Part 57 (2/2)
A company of priests also, headed by a bishop, advanced chanting and swinging censers, and blessed them solemnly in the name of the Church and of Christ its Master.
”Give us not praise and thanks, but prayers,” answered Rosamund; ”prayers that we may succeed in our mission, to which we gladly offer up our lives, and afterwards, when we are dead, prayers for the welfare of our sinful souls. But should we fail, as it may chance, then remember of us only that we did our best. Oh! good people, great sorrows have come upon this land, and the Cross of Christ is veiled with shame. Yet it shall s.h.i.+ne forth once more, and to it through the ages shall all men bow the knee. Oh! may you live! May no more death come among you! It is our last pet.i.tion, and with it, this--that when at length you die we may meet again in heaven! Now fare you well.”
Then they pa.s.sed through the gate, and as the envoys declared that none might accompany them further, walked forward followed by the sound of the weeping of the mult.i.tude towards the camp of Saladin, two strange and lonesome figures in the moonlight.
At last these lamentations could be heard no more, and there, on the outskirts of the Moslem lines, an escort met them, and bearers with a litter.
But into this Rosamund would not enter, so they walked onwards up the hill, till they came to the great square in the centre of the camp upon the Mount of Olives, beyond the grey trees of the Garden of Gethsemane. There, awaiting them at the head of the square, sat Saladin in state, while all about, rank upon rank, in thousands and tens of thousands, was gathered his vast army, who watched them pa.s.s in silence.
Thus they came into the presence of the Sultan and knelt before him, Rosamund in her novice's white robe, and Wulf in his battered mail.
Chapter Twenty Four: The Dregs of the Cup
Saladin looked at them, but gave them no greeting. Then he spoke:
”Woman, you have had my message. You know that your rank is taken from you, and that with it my promises are at an end; you know also that you come hither to suffer the death of faithless women.
Is it so?”
”I know all these things, great Salah-ed-din,” answered Rosamund.
”Tell me, then, do you come of your own free will, unforced by any, and why does the knight Sir Wulf, whose life I spared and do not seek, kneel at your side?”
”I come of my own free will, Salah-ed-din, as your emirs can tell you; ask them. For the rest, my kinsman must answer for himself.”
”Sultan,” said Wulf, ”I counselled the lady Rosamund that she should come--not that she needed such counsel--and, having given it, I accompanied her by right of blood and of Justice, since her offence against you is mine also. Her fate is my fate.”
”I have no quarrel against you whom I forgave, therefore you must take your own way to follow the path she goes.”
”Doubtless,” answered Wulf, ”being a Christian among many sons of the Prophet, it will not be hard to find a friendly scimitar to help me on that road. I ask of your goodness that her fate may be my fate.”
”What!” said Saladin. ”You are ready to die with her, although you are young and strong, and there are so many other women in the world?”
Wulf smiled and nodded his head.
”Good. Who am I that I should stand between a fool and his folly?
I grant the boon. Your fate shall be her fate; Wulf D'Arcy, you shall drink of the cup of my slave Rosamund to its last bitterest dregs.”
”I desire no less,” said Wulf coolly.
Now Saladin looked at Rosamund and asked,
”Woman, why have you come here to brave my vengeance? Speak on if you have aught to ask.”
Then Rosamund rose from her knees, and, standing before him, said:
”I am come, O my mighty lord, to plead for the people of Jerusalem, because it was told me that you would listen to no other voice than that of this your slave. See, many moons ago, you had a vision concerning me. Thrice you dreamed in the night that I, the niece whom you had never seen, by some act of mine should be the means of saving much life and a way of peace.
Therefore you tore me from my home and brought my father to a b.l.o.o.d.y death, as you are about to bring his daughter; and after much suffering and danger I fell into your power, and was treated with great honour. Still I, who am a Christian, and who grew sick with the sight of the daily slaughter and outrage of my kin, strove to escape from you, although you had warned me that the price of this crime was death; and in the end, through the wit and sacrifice of another woman, I did escape.
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