Timeline. Part 49

"You escaped from Castelgard yesterday?"

"Etiam, mi domine." Yes, my Lord. Yes, my Lord.

Arnaut stared at him, said nothing for a long time. On the second-floor balcony, the men had ropes put around their necks and then were pushed over. The fall did not break their necks, and so they hung there, making gargling sounds and writhing as they slowly died.

Arnaut looked up at them as if annoyed to be interrupted by their death gasps. "A few ropes remain," he said. He looked back at them. "I will have the truth from you."

Chris said, "I tell you sooth, my Lord."

Arnaut spun on his heel. "Did you speak to the monk Marcel before he died?"

"Marcel?" Chris did his best to appear confused. "Marcel, my Lord?"

"Yes, yes. Marcel. Cognovistine fratrem Marcellum? Cognovistine fratrem Marcellum?" Do you know Brother Marcel?

"No, my Lord."

"Transitum ad Roccam cognitum habesne?" For this Chris didn't need to wait for the translation: The pa.s.sage to La Roque, you know it? For this Chris didn't need to wait for the translation: The pa.s.sage to La Roque, you know it?

"The pa.s.sage ... transitum transitum..." Chris shrugged again, feigning lack of knowledge. "Pa.s.sage? ... To La Roque? No, my Lord."

Arnaut looked frankly unbelieving. "It seems you know nothing at all." He peered closely at them, his nose twitching, giving the impression that he was smelling them. "I doubt you. In fact, you are liars."

He turned to the handsome knight. "Hang one, so the other talks."

"Which one, my Lord?"

"Him," Arnaut said, pointing to Chris. He looked at Kate, pinched her cheek, then caressed her. "Because this fair boy touches my heart. I will entertain him in my tent tonight. I would not waste him before."

"Very well, my Lord." The handsome knight barked an order, and from the second floor, men began to string another rope. Other men grabbed Chris's wrists and tied them swiftly behind his back.

Chris thought, Jesus, they're going to do it. He looked at Kate, whose eyes were wide with horror. The men started to drag Chris off.

"My Lord," came a voice from the side of the church. "If you please." The knot of waiting soldiers opened, and the Lady Claire emerged.

Claire said softly, "My Lord, I beg you, a word in private."

"Eh? Of course, as you wish." Arnaut walked over to her, and she whispered in his ear. He paused, shrugged. She whispered again, more intently.

After a moment, he said, "Eh? What will that serve?"

More whispering. Chris could not hear any of it.

Arnaut said, "Good Lady, I have already decided."

Still more whispering.

Finally, shaking his head, Arnaut came back to them. "The Lady seeks safe pa.s.sage from me to Bordeaux. She says that she knows you, and that you are honest men." He paused. "She says that I should release you."

Claire said, "Only if it please you, my Lord. For it is well known the English are indiscriminate in killing, while the French are not. The French show the mercy that comes of intelligence and breeding."

"This is so," he said. "It is true that we French are civilized men. And if these two know nothing of Brother Marcel and the pa.s.sage, then I have no further use of them. And so I say, give them horses and food and send them on their way. I would be in the good graces of your Magister Edwardus, and so I commend myself to him, and wish G.o.d grant you safe journey to join him at his side. And so depart."

Lady Claire bowed.

Chris and Kate bowed.

The handsome knight cut Chris's bonds and led them back outside. Chris and Kate were so stunned by this reversal that they said nothing at all as they walked back toward the river. Chris was feeling wobbly and lightheaded. Kate kept rubbing her face, as if she were trying to wake up.

Finally, the knight said, "You owe your lives to a clever lady."

Chris said, "Certes...."

The handsome knight smiled thinly.

"G.o.d smiles upon you," he said.

He didn't sound happy about it.

The scene at the river was entirely transformed. Arnaut's men had taken the mill bridge, which now flew the green-and-black banner from the battlements. Both sides of the river were occupied by Arnaut's mounted knights. And now a river of men and materiel marched up the road toward La Roque, raising clouds of dust. There were men with horse-drawn wagons laden with supplies, carts of chattering women, ragtag children, and other wagons loaded with enormous wooden beams-disa.s.sembled giant catapults, to fling stones and burning pitch over the castle walls.

The knight had found a pair of horses for them-two ragged nags, bearing marks of the plow collar. Leading the animals, he guided them past the toll checkpoint.

A sudden commotion on the river made Chris look back. He saw a dozen men knee-deep in the water, struggling with a breech-loading cannon, cast of iron, with a wooden block as a mount. Chris stared, fascinated. No cannon this early had survived, or even been described.

Everyone knew primitive artillery had been used at this time; archaeologists had dug up cannonb.a.l.l.s from the site of the Battle of Poitiers. But historians believed that cannon were rare, and primarily for show-a matter of prestige. But as Chris watched the men struggling in the river to lift the cylinder and hoist it back on a cart, it was clear to him that such effort would never be wasted on a purely symbolic device. The cannon was heavy; it slowed the progress of the entire army, which surely wanted to reach the walls of La Roque by nightfall; there was no reason why the cannon could not be brought up later. The present effort could only mean the cannon would be important in the attack.

But in what way? He wondered. The walls of La Roque were ten feet thick. A cannonball would never penetrate them.

The handsome knight gave a brief salute and said, "G.o.d bring you grace and safety."

"G.o.d bless you and grant you increase," Chris replied, and then the knight slapped the horses on their rumps, and they were riding off, toward La Roque.

As they rode, Kate told him about what they had found in Marcel's room, and about the green chapel.

"Do you know where this chapel is?" Chris said.

"Yes. I saw it on one of the survey maps. It's about half a mile east of La Roque. There's a path through the forest that takes you there."

Chris sighed. "So we know where the pa.s.sage is," he said, "but Andre had the ceramic, and now he's dead, which means we can't ever leave, anyway."

"No," she said. "I have the ceramic."

"You do?"

"Andre gave it to me, on the bridge. I think he knew he'd never get out alive. He could have run and saved himself. But he didn't. He stayed and saved me instead."

She started to cry softly.

Chris rode in silence, saying nothing. He remembered how Marek's intensity had always amused the other graduate students-"Can you imagine? He really believes this chivalry s.h.i.t!"-and how they had a.s.sumed his behavior was some kind of weird posturing. A role he was playing, an affectation. Because in the late twentieth century, you couldn't seriously ask other people to think that you believed in honor and truth, and the purity of the body, the defense of women, the sanct.i.ty of true love, and all the rest of it.

But apparently, Andre really had believed it.

They moved through a nightmare landscape. The sun was weak and pale in the dust and smoke. Here there were vineyards, but all the vines were burned, leaving gnarled gnome stumps, with smoke rising into the air. The orchards, too, were black and desolate, skeletal trees. Everything had been burned.

All around them, they heard the pitiful cries of wounded soldiers. Many retreating soldiers had fallen beside the road itself. Some were still breathing; others were gray with death.

Chris had paused to take weapons from one of the dead men, when a nearby soldier raised his hand and cried pitifully, "Secors, secors!" "Secors, secors!" Chris went over to him. He had an arrow embedded deep in his abdomen, and another in his chest. The soldier was in his early twenties, and he seemed to know he was dying. As he lay on his back, he looked pleadingly at Chris, saying words Chris couldn't understand. Finally, the soldier began to point to his mouth, saying, Chris went over to him. He had an arrow embedded deep in his abdomen, and another in his chest. The soldier was in his early twenties, and he seemed to know he was dying. As he lay on his back, he looked pleadingly at Chris, saying words Chris couldn't understand. Finally, the soldier began to point to his mouth, saying, "Aquam. Da mihi aquam." "Aquam. Da mihi aquam." He was thirsty; he wanted water. Chris shrugged helplessly. He had no water. The man looked angry, winced, closed his eyes, turned away. Chris moved off. Later, when they pa.s.sed men crying for help, he continued on without stopping. There was nothing he could do. He was thirsty; he wanted water. Chris shrugged helplessly. He had no water. The man looked angry, winced, closed his eyes, turned away. Chris moved off. Later, when they pa.s.sed men crying for help, he continued on without stopping. There was nothing he could do.

They could see La Roque in the distance, standing high and impregnable atop the Dordogne cliffs. And they would reach the fortress in less than an hour.

In a dark corner of the church of Sainte-Mere, the handsome knight helped Andre Marek to his feet. He said, "Your friends have departed."

Marek coughed, and grabbed the knight's arm to steady himself as a wave of pain shot up his leg. The handsome knight smiled. He had captured Marek just after the explosion at the mill.

When Marek had climbed out the mill window, by sheer luck he fell into a small pool so deep that he did not hurt himself. And when he came to the surface again, he found he was still beneath the bridge. The pool produced a swirling eddy, so the current hadn't taken him downstream.

Marek had stripped off his monk's habit and thrown it downstream when the flour mill exploded, timbers and bodies flying in all directions. A soldier splashed into the water near him, his body turning in the eddy. Marek started to scramble up onto the bank-and a handsome knight put a sword point at his throat and beckoned for him to come forward. Marek was still wearing the maroon and gray colors of Oliver, and he began to babble in Occitan, pleading innocence, begging for mercy.

The knight said simply, "Be silent. I saw you." He had seen Marek climb out the window, and discard his monk's garb. He took Marek to the church, where he found Claire and Arnaut. The Archpriest was in a sullen and dangerous mood, but Claire seemed to have some ability to influence him, if only by contradiction. It was Claire who had ordered Marek to sit silently in the darkness when Chris and Kate came in. "If Arnaut can set you against the other two, he may yet spare you and your friends. If you are three united before him, he will in rage kill you all." Claire had stage-managed the subsequent events. And all had turned out reasonably well.

So far.

Now Arnaut eyed him skeptically. "So: your friends know the location of this pa.s.sage?"

"They do," Marek said. "I swear it."

"On your word, I have spared their lives," Arnaut said. "Yours, and the word of this Lady, who vouches for you." He gave a small nod to the Lady Claire, who allowed a faint smile to cross her lips.

"My Lord, you are wise," Claire said, "for to hang one man may loosen the tongue of his friend who watches. But as often, it may harden his resolve, so that the friend takes his secret to the grave. And this secret is so important that I would your Lordship have it for certain in his grasp."

"Then we will follow those two, and see where they lead." He nodded to Marek. "Raimondo, see to this poor man's mount. And provide him as escort two of your best chevaliers chevaliers, as you follow behind."

The handsome knight bowed. "My Lord, if it please you, I will accompany him myself."

"Do so," Arnaut said, "for there may yet be some mischief here." And he gave the knight a significant look.

Meanwhile, Lady Claire had gone up to Marek and was pressing his hand warmly in both of hers. He felt something cool in her fingers, and realized it was a tiny dagger, barely four inches long. He said, "My Lady, I am greatly in your debt."

"Then see you repay this debt, knight," she said, looking into his eyes.

"I shall, as G.o.d is my witness." He slipped the dagger under his robes.

"And I will pray to G.o.d for you, knight," she said. She leaned over to kiss his cheek chastely. As she did, she whispered, "Your escort is Raimondo of Narbonne. He likes to cut throats. When he knows the secret, have a care he does not cut yours, and those of your friends, as well." She stepped away, smiling.

Marek said, "Lady, you are too kind. I shall take your kind wishes to heart."

"Good knight, G.o.d speed you safe and true."

"Lady, you are always in my thoughts."

"Good sir knight, I would wish-"

"Enough, enough," Arnaut said in a disgusted voice. He turned to Raimondo. "Go now, Raimondo, for this surfeit of sentiment makes my stomach heave."

"My Lord." The handsome knight bowed. He led Marek to the door and out into the sunlight.

07:34:49.

"I'll tell you what the G.o.dd.a.m.n problem is," Robert Doniger said, glaring at the visitors. "The problem is to bring the past alive. To make it real."

There were two young men and a young woman, all slouching on the couch in his office. They were dressed entirely in black, wearing those pinch-shoulder jackets that looked like they'd shrunk in the wash. The men had long hair and the woman had a buzz cut. These were the media people that Kramer had hired. But Doniger noticed that today Kramer was sitting opposite them, subtly divorcing herself from them. He wondered if she had already seen their material.

It made Doniger irritable. He didn't like media people anyway. And this was his second meeting with the breed today. He'd had the PR dips.h.i.ts in the morning, now these these dips.h.i.ts. dips.h.i.ts.

"The problem," he said, "is that I have thirty executives coming to hear my presentation tomorrow. The t.i.tle of my presentation is 'The Promise of the Past,' and I have no compelling visuals to show them."

"Got it," one of the young men said crisply. "That was exactly our starting point here, Mr. Doniger. The client wants to bring the past alive. That's what we set out to do. With Ms. Kramer's help, we asked your own observers to generate sample videos for us. And we believe this material will have the compelling quality-"

"Let's see it," Doniger said.

"Yes, sir. Perhaps if we lowered the lights-"

"Leave the lights as they are."

"Yes, Mr. Doniger." The video screen on the wall came up blue as it glowed to life. While they were waiting for the image, the young man said, "The reason we like this first one is because it is a famous historical event that lasts only two minutes from start to finish. As you know, many historical events occurred very slowly, especially to modern sensibilities. This one was quick. Unfortunately, it occurred on a somewhat rainy day."

The screen showed a gray, gloomy image, overhanging clouds. The camera panned to show some sort of gathering, shot over the heads of a large crowd. A tall man was climbing up onto a plain, unpainted wood platform.

"What's this? A hanging?"

"No," the media kid said. "That's Abraham Lincoln, about to deliver the Gettysburg Address."

"It is? Jesus, he looks like h.e.l.l. He looks like a corpse. His clothes are all wrinkled. His arms stick out of his sleeves."

"Yes, sir, but-"

"And is that his voice? It's squeaky squeaky."