Chapter XC
We slept in Sid Guy's appartment that night, the four women in Trudy's chamber, we three men by the door in the main room. No one disturbed us, though in the middle of the night I woke to hear women screaming at some distance, followed by the shouts of men and not long after the sound of running feet. Hilmi's tales of robbers were not exaggerated.
In the morning we ate and then made ready to leave. Trudy put on the garments my mother had made for her and veiled herself and I brought one of the donkeys for her.
"Why can't I ride behind you, Fuad?" she asked, and added, "We could share your cloak."
I grinned at her. "Then everyone would know that you are a Frankish woman pretending to be a bedu," I told her. "Just be glad that I do not make you walk behind me."
We rode out of al-Quds as soon as the gates were open and by midday we had reached the tents of my tribe and my mother came to welcome Trudy. She was veiled also, and did not remove the veil until we were in the women's part of the tent.
"Anyone would think that I was now the wife of a great lord," she complained. "I am not used to strict seclusion."
"I am sorry to trouble you," Trudy told her.
"It is nothing," my mother said. "Inshallah it will not be for long. These wars and battles never last and inshallah your father will return and things can be as they were."
"But just in case," my father said from the outer part of the tent, "let it not be seen that we have a Frankish woman in our tents. Now that you have come, we will move, for we are too close to the road here."
After some more talk I bade Trudy farewell and returned to al-Quds, to find Hamed and Hilmi in a frenzy of packing and loading.
"Al-hamdu-lillah!" Hilmi exclaimed when I entered the courtyard. "Fuad, quickly, come and help us with these donkeys. We have heard that the Sultan's army is approaching. Also Babrak has arrived, so there is nothing to keep us."
It took another hour or more to finish loading the donkeys and then we rode immediately, Hilmi and Babrak in the lead, Hamed and I at the rear. The guards on the gate questioned us but when Hilmi told them that we were acting on the orders of our lord they let us pass.
"Beware of robbers," they warned us. "You will not reach Gibran before nightfall and the country is not safe."
"They speak the truth," Hamed muttered to me as we left the city behind. "A party of pilgrims from Joppa was robbed and some of them murdered yesterday. Every dog that in better times dared not leave his kennel has forsaken his fields and comes to look for loot now that the ferangis are defeated."
"We four are armed," I pointed out, "and I think the donkey boys carry daggers."
"God grant that we have no need to use them," Hamed looked sour.
Hilmi and Babrak must have heard the same stories, for as nighfall approached they turned aside from the road and led the way into a grove of olive trees which was surrounded by a wall.
"Light no fires and keep your voices down," Babrak commanded. "Inshallah we have not been seen."
We took it in turns to watch during the night and by the mercy of God there was no alarm. As soon as it was light we loaded the donkeys again and set off, only halting to light a fire and eat when we were finally out of the hills. By midday we were safe within the walls of Gibran and the donkeys unloaded and stabled. We four laboured all that afternoon to stow the goods in the house, aided by the steward and the servants. When we had finished the steward dismissed the servants and took us into his chamber.
"So," he said, sitting down and pointing us to the window bench. "You say you do not know whether Sir Guy is alive or not?"
"That is so," Babrak replied. "We have hopes that some have survived and inshallah there will be ransoms to pay."
"What is to stop the Sultan capturing Jerusalem?" the steward demanded. "We have no army to prevent him."
Babrak shrugged his shoulders. "It will be as God wills," he said.
There was silence in the room for a while and then the steward spoke.
"If the Sultan comes to Jerusalem it will be a sign that he intends to take over all this land. That means that every large estate will have a new owner and whether I will retain my stewardship is doubtful. It seems to me that the best thing I can do for Sir Guy is to empty his storehouses and turn it all into money, either for a ransom or for transport. I ask you to bear me witness that I do this for Sir Guy and not for myself."
"We will bear witness," Babrak spoke gravely.
"I know that you four are in his confidence," the steward continued. "I will take everything of value and hide it in a place I know of. Even if the Sultan comes and I am removed from my stewardship, know that I will either go to my own house and live privately there or, if that is taken from me, I will go to Ascalon and seek for work there. You will find me through the Egyptian merchant you all know of in that place."
"And if anything happens to you?" Babrak asked.
"God forbid," the steward said, "but I suppose it is right to take thought for every possibility. Very well. Babrak, you come with me tomorrow and I will show you this hiding place."
"It is a good place," Babrak told us as we rode back to Jerusalem with the unladen donkeys. "God grant that I can find it again if there should be need."
There was still much in the house in al-Quds, though most of it was of little value, but we laboured all the next day to pack as much as we could - pots and pans from the kitchen, bedding from the dormitories, tools from the workshop. Only the furniture was too heavy and awkward to move without wagons.
As we worked there was a banging on the gate and when Fatima ran to see who was there she returned with a harrassed-looking man accompanied by a couple of armed guards.
"Hello, lads," he said with great cheerfulness. "Packing up, are we?"
Babrak, who was nearest to him, said nothing. The man looked all around and then stepped closer.
"Well then, if you're leaving, then there'll be space for a few more. How many rooms do you have here?"
"This is the house of Sir Guy d'Orleans," Babrak said at last. "You should ask him."
"Ah, but he's not here, is he," the man said. "The thing is, I have to find places for all the people who are coming here for refuge - hundreds of them and forty women for every man, more's the pity. How many can you take here?"
"We are only servants," Babrak said. "You must ask Sir Guy."
"Oh I will, I will," the man said. "Only, he isn't here, is he?" He paused for a moment and looked at us all with his eyebrows raised. "No, I thought not. Right then, I've got a commission from the Patriarch to find empty and unused buildings, so if you don't mind, I'll just look round and reach my own conclusions."
Babrak opened his mouth to say something but Hilmi put out his hand.
"You have a commission from the Patriarch?" he asked.
"That's right," the man said. "Him and Queen Sibylla are running the place now until the king comes back, and we've got to deal with all these people, see?"
Hilmi beckoned to us and led us aside a little way. "If we refuse, he will simply force us and take everything," he said. "Better that we give something so that we can keep something."
"You are right, by God," Hamed said.
"As you like," I shrugged.
Hilmi went back to the Frank. "Sir, you can have these rooms here and here, but this room" - he pointed up the stairs to Sid Guy's room - "is for our master and his daughter. We are staying there and also our master's daughter and her serving girl."
"Why, thank you," the man said. "I'll answer to your master for you if he causes any trouble - and God grant that he comes back to cause as much trouble as he likes."
"Amin," we all said.
Hilmi sent Fatima with the man to show him the rooms that we were not using, our room, the dormitories where the other squires and the serving girls lived, the dining room, the stables and all the other rooms. After he had looked round the Frank departed and we carried on packing. In the late afternoon we were loading the last donkey when a boy came rushing in from the street.
"They're coming!" he shrilled. "They're coming!"
We straightened up and looked at him. None of us had seen him before but his fear and excitement were obvious.
"Who is coming?" Hamed demanded.
"The Muslims," the boy said. "They're coming!"
Hamed reached him in two strides and grabbed his shoulder, shaking him sharply. "Where are they?"
The boy stood still and looked at each of us, then answered quietly.
"They are coming from the road to Joppa."
"Quick!" Babrak turned to us. "Let's go. There's no time to waste."
He didn't even stop to finish tying the load on the last donkey. He grabbed its halter and dragged it through the gateway while the donkey boy ran behind yanking at the rope.
"Quick," Hamed said, "The horses."
We ran to the stables and saddled in haste and Hilmi, who finished first, saddled Babrak's horse. By the time we emerged the last of the donkeys was turning the corner at the end of the lane with its donkey boy raising a cloud of dust from its hide as he urged it to move faster. We rode after them through the narrow streets and down towards the Zion Gate.
As soon as the road was broad enough I rode past the long line of donkeys to where Babrak was running, still dragging on the donkey's halter. "Where are we going?" I yelled at him.
"Inshallah we shall leave by the Zion Gate," Babrak shouted back, still running. "Then we will head for Bethlehem and make a circle down to Gibran."
Men had already pushed one leaf of the gate shut when we arrived and we had to argue with them to let us through. Fortunately Babrak knew their captain and called to him by name, saying that we were but carrying out Sid Guy's orders. He ordered his men to hold back until we had all passed, but as I rode through the gate I heard the second leaf grating closed behind me.
We rode down into the valley and up the other side, but instead of forcing the donkeys to their best pace, Babrak insisted that we keep to a slow walk lest our passage raise a betraying cloud of dust. We had a hard job holding the donkey drivers back, for they were filled with fear and kept urging their beasts on.
I was at the rear when we reached the top of the ridge and came out onto the road to Bethlehem and as we crossed the ridge I looked back at al-Quds, but there was nothing unusual to be seen. Once we were on the other side we went more quickly, passing Rachel's Tomb and only then turning off the road and into the hills towards the coast.
Despite our best efforts, though, night fell before we reached any village or town and once more we camped without fire and in silence. Before dawn we were on our way again, following a valley ever downwards until at length we found the road. We reached Gibran in mid-afternoon and were welcomed by the steward, who looked grave when he heard our news.
"God grant that he has no siege engines and that the people inside keep their heads," he said, "but I am not surprised. I have looked for nothing else this past week. There is no word of ransom for Sir Guy?"
"No, nor for any of the others," Babrak told him.
That evening Hilmi, Babrak and I ate with the steward and his wife, but Hamed ate with Amina and her mother. Hilmi grinned at me.
"He keeps a separate household now."
"He will make her take the veil and demand a separate room for a harem," Babrak chuckled. "He is afraid that others will see her beauty and desire her."
"Ya Allah!" I snorted. "When a man is in love, his reason departs."
"May God preserve us from love," Hilmi spoke piously.
"Amin," Babrak nodded. "May He also send us all rich wives."
"Where is the Lady Ermintrude?" the steward asked.
"She has taken refuge with the beduin," Hilmi said. "Now that we are safe here, we will send and fetch her."
"I heard that she favoured one of Sir Guy's squires," the steward said. "Let us hope that he comes safely back, whoever he is."
"Unless, of course, he is already safe," Babrak said, looking directly at me.
