Chapter LXXXI
The castle of Caco is set on a small hill some distance from the main road and we had to ride through the hills to reach it. It is not a great place, being little more than a single low tower, but it is surrounded by ditches filled with water so that an attacker would find it difficult to approach and the garrison could never be made to surrender from thirst.
The lord of the castle, who is a Frankish knight, received us, for he was in the courtyard talking to his steward about some matter and when he heard of the Muslim raid he was filled with fear and broke off listening to us until he had called his servants and sent them to bring his cattle and his possessions into the castle. We had to stand impatiently until he returned to us.
"Sorry, lads," he said, coming back to us and wiping his forehead. "Can't take any chances, you know. They probably won't get this far - but you never know. Now, did you just come to warn me or were you looking for shelter yourselves? You're welcome to stay ..."
"Lord," Hilmi said, "we have a message to a certain Jaques de Mailly, if he is here."
"The marshall?" the man raised his eyebrows. "Yes, he's here. He's up chatting to my wife at the moment. I'll go and fetch him - no, come with me. I'll bring you to him."
He led the way across the courtyard and into the main building.
"Up here," he said, running briskly up a stone staircase. "We live on the upper floor - it's the cistern on this level."
The upper floor was a single large room with a huge pillar in the middle holding up the roof. At the far end a man and a woman were sitting in the window seat in a way that reminded me of Trudy and I. They looked up as we entered the room but made no other move.
"Jaques," our host said, "these two have just arrived wanting you." He turned to his wife. "They also bring word that the Sultan is on the rampage again."
"No!" the woman exclaimed, slipping down from the window seat. "Are we in any danger?"
Our host shrugged. "I've no idea, my love. I've sent Conrad up onto the roof to see if he can see anything and the others are bringing the cattle in. God willing we'll all be safe in here by the time the Muslims get here - if they get here, of course. They may be heading in a different direction entirely."
"What about Caesarea?" the woman asked.
"Yes, I've sent Hubert to inform my lord," the man said. "He'll come to our rescue if the Sultan gets this far."
The man Jaques de Mailly also slid down from the window seat and came to us. He was an older man with grey in his long beard, but he looked strong and capable.
"I am Jaques de Mailly," he said in a deep voice. "How can I serve you, lads?"
Hilmi put his hand into his pouch and drew out de Ridefort's parchment. He held it out to de Mailly who took it, glanced at it and then looked at us with raised eyebrows.
"De Ridefort?" he asked.
"Lord, we are travellers heading to Tiberias," Hilmi told him. "We encountered a group of men of the Hospital and some others and one of them gave us this paper and charged us to seek for you at this place."
"Where was this?"
"About an hour from here, lord," Hilmi said.
"Was there a message?" de Mailly asked.
"Yes, lord. The man who gave me that parchment charged me to tell you on your obedience to gather all the knights and fighting men you can and meet him in Le Feve as soon as possible."
"Is this something to do with the Muslim raid Adhemar has just mentioned?" de Mailly asked.
"It could be, lord," Hilmi said. "The man who gave us this parchment said no more than what I have told you, but I think he had but newly learned of the raid."
De Mailly shrugged. "Oh well, I knew that de Ridefort was a fire-eater. That's why I gave my vote against him, as did nearly half the others." He turned to the man called Adhemar. "You knew that the vote was close, didn't you? I'll have to do as he says, but God grant that it all passes by. Any of your men want to come along, Adhemar?"
"Mirella, see to our guests," the man called Adhemar commanded his wife and then the two men went to the other end of the room and talked earnestly in low voices.
The woman came to us and, smiling pleasantly, offered us refreshment and we accepted, for in truth we were thirsty and the day was already hot. To my surprise, when wine was set before us Hilmi took his cup and drank freely. I, however, hesitated and Hilmi leaned towards me and whispered in Arabic.
"Drink. It is mostly water."
I sipped at the liquid and found the taste very strange and not at all pleasing, but I presumed that Hilmi was both pretending to be a Frank and also not giving offence to our host.
"Where are you boys from?" the woman slid onto the bench beside me and gave me a friendly smile.
"We are from Jerusalem, Madam," Hilmi answered.
"No, I meant originally."
I felt a thrill of fear, for these people had accepted us into their castle thinking that we were Franks and Allah alone knew what they would do if they discovered our true identity. Hilmi smiled back at the woman.
"Can you guess, madam?"
The woman laughed. "Oh, at a venture I'd say that you were Italian - southern Italy - though your accent isn't Italian."
"That is because we were born here, Madam," Hilmi replied gravely. "We are squires to Sir Guy d'Orleans."
"And what are you doing up here?" the woman asked.
"We are carrying out an errand for our lord," Hilmi told her. "Alas, this raid has upset our plans and I am not sure what we will do next."
I had to chuckle silently at the way in which Hilmi told nothing but the strict truth yet left the woman not only ignorant of our real situation but thinking much that was false. Truly he was a most skilful liar and my admiration for him increased.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw de Mailly and the lord of this castle leave the room and I wondered what they were going to do. Hilmi continued to talk with the woman and either he was more attractive than I had hitherto thought or the woman was bored in this tiny castle out in the middle of nowhere, for she laughed at everything he said and gazed shamelessly into his eyes as if she were a love-struck girl seeing her first boy.
Fortunately before matters could go too far the woman's husband returned and at once his wife gathered up our cups and left the room.
"I don't know where you lads are heading," the man said, "but we've put together a fairly decent little force. I'm sending three of my men and de Mailly's got forty knights from the garrison and more not far away. If you want to come with us you're welcome."
"Sir, we will gladly come," Hilmi said, rising to his feet. "Our way is to Tiberias and beyond."
