'
'The Templars?' He glanced at her curiously, and saw that she was in earnest. 'No, my lady,' the nobleman answered, shaking his head slowly. 'I have known but two or three of them-they were in prison with us, but were quickly ransomed by their order. They were Franks, it is true, but seemed like honourable men nonetheless.' He shrugged. 'They are said to be formidable warriors, but I cannot say one way or the other. Are there Templars in your explanation?'
'There are,' confessed Cait. 'One, at least, but probably many more by now. They are the reason for this… this…' she searched for a word and did not find one.
