The Courts of Love - Jean Plaidy [224]
“These Mohammedans are great fighters,” argued Philip Augustus. “Sometimes I think they are invincible.”
“We have a cause,” Richard reminded him.
“Have they not? Their Allah seems often to work better for them than God does for us.”
“That could be called blasphemy.”
“Then blasphemy is truth. I believe this man, Saladin, is a very wise one.”
“I would agree with that.”
“He is a noble enemy.”
“But the Saracens are in possession of Jerusalem. If you go now, you will break your oath.”
Philip Augustus called attention to the weight he had lost, to his thinning hair and his broken nails. “All this I have suffered. It is God’s way of telling me to go home.”
“I have been in a worse state than you have.”
“You have always suffered from the ague.”
“Philip Augustus, tell me, have you made up your mind to go home?”
“I will leave you some of my knights to command when I go.”
“I thought you were my friend who would want to be with me.”
“I would be no good to you dead. And what of this Saladin? Why did he send food to you when you were ill?”
“I do not know,” said Richard.
Philip Augustus looked at him suspiciously. “They say he is a very noble-looking creature.” Richard was silent.
“And you met him?” asked Philip Augustus.
Richard told him of his experience.
“He came to your tent by night . . . uninvited?” said Philip Augustus suspiciously.
And after that there was a great coolness between them. Richard said that he could see that Philip Augustus was going to break his oath.
The French King said that his country was more important to him than anything else. “To stay would be to condemn myself to death. I will leave you to make friends with our enemy. What of Tancred? You became friendly with him too.”
“You have a jealous nature.”
Their friendship was considerably strained when they parted.
It became clear that Richard missed the French King. He tried to console himself with music and became greatly pleased by a young boy named Blondel de Nesle who was an excellent musician; he and Richard composed songs which they sang in harmony.
While Richard was repairing the walls of Acre, Saladin attempted to bring about a truce and sent his brother Malek Adel to Richard’s camp to discuss terms. It was while he was there that Malek Adel had seen Joanna and been so impressed by her charms that he wanted to marry her. That Richard should find such a suggestion feasible told me a good deal about his respect for the Saracens. Joanna, naturally, had been indignant and the project came to nothing. There was no truce, and the battle for Jerusalem persisted.
There was a great deal of trouble among the crusaders. I suppose that was inevitable when there were so many nations involved, each trying to claim credit for his own country’s achievements. Richard, as leader, managed to engender a certain amount of enmity and venom, and the task of delivering Jerusalem—daunting as it would have been without any of these disturbances—became almost impossible.
Meanwhile Richard was receiving urgent messages from me which must have given him anxiety. He had to fortify the towns he captured and garrison them to make them safe for pilgrims. It was a great task he had undertaken, and plagued as he was by bouts of recurring fever, life was not easy.
He was depressed. He was discovering more and more how formidable were his foes; and in Saladin they had a leader equal to himself. Moreover, the climate could be more easily borne by the Saracens. It was another enemy. The heat brought the perpetual flies, the poisonous insects, and with the passing of the summer came the torrential rains and the mud.
However, Richard continued to conquer towns and make them safe for pilgrims; and all the time he was plagued by my entreaties to return home.
I, who understood him so well, suffered with him. I could picture his frustration. He had thought to capture Jerusalem long before this, but Saladin was there, with a skill and valor which matched Richard’s own.
There came a time when Richard intercepted a caravan full of food and ammunition on its way to Saladin