The Courts of Love - Jean Plaidy [54]
“You would like to see Manuel Comnenus defeated?”
“I would indeed. That Greek is as much our enemy as the Saracens themselves. Of course he betrayed the Germans. He would have been delighted if they had all been destroyed. We of Antioch are his vassals. He could take us tomorrow if he were minded to. Why cannot people see that if we are going to hold Jerusalem we must make the route safe? I should like to see a string of cities all along the road to the Holy City . . . all in the hands of the Christians.”
“In France and Europe generally they have no conception of what traveling is like. They think it compares with taking a journey across France . . . and even that can be dangerous. But they have no idea what it is really like.”
“Louis should have. He has experienced it.”
“Are you going to suggest this to Louis?”
“In due course. Perhaps you could prepare him.”
“I think there will be little hope of convincing him. He is determined to go to Jerusalem. He thinks that only when he is in the Holy City, when he kneels at the shrine, will his sins be washed away and he be able to forget Vitry.”
“Nevertheless, speak to him. Make him see that we must make the way safe for Christians.”
“What do you propose? That you join forces with him and march against Aleppo?”
He nodded. “It is essential that we destroy the Saracen stronghold. You have some wise men among you. The Bishop of Langres, for instance. He saw the need to capture Constantinople.”
“If you were successful in capturing Aleppo, he would want to march on to Jerusalem. What then of us?”
“You could stay behind.”
“If only that could be!”
“My dearest love, one does not say ‘If’: one knows what one wants and says ‘I will.’”
I could believe that with my powerful lover. I was sure he was capable of achieving anything. The only thing I could not bear to contemplate was parting from him.
I sought out Louis.
“What are your plans?” I said.
He replied that we were to leave Antioch in the very near future.
“Did you know that at Aleppo, not very far from here, the Saracens have their stronghold? It is from there that parties are sent out to attack Christians. When we leave Antioch, we shall have to endure what we did before.”
“We knew the road was not easy. You should not have come. It is no place for women.”
“From what I have seen it is no place for men either. The way should be made safe for Christians.”
“Life is not meant to be easy.”
“What nonsense. Life is meant to be enjoyed, and if the way to Jerusalem can be made easier, it is folly not to make it so. There should be more places where pilgrims and crusaders could be sure of a haven. It should be our aim to make it so.”
“My aim is to go to Jerusalem and kneel at the shrine . . . to confess my sins and ask for absolution.”
“I am sure it would please God more if you helped to make the way safe for those who go to worship Him. There should be more places like Antioch on the way.”
A look of derision curved Louis’s lips. “Places like Antioch!” he cried. “What is this place? It is given over to pleasure. Life is soft and easy here. That is not the good life.”
“Why then did God make such a place where living is easy and comfortable and the fruits of the Earth grow in abundance?”
“You are bemused by this place.”
“Who would not delight in it after all we have suffered? It seems sensible to me to make the way easier for those who come after us. We should have taken Constantinople.”
“It was not what we came for.”
“We allowed the treacherous Greek Manuel Comnenus to destroy Conrad’s army. If we had gone first, it might have been ours.”
“Our plan was to go to Jerusalem.”
“But for