Templar's Acre

CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

At the city’s gate, Baldwin felt his failure overwhelm him. With the Templars he had visited two farms of Lady Maria’s, but there was no sign of Lucia in either. All the long ride back, he had kept his face covered. Partly against the sand, but in truth more to hide his dejection.

‘Good day, my friend,’ he heard, and Sir Jacques trotted up to join him as he walked his horse back to the stable at Ivo’s. ‘If you do not object to the observation, you appear less than content after our ride.’

‘I am desperate to find Lucia,’ Baldwin admitted. ‘But how can I? Lady Maria has hidden her away.’

‘That is the counsel of despair,’ Jacques said. ‘Continue to join reconnaissance parties, and you will find her. I have faith that you will. You must have it too.’

Baldwin nodded without conviction. It seemed ridiculous that he should hold such a heaviness in his heart. ‘I would see her again. I am sick for love of her. Without her I feel like a flower missing the sunlight. I am nothing.’

Sir Jacques smiled sympathetically. ‘I understand.’

‘You cannot — you are a monk!’

‘Even monks were once men,’ Sir Jacques said mildly. ‘I loved deeply before I joined my Order. I was an enthusiastic hunter and gatherer of feminine hearts, if you can believe that.’

‘What made you join your Order, then?’

Sir Jacques sighed, and Baldwin saw for the first time that behind his smile there was a great sadness. ‘I loved one woman with more devotion than I had been able to summon before,’ he said. ‘She was beautiful to me, a generous, warm woman, with the natural grace of her people.’

‘She was Muslim?’

‘No, a Christian, but of the Jewish race. Her name was Sarah, and I adored her. If I had been able to marry her, I would have.’

‘What happened?’

‘She fell prey to leprosy. It is not uncommon. I would have married her and tended to her, but it was not to be. When she became leprous, I lost her. She was declared dead, and left me to join the Order as a nun. She was based here, in Acre. And when I heard she had done so, I chose my own path.’

‘I am sorry.’

‘I had thought that we would become wealthy. I saw myself as a baron to rival any in Guyenne, while she would be a glorious wife and mother to a brood of children who would be our constant pride. A man begins life with so many plans and hopes, does he not?’

Baldwin felt his throat constrict at the tone of sad acceptance in the knight’s voice. ‘You do not forget her?’

‘How can a man forget the only woman he truly loved? I knew many before her, but not a single one since. I could not gain pleasure from any after her. So, I went to the Grand Master and asked if I could join. And after I had been questioned as to my commitment, I was permitted to take the threefold vows and entered the Hospital.’

‘Have you regretted your choice?’

‘What a curious question, Master Baldwin. Why should I regret my vocation? I am a calmer, better man for my position. And one day, when I die, I will die here, in the Holy Land, not far from my Sarah.’

‘She is still here?’

‘She died many years ago. Her body is buried in the Convent of the Nuns of Saint Lazarus in the old city.’

‘I do not know how I shall ever see my Lucia again. Perhaps I shall have the same fate as you.’

‘Master Baldwin, do not be disheartened. You are young, and so is she. There is always hope, until death. And then we go to a better place than this. So all is good. Still, I wonder. .’

Baldwin glanced at him, but the knight was peering into the middle distance with a speculative frown and would not speak of his thoughts. The most he would say was, ‘I have some friends. I will speak with them.’

The day was hot, and the sun bore down upon them like a blast from a forge as Lucia stood in the field with the heavy shovel, digging up the sodden soil where it had blocked the irrigation trenches and banking up the field. She had never been so close to wet soil before in her life. Just now, the thought of lying down in the cool earth was very appealing.

Her back was healed now, but not her mind. She had been raped by that foul Kurd, time after time, and she would never forget how it made her feel inside, as though her womb had been shrivelled.

She thrust the wooden shovel into the soil. It had a metal blade fixed to the edge. Perhaps she could use it to escape? But that was foolish. There was nowhere to escape to.

The work was mind-numbingly dull. Her hands were sore where they had been chafed by the wooden shaft, there were blisters on her palms, and the soles of her feet where they had been soaked with the water, and now her back was beginning to complain. Not the scars from the whipping, but the muscles deep at either side of her spine, above her waist. They ached and complained, and she closed her eyes as she stabbed once more at the ground.

A few yards away was another slave, legs wide, bending from the hips, as she picked at the weeds that infested this patch. God forbid that Lady Maria might see a single stray plant here in her garden when she deigned to visit.

When she did, Lucia hoped she might have a stick ready for her too.

Baldwin was sitting with Ivo, when the knock came at the door. He was relieved to hear Jacques d’Ivry’s voice. It seemed to calm Ivo, too, as though he had been expecting someone else.

‘Masters, it is a good morning, and I think a wonderful opportunity for a ride,’ the Leper Knight declared, pulling his gloves from his hands as he entered. He gladly accepted a beaker of watered wine, and peered at Ivo and Baldwin over the rim with eyes that danced with happiness.

‘What are you talking about?’ Ivo demanded. He set his wax tablet on the floor and scowled up at his friend.

‘The sun is up, and I consider it possible that a short ride to north and east may provide our young companion with a profoundly desirable encounter.’

‘You mean you’ve found her?’ Baldwin said, standing quickly and gaping. ‘My Lucia?’

‘I may have, yes. A slave-trader told me he took a woman to Lady Maria’s manor towards Tiberias. I would not be surprised if we were to find your woman there.’

‘My friend! I don’t know what to say!’

‘Then it may be best to say nothing until we know that she actually is there, Master Baldwin,’ Sir Jacques said, recoiling from Baldwin’s enthusiasm.

‘Aye, yes,’ Baldwin agreed, trying to control his grin of delight.

‘How sure are you?’ Ivo asked.

‘The man said that there was only one woman and it was shortly after the riots. I trust our friend has not seen the woman since then? Then it is possible, if not probable.’

‘That road is not safe.’

‘No, Master Ivo. But if the young woman is there, it would be a kind act to rescue her.’

Baldwin’s face fell. ‘How can I do that? If she is being held, I have no right to take her. Even if I wanted to, it would be hard with one against a number of men.’

‘Perhaps you would not be alone,’ Jacques said with a smile that Baldwin could only think of as sly.

He had never seen such an expression on his friend’s face. ‘W-would you come with me?’ he stammered.

‘There is need of a patrol to the north,’ Jacques told him. ‘The Templars and Knights of Saint Lazarus will be leaving later. We should be glad of your company, Master Baldwin.’