Maryam was pacing now. She looked at the Grail. “Then when you survived the attack and nursed me back to health, I heard it in the underbrush as the Saracens searched for us. But I had no idea it was this holy object. All this time I thought it was you.”
“Maybe it is him,” Celia spoke up.
“What? What do you mean? What’s so special about an orphaned squire to a Templar Knight?” Robard asked, clearly not believing or understanding anything we were saying.
“What is so special about a squire, you ask? Wasn’t a simple carpenter from Nazareth chosen by your God for greatness? And wasn’t a common merchant chosen by God to lead Maryam’s people? Look at who was given this duty: someone who is kind and good and loyal, and puts the lives of others above his own. Why Tristan? Why not Tristan?” Celia said, never taking her eyes away from mine.
I felt the heat rise to my face. Try as I might, I could not keep my chest from swelling. The sounds of the world stopped and everything was quiet. Maryam and Robard and even Angel melted away, and for a moment it was only the two of us. She thought this of me? Would I ever be able to live up to her?
“I heard the same sound Maryam describes as we rode along the beach,” she went on. “When I asked Tristan if he’d heard it as well, he changed the subject. He knew what I was talking about-I could see it in his eyes. He didn’t want to tell me, and now I understand why. I think it was the Grail leading me to him. We Cathars do not believe the way your church does, Tristan. We do not believe in things like divinity or saints or miracles. And yet I heard this sound. And so did Maryam. So I must pray for understanding, because it seems clear you are carrying a miracle.”
“What? I’m not much for church, God knows, but even I know blasphemy when I hear it! God would never allow something so sacred to be used in such a frivolous manner,” Robard said. “Assuming this is the Holy Grail, which it’s not! I’ve been with Tristan the whole time and I haven’t heard anything. Nothing at all! I don’t believe there even is a Holy Grail.”
“There is.” I shrugged. There was no way to easily convince Robard. “This is it.”
“So what do we do now?” Maryam asked.
“I have to do my duty. Sir Thomas ordered me to get to Scotland and make sure it is safe,” I said.
“I understand,” said Celia. “And I would go with you if I could. But I have a responsibility to my people.”
“Yes, I know,” I said, surprised at how much the news disappointed me. I knew she couldn’t go, but still wanted her to. What was wrong with me?
“I’m with you,” Maryam said. “I will do all I can to help you finish this. I will help you keep the prophet’s cup safe.”
I smiled my thanks at her and looked at Robard.
“What?” he asked, surprised. “Did I not tell you earlier I was in this to the end? Nothing has changed. I still don’t believe it. But I knew you just weren’t carrying papers. I thought maybe you’d stolen something, like gold, and was going to tell you to just give it back, whatever it was. Then we met Sir Hugh, and I realized that whatever you had of his, he probably didn’t deserve it anyway. But I didn’t think you thought you were carrying a priceless relic. I still don’t. It looks like a vase to me!”
Despite myself I couldn’t help laughing, and for the briefest instant I wondered what I had ever done to deserve friends like these. I was no longer angry with Sir Thomas for the burden he’d given me, for without it I would never have met these three. That could not be measured.
“There is something else I need to tell you,” I said.
Robard looked at Maryam. “You realize he’s probably going to tell us his tunic is made from the Virgin Mother’s veil or something.”
“Robard!” Maryam said, shocked at his blasphemy.
“What?” He threw up his arms and shrugged, feigning innoceNce.
“That’s not it. I carry only one relic. As far as I know. The way my luck is going, Sir Thomas’ battle sword could belong to King Arthur. But there is something else you should know.” And I told them all about my encounters with King Richard and his guards. Every detail. I wanted to cleanse my soul of all my secrets, and once I got going, I couldn’t stop.
Robard pursed his lips. “If I didn’t know better”-he stopped and walked to the window and spat-“I would think the Lionheart wants you dead.”
“I know,” I said.
“But why?” Maryam nearly shouted. “What interest could he possibly have in you?”
I shrugged, for I had no answer. “I just wanted you all to know everything. Before our next step. If you want out, I understand.”
Robard and Maryam didn’t hesitate. “We’re in,” he said. “I don’t expect to have to have this conversation again.” He clapped me on the shoulder. Maryam and Celia smiled.
Angel gave a happy yip, which a moment later became a low growl. Stopping to listen, we heard the rising shouts of alarm and general commotion coming from outside. Just then Jean-Luc knocked at the doorway and threw the door open. He spoke quickly to Celia, then rushed away.
“What is the matter?” I asked.
“Your friend Sir Hugh has returned,” she said, “with more men this time. His leaving was a ruse. We are under attack!”
22
We ran out of the keep and across the bailey. Jean-Luc had moved quickly to man the forward battlement. Other villagers were running about, bringing their pitchforks and swords forward, determined to drive back Sir Hugh and his invading hordes.
“Start the fires!” I yelled. My siege engines still stood at the ready. I hoped we would have enough earthen jugs and time to use them before Sir Hugh’s men could get a foothold on the walls.
“Tristan,” Robard yelled as we ran toward the battlements, “I don’t have enough arrows to even slow them down. You had better come up with something quick.”
“Can you shoot a crossbow?” I asked.
“Of course I can shoot a crossbow, but why would I want to?” he scoffed.
“Because it’s all we have at the moment. Save what arrows you have for when they are really needed.”
Robard nodded and cut toward the armory. Maryam and Celia were rallying the villagers along the northwest wall. Several of the village elders, with Angel’s assistance, were herding the children back into the keep. They would be safe there.
While they stoked the fires, I raced up the ladder to the forward battlement to survey the field. I was shocked by what lay before me. A quick count of regimento flags told me there were more than six hundred Templars on the field before us. Even with the loss of the High Counsel’s men, wherever they had gone, Sir Hugh had still gained numbers. For a moment, I was glad to at least be rid of Father Renard, though the way my luck went I was sure I would encounter him again somewhere. Sir Hugh was more than enough to deal with at the moment. If he had managed to gather more Templars from nearby commanderies, would more be arriving? And how soon?
It was almost dark but still light enough to see the lines forming. Several small groups had already raced forward to the walls and were making a halfhearted attempt to use scaling ladders, but they were paying a dreadful price as Jean-Luc’s crossbowmen cut through them.
At first I was confused by their tactics. Why were they not more deliberate in trying to overcome us on the battlements? I could not see Sir Hugh on the field in the gathering darkness, but something wasn’t right here. The Templars at the walls shouted now and then, and a few of them even chucked a few rocks at the crossbowmen, ducking behind shields when the bowmen answered with a shot, but their surge was unorganized and lacked intensity.
Then Sir Hugh’s plan was revealed and my mouth fell open to my chest.
From out of the tree line, pulled by several teams of horses and dozens of men, came a giant battering ram. It moved on four huge wooden wheels supported by a triangular base. From the framework hung a log, carved by ax to a sharp point, covered with an iron casing. It would be rolled up to the gate and then several teams of men would swing the
log back and forth until the metal-tipped point battered down the doors.
Wooden shielding had been affixed over the frame to repel our flaming missiles and crossbowmen from harming the men below it. And I was sure the wood was green and coated in mud so it wouldn’t catch fire easily, at least not before they had broken through the gates.
As I watched the attack unfold, I was angry at myself for allowing Sir Hugh to dupe me so easily. I should have known he would never agree to leave without a fight. He had only sought to buy time until his reinforcements arrived and he could attack in force. But as Sir Thomas once told me, battle is no time to dwell on one’s mistakes. I had to regain my focus and figure a way to counter this move.
Down below, next to my small siege engines, the kettles of lard over the fires were bubbling. Robard, Jean-Luc and the crossbowmen held the battlement and pushed back the scaling ladders, but the men-at-arms below were not at all interested in climbing the ladders; they were only buying time and making us waste precious bolts until the battering ram could be rolled into place.
“Jean-Luc!” I shouted. “Hold your fire! Save your bolts for the men pushing the battering ram!” Celia stood at the southwest corner shouting orders.
“Celia, come with me, please. Hurry!” She left Martine in charge and we made our way down to the courtyard.
We reached the fires below a few seconds later. “I need you to tell everyone manning a siege engine to get the lard as hot as possible and hoist those kettles up on the parapet over the main gate. We’ll need ropes and timbers! Get them to hurry!” Frantic shouting came from the battlement above us, and there was more noise outside as the battering ram slowly made its way toward the gate.
Celia repeated my orders to her men, and they went about their tasks diligently and in a hurry. More firewood was carried from the bailey, and the fires beneath the kettles were stoked again. Several men ran forward carrying timbers on their backs and shoulders that they handed up to those manning the battlement. In short order they had lashed together a small windlass that would work perfectly for our needs.
“Robard! How much farther until they reach the gate?” I shouted up to him.
“Not far! One hundred paces, I’d say. If you have something in mind, you better be quick!”
Everything was in place. I grabbed the rope hanging from the windlass and tied it carefully about the handle of the big iron kettle. When it was secure, the men above us hoisted the kettle slowly upward toward the battlement. One of the villagers on the ground held a long pole that he kept locked against the side of the kettle to keep it from tipping.
“Hurry!” Maryam shouted from her spot on the wall. “They’re almost here!”
The kettle rose a few more feet, and then we all heard and felt a thundering boom against the main gate. The noise was deafening and the walls shook, but the door held. A few seconds later another boom sounded against the door. We were almost in place now as the men above moved the kettle onto the battlement. A small pile of torches had been brought out of the keep, and grabbing one, I laid it to the flame in the fire. When it caught, I raced up the ladder. Running forward, I peered over the wall and saw the ram right beneath us.
The ram thundered against the door again. The door still held. Shouting out orders to the men, we lifted the kettle onto the top of the wall right above the main gate.
“Wait until they roll it forward again!” I shouted over the din.
Down below, we watched as the men pushing the ram backed up, then came forward slowly, then came faster as they strained toward the door. When the iron point was a few feet from the door, I gave the command: “Loose!” I shouted, and the kettle was tipped forward and the hot grease went splashing down on the ram. Some of it splashed over the wooden shielding and onto the men nearby, who screamed and ran away. Carefully measuring the distance, I tossed the torch, which landed on the topmost wooden shield.
At first nothing happened. Then with a loud whoosh, the grease caught and the forward-most part of the ram burst into flames. Several of the men hiding under the shielding lost their nerve at the sight of the fire and ran from their cover.
“Now!” shouted Robard, and the crossbowmen mowed the running men down like wheat before a scythe. Their screams and cries rose up to us in the darkness.
“Get the next kettle ready!” I shouted. “They’ll regroup and the ram will be back!”
As I feared, the wood on the shield covering the battering ram had been coated in mud. As the flames died, I could hear orders being shouted and see men moving toward the ram as it was reinforced.
The attacks came on through the night, but we managed to hold them off until daybreak. The ram was burned and scorched but still operable, and Celia had informed me we’d soon run out of barrels of lard. As the sun poked over the horizon, the fighting halted as the men on the field rested before their next assault.
The four of us met on the wall to take stock of the situation. Far off, near the tree line, I could see Sir Hugh on horseback, watching and directing the activity on the field.
“He won’t give up as long as I’m here,” I said.
My friends said nothing.
“Celia, can you spare us some ropes?” She didn’t look at me for a long time, but simply stared out at the forces arrayed against her. Finally she nodded.
“Oh no. Tristan, I saved you from bandits, you went through a shipwreck and a siege, and now you have a wish to plummet to your death? No wonder the monks who raised you only let you work the garden! If you’d done anything else, I’m sure you would have found a thousand ways to injure yourself and others!” Robard blurted.
I ignored Robard’s jibe. “I think it’s time for us to leave,” I said.
23
Light from the east fluttered into the valley surrounding us. The Templars outside the gates were now silent, but I knew another attack would commence before long. I stood at the rear wall of Montsegur with Maryam, Celia and Robard. Angel moved nervously around my feet. Staring down the sheer rock wall, my stomach tightened and I wanted to reconsider my plan. But I couldn’t waver. I looked at the crossbowmen on the battlement opposite where we stood. They all sat slumped with their backs to the wall, resting and waiting to fight again. Sir Hugh would starve us out if necessary. I needed to get him to chase me instead so Celia’s people could return to their homes. But then, as I stood looking down the cliff face, my head swimming, I thought that a few more weeks bottled up inside a fortress might not be so bad.
“Tristan, are you sure this is the only way?” Celia asked.
“Yes,” I said quietly.
“Ha!” said Robard to no one in particular. For approximately the twelfth time, he was checking and rechecking the rope we had looped around a parapet and lowered over the side.
“Of course he’s sure,” Maryam chimed in. “He has a plan.” Maryam was not in love with the idea of climbing down the side of the mountain by rope either.
It was easy to ignore barbs, busy as I was trying to memorize Celia’s face. Her eyes were tired, but they still drew me in. I hated to leave Montsegur. To leave her.
Taking her hand, I gave her a small piece of parchment. With ink and quill I had found inside the keep, I had written a brief note to Sir Hugh.
“If you can withstand another assault to buy us some time, I would be grateful,” I said fearfully, worried at the cost her people would pay to give us a head start. “Then I would have you ask to speak to Sir Hugh under a flag of truce. Don’t venture outside until his forces withdraw from the wall, and make sure you meet him in range of the crossbows. Jean-Luc will know what to do. Give Sir Hugh this note and tell him I’m gone. Tell him you’ll allow two of his men, but not him, to search the castle to confirm it. When he realizes we’re already gone, he should be itching to get away from here and come after us.”
Celia nodded, taking the note from me and secreting it in her tunic.
“What does the note say?” Robard asked.
“Nothing much. I ju
st told him farewell, leave these good folk alone, and he’ll never catch me,” I said.
“That should work,” Maryam said.
“Good note. I need to learn how to write one of these days,” Robard commented as he pulled again and again at the rope.
Martine joined us on the wall now to say her good-byes as well.
“Good-bye, Martine,” I said. “Please take care of her.”
“Oui, monsieur,” she said. Her eyes filled with tears, but she willed them away. I hadn’t gotten to know her well, but I had witnessed her fierce loyalty to Celia. Like Philippe, I believed Martine would gladly give her life for Celia.
“One more thing,” I said. “Would you mind looking after Angel?” I pointed to her, and as soon as I did, she snarled and jumped up, putting her forepaws on my hip.
“I would, but I think she prefers to go with you,” Celia said.
“I don’t see how we can take her!” I said.
She dug at my hip with her paws. “Quiet, girl!” I said. But my words had no effect.
“I don’t see how we can leave her,” Robard said.
“What? Why not?” I replied.
“Because she doesn’t want to stay,” Maryam said.
Martine took action. She removed the cape she wore over her tunic and scooped Angel up into her arms. Very quickly she twisted the cape around and around, tying several knots, and before I knew it, she looped it over my head and shoulders. Angel wiggled against my chest and poked her head out of the covering.
Everyone laughed. I couldn’t help but chuckle myself. If she was so determined, I would have no choice but to bring her along.
“Now you carry your dog like a Cathar woman carries her baby,” Celia said.
Despite the fact that we were likely to plunge to our deaths in a few moments, Robard and Maryam found this extremely funny.
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