Chapter LXIII
It was late when the last person left and we four could pray - and Babrak fulfilled his promise and made me lead the prayers - and then sleep. In the morning we all slept late and, because of the darkness of the winter's day, did not wake until the first of the bells rang in the churches of the city and we had to pray in haste before going to break our fast.
While we were eating Fatima came and bade me come up to her mistress, and then stood impatiently behind me so that everyone noticed her and guessed at the reason for her presence. I felt my face growing black and hastily stuffed the last of my food into my mouth and followed her, still chewing.
To my surprise es-Sid was sitting with his daughter at the table and I, who had been expecting Trudy alone, was covered with confusion for a moment. I greeted them both and then stood uncertainly, not knowing whether it was Trudy who had summoned me or her father.
"Sit down, Fuad," Guy said, gesturing towards the empty bench in front of him.
As I walked towards it Trudy suddenly made a small movement of her hand, indicating that I should sit beside her. I halted, terrified that her father might have seen her, and Trudy patted the bench beside her again.
"Come and sit here, Fuad," she said.
I looked at Guy and then at her and did not know which way to move. Guy suddenly grinned.
"Perhaps Fuad doesn't want to sit beside you, Ermintrude," he said.
"Come on," Trudy spoke impatiently.
I slid onto the bench beside Trudy but carefully, keeping a good distance from her. Trudy sighed loudly and moved up to sit close beside me and Guy grinned even more broadly.
"We are glad to see you safe, Fuad," he said. "My daughter has given me no rest all the time you have been away, worrying over where you were and whether you were safe and warm and well fed and goodness knows what else. Well, now she can see for herself that you are safe and warm and well fed - at least, I hope you are?"
"Al-hamdu-lillah, ya Sid," I said. "I have eaten and am warm."
"Good. I am very pleased with you, Fuad. Your news was the first definite word we have had of Reynauld's defeat, for you can be sure that he has kept very quiet about it. We can hope that it will make him pull his horns in and keep the peace for a little, for we need all the quietness we can get. Have you spoken to Charles yet? Do you know what has been happening here?"
"No, Sid," I said.
"Well, I think that the king and Guy fell out before you left?"
"As you say, Sid," I nodded in the Frankish manner.
"Well, not long after you left the king had himself carried in his litter down to Ascalon with all the royal guard. He sat outside the city for a couple of days, demanding that Guy open to him and Guy sat inside and refused to either open or to come out. After that the king had himself carried to Joppa where Guy's governor proved more courteous and opened to him - and promptly found himself relieved of his post for his pains."
"Were you with him, Sid?" I asked.
Guy laughed and shook his head. "No. I was willing to go but the king said that he needed reliable men here in the capital. I sent Charles, though, and got the whole sorry tale from him when they all returned. Guy's men all went off to Ascalon, his governor was brought here to Jerusalem and held in the palace but somehow managed to go missing a few days later, so all that was accomplished is that Joppa is now once more in the king's party - and a fat lot of good that has done us!"
"Why is that, Sid?"
"Because there have hardly been any pilgrims," Guy said, the smile vanishing from his face. "Ships don't sail in winter and with Aleppo in the Sultan's hands the overland route is closed to all except the boldest and most adventurous."
"They're all stupid!" Trudy suddenly burst out. "It doesn't matter which of them rules in Joppa; neither of them can bring the pilgrims. All their quarrelling will do is drive the pilgrims away."
"Quite so, my dear," Guy smiled at his daughter. "It gets even worse, Fuad. The king, having fallen out with Guy, the regent of the kingdom, he decided to crown his nephew ..."
"Who is also called Baldwin," Trudy interrupted. "He is Sibylla's son."
"Who is also called Baldwin," Guy repeated. "He crowned him king of Jerusalem and appointed Raymond of Tripoli as Regent and Joscelin de Courteney as royal guardian."
"I think we were discussing this before Fuad went away," Trudy said.
"Maybe," Guy shrugged. "Anyway, it has been done now and so we have two kings - a leper and a baby." He sighed heavily. "Then, a few weeks after the coronation I was at the council and after the business was finished Arnold de Toroga, the Grand Master of the Temple, spoke up and asked the king to forgive Guy for the sake of the unity of the kingdom."
Trudy snorted and when I glanced down at her I saw that she was frowning fiercely.
"The king refused to hear a word said on the subject," Guy continued, "so then the Patriarch, Heraclius, joined Arnold in urging the king to receive Guy back into his favour - whereupon the king pulled himself up in his chair and banished them from the kingdom. Just like that! He summoned his guards and had them both thrown out, with orders to leave Outremer within a week."
"Wallah!" I exclaimed. I needed no deep thought to realise what a disaster this was for the kingdom, for now not only was the Regent gone, the man who had saved us at Banias, but so was the Patriarch, the head of the church, and the Master of the Temple, whose soldiers were the most feared and most effective of the Nasrani forces.
"What did you do, Sid?" I asked.
"Nothing," Guy answered. "There was nothing any of us could do. The king was so angry that if any of us had dared to plead for those two there would only have been more banishments. I waited a day or two and then tried talking to the king when he had cooled down a bit, but I got nowhere with him. Even Lady Agnes, his mother, couldn't persuade him to change his mind."
"But she did accomplish something," Trudy pointed out.
"True," Guy said. "The king has allowed it to be proclaimed that the Patriarch and the Master are being sent to Europe to try and raise another crusade to help us against the Sultan. It's still banishment, but at least it isn't quite so humiliating and they'll have a decent length of time in which to prepare for the journey."
