physician sat his horse stiffly. “I am of Cordoba, my lord. I am here on an errand, upon the request of al-’Ādil the Just, may he live forever. But I serve no one but God.”
“Which God?” Kalle pressed, his pale eyes gleaming. His gauntleted fingers twitched upon his sword hilt.
Palban raised his chin. “There is but a single God. It is you Christians who are the polytheists, worshiping a trinity.”
“A cursed tongue have you, dog of an infidel.” Kalle swung his head to face Lucien. “You have done Brus no favor, Lucien de Griswold, by turning his leg into a pagan offering!”
“FitzMalheury, have a care as to your words,” Lucien said softly, and began to ease his horse between Kalle’s and Palban’s.
“FitzMalheury?” Palban’s face paled as if he had heard of Kalle’s reputation.
Kalle sneered. “And you, Lucien, watch your empty head, lest I send it rolling along the ground as a lesson to all friends of Salah al-Din’s brother.”
“Allan,” Lucien, his heart pounding, kept his gaze upon Kalle. “Take Palban on to his destination. I would stay here with Kalle and have it out with him to my satisfaction.”
“Had you the least respect for your betters, you’d not even think of raising your hand against me. But be advised—I’ve seen to it that nothing remains of the caravanserai. And I will send this Saracen to join his friends, to be purged by the hellfire that surely awaits him.”
Kalle spurred his horse forward, his sword unleashed.
“Nay!” Lucien sought to block his advance, but the heavy destrier’s shoulder knocked his own tired mount off balance. Palban tried to rein his horse around to flee, but Kalle was almost upon him. In desperation, Lucien kicked his stirrups free and leaped from his saddle to land behind Kalle, on the destrier’s rump. Anything to slow him down.
But Kalle’s speed was beyond stopping. Palban screamed as the knight’s blade flashed. A burst of red showered through the air. Then, with a snarl, FitzMalheury rammed the pommel of his sword backward and hit Lucien between the eyes.
And Lucien thought, as the blackness swooped in, Kalle has robbed Palban of his life—and me of my honor….
Chapter One
Acre
Capital of the Kingdom of Jerusalem
Early summer, 1197
T he crunch of booted feet on packed earth and the rattle of swords echoed in the narrow, steep-walled lane. Shifting her precious bundle of glassware, Isidora hurried through the arched stone gateway into the courtyard of her father’s house.
She pushed aside her linen veil and looked back. Drying fabrics streamed and billowed like pennants from windows high above, creating a serpentine play of light and shadow on the street. Below, bareheaded in the sun, as if it were not the middle of the afternoon when sensible folk came in out of the heat and dust, a group of brawny young men strode nearer.
Tall, broad-chested warriors. Franks? English? She was not certain. But they moved with bold assurance, taking up more space with their extravagant movements and loud voices than was either seemly or wise in this city of many cultures.
When the great Salah al-Din had ruled, isolated westerners like she and her father had usually been left in peace. Then the city had been retaken by Richard Coeur de Leon and King Philippe.
Little enough blood had been shed when Acre shifted hands that time, but many a Crusader did not bother to determine who was Christian and who was Muslim before striking out.
Isidora’s stomach fluttered at the sight of the men with their fair heads and long swords. She swallowed her rising fear and took another peek. She had to admit they were glorious—like young, unruly chargers.
But joking amongst themselves and occupying half the lane, they acted as though they personally ruled the place.
Whatever their purpose, she should bar the gate before they drew any closer.
“Marylas, quick, help me.” Isidora put the glassware down.
The serving girl was a Circassian, her face and arms heavily veiled because her flawless white skin could not tolerate the desert sun. But she was strong and willing, and helped Isidora push the heavy wooden gate. It swung a short way, met a stubborn resistance and stopped short.
Isidora’s body stilled at a creak of leather and the faintest whiff of sandalwood. She looked around the edge of the thick planking. Her gaze moved from a gauntleted hand, up a muscular, linen-clad arm, and to the vivid blue eyes of the man who remained firmly in the way.
“Oh,” she breathed. If the lovely Marylas resembled a woman made of silver, this was as comely a man as could be imagined, made of red-gold. A straight nose, set in a lean, sculpted, sun-burned face, with high cheekbones and a wide jaw. Hair that flowed past his shoulders like liquid copper.
His eyebrow quirked. A charming, perfect eyebrow.
“Ma demoiselle?”
And a voice to match the rest. Resonant yet soft. Rich with nuance.
She blinked and was ready to kick herself. What am I thinking? One bewitching stranger cannot sway me from what I know to be the truth. Fair men are perfectly capable of destroying one’s life and happiness, just as are ugly ones.
“Pardon me, do you speak French or English?” he asked, still not releasing the gate.
“Or Latin? Or Greek? Lucien knows them all,” came another voice from beyond him, accompanied by male laughter.
“You are Franj?” Isidora ventured in French. His eyes were as blue as the sea beyond the walls of the city. Beteuse! What does it matter who he is or how handsome? Tell him to go away!
“Nay. But we need—guiding—to the, em, bathhouse. Can you help?”
His companions groaned. “Lucien—you and your hot water obsession! Why not ask where the nearest ale house is?”
Her father’s voice rang out into the courtyard. “Isidora! What’s keeping you?”
She glanced over her shoulder. “Nothing, my lord! Just some travelers looking for the hammam. It is up that way,” she added, and pointed in the direction they should go.
“God speed you!” she urged the young men, but they did not depart.
Then her father, Sir Deogal, emerged, tall and spare and out of sorts. His eyes glinted dangerously from beneath his heavy gray brows. He moved in the stiff but determined way of old warriors, his faded blue robe dragging along the stones of the courtyard.
Isidora threw him a concerned look. He would still pick a fight, even though outnumbered and unarmed. Strong he might be, but men like these could cut him to pieces if they chose.
“Father, please do not trouble yourself. They are just leaving.” She turned and met the handsome intruder’s gaze squarely. “Are you not?”
Clutching
