Blackstone waited until they were out of earshot as they left the synagogue. ‘It was good of you to bring your friends to meet me,’ he said. ‘Their information might help save my men’s lives. So Ranulph de Hayle is part of the invasion.’

‘I did not think your English friend would entertain his presence.’

‘Calveley? No, he wouldn’t. But if de Hayle has learnt of me being here and he thinks I still have Lázaro with me, he might return to the man who paid him to find the lad three years ago.’

‘Don Pedro?’

‘Yes.’

‘And by coincidence you ride to help him.’ Ben Josef placed a hand on Blackstone’s arm. ‘Coincidence is another name for Fate, Sir Thomas. Nothing happens that is not predetermined. If de Hayle has learnt of your presence in Spain, then he will know it possible you might leave the child here for safekeeping. Either way, be on your guard. If he is near, then he will scurry ever closer like a rat in the night. The only solution I can think of is to leave the boy with me. The Queen’s murder took place at Medina Sidonia in the far south and it might be that the assassin is still there. We are a long way from the place and in Navarre rather than Castile. I will educate the child and let him work with me. It might save him.’

‘But your friends said you’re leaving.’

Ben Josef shrugged. ‘Not far. There are other younger physicians here. They don’t really need me any more.’ He looked down the corridor where the two merchants had disappeared. ‘Their generous comments are born of a long friendship. I have a vineyard on the other side of the river, a few miles away at Estella in the valley below the mountains. It is a town where Jews have lived for two hundred years and more. It is twenty miles or so from here. I will ride with you that far. Everything I need to live comfortably is there. The King taxes wine brought into the city but does not tax grapes. It’s a good arrangement. I drink my own wine and sell what grapes I don’t need. The boy might be safer with me there than with you. You ride into the heart of violence and evil.’

Blackstone considered the offer. The Spanish boy would have a roof over his head and food in his belly. Would his presence arouse suspicion? A Christian child working in the service of a Jew? Eventually someone would ask questions in the marketplace. One wrong word or a moment of hesitation from Lázaro about his background could prove fatal.