Swords From the Desert (9 page)

The Domastikos glanced at the grating, and at my bare feet-for it is our custom to remove our slippers at the entrance of a dwelling. Holding a linen, musk-scented, to his nostrils, he bent over the dead man.

"A good blow, Khalil. I see thou art a man of the sword."

I had slain his guard by the whispering gallery, and it would have availed me not to plead that I had not overheard the words that passed at the other end. Nor could I read the eyes of the Greek, though I watched for him to make a sign to his spearmen.

"Eh, Khalil, the fault lies not with thee!" And he smiled.

Aye, he smiled, and his nostrils quivered just a little when he withdrew the cloth, and still he showed no anger.

The eyes of a leopard glow, and its muscles twitch-even to the tailwhen it settles itself to leap. A mask was upon the face and eyes of the Greek lord, and I was assured that he had not pardoned me, and would exact my life-not for the death of the slave but because I had chanced into the listening gallery when he held speech with the Frank.

With his men or his treasure I might have made free, and have been pardoned. But not with his secret-not at this hour. I think he had wished to order the spearmen to advance upon me, and had decided otherwise. A sword well handled is a match for two long spears, and Menas was neither impatient nor a fool.

"My lord," I made response, when he waited, "may God requite thee for thy mercy. It is true that I have meant no harm to thy men, being ignorant of the customs of this, thy palace."

"Thou art, as Arbogastes maintained, a bold man," he said idly, gathering his cloak about him. "I have a mind to such. Go then, and await my command."

Who may alter what is ordained? Who may look upon the writing that is not to be altered? I had not plotted against the Domastikos, yet he sought my life as surely as a trodden snake strikes. And this was because his pal ace was a pit of traps and a breeding place of suspicion. Within it I might no longer dwell, and I walked forth before he could send an order to the guards at the outer gates concerning me.

In all Constantinople there was no sanctuary for me, save one.

And so it came to pass that when Arbogastes sought his post of duty that morning because he had been at his wine in the past night-he found me sitting on the bank of the canal, by the bridge that led to the house of the barbarian girl.

He glittered and shone, indeed, like a peacock. From somewhere he had got himself a bronze breastplate with eagles upon it, and he was busily counting different coins from his right hand to his left.

Then he counted them back again and shook his thick head.

"By all the devils, one hand tallies not with the other! And by the beard of Ali, this ducat hath been shaved of half its gold." He blinked and glared from reddened eyes. "The dog cheated me!" He said he had been throwing dice at the tavern nearby, and regretted leaving it, being muddled in his head about his gains and losses.

"Eh, Arbogastes," I said to him, "I had thought thee an al-comes in this new armor. Verily, thou hast the figure of a swordsman."

He ceased his counting to simper and swell his chest. Indeed he had the figure of a fighter if naught else.

"And the dog cheated thee?" I went on.

"YA11ah, he did! My dice were clipped and loaded. I won two casts in three, and he robbed me of my gains, the son of a bath tender!"

"That is evil. Nay, then, I shall keep thy post, and thou shalt return to the Greek and gain back thy winnings. Only come at dusk to take my place."

Arbogastes felt of his lean purse and blinked. He had upon him the thirst that is bred of spirits, not wine alone, and saw no reason why I should not watch in his stead. No men of Menas's household would enter the garden of the patriarch.

"Be wary as to the wench," he grunted. "I go!"

"Then say naught in the tavern of my watch in this place, or ill may befall thee, Arbogastes."

He nodded-he could see that.

So throughout the morning and until the sun began to sink past the dome of the church, I sat, sleeping a little, but rousing when the monks or the slaves of Irene came near the bridge. The girl I did not see, but the gray horse was led out and fed, and I knew that she was within.

Then came Arbogastes, with lurching step and darkened face.

"Ho, brother," he cried, "the gates of plunder are open! Hearken to the bells! Come, and let us take what we may."

His purple cloak was gone, and his wallet likewise. In truth Arbogastes looked more like a wight plundered than a plunderer.

"Eh, what has happened?" I asked.

"The Franks have happened-may they taste of Eblis! So the tale runs in the bazaar. They drifted across from the Scutari shore this morning, with their horses in the palanders and the men-at-arms in the barges, all of them lashed to the oared galleys. They sounded trumpet and horn and made a landing near Galata, leaping into shallow water with their spears on their wrists, and leading forth their chargers from the great ships. The fools have taken Galata and set up a camp on the mainland."

"And what of the Greeks?"

Arbogastes curled his beard, which reeked more of musk than ever. The wine in his veins was singing a song, and he looked on the bare garden as if it were paradise.

"Murtzuple is a wolf, and a wolf, 0 my brother, is not easily penned. He bath drawn back his hosts, behind the city wall. The Franks will break their spears on the wall, and when that has happened they will taste grief because they are separated from their ships and their brothers, the Venetians. Come, Khalil, this will be a night of nights!"

The wine in him did not bind his tongue; it was not fitting to leave him thus in a place of prayer. And it did not suit me to forsake the garden then.

"Where be the men of the Domastikos?"

"Allah, am I an oracle that I should know?" The Persian scowled and yawned. "I think they will muster in the registan of Tiodore* at dawn."

"Then go thou and sleep. I shall keep thy ward."

"Nay, I must fare to the palace of the Domashitish-" he hiccoughed and blinked owlishly-"of the Domtishok, our master. 'Tis the hour for my waiting upon him with word of the Frank wench."

"If that thou doest," I said, "thou wilt be slain and the skin taken from thy body and stuffed with straw and hung out upon the sea-wall." I had seen such bodies, blown hither and yon by the wind, and torn by crows' beaks.

"Nay, why should Iny lord do that to me?"

Now I had no wish to tell the stupid Persian what had befallen me in the palace.

"Why did he choose thee in the beginning, instead of one of his servants? Why did he show favor to a bullock like thee? Because when thy task is done, and the girl is taken to him, he can then slit thy throat-lest any of the Nazarene priests remember having seen thee sitting at her gate."

There was much truth in this, but Arbogastes saw it not.

"No buffalo am I!" he growled. "I am a swordsman, a bahator."

"Do you wish to be skinned?"

Nay-

"Then go and sleep. But first tell me the password."

Arbogastes seemed not to hear, and he began to snore on his feet. I shook his shoulder.

"The word-what is the password of the Greeks?"

The wine and the drowsiness were heavy upon him and he only grunted until suddenly he found words.

"Another cup!"

Eh, there was little good in seeking the word of him. He staggered away up the path, and I sat down to think. The ache of hunger was in me, but I could not go to the Nazarene church and beg for food like a slave.

It was then, a little after dusk, when all the monks had gone into the church, whither they were summoned by a great bell, that the barbarian girl Irene came and sat down by me.

Between her hands she had brought dates and a pomegranate and barley cakes, and when I had twice refused them, she leaned closer to look into my eyes.

"I have given Khutb, the gray courser, to eat, and why not thee, 0 Badawan?"

So I began to eat slowly, and she leaned chin on hands to watch the gleam of the new moon behind the barrier of cypresses, and listen to the clong-clang of the bell.

"The Greeks yonder," she said after awhile, "pray for the overthrow of the Franks. But the Franks will take the city, and then there will be a new emperor."

I thought of Menas, who had talked with a captain of the iron men.

"There be fifteen thousand Franks and some few Venetians without-there be two hundred thousand Greeks and mercenaries within these walls."

"Are they one at heart? What happened today?"

I told her and she became thoughtful. Twice a hundred thousand men behind such walls are not easily overcome, and it was ever the fault of the iron men to venture onward foolishly.

"My father was castellan of Edessa," she said. "More than one onset and onfray have I seen. I do not think these treacherous Greeks will stand before the lances of the Crosses on open ground. I would well to be upon the walls-"

Perhaps she was lonely, perhaps excited by hope of the morrow, because she told me how she longed for the coming of the Crosses. The Lord Richard de Brienne had joined the iron men, she had heard, and she was to become his wife.

This paladin of the Franks had tarried once at Edessa-for her father kept open hall and was well content with company and song of minstrels. At that time Irene had been no more than a stripling; eager to follow the hawk, and to ride forth with her father, who was one of the wisest of the Franks.

The Lord Richard had looked twice upon her and had asked her for his wife, and the father of Irene had said that a year must pass before she was of age for marriage.

So the warrior of the Cross had fared forth after plighting his word to the damosel, and straightaway Irene forgot dogs and hawks and the loves of childhood for love of him-and she had waited more than the year, for her father was slain, and his followers and servants and his feudal hall were lost to her. For that is the law of Frankistan.

Aye, four years passed, and she heard of the deeds of her lord in Syria and Jerusalem yet saw him not. Edessa had fallen to my people and the Nazarene priests had sent her to the protection of the patriarch of Constantinople. She had brought with her the gray horse, Khutb, the betrothal gift of the Lord Richard.

All this was clear, not by her words alone, but by her voice and the eagerness in her. In this barbarian girl there was no deceit.

"How is he to be known, this Ricard," I asked.

"He is prouder than other men and his eyes shine when he speaks. His hair is black and his skin is dark, and he is taller even than thee, 0 Khalil."

How was I to learn aught from this? It seemed to her that Richard of Brienne was verily a saint in chain mail, guileless as a boy, grave and courteous to all who met with him. His blue eyes were without fear-

"What device bears he on his shield?"

"No device, save a red cross. If ye seek him, 0 Badawan-" she tossed her head valiantly-"look for him in the heart of the onset. Wilt thou draw sword against him, for the gray horse?"

"It may have been written," I said, and upon the words I heard a scraping near at hand, as of a scabbard tip or spear butt.

In another moment I felt assured that a man was breathing heavily within an arrow's flight.

Darkness had fallen, and the gleam of moon and stars revealed little under the trees. I touched the girl Irene upon the shoulder and whispered to her.

"Go thou into the house. There is danger."

She made no sound of fright, but rose swiftly and ran lightly over the bridge, into the stone dwelling. By then I felt that there were more than three who crept up on me. Eh, they were heavy men and the wood was dark. But they could see me at the edge of the canal.

I rose and ran to the narrow bridge, and turned upon it, scimitar in hand, as five figures burst from the path and ran toward me. The leader wore a Greek helmet, and held an officer's short sword. The others carried spears-I could see no bows.

"Ha, Khalil!" cried the swordsman. "Whither went the maid?"

Now, I had turned upon them because it is better to stand than to flee. I knew the speaker for a captain of my lord Menas, and whether he came for me or for the barbarian girl there was no knowing. Perhaps they had come in this fashion, like panthers, to escape the eyes of the patriarch's folk in the church.

So I thought twice, and thrice. The girl Irene was not of my seeking, and yet-she was brave, and alone. Her fate was ordained-it were folly to take her part, and yet in standing by there was shame.

Then the captain spoke.

"No harm will befall thee, 0 Khalil!"

He spoke too readily. Why should he have pledged this thing unasked?

"What do ye here?" I asked in his speech.

"We have come for the barbarian."

Again, he was too eager. What reward had my lord Menas placed upon my life?

"The maid is in my keeping," I answered, thinking of many things.

Upon these words a spear flashed from the hand of a Greek, and gleamed before my eyes. I leaped back, falling heavily, and the weapon struck into earth behind me. To the eyes and ears of the Greeks it seemed that I had been pierced, and they came forward with the low shout of men who have made their kill.

Eh, it is well said among my people, "When ye set fire to the thicket, be wise and watch out for the tiger." The Greek captain had swung up his short sword when I rose to one knee. My scimitar was in hand and I slashed him deep over the thighs.

It was a good blow, touching no bones, and his sword fell upon my shoulder, his helmet to one side of the bridge, his body to the other. His men cried out in rage and astonishment. From the shadows of the house wall I spoke to them sternly:

"Pick up thy leader and bear him hence! Would thy lord Menas wish to leave his officer in the garden of the patriarch-thus?"

It was as a bone cast to dogs, and they snarled and muttered, half fearing. Through the open gate in the wall I ran, and into the stone house, where no light shone.

And the girl Irene cried out my name-"Khalil!" Something, no doubt, she had seen upon the bridge. "Whose followers be these?"