Jacques nodded to show he was being attentive.
“I’ve corresponded with Raymond and he’ll lead Bishop Adhemar’s army on the Crusade in a few months. You’ll both accompany him as aides de camp or bodyguards, or whatever he assigns you. It will be a great privilege to attend him. He is a religious man. He received word that those who are following Peter the Hermit on pilgrimage now are no more than rabble, and can come to no good end. Ian, I want you to take Tonnerre Noir with you as your steed. He is more your horse than mine at this point. You train with him daily and he responds well to your command.”
Ian leapt up from his chair. “You’re too kind,” and went to Luc. Luc stood and Ian gave him a long bear hug. “I don’t know what to say.” Ian returned to his armchair.
“Your heartfelt thanks are enough for me. Old Dun can roam the fields until his natural end of days. I approve of you boys joining the Crusade with Raymond, even though your mother will worry to no end; but with the provisos that you’re fully prepared, and I’ll tell you when you are prepared. Many who go on this Crusade will not return, because they were not properly prepared. Do you both agree?”
Jacques and Ian almost simultaneously said, “I do.”
“Good. Since I will bear the brunt of your mother’s wrath, I don’t want to feel like I‘ve made a mistake. As a knight myself, I’ll judge your skills in hand-to-hand combat, horsemanship, care of your mounts, preparation of your food, and all the talents you need to survive. Raymond has agreed to knight each of you himself, solely on my recommendation.”
Both boys nodded their assent again. Jacques leaned forward in his armchair and said, “But, Father, that’s what we have done, and do practically every day, prepare ourselves for the journey.”
“I know. I’ve been watching you. What I want is for you to train with serious intent, as though your lives depend on it, which it does, rather than your current fun and games approach.” Luc arched one eyebrow and stared at them in turn. “Do you understand?”
“Yes,” Jacques said and settled back in his chair.
Ian had heard this all before, like déjà vu, from Dylan and from Friar McCarthy, but he kept his peace. He would now be going as a real knight, with real knights, on a real Crusade, so he could be patient a little longer.
“Also, I’m impressed with Ian’s language skills, speaking and writing in Frankish and Gaelic, and some Latin, Hebrew, and Arabic. Jacques, I want you to learn some Arabic, Hebrew and Latin. Ian can teach you. Language will prove to be more important than fighting skills in some situations.”
“Yes, Father.”
“When you return, I hope you’ll both be content to be home again, and Jacques will train to take over the estate and all of our businesses. Ian, you have a home here as long as you wish. It would please an old man to have you marry Rosemarie.”
Ian sat up straight in his chair and almost spilled his wine. Flushed with embarrassment, he stammered, “S . . . sir, Rosemarie has a mind of her own.”
“I know, my son. Rosemarie thinks like a queen, and you’re not ready to be a king. Perhaps you’ll return from the Crusades as a king; but never mind, if I were to present this idea to Rosemarie, she would scream I was trying to control her life and throw objects around the room, even if secretly she adored the idea.” Luc winked at Ian. “But she would come with a handsome dowry, in any case. Do you know what her name, Rosemarie, means?”
“Yes, sir, it means ‘wild flowers,’” Ian replied with a gentle laugh, then continued in a sober respectful voice, “I’m thankful enough to be included in the family, to be adopted, and could not, and would not, ask more of you, sir.”
“And Jacques, what are your thoughts?”
“Father, you know I would do whatever you asked, but I’m anxious to go on the Crusade. I am glad that Ian and I can make this journey together, as brothers, watching each other’s backs. I will go for adventure and Ian will go for God, and we’ll both benefit. Together, we’ll return to whatever circumstances await.”
“Well said, my son. This is a grand day. This is good, all good,” Luc concluded and polished off the last of his cognac.
Eleven
Ian approached Jacques in the library where Jacques was fabricating another battle tower model and said, “I’m impressed with your designs and scale models for trebuchets and towers so the armies can climb over castle walls, but what could we create to assist a solitary soldier to be able to climb up a wall or a tower?”
Jacques laid his schematic down on the table next to the nearly completed model and asked, “What good could a solitary soldier do to take a castle?”
“You know, spy, scout out the situation within the castle, make deals with traitors, reduce casualties by assessing the enemy first hand, and climb back down the wall and report to whoever is in charge.”
“I see. Brilliant. What do you suggest?”
“I don’t know exactly. A climber could use the spaces and cracks in the stones and walls to obtain purchase, but the spaces may not be consistent or adequate enough from the ground to the top of the wall. And surely not enough for a knight in full armor and carrying a weapon.”
“What if we devise some manmade hand holds and footsteps?”
“What would they look like?”
“Like big nails . . .”
“For footsteps and handholds?”
“Yes,” Jacques continued. “What if we weld circlets on the ends of the hand holds to attach a safety line in case the climber falls . . . and run another line through the circlets so a ground assistant could raise and lower the climber if he were injured?”
Ian turned the tower model around on the table and studied all the details Jacques had so painstakingly incorporated. “Yes, that sounds about right.”
“How are we going to try out these devices?” asked Jacques.
“The mansion walls are sort of like castle walls. The stones are smaller, so it would be a better test. What if I climb the mansion on the tallest side?”
“I’m going to ask Louis to forge us a handful of our devices so we can try out the idea.”
“I’ll go with you and offer to help him. It will make it more difficult for him to refuse.”
Louis balked at doing another task for the duo, but after considerable cajoling and explanations of their use for the devices he became intrigued by the idea, so he gave in and fabricated a dozen of the new devices, which he named ongles des mains, or ‘fingernails.’ By the time the fingernails were ready, Louis asked to participate in their demonstration.
The morning sun peeked over the eastern horizon and lit the east side of the mansion, providing a perfect backdrop for Ian to test the fingernails. Jacques chose to man the safety rope on the ground while Ian climbed the wall. Louis stood behind Jacques and also held onto the safety rope as an added precaution.
Ian wore an apron with a pocket in front containing the dozen fingernails. He wore a thick leather belt with an iron loop attached to each side. The left side iron loop held a lead mallet for pounding in the fingernails. The short safety line and the long safety line, each with an iron clip on the end, hung off the belt’s right side iron loop.
Ian clipped the short line onto the current fingernail for safety while he pounded the next fingernail in place. As he ascended the wall, he unclipped the short line from the previous fingernail and clipped it to the new fingernail. He ran the long safety line through each previous fingernail and clipped the long line to his belt. If he fell, the short line would theoretically prevent him from falling more than one fingernail, and the long safety line would prevent him from falling more than two fingernails. Louis and Jacques could lower him down with the long line if needed.
At first, the process of pounding in fingernails, climbing up from one fingernail to the next, detaching and reattaching his ropes proved to be a slow process. Ian hoped, with practice, he could become faster and reduce his vulnerability on the wall.
Ian was nine-tenths of the way up the wall when Lu
c’s, “Halloo, what the Hell are you doing?” startled Jacques and Louis from their focus on Ian’s progress and they let the safety line slip.
Ian lost his balance and fell, but the short line caught him and bashed him against the wall dangling head down from the fingernail he’d been standing on. While he dangled in the air, Rosemarie and Gabrielle came outside to find out what the ruckus was all about.
Gabrielle fainted, and Rosemarie shouted, “Ian, you damn idiot, get down from there before you kill yourself!”
Rosemarie held her mother’s head in her lap and revived her from the faint. She shouted, “See what you’ve done, you foolish boys.”
Ian shouted, “Don’t just stand there, gawking,” to Jacques, Luc, and Louis. The three men took hold of the safety line and pulled Ian up vertically to where he could regain his foothold. He placed two more fingernails, pulled himself onto the roof, waved and smiled at the family and Louis.
“Louis, did you encourage my two lunatics in this dangerous new endeavor?” Luc demanded.
“No, sir, I didn’t encourage them, but I did help them,” Louis answered as contritely as possible, then added, “so they wouldn’t get themselves killed.”
“There will be no more storming my castle, understood?” Luc, eyes flashing anger, addressed both Louis and Jacques.
“Yes, sir.”
Meanwhile, Ian had stepped back onto the upper fingernail and shouted, “Lower me down.” He clipped his short line to the ring in the long line, and Louis and Jacques lowered him down the wall. Ian left the fingernails he had installed, intending to retrieve them later when the hubbub had died down.
Once Ian was safely on the ground, Luc ordered through clenched jaw, “Ian, do not do that again.”
“Yes sir,” Ian replied, but he already had ideas on how to improve the climbing process.
Luc started to walk away, his anger noticeably subsided, and said, “I’m impressed with your new skills, but be more careful in the future.”
Ian replied, “Yes, sir,” again, and winked at Jacques.
Luc gathered Ian, Jacques, Gabrielle, and Rosemarie at the blacksmith shop. Rosemarie carried a large full burlap sack. When Ian offered to carry the sack for her she replied, “I prefer to carry it myself,” in her most independent French girl voice.
Ian shrugged at her response and didn’t insist on helping again.
Louis sat at a large table he had set up in front of the workshop. The fire pit was cold. Louis was taking the pleasant Frankish summer day off. A large pile of knight’s equipment was spread out on the table. “Bon jour,” Louis welcomed them. Louis had gathered six mismatched chairs from the stables, the winery, and his shop.
“Please sit, my young friends,” he said, and indicated Ian and Jacques with two nods. “Luc commissioned me to make new set of armor for each of you.”
Ian sat down and tried to remain calm. “I see what looks like two sets of hauberks and helmets on the table. I helped you make a new set for Jacques this past year, but not a set for myself.”
“I worked on your set when you were busy doing other things and only let you help on Jacques’ armor.”
Rosemarie jumped to her feet and blurted out, “Let me give them my gifts first.” She took two quilted gambesons and two quilted caps from the sack and handed one set each to Ian and Jacques. “I hope these fit properly. I made Jacques’ based on one of his old shirts and Ian’s slightly larger in the chest and the arms. Try them on.”
Ian slipped his gambeson over his head and pulled the sleeves to his wrists and the torso to just below his waist. “It fits like a glove. Nice and snug. He put on the cap and pulled the cowl down to his shoulders where it overlapped with the neckline of the gambeson. “Snug. Perfect,” he said with a smile for Rosemarie, who winked back at him.
Jacques put on his garments and said, “The quilted cap was my idea to prevent our brains from being rattled around in our skulls when someone raps our helmets with their broadswords.” Jacques grinned at the group.
Rosemarie interrupted, “You can’t afford to have your brains rattled around anymore than they already are.”
“Thank you, sister dear.”
Ian noticed Gabrielle starting to weep and changed the subject. “Rosemarie, could you sew holes in the caps where our ears are so we can hear when the enemy sneaks up on us?”
Rosemarie nodded and handed her mother a handkerchief to dry her eyes.
Louis handed Jacques and Ian each a new hauberk, which was an extended torso chain mail shirt with long sleeves extending down to the wrists, and with a slit on each side of the lower torso to allow the rider to sit upon a horse.
Ian tried his hauberk on over the gambeson and was impressed with the weight and fit. “This is so much better than the light collar mail that my Uncle gave me. Thank you, Louis and Luc. It fits perfect. How did you know the size?”
“I’ve been working side by side with you for over a year. I know your size. You’re slightly wider in the shoulders and larger in the chest than Jacques, and your arms are slightly bigger around. Otherwise your hauberk and Jacques’ are the same.”
Jacques hefted his hauberk and tried it on. He examined the links. “The links are larger in size than in my old hauberk.”
“Larger and stronger,” replied Louis. “Are you pleased?”
“Yes, Louis, you’re a master blacksmith. Thank you again,” replied Jacques.
Louis addressed Ian, “I would have tried to make a new sword for you, but I know how attached you are to your father’s sword. Besides, I’m a poor swordsmith. Someday I must learn how to make a decent sword.” Louis then took two helmets off the table and handed the one engraved with JLF above the eye slits to Jacques and the one engraved with IOLF to Ian.
Jacques hefted the helmet, laughed, and asked, “Was this made from Cherie’s cooking pot?”
Louis started to reply, but Luc held out his palm to interrupt. “No, this is a helmet of the finest construction to protect your pointed head.”
“Ahh, but the helmet is flat on top and not stylishly pointed.”
“That defect, young man, can be corrected.”
“I’m sorry, Father. . . Louis, I don’t mean to be disrespectful. I’ll try it on.” Jacques lifted the heavy helmet and lowered it over his capped head. “The eye slits are so thin; I can scarcely see anything.”
In a demonstration of camaraderie, Ian tried on his new helmet and said, “Father, I agree, the eye slits need to be increased in size so we can see where we’re going.”
“Louis, will you work with these two pointy headed boys and fix their helmets to your satisfaction or flatten their heads for them? Whichever provides you with some redress.”
Louis gave Ian and Jacques each an evil grin, then smiled at Luc, and replied, “Yes, Sire, flat heads, it is.”
Ian abruptly stood in his armor and said, “Thank you, Louis and Rosemarie, the fit is marvelous. I feel I could take on an ogre or a small army of brigands in this armor.” He started to walk, but bumped into the table, then Luc’s chair, then Louis’ chair, nearly knocking them both over, before Rosemarie took him by the hand and guided him back to his seat. The group laughed at his awkward attempt to walk around with the helmet over his head.
“What can I say? The eye slits really are too small,” Ian said, explaining his clumsiness with a shrug.
“Tomorrow my two sons leave home to join Raymond and start their journey as Crusader knights. You’ve proved to be the best trained knights I’ve ever seen. I know you’ll be valiant in battle. I wish I were able to join you,” Luc said to the family gathering of Gabrielle, Jacques, Rosemarie, and Ian in the library. He raised his wine glass and said, “We who remain behind salute you and wish you God speed.”
Each of them raised their glasses. “Hear, hear,” they all chimed in and sipped their wine.
Rosemarie, too excited to wait any longer, asked, “Father, may I give them their gifts now?”
“Yes, my impatient one, go ahea
d.”
“Ian, Jacques, I had gifts made for you by a silversmith in Toulon.” She handed each young man a package wrapped in colored cloth.
“You shouldn’t have,” Ian protested.
“I’m shocked,” Jacques said with a hint of sarcasm.
“Open them and hush,” Rosemarie ordered.
Jacques had his package opened first and pulled out a silver pendant. Showing it off to the rest of the family, Ian saw the LeFriant family crest on one side and the family names engraved on the other. “Thank you, sister,” he said and hugged her.
Ian waited for Rosemarie to enjoy gifting Jacques and instead of opening his package he took two small cloth bundles from his tunic and handed Rosemarie a bright blue piece of cloth tied with a red satin ribbon and handed Gabrielle a bright yellow cloth tied with a green satin ribbon and then returned to his seat by the fireplace. The excitement shone in the two women’s eyes.
“I didn’t expect a gift from you,” Rosemarie said and delicately untied the ribbon, unfolded the cloth, and found a silver heart pendant with a ruby inset on a silver chain. “It’s beautiful,” she said.
Ian strode over to Rosemarie, placed the chain around her neck, and fastened the clasp.
Rosemarie held the pendant in her hand and studied the workmanship. “Where did you get the pendant? I have been to every jewelry shop in Toulon and never seen one quite like this.”
“She has shopped in every jewelry shop in Toulon,” Jacques interrupted with emphasis on the words has shopped.
Rosemarie shot daggers at Jacques.
“I had the jewel, and Louis helped me create the pendant in the blacksmith shop,” Ian continued.
“I’ll always treasure it.” Rosemarie’s eyes sparkled with delight.
Gabrielle opened her cloth and found a silver heart pendant with an emerald inset on a silver chain. “Ian, you shouldn’t have.”
Ian turned and approached Gabrielle who kissed him on the cheek. “Thank you, my son.”
The Honorable Knight Page 9
