The mystic rose

'The meal was delicious,' said Cait. 'The eggs were boiled to perfection.'

'We get a lot of eggs,' observed the archbishop. 'The people bring them to the monastery. God knows what they think we want with them. But there you are.' Turning to Rognvald, he said, 'Now then, you say you have come from the Holy Land, I think.'

'I have,' replied the knight, pushing aside his bowl, 'and I would the tidings were better. There is much fighting, as always, and the Crusaders win as often as they lose, it is true, but they lose all the wrong battles.'

'Any battle lost,' opined the archbishop, 'was a wrong battle, I should have thought.'

'True enough,' agreed Rognvald affably. 'Still, the winnings do not cover the losses, if you see what I mean. Everywhere, territory falls to the Muhammedans, and the Christians are once more subjugated and enslaved.'

Bertrano appeared disheartened by the news. 'Is Jerusalem still safe?'

'It is – for the time being. But soon it will be merely a solitary rock in an ocean of Islam. It cannot last.'

The Norseman spoke with a sincerity that surprised Cait. She watched with growing admiration for his intelligence and subtlety as he drew the archbishop into their trap.

'Perditio, perditio,' sighed the archbishop, wagging his head sadly. 'But, tell me, can nothing good be said?'

'The cities of the coast-Tripoli, Tyre, Acre, Jaffa, Ascalon-all remain safe. The Arabs are masters of horse and desert, but they are indifferent sailors. Thanks to the Genoan and Venetian fleets, the Saracens can make no advancement there. So, for as long as the ships can pass unhindered, the coastal cities will remain in Christian hands.'

'Ah, well, that is something at least,' answered the archbishop contentedly. He, like Cait, regarded Rognvald with a new admiration. 'You speak like a commander. Perhaps you should be leading the Armies of Christ against the infernal hosts of the infidel.'

The knight smiled, but shook his head. 'No, I have seen enough of battle; I want nothing more to do with it-with any of it. For my troubles, I spent nearly three years in a Saracen prison, and indeed, I would still be there now if not for the love of my good lady wife.' He reached across the table to take Cait's hand. 'She travelled all the way from our home in Caithness to Damascus and ransomed me from Prince Mujir's dungeon, and for that I shall be eternally grateful to her.'

He squeezed her hand, and Cait pretended a smile of wifely love, which surprised her with its naturalness and ease.

'No, I shall not go back there again,' Rognvald said. 'But others were not so fortunate. I saw many good men die in that stinking prison-too many. One of them-and it grieves me full well to say it-was none other than the Grand Commander of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.'

'Impossible!' cried Archbishop Bertrano. 'It cannot be.'

Rognvald regarded the cleric with unflinching conviction. 'Alas, it is all the more lamentable. In fact, it is because of his death that we have come.'

The archbishop raised his eyebrows in mystified amazement. 'Pray tell me how this has come to be.'

'The tale is sorry, but soon told,' replied the knight. 'The commander arrived sorely wounded-there was a storm and his ship had foundered on the rocks, somewhere between Tripoli and Tyre, I think. A great many men were drowned outright and, as ill luck would have it, the Saracens who found them killed a number as well. The few survivors were taken captive and brought to Damascus.' He frowned, as if remembering a tragedy. 'They had fought valiantly to prevent themselves being captured…'

'As only a man of his courage and stature would,' offered the archbishop.

'The battle was fierce, as I say. Several were gravely injured -Commander de Bracineaux foremost among them. His wounds were too great; he could not recover. He lingered only a few days, and then died.'

'I am grieved to the very soul to hear it,' sighed the archbishop. 'Jerusalem will not see a finer soldier, and more's the pity.'

So persuasive was the Norseman's forthright tale, that Cait found herself feeling sorry for the plight of the poor Templars and their mortally wounded Master. 'It is a very great loss,' she agreed, her voice soft with sorrow.

'I will say a special mass for them,' declared the archbishop, 'and order a day of perpetual intercession on their behalf before the Throne of Grace.' He nodded absently to himself. 'It is the least I can do.'

The three were silent for a time, and then the archbishop stirred himself and asked, 'Did he say anything before he died?'

'Oh, yes,' Rognvald assured him. 'As noblemen, we were held in the same cell. You can well imagine that the ransom price for such an important man is exceedingly large-as much as for a king. The Saracens were hopeful his release would earn them a fortune.'

'Greedy dogs!' snarled the archbishop. 'I would to heaven that God might rain unending calamity upon their unbelieving heads. I truly do.'

'You will also appreciate, knowing de Bracineaux as you undoubtedly do, that his last days were eaten up with anxiety lest the Templars should hear of his capture and pay the money. He thought the ransom excessive, and worried that it would impoverish the order unnecessarily. He said to me, "I pray I may die quickly and cheat the devils of their due." He said he would not rest in peace if he knew the money paid for his release would be used to carry on the persecution of brave Christian knights.'

Dumbstruck, the archbishop leaned back in his chair and thumped his head gently against the carved rail of his chair. 'Even as he lay dying,' he said after a moment, 'even then, he took no thought for himself.'

'You know better than I the kind of man he was,' said Rognvald with touching conviction.

'That, sir, is the kind of man he was!' cried the archbishop, his broad face suffused with a ruddy rapture. 'Noble through and through.'

'He told me something else,' Rognvald confided, leaning nearer. 'His last days were difficult, as you might expect; talking, however, gave him some peace. It comforted him to unburden his soul.' He leaned closer still, as if he feared he might be overheard. The archbishop bent his head nearer. 'This is why we have come.'

'Indeed?' wondered Bertrano. 'Then tell me, my son. If it is a confession, I will hear it.'

'The matter that most upset him concerned a letter.'

'A letter?'

'A special letter,' confirmed Rognvald. 'From you, Archbishop Bertrano.'

'From me!' The cleric sat back and gazed at the knight in amazement. 'In Heaven's name, what can it mean? Are you certain this letter was from me?'

Rognvald nodded in solemn earnest. 'He was very agitated about it,' said the knight. 'Towards the end he spoke of nothing else. I think it pained him to leave his task undone. And that is why he confided in me. There was no one else, you see. He wanted me to carry on the work that he had begun.'

Bertrano grew thoughtful; he gazed out towards the unfinished tower. 'Did he tell you what he had undertaken?'

'Alas, no,' answered the knight. 'He made me swear upon my life and the life hereafter that if ever I was to receive my freedom, I was to come to you, Archbishop Bertrano, and tell you what had happened. He said that you would explain all I needed to know.' The knight spread his hands, as if humbly offering himself for the churchman's inspection. 'Here I am.'

'Great God in heaven!' cried the archbishop, leaping to his feet and almost overturning the table in his effort to extricate himself from his chair. 'No! No!'

Both Rognvald and Cait drew back in alarm. Rognvald stood, hands outstretched to calm the suddenly ferocious cleric. Cait, astonished at the abrupt change in the archbishop's demeanour, jumped up and started after him, furiously trying to think what the Norwegian lord had said to so completely antagonize the archbishop as to send him fleeing from the table.