Prince Of Legend Part 15

'It is your command to give,' Duke Robert concluded, unwilling to make a stand on his own opinion.

Raymond, his fury unabated, did not hesitate. 'Then we will attack on the morrow.'

It was not an a.s.sault carried out at the customary time of dawn; it took all of the morning just to climb high enough to even get onto the ma.s.sif at the end of which the fortress sat. It was fortunate that Raymond now led a force well fed and fully restored to vigour, for to navigate the narrow paths through the lower woods, followed by the traverse of the screed and bush-covered slopes, was exhausting.

Their arrival before the walls was no surprise either, not least because it was necessary to recover breath and organisation on what was close to flat ground. Besides, progress had been easily marked at first light, from the moment the lances set out from their camp. Now when actually facing that one exposed wall the Crusaders were subjected to a ma.s.sive outpouring of jeers and insults to both their manhood and the manner of their birth.

These were ignored and they immediately set about lashing together, to form rough ladders, the lengths of wood cut from the lower trees and brought up with them, this being carried out with such energy that it silenced any catcalls from defenders who now realised this was no mere demonstration. As was the custom, Raymond, through an interpreter, invited them to surrender and march out unmolested, an offer that was refused.

'Convey to them how happy their refusal makes me,' he said to his Arab-Latin speaker, 'for I look forward to their pleas for mercy as they slow-roast over open fires.'

Raymond, determined to personally lead the a.s.sault, called his lances up to join him, the men of Tancred and Normandy held back in reserve. With a loud cry the Provencals rushed forward, ladders at hand, those swiftly laid upon the wall despite a hail of arrows and lances, with the knights climbing at pace, their own weapons out to engage.

Raymond was to the fore, his anger carrying him forward, so much so that he nearly became utterly isolated from his personal knights. Such was his prominence he had made it plain he led the attackers that the defenders rushed in numbers to the spot at which he was attacking in an effort to kill him and they nearly succeeded, only a furious a.s.sault by his own men driving them back.

None of these efforts broke the defence and nor was it expected that they would, the Provencals, Raymond included, soon being withdrawn so that the Apulians and Normans could take their turn to fight. If this occasioned losses to the Crusaders, it inflicted a greater number of casualties on the defenders. These men had never faced the like of these determined and mailed European warriors.

Fading light forced Raymond to call off the a.s.sault, but not before he had promised that he would return on the morrow and the day after that, with the added rider that these scabrous dogs had wounded his pride so grievously that nothing would a.s.suage it but their heads on pikes. With torches lit to guide their way, his force of knights made their way back to the camp on the plain below, from where the defenders could watch them enjoy food and rest around their numerous fires.

The lances were marching again at dawn, following the same route and with no diminution in determination. Before they entered the trees they could just see the heads of the defenders as they marked their progress, the view soon cut off by the thick upper branches of the woods. Above the treeline, they scrabbled across that screed once more, then debouched onto the gentle slope before the fortress, with Raymond again lining up his Provencals for the initial a.s.sault. He was exhorting them to a supreme effort, until one of his knights pointed out that there seemed to be no one manning the walls and prepared to offer a defence; within a blink they found out the garrison had fled and the place was wide open.

The rest of the day was spent casting down as much of the walls as could be achieved while the light held, not enough to completely destroy Hisn al-Akrad as a position that could act as an outpost, but enough to render it vulnerable to anyone determined to press home an attack. Apart from that there was nothing to celebrate: when they left, the Emir's men had taken with them everything, which the Crusaders surmised did not amount to much.

Two days later, with the host still moving slowly and eating heartily, the leaders were alerted to a body of mounted men approaching from the east in a cloud of dust. With evening approaching and close to water, Raymond called for the host to camp and for his pavilion to be hastily erected, orders also relayed that allowed those riders to approach, they being in numbers insufficient to present any threat.

What they did proffer, once they were allowed into the tent, were the gifts sent by a chastened Emir of Homs who had quickly been appraised of the defeat of his garrison: more fine horses and more gold, as well as a statement of his peaceful intentions.

'How shocked he must be at the loss of Hisn al-Akrad,' Raymond preened, speaking in French to Tancred and Normandy, 'to be so alarmed that he sends all this while we are marching away from his lands.'

'How good it would be,' Duke Robert replied, 'to retrace our steps and show him what Homs would look like after we have finished with him.'

'Translate that,' Raymond ordered his interpreter, 'and make it sound like a threat.'

Spoken in Arabic, those words saw the blood drain from the face of the Emir's messenger. It also produced an immediate flood of pleas to discover what it would take to satisfy the Lord of the Host for the insult made to him by those fools at Hisn al-Akrad, men who had acted against his master's wishes and whose heads, he wished to a.s.sure him were, at this very moment, adorning the gates of Homs as a message to his subjects.

'Probably a lie,' Tancred opined, 'and one we cannot verify.'

The interruption made Raymond tetchy, which lent verisimilitude to his next words, harshly delivered in both Latin and translation.

'Then let the Emir stay within his city boundaries, for should I hear that he has left them I will turn back and set the walls of his city about his ears.'

The emissary looked at the other two Latin leaders, as if seeking a more pacific intercession, both with stone-like expressions on their faces, not easy to maintain given they were inwardly amused at Raymond's bluff: Homs would be a hard nut to crack with the forces at their disposal and was now in the wrong direction. That they knew it to be so mattered not; it was only of concern that such a message as had been outlined went back to Homs and was believed.

'And tell him,' Raymond added, his voice loud and overdramatically terrifying now, 'to send out riders to the other cities that they too will face the same fate if they insult us, for our G.o.d will smite you through our swords.'

Tancred moved closer and spoke softly, using French, in Raymond's ear. 'Can I suggest, My Lord, that they be camped well away from our lines, for in the morning, when they can see our true strength, they might a.s.sess that you have issued an idle threat.'

Silence was a clear indication that the Count did not want to accede to that, he was too full of his own joy at the success of his attack on that supposedly impregnable fortress. Yet the sense of what he was being advised was too great to counter: he had set out from Ma'arrat with barely five thousand lances, and even with a relatively easy pa.s.sage men had fallen by the wayside, while that recent fight had cost him more.

If this emissary had a sharp eye and any military knowledge he would soon see how small was the actual crusading army and how much of what looked formidable was in fact made up of thousands of useless pilgrims.

'Make it so,' he finally replied, leaving Tancred to pa.s.s on a message: his pride would not allow him to do so himself.

So the instructions were issued: their camp was to be set up well beyond the crusading perimeter and they should depart eastward as soon as the first hint of light coloured the morning sky and be not visible to any western eye at full daylight.

Progress to the coast was not only peaceful, it became like a victory parade as the inhabitants of every settlement pa.s.sed came out to line their route and prostate themselves, with food as gifts and even sometimes a path strewn with leaves of palm. When another emba.s.sy arrived, this time ahead of their line of march and from the Emir of Tripoli, it underlined how much alarm was caused by their approach.

Again, the usual gifts of gold and horses were proffered, as well as an offer of amity that would allow the host and the pilgrims to make camp north of the ancient port city. Their soldiers would be allowed to use the markets in constrained numbers, while the men of rank would be treated as the Emir's honoured guests should they choose to reside within.

'I will do so only with an army around me and holding the walls,' Normandy proclaimed, when this was relayed to him. 'I would no more trust an Arab than I would my own blood brother.'

This time the emba.s.sy from Tripoli marched onwards with the host, a mult.i.tude that saw, a few days later, in the blue water of the Mediterranean, something to be savoured. Soon the shallow waters and wavelets were full of splashing Latins, knights some mounted and pilgrims alike, with Raymond of Toulouse on his knees.

Peter Bartholomew was at his side, something he tried to be often, the Holy Lance held up as he prayed for thanks to G.o.d. Those who followed Raymond, Bartholomew and the relic were only brought to more moderation by the call to prayer and Ma.s.s, a temporary altar having been set up on the beach by Narbonne.

That was soon followed by the construction of a proper camp and one that had about it an air of permanence, so unlike those set up since Ma'arrat. Expecting a conference, both Normandy and Tancred were confused and a little put out when Raymond retired to his tent and showed no indication of wanting to include them in what his thoughts were for the next act.

From the seafaring traders of Tripoli came confirmation of what Tancred had suspected: his uncle had chased Raymond's Provencal knights out of the Bridge Gate, though he had left them the Governor's Palace, which had no tactical value. Subjected to Provencal rage at this news, all he could do was listen to it in stoical silence; what had Raymond expected?

Of more importance was the fact that instead of marching south, G.o.dfrey de Bouillon and Robert Flanders were more intent on making secure the whole of Northern Syria. The effect of this on Raymond, the utter repudiation of his claims to any kind of leadership, was equally a cause of rage.

Better news arrived with an emba.s.sy from the Fatimid ruler of Cairo, the Vizier al-Afdal, which finally had Raymond call upon Tancred and Normandy to join him in facing them. Hearing of the fate of Kerbogha and knowing how such a defeat had thrown their Abbasid rivals into disarray, they had marched on Jerusalem, which was now in their possession.

If this apparently meant a more friendly ruling polity in that city, any enthusiasm was soon dampened: the Sultan in Cairo was no more willing to surrender the city to the Christians than their religious adversaries in Baghdad. Yes, pilgrims were welcome in certain numbers knights too, if unarmed and would be respected, but no one should approach Jerusalem carrying weapons as that would be seen as an act of war.

Raymond was in no position to issue threats to counter such a sanction, though he did try. He hinted that when he was joined by his n.o.ble confreres, who at this very moment were making the move from Antioch to join him, and when the Emperor Alexius, the ally of the Crusaders, brought his full forces to join with the Crusade, the Fatimids might see it as better for themselves to hand over the Holy City, lest risk the fate of Kerbogha.

His words had no effect on these emissaries from Cairo: somehow they knew them to be hollow. There was no concession offered, just a repet.i.tion that they held Jerusalem and that the wishes of their ruler should be not only respected but obeyed, a word which had the Count of Toulouse spluttering with indignation when they departed, loudly declaring that from the Holy City to Cairo was a distance Moses had covered and perhaps his footsteps might be followed by the sword and warriors of Rome.

Relations with the Emir of Tripoli were much more fruitful; now with the Crusade on his doorstep he was determined to avoid any kind of confrontation which would see his personal rule and his city destroyed. He offered to pay Raymond a regular tribute in gold to be left in peace and to that was added another success achieved at no cost.

Raymond, ignoring the Apulians and Normans, had sent a small part of his army under the Count of Turenne north to the next port of Tortosa, which they found strongly held and in no mood to negotiate; the demand to open the gates was refused. This led Turenne to employ the overnight tactic of lighting increasing numbers of fires, as if he was in receipt of constant reinforcements, indeed that the whole host might be outside the walls come dawn.

Even Turenne was surprised by the extent of success his bluff achieved; like the high fortress of Hisn al-Akrad, dawn showed open gates and supplicant emissaries, the entire contingent of armed citizenry having decamped, which allowed Raymond's men to occupy a town with full storerooms and a fine harbour.

Even better, the emir of the next port up the coast, in terror, for his neighbours in flight had descended on him, sent an offer of abject surrender. There was gold, a herd of horses, as well as a willingness to accept a Crusader garrison. Soon the Occitan banner of Raymond of Toulouse was flying above the walls of both.

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

News travelled swiftly in both directions by sea and the arrival of Raymond on the coast was known to Bohemund and his fellow n.o.bles within days, soon followed by the successes he had enjoyed in subduing the nearby enclaves, which seemed to them remarkably similar in territorial ambition to that which he had previously sought to achieve at Albara and Ma'arrat, as well as on the Jabal as-Summaq.

This was especially deduced since no word came from the Count of Toulouse himself seeking that they rejoin the march on Jerusalem, not that they would have obliged him, being busy themselves in securing Northern Syria and still, as they had been at the turn of the year, unwilling to accede a claim to leadership yet to be set aside.

Nor did it seem, in Raymond's camp, that there was any urgent intention to do that either, for he had found a way of filling his coffers, always with Toulouse a pressing concern, by squeezing tribute out of the towns north and south of Tripoli to add to that which he was receiving from that city and its emir.

If there was avarice in this there was an absence of greed in the host: what monies came in were placed in a central fund prior to distribution, Normandy and Tancred naturally receiving the shares due to their standing, money going to every lance and foot soldier, with even enough spent to feed the pilgrims.

If such delay in the Crusade frustrated the Duke of Normandy, he was mollified by the amounts of money he received, so great as to promise he could acquire enough over time to pay off his mortgage to his brother, King William, and recover his territories.

It was less so for Tancred, who felt he had sacrificed much in the way of family loyalty to get to Palestine. He chafed at the lack of progress but was aware that his status as the most junior of the lords left him little room to challenge the policy adopted. He too reckoned Raymond to be on a quest for territory, an attempt to set up, not unlike his uncle, a fiefdom for himself that would rival Antioch.

The strands of what happened next were hard to fix. Partly it was the desire of the Emir of Tripoli to divert the Crusaders away from his city; partly that Raymond had no immediate goal in sight and an army at danger of being idle, always dangerous to its long-term capability and morale. The Emir hinted at a great payment to be made if the Count subdued the rival inland city of Arqa, ruled, much to his chagrin, by an a.s.sembly of its citizens and a commercial rival to dent Tripoli's income.

This played upon Raymond's greedy territorial instincts, given it was an important trading centre full of fat merchants, a link to the north that might hamper communications and a fortress of some strength which, if held, would allow him increasing dominance of the region; the fall of such a city would also bring in more tribute from those who feared the same fate.

What tipped the balance was not the pleas of the Emir, but the refusal of the citizens of Arqa to not only surrender their city but also to pay heavily for the privilege of having Raymond's garrison lord it over them. Always at risk of allowing his pride to override his judgement, such a refusal, coming on the back of so many others having acquiesced, sent the overly conceited Count into one of those pa.s.sions from which actions sprung regardless of wisdom.

Arqa would feel his wrath, he insisted, this justified to his confreres by the intimation that to allow such an insult to pa.s.s would embolden others, even perhaps Tripoli, to do likewise, thus drying up the stream of gold filling their coffers.

So the horns blew and northward marched the best part of the host a good number had been left behind to keep Tripoli in check buoyant in the ma.s.s as was their leader in his breast until they came upon Arqa, white-walled and sat atop a slight atoll, every bit as formidable to the eye as it had been reported to the ear.

Fully expecting the sight of his army to bring about that which verbal thunderbolts had failed to achieve, he was even more deeply offended when the leading citizens of Arqa, with utter disdain for his rank and his fame, made him aware of their determination to resist by laughing in his face.

'This is fruitless,' Tancred snapped to Normandy when the result of the parley became known. 'Arqa lies in the opposite direction to that which we should be travelling.'

For once the Duke was not placatory, a habit he had formed since Ma'arrat to meet the pa.s.sions of his younger confrere, who was often irritated by Raymond's pretensions as well as his actions, while being unable to be too open about it with the man himself.

Normandy normally suffered from this too, but not now, which, to Tancred's mind, showed just how much that stream of gold had affected his thinking. 'Then march on north and tell your Uncle Bohemund and those who support him to join us.'

'Would such a move detach Toulouse from this foolish diversion?'

'Nothing other than that will.'

'Well, if Raymond commands an Apulian attack on those walls I will hesitate to obey. I will not set my lances forward as an offering to his pride and see them bleed for it.'

'What makes you think he will ask?' Normandy snapped. 'This is a fortress on which he will want to stamp his own name.'

It was an expansive Raymond who dined with them that night, his talk full with boasts of the speed with which he would subdue Arqa. Such comments were received with little in the way of challenge, for even if Tancred thought the enterprise imprudent he expected that as a siege it would not be one of long duration; with luck he and his Apulians would have no partic.i.p.ation at all.

Easy conquests had clouded the judgement for them all: a look at Arqa should have alerted them to some of its advantages, the first of which came on the primary a.s.sault, in which they discovered that the defenders had several huge catapults, mounted on platforms set well behind the parapet, that could bombard them with a spray of large rocks before they ever got close to the walls, deadly missiles that no shield or mail could withstand.

Even if he had had the presence of the English carpenters to build a siege tower and Raymond did not, for they had returned to Antioch he would have been unable to employ one. Sitting as it did on an all-round incline, Arqa made such a weapon flawed, for to get it up the slope with such weight was beyond the strength of man, and even if it were not, the likelihood of it toppling backwards was too high to be risked.

Moving away from the area covered by the catapults offered the best chance of a successful a.s.sault, albeit that with nothing but ladders it would be difficult. Leading that a.s.sault himself Raymond once more came close to death he lost two of his own familia knights as rocks rained down on them well short of their goal. The suspicion that the defenders had endless catapults proved to be false; what they had were machines easy to break up and rea.s.semble, as well as sighting positions on all four sides of the city to employ them.

The next option chosen, a bombardment screen, took time to construct, though sporadic attacks were maintained to keep the defenders occupied and tire them out, the concomitant of that being the same effect on the Crusaders and to that was added an unusual level of casualties. Worse still, the men suffering the most were the influential captains who led from the very front by example. To see their leaders struck down and killed by those flying rocks was enough to annul the attempt to even raise a ladder.

When the bombardment screen was ready, hopes rose that sapping could bring down the walls. Cheers greeted the a.s.sembly as it moved forward, more when catapulted rocks bounced off its sloped roof, for it had been made extra strong with those in mind. Slowly, for it was heavy, it inched towards those white walls until it was firmly placed against them and the diggers could get to work with their picks and shovels.

The contraption that appeared above the screen excited comment but no fear, a thick wooden frame with what seemed like pulleys attached to the top of it, the curiosity aroused doubled by the way the defenders began to knock away some of their own battlement crenellations to create a gap. Next, there were men lined up on either side and even at a distance the Crusaders could hear the shouts that indicated the calls needed to move a heavy object.

When what those men were lifting appeared it caused gasps, for its purpose was obvious. Eased up to the level of the gap in the wall, it was a ma.s.sive round rock in a cradle of ropes that was soon being pushed outwards; indeed the whole pulley structure was now leaning towards the attackers at an angle that increased with agonising slowness. Eyes were on Raymond of Toulouse now, wondering what he would do, let his diggers continue or call off both them and the screen; he chose the former.

When the huge rock was finally pitched over, more by its own weight than any pressure from those pushing, it seemed to roll downwards at no pace at all in the minds of those watching. But when it struck the wails were loud, for it smashed through the roof of the screen as if it were mere bark, sending great splinters of wood in all directions, worse still carrying on to crush those sappers, who of necessity were right up against the base carrying out the task.

Few of them survived, for the place from which it had been pitched lay right above their heads, the foremost point of the screen roof. Many of those who had helped to get it into place, the men who had built it, perished too from being felled by their own handiwork, those that did not subjected to a hail of lances then arrows as they fled.

If the news of the Latins being held up outside Arqa was not helpful, the stories of such stunning reversals as the destruction of the bombardment screen began to act upon the minds of those who were feeding their coffers. Tripoli in particular, according to Raymond Pilet, the man Toulouse had left to mask it, was showing signs of unrest, with soldiers being hissed at in the streets when they ventured into the markets to buy food and a couple even suffering an a.s.sault.

'Such things would not happen, My Lord,' Pilet insisted, 'without the Emir being aware of it.'

'Then perhaps it is time to remind him what he might have faced if he had not offered us treaty.'

'Perhaps you should command he attend upon you?' Normandy suggested.

'I think, My Lord Duke, that the Emir will pay more attention to a touch of bloodletting, perhaps even some of his own.'

'The threat of that should suffice,' Tancred added, 'for if there is resistance we will find ourselves fighting in two places simultaneously.'

'I will decide the merits of that,' Raymond barked, with a startling lack of courtesy.

'Do not allow our reverses here to cloud your judgement, My Lord.'

Raymond's reaction proved that what Tancred surmised was correct that he was losing his grip for he lost his temper completely then. 'Do not presume to cast your opinion on my judgement. Remember who leads here.'

Tancred had to work to keep his response calm. 'If I did not fear to ask questions of Count Bohemund I will not fear to do so of you.'

It was the wrong name to use; if Tancred had harboured any hope of diverting Raymond from his bloodletting it went with the mention of his sworn enemy. In an insult that was all the greater for being silent, he turned his back on Tancred and ordered Pilet to take his men into Tripoli and show these infidels the wrath a Christian G.o.d could mete out to them.

'And remember you are not Apulians, act like the men you are, of Provence!'

The reason for the Emir's early offer of peace soon became apparent; he ruled in a place not much threatened for many a long year, this under the umbrella of light Turkish rule, which had existed on the same payments as he was now making towards the Latins. He had few men trained to fight and added to that his gates were open to these devils, who entered in small groups to allay suspicion before setting about their task.

Any armed defenders were quickly despatched, which allowed Pilet and his men to go on a b.l.o.o.d.y rampage unhindered by any threat to themselves, this watched from his fortified palace overlooking the Mediterranean by the ruler who knew that to step outside his walls would probably result in death. Not that the heavy palace gates he had were enough of a defence even if he stayed inside; for that reason a boat was sitting by the watergate to carry him away if he was threatened.

What saved him from flight was a combination of weariness on the part of the attackers and an emissary prepared to sacrifice his life. He found Pilet and persuaded him to desist in lieu of a gift of a chest of gold coins. Raymond's man knew his master; while accepting the bribe for himself and his men, he also insisted on increased tribute to the Count of Toulouse, a dilemma the Emir resolved by demanding payments from the merchants of the port. Thus the message went out to the other towns that paid a levy, all of whom immediately sent more gifts to ensure their continued safety.

If that solved one problem it did not address the real issue, which was Jerusalem, for Raymond was once more coming under pressure from the pilgrims to act, a desire he could not meet while locked into a siege he could not abandon for the loss of face that would ensue. Nagging most vociferously and using his position as the man who found the Holy Lance, was Peter Bartholomew, who to Raymond's mind was growing more arrogant by the day.

'He has the heart of the rabble, which you used to own.'

Peter of Narbonne had been given the See of Albara in place of destroyed Ma'arrat an-Numan. Divine he might be but still he got a jaundiced look, though Raymond said nothing in reply, for there was no gainsaying the truth of it. If he could sometimes ignore the views of his equals, he found it hard to do so with the pilgrims, for he craved their good opinion as a bolster against the low esteem in which he was held by his fellow princes; it rankled that he could only get support, and that partial, by the buying of it.

'You know why I cannot leave here.'

Narbonne knew he did not mean Arqa but the region itself, without he had the support of the rest of the Crusaders, and even with that he would be loath to move on. To do so, against the unbroken force of Vizier al-Afdal holding Jerusalem, would be to risk annihilation for his fighters and his pilgrims.

'I have a notion of how to get the support you need.'

There was little need to ask for permission to proceed, the eagerness to hear anything that would break the deadlock was obviously welcome.

'I fear that to detach Bohemund from Antioch is a lost cause.' That got a glare for stating the very obvious, which Narbonne ignored. 'But I see in Duke G.o.dfrey a man of different motives.'