Chapter LI
That however, was not for many months, for the very next day as I sat talking to my companions the door banged behind me and Hilmi strode into the room carrying the pomegranates which he had gone to buy. He put them down on the table next to Hamed's poem and said, almost casually, "Have you heard about the siege?"
"A siege!" We all leaped to our feet and stared at him.
"What do you know about sieges?" Babrak's voice was sharp.
"I've just been down the bazaar," Hilmi said, grinning triumphantly. "The rumour is that the Sultan Salah ud-Din, God grant him mercy, and all his host are laying siege to Reynauld de Chatillon in Kerak."
"May Allah give him success," Hamed breathed.
"Amin, as the Nasranis say," Babrak nodded vigorously. "Are you sure of this, Hilmi?"
"No, it's only a bazaar rumour. However, I think we ought to report to es-Sid, don't you?"
A minute later all four of us were standing in the private rooms of es-Sid Guy, breathing hard from our race up the stairs. Guy put down the sheet of parchment he had been reading and looked up at us, his eyebrows raised.
"You have news?" he asked.
"By the Prophet, ya Sid, we have news indeed!" Hilmi gasped.
"Well, out with it."
"The Sultan is laying siege to Kerak, ya Sid."
I heard a choking sound and looked up to see Trudy clasp both hands to her breast while her sewing slid down off her lap and onto the floor.
"Is he now?" Guy rose slowly and looked hard at us. "You have surety of this?"
"No, Sid," Hilmi sounded abashed. "It is only a bazaar rumour. I heard it just now."
"Hmmm." Guy rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "It wouldn't be the first time the bazaar has spoken truth, though. I must admit, I have been expecting something such as this ever since Reynauld's adventure on the Red Sea." He paused for a moment. "By the mass!" he burst out. "It can't be true, though. It's barely three weeks since we left the Sultan settling into winter quarters in Damascus."
"Will you send some of us to find out?" Hamed asked eagerly.
"No," Guy shook his head. "It is a long way to Kerak and by the time you went and returned the matter might be finished." He stood silent for a time and then lifted his head. "I will go now to the king and bring him the news. Perhaps then I will have work for you."
Trudy left her sewing and helped her father dress in a manner befitting one who goes to speak with kings. When Guy had gone we four sat down with Trudy - and soon others came to join us - and discussed the matter.
"It will serve him right if the king refuses to send succour," Charles declared, banging his hand on the table for empasis.
We all murmured agreement apart from one of the serving girls whose brother was a merchant and was thought to be in Oultre Jordan and possibly even Kerak.
"One thing is certain," Phillipe remarked some time later. "Whatever message is sent, only you four can be the messengers. None of us could possibly appear among the Sultan's army."
"He's right," Babrak said. "So let us make plans, ready for when our lord returns. I have several times carried messages to emirs in ash-Shams. I think I could gain entry to the household of Emir Abdullah Amir Fiqri."
"Not much help if our message is to the castle," Hamed pointed out wryly.
"A bedu might stand greater chance of passing through the army," Hilmi spoke quietly. "All he has to do is follow his goats and drive them in the right direction with a stone or two slung at random."
"That is true," Charles said, "but in time of war? With armed men and siege machines all around the walls?"
"Ah!" Hamed raised his finger. "But what if the bedu comes looking for loot when the castle falls? Might he not wander in from the desert and attach himself to the army?"
The others applauded and soon it was agreed that, provided Sid Guy should approve, Babrak should go to some of those he knew in the Sultan's army and I should pretend to be a bedu eager to join the jihad against the infidel.
"But what about us?" Hamed protested. "Why should you two have all the fun?"
Babrak tilted his nose in a lofty manner. "The task is given to those most fitted for skilful work," he said, waving his hand dismissively. "Those fitted only to be slaves to the Franks remain in al-Quds and look after the donkeys."
"By God!" Hilmi exclaimed. "That's it. Hamed, you can be Babrak's personal slave and I'll be his groom - or the other way round if you fear he will mistreat such a lowly person as you."
There was much laughter and eventually Hilmi's plan was agreed to - and none too soon, for almost at once we heard Sid Guy's step on the stairs and the serving girls and boys scattered to find some task that could excuse their presence in his chamber.
Sid Guy was not deceived, but it says much for the way in which we were all a happy family that he rebuked none and dismissed none. In that household all were together, working for the same cause. He grinned at seeing us all and sat down at the table.
"Some wine, Fatima," he called, holding out his cup, and Trudy's maid hastened to fill it for him.
"I've been to see the king," Guy said. "He had already heard the news by fire signals from Moab, so it seems that the bazaar spoke the truth. The summons has gone out to the army, but with de Lusignan sulking in Ascalon I don't know how many will respond. Anyway, you cannot march an army into the desert without preparations and after all our exertions at Banias it will be at least three weeks before we can set out and possibly even a month - and that is assuming that everyone will be in a hurry to rescue Reynauld. Some may think that he has brought this trouble on his own head."
Sid Guy waited until our chuckles had died down.
"I agree with this, of course, and so, I think, does the king, but he is very worried about his sister, Isabella," Guy continued. "As some of you may know, three years ago when she was eight she was engaged to Humphrey of Toron. Now that she is old enough she is marrying him and because he is the son of the Dame of Kerak, Etiennette de Milly, the wedding is being held in Kerak. Quite a few of Reynauld's friends went off there as soon as we got back from Banias."
Guy paused and scratched his chin. "We all know that Saladin hates Reynauld - and has cause enough, I grant you - but I wonder whether his attack at this time, so late in the year, is entirely accidental? Is he hoping to take some valuable hostages?"
"Well, if he does lay hold of them, he'll have the pick of the bunch!" Karl exclaimed with a bitter laugh. "All those in the castle will be of the party of war, for none who work for peace are friends to Reynauld de Chatillon."
"There is more," Guy said. "No matter how much we dislike Reynauld, we cannot allow his castle to fall to the Sultan, for the Sultan will not simply capture Reynauld and depart. He would put his own men in the castle and thus cut us off from Valle de Moise and Aqaba."
We four said nothing, but the Franks nodded as if this would be a calamity. "By God," I thought, "it is clear that they have not travelled in those lands, for they are without use or profit."
"Well," Guy said, "that is how things stand. "The king wants to know about his sister, I want to know whether the castle is likely to fall and the Master of the Hospital is concerned for three of his men who went on an errand to Valle de Moise and have not returned. Babrak, you have contacts among the Syrians; do you think you could suggest to them that the king will march - say - in a week's time?"
"Sid," Babrak said, "While you were away we have been making plans. If you agree, I will go and seek admittance to the household of Emir Abdullah Amir Fiqri, who is sure to be with the army. I will take Hamed as my body slave and Hilmi as my groom, so that while I speak to the emir, they can speak to the servants and the common soldiers. Fuad will come also, but as a chance-met bedu come to share in the loot when the castle falls."
Guy thought for a moment and then nodded his head. "Good! It sounds possible. When will you leave?"
"As soon as you give the word, Sid."
"Fine," Guy said. "You three go as soon as you are ready. Fuad, I have another task for you."
Hilmi, Babrak and Hamed smiled with delight and hastily embraced us all. Most of the girls kissed them on their cheeks, but I grinned to see Babrak kissing Fredegund on the mouth. They left and many of the Frankish squires and servants went with them to help them prepare for the journey. When I made to follow them, however, Sid Guy put out his hand to hold me back.
"Go to the house of Childebert the potter," he told me. "Beg of him a handful of clay ready for the wheel - and if he won't give it to you as a gift, buy it from him. Bring it to me immediately."
I ran to do Guy's bidding and found Childebert working at his wheel making small pots. When I asked him for clay he waved his hand and told me that mud was God's gift and I might take as much as I wished. I didn't know exactly how much Guy wanted and wavered between taking too little and seeming excessively greedy, but eventually I took a lump as large as my two fists and hurried back to the house of es-Sid.
By the time I got there Hilmi, Babrak and Hamed were gone and Guy and Trudy were alone in their chamber, sitting at the table with two or three scraps of parchment in front of them.
"Bring it here, Fuad," Guy said as soon as I appeared in the doorway.
I took the clay over to him and at once Guy folded up one of the pieces of parchment, making it as small as possible. He took a small lump of clay and folded it around the parchment, covering it completely, and then rolled it between his hands to form a ball.
"Put this in the sun," he said, holding out the ball to me and reaching for another bit of parchment.
I carried the ball over to the window, wondering greatly, and by the time I got back Guy had another ball ready. Even when the four pieces of parchment were all hidden he continued to make balls, but I noticed that he was careful to mark these with his fingernail.
When all the clay was gone Guy sat back and Trudy ran to fetch water so that he might wash his hands.
"Now, Fuad," he said, returning to his seat at the table. "Are those balls about the right size for a slingstone?"
"Yes, Sid," I said, for indeed they were.
"Good. When they are dry I want you to take them to Kerak. Those that are marked you may use as you please, but as you saw, four of them contain a writing. Find some way to sling at least one of them into the castle. You will have to approach the walls, either at night or very early in the morning, and find a window or some other opening through which you can sling them."
"Why not just over the wall, Sid?"
"If such a thing falls on the roof of a building, it may lodge there and never be seen. If it falls in the open courtyard, who will notice? But if it lands in a room, surely someone will see it."
"But even if they see it, how will they know there is a writing inside?" I asked.
"My hope is that it will break open when it lands," Guy replied. "But to be sure you should seek to put all four into the castle, some in one place and some in another if possible, but if that is not possible, then all four in the one place. Go and sleep now, the balls should be dry enough by tomorrow."
