The night edged on and as the deep note of the bell sounded, he drew a sorrowful breath and slowly paced back along the path. Then she emerged from the gloom and hurried towards him and without a word they embraced and kissed and all his fears vanished.

‘What kept you from me?’ Thomas asked at length.

‘I’m so sorry, my love. The wife of the merchant tasked with accommodating me is a suspicious old shrew and watches me like a hawk.’

‘With good cause.’ Thomas chuckled.

Maria pushed at his chest. ‘Do not mock. I had to wait until I was sure there was no movement in the house before I dared creep tint. I came as soon as I could. We haven’t much time. I have to be back in my room before the servants stir at dawn.’

She kissed him again and Thomas sensed her tension and drew back.

‘What is the matter?’ he asked.

Her skin looked pale in the moon’s glow as she stared at him, and he felt her tremble. ‘Thomas, what is to become of us? We are sinning, there is no other word for it. I am to be married to another you my heart and body. What good is that? My brother will arrive any day. After that we shall never see each other

‘So we should make the most of the time we have.’

‘We have already made more of it than is prudent,’ she replied nervously.

‘Damn prudence. We should follow our natures and our hearts.’ She shook her head and spoke softly. ‘You fool. You dear fool. We are as the smallest cogs in an intricate mechanism. We must turn on the whim of larger forces. We have no say in it.’

‘But we do,’ Thomas responded earnestly. ‘We could leave Malta. Come home with me to England.’

‘Leave Malta? How? Do you think to steal yourself a ship as easily as you have stolen my heart?’.

‘It was not stolen, as I recall, but freely given.’ Thomas rubbed his jaw as he considered their plight. ‘We could stow away aboard a merchant ship. Make for France and travel on from there.’ He was speaking without much thought and his words sounded foolish and hopeless even to him. Maria would be missed at once, and when it was discovered that he was also gone, it was not hard to imagine the consequences. Maria was in the safekeeping of the Order. They could not be seen to have failed in their duty. A fast galley would be sent in pursuit of any ship that had left the island. They would be overtaken before the first day was out and brought back to face the wrath of the Grand Master. He knew this but still his heart argued for fleeing with Maria.

‘What can we do?’ he asked angrily. ‘I will not give you up!’

‘Yes, you will.’ A voice spoke from the shadows further along the track. ‘Sooner than you think.’

They turned towards the sound and Thomas saw a figure emerge into the wan moonlight. A man, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. Several more men appeared behind him.

‘Oliver . . .’ Maria whispered.

Thomas swallowed and tried to sound calm as he addressed his former friend. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘Don’t be an even bigger fool than you already are, Thomas,’

Stokely responded. ‘You know precisely why I am here.’ He turned and gestured to the men behind him. ‘Arrest them both. Take the lady back to her quarters.’

Two men approached and Thomas stepped in front of Maria and raised his fists.

‘No, Thomas!’ she said urgently. ‘It’s too late for that. Far too late.’

‘Maria is right,’ Stokely intervened. ‘It is too late. It is over between you. Now let the lady be escorted to her keepers. . . ‘

Thomas stood his ground and Maria edged round him, taking his hand and giving it a quick squeeze before they were parted. Thomas watched in anger and despair as the three figures padded back along the path towards Birgu. Then Stokely gave a curt command and ’o men grasped his arms and pinned them behind his back. Stokely stepped forward and shook his head mockingly. ‘Dear Thomas, what is to become of you now?’

CHAPTER SIX

The expression on the face of Grand Master Jean d’Omedes darkened as he listened to Stokely. The Grand Master had been roused from his slumber shortly after the second hour and had berated his servant angrily until the cause of his disturbance eventually penetrated his sleep-encumbered mind. Then he had dressed hurriedly and summoned Romegas, his senior galley captain, and Jean de La Valette to the council chamber of the Order in the heart of Fort St Angelo.

Flickering candles illuminated the hurriedly assembled hearing. Thomas stood between two armed guards in front of the three men sitting behind a long table. To one side Stokely stood and gave his account. When he had finished there was a tense silence before the Grand Master cleared his throat and glared at Thomas.

‘Do you have any idea how much damage you have done to the Order? The Venici family will never forgive us when they hear what has happened. Nor will the Duke in Sardinia to whose son Maria was betrothed. Our position is precarious enough without making new enemies.’

Romegas growled, ‘If we are denied permission to replenish our galleys from the ports of Naples and Sardinia then our ability to strike at the corsairs and the Turks will be hit hard, sir.’

The Grand Master sucked in a breath. ‘What are we to do?’

‘I don’t think there’s any choice, sir,’ Romegas replied. ‘We must punish Sir Thomas, in an exemplary fashion. The Venici family will expect nothing less.’

‘Wait.’ La Valette half turned to address the other men seated at the table. ‘There is no need to act rashly. It is not too late to hide this affair from outside eyes.’

‘I wonder,’ the Grand Master mused and then looked at Thomas shrewdly. ‘Is it too late? Sir Thomas, is the lady’s honour still intact?’

Thomas flushed and his defiant gaze dropped and he stared at the stone floor in front of the table.

‘I see,’ d’Omedes said flatly. ‘Then we must do as Romegas says. Punishment must be swift and severe. The Order must be seen to have acted against this miscreant.’

‘He has broken a sacred oath,’ said Romegas, ‘and betrayed the honour of the Holy Religion. The Venicis will want his head. I suspect nothing short of that will assuage their anger.’

La Valette snorted with derision. ‘You are not seriously suggesting that we execute Sir Thomas?’

Romegas nodded. ‘That is precisely what I am suggesting.’

‘For what? For succumbing to the weakness of the flesh? That is no reason to hang a man. By God, if it were then half the knights of the Order should be strung up alongside him for having mistresses or ravaging the women of our enemies.’

The Grand Master raised a hand. ‘Pray, be quiet. We are not here to judge other knights. Just Sir Thomas.’

‘Unless there is a common standard then I suggest that we have no code of honour worth preserving, sir.’

The Grand Master’s brow furrowed angrily. ‘You go too far, La Valette.’

‘No, sir. It is you who are stepping beyond the bounds.’ La Valette gestured towards Thomas. ‘I know this knight well. He has fought at my side for these last two years. I have not seen his equal for courage and devotion to the Order. Sir Thomas is one of the most promising knights of his generation. It would be foolhardy to eradicate such talent when we are in sore need of fighting men. Punish him, yes. A public flogging perhaps. That should do to remind our men of the need to act with honour and chivalry. That is all that is necessary.’

‘It is not enough,’ Romegas replied. ‘If we did that and permitted Sir Thomas to stay in the Order, he would be a constant reminder of our shame and, worse, our leniency and indulgence of ill discipline and lax morality. Our younger knights need to be taught a lesson. They need a reminder of the depth and solemnity of the oaths that bind the Order together. Let Sir Thomas’s death reaffirm the bonds that tie us. I urge you to have him executed, sir.’