Halif ben Josef and Andrés were ready to leave for the physician’s vineyard. Blackstone clasped ben Josef’s hand. ‘I wish you happy days growing your grapes, Master Josef.’

‘And I wish you a long life, Sir Thomas.’ He glanced past Blackstone’s shoulder. ‘One of the Navarrese is dead?’

‘Yes. A fall from his horse.’

Ben Josef’s eyebrows raised.

‘My thoughts as well,’ said Blackstone. ‘He was too good a rider. Master Josef, translate for me so the boy understands.’ He turned his attention to the goatherd. ‘Santos said there were rockfalls on the road.’ Ben Josef’s gentle voice lilted and rose with the Navarrese dialect’s cadence.

The boy nodded. ‘Perhaps. It happens, but on that road, I am not so sure. The rain came from the west but where he was taking you was the dry side of the hills.’

‘Can you give me another route to Burgos if I go the way Santos suggests?’

The boy nodded. ‘There are two or three ways. Follow the river in the valley and that will take you there.’

‘Routiers are driving up from the south-east into Castile. If there is trouble, then we have the river at our back. Is there a northern route?’ Blackstone asked.

The boy listened as ben Josef explained Blackstone’s need for a safe route.

Andrés nodded; ben Josef listened and translated. ‘If you come down from where the man fell from his horse, you cross the valley and the river, and then go through the lower mountain passes; no one will attack there. It’s a road wide enough only for two or three horsemen. It will put another two days, perhaps three on your journey.’

‘Then that’s the route we take. Villages? Towns?’

The boy shrugged. ‘A few but when you climb through a mountain pass, look for stones, high stones.’ He opened his hand wide and pointed to his outstretched fingers. ‘Sharp like wolf’s fangs.’

They are the Sierra del Cordel,’ explained ben Josef.

Andrés recognized ben Josef’s words. He nodded again. ‘That is what they are called. And then below you is a narrow valley and on the other side more hills and mountains, but not as high, yes? Keep following the sun as it goes down and the plain ahead and then the river, the big river.’

‘He means the Ebro,’ added ben Josef.

Andrés smiled when he heard the name of the river. ‘Yes, that is the river. Follow the sun west and you will find a bridge or a ford. I have not been that far for a long time. My father took me when I was a boy, but I do not remember it clearly. Perhaps when I see it again. Shall I take you?’

‘Not that far but I want something more from you. On the road where my man was killed: where is there a place for men to hide?’