Chapter 23 #2
“Let’s go out to the balcony,” said Jean, so we did.
Beneath the climbing grapevine, he asked again how I was doing. This time I told him—without too much detail—about Thibaut’s visit and his offer to sail me back to Atlit today or tomorrow. Jean’s face fell, but he nodded.
“The Lady Alice, my wife, was very curious to meet you,” he said with a half-apologetic smile.
Good God. I cast a glance into the room in the hopes that the young Burgundy had already returned from the Master of the Templars.
“I told her that you are very shy and humble, and that all you want is to see the holy places and to visit my sister at her convent,” said Jean, his gaze directed at the harbor.
“But she claimed that she could not forgo a meeting with one of my relations that she had never heard of. I fear that we may have gotten somewhat enmeshed, my dear Lady édith.” He spoke as if this were amusing to him.
It did not amuse me, but it touched my heart that he called me “my dear.”
I could now see the city spread out before us.
It was not as dense, noisy, and dirty as I had imagined every large, bustling Levantine city to be.
Most of it was built of stone, there were broad passages, and now I could also see the many stone domes and colorful flags.
The city had a quiet splendor, full of self-worth.
Sea birds screeched and flew over the ships in the bay, and sailboats of all shapes and sizes were moored in the small harbor.
“What a gorgeous city,” I said, just to say something.
Jean snorted.
“You don’t think so?”
“Indeed, from the heights of the luxurious rooms in the Venetian inn, it really is beautiful,” Jean agreed.
“But when you are near the ports and the craftsmen’s neighborhoods, the stench is strong, and the density is high,” he said with disdain.
“I am waiting impatiently for the moment when my castle’s construction is complete, and I can look out at the sea without thinking about all the waste that is thrown into it every day. ”
“Arsur!” Thibaut’s voice called from inside the room. “Come here!”
Jean apologized to me and went inside. I remained standing on the balcony, my hands resting on the stone railing between the ornamental clay pots. I continued to look out at the city, my head empty of thoughts. Jean returned.
“My lady,” he said, “the king asked that I collect an illuminated manuscript ordered some months ago from the scriptorium of the Holy Cross. I thought this might be a good opportunity to have a nice trip with you and speak privately.”
“In the stinking, dense city?” I asked mockingly.
Jean chuckled. Now, when he was less troubled and anxious, he was as attractive to me as ever.
He had also evidently bathed the night before, or this morning, because a sweet, lemony scent came off him in waves; his hair was neatly gathered under his velvet beret; his handsome brown beard was brushed; and he wore his red-gold clothes without the chainmail and leather gloves.
I wondered if there were any chance at all that I could pull him into the fluffy bed in my room downstairs.
“I might have exaggerated a little,” Jean said good-naturedly. “There are some very nice parts.”
We parted from Thibaut—who waved goodbye to us without pausing his singing—and we went down to my room, where I took the cape that Jean loaned me to keep me warm the day before.
Hugh remained in Thibaut’s rooms to wait for us and to run and summon us in case the king’s messenger should return from the Templars with an urgent message.
As we descended the stone steps to the entrance level of the inn, the description of which was not at all suitable to its dimensions or its elegant grandeur, I felt a kind of elation once again.
What do I care about anything? I don’t care at all, I hummed to myself as the entrance hall was revealed before me, its floor colorful with mosaics depicting a large ship at sea and golden portraits of saints on the walls.
A servant standing by the large wooden door bowed to us. We walked out into the street.
I was surprised that it was paved with stones—I had always imagined the cities of the Middle Ages as paths of mud, rotting wood, and sewage.
We walked through the streets hand in hand, crossing plazas with fountains, decorated with beds of blooming flowers and covered stalls crammed with wares: fruits, vegetables, fabrics, copper tools, wooden tools, iron tools, leather products, spices, icons, and all kinds of devices whose purpose I did not recognize.
The streets were full of noblemen in velvet and silk, merchants from different and strange lands, clerics in black and brown woolen clothes, and harried servants running from one task to the next.
The city stunned me with its beauty; with its paved streets and broad wooden steps wound through churches, monasteries, and palaces; and with sprawling plazas dotted with trees and benches.
When did they get around to building all this?
How long had they even been here? I tried to calculate—I got to something like a hundred and fifty years.
Don’t gape, I kept having to remind myself.
Here and there, passersby nodded to Jean, and he responded with a head gesture of his own.
It did not seem that he was trying to hide the fact that he and I had close relations.
“Tell me, my lady, did Thibaut coerce you in some manner to return to the Pilgrim Castle?” Jean asked without looking at me.
“Just a little,” I replied apprehensively. I did not want to lie to him, but I also did not want to reveal the fact that for several seconds, I had desired Thibaut. It was bizarre and mortifying, and I hoped to forget about it as soon as possible.
“I am familiar with my royal friend and know that his ways are sometimes … a little extreme,” he said, glancing at me. “But usually his intentions are good.”
I smiled and said, “This time, too, his intentions were good,” and I added honestly, “and he loves you and relies on you.”
Jean nodded, his smile spread, and his face brightened again.
“I would have liked to spend undisturbed time with you, perhaps in some remote cabin in the middle of the forest,” I smiled at him and pressed his arm against mine even harder, hoping to change the subject.
“But this whole journey is too much for me, and I worry that it is for you too. I am an unnecessary burden under these circumstances.”
“You articulate it beautifully, my l—” He stopped himself and cleared his throat. “My lady.” I squeezed his arm again.
“I will not permit you to sail alone with just ill-tempered Templar knights,” Jean said resolutely.
“You are correct that the present journey is too busy and full. I am angry with myself for inviting you along without proper consideration. I simply did not want to waste the opportunity to spend more time with you than a few cramped hours,” he said and stopped. I stood facing him.
“If Thibaut had not been in such a hurry, I would sail back with you in one of the smaller Ibelin ships. There are three anchored here in Acre just now, and at least one of them will sail south today or tomorrow to Arsur, and then on to Jaffa and to Ashkelon. I could have easily arranged a stop for us at the Pilgrim Castle.” He sighed and went on.
“But it would be disrespectful to forgo Thibaut’s gesture in seeking a place for you on one of the Templar sailings today or tomorrow, and so, in the name of the Holy Mother—I will join you and escort you safely to your spring, my lady, my dear lady,” he said and stole a glance around.
I knew what he wanted, because I wanted the exact same thing.
But Jean just sighed and then looked away.
“We’re almost there,” he said in a more matter-of-fact tone and increased his pace.
On the way to the scriptorium of the Cathedral of the Holy Cross, I saw what he meant when he spoke of the stench and the overcrowding.
The craftsmen’s neighborhoods were cramped and crowded.
Clinging smells mingled with soot and sweat.
We passed through streets of butchers, tanners, and leather workers, where hides in various stages of processing hung and attracted flies.
All manner of cloudy liquids streamed through small ditches where thick foam accumulated.
The stench was horrible. I held my nose and hoped I would not throw up.
Then, we left the dense neighborhoods and arrived at a broad, beautiful part of town, crowned with lofty buildings with round towers overlooking the sea, crenellated turrets, and columned porticoes.
A huge plaza, home to enormous plane trees, centered on a cathedral so big that I could barely see around it.