East of Ashes (14 page)

Lamech watched Othniel dance just out of Aubré's reach around the fire, baiting him with words of encouragement while some of the
men
jumped on Aubré's back to bear him to the ground. The hilarity of the moment washed over him, easing the events of the day from his mind.

He knew that come morning he'
d
truly begin to face the war, but for now he allowed the easy banter to fill him. Tomorrow his search w
ould
begin, but for tonight he was just a soldier.

-------

Sometime during the night Lamech woke with a start. At first he didn't know what had woken him, but then he heard it again: in the distance, on the threshold of hearing, someone
was
scream
ing
.

He got up and looked out the entrance of the tent he was sharing with Othniel. He scanned the tents around them, looking for the source of the noise. But the camp was deathly quiet and dark, with only the watch fires radiating light in sporadic spots throughout the camp. On the far edges of the camp he could see sentries standing silently, staring into the surrounding countryside for signs of enemy activity.

His head jerked to his right when he heard the screaming again. It was feint, but audible thanks to the light breeze blowing through the camp. Hearing movement behind him, he turned to find Othniel looking at him, propped up on his bed.

Lamech knew the answers to the unasked questions running through his head, vying for his attention, and so he just stared at Othniel in silence.

He dropped the tent flap and moved back to his bed. After settling down, he asked: "What will happen to him when they're done?"

Othniel didn't answer, but simply looked at Lamech.

After considering the silent answer for a moment, Lamech turned away from Othniel and stared at the dancing shadows the distant watch fires were casting on the side of their tent.

His last thought before drifting back to sleep was of a so-called Christian plunging his sword through the belly of an unarmed man and leaving him to choke in the dust.

CHAPTER 8

--- Antioch, November 1097 ---

Lamech and Othniel were up very early the next morning. Lamech couldn't sleep any longer with the anticipation of what his first day in the Crusader army would bring, while Othniel wanted to go and find out whether the army's commanders had anything interesting planned for the day.

When Lamech offered to join him, Othniel gladly accepted but warned that he would have to let him speak privately to his man on the princes' staff to find out if anything of important was developing. His contact didn't take kindly to strangers and only spoke to Othniel because he had
once
helped him out of a sticky situation involving a pig.

Lamech wasn't sure he wanted to know and so didn't ask, even though Othniel swore it was all above board.

Standing on the outskirts of Bohemond's camp, Lamech was now waiting for Othniel who had gone ahead alone to talk to his contact. While he waited, he was watching the camp activity closely.

Everybody seemed to be settling in for another day of siege, although earlier while they were walking to Bohemond's camp, he had noticed some soldiers gathering horses. Apparently the princes
had
indeed plan
ned
something for the day, but clearly not something that w
ould
require the entire army to participate.

Othniel was barely gone for 10 minutes before he came back, furtively glancing around as he walked towards Lamech.

"Are you ready to do some Crusading?" he asked.

Lamech only hesitated for a brief moment before nodding his assent.

"Good. Then go
and
get Aubré and meet me back here in 15 minutes," Othniel ordered, turned and promptly marched back to where he had come from.

Lamech was taken aback but quickly jumped to action and briskly walked back to their part of the camp. Getting Aubré out of bed proved to be a challenge of note
,
until he told him about Othniel's strange behaviour. Aubré was out of his bed, dressing hurriedly, before Othniel had even finished talking.

"You'd better go and put on your armour," Aubré told him, already fastening his own. Lamech raced to his tent and dressed as quickly as he could. When he got back outside, Aubré was wolfing down some porridge and filling his water skins at the same time. Lamech was glad he had already breakfasted and quickly filled his own skins before joining Aubré in a rapid walk to Bohemond's camp.

"Harim...
i
t has to be," Aubré muttered under his breath.

"What?" Lamech asked, lengthening his stride to keep up with the giant of a man.

"Harim. A Caracen garrison from outside the city walls ha
s
been pestering us for quite some time now. Word is that they're coming from Harim - we've all been wondering when the princes would do something about those murdering barbarians."

"Then why is the whole army not mobilising?" Lamech asked.

"We can't afford to slack our siege of the city; we're spread too thin as it is. The princes probably only plan to send a scouting party for now to find out exactly where the garrison is encamped but by the looks of things, Bohemond is going to lead the party. In which case I can promise you this will be no mere scouting mission."

As he finished his sentence he picked up his pace even more and Lamech almost had to break out in a jog to keep up.

When they reached the meeting place, Othniel was already there.

"We better get going; they're waiting for us," he said. Together they set off to the centre of Bohemond's camp.

"Aubré has another interesting theory," Lamech joked, feeling slightly light-headed from the adrenaline.

Othniel laughed. "Yes, it's Harim," he conceded.

Aubré merely smiled in victory.

"So why do we get to go?" Lamech asked.

"Because I was asked to go and I think I can trust you," he answered, at which Aubré snorted in mock indignation.

"And because Aubré here is very useful at times like this," Othniel added teasingly.

"Naturally," Aubré grunted.

When they reached the centre of the camp, they were met by about 50 Crusaders, some of them tending the horses they saw being rounded up earlier while the rest stood in a circle.

Lamech glanced at the Crusaders and was instantly impressed by what he saw. The group of men all had that confident but serious manner that comes from extensive experience, which helped fill Lamech with a little more confidence.

It was also immediately apparent which one of them was Bohemond of Taranto.

He had a theatrical air about him, which immediately put Lamech off. But there was no denying that he struck a very impressive figure: almost a head taller than anyone else around him, his muscular frame moved about with grace.

Attention gravitated towards him by the sheer force of his presence - and the man clearly enjoyed basking in it.

"Don't worry about that now," Othniel whispered into his ear, having noticed the look of dislike on Lamech's face. "He's even more useful than Aubré
in
times like th
e
s
e
," he added wryly.

Bohemond was talking quietly with some of the Crusaders around him, smiling and slapping one of them on the back. Noticing the new arrivals, he turned towards them and the other Crusaders immediately gathered around to hear his orders.

Lamech was impressed by the way he transformed in a blink from a laughing, jovial man into a calculated commander.

"Good morning men," he began.

"As most of you no doubt have guessed by now, we're heading out to find where that Caracen garrison is encamped," he continued, looking each of them straight in the eye, one after the other, as he spoke. Not used to feeling intimidated, Lamech had to force himself to meet his gaze and not look away.

"The rumours seem to be true: they are coming from H
a
r
i
m. Our job is to find out exactly where they camp on their way here to attack us. Now, normally a scouting mission will do just that: scout. But I'm of
the
mind to show this filth what we can do."

His words sent a slight shiver of uneas
iness
through the group, but Bohemond had clearly anticipated it.

"Yes, we'll be outnumbered, which is why I want you to follow my orders very carefully. If you don't, we'll be annihilated. If you do, we'll kill every last one of them and send a very powerful message to the other Caracen garrisons in the area."

"The Caracen nations are a fractured bunch as it stands," he continued, "but it's no secret that Antioch has called for help
,
and as a result
,
there are Caracen commanders out there trying to rally together an army big enough to take us out. If we annihilate this garrison, the rest of them will think twice before coming to Antioch's aid. And we can - just make sure you follow my instructions to the letter."

Bohemond paused to make sure they all got the message. He watched them carefully the men nodded their agreement. Had it not been for Othniel's forewarning, Lamech would have thought him boastful and walked off - refusing to die for another man's arrogance. But he decided to hear him out
,
and so also nodded with the rest.

"Now," Bohemond continued, "as you know, the Caracens are very fond of one particular tactic: draw the enemy away from
a
defen
da
ble position with a small force and into an ambush where a second, larger force will attack on horseback."

A shiver of anger went through the group at Bohemond's words, the soldiers intimately familiar with the devastating effects of this Caracen tactic.

"Which is exactly what we're going to do with them," Bohemond said.

"I've already sent out advance scouts to determine where the Caracens are likely to be," he continued and began drawing in the sand with a stick. "We've managed to narrow it down to somewhere in the Jabal Talat slopes," he said, indicating the area on his make-shift map, "So we'll send out a party on horseback into that area, while our reserve will wait here and here."