“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 knight4 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 kinsman6 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 Christian7 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 folly8? I grant the boon9. 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 vengeance10? Speak on if you have aught to ask.”
Then Rosamund rose from her knees, and, standing11 before him, said:
“I am come, O my mighty12 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 bloody13 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 slaughter14 and outrage15 of my kin5, 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.
“Now I return to pay that price, and behold16! your vision is fulfilled—or, at the least, you can fulfil it if God should touch your heart with grace, seeing that of my own will I am come to pray you, Salah-ed-din, to spare the city, and for its blood to accept mine as a token and an offering.
“Oh, my lord! as you are great, be merciful. What will it avail you in the day of your own judgment17 that you have added another eighty thousand to the tally18 of your slain19, and with them many more thousands of your own folk, since the warriors20 of Jerusalem will not die unavenged? Give them their lives and let them go free, and win thereby22 the gratitude23 of mankind and the forgiveness of God above.”
So Rosamund spoke, and stretching out her arms towards him, was silent.
“These things I offered to them, and they were refused,” answered Saladin. “Why should I grant them now that they are conquered?”
“My lord, Strong-to-Aid,” said Rosamund, “do you, who are so brave, blame yonder knights24 and soldiers because they fought on against desperate odds25? Would you not have called them cowards if they had yielded up the city where their Saviour26 died and struck no blow to save it? Oh! I am outworn! I can say no more; but once again, most humbly27 and on my knees, I beseech28 you speak the word of mercy, and let not your triumph be dyed red with the blood of women and of little children.”
Then casting herself upon her face, Rosamund clasped the hem1 of his royal robe with her hands, and pressed it to her forehead.
So for a while she lay there in the shimmering29 moonlight, while utter silence fell upon all that vast multitude of armed men as they waited for the decree of fate to be uttered by the conqueror30’s lips. But Saladin sat still as a statue, gazing at the domes31 and towers of Jerusalem outlined against the deep blue sky.
“Rise,” he said at length, “and know, niece, that you have played your part in a fashion worthy32 of my race, and that I, Salah-ed-din, am proud of you. Know also that I will weigh your prayer as I have weighed that of none other who breathes upon the earth. Now I must take counsel with my own heart, and to-morrow it shall be granted—or refused. To you, who are doomed34 to die, and to the knight who chooses to die with you, according to the ancient law and custom, I offer the choice of Islam, and with it life and honour.”
“We refuse,” answered Rosamund and Wulf with one voice. The Sultan bowed his head as though he expected no other answer, and glanced round, as all thought to order the executioners to do their office. But he said only to a captain of his Mameluks:
“Take them; keep them under guard and separate them, till my word of death comes to you. Your life shall answer for their safety. Give them food and drink, and let no harm touch them until I bid you.”
The Mameluk bowed and advanced with his company of soldiers. As they prepared to go with them, Rosamund asked:
“Tell me of your grace, what of Masouda, my friend?”
“She died for you; seek her beyond the grave,” answered Saladin, whereat Rosamund hid her face with her hands and sighed.
“And what of Godwin, my brother?” cried Wulf; but no answer was given him.
Now Rosamund turned; stretching out her arms towards Wulf, she fell upon his breast. There, then, in the presence of that countless36 army, they kissed their kiss of betrothal37 and farewell. They spoke no word, only ere she went Rosamund lifted her hand and pointed38 upwards39 to the sky.
Then a murmur40 rose from the multitude, and the sound of it seemed to shape itself into one word: “Mercy!”
Still Saladin made no sign, and they were led away to their prisons.
Among the thousands who watched this strange and most thrilling scene were two men wrapped in long cloaks, Godwin and the bishop41 Egbert. Thrice did Godwin strive to approach the throne. But it seemed that the soldiers about him had their commands, for they would not suffer him to stir or speak; and when, as Rosamund passed, he strove to break a way to her, they seized and held him. Yet as she went by he cried:
“The blessing42 of Heaven be upon you, pure saint of God—on you and your true knight.”
Catching43 the tones of that voice above the tumult44, Rosamund stopped and looked around her, but saw no one, for the guard hemmed45 her in. So she went on, wondering if perchance it was Godwin’s voice which she had heard, or whether an angel, or only some Frankish prisoner had spoken.
Godwin stood wringing46 his hands while the bishop strove to comfort him, saying that he should not grieve, since such deaths as those of Rosamund and Wulf were most glorious, and more to be desired than a hundred lives.
“Ay, ay,” answered Godwin, “would that I could go with them!”
“Their work is done, but not yours,” said the bishop gently. “Come to our tent and let us to our knees. God is more powerful than the Sultan, and mayhap He will yet find a way to save them. If they are still alive tomorrow at the dawn we will seek audience of Saladin to plead with him.”
So they entered the tent and prayed there, as the inhabitants of Jerusalem prayed behind their shattered walls, that the heart of Saladin might be moved to spare them all. While they knelt thus the curtain of the tent was drawn47 aside, and an emir stood before them.
“Rise,” he said, “both of you, and follow me. The Sultan commands your presence.”
Egbert and Godwin went, wondering, and were led through the pavilion to the royal sleeping place, which guards closed behind them. On a silken couch reclined Saladin, the light from the lamp falling on his bronzed and thoughtful face.
“I have sent for you two Franks,” he said, “that you may bear a message from me to Sir Balian of Ibelin and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This is the message:—Let the holy city surrender to-morrow and all its population acknowledge themselves my prisoners. Then for forty days I will hold them to ransom48, during which time none shall be harmed. Every man who pays ten pieces of gold shall go free, and two women or ten children shall be counted as one man at a like price. Of the poor, seven thousand shall be set free also, on payment of thirty thousand bezants. Such who remain or have no money for their ransom—and there is still much gold in Jerusalem—shall become my slaves. These are my terms, which I grant at the dying prayer of my niece, the lady Rosamund, and to her prayer alone. Deliver them to Sir Balian, and bid him wait on me at the dawn with his chief notables, and answer whether he is willing to accept them on behalf of the people. If not, the assault goes on until the city is a heap of ruins covering the bones of its children.”
“We bless you for this mercy,” said the bishop Egbert, “and we hasten to obey. But tell us, Sultan, what shall we do? Return to the camp with Sir Balian?”
“If he accepts my terms, nay49, for in Jerusalem you will be safe, and I give you your freedom without ransom.”
“Sire,” said Godwin, “ere I go, grant me leave to bid farewell to my brother and my cousin Rosamund.”
“That for the third time you may plot their escape from my vengeance?” said Saladin. “Nay, bide50 in Jerusalem and await my word; you shall meet them at the last, no more.”
“Sire,” pleaded Godwin, “of your mercy spare them, for they have played a noble part. It is hard that they should die who love each other and are so young and fair and brave.”
“Ay,” answered Saladin, “a noble part; never have I seen one more noble. Well, it fits them the better for heaven, if Cross-worshippers enter there. Have done; their doom33 is written and my purpose cannot be turned, nor shall you see them till the last, as I have said. But if it pleases you to write them a letter of farewell and to send it back by the embassy, it shall be delivered to them. Now go, for greater matters are afoot than this punishment of a pair of lovers. A guard awaits you.”
So they went, and within an hour stood before Sir Balian and gave him the message of Saladin, whereat he rose and blessed the name of Rosamund. While he called his counsellors from their sleep and bade his servants saddle horses, Godwin found pen and parchment, and wrote hurriedly:
“To Wulf, my brother, and Rosamund, my cousin and his betrothed,—I live, though well-nigh I died by dead Masouda—Jesus rest her gallant51 and most beloved soul! Saladin will not suffer me to see you, though he has promised that I shall be with you at the last, so watch for me then. I still dare to hope that it may please God to change the Sultan’s heart and spare you. If so, this is my prayer and desire—that you two should wed35 as soon as may be, and get home to England, where, if I live, I hope to visit you in years to come. Till then seek me not, who would be lonely a while. But if it should be fated otherwise, then when my sins are purged52 I will seek you among the saints, you who by your noble deed have earned the sure grace of God.
“The embassy rides. I have no time for more, though there is much to say. Farewell.—Godwin.”
The terms of Saladin had been accepted. With rejoicing because their lives were spared, but with woe53 and lamentation
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