Lionheart A Novel - By Sharon Kay Penman Page 0,203

his breath. “My liege, the French king is gone! He and the marquis sailed for Tyre within the hour.”

Good riddance, Richard thought, but he contented himself with saying only that the French king’s departure was hardly a surprise. “I did not know he’d planned to leave today, but I suppose he decided to take advantage of the Arsuf winds.”

“Sire, you do not understand,” Guilhem burst out, his the unhappiness of a man forced to bring his king very unwelcome tidings. “He took with him the most important of his Saracen hostages!”

“He did what?” Richard drew an audible breath, then whirled to face Balian. “Did you know about this treachery?” Balian swore he had not and Richard grudgingly gave him the benefit of the doubt. If the man had known about this latest double-dealing by Philippe and Conrad, he’d hardly have come willingly to the citadel, after all. By now others were clustering around them, all talking at once, but the men parted to allow Richard’s queen to pass through.

“My lord husband, what is wrong?”

“Philippe has stolen some of the hostages.” Seeing, then, that she did not understand the significance of the French king’s action, he added, “I have to be able to turn over all of the hostages to Saladin upon payment of the ransom. I cannot very well do that if they are thirty miles up the coast at Tyre.”

Berengaria was loath to believe that a Christian king would deliberately sabotage their pact with Saladin, even one as untrustworthy as Philippe. “Why would he do that, Richard?” she asked softly. Few people had ever awakened his protective instincts, but in the face of such innocence, he found himself wanting to shield her from the wickedness of the world and he made an effort to master his fury, saying that it was doubtless a misunderstanding of some sort.

It was obvious to Berengaria that this was far more serious than a mere “misunderstanding,” but she realized that Richard was trying to spare her worry and so she acted as though she believed him. By now Joanna had joined them, and as soon as she was alone with her sister-in-law, she said quietly, “This was done with malice and evil intent, was it not?”

Joanna nodded grimly. “Philippe’s parting gift to Richard—a well-placed dagger in the back.”

PHILIPPE STAYED IN TYRE only two days and then sailed for home, leaving the hostages in Conrad’s custody. Midst all the turmoil over the French king’s repudiation of his crusader’s vows, few noticed when the Duke of Austria also sailed for Tyre. Unlike Philippe, Leopold had been a fervent crusader; this was his second visit to the Holy Land. But now he turned his back upon Outremer and returned to his own lands, bearing a very bitter grievance.

CHAPTER 24

AUGUST 1191

The Citadel, Acre

Richard ran his hand lightly over the stallion’s withers and back, smiling when Fauvel snorted. “You want to run,I know. Mayhap later,” he promised, reaching for a curry comb. The horse’s coat shone even in the subdued lighting of the stable, shot through with chestnut highlights. It was an outrage to think of Isaac Comnenus astride this magnificent animal. “Of course it could have been worse,” he assured the destrier, “for at least Isaac could ride. What if you’d belonged to the French king? Not that he’d have ever had the ballocks to mount you.”

“Malik Ric?”

He swung around, startled, for he’d not heard those soft footsteps in the straw. He liked Anna, admiring the girl’s spirit, and he gave her a smile over his shoulder as he began to comb out Fauvel’s mane. She overturned an empty water bucket, perching on it as if it were a throne. “Why not let a groom do that?”

“When I was not much younger than you, lass, I asked a knight named William Marshal that very question, and he told me a man ought to know how to take care of what was his. I suppose it stuck with me.” After a comfortable silence, he confided, “Also, it helps to get him familiar with my scent, and takes my mind off my troubles.”

“What troubles?”

“The missing hostages, for one. I sent the Bishop of Salisbury and the Count of Dreux to Tyre to bring them back to Acre, but they’ve not returned yet. Negotiations with Saladin, for another. He has been harder to pin down than a river eel,” he added darkly, for the delay in satisfying the terms of the surrender was sowing more and more suspicions in his mind.