Hawksworth felt his heart explode, realizing there was no arrival—and no possibility of using King James's presents to bargain for Shirin. "I expect it any day, Your Majesty. Possibly the winds have been against them."
"The winds." Arangbar turned to Father Sarmento, his voice sarcastic. "Do you think the winds have been against them, Padre?"
"Undoubtedly, Majesty." Sarmento could not suppress a
malicious smile. "The winds of truth. They have been arrested in a gale of deception."
"I object, Your Majesty, to this Papist's innuendos." Hawksworth felt himself suddenly bristle. "An Englishman does not accept insults from a Portugal."
"You will listen quietly to what you are about to hear, Inglish, or you will be removed by my guards." Arangbar again turned to Father Sarmento. "Padre, repeat to the Inglish conspirator what you told me this afternoon."
"May it please Your Majesty, not only is the English a heretic before God and the Holy Church, he is also a liar." Sarmento paused with the dramatic timing of a practiced orator. " There is no English fleet."
Hawksworth stared at the Jesuit in speechless dismay. His entire being seemed to crash down about him as Sarmento continued.
"Because of the foresight of His Excellency, Miguel Vaijantes, Viceroy of Goa, we have now uncovered the truth, Your Majesty. After his patrols encountered no English merchantmen, either north or south, he began to grow suspicious. He ordered his personal guards to find and detain the man who claimed to have intercepted Jadar's cipher reporting the fleet. The traitor was found, not surprisingly, in a Goan brothel, where he had been for many days, spending more money than such a man could normally earn in a lifetime. He was brought to the palace and interrogated on the strappado." Sarmento turned triumphantly to Hawksworth. "Where he readily admitted being paid to bring a false report."
"And who do you believe paid him?"