Trail of Fate

by Michael P. Spradlin

  “How does it feel to always be finishing second, Sir Hugh?” I taunted him. “You couldn’t command your own regimento. Sir Thomas was the one the men followed. You wouldn’t stand up to the Marshal in Tyre and couldn’t defeat a group of peasants at Montségur. Now the Queen Mother pulls your strings. It must be a sad life being such a puppet.”

  Sir Hugh moved toward me again, but this time Eleanor stood between us.

  “He has the same tart tongue as well as the looks,” she said. “No wonder Richard sent word to me right away.” Again her words only confused me. I had met Richard only twice in passing, not counting saving him on the battlefield. Had Sir Hugh told her of my encounters with her son? Seeing the look of bewilderment on my face, it was as if she read my mind.

  “Oh yes, young squire. I know quite a lot about you,” she said. She clasped her hands in front of her and steepled her fingers. “Quite a lot indeed. And I’m sure you must have many questions.”

  I hesitated. The Grail was my only advantage here. If I told her of its existence, I could thwart Sir Hugh, but giving it to her might be worse. I waited.

  “Questions, squire? I can see them on your face. Don’t you wish to know? About your past?”

  It felt as if she had punched me in the stomach. Trying not to show any interest, I straightened and threw my shoulders back. Of course I wished to know. But I would never give her the satisfaction. Not while she held my friends in her dungeon. Not ever. Besides, this had to be about the Grail. If Sir Hugh had told her I was an orphan, of my encounters with her son, then I was certain she was taking some perverse delight in tormenting me. Maybe, just maybe, she was the one who wanted the Grail and had sent Sir Hugh to find it, promising him something he desired when he delivered it to her. Sir Thomas’ warnings about the greed and madness of those who had dedicated their lives to finding it floated through my mind. I told myself there was nothing she could do to me that would cause me to break my vow to my knight or my friends.

  She only laughed at me, in her ridiculous high-pitched cackle. Witch.

  “Captain, take him to the dungeon with his friends,” she commanded. “Sir Hugh and I have much to discuss.”

  The guards pulled me to my feet.

  “If it pleases my lady, I will accompany the guards to ensure he is safely locked away,” Sir Hugh said.

  The Queen Mother waved him away with her hand. “Fine. Do so, but return here at once. And I mean immediately, Hugh.”

  We left the room, walking down a long passageway that ended at a heavy wooden door. It creaked open, and a stone stairway led us down to a single cell that had been dug out of the ground. The door opened and I was unceremoniously pushed in. There was only one flickering torch lighting the cavern, and I could barely make out Robard and Maryam sitting slumped against the wall, their hands and feet shackled in chains. The iron door slammed behind me and I heard the key turn. Before I could step back, Sir Hugh reached through the bars, grabbing hold of my tunic, and slammed me forward so my face was only inches away from his.

  He lowered his voice and hissed, “Where is it, squire?”

  “Why should I tell you now? You’re going to kill me anyway.” I spoke loudly, hoping the Captain and his guards would hear me and wonder what Sir Hugh was talking about.

  Sir Hugh smirked and released me.

  “Captain, where are their belongings?” he asked.

  “Still in the wagon, sire,” the Captain replied.

  “Bring them to me at once,” he barked. He released his grip on me and left, nearly racing up the few steps. The Captain and his guards followed, and we heard the wooden door slam and lock.

  They hadn’t even put me in chains. Robard and Maryam both stood. Their hands were bound and locked in front of them, and a long chain ran between the shackles on their hands to their feet, but they could stand and move about a bit. Luckily the walls of the dungeon were just dirt and they were not chained to the wall.

  “How are we going to get out of here?” Robard asked.

  “I don’t know,” I answered.

  I gave the cell door a shake, but it was locked securely.

  Up above us a single barred window let in fresh air.

  “Does anyone have any ideas?” I begged. Robard and Maryam were silent.

  Then I heard a scratching sound at the window above. We looked up and the three of us were startled to see Angel’s face poking through the bars of the window. In her mouth she clutched Robard’s belt, on which he carried a small knife. She let go of the belt and it tumbled to the floor at our feet.

  Then she yipped happily.

  29

  Despite our desperate situation, the three of us were so overjoyed to see the dog that we all laughed out loud. Robard in particular was beside himself, whistling and praising her repeatedly. For a moment I wondered if he might have taken too many blows to the head in his struggles with the King’s Guards.

  With the knife, I tried unlocking Robard and Maryam’s wrist shackles and leg irons. The locks’ chains were too thick and rusty for me to have any success. It would require a hammer and chisel to release them.

  Having no luck with the chains, I tried inserting the knife into the lock on the cell door to see if I could work it open. Slowly, I twisted and turned the knife for several minutes but to no avail. I pounded on the bar nearest me in frustration. How could I get us out of here?

  The dog answered with a quiet bark and dug at the base of one of the bars in the window. Not understanding her meaning, I stood there stupidly at first. She barked again and continued digging, whining and growling as she did so.

  Then it came to me.

  “Robard, Maryam, you’re going to have to boost me up,” I said, crossing to the window. They shuffled over and made a platform for my feet with their hands. I stepped onto it, and they hoisted me up until I was level with the opening.

  There was almost no light to work with, as the flame from the torch outside the cell barely reached here. But Angel whined again, digging around the bar, and feeling there with my fingers, I found that the mortar had worked loose. While I attacked it with the knife, she sat back to watch me work.

  “Keep an eye out, girl,” I said. “Let me know if anyone comes this way.”

  I worked the knife into the soft mortar around the iron bar. It was tough going, but little by little, small chunks fell away. After a few minutes the bar began to twist in my hand, cracking and loosening more mortar. When a big piece came loose at the bottom, I lay down the knife and grabbed it with both hands, pulling and twisting at the bar until the bottom snapped out and I yanked it free. Ha!

  Robard and Maryam had adjusted their positions, so I stood on their thighs while they balanced me as best they could with chained hands.

  “Quit goofing around, squire,” Robard groused. “You’re heavy!”

  If I could loosen one more bar, we might have enough space to wiggle our way to freedom. With large sections of mortar missing from the first bar, I could get better leverage with my knife. I worked the bottom free and pulled until it broke loose in my hand. I wanted to shout but was leery of alerting anyone. Grasping the remaining two bars, I pulled myself up and wiggled through the window. Angel was so happy she nearly attacked me.

  “Easy, girl,” I said. On my hands and knees, I poked my head back through the bars, reaching down for Maryam. She took my hand and had just enough give in her shackles to place her foot up on the wall, grasp the bar and lift herself up. She squirmed her way through and lay there on the ground while Angel welcomed her in her own particular fashion.

  “Robard, you’re next,” I said as I reached down for him. He took my arm in both hands and dug his boots into the stone wall. It was damp and smooth, and with his feet chained, hard for him to get a toehold.

  “Push!” I groaned as he inched his way up the wall.

  “Don’t yell at me to push, Templar! You’re the one who got us into this! It’s not easy trying to climb when your feet are chained together!” Robard
was still in a temper and I couldn’t blame him. I had gotten us into this mess. But I was doing my best to get us out. Robard kicked and groaned and strained, but finally wormed his way through.

  If Angel had been happy to see Maryam and me, she was overjoyed to see Robard. She jumped on his chest and he sat up, scooping her up in his arms and hugging her to his chest. “I missed you too, girl,” he said, chuckling.

  We had no time to lose. We were now in the bailey of the castle, hidden in the shadows of the wall. Robard and Maryam could stand and walk in a shuffling step by holding on to the chain connecting their hands and feet.

  “What’s our next step?” Maryam asked.

  “Escaping? I vote for escaping,” said Robard.

  “Yes, but first things first: we have to get those shackles off. I need to check on something though,” I said, spotting the wagon that had carried us here parked nearby.

  The bailey, essentially a large courtyard in this castle, was cluttered with other wagons and stacks of barrels and equipment, and in the lengthening shadows, I covertly made my way to the wagon and peeked over the side. Our weapons were gone, as was my satchel. My heart sank. Sir Hugh had likely discovered the Grail by now. He was probably dancing with glee.

  My feet felt leaden as I made my way back to the wall.

  “Nothing?” Robard said.

  “No, everything’s gone,” I said.

  “Sir Hugh must have them. I say we find weapons and take our possessions back,” Robard said.

  “Robard, we can’t attack a castle full of King’s Guards. They are sworn to defend the Queen Mother to the death. We need to get out of here first. Sir Hugh will leave at some point and we can follow him,” I reasoned.

  “Given our history together, I almost hate to ask, but do you have any idea of how to get these chains off of us?” Maryam said.

  “Yes. With this many horses they have to have a blacksmith. Let’s find the forge. With a hammer and chisel we can get them off easily. Come on,” I said.

  We kept to the wall and made our way along it until we had circled the courtyard. Everything appeared deserted. Angel sniffed the air. “Is anyone there, girl?” I asked as if she could understand me.

  Silently she crept ahead of us, her nose constantly working the air. Then she darted into the stables and vanished from sight. We looked at each other, unsure what to do. Seconds later she was back. With a quiet bark she ran toward the door, stopped, and looked at us again, as if imploring us to follow. We hurried over to the door and slipped through to find it empty.

  The interior was lit by oil lamps, and it was far bigger even than the one in Acre. At least a dozen stalls were on each side, almost all of them filled with horses. As I had hoped, at the rear wall sat an anvil next to a forge and bench with blacksmith tools. In a few moments I had freed them both.

  “I say we each take a horse and ride out of here,” Robard said.

  I shook my head. “I’m fairly certain the Queen Mother doesn’t know what Sir Hugh is up to concerning the Grail. There is something else at work here. I need to know what it is.”

  Just then we were interrupted by a series of shouts from the courtyard outside. Maryam ran to the door and peeked out. “I think they’ve discovered our escape,” she said. We could hear the sounds of running feet and orders being shouted to the guards and men-at-arms.

  “Too bad we don’t have our weapons. With my bow, I’m sure we could make it to the gate at least,” Robard said.

  Robard’s idea of taking the horses sounded more appealing. As I tried to decide our next move, Angel rose up on her back feet and pawed at my hip, whining and growling at me. I pushed her away. “Not now, girl,” I told her. She left my side and moved over to the first stall inside the stable door, which was piled high with hay. She pounced on the pile and dug at it furiously, and soon bits of straw were flying all about.

  “What is she doing?” Maryam asked.

  Angel yanked at something buried under the straw. She growled and finally pulled something free. I recognized it instantly. It was my satchel. Robard ran to the stall and kicked aside a large pile of hay.

  There on the floor lay our weapons.

  30

  We looked in wonder at what Angel had done. She sat on her haunches, watching us expectantly. She had managed to follow us all the way to Calais and sneak her way into the castle. Robard’s bow and wallet, Maryam’s daggers and my satchel and short sword were all there. The only thing missing was Sir Thomas’ battle sword, which I could only assume was too heavy for her to move.

  Taking her in my arms, I nuzzled her cheek while she licked my face. At that moment I truly missed the brothers of St. Alban’s, for I would have loved to tell them about my guardian angel who took the shape of a small golden dog. I wished then I had a spit full of meat for her to eat.

  “If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I never would have believed it,” Robard said as he shrugged into his wallet and strung his bow.

  Maryam reached down to pick up her daggers and wiped the handles on her tunic. “Indeed,” she said, smiling. “Allah shines his grace on our little friend.” I put Angel back on the ground and reached inside the satchel, nearly fainting with relief to find the Grail still in place.

  “We need to get out of here,” Robard said, his voice full of tension. We peered out of the stable door, viewing the activity in the courtyard. Across the way, near the entrance to the keep, two squads of King’s Guards were forming up, torches were being lit all around the compound, and soon they’d search the grounds inch by inch. All of them were heavily armed, and I could see Sir Hugh in the shadows in an animated discussion with the Captain, waving his arms about, no doubt promising horrors beyond imagination if we were not found.

  Robard led us quietly out of the stable, and keeping to the castle wall, the four of us trotted silently along it, making our way toward the main gate. When we were close enough to see it, we learned to our distress that it was still closed and guarded by four men.

  “Of all the rotten luck!” Robard muttered. “There better be another way out. I couldn’t shoot them all before one of them sounded the alarm.”

  We had to move quickly or we would be trapped. Sir Hugh was banking on the fact that we were still inside the castle, and we wouldn’t be able to dodge them forever.

  In the corner of the castle wall, between the stables and the gate, was a stone stairway leading to the battlements above. “If we can make it up there without being seen, we might be able to scale down the wall,” I said.

  “Are you crazy?” Robard snorted. “It’s a good twenty feet to the ground. If we fall, we’ll be lucky not to bust both legs. And what about her?” he said, gesturing to Angel.

  It was immediately clear I hadn’t thought this all the way through.

  “Wait! In the stables, there was a long coil of rope. We can use it to climb down! I’ll be right back,” Maryam said. She sprinted back along the wall in the direction we had come.

  “Maryam! No!” Robard whispered. He went after her, but I put my arm out to stop him.

  “Hold,” I said. “Let’s wait until we see what happens. Maryam is stealthy. She might be able . . .” I let my words trail off. I could feel the tension in Robard’s arm and realized then how much he’d come to care for her. I knew how Maryam felt about him. It was evident every time she looked at him. But I’d not realized it about Robard until now.

  In silence, we watched as she slid quickly along in the shadows of the wall and in seconds had slipped through the door of the stables. With rising panic, we watched four of the King’s Guards crossing the courtyard toward the stables. Robard started after her again, and it took all my strength to pull him back into the shadows.

  “Robard, stop!” I whispered. “Wait to see what happens first. It does no good for all of us to be recaptured.” They were certain to find her, and knowing Maryam, she would most likely fight to the death.

  Our worst fears were confirmed when a loud commotion rose inside
the stable. We heard shouts, and then came a ululating scream and the clang of steel. Robard pulled an arrow from his wallet and nocked it. The doors to the stable burst open, and three of the guards came out carrying a twisting and thrashing Maryam. The fourth guard never appeared.

  Robard raised his bow and took aim, but I pushed his arm aside. He whirled on me, and for a moment I thought he might shoot me instead. He was coiled and angry, and I held up my hands.

  “Robard, wait. Don’t shoot. You might hit her. We’ll get her back, I promise. But we have to have a plan.”

  “I hit what I aim for, Templar!” he snarled, but he released the tension in his bow. Maryam was half dragged, half carried to the center of the bailey where the Captain waited with Sir Hugh. When the guards reached them, they put Maryam on her feet. We were too far away to hear what was said, but without warning Sir Hugh backhanded Maryam across the face and she slumped in the arms of the guards.

  Robard cursed and raised his bow again, but realized his folly and lowered it. Angel growled and slunk away in the shadows.

  “Think of something, Tristan! Quickly! They’ll kill her,” he said. My thoughts were frozen in my head, and I was scared and didn’t know what to do next.

  Maryam still stood slumped in the arms of the two guards, her head bobbing on her chest. The Captain shouted orders, and a wagon with a wooden windlass on its back rolled forward. It was probably used for loading and unloading supplies. One guard threw a rope over the crossbeam, and two others rolled a barrel beneath it. A noose was fastened from the end of the rope, and the two guards raised Maryam up on the barrel and placed the noose around her neck.

  Sir Hugh cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted, “Squire! Now is the time to surrender!”

  They were going to hang Maryam.