Stewart Binns - Crusade

Adela was, as usual, blunt, keen to resolve issues quickly and move on. I felt we needed another opinion; I did not want our Brotherhood to be broken up, and I was desperate to find a way for Sweyn to stay in Sicily and yet still enjoy the happiness he had found.

‘Sweyn, do you mind if we bring Mahnoor into this? I’d like to hear what she thinks.’

‘Of course. She will soon be part of the family. I will send word to her – it may take a while, as her father watches over her like a hawk.’

Those last words of Sweyn’s were the ones that concerned me most. After Sweyn and Adela had left, I asked Edwin for his thoughts.

‘Mahnoor is a very valuable commodity – very rich and very beautiful. Half of Sicily’s rich young tups, and several of the older ones, strut at her door all the time. Her father has several guards watching over her all the time.’

Edwin knew her father well.

‘Suleiman is not a pleasant man. I wouldn’t trust him as far as I could spit. All sorts of dubious consignments arrive for him at Palermo harbour all the time. It is said he is supplying the Muslim rebels in the south with weapons from the Moors in Spain. He trades on the edge of the law and will do anything to avoid paying his duties and taxes. I think the Count has the measure of him but has not yet been able to pin him down.’

Sweyn had been right. It took a whole week for Mahnoor to appear.

If Sweyn and Adela had been apprehensive about the matter in hand, Mahnoor was visibly shaking.

‘My Lord Prince, please forgive me, I bring you a big problem.’

‘Dearest Mahnoor, my name is Edgar. We are a family of brothers and sisters and I hear you are soon to become one of us, so you must call me Edgar.’

‘Thank you.’

She pulled away her veil to reveal a stunning, dark-skinned face of exceptional symmetry and flawless complexion. Her hair was jet-black and her eyes the colour of burned almonds, while her distinctive Arabic nose lent a hawk-like acuity to an otherwise tender image. She cannot have been more than sixteen but had an enticing sensual aura about her that was quite intoxicating.

‘Does your father suspect anything?’

‘Not about Sweyn, but he knows something is different.’

‘Do you know your father’s plans for you?’

‘Yes, he wants me to marry another Muslim, of course, a man of some stature, an emir or a general.’

‘How will he find such a man here?’

‘He’s going to send me to Alexandria at the end of the year. My uncle is there and is very well connected to everyone in the Caliphate.’

‘What do you think of Sweyn’s plans?’

‘I am very frightened. My father will kill me if he finds out.’

‘I’m sure he will be very angry.’

‘No, I mean what I say. He will kill me.’

The poor girl was clearly not exaggerating.

‘If I elope, he will find me and kill me. For him, it’s a matter of honour. If I stay, he will not permit a marriage to a Christian, regardless of Sweyn’s marriage to Adela. That doesn’t matter – the important thing is, he’s a Christian.’

Sweyn moved closer to her.

‘What if I convert to Islam?’

‘Do you know what that involves?’

‘I’m not sure I’d make a good Muslim, because I’m not much of a Christian, but I’m happy to try.’

‘You would have to learn Arabic and recite the Quran from cover to cover.’

‘I can speak a few languages already; one more can’t be that difficult. As for the Holy Book, I’ll learn it by rote – you can teach me.’

Mahnoor embraced Sweyn and started to sob.

‘Would you do that for me?’

‘Of course I would! I would suffer any ordeal for you.’

I looked at Adela, who also had tears in her eyes. But I still had my doubts.

‘Would your father accept Sweyn as a Muslim?’

‘I don’t know; he is a difficult man.’

I decided it was time for reflection.

‘Mahnoor, when can we meet again?’

‘In a few days my father is travelling to Messina and will be away for several weeks. I can come again during his absence.’

‘Let’s meet again then, when we can make our plans.’

The next day, I sought a private audience with the Count to seek his advice.

He could not have been clearer in his view of Mahnoor’s father.

‘Suleiman is a villain; he’s part of the old Sicily, where Palermo was a crossroads for most of the thieves and cut-throats of the Mediterranean. I know he is smuggling weapons from Spain, but he is the most important Muslim merchant in Palermo and I don’t want to move against him until things are more settled. But rest assured, when the time is right, he will rot in my dungeon.’

I explained Sweyn’s infatuation with Mahnoor, the nature of his marriage to Adela and the options that Sweyn wanted to pursue.

‘You English weave some complicated webs! I would never have guessed; Adela is an accomplished soldier, I just assumed they had grown up together and that marriage was a natural consequence.’

‘All that is true – the difference being Adela’s state of mind following her trauma at Bourne. She will never get over it. I would appreciate your help; the four of us are very close and I would like us to stay together and to add Mahnoor to our family, if at all possible. If not, then Sweyn must go his own way.’

‘Well, I am happy to plead their case with the Bishop of Messina, but I think it’s a lost cause. He will do as he’s told, but Suleiman will not hear of it. He knows what a catch his daughter is and wants her married to someone of high birth in the Egyptian Caliphate. She has more than enough charm, and he has more than enough money to attract an emir of some standing – probably some old dog, tired of an ageing wife. He certainly won’t let a junior knight with only modest means, who is both a Christian and already married, stand in the way of his scheme to live the life of a potentate in Egypt.’

Ibn Hamed reiterated Count Roger’s view when Edwin and I rode out to Calatafimi to get his advice. He was perhaps even more vehement: any kind of legitimate bond between the two of them was out of the question.

And so, when Mahnoor arrived to see us for the second time, I had already warned Sweyn and Adela what my advice would be. Mahnoor seemed a lot brighter than before, but they were forearmed and much older and wiser than a sixteen-year-old girl who had rarely been far from her father’s sight.

I dreaded what I needed to say to Mahnoor, and was distraught at the prospect of what it meant for the future of our Brotherhood.

‘It seems highly unlikely that an annulment, a conversion and a Muslim marriage is going to work. Quite apart from his renowned intransigence, your father’s plan for you is so clear and determined that marriage to Sweyn is out of the question.’

‘I suspected as much, but I just hoped that there might be a way. Thank you for trying.’

Sweyn put his arm around Mahnoor and looked her in the eyes.

‘This is the closest we’re going to get to a marriage ceremony, and here are our witnesses. Dearest Mahnoor, will you come with me to find a new life together in Aquitaine?’

‘I will, without a second’s hesitation.’

Adela embraced them both. Edwin shook hands with Sweyn and rather tentatively kissed Mahnoor on the cheek. I felt compelled to play Devil’s advocate – partly because it was the right thing to do, but also because I was desperate not to lose Sweyn and the beautiful young Moor.

‘Are you both sure? Sweyn, you go to a simple life tending your estate; no more gallant adventures as a knight.’

‘I know the price, but it is one worth paying for the woman I love.’

‘Mahnoor, you will lose your inheritance, never see your family again and live in a Christian world so very different from here.’