Franz and Raoul stayed silent, frozen. While she was killing the plants, Toinette took no notice of it. She would have expected such a reaction to either her or the situation. Only after she transformed again did she realize that they were both staring in the same direction and see the shine of metal against a familiar yellow-white.
In the course of stamping out the fire, she’d dug up the earth around the trees considerably. Four skeletal fingers now rose from one of the churned patches. The silver ring on one was tarnished, but Toinette could still make out the narrow-armed cross of the Knights Templar.
Fifteen
“Devils,” said Franz. “This place is cursed.”
“Because of the plants?” Samuel shook his head. “Lions don’t make a plain cursed, nor wolves a forest. Not unless the whole world’s cursed.”
“It’s not just the plants.” John poked at the fire, sending up a brief fountain of sparks. “The lights. The storm. The shape in the forest. ’Tis uncanny. And now dead men.”
“There are plenty of dead men in England and France,” said Marcus, punctuating the sentence by pulling a section of fish off his skewer and popping it into his mouth.
“Aye,” said Raoul, “but Templars? Who’s to say that the stories of devil worship weren’t right?”
The eight of them sat eating. The flames crackled merrily, lighting and warming the makeshift cave, and the smell of cooked fish in the air was appealing, but neither lifted the tension that hung thick as storm clouds. Ever since Toinette’s party had stumbled back to camp, white-faced and wide-eyed, the evening had been an uneasy one.
The description of the plants had been revolting, but, to Erik, no more fearsome than tales of any other predator. The ocean had sharks; the road had brigands; a wise man traveled armed and in groups. He, being not entirely a man, had never worried much about either. The hand with its ring—that was a different matter.
Aye, but Templars?
He met Toinette’s eyes across the fire. The flame illuminated the gold specks in them and cast shadows across her narrow face. Like him, she’d largely kept silent, letting the men talk. Erik wished he could have read her expression better, and he knew there was cowardice in that desire.
He’d hired theHawkand her crew. A man had a duty to those who served him, and that meant facing their displeasure.
“One of the stories does seem true,” he said, against the waves and the burning wood. “That is, the one that brought us here. And so—”
“—the one about the treasure might be?” Raoul’s young face shifted, interest not replacing the fear but surely tempering it.
He was young. Around him, the other men showed more mixed reactions. Franz and John looked skeptical, Samuel thoughtful, and Sence blank as usual. Marcus stroked his chin, frowning, but Erik didn’t know whether in disapproval or simple calculation.
Toinette said nothing and rolled her eyes.
“If the dangeristoo great,” Erik said, trying to pretend that her reaction didn’t sting, “we can call off now.”
“Easier ways to earn a coin,” said Franz.
“Are there?” asked Marcus. “We’re here as it is. We’d chance no more dire weather by staying a few days longer than we would if we left now. And we’ve nottrulymet with any more danger than we did in Damascus, say,” he said to Franz, “nor that time in Cadiz with the guildsman. What’s threatened us so far? A few plants that we’ve the means to fight off.”
“Andghosts,” John put in, shaking his head.
“Aghost,” said Marcus. “Perhaps.”
“One or a thousand, what matter?” Franz’s pallor had taken on a gray-green tinge, and he swallowed again before he spoke. “It was there. It vanished. We found the body. What else could it be but a phantom?”
“And as I hear, if you hadn’t been fool enough to run off after a man you’d barely glimpsed,” said Samuel, “you’d have been at no more risk than you are now.”
“You’d have done the same,” said John. “That girl in Medina—”
“Was flesh and blood, thank you.”
Before the argument could pull them too far off course, Toinette raised an interrupting hand. “There’s some truth there,” she said. Her voice was calm and considered, her face as blank as that on a statue of Justice. “Let’s say that the islandishaunted. It’d be far from the first place. That doesn’t mean it’s any more dangerous than it was before, if we’re careful. Hurl a brick in Paris, and you’ll hit two men who’ve seen ghosts and lived to tell the tale. Frequently.”
“And how many of those really saw anything more than the moon past the bottom of a wine cup?” Marcus asked. “If ghostsarehere, I’d not want to judge the real ones by tavern stories.”
If this sudden shift in the wind bothered Toinette, or even surprised her, she didn’t let it show. “When you have enough stories,” she said, “they might start to add up.”
“Maybe the ghost is gone now,” said Raoul. “We found his body, didn’t we?”
