Widow of Jerusalem: A Medieval Mystery Read Online Free

Ambroise. “Was there an attack? I heard no alarum being raised.”
    “There was no alarum,” I said. “But this treaty wasn’t quite as solid as you said it was. The payment from Saladin wasn’t enough for the Lionhearted. He had asked for the return of that chunk of wood that everyone thinks is the True Cross. He didn’t get it. He was supposed to return the Saracen prisoners as part of this deal, wasn’t he?”
    “Yes,” answered Blondel. “What about them?”
    “That was the screaming,” I said. “The prisoners. The English took them outside the walls where the other army could see them. Then they took them, row by row, and slaughtered them. Axes, mostly, but some swords and spears. They just cut them down where they stood and brought the next line in. Didn’t waste any arrows. Good old English efficiency, but there were so many that it took the better part of the morning to kill all of the men.”
    “All of them?” gasped Blondel, turning pale.
    “Well, I think they kept the wealthiest ones alive, the ones who might still bring a ransom. Always better to be rich, isn’t it? So, they killed all the men first, broke for a quick meal, then started on the women. Same thing, only they raped a few of them first. The Turks attacked somewhere along all of this, but they were too few and were driven away. And then came the children. I couldn’t help thinking what it would be like to be a child, to watch your father hewed down in front of you while his hands are tied behind his back, then your mother the same way, then to be dragged over to their corpses and see the monster whose language you can’t understand raise his axe and even if you did try and plead for your life—“
    “Stop it!” shouted Ambroise. “This couldn’t be happening. Richard said—“
    “He says a lot of things,” I said. “He told his soldiers to kill them this morning. Sorry I wasn’t in the inner circle. If I was, I might have tried to stop him. But thank goodness you’re both part of it. How useful to the Guild you are! What were there, three thousand hostages?”
    “Twenty-seven hundred,” whispered Blondel.
    “My error,” I said. “Well, then I guess it wasn’t as bad as I thought. Forgive me for interrupting your celebration. You didn’t hear it. The screaming, I mean. Probably drowned it out yourselves, with all of that beautiful noise you made. I heard it. Couldn’t do anything to stop it, of course. I’m just a fool. I think I might still hear it. There was this one high-pitched cry that—”
    They rushed out the door, heading back to their lord and master.
    Bad planning on my part, I thought. I should have at least waited for them to buy me a drink.
    “I’ll get some wine,” said a voice below my right elbow.
    I looked around uncertainly.
    “Odd,” I said to the air. “There’s a voice inside my head that often says that exact phrase. But this voice isn’t inside my head. And it’s a different voice.”
    “Down here,” said the voice. I looked, and saw a dwarf sitting on a three-legged stool by the table. I leaned down to peer at him but could not discern his features.
    “Stultorum numerus,” he muttered softly.
    “Infinitus est,” I responded, completing the password. I held out my hand. “Theophilos.”
    “Scarlet,” he replied, grasping it. “I’m the Chief Fool of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.”
    “Which makes you the Chief Fool of nothing at the moment,” I said.
    “Which makes me the man you report to,” he retorted. “Those two idiots think that with the Guild out of sight, they can do whatever they want. I’m hoping for better from you.”
    “You have it,” I said. “I was told at the Guildhall that Scarlet was the Chief Fool of Beyond-the-Sea. But I thought you were based in Tyre.”
    “I am,” he said. “But I have a particular mission to fulfill in Acre.”
    “What’s that?”
    “To get you as drunk as possible,” he said. “Sounds like you need that right