Keeper of the Grail tyt-1

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Keeper of the Grail tyt-1 Page 14

by Michael P. Spradlin


  24

  At the sound of the voice I was so startled I visibly jumped in the air. Robard let out a gasp and fumbled at his bow, but when we turned at the sound, we saw the girl standing behind us, her wounded arm held loosely at her side.

  We stared, dumbstruck. Though pale and somewhat unsteady on her feet, she otherwise seemed well enough.

  “Who are you?” Robard asked, not quite sure what to do. The look on his face was comical. My hand had flown to the hilt of my sword at the sound of her voice. Now I felt ridiculous and dropped it to my side.

  “I am Maryam,” she said, looking at me. “Your name is Tristan, correct?”

  I nodded.

  “I thank you for tending to my shoulder. It is painful and will be for a while, but I appreciate your efforts,” she said.

  “It was nothing,” I answered.

  “I helped,” Robard said. I shot Robard a glare. If helping constituted complaining and gathering water, then yes, he had helped.

  “Yes, and thank you as well,” she said, looking at him.

  She spoke perfect English, apparently able to understand us the entire time she had been conscious.

  “How is it you speak English?” I asked.

  “I come from a small village near Jerusalem. My father owned a farm nearby, and we traded there when Christians occupied the city. It was necessary to learn English to make a living,” she said.

  Robard and I were unsettled. First we were attacked. Then we discovered that one of the attackers was a girl. Next we learned she spoke English. What next?

  “Why are you headed to Tyre?” she asked.

  I had no intention of telling her the true nature of my mission. Or even that I carried dispatches for the Templar Commandery there. She was an enemy after all. I decided to use Robard’s excuse, glancing at him first and tilting my head, hoping he was wise enough to play along. “We are hoping to find a ship to England. Our conscription is over,” I said. Robard nodded in agreement, understanding the need for a ruse.

  Maryam looked at me a moment as if she didn’t quite believe me, but did not press it.

  Now that she was standing, the color was slowly returning to her face. Her hair cascaded around her shoulders, glimmering in the moonlight.

  “I helped,” Robard reminded her.

  She laughed. It sounded like music. “Thank you, Archer, even though it was your lucky shot that hit me,” she teased. She appeared to bear him no ill will for having wounded her in the first place.

  Robard’s eyes narrowed. He was not quite sure what to make of her. He muttered under his breath, but the phrase lucky shot, my arse stood out.

  “How did you find us in the woods?” I asked.

  She looked at me, then stared off, either not knowing or not wanting to say.

  “I’m not sure. We were patrolling. Ahmad, our leader, saw the boulders and thought that it might make a good hiding place for enemies. He spotted you and ordered an attack,” she said.

  I wondered then if she was lying. Her explanation didn’t make sense. There were dozens of outcroppings of boulders in the area. Out of all of them they had stumbled across ours? Had we made some mistake? Her answer seemed vague, and I wondered if we had accidentally revealed ourselves somehow. Did she hope we might make the same mistake again, leading her companions directly to us?

  “Why were you sleeping in the daytime? Why travel at night?” she asked.

  “We thought it safer. This area is full of bandits as well as Saracen patrols. And Assassins, as we’ve learned. With just the two of us we thought it better to travel by night.”

  She accepted my explanation with a nod. “Well, shall we get started?” she asked.

  “Get started? What do you mean?” Robard asked.

  “To Tyre, of course.”

  Robard coughed and asked to speak to me privately. We ventured a few paces away.

  “Tristan, I can understand you treating her wounds. I can even understand carrying her to safety, but we cannot trust her. She’s an Assassin for heaven’s sake! What if she’s leading us into a trap? She seems well enough to travel alone now. I say we leave her and make our way to Tyre on our own,” he said.

  I was quiet for a moment, trying to think. Perhaps Robard was right. It was time to take our leave.

  We ambled back to Maryam.

  “Maryam, I…we appreciate your offer, but since you seem well enough to travel, Robard and I think we will move on alone from here. Thank you though,” I said.

  Maryam looked at us a moment, then smiled and laughed.

  Robard grew a little hot under the collar. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

  “Nothing. Except that you are heading directly away from Tyre now. If you got lost so easily, what makes you think you’ll be able to find it on your own?” she said.

  In all the excitement, I had momentarily forgotten that Maryam had informed us that we had been traveling in the wrong direction.

  Robard’s cheeks turned red. “We knew that. We were merely taking a slightly easier path since we had to carry you,” he said.

  “Hmm. Really? It just looks like you might want someone to guide you there,” she said.

  “What? Why do you think we need to be led anywhere?” he sputtered.

  “Because if you keep going this way, you’ll run into a few regiments of Saracens,” she said.

  My stomach tightened and I felt a momentary surge of panic. Saracens nearby? Patrols, yes. Small units, perhaps, but whole regiments? This far east?

  “How do you know that?” I asked.

  “My patrol camped with them just two days ago. If you wish to avoid them, you need to head toward the coast. Stay inland like this and you’ll be discovered for sure,” she said.

  “And just what makes you think they will discover us?” Robard asked.

  “Well…we did, didn’t we?” she said. From where I stood I could swear that her eyes twinkled as she said it.

  Robard looked at me. His face was a mask of red. Not rage, but embarrassment. “Tristan? A moment?” He nodded for me to follow him.

  We again stepped away where Maryam couldn’t overhear us.

  “Do you believe her?” he asked.

  “I don’t know.”

  “What if she’s telling the truth though? About the Saracens?” he said.

  I just shrugged.

  “Although I suppose it’s just as likely she could be deceiving us,” he said.

  There was much to consider. I remembered conversations I had overheard among the knights in Acre. They spent hours discussing strategy and tactics. King Richard wished to hold the coastal cities. From there he hoped to push inland, retaking Jerusalem. He could keep his supply lines open as he moved into the interior. However, he had already lost Acre. The Saladin was likely to move toward Tyre next. It would be a logical target. So, in fact, Maryam could be telling the truth. Saracen regiments could be nearby.

  “I think she’s telling the truth,” I said.

  “I’m not sure I trust her,” Robard said.

  “I know, but she knows this country better than us. She could be leading us into a trap, I suppose, but from what I know of Assassins they are honorable warriors. She will be honor bound to us for saving her life,” I said.

  “That’s taking a big risk,” he said.

  “Yes, but if there are that many Saracens nearby, then we need to get to Tyre as fast as we can to warn the Templars there.”

  Although Robard wasn’t happy, he agreed. He may not have loved the King, but he still behaved like a soldier. He would do his duty. We returned to Maryam.

  “We accept your offer. We will follow you to Tyre. Are you well enough to keep up?” I asked.

  “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about me,” she said, smiling.

  “Very well then. Let’s get going.” I picked up the litter and removed my tunic from the poles, tossing the saplings into the underbrush.

  Slipping it back on, I was tying it about my waist when Robard hissed, “Do you
hear that?”

  From out of the darkness came the sound of approaching hoofbeats.

  25

  Maryam and I froze. Ahead of us, Robard waved frantically, motioning us back the way we had come. With no clouds and the light of the half-moon, we could see well enough to pick our way back through the trees on the trail we’d just traveled. The sound of hoofbeats grew louder, but it was impossible to tell who might be about to ride down on us. It could be Saracens or Crusaders. We needed to make ourselves invisible.

  Robard scurried back to us. “This way! Hurry,” he whispered.

  We followed Robard a few paces toward a small thicket. The bushes were dense and close to the ground. It would provide good cover. We wormed our way down through them until we lay on the ground, facing the clearing we’d just left.

  Before long, a group of horsemen rode into view. Saracens. I felt my heart rise to my throat. It appeared to be a single detail of ten men. They reined to a stop and the leader of the group began talking to his second in command.

  We lay still, not twenty yards from where the men sat astride their horses. Maryam lay between Robard and me, studying the men intensely. Robard had managed to draw an arrow and nock it in his bow, which was on the ground in front of him. He was ready to rise and shoot in an instant.

  Moving my hand to the sword at my belt I managed to silently draw it while keeping it at my side. We barely dared to breathe.

  “What are they saying?” Robard asked in a quiet whisper.

  “The second in command is explaining that he heard voices here,” Maryam whispered back.

  “Shh!” I hissed. I wished them both quiet. This was no time for a conversation!

  We watched the patrol as they talked, their horses prancing and whinnying, impatient to be under way again. After a moment, four of the men dismounted and began studying the ground. They each walked outward from the group in a different direction. I held my breath. If they discovered our tracks, they could follow them right to where we were concealed in the thicket. The half-moon was lower in the sky now as morning approached. It would make it difficult, but not impossible, to find our footprints. The men took their time, moving farther outward from the main patrol, which stayed mounted in the clearing.

  I turned my head facedown into the ground so the moonlight would not reflect off my face, but still tried to keep an eye on the patrol. The four dismounted men were examining the bushes. To my dismay one of them headed straight for us. He walked slowly, looking carefully at the ground, his hand on the scimitar hanging at his belt. His eyes swept back and forth through the underbrush, and with each step he grew closer and closer to our position in the thicket.

  Robard and Maryam were completely silent. The sound of my own blood thundered in my ears. In a few more seconds the Saracen would be upon us. I squeezed the hilt of my sword, certain that he must be able to hear my heart beating.

  Slowly, agonizingly, he walked toward us. Then, when he was so close I could reach out and grab his ankle, I heard a low humming sound-the same sound that had awakened me as Maryam and the Assassins attacked us in the rocks. It was coming ever so softly from the satchel, which now lay on the ground beside me. I felt sickness rising in my stomach. Surely the Saracens would hear it and discover us. Robard and Maryam were still and soundless next to me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Maryam, and if she heard the sound, she did not acknowledge it.

  The Saracen drew closer. He was standing less than a foot away from me. In our dark clothing and what little moonlight there was, we blended in well with the ground cover. I tensed, expecting to feel the thrust of a scimitar at any moment.

  The Saracen stood still. From the angle now I couldn’t see his face, only his feet. Surely he must be looking directly at us. Yet he remained motionless as the seconds crept by.

  At a sharp order in Arabic from his leader, the Saracen turned on his heel, returning to the clearing. After a few more minutes of talk, the men remounted and rode off.

  I let out a breath and felt like I might faint. We waited for several minutes, making sure they didn’t return. When enough time had passed, and the night sounds of the forest began again, we crawled our way out of the thicket. Robard returned the arrow to his wallet, and I sheathed my sword. I waited there a moment, bent at the waist with my hands on my knees, trying to relax myself. I had no idea how the Saracen had not discovered us.

  “Did you hear that?” I asked, referring to the humming noise coming from the satchel.

  “Hear what?” Robard asked.

  “That noise…It sounded like…Never mind,” I said.

  This was the second time I’d heard the noise, both times when I was in physical danger. But I had no wish to explain it. I couldn’t reveal how I had come to possess this thing I carried. I had lost my desire for that, at least for now. Robard was busy scanning the woods, apparently forgetting all about my question. For the time being, I let the matter drop.

  “We must get moving,” said Maryam, an intense expression on her face.

  She trotted off, heading north toward the coast. We followed quickly after her, without speaking. Before long the woods began to thin and I smelled salt air. The terrain grew rockier, slowing our pace somewhat. Finally, we crested a rise, and below us lay the sea. The half-moon was now barely visible over the horizon, and its light gave a blue shimmer to the surface of the water. It was beautiful, and had I not been so worried at the thought of Saracen patrols all around us, I might have taken time to enjoy it.

  We had been running for a while, but Maryam did not even stop to take in the sight of the glimmering water below us. She immediately turned east and continued racing along the ridge.

  Finally, Robard called out that we needed to stop for a moment. We halted near a rocky outcropping and leaned against the boulders, breathing fast. The wind had picked up, and the night air was cooler nearer the coast. Robard drank from the water skin and passed it to me.

  “We can’t rest long,” Maryam said. “We need to keep moving.”

  “Why?” Robard asked suspiciously.

  “Because, Archer, where there is one Saracen patrol, there are many. We were nearly spotted once. Our best chance to reach Tyre is to keep moving.”

  Maryam was breathing hard, and the fading moonlight revealed that her face was flushed and damp.

  “Maryam, are you feeling okay?” I asked.

  “I’m fine,” she said, “but we need to go.”

  “You seem in quite a hurry,” said Robard. “Is there something you aren’t telling us?”

  “Robard…,” I said.

  This time though, Maryam didn’t answer, but merely handed me the water skin and took off running again along the ridge.

  Robard and I trotted after her.

  “Something is wrong,” he said. “She heard those men say something. She’s not telling us everything.”

  “We don’t know that, Robard. She may just be trying to get us to Tyre as quickly as possible,” I said.

  “Yes. Remind me of that again when we are hanging in chains from the wall of the Saladin’s prison,” he said.

  “Robard, do you see a conspiracy behind every tree? Is the entire world aligned against you?” I asked.

  “Not the entire world,” Robard answered.

  We caught up to Maryam before long and continued running in silence. The moon set and the sky lightened to the east. It would be daybreak soon.

  “I think we should stop,” I said. “Without the cover of darkness, we are too exposed. We should find a place to camp for the day and continue tonight.”

  “We don’t have time to stop,” Maryam said. “We must keep going.”

  Her statement brought Robard and me to a stop. Maryam continued running.

  “Wait,” I hissed.

  She stopped and turned.

  “Why? Why can’t we stop?” I asked. “I think you owe us an explanation.”

  Maryam paused. She looked at the ground for a moment. Then at me.

  “Tri
stan, did I not make a promise to you that I would see you safely to Tyre?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “I will keep that promise, but we must keep moving,” she said.

  “Why is that? What did you hear those men say?” Robard asked.

  Maryam paused for a moment, glancing back and forth at us. She sighed.

  “You’re right, Archer. I did hear something. They were arguing about whether to continue to look for us or rejoin their forces,” she said.

  “So?” Robard said.

  “The commander said that they needed to return to the main camp before the attack begins,” she said.

  “What attack? That could mean anything. There is plenty of fighting going on to the south and west,” Robard said.

  But I knew what attack the commander was referring to. “They’re going to attack Tyre,” I said.

  Maryam was quiet and Robard looked at me.

  “What? You don’t know that,” he said.

  The look on Maryam’s face told me I was right.

  “There is not just one regiment nearby,” she said. “There are more than thirty. With more arriving. They’ll begin moving units toward Tyre in the morning.”

  It was just as I’d feared. The Saladin was moving quickly toward Tyre.

  “How do we know she’s telling the truth?” Robard said. “Stop a minute, Tristan. Perhaps she wants us to think that Tyre will be attacked while the real attack happens elsewhere.”

  “We can’t take a chance on whether it’s true or not. Knights in Acre discussed this many times. If the Saladin takes Tyre, the main road to Jerusalem and the interior is lost. King Richard will be forced to move even farther east and will not be able to resupply his forces on the plains. Maryam is right. We can’t wait. We must get to Tyre and find the Templar Commandery. We must warn them,” I answered.

  “Have you even considered that she could be part of this?”

  Maryam laughed. “Let me see if I understand you, Archer. By your way of thinking, I am a spy, privy to all of the Saladin’s plans. To make his elaborate scheme work, I and my Hashshashin brothers leave our encampment and find you in the woods. During the attack I manage to get myself severely wounded, knowing in advance that my intended victims will nurse me back to health. When I am well enough, I promise to repay my debt to you and see you safely through Saracen lines to Tyre, but in reality it is all a ruse to provide false information to the Christian commanders in the city, and then deliver you as prisoners to the Saladin himself. Does that about sum it up?” She looked at Robard and her obsidian eyes blazed, glinting in the moonlight.

 

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