‘Yes, Sir Thomas. He is correct. I too would have taken you by that route. I know the fords across the river. It is what he decides once we have reached Estella that will tell us if he is being a true guide.’

Blackstone dismissed him and thanked ben Josef.

‘I pray the wind is at our backs, Thomas,’ said Killbere. ‘I’ve smelled a sweeter stench from a tanner’s yard.’

*

The twenty-nine miles from Pamplona passed without incident. Renfred and his forward scouts reported no threat but there were sightings of riders, barely visible on far mountain tracks behind them. They posed no threat and soon disappeared from view, but Blackstone kept the German captain and his men wide of the column and when night fell ordered them to camp without fires and protect their flank. As the evening sky began to darken their guide led the men through fields of olive groves and then crossed the southern loop of the River Arga. Lanterns began to twinkle in the distant Estella households built on the river’s northern slope along a narrow corridor between the river and the mountains.

‘We’ll camp here and ride on at first light,’ Blackstone said. ‘Unless you are anxious to return home?’ he said to ben Josef.

‘I have been away for some time, Sir Thomas, another night in good company will be no hardship. I have no family waiting for me, only my books.’

‘My son, Henry, he is a lover of books. He got it from his mother. Not me.’

‘Your wife is waiting for you somewhere?’

‘Not in this world, Master Josef.’

The physician nodded. ‘I too await my reunion.’ He paused and let his gaze meander across the landscape. ‘Encourage your son. We are blessed with knowledge from Greeks and Arabs, and we Jews shared in that knowledge. We stand across a divide that is not always easy to bridge but medicine builds trust and understanding. We forget so much that should be remembered and honoured. We are all men of learning and what greater gift is there than knowledge to share among our fellow men?’

‘My son fights me. I don’t understand him. He craves knowledge but wishes to serve with me. I wish I had the words to explain to him what worlds of mystery must lie in books.’