Celia, Martine and the others were laughing wildly now. Philippe and Robard looked at us, perplexed. Maryam stared at them in wonder, but lowered her daggers.
“Oh. Oh my goodness,” Celia said, wiping at her eyes, trying to control her laughter. “Philippe! You have been undone by a savage beast!” She chuckled again, and Martine and the rest of her group joined in.
“Celia? Philippe still looks ready to charge. Can you please ask him to relax?”
Celia tried but burst out laughing again. Although Philippe had temporarily stopped his advance on Robard, the dog sat on her haunches barking excitedly, then jumped up and down until I scooped her up in my arms. She licked my face, and this brought another round of laughter.
“Celia?” I asked.
Celia spoke to Philippe and he answered back sharply. She talked over him until, with one last glare at Robard, he stormed off toward the stream, washing his hands and face in the water, complaining loudly all the time.
“Friendly fellow,” Robard said, still trying to catch his breath.
Celia’s head snapped around to face Robard, and her eyes blazed. She had gone from laughter to anger in a heartbeat.
“We do not appreciate being shot at for no reason. Someone could have been killed,” Celia replied. There was steel in her voice, and given Robard’s temper, I knew this could start things up again.
Robard looked surprised she could understand him. To avoid her intense gaze he occupied himself with straightening his tunic and slapping the dust and dirt out of his breeches.
“Mademoiselle, I assure you: if I wanted someone dead, they’d be dead. It was a warning shot, a diversion to give Maryam a chance to act. It appeared you were holding my friend prisoner,” he said.
I interrupted, hoping to change the subject and defuse the situation.
“Robard, where did you come from? How did you survive the storm? How did you find me? Us? And where is your bow?”
Truth be told, I still didn’t know much about Celia and her group. They had yet to show me anything other than a sort of abrupt kindness, but they still made me wary. Considering we were outnumbered, I thought it best that Robard remain armed.
“We followed your tracks from the beach. The boat broke apart, but we managed to cling to a piece of the decking and were blown ashore. We found a set of footprints on the beach, thinking it might be someone from the ship, then discovered six riders had surrounded whoever made them. In the woods where the Frenchman knocked it out of my hand,” he replied dutifully.
“And with such paltry information you decided it was necessary to attack us?” Celia snorted. She was not easily pushed off point.
Robard looked at her and smiled.
“My mistake, mademoiselle. Please accept my apologies,” he said, bowing gallantly.
Maryam sheathed her daggers and gave me a hug so fierce I thought it might push all the breath from my lungs.
“Tristan, are you hurt?” she asked.
“I wasn’t,” I groaned at the intensity of her embrace, which had reawakened the aches and pains I’d suffered in the shipwreck. Finally her hands rested on my upper arms, and she looked me up and down. Celia studied Maryam intently. Forgetting her anger with Robard, her face clouded as she watched Maryam inspect me.
“No, Maryam. I’m just sore from being battered about by the waves. I’m fine. Really.”
“Praise Allah!” Maryam said.
It took a few minutes of explanations and questions back and forth until everyone was satisfied. Celia introduced everyone in her troop, but Philippe sulked off near the horses by himself. Once Celia had explained everything, they were willing to let bygones be bygones, all of them smiling and having another good laugh over the dog so ferociously attacking Philippe.
“Mon dieu, that was funny,” Celia said. “Poor Philippe. Such a vicious little creature!” The dog jumped down from my arms and twirled at Celia’s feet, barking happily. Celia scooped her up and rubbed her ears and muzzle. Traitorous cur!
“How adorable,” she said. The dog licked her face. “What a sweet little angel. What is her name?”
“Her name? I. . uh. . Her name. . It’s. . her name. .”
“You don’t know the name of your own dog?” she asked.
“I haven’t had her very long. .,” I stammered.
“How long?” Celia demanded.
“Not. . since we left Tyre a few days ago. . really. . She just tagged along. . and. .”
“And you haven’t given her a name?” She was incredulous. “Poor little thing.” She smiled and cooed, “Sweet little angel.”
“Of course she has a name! It’s. . um. . Angel. Her name is Angel!” I said.
Celia arched an eyebrow in disbelief. I held her gaze.
“It certainly fits,” she said, giggling as “Angel” resumed attempting to lick her to death.
“What happened to Captain Denby and the crew?” I asked Robard, wanting to change the subject from my poor stewardship of the newly christened Angel.
“Lost, I would expect.” He shrugged. “His sorry excuse for a ship came apart like parchment. There were no signs of other survivors on the shore except your tracks. We’re lucky the wind blew us all in the same direction. We completely lost sight of you when you went into the water.”
Robard’s words caused me to shudder at the memory. Once we located another ship and made it safely to England, ideally my sailing days would be over. If only there were a way for me to walk all the way home. What I wouldn’t have given for a bridge to England.
“I’m glad you are unhurt and we are all together again,” I said. And it was true. Finding Maryam and Robard here had done wonders for my spirits. My aches and pains even felt better.
The fire was restarted, and the bird was again cooking over the flames. One of the other Frenchmen, whom Celia had introduced as Jean-Luc, returned from the nearby woods with several bunches of wild grapes. He offered some to us and we devoured them in seconds. Having had nothing to eat since the storm started a day and half before, I was starving.
After we had finished the deliciously cooked bird, Philippe saddled his horse and rode off into the darkness. We sat around the fire with very little conversation among us. My suspicions were that everyone in Celia’s group spoke and understood English, though for some unexplained reason they were loath to let on. My curiosity could wait no longer, and I asked to speak to Celia in private. The flickering firelight lit up the clearing quite well, but her face was still bathed in shadows. The night was clear, but the moon had yet to rise, and through the canopy of trees, I could see the stars lighting their way across the sky.
“Thank you for your hospitality and for your kindness to my friends, despite what happened earlier,” I said.
She nodded, her face a mask, though I sensed a change in her. The tension from the evening’s earlier excitement had left her.
“That said, I have a question,” I said.
She waited silently.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I beg your pardon?”
“You travel with a group of young men, all well mounted and armed. You are obviously educated, and if I had to guess, I would say you are a noblewoman of some sort. Your men are well trained and experienced in warfare. When Robard shot at us, not a single one of your men panicked, and Philippe, not even knowing what the danger might be, went charging directly at a King’s Archer in your defense. Each of them follows your orders to the letter, except for Philippe, of course. Is he some sort of personal bodyguard or military commander? Martine, I would guess, is your lady-in-waiting. So, I ask again, who are you and what are you doing here in the middle of nowhere?”
A veil of caution descended over her face. Then she exhaled slowly.
“You are quite observant, Templar, even when you are half drowned. Tell me, are your ‘injuries’ a deceit?”
“No,” I insisted.
From the fire, the murmur of voices reached us. The three Frenchmen and Martine chatted away happily while Robard and Maryam sat trying to decipher what was being said. Robard had removed his arrow from the tree trunk and worked at repairing it, but his eyes never left the rest of the group.
“Are you in some kind of trouble? Are you being followed?”
“What makes you think so?” she asked.
“You ride single file, to mix your tracks and confuse any pursuers as to your numbers. Your own mount is placed in the middle of the group, with soldiers in front and behind. Philippe takes the lead, and he watches the horizon constantly. And several times today he looked behind us to make sure no one followed. Your choice of this campsite was carefully selected, though you tried to make it appear casual by a mad dash into the woods from the shore. We are placed one side against a stream, so any attackers would need to cross it first if they came from the west. We are also in a small hollow, so the fire will not be easily visible to casual passersby. And if I’m not mistaken, Philippe just made a big show of being sullen over his fight with Robard, but I’m sure it was just an excuse to leave and scout the surrounding countryside. Shall I go on?”
Celia wouldn’t look at me. “How has a squire so young learned so much?” she asked.
“For the last year and half I have done nothing but study tactics and train for war. My knight, Sir Thomas, is. . was. . a brilliant military mind. He taught me everything. I have seen much.”
She said nothing, but I could tell she was trying to decide whether or not to let me in on her secret, whatever it might be.
“Celia, please, maybe I can help you.”
She laughed. “This is trouble you don’t want, squire.”
“Let me be the judge of that.”
“You are a kind one, aren’t you?”
Something about Celia made me want to tell her things about myself. Things I had never told anyone. It might have been her hair and how it framed her face, or the ice-blue pools of her eyes. Maybe it was the way the firelight danced across her smiling face, making her look mysterious and inviting all at the same time.
These were things I had never noticed in anyone before. Except for the pleasant smell of Maryam’s hair and the beautiful sound of her laugh. Was something wrong with me? For some reason, the abbot’s face appeared in my head and I felt a sudden urge to pray. Celia was so close to me then. And she smelled like the abbey garden in springtime.
“I hope so. I’d like to think I am, being raised by Cistercian monks. They were men of kindness. I hope I learned something from them,” I told her.
She turned back to me, close enough that I could see her lovely face more clearly. “Raised by monks? What happened to your parents?”
“Never knew them. I was left at the abbey as a babe.”
“How sad! It must be terrible not knowing who your family is.”
I shrugged. “You can’t really miss what you’ve never had. It could have been worse. There was a roof over my head and food to eat. Many orphans have probably not met so kind a fate. Please stop trying to change the subject.”
“Do you always put others before yourself, Templar? Is this a trait you learned at your abbey?”
“I don’t know.”
Her gaze traveled back to the fire, to study her people. “We are Cathars.”
She looked at me expectantly to see what effect her words had on me. But I had no idea what a Cathar was. She went on.
“We live not far from here, in the mountain towns of the Pyrenees. My father is the bishop of our canton. I think you English might call it a county. Cathars are no friends to the church. We believe in tolerance of other religions and that all the trappings of the church are. . irrelevant and only get in the way of a true connection with God. Still, despite our objections to how the church is run, we have lived in peace for many years, but now, things are different. We allow anyone to worship as they please, but your Pope has a much dimmer view of Catharism,” she said.
Having lived in a monastery most of my life, I knew the Bible somewhat, but I was no religious scholar. For a time, I had a natural curiosity about the monks and their unwavering allegiance to God. But I had never felt the pull of their devotion. I prayed. I believed. But I did not know what to say to Celia, not understanding very much of what she said.
“So because the Pope is angry with your people, you are hiding here in the woods?”
Celia laughed.
“No, Templar. We are not hiding. My father sent me to counsel with emissaries of the Archbishop of Languedoc while he travels to Paris to seek an audience with King Philip. Our message grows. We have more followers now. This upsets your Pope. The archbishop demanded our presence before him immediately. My father cares little for what the archbishop demands, but also knows he can be a powerful enemy. Since Father could not be in two places at once, he sent me to Narbonne in his stead. He wanted me to attempt to appease the archbishop if I could, but I am afraid I only managed to anger him.”
“Anger him? How?” I asked.
“I’m not sure. It may have been when I called him a fat, pretentious, overbearing cow,” she said, shrugging.
“That would do it,” I said. This was all very strange to me. At St. Alban’s the brothers managed to stay far removed from church politics. I remember a bishop visiting once when I was younger. And I remember the abbot being ill tempered for weeks after, but I couldn’t recall there ever being any other problems. Of course, I’m certain the abbot would never call the bishop a cow either. This may have had more to do with Celia’s predicament than a difference in theology.
“We were on our way home when we found you,” she went on. “The conference did not go well, especially after my outburst. The archbishop made many threats. Philippe believes he will move against us before my father can even gain an audience with the King. He may have sent soldiers after us, so Philippe is just being cautious.”
“Why do they care what you do if you bother no one?”
“You must have grown up in an abbey, to ask such an incredibly naive question. The church does as it will. It is not the kings and monarchs who rule us, but Pope Celestine III. Does not your own order answer only to him?”
“Yes. I suppose, but I. .”
“He has decided the Cathars are enemies of the church, Templar. And now we must decide what to do about it, which is why Philippe is so upset with me. He thinks we should have left you on the beach. He feels we should be well on our way to Montsegur by now instead of taking you to the nearest port.”
“Montsegur?”
“It is our fortress in the mountains. When we are threatened, we retreat there for safety. Usually whoever is upset with us at the moment lays siege, but eventually gives up and leaves. However, Philippe is certain there will be a greater threat this time. As my father’s Seneschal, he wishes to return there at once, but he swore an oath to follow my command.”
“Maybe you should listen to him. Grateful as I am to you for not hurting my friends in their misguided attempt to rescue me, we are well able to find the port on our own, and you can resume your journey.”
Celia did not have a chance to respond, for just then Philippe rode hurriedly into camp and hastily dismounted.
“On arrive!” he said.
“What did he say?” I asked.
“Someone is coming,” Celia said.