Beloved Pilgrim (39 page)

Once beyond the immediate threat of the
pursuit, Elisabeth and Albrecht rode silently. The wounded man he
had taken onto his horse located friends and went to travel with
them. The woman who had the small child reached around Albrecht to
try to help him, as his thigh wound was bleeding and extremely
painful. Elisabeth rode alone. She thought of Ranulf, of Thomas,
Ragnar and Ruggiero and the knight, Gerhardt. She wondered if Black
Beast and Alain had made it out alive. She thought of the golden
city ahead and of her sweet Maliha. She wondered how the Emperor
would receive them, their pilgrimage collapsed in total disaster,
and what's more, dishonor. She let the tears fall as they might. In
her mind's eye was a plain littered with hundreds, even thousands
of the dead, soldiers, knights, clerics, peasants, and a few noble
mercenaries.

In her famous account, The Alexiad, the
Emperor's daughter, Anna Comnena, would record Saint Gilles's
return to Constantinople and his reception by the Emperor, who she
said held great affection for the Count of Toulouse.

As for Saint Gilles and Tzitas, they made
their way to Constantinople with a few surviving knights. The
Emperor received them there and after presenting generous gifts of
money and allowing them to rest, he asked them where they would
like to go for the future. They chose Jerusalem. He lavished more
presents on them, and sent them off by sea, just as they had
wanted. Saint Gilles left Constantinople also, to join his own army
at Tripolis, which he was anxiously seeking to capture. (Book XI,
Page 320)

In late September of 1101 what was left of
the pilgrims crossed the Bosporus and limped into the city of
Constantinople. The leaders found at Raymond's villa that his door
was not open to them. Further, the Basileus was far too busy to
grant any of them an audience.

Once within the walls of the city, Albrecht
and Elisabeth split from the main body of knights and followed
familiar streets to the villa of Andronikos Comnenus. They found
the entire household waiting within the courtyard. When Andronikos
saw Albrecht slumped in his saddle, feverish, he cried out in
alarm, and directed servants to help the squire down and carry him
to his own massive chambers.

Elisabeth saw none of this, for next to
Andronikos stood a young woman with honey-colored eyes holding a
small boy. Tacetin wriggled out of his mother's arms and pushed his
way through the servants to dash to Elisabeth. "Elli!" he
cried.

Elisabeth, who had quickly dismounted, knelt
in the courtyard with her arms wide, folding the child in them when
he threw himself against her chest. She felt moisture on the boy's
dark curls and realized it came from her own tears. She took his
head between her hands and kissed his face repeatedly.

"Elisabeth," a velvety voice said quietly.
She looked up into Maliha's precious eyes. Stiffly she dragged
herself to a standing position and reached to take her lover in her
arms. Maliha leaned into her, laid her cheek on Elisabeth's
shoulder, and Elisabeth held her tight, savoring the feel and scent
of her. When they looked again into each other's faces, each was
wet with tears. They tilted their faces to each other and their
lips met and held in a long kiss.

Like any soldier who returns from the horror
of war, Elisabeth had no interest in delaying time alone with her
beloved. She followed Maliha to their shared chamber. She saw
immediately that Maliha had been living in it. She waited as Maliha
asked his nurse to take Tacetin. When they were alone, she took
Maliha's face in her hands gently and asked, "He has a nurse
now?"

Honey eyes sparkled into hers. "Master has
been most generous. There is so much to tell. So much to ask . . .
" Elisabeth's lips cut off her words, hard and hungry on hers.
Maliha noticed how dry and cracked they were. She relaxed in the
pilgrim knight's embrace. She felt her start to move them both to
the bed. When the side of the bed hit the back of her knees, she
went limp, letting Elisabeth take her weight and lower her gently
onto the bed. She pulled her legs up to lie flat, and felt the
delicious weight of the woman atop her.

Elisabeth groaned and got to her knees next
to Maliha's form. "I have not bathed in months," she sighed,
pulling her gorget off, then her mail shirt up to wriggle out of
it.

Maliha shared the task by unlacing the mail
britches and pushing them down. "I want you however you are, my
love."

Elisabeth knelt over her, eyes again brimming
with tears. "It was horrible, so horrible I want to forget it."

"Let me help you try," the dark-haired woman
begged.

Elisabeth sank down on top of her, pressed
her lips to her throat and lost herself in the healing warmth of
making love to Maliha.

Later while servants carried in the tub and
hot water, the steward came to the door and bowed. "My master asks
if the ladies would be so kind as to join him for a light meal this
evening in his chambers."

Maliha glanced at Elisabeth and saw the
surprise in her eyes. The German woman mouthed, "Ladies?" and
Maliha gave her a mischievous grin.

"Lady Elisabeth and I would very much like
that," she said to the servant, who bowed and backed out of the
chamber.

"Did you tell him, my sweet one?" Elisabeth
asked.

Maliha helped her slip the robe off her
shoulders, tut-tutted at bruises and abrasions on her arms and
back, and helped her into the tub.

"Get in with me," Elisabeth asked.

Maliha stripped her own robe off and as she
put one leg and then the other into the tub she said, "No, I wanted
to, but I thought it best to wait to ask you what you wanted." She
settled between Elisabeth's legs, her back against her breasts.
Elisabeth put her arms around her and began to stroke Maliha's full
breasts, now soapy and oily, and to tweak her nipples. Maliha
wriggled with pleasure. She reached up to pull Elisabeth's head
down for a soul-searching kiss.

"Then who told him?" Elisabeth spoke into her
ear.

"There was a man who came with another party
of pilgrims, oh, yes, there, that is delicious." She sighed deeply
while her lover's lips and tongue explored her neck and ear. "I
can't tell you about it if you keep doing that."

"Do you want me to stop?" Elisabeth said, not
stopping.

"No," Maliha moaned and twisted in the tub so
that she lay on her side in Elisabeth's arms. She presented her
lips for more kisses. Their tongues reached into each other's
mouths to play together.

After making love in the bath, they fell
deeply asleep in each other's arms, while the sounds of servants
quietly removing the bath and cleaning up the water that splashed
everywhere did not register on them at all.

Elisabeth found two sets of clothing set out
by the servants when they awoke from their contented nap. She
lifted the dress and held it to Maliha. "This is yours."

Maliha shook her head. "They are both yours,
my love. Andronikos is giving you the choice."

"To wear men's or women's clothes?" she asked
sardonically.

"No, to choose how you, a woman, wish to
dress."

Elisabeth looked at her wonderingly, smiled
and chose the britches, tunic and coat. Before they went out the
door, she strapped on her sword belt. She put a palm on the small
of Maliha's back and led her to Andronikos's rooms.

Ushered all the way into Andronikos's private
bedchamber, the two women saw that Albrecht was installed in the
master's bed, a physician putting the final touches on a bandage on
his leg. The aroma of salves and poultices tinged the air already
redolent with the spices used in food. Albrecht smiled sheepishly
from where he sat propped up on silken pillows. Andronikos sat on
the bed holding the man's hand. He looked up as his guests entered.
"My ladies, welcome! I thank you for agreeing to have dinner with
us."

Elisabeth, with a fond glance at her squire,
bowed graciously, "It is generous of you, my lord. It seems I have
much to be grateful to you for." She glanced at Maliha. "You have
taken good care of my family."

Maliha's face shot to hers, her lips forming
a tiny O. Tears sprang to her eyes. "Oh, Elli," she sighed.

Andronikos beamed at them both. He looked
over at Albrecht, whose loving face moved between him and the
women.

Elisabeth took Maliha's hand. "Come meet
Albrecht more formally," she invited. She led Maliha to the bed,
where she sat on the edge and drew her beloved to sit on her other
side. "Albrecht, my friend, this is my darling Maliha. We have a
son, Tacetin."

The squire laughed. "I've met Tacetin. He
came to show me his kitten."

Maliha laughed delightedly. "Papaki?"

"Yes, that means duckling, though why he
named a kitten after a duck I don't know."

Andronikos sat on the other side of the bed
and held Albrecht's hand, massaging its back with his thumb. "I can
tell you that," he smiled. "Tacetin remembered your shield with the
upside-down duck. He noticed how the kitten liked to lie on its
back and play with his fingers."

"How is your wound?" Elisabeth asked after
she stopped laughing.

Andronikos replied for him, "Now that he had
the loving care he needs, it will be well. I shall see to that
myself." He leaned in and shared a light kiss with Albrecht.

The servants brought in low tables and placed
them near the bed. "I do not want my Albertos to feel left out, so
if you do not mind, we shall sup at his bedside," he explained.

Over their supper Andronikos brought
Elisabeth up on what had transpired while the pilgrims were gone.
"You had hardly left Nicomedia when another party of pilgrims
arrived from Nevers."

"Count William?" she asked, looking up from
picking a delicacy from a polished teak tray.

He nodded, "Just as we were clearing up the
mess in the city from your lot." He winked at Albrecht, whom he fed
from his own fingers. "When the Nivenais came in such spectacular
order, the city wished they have arrived first. They did not
linger, anxious to join your Stephen of Burgundy and the rest of
you and set out immediately for Ancyra."

"So the news had reached you of our
conquest?"

Andronikos hid a wry smile behind his hand.
"Of an unguarded stronghold?"

She frowned. "There was battle. I was in
it."

Maliha gave a small cry and touched her arm.
She patted it and murmured reassurances.

"She got her first kill in battle then,"
Albrecht put in. "Gods, but it's hard to get used to saying 'she'
again."

"Do not get in the habit, my friend. I shall
have to go back to being Elias soon." Her face was grim.

Maliha squeezed her arm. "Why? Can you not
stay here?"

"I made a pledge. For my father's and Elias's
sake. To pray at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. And to free the
Holy Land from the Paynim." She froze, and looked at Maliha. "I am
sorry. I do not mean you."

Andronikos looked from hers to Maliha's face.
"I should think you would have had enough of fighting for pilgrims
like Toulouse, Blois and the others, all such true Christians."

Her brows furrowed with the pain of sudden
biting memories. "I still have to go to Jerusalem. I have to learn
what happened to my father. Then I have . . . nowhere to go."

Andronikos cleared his throat. "I was hoping
you would stay and be the captain of my personal guard."

Elisabeth looked up sharply. "You have no
guard, my lord."

"I think it is high time I got one. And it
would suit my sense of the dramatic to have one with a woman as
their captain. The Basileus has his Verangians. I will have my
Amazon."

"Master says we will go to Jerusalem later,
when all this fighting has died down. On his ship," Maliha urged
hopefully.

Elisabeth looked at Andronikos, then back at
Maliha. She put her arm around the woman's shoulders and squeezed.
"So I could live as I am, a woman, but a knight? What about
Albrecht? Will he still be my squire? Would you want to squire a
woman?" She looked up at his face.

Before Albrecht could answer, Andronikos
said, "Albertos need never fight or wield a sword again. He will be
my beloved companion for as long as he wants to be. He may do
whatever he wishes in the world. I shall see to that."

The two men locked eyes. Albrecht's were full
of wonder. "You love me that much?" he said hoarsely.

Andronikos gazed back. "With all my heart and
soul." They continued to gaze.

"Oh Andronikos, ich liebe dich," Albrecht
breathed in German. "I did not know I could love again, but I
do."

The Greek eunuch did not need a
translation.

Sharing a soft kiss of their own, Elisabeth
asked Maliha, "Was the man you spoke of with the Nivenais? I do not
understand. How would he know I was a woman?"

"No, he came with the last party. A fellow
named . . . was it Hans?"

Andronikos nodded in response to her
quizzical look.

"Hans!" Elisabeth and her former squire said
together.

"How did he come to be here? If it is the
same man, we left him in Bavaria."

Andronikos supplied the information. "He was
my guest here, as squire to one of the lords traveling with Welf.
That is your king, is it not? Or Duke?"

Blood draining from her face, Elisabeth
asked, "That lord was not named Reinhardt by any chance, was
he?"

Andronikos shook his head. "No, it was
another Conrad. But he told us about Reinhardt. And he told us . .
. about you."

Maliha chuckled. "Not quite the same story
you would tell us, my love."

Albrecht laughed suddenly from the bed. "No,
I should not think so! He thought Elisabeth and I were lovers
running off together." He looked at the eunuch. "I am so glad that
I . . . well . . . we . . . " He stopped, smiled sheepishly, and
went on. "I am glad you had reason to doubt that I should prefer a
woman, my lord."