The lord paused, thinking. ‘You can go overland, north towards Venice. There’s something I want you to look at there.’

He passed the reins of his horse to Freize without another word and turned and went into the inn.

‘Venice is it now?’ Freize asked the horse dourly. ‘Rides in here like one of the horsemen of the apocalypse and the other three are coming along behind in their own time, and tells us we’re going to Venice. Well and good. Well and good, and you and I are nothing but dumb animals as you know, and I should remember.’ He stroked the animal’s neck and the big head turned to gently sniff at him. ‘So do you know what he’s planning?’ Freize asked conspiratorially

He waited as if he really thought that the horse might speak to him. ‘Confidential?’ he said. ‘That’s understandable, I suppose. But never tell me that he doesn’t confide in you?’ When the horse was silent, Freize patted its side and undid the tight girth. ‘Ah well. A man who keeps a secret from his horse is a secretive man, indeed.’

In the inn, Ishraq and Isolde who had been watching from the tap room window as the ship set sail, melted away up to their room as the strange lord called for the innkeeper. He ordered a glass of wine and a fire lit in the dining room, commanded the best bedroom available for himself, refused completely to share with other travellers, agreed a price for his exclusive use, and then, finally, sat down in the great chair and pulled off his riding boots and said that he would dine alone, but that Luca and Brother Peter should come to him after dinner.

‘Who is he?’ Isolde took Brother Peter by the arm as he bowed his way out of the dining room, and closed the door on the stranger with an air of relief.

‘He is the lord commander of our Order.’

‘What’s his name?’

‘I cannot tell you that.’

‘What is his authority, then?’

Brother Peter looked almost afraid. ‘He is high in the trust of the Holy Father,’ he said. ‘He is trusted with discovering the end of days. The Order walks on the frontier of this world and the next, patrolling the frontier of the Christian and the infidel worlds. There is no man in greater danger. There is no man more fearless.’

‘Is he wealthy?’

‘Of course.’

‘How many men does he command?’

‘Nobody but him knows. And only he knows.’

‘How long have you worked for him?’

Brother Peter thought. ‘Five years,’ he said.

‘What is the name of the Order?’

‘Some people call it the Order of Darkness,’ he said cautiously.

‘Is that the name he calls it?’

He smiled. ‘I don’t know what he calls it.’

‘So it has another name?’

‘Probably many.’

‘Is Luca sworn to it?’ she asked. ‘Sworn as a celibate soldier, or inquirer, or whatever it is?’