Deus Le Volt Page 4
She marched over. ‘Listen Simon, I’ve seen the bodies of the dead soldiers, and I think I know why they were killed.’
The squire stopped, his eyes widening, before Simon motioned for him to continue.
‘Go on.’
‘I believe someone is extracting substances from inside the bodies, harvesting something specific rather than just killing out of cold malice.’
Emily explained the mark she had seen on the corpse’s neck. Simon seemed unconcerned. ‘It matters little why they died,’ he said. ‘What matters is who the killer is.’
‘But the clues can help us, don’t you see? Who would want to drain fluid from the body?’
‘The devils of course. So it was a Saracen?’
‘I don’t think so,’ Emily said, still not quite sure of herself but playing along. ‘I didn’t sense any... erm... devils. They didn’t leave any of the marks we know they normally do.’
Simon looked slightly bemused, and Emily realised she was perhaps over-egging things. She had to play the situation to her advantage, to use her alleged expertise to get back to Honoré and find the mysterious knight.
‘I think the killer is the same man my friend and I are here looking for. I haven’t seen him around so far, but he definitely came from here.’
‘Describe him,’ Simon said, intrigued.
‘An elderly man, though quite strong. Still a fighter.’
‘There are many old fighters here. Why, Lord Godfrey himself would fit the description.’
‘You should have seen his face,’ Emily continued. ‘As white as a sheet, with a beard down to here,’ she put her hands on her waist, ‘and hair that was pretty much falling out.’
Simon shook his head. ‘I do not believe we have anyone here of that description. Tell me, where did you see this man?’
‘In another city.’ Emily neglected to mention that it was also in another century. ‘He owed Honoré a great deal of money, and we need to speak to him urgently.’
Simon laughed. ‘You mean your friend intends to exact vengeance? An honourable goal, indeed. If I see someone like that, I will be sure to tell him to find you.’
Emily wondered if the mysterious knight was using his apparent time-travelling abilities on a more localised scale. Honoré had said that he didn’t seem to have touched other time periods apart from the one they were in now and 1950. Emily wondered how to describe time travel to a medieval knight. ‘Simon,’ she asked, ‘has there been anything strange occurring? Perhaps someone appearing from the air?’ She struggled to think of the words. ‘Like our Lord Jesus Christ, descending from Heaven. Has there been anyone who has seemed to be in two places at once?’
The squire, who had remained quiet until now, put down the remaining items of armour. ‘Who is this strange woman, master?’ His eyes gleamed as he looked at Emily. ‘With your permission, master, I might like to marry her one day.’
Simon stared at Emily with a look that told her to be quiet but Emily was quickly learning the best ways to get results among medieval knights. ‘At the moment, I have more pressing concerns,’ she said calmly. ‘The will of God must be enacted. I come from a convent to help the Lord’s people through these hard times.’
The squire seemed impressed. Thankfully Simon said nothing to refute her story.
Simon changed the subject. ‘I suppose,’ he began, ‘there has been one strange occurrence.’
The squire looked up at his master in puzzlement. ‘Master?’
Simon looked at the squire and smiled. ‘I think we should introduce her to Alice.’
Simon said little about the person they were going to see as he walked with Emily to the far end of the camp. What they found was an old woman crouched over a cooking pot, trying to light a fire to boil some water.
‘Hello Alice,’ Simon said, bowing his head to the old woman. ‘This is Emily of Blandish, a spiritual woman with knowledge that belies her appearance. She would like to know more about what you saw.’
The old woman squinted at the newcomers. She turned away from them and sat down by the animal skins she had been sewing into blankets.
Emily stepped closer to the old woman. ‘Please Alice,’ she said gently. ‘Is it true you had a vision?’
Alice picked up a needle and began to stitch the skins together. ‘There are people in this camp who say terrible, blasphemous things about the Pope’s words. Terrible, heartbreaking things.’
Emily reached out and touched Alice’s shoulder. ‘What have they been saying?’
‘That all this, all we’ve been through, all those children dying and suffering... that it is all for nothing, that we are not the chosen people of our Lord, that there is no paradise waiting for us in Jerusalem.’ Her voice rose, angry. ‘They’re wrong, girl. I’ve seen it. I saw Saint Luke appear to me, down by the well, as I was fetching water. He rose from the sea and told me I was blessed.’
‘What did the Saint look like?’
‘A knight to equal the best of the men here, but with a halo of light, a blue fire, and the feeling of death, a chill that ran through my bones. I knew that what I saw was not of this Earth.’
‘Tell me,’ said Emily, ‘did the Saint remind you of anyone you’ve met here?’
The woman shook her head. ‘My head was bowed in duty. I did not take time to examine him closely.’ The woman was getting irritated. ‘Now, if you please.’
Emily nodded. ‘Thank you for your time.’
As they left the old woman’s tent, Emily turned to Simon. ‘I don’t know, I mean I can’t be sure, but I think that might have been our man that she saw. If he can time–... I don’t know. I need to talk to Honoré.’
Simon held Emily’s shoulder and turned her around until her face was close to his. ‘Emily, please,’ he said. ‘Can’t we just enjoy some time together? Relax a little. It makes such a change to have such intelligent company.’
‘Simon,’ Emily began, ‘I’m sorry. It’s just that... I must find Honoré.’
Simon nodded. ‘I have been thinking about your problem. It is possible that the Bishop of Le Puy may be able to help you find the man you seek. I will arrange an audience with him for when you return.
‘Thanks,’ Emily muttered, before walking away from Simon, leaving him standing in her wake, wondering what he had said to cause such a cold reaction from her.
6
‘Saracen!’
Honoré Lechasseur was jolted awake by the shout.
‘Get up, Saracen!’
Lechasseur blinked away the grime around his eyes and looked up at the guard. Finally he was getting out of this hole. He yawned, then hitched himself off the floor, reaching his arms up towards the guards. There were two of them this time, and they reached down and hauled him out. As he found his balance, one of the guards withdrew his sword from its sheath, making it clear that Lechasseur wasn’t to try anything.
He turned to see Emily, arms folded, a large grin on her face. ‘I told you I’d convince them you were innocent,’ she said.
‘You are free to go, on order of Simon of Lorraine.’
Lechasseur turned to the guards. ‘Thanks,’ he said, making the gesture of tipping a hat.
He and Emily began to walk away, in the direction of Simon’s tent. As they did so, Emily filled him in on what she’d learned, and retold the old crone’s tale.
‘She’s not the only one seeing things,’ Lechasseur revealed. ‘I overheard the guards talking. Lots of people are seeing things. Visions, Saints... you know.’
‘Time travelling knights?’
Lechasseur smirked. ‘Time travelling Saracens.’
There was a brief silence before Emily continued. ‘Don’t let them get to you,’ she said. ‘You know you’re better than them, that you’re not what they say you are.’
Lechasseur grinned at her. ‘So what have y
ou found?’
‘We keep trying.’ Emily said. ‘Simon says that the foragers see people coming and going from the camp the whole time. Perhaps –’
‘Emily,’ Lechasseur interrupted. ‘This Simon guy...’
Now it was Emily’s turn to raise an eyebrow. ‘Not jealous are we?’ she joked.
Lechasseur snorted. ‘Be careful, Emily. You can’t trust these people.’
Emily shook her head. ‘He’s been good to me. After a bad start, admittedly. I think he really wants to help us, you know.’
‘I know what he wants.’
Emily snorted at Lechasseur’s awkwardness. ‘I’m a big girl, I can look after myself.’
Lechasseur sighed. ‘I know. That’s not what I mean. This isn’t the fifties, you know. These crusaders... they don’t respect women, they’re not gentlemen.’
‘I beat him in a sword-fight.’
Lechasseur looked impressed. ‘Just be careful, okay? We stick out like a dislocated shoulder here, yet this guy switches from wanting us dead to wanting to risk his safety to help us. I just think there’s something not right here.’
Emily shook her head and smiled. ‘You’re crazy, you know? But thanks for the concern. And I promise, I’ll be careful.’
Lechasseur nodded. ‘Where to now, then?’ he asked.
‘Simon’s managed to arrange for us to meet someone very interesting. It’ll be getting dark soon, so we’d better get a move on.’
Adhemar of Le Puy was the most important representative of the Church in the whole camp, and a relatively young bishop. When word had reached the Vatican of the disaster of the People’s journey from Clermont, the Pope had feared that the Normans would make an even worse job of things, and so had decided to send the lowliest and least proven of his bishops to sort them out. A controversial man, alleged to have witnessed a miracle, Adhemar had also become something of a liability to the Church in Rome – a fact not entirely unrelated to his selection for this new role. The crusade allowed the Church to solve many of its problems.
A large knight armed with an equally large sword, partially rusted yet still deadly, stood between the Bishop and his visitors.
Adhemar cleared his throat. ‘Godfrey assures me you are not here to assassinate Christ’s envoy, so I will let you speak your mind.’
Lechasseur nodded. ‘We come from afar, looking for a criminal who stole something of great value to us. He was last seen dressed in Norman armour. He was elderly, about so tall, with a long white beard and eyes of fire.’
Adhemar shrugged. ‘And why do you come to me? Do you believe the faith of Christ will help you in your search?’
Lechasseur cleared his throat. ‘We are already Christians, sir, but we have heard that you have seen many strange things in the last few weeks.’
Adhemar sighed. ‘All is not well with the Christian Church. The Lord Almighty is suffering as his holy city is ransacked by the Turks.’
‘Well,’ Emily said, ‘with God on our side, victory will soon be ours.’ She looked over at Lechasseur for support. He looked impressed and nodded for her to continue. ‘And once it is, we shall restore Jerusalem to a state greater than it has been since the day Our Lord himself was crucified.’
Adhemar nodded, eyebrows raised in surprise at her words. He waved his guard closer, at the same time beckoning for Lechasseur and Emily to move nearer.
‘The dead walk among us. They will us on to victory. The Holy Spirit is in evidence, giving us the strength we need to fulfil our pilgrimage.’ He leaned towards Lechasseur, his voice a harsh whisper. ‘I’ve seen the spirits of the dead; several I recognised as among those we have lost in battle. Death is everywhere in this city of evil, and suffering. I’ve seen these apparitions travel between here and the city, and they are not alone. Minions of Lucifer are watching, waiting, trying to blend in with us unnoticed.’
‘And do any of these minions look like old men in armour, with long white beards?’
Adhemar seemed confused by Honoré’s question and shook his head, then turned to wave them away.
‘They all come from the city, sooner or later,’ he said. ‘It’s held by devils, and the hardest place yet to fall to pilgrim hands. If the man you seek is anywhere to be found in this unholy land, it will be in Antioch.’
Lechasseur thanked the Bishop for his time, and he and Emily turned to leave the tent.
‘One more thing,’ Adhemar called after them. ‘Be on your guard. As newcomers, you may be seen by the devils as more susceptible to temptation than most, so be mindful of their presence. The armies of Lucifer are nothing if not opportunistic.’
‘Thanks for your advice,’ Lechasseur said. ‘We’ll be careful.’
As Emily and Lechasseur left the Bishop’s tent, Adhemar turned to his guard. ‘I fear those two will not live to see us reach our goal,’ he sighed. ‘May the Lord have mercy on their souls.’
‘So where next?’ a weary Emily asked as she and Lechasseur sat on cushions inside Simon’s tent.
Lechasseur looked into the middle distance. ‘When I saw the knight’s time snake,’ he reflected, ‘it led us to this camp. Given his skin colouring and armour, he’s clearly a European. But maybe the Bishop’s right, and he is somewhere in the city. He might be a dissident, or a deserter from the crusaders’ forces –’
His words were interrupted by a terrified scream coming from outside. Everyone in the tent seemed to stand up at once. Emily and Lechasseur looked at each other, then hurried across to the entrance.
Lechasseur faltered on the threshold as his legs seemed to turn to jelly, and then to stop responding completely. A strange paralysis seemed to overtake him, spreading from his legs and up his whole body.
He looked over at Emily and the others in the tent. They too were struggling as if trapped in quicksand, with confused expressions on their faces. ‘What the –’
Lechasseur tried to reach down to feel his legs, but found that his entire body was frozen. He felt like an insect swimming through fast-hardening amber.
‘What’s happening to us?’ Emily managed to say, but her words slurred as the paralysis took hold.
Another scream came from outside, then was silenced, replaced by a sliding and slurping noise, not unlike a stomach rumbling but amplified and distorted many times over.
The noise eventually died away. Emily and Lechasseur continued to struggle, and in a few seconds found that they were once again able to move.
‘What just happened?’ Emily asked.
Lechasseur breathed a heavy sigh. ‘Let’s find out.’
He moved to the entrance to the tent and lifted the flap. In the flickering shadows outside, he saw what appeared to be a large, serpentine shape moving rapidly away from a fallen body. As he approached the body, he saw that the killer had struck again, leaving a dead husk of a man, face contorted in a rictus scream, patches of decomposition already creeping across the skin of the face.
Emily and Simon, along with several vassals, joined him by the body. Gasps of shock and terror rippled through the group.
Lechasseur reached down and felt under the dead man’s throat for a pulse. His fingers pushed through rotting skin and he withdrew them quickly. ‘He’s dead.’
A flash of light caught Lechasseur’s eye. ‘Hang on, what’s this...’ He removed a metal disc from beneath the man’s arm.
‘Oh God,’ Emily said as she looked at the body. ‘It’s just like the other one. The decomposition, the look of fear on his face...’
‘Emily!’ Simon said. ‘You should stay inside. It isn’t safe. The murderer might still be nearby.’ He gestured to two of the guards, and they picked up the body and moved it inside the tent.
As Simon escorted Emily back under cover, Lechasseur looked around. Somewhere in this camp was a killer... and going by the glimpse he had caught, it wasn’t even remotely human.
‘I don’t know about that,’ Lechasseur said dourly.
‘And what would you propose we do to catch this murderer?’ Simon asked.
Lechasseur had been thinking about this. ‘I want you to help me arrange an expedition. Tomorrow night, I’m going into Antioch.’
Emily was taken aback. ‘Honoré, are you mad? If they see you near the city... both sides will probably have your head.’
Lechasseur smiled. ‘Relax. I’ll be fine.’
‘It won’t be easy,’ Simon told them. ‘Godfrey will never allow you to leave the camp. I may be charged with monitoring you, but you are still his prisoners.’
‘Simon, Simon,’ Lechasseur said, putting his arm around the knight’s shoulder like an old friend. ‘Just tell me the safest way to get inside the city, ask a couple of men to come with me, and tell everyone we’re going to raid for food. We can keep the murder investigation side of things nice and quiet.’
Simon sighed. ‘I suppose so.’
Emily jabbed Lechasseur in the ribs. ‘What was it you said about staying away from Simon? I hope you agree now he has his uses.’
Simon scowled at her, but she could tell he had taken the joke in the spirit in which it was meant.
Lechasseur shrugged, reluctantly conceding Emily’s point. ‘I still think you should be careful.’
‘He’s right,’ Simon said, misunderstanding. ‘The city is a harsh place. You both should be sure you know what you are letting yourself in for.’
Lechasseur shrugged. ‘I can handle myself.’
‘He’s right,’ Emily said. ‘We’ve been through a lot, you know, Simon.’
Simon took Emily by the arm and marched her out of earshot of Lechasseur.
‘Look, Emily,’ he whispered, ‘I’m sure he can look after himself, but you don’t seem to understand quite how dangerous this place is. Look around you – people are being injured and killed every day. Please, don’t go to the city. Stay here.’