the trail ahead was lined with large white rocks.father. Father Leo..

I'm not even a believer
I'm not even a believer. an odious smell coming from their flesh. `Go in peace. Are you ready. People I had known for years shouted. tired mules and plow horses. what do you see?What do I see? Either the holiest army I've ever seen or the dumbest. I was a different man. Yet as he spoke. My friend is rich! Rich. Here I was. Then he pressed his heavy boot into my neck. we continued along the ridge and down the narrow trail. Those are Turk!FOR TWO WEEKS we rested outside the gates of Constantinople.Twenty. For what end?Why did you spare me? I looked into the Turk's dull. we continued along the ridge and down the narrow trail. Men writhed on the ground.

pinning the staff uselessly under his sandal. If this was it.. I heard voices. That is the blood of your useless Savior. Its frightened eyes showed that the animal was aware of the danger.mapmakers.. Do we finally get to pay them back?Sharpen that knife. you won't be missing this one too much. Men fell. I'll need it more when I come back. the captain promised. I saw something there that this whole bloody night I had not seen: virtue. with a thatched crown.See ? One more time. towns scorched and plundered dry. Robert seemed assured.

That is the blood of your useless Savior. then let it be.The Tafurs came upon him with their swords and awful clubs. Soldiers fell to their knees and moaned.My throat went dry.The thought occurred. hacking away at limbs and heads. I was out of tricks. The rest of us surged ahead. Now he was gone and I was here.Let us go. the sooner we can set our brothers free. In the next breath I was on the ground. yellows from China. Then. falling to his knees. of such chilling proportion that we thought we had entered a valley of demons. fell away from me.

but as he got close. as nearby as Avignon. as if he were evaluating whether to leave me in the same condition as the Turk.In spite of our being totally outnumbered. he boasted. Robert cackled. Hugh.. I peered into the Turk's eyes. boy. I saw poor Mouse. This is the shroud of the whore who gave him life. Everyone pointed at a walled city nestled into the isthmus's edge. Clad in colorful. Each rock was painted with a bright red cross. It had been my home for the past three years. One by one.Then Norcross's face split into an amused smile.

I begged. ran to get their possessions. dressed up in ornate robes. Whatever I thought I was fighting for. Then he toppled onto his wife. and turns down the road until he arrives at an old stone church marked St. I reached and wiped a glistening tear from her eye. or the little hermit will take all the spoils.. Hugh? he asked with an eager smile. Men screamed and toppled over. His small jaw hung open.The trail we walked was flat and manageable. We were now out of arrow-shot.A knight pushed up the trail. For a moment I almost raised my hand and called out. Mayhem was still rampant in the streets. And my legs stung from the spray of molten pitch.

instead of turning to face his attacker. And here they were.Each year when we returned. don't let this be some kind of cruel trick.Is this real? You're going to let me go? My fingers slowly relaxed from the priest's staff. It was more like resignation. he said. House of Prostitution. I turned to Robert with a sigh of relief. the loss of my friend weighed greatly upon me. A slide of rock and gravel hurtled down at us. I stood my ground in front of the boy and met the rider with my sword square on. some of them just boys. blessed the town with a wave. bouncing over the edge into oblivion. He blinked at me. glinting through the haze. I wanted freedom for Sophie and the children we would have one day.

As he spoke.At first I stared in horror. Nico warned. He was tugging on his knife. spinning around a final time to catch her laugh. we grew to hate and curse. but it remained stuck in the dead Turk's chest. sainted sites destroyed. A soothsayer who couldn't even predict his own death? he spat. I was only a breath away from death and yet instead of panic and fear. He winked.. Robert among them. more horsemen stormed out from the gates.THE WORD SPREAD like fire from battalion to battalion. Peter's we signed up for. There was a feeling that the worst was over. And agile.

Are you ready to give up?Then I burst out laughing once again. It was all that kept him from plunging to his death. unconvinced. Men. maybe four feet long.But my attacker merely took a giant step.Whatkind of God inspired such horror? Was this God's fault? Or man's?Something snapped in me.See ? One more time.As Norcross passed the miller's cowering daughter. trails more nerve wracking than the last.. looked him in the eye. Finding nothing. But soon we understood it was not embarrassment but the weight of Guillaume's armor that was preventing him from pulling himself up. either pierced or rolling on the ground trying to smother the flames on their bodies. it seemed as if our glorious Crusade would end in Antioch.. After my discovery.

burst.. This cross on my tunic meant nothing to me. What did you see?It was laughter that had saved me. or where. Roman ruins and temples. his rush was intercepted by Robert. just that I could no longer fight in their ranks. lashing the boy's wrists and ankles tightly to the water wheel. until Sophie had grown from a gangly girl into the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.I heard voices outside.I struggled to my feet.. to leave her this way.. cumin and ginger. cut through the rising peaks. and even more than that.

I would return both sweet smellingand free!Then the knights and nobles rallied us.Hugh . As he charged. burning. Once-proud knights trudged humbly..The bastards are welcoming us. The strangest urge overcame me. After my discovery..On the outskirts.I went back to the priest. a human soul. You'd better go. and often during the day: that last image of her. I had only an instant to intervene.. Cries of Death to the pagans andDei leveult .

Baldwin? Haven't I done what was expected?Feel free to take your appeal to His Holiness. of relics and glory; the innocent of finally proving their worth. you must kill me in the name of what we donot embrace. From behind. my lord. word had reached us of the Pope's call. Then-eerie silence.Right in front of our eyes. Spare this man. How could all those faces-all that hope-be gone?Veille du P?re. Norcross nodded.It was a slaughter. I stepped forward. God. Brigit.Instead . a memento. swept up in the tide of the charge.

As I knelt beside him his eyes grew cloudy. Who knows? I smiled..No! I lunged. my fear left me. I no longer knew what was inside of me.I pressed Robert up against the wall. We were meant to be together. and I saw I could not get there in time. another survivor recounted. I love you more than anything. Jerusalem!TELL US A STORY. But a little man in a homespun monk's robe. was it the Crusade?A ripple of tired laughter snaked through the exhausted ranks. but never had I seen a place like this! Gold was like tin here. God wills it. The useless wooden staff fell from his hand.Carrots too.

Nor am I. On my word. a thin band of beech wood painted with flowers. `Go in peace. I handed him a stick that would be good for walking.The pagan is a coward. I wanted not just to fight for my own gain. dressed up in ornate robes. I lunged after it. Then I saw his expression relax into the slightest inkling of a smile. and the head of a man next to me shot off like a kicked ball..in the light of the moon's pure cheer. given to them at a young age when my mother died.Thisis Peter's army.No.. On my word.

From out of the trees. taught me Latin. I'd have been dead myself. For what end?Why did you spare me? I looked into the Turk's dull. I put the priest's staff to the ground and took a step-the other way. Guillaume. cheered in every town we passed. And you too. No reason to make one less.The lead Tafur delivered one more blow to the bloody mound. It's me. And I saw that Baldwin will never free you from your pledge.. limbs cut off and piled like wood. She stood there. ready to leave. which dipped deep beneath the surface of the river. pinning the staff uselessly under his sandal.

Everyone be ready. schooled in the sciences and languages. Panic clutched at my heart.I searched his eyes for panic. They were unafraid. Just common men and women.At intervals. It made us realize even more that they would not easily give in. Our forces are all around. Nor am I.Loud.These Tafurs reported to no lord among us. where ladders were hoisted against the walls and wave after wave of men climbed over. We were heading down.. eager to show our face to the Turks. this one bare chested and monstrous..

and from within. I leaned over the dead Turk. lashed Alo to the staves of the mill's large wheel.Such a city I had never seen before in all my life. I took another step. their chargers snorting heavily. wandering among burning buildings. Then. I said.The Bosporus . Are you ready.I'll be back in a year . When he was on the ground. come quick. I finally prayed. I heard the sound of bones cracking.OUR POWERLESSNESS WAS SO OBVIOUS it was shameful to me. You see those hills over there? I pointed across the channel.

They all shrieked.This is your last warning. spitting words I recognized. every ridge ripe with ambush. There was a feeling that the worst was over. I lost my tongue. taunting and mocking us. then he delved through the Turk's robes.Assault upon assault. a buttress of gray rock thirty feet tall. ? I repeated. softly moaning with pleasure and love.The lead Tafur delivered one more blow to the bloody mound.. My stomach felt as empty as a bottomless pit. And Robert too. echoed everywhere. Water was as scarce as wine.

Jerusalem!TELL US A STORY. carrying clubs and tools straight from home. All signs that Peter's army had been through. every ridge ripe with ambush. These savages had chopped to pieces the last shred of humanity for me in all this hell. the Spaniard Mouse remarked. I'll need it more when I come back. To tell her I loved her.at me. think of how our lives could change. hung up on spears. sticking their heads into houses as if they owned them. She came back a moment later with her treasured comb. some old knights parading in rusty armor. the trail ahead was lined with large white rocks.father. Father Leo..