Chapter LII
In the morning I climbed the stairs to the appartment of Sid Guy and called outside the door. Fatima opened and beckoned me to enter.
"They are ready," Guy said, rising to meet me.
Trudy and Fatima fetched the balls and carefully put them in my pouch, the four unmarked ones at the bottom.
"Carry it carefully," Guy warned me. "They are dry but not yet fully hard and in any case, jolting on horseback will rub them together. The last thing we want is for you to arrive in Kerak with the messages revealed because the balls have broken."
When the balls were packed Trudy brought the pouch to me and put her arms around my neck. To my astonishment she kissed me on the mouth, even under the eye of her father. I felt my face blacken and broke away from her as quickly as I could, but Guy did not say anything, either good or bad.
"Go with God, Fuad," Trudy whispered.
I departed as quickly as I could, carrying the pouch in my hand so that it should not be jolted or knocked. I rode out through the gate of St Stephen and headed at once for Jericho, even bypassing the tents of my father in my haste to overtake Babrak and the others if possible. By late afternoon I was on the King's Highway and the first thing I encountered was a caravan of camels laden with dates, flour and sheaves of arrows, supplies for the army of the Sultan, may God prosper him.
At first I thought to join myself to the caravan for protection at night and company along the way, but they travelled so slowly that I did no more than exchange greetings with the camel men and then rode on towards Madeba, hoping to spend the night with Papa Makarios. It was dark long before I got there, however, and I saw campfires burning just beside the road where another supply caravan had stopped. With them I spent the night, gratefully accepting the food and drink they gave me when I told them that I was going to join the Sultan's army.
The following morning, as I rode past Madeba, I wondered if I should call in and enquire whether Babrak and the others had passed that way but considered that three Muslims were unlikely to have sought refuge at such a time in a Christian village. In my mind I commended myself to Papa Makarios and, on Charles' behalf, to the sheikh's daughter, but rode on to the village on the rim of the great wadi, reaching there late in the afternoon.
"Salaam aleikum," I greeted the men of the village when I rode into the square.
"Aleikum as-salameh," they replied, coming forward to help me dismount.
"Where is your sheikh?" I asked.
"Here, here," they said, taking my horse away and leading me towards the sheikh's house.
"Ya sheikh," I said when we had greeted one another. "I have been here before when I was in company with a Frank and a Syrian called Harun. You gave us lodging then..."
"As I recall," the sheikh interrupted me, leaning back against a cushion, "your companion spoke to us in our own language, even though he was a Frank."
"That is so," I replied, taking my seat against the wall.
"I am sorry he is not with you," the sheikh said. "It is not often that one meets a Frank who is a friend to the Greeks."
He clapped his hands and a servant came at once. "Bring refreshment for our guest," the sheikh commanded. When the servant had gone the sheikh turned back to me. "Have you any news?"
"Only the news that we all know," I said. "I am going now to Kerak and inshallah, when I return I will have more to tell."
The man looked at me in surprise. "Why did you come here?" he asked. "If you rode fast you could reach Kerak shortly after dark. I do not think," he added wryly, "that the gates will be closed tonight."
"Why is that?" I asked.
"Have you not heard?" The sheikh looked pleased to be the bearer of news. "The Sultan has entered the city and now lays siege to the castle."
There was a murmur from the men who had come into the room with us. I looked round on them.
"Of your kindness, I ask for lodging for myself this night and for my horse for a longer period. I shall go from here on foot, as I wish to appear as a bedu come in from the desert to join the army of the Sultan, may God preserve him."
"May God curse him rather," the sheikh growled. "His men come daily to demand food from us. Our flocks and herds are gone to feed his soldiers and if he captures the castle, how will we be bettered?"
I shrugged. "May God requite you, sid. As for the outcome, it will be as God wills - but perhaps the king in al-Quds will come to the relief of the castle."
"If he has any sense he will keep away," the sheikh sighed. "Let him wait until Saladin has captured the castle and killed Reynauld then, before the walls are repaired, let him come and drive the sultan out again. Thus he will be rid of Reynauld and the trouble he causes and still have the castle to hold against the Saracens."
There was a murmur of agreement from among the men and I chuckled to think that such men should dare to speak of matters of high strategy.
"May I also leave my sword and armour here?" I asked. "I could not walk in such equipment nor would a simple bedu be able to afford such things."
"Welcome," the man said. "Come, put whatever you please in my storeroom. It shall be safe until you return."
"If I return," I corrected him. "If, after a month I have not returned, keep the weapons for yourself, but send the horse to the house of Sid Guy d'Orleans in al-Quds."
"It shall be done," the man said.
I slept well that night and in the morning, taking nothing with me but a packet of bread and dates, a bottle of water, the pouch and my sling, I set off down into the wadi by the path I remembered so well. At almost the same place where Charles and I were captured by ibn Hamza I met yet another caravan carrying supplies to the Sultan's army (God protect him) and joined myself to it. Because I know how to handle camels, by the time we arrived in Kerak late in the afternoon I was part of the caravan and passed without comment through the outposts and was dismissed into the city with the rest of the caravan men.
By the Prophet, that was a terrible sight! The Sultan, may God give him wisdom, had attacked the city and very quickly battered his way into it, but the Franks withdrew to the castle, taking with them most of the people of the city. I wandered round the streets and found the houses of Dame Melisande and Dame Katarina, but both houses were occupied by the Sultan's officers (may God grant him success), and of my friends there was no sign.
The squares and streets of the town were crowded with soldiers and in the square nearest the castle there were six great machines set up which flung huge stones at the castle walls. I stopped and watched in wonder as a crowd of men pulled with all their might on a rope that dragged the arm of one of these machines down to the ground. Four other men heaved a stone onto the arm and then the captain of these men waved his hand and shouted a command and they all leaped backwards, releasing the arm. To my astonishment the arm swung upwards easily, lifting that huge stone as if it weighed no more than a feather. Not only did it lift it easily and swiftly, but when the arm stopped, the stone carried on and soared through the air as if it had been no greater than a sling stone.
"Wallah!" I breathed in awe. "Allahu akhbar! Allahu akhbar! Truly God alone is great!"
"You have not seen one of these machines before?" a man standing nearby asked.
I jerked my chin upwards. "Never, by God. Never."
The man pulled the corners of his mouth down. "Alas, we are not near enough to the castle to do it real harm," he said - and certainly there was nothing to see for the effort, for the stone smashed against the wall of the castle and raised a puff of dust and a cascade of stone chips, but that was all.
"Why not go closer?" I asked.
"Fool," the man chuckled. "Go to the edge of the ditch and discover for yourself."
I stepped forward and at once he snatched me back. "Idiot and son of an idiot," he yelled. "They have archers up there; can you not see them?"
I looked where he pointed and saw nothing until my eye caught a slight movement in one of the embrasures and I realised that every inch of the walls was crowded with men. I almost waved at them until I remembered that these Franks were enemies, not friends.
"Will the castle fall soon?" I asked the man.
He jerked his chin upwards. "No, not for a long time. We are too far below them and too far away to do them any real harm. At this rate it will be several weeks before we make any sort of a breach in the walls. Hunger would do the job eventually, but I hear they are well supplied with both food and water, so that too will be a long wait."
He looked at me curiously. "You are of the beduin," he said. "Why have you come? Should you not be guarding sheep or something?"
"I came with a caravan," I explained. "I have leave to wander as I will while the camels are unloaded." I hesitated and then pulled my sling out of my girdle. "I had hoped to strike a blow for God by killing a Frank, but from this distance my sling is useless."
The man laughed. "Leave the fighting to us, boy. Go back to your camels and be grateful that you will not have to fight your way into that nest of serpents up there."
