Saxon: The Emperor's Elephant (44 page)

The dragoman was unflustered. ‘That is correct. They sweeten the breath.’

‘Those are the same shells that I found under the benches in the Colosseum on the morning after Protis died.’

Abram waited for me to go on.

‘I had many hours on the voyage back from Zanj to think about that sequence of mishaps that so nearly destroyed the mission,’ I said. ‘As far back as Rome I realized that
someone was deliberately trying to prevent it succeeding.’

‘And what did you conclude?’ the dragoman was gently mocking me.

‘That, whoever it was, was remarkably well informed – wherever we were. It couldn’t have been Osric or Walo, which left only you or your servants. Also, on the two occasions
when the aurochs was set free – in Rome and in the desert – the dogs didn’t bark. They knew the person or persons responsible.’

‘And when was the start of this campaign against you and your mission, do you suppose?’ Abram asked. He was supremely self-possessed.

‘In Kaupang,’ I told him. ‘Though the attempt to kill me there didn’t fit the pattern. I hadn’t even met you at that time and I couldn’t see how you might be
responsible. Only later did I recall a remark that a shrewd sea captain named Redwald made to me. He warned me that money has a long reach. On another occasion Osric said something
similar.’

The dragoman allowed himself a knowing smile. The elephant was again reaching forward with its trunk, begging this time. Abram extended his arm and allowed the tip of the trunk to thrust up his
loose sleeve, exploring. When the trunk withdrew, the elephant tasted in its mouth what it had found, rejected it, and then the trunk stretched out in my direction.

It seemed natural to accept what it was the creature was offering. I put out my hand. The end of the trunk turned up and I saw something shiny and held in place by the fingerlike tip of the
animal’s nose.

Something small and damp dropped into the palm of my hand, and I was looking down on a familiar coin – a gold dinar.

I admired the dragoman’s sense of theatre. ‘You didn’t need that conjurer’s trick,’ I said.

I took out my purse and found the dinar from Kaupang that Redwald had given me as a memento. As I anticipated, it was the twin of the coin that Abram had produced. Both bore King Offa’s
name. ‘You were the paymaster who arranged the attack on me in Kaupang.’

A brief flicker of regret appeared in Abram’s eyes. ‘For that I apologize. I had not yet met you by then. Had that been the case, I would have considered a different, less violent
course of action.’

I made a point of sounding incredulous. ‘You were behind all those other incidents, and yet you did not wish to harm me.’

‘Neither you, nor your companions. After I met you, I had no wish to hurt you, certainly not to cause your deaths. I tried to thwart the mission without anyone being killed.’

I gave a snort of disbelief. ‘I find that difficult to believe.’

‘I managed to delay and divert the mission. I took it by a longer route, downriver to the Mediterranean and not over the mountains directly into Italy. I was hoping that something would go
wrong, an accident that would make you abandon the mission.’

‘Yet when an accident did happen and that raft hit the bridge, you risked your life to save the boatman who had been thrown into the water,’ I said.

He gave a slight shrug. ‘I repeat: I didn’t want anyone to be killed because of me.’

My scepticism must have been very apparent because he added, ‘Think back to when Protis’s ship foundered. My plan was for the animals to drown, and your companions to get safely to
shore. I overlooked the fact that ice bears can swim, and the aurochs too.’

I stopped him there. ‘That was something else that puzzled me. I couldn’t understand how you arranged for the ship to sink.’

He arched a mocking eyebrow. ‘My people have excellent contacts along the river, and I sent ahead. Protis’s ship was delayed for repairs and while it was in dock, the carpenters were
paid to drill some holes in the hull and plug them with wax. An old technique, used by unscrupulous shipowners. They then claim the loss of a cargo that they never loaded, but had
stolen.’

‘And the wax comes loose and the ship sinks?’ I said.

He grinned. ‘But not fast enough. That was why I volunteered to swim overboard and put the canvas in place. It gave me a chance to knock out the last of the wax plugs.’

I found myself losing patience with his smug responses. Clearly Abram had anticipated this conversation. ‘You say that you didn’t want to hurt us,’ I snapped. ‘Yet Protis
died in the arena. I presume your servants let the aurochs go free – and then the lions killed that poor wretch in the desert.’

‘I truly regret Protis’s death,’ said Abram, and he sounded as though he meant it. ‘I never thought he would be so foolhardy, or that his head would be so filled with the
heroics of the ancient Greeks.’ He paused. ‘As for that poor wretch in the desert, he had no reason to run off into it.’

I looked down at the two coins in my hand. ‘These tell only part of your deceit.’

Abram grinned at me mischievously. ‘Then explain to me the rest of it.’

‘Offa might pay to have me killed, but he had no reason to wreck Carolus’s embassy to Haroun.’

This time I had managed to throw him off balance. His eyes narrowed. ‘Go on.’

‘So you set up another suspect. Those men who attacked me in Kaupang were also paid in Byzantine gold. I was shown a gold solidus. On our journey here you reminded me repeatedly that the
Greeks are at war with the caliphate, and would do anything to stop an alliance between Aachen and Baghdad.’

I closed my fist and shook the two gold coins together so they clicked softly. The elephant had remarkably acute hearing. He flapped his ears and the trunk came questing again towards my hand,
then withdrew as I kept my hand clenched.

‘Yet here in Baghdad I find that Greeks work for the caliph, and Arabs go to Constantinople to buy books. They are not at daggers drawn, as you had me believe,’ I said quietly.
‘Then I thought back to Christmas Day in Rome when I saw Pope Adrian with my own eyes as he went in procession in St Peter’s Basilica. He had a look of absolute self-belief, arrogant
and implacable. I judged him to be someone who stopped at nothing to protect his Church.’

The dragoman was absolutely motionless. He did not contradict me.

‘It occurred to me that Adrian, more than anyone, has reason to be alarmed by an alliance between Carolus and Haroun, between the Christian king and the Commander of the Faithful. That
would be the worst of all possible worlds for the pope.’ I chose my words with care. ‘The Nomenculator said to me that everything in Rome has its price. That all is self-interest. I
remember his exact words, “We Romans have little loyalty to the past when it suits us.” ’

I had Abram’s full attention now. ‘In Rome you knew about the inner workings of the papal office and Adrian and his ministers. That struck me as odd for someone who is a Radhanite.
This is what I think is the truth – you passed through Rome on the way north with Haroun’s gifts for Carolus. Pope Adrian offered you a large sum of money to make sure that the alliance
between Carolus and Haroun never materialized. You became his creature.’

The dragoman cocked his head on one side. ‘Truly, Sigwulf, you have a vivid imagination. Next you’ll claim I killed the elephant in my care.’

I smiled mirthlessly. ‘Perhaps so. The elephant died long before you reached Rome. If you remember, I did dream that you were extracting bones from a dead elephant. In the interpretation
of dreams, this meant that you would make a great profit from an endeavour. Maybe it was an unfortunate coincidence, but it eventually made me question what you were really up to.’

The dragoman smirked. ‘Sigwulf, I never thought you were a dream believer. How do you explain Haroun’s other gifts to Carolus – the mechanical clock and the other baubles? I
delivered them safely.’

‘That was when you made your really clever move. You claimed falsely that the dead elephant was white because white was the royal colour in Baghdad. You charmed Carolus’s advisors
with the idea that if there was to be a return mission to Baghdad it should take white gifts. You knew that would offend Haroun.’

Abram appeared to regain his poise, and that brought me a twinge of worry.

‘Of course, Adrian has paid me well,’ he admitted, giving me a pleasant, relaxed smile. Then to my astonishment he leaned forward and gave me a friendly pat on the shoulder.

‘Sigwulf, if I were you, when you get back to Aachen, I wouldn’t tell Carolus or Alcuin that the Holy Father tried to wreck their foreign policy.’

‘Why not?’ I retorted. ‘Alcuin might be shocked, but Carolus is sufficiently worldly wise to accept that Pope Adrian’s priority must be the Church itself.’

Abram gave me a look loaded with sympathy but a warning as well. ‘Kings also don’t like to be made to look stupid and ignorant.’

The dragoman was all too sure of himself. Again I sensed that he had planned ahead and out-witted me. ‘What do you mean?’ I asked cautiously.

‘Think back to the day you met with Carolus and were given the mission to Baghdad. Do you recall that meeting?’

I could remember every detail. ‘I had come back successfully from Kaupang, bringing the gyrfalcons, the white dogs and the ice bears,’ I said slowly.

‘And what did you give to him?’ Abram prompted.

I thought back to the scene in the king’s apartments and Carolus’s reaction when I produced the horn of a unicorn. He had been like a child seeing a wonderful present.

‘I showed him a unicorn’s horn that Osric had bought in Kaupang for a princely sum,’ I said.

‘You told me that Carolus decided to keep it for himself, and not send it to the caliph,’ Abram replied.

‘That’s true. He was delighted. He was going to show it to his sceptical counsellors who doubted the existence of the unicorn.’

Abram chuckled. ‘And how would the king react if he knew he had been tricked?’

I stared at him. ‘The king is known to have a notoriously short temper,’ I said.

‘It would be very unfortunate, then, if he learned his precious unicorn horn is nothing more than a tooth. What is more, it is a tooth from a large, fat sea creature that’s more like
a sea slug than a graceful deer.’

I stared at the dragoman. The triumph in his dark brown eyes told me that he was telling the truth. His threat was real. If I revealed the pope’s plot to Carolus, Abram would make sure the
king would learn that his precious unicorn’s horn was a fake. My own future at court would be ruined.

I had to admire Abram’s audacity. He had shown himself to be a past master at double-dealing. In my present disenchanted mood I was entirely ready to accept that my only sensible course of
action was to let matters lie where they were: I would go back to Aachen, not mention Abram’s treachery, and continue to pay lip service to the myth of the unicorn. It would be much the same
as my clandestine arrangement with Osric to keep the secret of the so-called rukh’s eggs.

‘I agree to your terms,’ I said reluctantly, holding out my hand. ‘I will say nothing to Carolus or to Alcuin about Pope Adrian’s plot. In return, you will keep the
secret of the unicorn’s horn.’

Abram shook my hand. I turned on my heel and was nearly at the double doors on my way out of the menagerie when the elephant trumpeted angrily, either from bad temper or because he had been
denied any further food. The hoarse sound echoed through the building and shattered my complacency like a physical blow. I heard again the aurochs in the pitfall bellowing in triumph over
Vulfard’s crushed body. My stomach heaved at the thought that while others were dying, Abram had taken his chance to serve two masters and line his pockets.

I hurried my steps, going first to the royal library for a private conversation with Musa, and then on to our lodgings where Osric was standing at a window, staring out at the fountain in the
courtyard and deep in thought. He looked round, surprised at my sudden, urgent arrival.

‘Osric, I need your help,’ I told him. ‘I’ve been talking with Abram.’

He listened as I described the extent of the dragoman’s treachery. ‘He can’t be allowed to get away with it,’ I concluded.

‘What do you propose?’ Osric asked.

‘I’m relying on Jaffar’s interest in our bestiary as a text book for Prince Abdallah. I’ve just spoken with Musa. He confirms that the book is in the royal library and
has agreed to update the entry about elephants before it gets sent to the vizier.’

‘What’s Musa going to add?’ Osric asked, puzzled.

I quoted the sentences I had so carefully composed to be written below the illustration of the two green-painted elephants, with their large, doleful eyes, white curving tusks, and their trunks
about to touch. ‘
It is claimed that some elephants are white. The elephant sent by Caliph Haroun al Rashid as a gift for Carolus, King of the Franks, was reported by its escort to have
been white.
’

Slowly a smile began to spread across Osric’s thin face. ‘Prince Abdallah is sure to come across this claim in his lessons with Jaffar. He will demand to know much more about this
white elephant, just as he did about the rukh.’

I returned his smile. ‘And Jaffar will send for Abram, and then our former dragoman is in a fix. He may try to bluff it out. He can say that the elephant for Carolus really was white. And
you and I both know what happens next . . .’

Osric finished for me: ‘The Caliph launches another animal-catching expedition, this time to find and bring back a white elephant. Who better to be given the task than Abram?’ He
laughed.

I beamed at Osric, all awkwardness between us forgotten. ‘More likely Abram’s lie will be exposed. It’s easy enough for Jaffar to check on the colour of the elephant that was
sent. It will be found that Abram interfered with the Caliph’s foreign policy. The “blade of his vengeance”, the palace executioner, awaits.’

‘You said you needed my help?’

‘I think Abram was being truthful when he said he never wanted to bring about our deaths, only to wreck the embassy. So, if he does risk execution, can you ask Zaynab to plead for
clemency? Try to get his punishment reduced to a ban on his ever carrying on any business within the caliphate.’