Jack Ludlow - Soldier of Crusade

Raymond was not to be sidelined. ‘I still maintain an assault on the walls will produce results.’

‘It will.’ Bohemund insisted, for he was aware, as were his peers, only he was in position to execute such a thing at the St Paul’s Gate. ‘It will result in many dead Apulians.’

‘We must do something.’

For a man with such a reputation there was much irony in the reply. ‘Yes, My Lord, we must wait.’

Which was a point he repeated to Tancred when he received a request that he visit his bastion.

‘Raymond will not accept that there is no advantage in an assault if the Turks are still in good spirits and he is addressing men who are not known for their restraint.’

‘Which would include you and I, Uncle.’

That got a smile and a nod. ‘I nearly brought up my father, but that rankles even more than when I speak from my own experience. He knew never to throw men uselessly at a well-manned fortress. If we try and do not succeed that will affect our morale more than the Turks’.’

‘And they are a long way from eating their horses.’

‘True, so why have you asked me to come?’

‘I may have a way to get inside the walls.’

About to mention the fate of Walo of Chaumont, Bohemund checked himself; his nephew was no fool, he would know better than to suggest anything that smacked of the same risk of a slit throat, and by a look alone he invited Tancred to continue.

‘As you know, I have cosseted certain of the Armenian smugglers and if they have told me much I have hinted that they might achieve much more. I now know one of the towers on the walls is held by a force of Armenian converts, the others are manned by Turks.’

‘Which one?’

‘Halfway up Mount Silpius at a point were the incline is so steep we would never be able to try an assault.’

‘Why give that post to an Armenian?’

The question Bohemund posed then was rhetorical, for it was not a vital part of the defence. Tancred agreed, but his uncle added that such a thing was not necessarily to the good.

‘Converts are often the most stalwart when it comes to their faith.’

‘True, but they have a limit when it comes to perceived slights and the fellow in command, who goes by the name of Firuz, I am told feels badly used by Yaghi Siyan. My informant tells me that the governor has stripped him of his property to ensure he stays loyal and it has had the opposite effect.’

‘This your informant told you, which has to mean that such grievances have been spoken about, man to man.’

‘The smuggler tries to supply Firuz and his men rather than the Turks, whom he loathes.’

‘ Says he loathes,’ Bohemund cautioned. ‘So can we be sure that the story is true?’

‘No.’

Silent for a while, Bohemund sat deep in thought before speaking gain. ‘Then let us discount this disaffection and work on the premise that this Firuz seeks to gain from our taking possession of Antioch.’

The response to that was jaundiced. ‘Which without a Trojan horse is a long way off.’

‘Meet with your smuggler, let him take to Firuz an offer of great power and wealth under a Christian prince, to gain which, he will have to convert back to his original faith.’

‘Just that?’

‘Yes, for if he baulks at reversion, Tancred, he is trying to lure us to our death.’

‘Will you tell the council of what is possible?’

‘It is too soon to say anything; let it lie and see what your smuggler brings us.’

Taking contraband into and out of Antioch was not a daily affair; those doing the supplying had to travel far to find the goods they wished to sell within the walls, for most of what was grown locally was consumed by the Crusaders. Added to that, Tancred’s informant was no fool, certainly not stupid enough to be transparent with Firuz. Hints had to be dropped and less than entirely open responses needed to be carefully assessed, before inching to more intimacy. The Armenians would be fools to repose trust in each other too soon if they wished to keep their heads.

Slowly, over weeks, with Bohemund staying in the background — he had to be able to disown what he was doing in secret — the terms by which Firuz and his men would surrender their tower were fleshed out. That they would revert to Christianity was the first hurdle crossed and it was an important one, for the mass of the population would not, once freed from the Turkish yoke, take kindly to an Islamist in high office.

Now bribes could be offered — immediate riches in gold and silver and valuable offices promised, which no Christian prince yet held. Bohemund and Tancred alone, so as not to cause alarm, inspected the tower that Firuz held, an isolated one in terms of defensive numbers, commanding a stretch of wall as Tancred had said, almost impossible to assault due to the steepness of the slope. Finally a night had to be selected and the means planned as to how the Normans were going to get up that wall as well as get into position without being seen by the Turks in the adjacent towers, all this passed to and fro by that one single messenger on whom the whole enterprise depended.

With what he saw as a workable arrangement to proceed, it was time to ensure that if he did succeed, he should be the beneficiary — that the law of conquest he had sought to gain before was agreed, and in that he ran into a wall as stout as those of Antioch. His fellow Princes would not deviate from the notion of shared possession, while Tancred remained the only person he could be open with about his frustrations.

‘There is a furtive tone when the subject is raised. Godfrey de Bouillon apart, I cannot help but think that others are on the same path as we and for the same purpose.’

‘Then why not agree to what you propose?’

‘Believe me, if they are scheming the time will come when, close to fruition and sure they will be the one that gains and that they have allies in place to support them, the right of conquest will be accepted.’

‘Raymond?’

‘Is, I grant you, the most likely, but Vermandois will be conniving, even if he has already had his fingers scorched. Our Robert of Normandy could buy back his duchy from his brother with half the revenues of Antioch, so he too will be conspiring.’

‘Such a loss does not mean an end to opportunity, there is still Jerusalem, which is ten times a richer capture than Antioch and will be a fief to covet in Christian hands.’

That had to be acknowledged; Jerusalem produced massive revenues from pilgrims in bad times and Muslim hands; once back under the way of the true faith it would return wealth in untold quantities.

‘If I have plunder to gain there I have little else, certainly not power.’

There for the first time, as far as his nephew was concerned, Bohemund had been open about his desire for domains, not just gold and silver.

‘You cannot be sure of that.’

‘Tancred, Jerusalem is no different to Antioch. Once captured how is it to be held?’

‘By Crusaders.’

‘In joint control, like Antioch?’ There was no option for Tancred but to nod. ‘It will not do. Where has such a thing as joint ownership of a fief led to anything but jealousies and dissension? All that kept my Uncle Roger and my father from conflict was the separation of the Straits of Messina. Whichever city you speak of it must be under the control of a single authority. Do not be fooled by the forced agreement we have enjoyed so far — that has been fed by necessity and some success. Once in Jerusalem, with the Crusade complete, that will not hold and the only solution is to hand the Holy City over to one of our number.’

‘Which will not be you.’

Bohemund smiled. ‘No, there is only one man who would justify selection, one of the council who would be content to stay and hold Palestine.’