Keen to have information about conditions inside Antioch and the state of mind of the besieged population, Tancred had taken to facilitating some of the smuggling, initially without side, but in time making things easy for those who passed him valuable information, while prohibiting those who refused to let him know what they had observed, so that he could advise his uncle in his dealings with the Council of Princes. What would happen to Antioch once it had fallen, now it was out in the open, had become a bone of some contention. That still, however, took second place to what lay before them, the actual act of capture, and for that the mood inside the walls was of obvious interest.
‘My nephew reports a sense of increasing despair,’ Bohemund informed them. ‘Very little from Turkish caravans is now getting through and what the smugglers can supply will only serve to keep happy those who can pay the high prices they demand, and even they must guard against their purchases being stolen by the garrison. It is true, when we arrived they hoped we would pass on to Jerusalem-’
‘Others have informed us of this,’ Raymond interrupted; he had become increasingly uncomfortable with the Count of Taranto holding the floor, which, given his greater knowledge of Antiochene morale he had been inclined to do. ‘And that is history.’
‘History with a point, My Lords,’ Bohemund insisted, in essence ignoring the Count of Toulouse, which did not go unnoticed. ‘For that first dented their optimism and we know that through the winter, when they saw us starving outside the walls, they expected each dawn to see us gone.’
‘So now they know we are here to stay, which no one amongst us, I hope, doubted would be the case.’
In saying that, Godfrey de Bouillon meant it; if his faith had sustained him there was not another magnate in the pavilion, Bohemund included, who had not at some time contemplated that very outcome, either by individual action or a collective loss of will.
‘The main food stocks on which the Turks rely, like the grain stores, are dwindling, what can be brought in without we appropriate it is reduced and so Yaghi and his Turks must impose ever more severe measures on distribution, which turns the populace against him, especially the poor who depend on Turkish largesse. They see the Turks feeding their horses while their dole is cut.’
‘Not enough to overthrow him,’ Duke Robert said.
‘How could they?’ Ademar responded. ‘He still has as many as three thousand men under arms even after his losses. If anyone raises complaint I would suggest they are quickly executed.’
Bohemund then informed them of how many times that had occurred and told of the rumours of just how many Armenians had fallen to Yaghi Siyan’s summary justice, for he was fierce when it came to sniffing out betrayal and swift to act. The aim of the Turkish leader was to hold out in the hope that an army would come to his relief and he would see the citizenry starve rather than surrender, so the Crusade, even if it frustrated them, had to be patient.
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.