Chapter XCV
From that time on Trudy and I began to plan how we could leave Outremer. Using Sid Guy's seal as our authority we gave a hundred dinars to Charles and sent him off to his Theodora in Madeba; we gave a hundred dinars to Hamed and he and Amina and her mother bought a small farm near Gibran and set up house there.
About six days after Hamed left I was crossing the courtyard when I noticed one of the servants standing with his hand shading his eyes, looking upwards.
"What are you looking at?" I asked.
"Look at the sun," he said.
I glanced up and away again, for it is not good to look over-long at the sun, but it was enough to show that the sun was no longer round. There was a hole in its side.
"By God!" I exclaimed. "What is it?"
Hilmi was passing and I snatched at his arm and told him to look at the sun.
"Come inside quickly," he said after a single glance. He called to the others and brought us all - Trudy, the steward, his wife and the servants - into the main chamber. "It is an eclipse," he told us. "It will pass, for it is but a sign of God's displeasure and of great disaster to come. It is not good to be outdoors at such a time, for the light from such a happening is of evil omen. If it strikes a man in the open it can turn him blind and some say that it can cause leprosy or other diseases."
By the prophet, that was a strange time, for the light gradually faded until it was as dark as night and the birds sang in the trees as if it were evening while the women wept. The steward and some of the servants stood in front of an idol, crossing themselves and muttering prayers, Hilmi and I went into a corner and recited The Opening together and Trudy clung to me the whole time, her face pale. None of us dared to look outside and one of the servants even pulled the shutters closed so that it was nearly full light before we realised that the sun had returned and ventured outside again.
For the rest of the day we went about with great fear, for the feeling was strong that some disaster approached, and by the Prophet it was even so, for two days later one brought news that on that very day when the sun was darkened Ascalon had surrendered to the Sultan after a mere eleven days of siege. As it was obvious where the Sultan would go next, Hilmi became concerned for his mother and father in al-Quds and returned home and Trudy gave him forty dinars as a present.
Babrak and Karl arrived two days after Hilmi left, for they together had searched in all of Damascus for any word of es-Sid or any of the others, but they could not find them.
"There is still hope," Babrak told us. "None of the great ones are in ash-Shams yet; they are all out in the field with the Sultan their master. Perhaps when they return they will be able to give thought to such matters as prisoners and ransoms, for many prisoners are being held as far away as Hamath, Homs and Aleppo and on the estates of the emirs in the country."
"Did you speak with the Emir ibn-Hamza?" I asked.
"No," Babrak jerked his chin upwards. "He was not there and his steward, a fat old eunuch, was less than helpful. God curse him."
"When did you last see my father?" Trudy turned to Karl.
"We were standing side by side during the fighting," Karl answered her. "I was here and your father was there at my left hand and Charles and Phillipe were on the other side of him. We stood together from sunrise and though others were hit by arrows, we were lucky and our shields protected us. I got a couple of arrows in my shield but I managed to pull them out. Your father was even luckier, for he was struck on the helmet by an arrow, but he was not injured."
"God be praised," Trudy exclaimed.
"Suddenly the Sultan's men put away their bows, drew their swords and charged towards us. For the first time, Fraulein, I felt afraid, for by then I was so weary that it was an effort even to hold my shield and sword, let alone fight with them. One of the horsemen rode directly at me and even though their horses are not as big as ours, you still don't want to get hit by a galloping horse. At the last moment I jumped one way and your father, I think, jumped the other, but even so the horse barged into me and nearly knocked my shield out of my hand.
"I was thrown to the side and would have fallen except that there was another horseman there and I bounced off him. Somehow my shield arm must have been above my head for I felt a tremendous blow on the shield, which I think was the other horseman cutting at me with his sword. I stumbled and fell to my knees and I think that was when I dropped my sword, for all I could do was hold my shield up with both hands to protect myself as more and more horsemen galloped past cutting down anyone who opposed them.
"When the horsemen stopped coming I stood up and began to look for my sword but I couldn't find it and eventually I took up the first one I found, but by then I didn't know where I was, for there were strangers all about me and I couldn't see your father and the others anywhere. Before I could search for them the horsemen were charging again and I crouched down and guarded myself with my shield, but this time the horsemen were followed by footmen and a man with a spear ran up to me and by then I was so exhausted I didn't have the energy to lift either sword or shield against him.
"I think he would have killed me except that I simply stood there and for a moment we stared at each other, he with his spear at my breast and I with my arms by my side, and then I managed to croak out, 'Bismillah, some water, for the love of God.' When he heard that I spoke Arabic he bade me drop my sword. I tried to put it in my scabbard but it wasn't my sword and it wouldn't fit, so I threw it to the ground and at that he put up his spear and took me by the arm. He led me down the hill to where men were standing with donkeys and camels loaded with water skins and gave me as much water as I could drink and after that he took from me my shield and my mail and put me with the other prisoners."
"Was my father there?" Trudy asked.
"I didn't see him," Karl answered. "I was only there a short time before the man who had captured me came and told me to follow him. I walked behind him for two days until we came to Damascus where I stayed in his house until Babrak arrived with my ransom. I thank you, Fraulein, for sending the money." He shuddered. "I heard of several men who were killed out of hand when the messengers sent to obtain ransoms for them returned empty-handed, either because the messengers couldn't find the people to whom they were sent or because the family couldn't afford the ransom."
He sat silent for a moment and then said, "Did you know that we were under a curse?"
"A curse?" Trudy sounded scared.
"Yes," Karl looked solemn. "As we rode away from Sephorie that day there was an old woman who stood by the roadside and cursed us. I don't know what her grievance was - some say that men from the army had taken her cow and eaten it - but she was certainly screaming like a Fury."
"What happened to her?" I asked.
"Some of the soldiers seized her and tied her to a tree, then tried to burn her, saying that she was a witch, but though they kindled a fire around her feet there was not enough wood to do the job and eventually someone hit her on the head with his axe, just to stop her screaming." He shrugged. "Perhaps it was her curses that brought disaster on us."
I stood up. "I think that de Ridefort was all the curse you needed."
