“Unfortunately, the site migrated north after the Assassins found a way to spare Lambert, and very near the Abbey here. Abdul Rahman did not approach via the old Roman road. So if you shifted there you would have seen nothing of interest. But all that has changed again after your intervention! At least that is what I am told through messages we have received in recent weeks. The battle will now be fought at Moussais, just south of this place on the road to Poitiers, on the eve of Ramadan, as our historians agree. If Mr. Dorland were to go and have a look now he would be right on target. Your interventions haven’t resolved the issue entirely yet, but you’ve given it a firm nudge in the right direction.” He smiled. “Anything that keeps those heathens from these hallowed walls is a most welcome reprieve. But what you have told me is very enlightening… Those who drink the wind? I don’t understand. What do you make of it?”
“Arabian horses,” said Nordhausen, “or at least a generic reference to horses. Note these three recurring symbols…” He explained the function of a cartouche, the indication of the name Kuhaylan with its meaning as one of the five primary breeds of Arabian horses.
The Abbot thought hard for a time, clearly impressed by the new information he was receiving. “And this last line?”
“It reads: ‘For the unseen one that comes in the dusk shall unseat all….” Robert concluded, folding his arms. “Given the earlier references to horses, I thought that might refer to Dodo on the night he was to kill the Bishop Lambert. Then I came to believe it was a reference to Maeve, riding at dusk to secure that steed and make her intervention, or even to Paul sneaking in to deal with Grimwald.”
“Steed? Our researchers do not mention this.”
“We made some assumptions,” said Robert. “Call them educated guesses, but they seemed reasonable at the time. The Chronicles placed Dodo at a banquet in a citadel on the day he was to murder Lambert at his villa in Leodium. We reasoned that citadel had to be at Heristal.”
“Heristal? Well, it has been reinforced in places, but there are no real substantial fortifications there that could deter any determined assault. But that aside, your assumption was correct. The Lady Alpaida was holding forth there that year, and we had Agents in Place listening in on that banquet, but we were comforted that Dodo was determined to avenge the wrongs against his family. Oh, a whisper here and a rumor there helped in that. Stirring the pot, as it were.”
“Well,” the professor went on, “we asked ourselves how the other side could deter Dodo and fixated on a line from an Arabic source about a mishap he had on the road. Our thought was that he was injured in a fall from a horse—a willful beast described in that chronicle. It was said this horse could be known by his eye, and the fire of his hooves, and Maeve believe this referred to this particular breed of Arabian horse. Since the hieroglyphics mention the name Kuhaylan in places,“ he pointed, “we went looking for that horse.”
“Ingenious!” said the Abbot, “But Dodo’s mishap was that his horse came up lame on the road and he was delayed—at least before Ms. Lindford made her intervention. If your source was Arabic, all the rest of that story was probably fabricated by the writer, a fable to cast mythic light on the event, or possibly even deliberate disinformation seeded in the history by the other side. We believe the Assassins had something to do with enfeebling that horse, however, but that doesn’t make for much of a tale.”
“Well we assumed he would look for another mount,” said Nordhausen. “And we thought this temperamental Arabian might fill the bill nicely, suspiciously planted at a roadside farm by our adversaries, and the loose twine mentioned on the stela would be the rein on that horse.”
“Splendid!” said the Abbot, “but we scoured that road for any sign of mischief, and could not seem to locate anything that could possibly become a viable Pushpoint. We did suspect something was amiss on one of the farms near Lambert’s Villa. There was an uncharacteristic gathering of horses there, and we could not see that the farmer had sufficient wealth to afford them. Perhaps they were trying to round up anything Dodo could have secured as an alternate mount. As it reads now, Dodo did manage to find another horse. It was a simple solution for us. We just put a man on that road with a horse for him, and got him merrily on his way again. As a counter operation, our adversaries were planning to warn Lambert directly, and bring him fresh horses to make good his escape. That was risky, but it would have worked if not for Ms. Linford.”
“Yes, it seems we were wrong about Dodo,” said Robert. “Mr. Dorland and I returned to check on variations and could see no significant change after Maeve secured the horse in question. The push point wasn’t there… and so the meaning of that last line still escapes me… For the unseen one that comes in the dusk shall unseat all…. We thought this might refer to Dodo, coming to Lambert’s villa after dark that night, yet apparently not.”
The Abbott’s eyes were grave, but a light of excitement flickered in them, and he smiled. “Those who drink the wind… You say this is a reference to horses? Cavalry! Could this be so?”
“Yes,” said Nordhausen, “we made that correlation as well, but considered it no more than an admonishment to Abdul Rahman to keep a firm hold on his horsemen.”
“Such advice may be sound,” said the Abbot, “but Abdul Rahman will not be reading the rubbing here before us, even if he had knowledge of this writing. It was meant for the eyes of the Assassins, our enemies operating here in this milieu. It was great good fortune that we were able to secure it. So if guidance of this nature is to have any bearing on the outcome, it would have to mean the Assassins have a man placed very close to Abdul Rahman—an advisor perhaps.”
A sudden thought came to Nordhausen and he raised a finger. “No!” he beamed with excitement now. “Not his horsemen! It had to be the Frankish cavalry. Yes, it makes perfect sense now. Perfect sense!”
“I beg your pardon?” The Abbot was obviously eager to learn what the professor was thinking.
“I’m sorry,” Robert apologized. “But don’t you know the history? You don’t know what happened in this battle?”asked Nordhausen.
“Well…” The Abbot looked at him, hesitating, considering something before he spoke. “You may as well know,” he breathed. “We’ve lost communication with our primary Arch facility in the future. The messages we’ve been receiving of late have come from our hidden site, and they do not have a complete record of events there. The last message we received was very cryptic, and obviously written in great haste. It contained just two words, the last heavily underlined—not Charles, it read.” He reached into his pocket and showed the professor the message, scrawled in a very loose hand on old parchment. “Now what do you make of that?”
“Of course!” Robert’s eyes widened as he recalled all Paul had told him of this battle and fragments of the research began to assemble to an image in his mind.
“Well I can tell you what happens—or at least what’s supposed to happen on the Prime Meridian.”
He immediately had the Abbot’s undivided attention. “Do go on, dear professor,” he said.
“We thought it all had to do with Charles as well, the Hammer of God, eh? That’s what all the interventions were aimed at, weren’t they? The Assassins were trying to prevent the ascension of Charles as Mayor of the Palace. That’s why they wanted to spare Lambert and Grimwald,” he smiled.