“Once or twice a week. The priests and monks are praying to strengthen Saul and his wizards… he has taught the verse to several students… and many of the people are praying, too.”
That was no idle gesture, in this universe in which magic worked by rhyme, song, and gesture, but drew its strength from either good or evil, God or the Devil. The power of prayer was more obvious here than in his own universe. Matt was surprised to hear that Saul had taken on students, and wondered if they were really doing any good. He’d noticed that virtually anybody could do some magic just by reciting a verse, but that it just didn’t have much punch coming from the average citizen. Powerful magic seemed to require talent, a certain twist of the mind, and there weren’t all that many people who could do it… or who had the determination to learn the rules and all the spells. To a few, like Matt and Saul, it came naturally. It had to, or they wouldn’t have been able to come to Merovence.
“Well, any help is better than none,” Matt said. “Does Saul have any ideas about how to keep the djinn away more or less permanently?”
“He tells me he is trying to set a magical, unseen shield around the city, as King Boncorro has set his Wall of Octroi along the border of Latruria.”
“It keeps out flying magical critters but lets anything slower-moving, like horses or people, walk across.”
Matt said, nodding. “Might work on flying djinn, too, though I suspect they can transport themselves in here without flying. Still, it’s certainly worth a try. I’ll have to see if I can help any.”
“Even if he succeeds, that is only a temporary measure,” Alisande said, with the certainty of Divine Right; sometimes Matt wondered if she could ever have an attack of Divine Wrong. “We must seek the source of these… djinn, did you call them?”
“The source is probably an evil sorcerer who has set them on us,” Matt told her. “At least, that’s the way it always is in the stories. I suppose there are some djinn who are still free agents, not drafted by any sorcerer anywhere, but they wouldn’t have any reason to come here.”
“Unless someone in the city has angered them?”
“Possible, but not probable… and it’s just too much of a coincidence that they should show up right after I left, especially since it was so easy for me to go, and so hard to come back.” Matt frowned. “Easy go, hard to come back, djinn besieging the city while I was gone… that makes three events. I suspect enemy action. Just how bad has this siege become?”
“Not truly yet a siege,” Alisande said slowly. “Courageous merchants and farmers still bring in foodstuffs, and folk from the town go out to forage.”
“Sort of warning us,” Matt guessed, “letting us know they could cut us off pretty thoroughly if they wanted to.”
“The djinn, you mean? But why?”
“Interesting question, dear,” Matt said. “Now that I think of it, I’m kind of surprised that Fadecourt’s… I mean King Rinaldo’s… people hold all of Ibile. Who lives in North Africa? The land right across the strait from Ibile?”
“Across the Middle Sea, you mean?”
Matt started to describe Gibraltar, then realized that Alisande’s knowledge of geography didn’t have that much detail. Besides, for all he knew, the Rock wasn’t there in this universe. “That’s right.”
“We call them ‘Moors,’ ” Alisande said slowly, “though I have heard that is not what they call themselves.”
Matt nodded. “That much is like my home universe, anyway. And they’re Muslims?”
Alisande frowned. “What are ‘Muslims’?”
“Mohammedans,” Matt translated.
“Ah!” Alisande nodded. “Yes, they are paynim.”
With a mental wrench, Matt remembered that the medieval Christians had thought of the Muslims as pagans… and the Muslims, of course, had returned the compliment, referring to the “Franks” as “unbelievers.” No reason to think it should be different here. Sometimes he found it hard to believe that both religions believed in the God of Abraham.
“Sounds like the ones I had in mind,” he said. “Have they conquered any part of Ibile?”
“Aye… they hold the far south, and have for hundreds of years.”
Matt frowned. “Funny I didn’t see any sign of them when I was wandering across their countryside.”
“They hold only the far south, husband… scarcely more than what would be a count’s holdings, in Merovence. There is a Moorish nobleman in the city of Aldocer who calls himself an emir, and rules that countryside.”
There spoke the queen… didn’t know about Gibraltar, but knew the political situation thoroughly. Matt frowned. “What kept them from advancing farther?” In his universe, the Moors had conquered most of Spain, except for the northern kingdoms.
“Emperor Hardishane’s grandfather,” Alisande answered. “The paynim made a sortie through the mountains and struck at the folk in Merovence. Then they began to pour through the passes in their thousands. Cortshank the Hardy raised an army here in Bordestang and marched south to meet the Moors. Peasants who fled north from the burnings and bloodshed joined his army, and as it swelled, folk who feared the paynim might reach their own villages came to join him, too. They marched all day, then rested in the evenings, when Cortshank’s sergeants trained them in fighting. Many knights came, too, to protect their homesteads and wives by preventing the paynim from coming near.
“They met the Moors at a bridge and fought, but the Hardy mowed down all before him and took the bridge. His army poured across it and arrayed themselves against the heathen host. Then, with a mighty shout, the two armies clashed together… but the Moors fought only for conquest and the forced spread of their religion, whereas the knights and peasants fought for their homes, wives, and children. Cortshank the Hardy carried the day, and the Moors fled. The Hardy marched after, but the Moors sped before him.
“They made their stand in a mountain pass, where a dozen men might stop an army, so long as there were men to take their places when they fell. But Cortshank’s men fought with zeal as great as that of the fanatic Moors, and their armor was far heavier.”
“Not such a great advantage, since the Moors could ride circles around them,” Matt said, frowning.
“True, but there was no room to maneuver in that mountain pass. The knights charged and broke the line by sheer weight, then proved the keenness of their swords on the Moors. While they did, the mountaineers threw rocks down upon the paynim. Some did strike the knights, aye, but as I’ve said, their armor was stronger, their helmets above all. The Moors fled, their numbers sorely depleted, and some of the mountaineers, fearing their revenge, joined with Cortshank. As they rode down into Ibile, more knights and peasants joined them, so that with every battle, the Moors’ army grew smaller, while the Hardy’s army grew greater.”
“So Cortshank didn’t see any reason to stop chasing them?”
“None at all, till they came within sight of Aldocer. There, more Moors came riding to join in the battle… they had been coming up from Africa as soon as word of Cortshank’s victories reached them. There they fought the army of Merovence to a standstill. The Hardy stayed in that country six more months, fighting many more battles, but for each he won, he lost another. While he fought, though, the knights of Ibile built strongholds and gathered armies of their own, so that, when Cortshank and his men grew weary and yearned for home, they were able to retreat, leaving the holding of the line to the men whose land it was. Thus they marched back through the mountains in triumph, and the mountaineers among them saw that they were honored.”
“Meaning nobody threw rocks down on them.” Matt pursed his lips. “This wouldn’t have had anything to do with Hardishane becoming emperor, would it?”