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to tell them,Hughwill return. He'll find me. They said they'll give Phillipe
back to us, our little son. All we have to do is give them what is theirs.
I finally knelt and wrapped my hands around her, my dear wife. I touched her
face, brushed the sweat off her hollow cheeks. She was so precious to me, even
more so in this misery.
They want what belongs to God, she said, and her body rattled with a cough.
Please. Give it to them.
Give themwhat ? I cried. What did she think I had? I did not know if it was
the fever or a deeper madness talking. Or even if Sophie still recognized she
was talking to me.
Suddenly she jerked out of my grasp and scampered back into shadow. It broke
my heart. Her eyes bolted past me, wide with fear.
I felt as if everything I loved had slipped through my fingers one last time.
Then I saw what had driven her away. My heart nearly came to a stop.
One of the duke's rogue knights was standing over me.
Chapter 72
I RECOGNIZED HIM as one of the thugs who had dragged the mayor into the keep
the previous night.
His head was covered by a dark hood, and the eyes peering out were as dark as
sunken caves. He wore his sword belted over a threadbare robe and stood, hands
on hips, grinning down on the two of us.
Go ahead, have a poke. He shrugged. The whore won't mind, fool. Anyway, she'll
be dead in a week. Just be careful you don't get the pox all over your dick.
I stared at his mocking face, and the greatest rage I had ever known tightened
inside me, a boiling, uncontrollable force.
I reached for an iron poker lying next to me on the floor. In my mind, this
grinning lizard represented every cruelty that had been heaped on my wife and
child, all the suffering and loss I had witnessed since I first went away. My
world had been hurled upside down.
With a cry, I rushed at him, a wild exhalation escaping from my lungs. I swung
the poker at his head before he could draw his sword. The startled knight
threw up an arm to defend himself, and the rod smacked against it with a
sickening crack.
He yelped and staggered back in pain, one arm hanging at his side. I did not
stop. I battered him again and again, like some mad beast, every sinew of my
body concentrated on driving this piece of metal into his skull.
I shoved him against the bars of the cell. I drove my knee into his groin and
felt him groan and buckle. I jammed the poker into his neck.
Why?I barked into his face. The soldier gagged, his eyes bulging, darting
around.Why is she here ?
Agarbled cry emerged from his throat, but in my rage I was not waiting for his
answer. I pushed the rod deeper into his neck. A force rose inside me that I
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could not stop. I wanted to kill this man.
Who are you? I screamed in his face. Where have you come from? Why did you
bring her here? Why did you kill my son?
My thumbs pressed under his hood as I dug the poker into his throat, squeezing
the breath out of him. Bit by bit, the hood fell away from his neck.
My eyes were pinned to the frightful mark I saw there.
The black Byzantine cross.
It shot me back a thousand miles. Suddenly I was in the Holy Land, revisiting
the horrors I had seen there.
These bastards wereTafurs.
Chapter 73
I STAGGERED BACK in shock. Our eyes met, and it was as if some terrible
knowledge had been passed between us.
The Tafur took my surprise as an opening and dug his hands into my face. I
pressed the poker into his neck even harder. Then I heard bone crack in his
neck. His eyes bulged, a final, desperate resistance. A trickle of blood
seeped from his mouth. A moment later, his legs began to give way. When at
last I let go, the Tafur crumpled to the filthy prison floor.
I stood over him, breathing furiously. My mind hurtled back again.Tafurs... I
saw them ravaging their captives in their filthy tents. I saw them butchering
the Turk who had spared me, then darting like beetles to the crypt, scavenging
for spoils. What were they doing here in Bor e? What did they want with me?
With Sophie?
Suddenly I heard shouts and commotion. The prisoners were clanging the bars in
their cells.
Now, with what little time we had left, I had to get Sophie out of here. I
rummaged over the Tafur's body, frantically searching for a key.
I ran my eyes about the keep. Keys must be here somewhere.
I turned toward Sophie, eager to let her know that I would help her escape.
But the sight of her left me rigid as stone.
She was slumped against the bars, her face icy white. Her eyes, a moment ago
mad with terror, seemed calm and far-off. I did not see her breathe.
Oh,God ,no...!
I crawled to her, cupped her face in my hands. Sophie, stay with me. You can't
die. Not now.
She blinked, barely more than a tremor. A glimmer of life appeared in her
eyes.
Hugh... ? she whispered.
Yes, Sophie.... It's me. I brushed the sweat off her face. Her skin was cold.
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I knew you would come back, she said, finally seeming to know who I was.
I'm so sorry, Sophie. I'm going to get you out of here. I promise.
We had a son, she said, and started to cry.
I know. I know it all. I wiped her cheek. He was a beautiful boy. Phillipe.
I looked around, desperately searching for something to help her. The guards
will be here, I said. I'm going to find a way out. Hold on. Please, Sophie.
Please!
I held her hands in mine through the bars. I whispered, I'll take you home.
I'll pick sunflowers for you. I'll sing you a song. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]