Robard had traveled here from the south near Jerusalem. He did not know of the fall of Acre, which had been his destination. I told him that Acre was in the Saladin’s hands, and he agreed we could travel to Tyre together. When he asked me why I chose to travel at night, I explained to him that I carried dispatches for the Templars there, and dared not allow these documents to fall into the hands of the enemy. He accepted my explanation without much question.
I was grateful to have Robard and his bow as traveling companions. As before, we kept to the hills near the main road. At night we built no fires. Walking in the darkness we quietly exchanged the stories of our lives.
Robard was seventeen years old. His father owned a large farm near the shire of Nottingham. When King Richard took the throne and raised his army for the Crusades, he levied taxes on all the farmers of England. After a poor harvest two years before, Robard’s father had been unable to meet his burden. Those who could not pay were allowed to join the army or send a son in their stead to join the Crusaders. Robard joined the King’s Army, and after two years of service, his father’s debt was forgiven.
It was Robard’s father who first taught him to use the bow. And two years of nearly constant warfare had made him an exceptional archer. In the King’s Army he learned that an archer was only as good as his equipment. Before we slept each morning, Robard obsessively checked his bow for signs of wear or weakness. He studied and rechecked the hide strings that held the grip, a piece of wood fastened to the shaft. He removed every arrow from his wallet, checking the feathers and the points to make sure they were secure and sharp. Each morning, when it was light enough to see clearly, he would take several practice shots at a distant tree. Retrieving the arrows from the trunk, he checked them again, returning them to his wallet.
As we traveled, Robard told me much of his life and what he had witnessed during his years in Outremer.
“I’ve seen nothing but waste and destruction,” he complained. “The Lionheart”-Robard spat out the name as if something sour and unpleasant had landed on his tongue-“commands us to take a fortress or a city or a swatch of land, and we do. Then a few weeks or months later the Saladin’s forces take it back. Men are killed for nothing. Yet the King keeps raising his army and taking more taxes while poor men like my father struggle to feed their families.”
Robard was quietly intense, and when he spoke of his home and father and the struggles of the people of his shire, he became quite passionate. I sensed a great determination in him.
“What will you do when you return to England?” I asked when he finally paused in his rant against King Richard, the rich and the general inequalities of the known world.
“Go home, help my father farm. He’ll need it if this war goes on much longer. The rich barons easily pay their taxes to the King while poor folk go hungry, sending their sons to die here in this desert wasteland because they cannot pay.”
Robard was a bitter young man on the subject of the rich in general, the poor in particular and taxes especially. Though I was certainly no saint, I winced at his reference to the Holy Land as a “wasteland” and quietly crossed myself.
“I knew a man at home,” Robard went on, “a farmer, like my father, with seven children. After the poor harvest two years ago there wasn’t much in the way of food for such a large family. One day he went off into Sherwood Forest and killed a roebuck. On his way home he stumbled across a squad of bailiffs led by the shire reeve of Nottingham. As usual, the shire reeve and his men were out collecting taxes from poor farmers who couldn’t afford to pay them even if gold were to grow out of the ground like beans. They saw him with the buck and attempted to arrest him, saying he had no authority to hunt the King’s deer.”
Robard’s voice rose. I wished to quiet him, lest more bandits or, God forbid, the Saladin’s men heard us in the woods.
“But before they could grab him he escaped into the woods. As far as I know, he’s still there hiding out. All because he wanted enough meat to feed his children,” he said. “That is who I am forced to fight for. We serve an absent King who cares nothing for his subjects, only that they can send their sons to feed his army. He leaves his sniveling coward of a brother Prince John in charge, and that poor excuse for a monarch allows the shire reeves to rule the countryside like barons. Lionheart, my arse,” Robard said, spitting on the ground for emphasis.
“What of the man and his family?” I asked.
“Ha!” Robard said. “When they couldn’t catch him, the shire reeve arrested his wife instead, confiscated his lands and sent his children off to orphanages. When I return, I hope that fat shire reeve makes a move toward arresting me for something.” Robard held his bow out in front of him, and pantomimed shooting an arrow.
I thought perhaps it might be best to change the subject, so I told Robard some of my history, my time with the monks and how I came to be the squire of a Templar Knight.
“Raised by monks, you say?” he asked.
“Yes.”
“Then you can read and write?”
“Of course,” I said almost incredulously. Then I cringed, realizing Robard had asked me this because he could not. I had taken it for granted. The monks who raised me were learned men who saw to it that I was educated. The Templars were also men of letters. Robard had been born a peasant. No one had ever taught him. He looked at me intently for a moment, then glanced away. I wondered if this had changed his opinion of me. Hoping I hadn’t embarrassed him, I quickly changed the subject, telling him of my service with Sir Thomas.
After that, Robard seldom asked questions about my life and I did not offer more than the barest of details. Still, I was glad to have him along. He was well trained and had showed courage in facing down the bandits. So far I had enjoyed his company-as long as I kept the conversation away from taxes, King Richard, shire reeves, the Holy Land, noblemen, the Saladin and the rich.
We made much better time traveling together. I had no doubt there were others in the woods and on the road who spotted us at some point. But together we were more formidable. We kept moving ever eastward toward Tyre.
On the early morning of our third day together, Robard shot a hare. Deep in the woods we built a fire with very dry wood that gave off little smoke. We roasted the hare and ate a fine meal, the first meat I had eaten since leaving Acre.
We made many miles at night and in the predawn hours bedded down in a rocky outcropping a few hundred yards off the main road. Tall boulders surrounded us on three sides, making a U-shaped enclosure, with the open side to the west, so we would be shaded from the hottest sun while sleeping through the day. Unrolling our blankets on the ground, we were asleep in minutes.
Hours later, a faint and subtle humming sound roused me from sleep, and I was instantly awake. It was still twilight, not quite dark, but I sensed something amiss. I listened. All was quiet. Then a noise, a whisper of movement, came from the woods beyond the boulders.
I rolled quietly to my knees, picking up my short sword. Robard lay a few feet away, snoring softly. Through the opening in the rocks, I could see several yards into the woods, and for a moment, I thought I saw a black-clad figure moving through the trees. Not sure if my eyes were playing tricks, I quietly crawled to Robard, placing my hand over his mouth. He awakened instantly, grabbing at my wrist, but I hissed him to silence, pointing to the opening in the rocks.
“Trouble,” I whispered.
He was on his feet in an instant, his bow strung, an arrow nocked and at the ready. Quietly we stepped to the opening in the rocks, taking a position on either side. I left the battle sword on the ground, as it was too long if I needed to fight in such a small enclosed area.
Robard listened, studying the woods. The twilight shadows grew longer and the darkness deepened. I saw nothing, but the woods had gone too quiet. Something was out there. We stood motionless for what felt like hours, but in reality was only a few minutes. I was tense, but Robard appeared calm, holding his bow almost gently in front of him, ready to shoot as soon as he spotted a target.
Then, very clearly we heard movement-a quick rustle of feet through the grass and leaves-but still we saw nothing. Instinct commanded that I look behind me. I glanced to the rocks above our campsite, and there stood a figure clad in a black robe, his face obscured by a black turban and veil.
“Robard!” I shouted. Robard spun, raising his bow as the figure leapt from the rocks above. Then we heard it-that awful, wailing cry. They were upon us.
Al Hashshashin.
The Assassins.