Widow of Jerusalem: A Medieval Mystery (9 page)

“Why not, milady?” I asked.

“They won’t let me,” she said simply. “The Queen may not bathe because it is not safe. The Queen must stay inside the walls of the city. Nay, inside the walls of the castellum.”

“Would you walk amongst the rabble?” asked Scarlet. “I’m sure the streets of Tyre would be of no danger to you. Especially with me protecting you.”

“Well, I have more reason to take care of myself now,” she said, and I suddenly was aware of how the sunlight trailing in from the west suffused her skin. No, she was glowing of her own accord, and the sun was merely celebrating with her.

“I am with child,” she whispered furtively, then she glanced quickly around the room, even though only the three of us were present.

“Are you sure?” exclaimed Scarlet delightedly.

She nodded happily.

“A baby for Isabelle at last,” said Scarlet in wonderment.

“Congratulations, milady,” I said.

She stood by the window, resting her hand lightly on the sill, watching the sun begin to set.

“An heir for Conrad,” she said softly. “He’ll have to stay, now. Won’t he?”

“Of course, he will,” said Scarlet, running over to give her a gentle hug. “There was never any doubt of that.”

She looked down at him and ran both hands through his hair, smoothing it back in a familiar way.

“He’ll love me now, won’t he?” she said.

“There was never any doubt of that, either,” said Scarlet, yet I felt the hesitation in his voice as he said it. It was unintentional, no doubt, but I think that Isabelle felt it as well.

“How did he take the news?” I asked.

She blushed. “I haven’t told him yet.”

Scarlet looked at her in surprise. “Y)u mean to say that you told us before you told your husband?”

She knelt down and hugged him.

“Oh, my sweet Scarlet,” she cried. “My oldest friend, how could I not tell you first? You came to see me, and I have never had any secrets from you. Let my husband visit me as much and he shall know as much.”

“Isabelle, you must go to him straightaway,” said Scarlet firmly. “Otherwise, he will be offended.”

“Must I?” she said, sighing. “Yes, I suppose I must. I will see you tomorrow, Scarlet. Good day, Monsieur Droignon.”

She left, calling for her servants.

“She told me first,” said Scarlet, shaking his head in amazement.

“How old were you when you became her fool?” I asked.

“Fourteen,” he said. “Fresh out of the Guildhall. My first time out of the country. You should have heard the locals laughing at my attempts to speak Arabic.”

“I don’t think that there’s any surprise about her telling you first,” I said. “You’re her friend. Conrad’s merely her husband. How do you think he’ll take it?”

“He’ll be pleased,” said Scarlet. “After all, having an heir gives him a leg up over Guy de Lusignan, whose only claim to the throne is through his dead, childless wife. Now, Conrad is the father of the next King of Jerusalem. And having a child might make him a more loving man to my Queen.”

“I hope that it does,” I said. “She deserves to be loved.”

“She is loved,” he said.

Conrad was more than pleased to hear the news and wasted no time in proclaiming it to the city, the tents, and the nearby villages. William Falconberg was sent galloping after the Bishop of Beauvais so that the people of Acre and Jaffa could share in the general joy. Isabelle was embraced publicly by her husband and displayed on an ornate chariot as the two rode through Tyre, the citizens rushing from their markets and warehouses to cheer as they passed. She waved adoringly to her people, and they basked in her radiance.

In private, he did pay her more attention.

“But is it love, or merely the counterfeit?” grumbled Scarlet.

“What does she believe it to be?” I asked.

“She wants to believe it, so she does,” he said.

“Then let her,” I said. “Why disillusion her?”

D
isillusionment
, however, would find its way into the castellum from another source a few days later.

I was in a tavern—

I
was waiting for a tavern
!

—
n
ear the inner harbor
, one favored by the sailors who came and went on the merchant ships. I was on my own, as Scarlet disliked the roughness of the patrons. But it was a fine place to catch up on the gossip of the rest of the world, as well as a likely one to receive the occasional message from the Guild. None had arrived since I had come to Tyre, but I am ever vigilant when it comes to my duties.

E
specially when you
can drink while performing them, teased Claudia.

But of course.

I
usually managed
to avoid spending my own money. Sailors are usually flush and in need of entertainment, so it was an ideal situation for me, along with the various ladies who cater to sailors.

On the occasion of this particular evening, the crew coming in to celebrate were from Constantinople. The sailing master was in the service of the Byzantine Emperor, coming to claim a cargo of glass beads and purple dye. He was a hairy fellow with only a few teeth, which he displayed constantly, throwing his head back and guffawing at the slightest provocation. I decided to become the slight provoker, and we had a fine old time.

About halfway into the night and at least two-thirds of the way into drunkenness, he turned to the local tidings.

“What was all the commotion in the streets this afternoon?” he asked. “Seemed like a parade of one woman. People were jumping over each other trying to get a glimpse. Pretty little piece, but how was she worth all the havoc?”

“Must have been the Queen,” I said. “People are still celebrating the news.”

“Which is what?” asked the sailing master.

“I told you earlier, Matthias,” said the tapster, refilling our cups. “Our Queen is expecting.”

“Happy day,” said the sailing master, raising his cup in salute, “Wait a second.” He started laughing, harder and harder. “Oh, that is rich. They’ll love this back home.”

“What’s the joke?” asked a Pisan sitting next to him.

“She married that Conrad fellow, the one who used to be kaisar to Emperor Isaakios, right?”

“She did,” said the tapster. “What of it?”

“So, when he was in Constantinople, he was married to the Emperor’s sister, Theodora,” said the sailing master. “Practically part of the imperial family. Did some good things for the city, I have to say. Got Isaakios to sit up and take notice of the world, especially when parts of it were rebelling. Conrad led the troops against that Branas fellow.”

“They say he defeated him in battle personally,” said the Pisan.

“True enough,” Matthias agreed readily. “Branas was pleading for his life, and Conrad told him not to worry, he’d do nothing more unpleasant than take his head off. And he did!”

This got a laugh from the collected sailors in the room. I noted that for future use.

T
hief
, muttered my wife.

“
S
o
, he figures he’s in but good, but the Emperor won’t give him any more power or praise. Conrad figures he’s doing all the dirty work while Isaakios takes the credit, so he ups and leaves, comes here, and ends up marrying your queen. And that’s the joke.”

“I don’t get it,” said the Pisan.

“Theodora was still alive when he married your queen,” said Matthias, practically choking back the guffaws. “The new royal pup is going to be a bastard.”

He could restrain himself no further. The laughter erupted from him, spewing over a suddenly silent room.

I
raced back
to Scarlet’s rooftop. When I got to the top of the ladder from the last floor, I found him awake, sitting cross-legged on the roof of his cottage, strumming his guitar.

“What’s wrong?” he asked upon seeing my expression.

I told him the sailor’s story. Even in the moonlight I could see him turn ashen.

“That can’t be true,” he said. “He wouldn’t have done that.”

“Are you sure?”

“No,” he said reluctantly. “How many people heard about this?”

“Too many. And telling that particular tapster is as good as hiring a herald with trumpets.”

“Then it will be all through the town by midday,” he said. “Well, since we can’t quash it, we’ll just have to ride it out.”

“I hope the Queen is strong enough,” I said.

“She’s strong,” he said. “Conrad is about to learn just how strong.”

W
e decided
in the morning to let the news play out naturally. We couldn’t warn Conrad without betraying Isabelle, and Scarlet felt that it was not his place to tell her.

“It is just a rumor so far,” he said. “She shouldn’t hear gossip like that from me.”

But one of her ladies-in-waiting lacked his reticence. As we entered the great hall, we heard a commotion from outside. Then the doors burst open behind us and Isabelle stormed into the room.

“Tell me it isn’t true!” she shouted as she charged her husband.

Conrad sat on his throne, staring in shock at the sight of his wife in full rage.

“What on earth are you talking about?” he asked.

“You were still married?” she cried. “When you took your vows before God? You were still married when you swore eternal faithfulness to me? When you came to my bed?”

“It isn’t true,” he protested.

“Liar!” she spat. “It’s all over Tyre, You’ve disgraced me and our unborn child, You’ve made the heir to Jerusalem a bastard.”

“My Queen, where did you hear this arrant nonsense?” he demanded.

“One who came from Constantinople, who knows full well your ambition and your treachery, lifted the veil from our eyes,” she said.

“Who?”

“A sailing master to the Emperor. They say his name is Matthias.”

“Matthias, Matthias,” he muttered, scratching his head. “I remember him. He gained his position with the Emperor by the worst kind of toadying and rumor mongering. He was one of the faction that wanted me out of the city because I was doing too good a job of cutting into their graft. If he is in Tyre and telling stories about me, you can depend on them for being lies.”

She stood before him, digging her nails into her palms. He stepped down from the throne and tried to embrace her, but she stiffened and lurched back.

“Isabelle,” he pleaded. “I swear by all that is holy that I was a widower when I came to Tyre. I took the oath of marriage before God with a pure heart. Our child, the next king, is legitimate.”

She said nothing. She looked at him for what seemed like hours, though it could not have been more than a few seconds, then turned and strode out of the room.

“I don’t think she believes me,” observed Conrad.

“Isn’t that strange?” said Scarlet. “Normally, ambitious schemers are the first people one would trust.”

He was standing in front of the throne, looking up at Conrad in undisguised fury.

“Et tu,
Scarlet?” replied the Marquis. “What has gotten into everyone today? One vile story from a questionable source, and suddenly I am the scourge of Tyre.”

“Look me in the eye and tell me the truth,” said Scarlet.

“Who are you to question me?” roared Conrad, turning crimson. He leapt from the throne and picked up the dwarf. He was on the verge of heaving him across the room when Scarlet spoke again.

“Since you’re already looking me in the eye,” he said calmly, “you might as well level with me.”

Conrad stared at him, then took a deep breath.

“I saw her put into a grave,” he said. “If she wasn’t dead when we buried her, she certainly was soon after. Satisfied, Dwarf?”

Scarlet looked at him, then nodded. Conrad released him abruptly, and the dwarf landed lightly on his feet.

“But I am not the one who must be satisfied,” he said. “Be honest with her for once.”

Conrad walked to the door, then turned to face him.

“It’s a good thing for you that you’re a fool and not a knight,” he said. “Otherwise, I’d be suspicious of your intentions toward my Queen.”

“It’s a good thing for you that I’m a fool and not a knight,” retorted Scarlet. “Otherwise, you’d be seeking a surgeon.”

Conrad made a disgruntled snort of a laugh and left.

“Good comeback,” I remarked. “It’s fortunate that he knows you were joking. Otherwise, he might revoke your license.”

“I wasn’t joking,” said Scarlet.

T
he next day
, Scarlet was summoned for a private audience with the Marquis. I accompanied him to the castellum, then paced outside for an hour until he reemerged. He was fuming.

“What’s the punishment?” I inquired.

“A mission,” he said. “An appeal to my better nature, the worst kind of seduction. He’s sending an envoy to Saladin to restart the negotiations. He wants me to go along to renew my own contacts and see what we can get through the back door. Think he wants to get rid of me?”

“For a while, anyway,” I said. “It might not be the worst thing. Every time he sees you now, he’s reminded of what you said. Give it time and come back with good news, and you’ll be back in his good graces again.”

“You’re making sense,” grumbled Scarlet. “I don’t need sense from a fool right now.”

“What advice would you give to someone in your position?” I asked. “Especially when it involves a mission of peace?”

“I know, I know,” he sighed. “Come with me while I pack.”

He showed me what I needed to do to care for the carrier pigeons, then selected two and placed them in a small, wicker cage.

“I’ll send one when I arrive, and the other when I’m about to leave,” he said.

“I’ll watch for them,” I promised.

“Keep an eye on the Queen,” he said.

“I’ll visit her every afternoon,” I said.

“And don’t forget the novitiates’ training,” he said.

I wont.

“But no teaching them how to kill while I’m away,” he warned.

“They’re in safe hands, my Chief,” I said, grinning. “Trust me.”

“I do,” he said, sighing. “It’s the rest of the world that frightens me.” He headed down the ladder.

“Scarlet,” I called.

He poked his head back up.

“What if this turns out to be some treachery on Conrad’s part?” I asked.

“I’ve considered that,” he said.

“And?”

“I’ve concluded that it’s a distinct possibility,” he said. “See you when I see you.” And he vanished.

Well. Temporarily on my own. Unsupervised.

How delightful!

The novitiates were a bit surprised to see me without their master. I led them through their stretches, then showed the older ones some group acrobatic techniques. I left them under the supervision of Ibrahim after designating him my assistant in a grand mock ceremony that I made up on the spot, and worked with the younger ones on langue d’oc. By the end of the lesson, they had gleefully memorized a number of bawdy troubadour songs.

“That should get you in good with your friends,” I said as I reassembled the two groups. “Now, everyone sit down.” They did.

“The other day, you saw a dead woman in the woods,” I began. They all nodded. ‘”Ibu come from different parts of the kingdom and now live in different parts of the tent city. ‘fou’ve had several days to learn more about her. What have you found out?”

“Scarlet said it wasn’t our problem,” said one of the older boys. “Maybe not,” I said. “But it is still a curious event. How is it that no one knew of her? You all keep your eyes open as to what happens here. It’s a basic survival skill. Yet you’ve heard and seen nothing?”

“She may have just gotten here,” said Ibrahim.

“Then why would someone be so quick to kill her if she’s a stranger?” I countered. “I don’t think that this was merely a simple instance of someone killing a prostitute. I have seen that kind of lovely behavior before, and it’s usually much more brutal. This was a quick, efficient throat-slitting, and that intrigues me.”

“But what can we do?” asked a girl named Sara.

“Yxt’ve learned tumbling, juggling, music, and all manner of comic routines,” I said. “But you’ve never been trained in one of the most useful tools for fools, the one that will keep you employed long after your physical skills have rusted.”

They leaned toward me as if I had just told them I would share the secret of the philosopher’s stone. I let the pause draw out for effect, then uttered a single word: “Gossiping.”

There was a groan of disappointment.

“Gossiping is for silly women,” said one of the smaller boys, and his mates echoed their agreement.

“Not always,” I said. “Silly men do it just as much, though they may call it something else. Besides, it’s the silly women who are in charge of the great households, especially when the silly men are off fighting their silly wars. If you wish to make a good living as a jester, you might want to attach yourself to such a household, and it will be the women, whether it’s the lady of the house or the head of the household servants, who you will need to please. You can’t be spending the entire time tumbling and jesting—that gets old quickly. But good talk about the everchanging state of the world or who Lady So-and-so is seeing on the sly will always be fresh and valuable. Let me demonstrate. Sara, come sit by me.”

She scampered up and plopped down on the ground beside me. She was a lithe gamine of twelve with unruly brown hair and a face that I had never seen clean.

I leaned over to her and said, “Did you hear about Ibrahim?”

“What about him?” she asked.

“He says he got up at dawn to pick mushrooms,” I said. “But I think he lies.”

“Really?” she exclaimed. “Why?”

“Because I saw a flower sticking out of his pouch,” I replied. “I think what he really was doing was picking flowers for someone.”

There were some knowing giggles from the rest of the girls, and Ibrahim turned beet red.

“And I bet you know who it was,” I continued.

“How did you know I knew that?” she protested.

“You told me just now,” I said.

Her mouth dropped open.
“You
tricked me!” she accused.

“Rather easily,” I said. “So, who is the object of his affections?”

“I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone,” she said miserably.

“It’s all right,” I said. “I already know. I can see Magdalena’s blushes from here.”

There were hoots of laughter from the rest of the children. I held up my hand to quell them.

“Now, all I had to go on was one guess based on the flower I saw,” I said. “But in the space of a minute, I teased out the rest of the story. That gives me information about several of you that I didn’t know before. Perfectly harmless information under the present circumstances, but if I did the same in a noble household, I might learn about a romantic dalliance that could have political repercussions. Depending on what they were, it may be Guild policy to either encourage the romance or discourage it. If there were no repercussions, it might still be the sort of thing you could introduce in a conversation with someone. They may then tell you a bit of news that is actually something you could use. I generally recommend that you start with the cooks. They always seem to hear everything, probably because they stay in one place while the other servants come to them.”

I stood and slapped the dirt off my motley.

‘’Your assignment for your next lesson is to find out everything you can about that poor woman,” I said. “It may not be our concern, but it is still an event worth looking into, even if it’s only for the gossip. Listen for word of anyone in mourning, or who’s concerned about someone who either went missing or never arrived in the first place. The soldiers carried her body through the tents. It must have drawn someone’s attention. Listen everywhere—you’ll find that the paths taken by gossip are easily traveled and have many branchings. Lesson learned?”

“Lesson learned,” they chorused.

“Then class dismissed,” I said, and they ran back to the tents. Magdalena dawdled behind, waiting for Ibrahim, but he flew by her at full speed without even glancing in her direction. She gave me a nasty look and walked away.

I
hope
that you had enough conscience to feel guilty about that.

I did, actually.

I went to pay my respects to the Queen in the afternoon. As I was coming up to her door, it opened and Ralph Falconberg came out. He smirked when he saw the surprise on my face.

“Come to amuse the Queen, Fool?” he said.

“That is my purpose,” I answered.

“Then you’re too late,” he said. “I’ve already done that.” He walked away, chuckling.

I entered to find her standing by her window. I have mentioned how pale she normally was. On this day, her cheeks were full of color, and she started when I greeted her.

I know of several ways in which a man can change a woman’s complexion. I wondered which one Ralph Falconberg took.

“Monsieur Droignon,” she said. “Forgive me, but I am not in the mood for entertainment just now.”

“I am not here on your behalf, milady,” I said.

“For what, then?” she snapped.

“I am here at the behest of your faithful servant, Scarlet,” I said. “He made me promise that I would visit you daily.”

She looked away, her eyes brimming with tears. “I wish he was here,” she said softly.

“He is in spirit, milady,” I said. “Think of me as his proxy, and use me as you will. What would he usually do about now?”

“He would tell me something to distract me,” she said, wiping her eyes with a kerchief. “But I am not in the mood for gossip today. I think the only gossip in Tyre right now is about me.”