‘I hope not,’ I replied.
We pressed on in the direction of Magnus’s house, which was only a short distance away, close to the city’s southern gates. From time to time I risked a glance behind us, but didn’t want to attract suspicion. Fortunately there were many different ways one could take through the streets, and, having spent now a little more than a week in this city, I was beginning to learn them. From time to time I risked a glance over my shoulder to see if they were behind us, until eventually I had to concede that they weren’t following.
‘They’re determined, aren’t they?’ Pons remarked.
It didn’t make sense. Why pursue us here, all this way? For that matter, how did they even know where we were headed? I’d held that piece of information back from ?dda and Galfrid and Father Erchembald for this very reason. Neither had I told Eudo and Wace, at least not so far as I could recall. Where were they now? Had they gone with Robert on the king’s planned expedition to Flanders?
And then I remembered. I’d let it slip to Robert, on the very day that we had buried his father, in his solar at Heia.
I’d been a fool. An accursed fool. At every turn I’d given my enemies the means to ensnare me and bring about my downfall. First Atselin, and now Robert himself, difficult though it was to think of him as such. But I could hardly count him as a friend any longer.
‘They’re looking for me,’ I said, after we’d arrived at Magnus’s hall and I’d explained to him what had happened and what we’d seen. ‘They’ve already driven me from England, and now they’ll scour this town until they find me.’
‘What did you do?’ ?lfhelm growled. He and a number of his brothers in arms whose names I hadn’t yet learnt sat along the benches, passing between them a leather flask from which they filled clay drinking pots.
‘That doesn’t matter. What does matter is that we get away from here, and as soon as possible.’
Many pairs of eyes had noticed us walking Dyflin’s streets in recent days, coming and going from Magnus’s hall, and there would be plenty of rumours passing from tongue to tongue, some of them accurate and others less so, about who we were and what our business was here in the city. Armed with a little silver, it wouldn’t take all that long for Robert’s men to learn where we were. When that happened, I could give up all hope of finding Oswynn soon.
‘You want us to sail now, simply to protect your wretched hides?’ ?lfhelm asked. ‘Why should your fate concern us?’
‘?lfhelm,’ said Magnus warningly.
But the huscarl was not to be deterred. ‘I smell a trick, lord. First these Frenchmen come here claiming to seek your help, and now suddenly a horde of their countrymen arrive in their wake. This seems to me no accident.’
‘What are you implying?’ I asked.
Another of the Englishmen, a thin-faced, long-haired man by the name of Uhtferth, who was Nihtegesa’s steersman, had been nodding in agreement for some time, and he spoke up now.
‘You, lord,’ he said, addressing Magnus, ‘are the one who the Frenchmen are after. They want to finish what they have been unable to do for five years, which is to make sure that no heir of Harold lives to challenge them. Having first rooted you out, this man’ – he pointed at me – ‘has clearly sent word to his friends, and now they’ve come to kill you.’
I could only laugh at how ridiculous that sounded. ‘If that were true, why would I come to warn you in advance that my countrymen are here?’
Uhtferth and ?lfhelm glanced at each other, but neither appeared to have any answer. I turned to Magnus, for the decision in the end belonged to him. My safety rested in the hands of an Englishman, and not merely any Englishman at that, but no less than a son of the usurper, who owed me nothing and had every reason to hate me. If he decided he was better off fighting Haakon without us, or even if he chose to give us up to Robert’s men, I wouldn’t have blamed him, or even been surprised.
It was a long while before Magnus spoke, or perhaps it only seemed that way because I knew how much rested on the next words that came out from his mouth.
‘We sail tonight,’ he said at last, much to my relief.
‘Tonight?’ ?lfhelm echoed, amidst a roar of disapproval from his comrades.
‘That’s right. I will not force you to come if you do not wish. So either make your peace with this alliance I’ve made, or else stay here in Dyflin. I leave that choice to you.’
The huscarl grimaced, but it was clear that the desire for adventure and for glory still burnt bright in his heart, despite his years. He would not abandon his lord, would not refuse this challenge.