Templar's Acre

CHAPTER NINE

Baldwin smiled at her. The blade didn’t worry him. Even the most determined felon would hesitate before committing murder before so many witnesses. And besides, Ivo was lumbering up nearby.

In any event, the woman was worth pausing over.

She was shorter than him, but only by an inch or so, and her body was entirely concealed beneath her flowing robes; for all that, she was arresting. Her face was hidden beneath her veil, but her eyes were wonderful. Green, unblinking and direct, she issued a challenge just by looking at him.

He bowed his head, the sword beneath his chin. ‘Your beauty is captivating, my lady.’

In her eyes there was something at that, a smile, perhaps an acknowledgement of flattery, but then she averted her head. He found himself shoved aside, and she was gone, her men behind her once more, the rearmost turning and staring at Baldwin, a warning clear in his eyes.

There was something different about her this time. The woman he had seen on the day of his arrival had eyes that were filled with terror when she saw him. This woman had the haughtiness of a princess when she glanced over him, from his scuffed boots to his uncombed hair. It was not the kind of look to inspire desire. To add to her loss of appeal, there were these guards, too. The woman he had seen in the alley had had no one to protect her.

‘What are you thinking of?’ Ivo demanded angrily. ‘You could have been killed!’

‘I wanted to see her face. I saw her before, the day I arrived here. She was in an alley near the Genoese quarter, and I scared her, I think. I called to her and she ran from me.’

‘I doubt you would have scared her,’ Ivo said. ‘Lady Maria of Lydda is a very dangerous lady.’

‘But who is she?’

‘She was wife to the Count of Lydda, a small town over towards Jaffa. When her husband died, she came to live here in the city.’

‘Why?’

Ivo shrugged. ‘I reckon she didn’t like it where she was. More to the point, I think she didn’t like her husband, and when he died, she was keen to get away from any memories. There are even stories that she hastened his death.’

‘What, you mean she hired someone to kill him?’ Baldwin chuckled.

‘You laugh? Why, boy, are you so well-versed in the ways of women as to think you understand them?’

Baldwin was thinking of her entrancing green eyes. ‘No, but I don’t think she would do something like that. She’s too beautiful.’

‘You didn’t see her face, did you? You couldn’t tell whether she was smiling or glaring.’

‘She was smiling.’

‘The rumour was that she poisoned his drink for him. She’s too much of a lady to think of getting the servants to do it for her. Once a servant gets a taste for killing his master,’ Ivo added bitterly, ‘he can never be trusted again.’

Baldwin was growing accustomed to Ivo’s changes of mood, and considered his companion carefully. ‘So, Maria of Lydda is here because she found the town distasteful. I’m sure that there are other widows who would find that understandable.’

‘Don’t even dream of that woman, boy. She is as far from your reach as the moon and stars.’

Baldwin nodded and was about to speak, but then he saw a man he recognised all too well: the Genoese captain.

‘There!’ he cried. ‘That’s the viper who stole my ring and sword.’

‘Where?’ Ivo peered in the direction Baldwin pointed. ‘I see him. Come with me! Come on, run!’

Baldwin had to make an effort to keep up with Ivo as the older man raced down one lane, up another, then along a series of narrow alleys. As they descended some steps, Baldwin saw over to the right a sudden flash of emerald, and was sure that it was the slim, silk-clad figure of Maria of Lydda. However, the instant he spotted her, she disappeared into another alley. Briefly he registered surprise that she was alone now.

Then he concentrated on following Ivo.

The horse-dealer now led Baldwin down a tatty lane, with names and graffiti carved into the old stones, and with broken and loose flags threatening their ankles at every step — until they came to a broader thoroughfare in which carts rattled noisily over the roadway.

‘Master! Master Buscarel!’ Ivo shouted.

Baldwin looked in both directions without seeing the man at first, but then, following Ivo’s stare, he saw the Genoese approaching.

Buscarel looked Baldwin up and down, a smile on his face. ‘Aha, Ivo, I heard you had taken in a waif from the streets. Perhaps this one will repay your generosity, eh?’

‘He already has — I’m glad to call him my friend,’ Ivo said. Then: ‘I am also glad to see that you returned safely from your voyage.’

‘I always do.’

‘The ship you left behind was a glorious one. I am grateful for her. Roger Flor is her master now.’

‘I had not known he was so fortunate.’

‘It is to the glory of the Order he serves, of course.’

The Genoese sneered at that. ‘Of course! I would hate to think that a man like him could seek to fill his own purse.’

Baldwin’s gaze was fixed on the Genoan’s finger. ‘That is my ring.’

‘Your ring?’ Buscarel glanced at it. ‘This is mine. It is gold. Not the sort of trinket for a penniless pilgrim, boy.’

‘You stole it from me!’

‘It is mine, I said. I do not give away my property so easily as some.’

‘You say I gave it up easily?’ Baldwin shouted, and his hand was already on his hilt when Ivo placed a hand firmly on his breast to keep him back.

‘Master Buscarel, you took my friend’s ring, and his money and weapons. He needs them back in order to remain here to protect you and your people. I look to you to return his property.’

‘Look to me? Look to yourself! You’ll have need of protection before long, fool!’ He had turned and was already walking away, down the hill towards the sea.

‘Let me go!’ Baldwin spluttered. ‘I will have my ring back!’

‘Not now. If you chase him down there, you will be killed. It’s the Genoese quarter. You cannot go in there and get out alive, not while threatening one of their captains. They’d cut you to pieces, lad.’

Baldwin growled a curse under his breath, but allowed Ivo to half-drag him away, and they returned the way they had come. Baldwin looked for her again as he passed that alley, but the woman in green was nowhere to be seen.