Alice laughed, a little shakily. “Yes, it was Jeshua. And there was danger, but it’s over now, and I think we shall find that Jeshua has done something very fine and brave. And I also think he’ll be going back home with us.”

Back in her cabin, while the maid dressed the bruised hand, Alice told Mariamne what had happened. The girl’s shocked horror at her mistress’s near escape from injury or worse was soon over-come by her pleasure at the news of the young prince’s escape, but it was obvious that all else was eclipsed by the knowledge that Jeshua was on the Merwing, apparently prepared to accompany his master with the duke’s party to Britain.

Once dismissed to her pallet, the girl soon slept, but Alice, exhausted though she now was, found sleep still far away. Her hand hurt a little, but what kept her wakeful was her guess at what must be happening on deck. She could hear no sounds but the slap and suck of water along the ship’s side. She moved restlessly, trying to listen, then trying not to listen, hoping not to hear … She forced herself to reason, attempting calm. If the man was one of the Merwing’s crew, and had been paid by Chlodovald’s murderous uncles to finish their work and kill the child who was now his rightful king, then no doubt he would now himself be killed as a traitor and assassin. That, in the law, was right. And once the facts were known the duke would see to it that the end was just and clean. So take comfort; take what comfort had come, thank God, out of the recent tragedy and horror, that this last murder had twice been foiled, and the boy was safe. They were all safe, and soon they would be home again. Think of that. Think of home, and the summer fields and forests, and the peace of Rheged’s hills and lakes. But first …

But first to add a final prayer to the confused messages that had passed that night between Alice and her God. It was a simple prayer for the soul of the wretched man who had almost killed her, and had meant, for whatever reason, to kill Chlodovald.

And in His own way, Alice’s God answered her. She was fast asleep and did not hear the heavy splash, some time later, as the body was thrown overboard.

23

It was late next morning. Alice and the duke were on deck, watching the edges of the river recede as the estuary widened towards the sea. There was no sign of Chlodovald. He must, said the duke, be still sleeping.

He himself had slept on deck, leaving his cabin to the boy, with Father Anselm on watch for his waking, and guards, freshly alert and watchful, at the companionway.

“But there’s no danger now,” said Ansirus. “It’s certain that the fellow was telling the truth. He was one of the crew, who had heard some rumour of the murders, and the loss, as he took it, of Queen Clotilda’s control over her sons. He assumed that Lothar would soon be declared King of Orleans, and that the queen’s property – and that would include the Merwing – would be seized along with the kingdom. It was ill chance that he was on watch when Jeshua came aboard. When he saw Jeshua carry the child below and then come back to speak with me and the master, leaving Chlodovald, as he thought, alone in my cabin, he seized his chance. He planned to kill the child and then claim a reward from King Lothar. He would have taken some token as proof of the killing, and then gone overboard and swum ashore – you remember we were close in then. Well, when he came off watch he went below with a flagon of warmed wine which he said had been ordered for the boy by me, and the guards, knowing him for one of the crew, let him through.”