Read Online Swords From the Desert by Harold Lamb - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Harold Lamb
Tags: Fiction, Historical fiction, General, Suspense, Historical, Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Short Stories, Adventure fiction, Crusades
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led from the city to the tiny sails of many ships coming out of the west.
"The Franks!" cried Arbogastes.
"It is the Venetian fleet," assented my lord Menas, picking up his silver ball. Suddenly he laughed. "A fleet of gallant fools."
Again the half smile curved his lips, and he touched the glowing sapphire, speaking in Greek to the red eunuch.
"They spent their wealth on followers and accoutrements; they reached Venice with empty purses and bold words. They had pledged eighty-five thousand marks of silver to the Doge for his fleet, and war galleys to clear the seas and provisions for a year-to take them to Palestine. Lacking the half of this sum, they pawned their lives for the remainder-or would have done so, had not the Doge persuaded them to capture Zara for the Venetians instead.
"So the paladins, the men of iron, stormed Zara and gave its spoil to the accursed Venetian merchants. Then came to them an upstart-Alex- ius-who claimed the throne of Constantinople, and these mummers turned aside again to play the part of rescuers, forsooth. They have come to conquer the Greek empire for Alexius, so to pay their passage to the Holy Land. They would be masters of the city of the caesars, and enlist here a mighty host to set free the city of Christ from Moslem bondage. Fools, to go against Constantinople the Great, that never has been taken by mortal man. Aye, their lives are in pawn!"
In high good humor was my lord Menas, and the eunuch vanished with his staff. Arbogastes plucked at my robe, signing that we should go from the presence of the Domastikos, So, with a salutation we went, unattended.
And at the first turning of the stair I heard a shuffling of feet and whispers in the recess behind the lamp. I feared an arrow and so turned to peer into the gloom, which was a passage and not an alcove as Arbogastes had said. Verily, this was a house of many surprises and of hidden things.
I saw the eunuch, two spears' lengths down the passage, and behind him another man. This was a warrior, wide of shoulder and dark of face, in mail from toe to helmet-his surcoat so stiff with dust and streaked with rain that the device was dim.
Yet I had seen that device before. The man was a Frank and a captain of warriors.
I had faced him once when the Franks pillaged a village near Edessa. They had taken horses and cattle from the village, and had slain else all living things, the women, and the sick, and sucking babes.
There had been no Arab warriors at that village nor any battle. The Franks who plundered it were filled with the lust to slay. Yet I have seen others who nursed wounded Arabs-
The Frankish baron who burned that village had been Richard de Brienne. And the captain of his men-at-arms was this same mailed swordsman who waited behind the eunuch until we should have passed.
So much I saw in a glance, before the eunuch stretched out his long sleeve and the Frank bent his head to hide his face.
"What is it?" asked Arbogastes impatiently.
"A slave in a red robe," I made answer.
But memory had stirred in me. It was this slayer, the Sieur de Brienne who had bestowed the gray horse on the girl Irene. But why had his captain come with hidden face to the house of the Lord Menas?
That night I slept in the barrack of the Tatar archers, and in the palace grounds the next day there was not sign or portent of the Frank. I asked Arbogastes if an embassy had come to the city from the barons of Frankistan, and he laughed.
"Oho, they will come with their ships to the sea wall, not before."
He told me also that the Greek prince, Alexius, with the fleet had truly a just claim to the throne, because the father of this prince lay blinded and in chains in the prisons of Murtzuple. The father had been emperor for two years, and before his time, poison and the knife had shrouded three Greek emperors. As to whether Murtzuple or Alexius had the best claim to the throne Arbogastes neither knew nor cared. Nor did the Tatars or the Northmen or
"The Franks!" cried Arbogastes.
"It is the Venetian fleet," assented my lord Menas, picking up his silver ball. Suddenly he laughed. "A fleet of gallant fools."
Again the half smile curved his lips, and he touched the glowing sapphire, speaking in Greek to the red eunuch.
"They spent their wealth on followers and accoutrements; they reached Venice with empty purses and bold words. They had pledged eighty-five thousand marks of silver to the Doge for his fleet, and war galleys to clear the seas and provisions for a year-to take them to Palestine. Lacking the half of this sum, they pawned their lives for the remainder-or would have done so, had not the Doge persuaded them to capture Zara for the Venetians instead.
"So the paladins, the men of iron, stormed Zara and gave its spoil to the accursed Venetian merchants. Then came to them an upstart-Alex- ius-who claimed the throne of Constantinople, and these mummers turned aside again to play the part of rescuers, forsooth. They have come to conquer the Greek empire for Alexius, so to pay their passage to the Holy Land. They would be masters of the city of the caesars, and enlist here a mighty host to set free the city of Christ from Moslem bondage. Fools, to go against Constantinople the Great, that never has been taken by mortal man. Aye, their lives are in pawn!"
In high good humor was my lord Menas, and the eunuch vanished with his staff. Arbogastes plucked at my robe, signing that we should go from the presence of the Domastikos, So, with a salutation we went, unattended.
And at the first turning of the stair I heard a shuffling of feet and whispers in the recess behind the lamp. I feared an arrow and so turned to peer into the gloom, which was a passage and not an alcove as Arbogastes had said. Verily, this was a house of many surprises and of hidden things.
I saw the eunuch, two spears' lengths down the passage, and behind him another man. This was a warrior, wide of shoulder and dark of face, in mail from toe to helmet-his surcoat so stiff with dust and streaked with rain that the device was dim.
Yet I had seen that device before. The man was a Frank and a captain of warriors.
I had faced him once when the Franks pillaged a village near Edessa. They had taken horses and cattle from the village, and had slain else all living things, the women, and the sick, and sucking babes.
There had been no Arab warriors at that village nor any battle. The Franks who plundered it were filled with the lust to slay. Yet I have seen others who nursed wounded Arabs-
The Frankish baron who burned that village had been Richard de Brienne. And the captain of his men-at-arms was this same mailed swordsman who waited behind the eunuch until we should have passed.
So much I saw in a glance, before the eunuch stretched out his long sleeve and the Frank bent his head to hide his face.
"What is it?" asked Arbogastes impatiently.
"A slave in a red robe," I made answer.
But memory had stirred in me. It was this slayer, the Sieur de Brienne who had bestowed the gray horse on the girl Irene. But why had his captain come with hidden face to the house of the Lord Menas?
That night I slept in the barrack of the Tatar archers, and in the palace grounds the next day there was not sign or portent of the Frank. I asked Arbogastes if an embassy had come to the city from the barons of Frankistan, and he laughed.
"Oho, they will come with their ships to the sea wall, not before."
He told me also that the Greek prince, Alexius, with the fleet had truly a just claim to the throne, because the father of this prince lay blinded and in chains in the prisons of Murtzuple. The father had been emperor for two years, and before his time, poison and the knife had shrouded three Greek emperors. As to whether Murtzuple or Alexius had the best claim to the throne Arbogastes neither knew nor cared. Nor did the Tatars or the Northmen or
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