Kitabı oku: «The Sky Of Nadira», sayfa 6
Chapter 11
Winter 1060 (452 from the Hegira), Rabaḍ by Qasr Yanna
Before losing consciousness again, Corrado had time to see the icon of the Madonna, the one inserted in a niche on the facade of the house, which was a mandatory sign for Christians. Michele had carried him on the shoulder while Apollonia had anticipated them by making his way through the great confusion of people in panic and intent on putting out the fires that broke out just before. Umar's house was devoured by flames while dozens of men went back and forth to the grain warehouse with the intention of saving as many seeds as possible; among them was also Alfeo.
Caterina was crying at the door while her two natural children brought the other one at home, immolated and almost dead to defend the honour of the family that had welcomed him.
Michele laid Corrado on the bed and ran to support his father and fellow villagers against the warehouse flames.
Apollonia wore the lantern but stopped at the door when she realized that her mother had stripped Corrado of her clothes soaked in sweat and the dew of the night, to cover him with dry blankets. She did not remember ever seeing him naked, so she blushed and feared to enter in the room. Then, in the darkest hours of the night, she found herself alone again to watch over him, as she had done in the previous two days. Now with a wet patch she rubbed his forehead to bring down a fever.
When Corrado opened his eyes, the first flashes that anticipate the dawn were already penetrating the window and the dawn adhān rang throughout Rabaḍ, a sign that spirituality must always have the upper hand over misfortunes. The fever had gone down and Corrado was beginning to regain control of his muscles. The dark bruises on his wrists reminded him of the cause of his infirmity and the hatred for the one who had caused him that humiliation ... just him, nobleman of proud indomitable lineage.
Corrado had quelled his warrior soul in twenty years of family daily life. That reality made of affection, of a home, of loving parents, of a trusted brother and of a beloved sister, had repaid the discomfort of being far from those who knew, lost in the midst of people that as a boy they had taught him to despise. In those years, the humiliation of being subjected to the debt collector of Qā'id, in Fuad before and in Umar after, had been rewarded by the love of Caterina, the mother she had never had.
Corrado now found himself with Apollonia's sleeping head resting on his chest. Although he had been intermittently unconscious, he knew well how much that girl had done for him. He therefore ran a hand through her hair and stroked her cheek and ear.
Apollonia opened her eyes. He didn’t notice that her was awake, and so he continued to caress her. This was all she could expect from that closeness: pretending to sleep to enjoy the other's caresses. He smiled imagining that those hands were motivated by other feelings, but those crumbs were all he could have.
«I am thirsty. » Corrado said thinking aloud.
At this point Apollonia could no longer pretend to sleep and got up on the stool she was sitting on.
«I'm going to get you some water. » she replied too quickly, generating suspicion in his brother that he was not actually sleeping.
«No, let our mother take it. You stay here. »
Therefore, Corrado's gaze stopped on Apollonia's face: a large bruise still reddened started from the corner of her mouth and went up to half of the cheek.
«What happened to you here? » he asked, touching her face.
Apollonia withdrew and replied:
«Don't you remember anything? »
Apollonia hoped that Corrado would not remember that detail at all ... that he had not realized that Idris had struck her, so that the blood would not go to his head and he wanted to ask for an account.
«Who did this to you? » Corrado asked again, leaning on the back of the bed.
Apollonia came out torn. On the one hand she wanted to protect Corrado from his own temperament, on the other she didn’t want to lie to him.
«After what happened tonight, who cares who did it? »
Corrado was suddenly catapulted into awareness of the events he had witnessed the night before; now everything was coming back to him.
«They kidnapped Nadira! » he said it all in one breath, as if he were reaching that truth at that moment.
«I know, Corrado ... I know ... That poor girl! Brother, beauty is a curse from God, and man is man! Jala has seen it all, they ripped it off her arms. All we do is talk about it all over the village and Michele told me everything, even what I didn't know.»
«Umar ... that Umar dog! I saw him dead with my own eyes. »
«Umar is alive ... and his family too. They fled in time before the house collapsed on itself. But twelve villagers, Corrado ... twelve villagers ... died to defend Rabaḍ! »
Corrado was worried about the twelve inhabitants of the village, but then anger towards Umar prevailed.
«That damned Umar would have better to die! »
«Then I better not tell you who was dragging him away from the flames while he was passed out and his mother was looking for him like a desperate in the smoke. »
«It was you? » he asked furiously, pointing a finger at her.
«No, I haven't been able to drag you either. It was Michele when he came to take you home. »
«Michele!» Corrado shouted, wanting to ask his brother for an account.
«Be calm, please! People are all very tired, and mourning has fallen in our family too. I saw our father come home in tears. We lost a year's harvest and many of those twelve were also his friends. »
«Michele!» Corrado called again.
«It will end badly if you fight between each other ... Don't do another injustice to our father. Please, Corrado! » she pleaded, taking his hands.
«What wrong would I have done to him?»
At this point Alfeo and Michele, having heard Corrado's call, set foot in the room.
Apollonia then let go of her brother's hands and immediately stood up, as if those others could interpret that gesture of affection with malice, as if they knew about her feelings.
«No one had ever noticed us, Corrado, and now thanks to you we have become a stench for all the Mohammedans of Rabaḍ, and especially for the house of Umar.» Alfeo explained with his face completely blackened by smoke.
«Is that why Michele rescued our enemy before he rescued me? To make up for the wrong I did to that man's dung? » Corrado said furiously.
«It is just so ... We pray to God that with Michele's gesture everything will return as it was before. »
«Before I took up your defence, father? »
«I didn't ask you for anything. »
«But that man humiliated you! »
«They command us; what's wrong? »
«Is that why you didn't deign to come while I was there? »
«Umar must understand that we have nothing to do with your gesture. »
Corrado's anger left room for disappointment.
Apollonia then noticed the low face of her brother and tried to cheer him up:
«Come on ... after all our father is right. What did you claim to do by insulting the Qā'id man? »
But Corrado, instead of listening to her, pointed out:
«My father, my real father, would have been proud of me, and would have been proud even if I had been tied to that pole. Instead you scold me! »
Now the tones were seriously overheated. Alfeo was seriously indignant at those words, while Michele was silent because he knew he had betrayed the trust of the person he most admired.
Caterina came to the door when her husband stepped forward and blurted out:
«Where is your real father today? He preferred to get killed and to leave you alone! For what, Corrado, for honor? Did he not to be humiliated? I am sure that for people like your father these would have been more than enough reasons to get killed, abandoning their son to his fate. However, these are not the real reasons why your real father didn't raise you ... your father got killed for money! »
Corrado got up from this, but, realizing that he was naked, he covered himself with the blanket he was wearing; Meanwhile Apollonia had promptly turned away.
«He was a soldier! » Corrado justified.
«And I'm a farmer ... with a master to serve! »
Corrado took another step towards Alfeo and replied:
«For this reason, you have been licking the feet of pagans for two hundred years. I begin to think that you like the taste of the powder between your teeth. Therefore, my people are holding the other side of the Strait while you are getting slapped for an unpaid tax. Roul always said, "Damn the Greeks! »
Having said that, he went further and left the house.
He felt like a worm, especially for the last sentence. The man with whom he argued was the one who had welcomed and raised him like the other children and he now showed himself ungrateful, diminishing him in comparison with the father who had left him at the age of nine. On the other hand, what did he expect from that family who had made submission to their master their reason for living.? Corrado's heart was indomitable by birth, it is true, but also completely incompatible with the gentle nature of Alfeo. At one point, while he was sitting under the fig tree at the back of the house, still rolled up in the blanket, he came to the conclusion that the unsuitable one was him, and that because of his character he would only cause problems to those people that he loved most than anything else. It was cold and he was not completely healed, but it was at that moment that the decision to leave matured. His heart beat hard inside his chest and his breathing deepened. Now the last few decades have disappeared; Corrado felt his twenty-nine years as if they were nine, as if time had never passed at Rabaḍ.
Apollonia came out crying, while he was immersed in those thoughts.
«You haven't recovered yet ... please come in. » she prayed to him.
Corrado, however, smiled pleased at the decision he had made just a few minutes earlier.
«I'm glad Michele saved Umar's life. » he replied, leaving her completely perplexed.
«And what does it have to do now? »
«It has to do with it because the time has come for me to behave as it is in use among my people. I will ask Umar for what he did to me and make Idris pay for what he did to you. Don't believe I didn't see him tonight! »
«So you're going to get yourself killed! »
«It doesn't matter, since this is not living ... it's crawling! »
«It doesn't go so badly ... Before Umar hit our father they had never done anything to us. »
«If Umar has suddenly changed then I am too. »
«What if they take it out on us? »
«Our father and Michele will be able to exculpate themselves by disavowing me, as they have done these days. »
Apollonia prayed him throwing herself between his legs and embracing him.
«I won't let you, at the cost of telling our father everything. »
«You won't do it, sister, not you who never betrayed me. »
Apollonia looked up and stared at him ... To which he stroked her cheekbone with a finger.
«Revenge is one of the ruins of man. You told me about how the war of twenty years ago was not successful for Christians because of the revenge. »
«Arduino the Lombard ... but it was not for his revenge that the Christian armies returned beyond the sea; it was because his general wanted to humiliate him publicly ... just like Umar did with me. »
Chapter 12
Early summer 1040 (431 from Hegira), valleys east of Tragina
Several days passed, perhaps a week or more, when Conrad did not stop attending the rock church. He slept there, ate there, prayed and slowly began to exchange a few words with those who went there, especially with those few friars of the Greek rite who knew the language of oil, but also with some of the servants and soldiers. Conrad spent so many hours there that in the few moments he put his nose out, his eyes ached from the intense sunlight. He learned who each of the characters painted on the wall was, the name of all the saints and became attached to the image of Saint Andrew, praying with his mouth open and making the Trinitarian symbol with his hand; just that holy apostle overlooked the burial of his father.
Roul and the others had been wandering through the countryside for days, and now, returning from the pursuit, they came home to the camp with the bulk of the army. It was the early hours of the afternoon when Conrad heard the big mess coming from below and swore that for sure among the tents it was celebrated.
It wasn't long before his custodian came up.
«Son, come out! »
Conrad then went out, but remained in front of the entrance.
«The whole army is returning. »
«You will celebrate for victory ... I bring pain for my father. »
«Many of the soldiers lost a relative in the battle, a brother and even a father ... A few days ago, they also buried their dead, and not in a nice mausoleum like this, but in the middle of the field. Now, however, it is right to enjoy our sacrifices ... they died for this too. »
«I don't want to leave my father. » Conrad advanced.
«What if some infidels desecrate this place? » reinforced his thesis.
«The good Lord will punish him, but they can't kill your father twice. Today we will celebrate together, and then, compensation in my pocket, we will return to Syracuse to support those of us who have remained, in order to complete the siege. There has been a lot of spoils in these days ... God only knows how many villages have been preyed on in pursuit and on the way back! Everyone will have their part and it will be your father's part. »
«I didn't make it. »
«What have you gained from everything your father has done for you? Boy, I'm starting to get tired of your whims! Today I could hardly believe you had been up here for more than a week. But I'm not your father, and if I can't honour the promise I made to him, then it is all the better that you take your head off with two fingers rather than having yourself in the way! »
«What do you want from me? » Conrad asked, raising his voice.
«Convince yourself that your father is dead and stop whining. And that you know that I was a friend of Rabel, not yours, so I won't scruple myself to hang on the banner if you don't do what I say. »
«Take part of my father's booty and leave me alone. »
When after this sentence Conrad turned to go and hide in the cave, Roul grabbed him by the neck and hoisted him over two meters high. The warrior's hand embraced almost the entire neck of the boy, so he squeezed it to such an extent that the younger boy's eyes seemed to pop out.
«They call me Hard Punch and should I be insulted by you, you filthy brat? I have no problem to shatter you on these rocks! » he shouted that he looked like the Devil.
So he sprawled it loose, letting go.
«If anyone were to see how you try to trample me, my reputation would be jeopardized. I killed men for a lot less! Thank your father and my honour if I don't throttle you today. Now get up and come to the camp! »
Conrad was injured, more than in the body in the soul, and avoided looking the other in the eyes, while still curled up on the dry grass. Not even his father had ever disciplined him in this way.
At one point he saw Roul's gigantic hand approach his face; therefore, he narrowed his eyes imagining the realization of that threat.
«Get up and come with me. I will show you how your father lived, I will introduce you to his friends, I will make you drink what he drank and I will let you go with the women he preferred. » Roul invited him in an unusual gentle tone, holding out his hand.
Conrad grabbed her and stood up, then wiped away the tears that wet her freckles and forced an expression of harshness.
«I like you like that! » he complimented the giant man before turning his back on him and starting to get off the alert.
«Raoul! » instead he called Conrad.
«What else is there? » the adult between the two said impatiently.
«I want you to take me with you to the next battle. »
Roul laughed, he was pleased that his means brought results, but he laughed heartily.
«Brat, what would you want? »
«I want you to teach me to live as my father lived ... well, take me to fight too. My father teaches me the sword I walk by. I can do it! »
«You will give me a demonstration as soon as possible. As for the war ... well, son, first you have to prepare your heart ... you have to learn to hate! »
«I already know how to hate! Put an unfaithful here before me and you will see how I tear it to shreds. »
«It is not enough; you are not strong enough. »
«Give me your axe and cut this olive tree in three strokes. »
Roul laughed even louder and replied:
«You wouldn't even know how to lift my axe! You will go with me to battle, but not now. The regular army of Constantinople is made up of men who are at least eighteen years old. We are not low-level like them but let me show you at least a few hairs before coming. »
«Next year? » Conrad asked innocently.
«Next year ... it's fine. » Roul agreed to take it off.
«I will avenge my father! »
This time Roul did not reply, rather he put one hand on the other's shoulder and started going down again.
The camp was a swarm of people; before then it hadn't seemed so big to Conrad. The air was that of the party and all around the soldiers laughed and joked, this time without showing the diffidence that existed between different bloodlines. A guy at the side of the road near the big tents had a crate full of strange metal objects with spikes on several sides. Roul took one, showed it to Conrad and explained to him:
«Do you see this thing, boy? This is how Abd-Allah intended to defeat us, scattering the ground with hundreds of them like this. However, our horses are shod with wide plates and the goads have done nothing for us. Start learning about war. »
Wagons laden with the booty stuff continued to arrive escorted by regular soldiers and gathered at the large clearing in front of the command tent, that of George Maniakes; obviously the wagons and oxen were also part of the spoils. On some of these wagons there were also men and women taken prisoner in the raids: they were the unfortunate Moor civilians who had not been able to hide. Many of those women would have been part of the celebrations as an initial act of servitude, before being sent to the mainland as booty to be delivered to the families of the new masters. The women would have been part of the courts in the noble palaces and the men would have become serfs, or, both men and women, they would have ended up in the hands of the Jewish slave traders, who would have scattered them in markets all over the Mediterranean. In fact, Christians were theoretically forbidden to trade directly enslaved human beings, but the truth was that the trafficking of prisoners was good for everyone, Christians and non-Christians alike.
A delegation of the inhabitants of Rametta arrived with loads of supplies for the troops. Rametta, perched in a formidable position on the Caronies, had fallen into Saracen hands only in 965, the last of all the cities of Sicily, and was considered the bulwark of Sicilian Christianity and of the heroism shown for the defence of the faith. George Maniakes had taken it back shortly after his passage over the Strait, engaging in a bloody battle in which the Norman warriors had paid the greatest contribution of blood. Now its inhabitants supported the Christian reconquest in any way they could, by sending men and provisions. The citizens of Rinacium52 did the same - name of the city in official records - a few miles west of there, being the inhabited centre of a certain consistency closer to the camp.
After a short time, Tancred showed up, who brought a wine bottle.
«Some have already drained three! » he said, offering his colleague the object to which he referred.
«Here, take a sip! » invited Roul, passing the wine to Conrad.
The boy grabbed the skin and swallowed a bite, then strangled in the face and swallowed it down with difficulty. The other two laughed heartily seeing the difficulty of Rabel's son to behave as an adult.
«I think there's still time for women! » Roul exclaimed, pointing out the fact that if Conrad still had difficulties with wine, let alone women.
«What do you expect? He's only nine. » Tancred pointed out.
«At nine I went with my first slut! » answered Roul, even if it seemed absurd.
That was the last sentence Conrad listened to clearly. At the second sip of wine he began no to see well and not to distinguish the various voices from the enormous quantity of hazy shouting in dozens of different languages.
«Hard punch, I think we lost your godson ... » commented Geuffroi, a noble Norman friend of theirs.
«He is the son of Rabel, not mine ... The son of Hard Punch would know how to drink the fire of this mountain. » Roul bragged, speculating on an heir he never had and pointing to the Jebel.
«Women, nuts and wine ... outside the guard's tent, have a great time! » another intervened, arriving all excited and out of breath.
They went to the place concerned, except that, once they reached the clearing of the command tent, they had to desist from any purpose. Conrad was still rejoiced and followed his father's old friends without understanding anything. Dozens and dozens of people, soldiers of all kinds, religious and even some women not yet completely recomposed where they had let themselves be discovered, were all around the centre of the square, intent on watching something. Silence reigned and apprehension was typical of when something terrible is about to happen. Even the men of the Vanguard guard, those who should have had a good time, were careful to fix the centre of the scene. Roul therefore made his way by moving the individuals in front of him; Tancred, Geuffroi and Conrad took advantage of this to advance.
Four men emerged from George Maniakes's tent, four soldiers from Constantinople53, recognizable by their armour and Mediterranean appearance.
All around the scene that was about to materialize, other Romei54 soldiers ... Calabrian, Macedonian and Apulian, lined up to protect, fearing someone's reaction in the crowd.
At this point, Tancred spoke to a comrade in arms nearby, who had probably witnessed the scene from the beginning.
«Dude, what the hell is going on here? »
And that, in a low voice and putting a hand on the mouth:
«Maniakes55 and Arduin ... there seems to have been a discussion between them. »
«For what? »
«They spoke in Greek, I didn't understand everything ... but ... »
«But what? »
«Apparently the quarrel broke out for a horse. »
The wagons with the spoils had been partially emptied and trusted men sorted the stuff according to the typology to which it belonged. Indeed, a beautiful Arabian thoroughbred, pitch black and with a very shiny coat, was parked in front of the carts. At this point the four soldiers of Constantinople soon pulled the beast towards the place from which they had come out. Some Longobards56 also came forward, but the spades of the soldiers to protect made them desist from intervening.
George Maniakes came out then, with his hands on his hips and all furious. The latter with his good eye began to glare at each present. Then he screamed in his language, but everyone understood:
«Anyone else going to challenge Strategos57? »
This question introduced what was about to materialize.
The four who had brought in the horse were now pulling out of force, worse than they would be with an animal, Arduino, head of the Lombard contingent. They grabbed these by the beard, so that he would submit to Maniakes's next will, and tied him to the flagpole placed at the corner of the command tent, the one with the flag hoisted with the double-headed eagle of Constantinople. Finally, George Maniakes tore a lash of ropes from the hands of one of his servants nearby and, after having made the unfortunate Arduino's back and bottom naked, he hit him personally. Obviously the other one did not make a sound, hard and stubborn as he was.
Commanding other people has never been easy, there is the risk of making one happy and another unhappy, however George Maniakes did not make anyone happy, except for the people who saw him as the liberator of Christianity. The rest, they all hated him.
What had happened before the eyes of the entire army was something incredible: a a chief of the auxiliary troops, had been humiliated like a slave. Maniakes counted on the largest piece of the army, the regular one entrusted to his direct command, so it was easy for him to assert his claims. Arduino instead controlled
infantrymen, spearmen and knights armed with shields and spears recruited by force in Puglia; it is clear that, except for some faithful Longobard nobleman, nobody would have defended him.
The crux of the matter then had an absurdity:
In short, Arduino had refused to hand over that beautiful Arabian thoroughbred horse to his general, the Strategos, and a discussion had arisen in which neither of them had wanted to give in. At the umpteenth refusal of Arduino, Maniakes had decided that giving him an exemplary lesson would have softened his indiscipline.
However, force does not always resolve disputes, on the contrary, often the consequences deriving from its use and abuse are more unpleasant than the cause for which it was decided to implement it. Not even Maniakes could imagine what this gesture triggered, who, to tell the truth, driven by a bad character, often acted on impulse and regardless of the results of his actions. Moreover, while the army gave importance to the victory on the field and intended to have a good time, he considered Abd-Allah's successful escape a failure. All the fault of the fleet that had allowed the Saracen Emir to embark beyond the mountains and reach the capital Balarm. The commander of the navy, who was supposed to provide support to Maniakes's troops, was Stephan the Calafato, however the latter's military ability could not be compared in any way to the general's ability. Stephan commanded the fleet only because he was the emperor's brother-in-law, and because of this consideration that did not consider the merit, George Maniakes could not stand it.
«This is how the ones who challenge Geórgios Maniákis die! » the general concluded, looking at the bystanders in their entirety and extending their arm with their lashes towards them.
The crowd then began to thin out, but it was clear that the party had ended there, in the vision of Arduino's bloody back. The Lombard was therefore collected by his loyalists and brought back to his tent. It wouldn't end there, and everyone knew it ...
Roul and his comrades in arms sadly retreated to the camp section where they had settled; even the wine and the women lost their ascendancy for that evening.
Once withdrawn aside, and it was already sunset, Roul, leaning on the pole to which his horse was tied, began:
«What we saw today is absurd!»
«I say we should have intervened.» Tancred advanced.
«We answer to Guaimar of Salerno, not Arduin.» answered Roul.
«Arduin also replies to Guaimar. The same gentleman hired us. »
«Then let his lord restore his honour! Isn't Guaimar also a Lombard? » Geuffroi pointed out, in agreement with Roul.
«It is not a question of blood or brotherhood, it is a question that no nobleman, furthermore of good lineage, is worthy of undergoing that treatment. Wouldn't we have intervened if Willaume de Hauteville had been in Arduin's place? »
«Willaume would have torn his heart with a bite! » exclaimed Roul.
«But Willaume is careful not to contradict that damned rabid Macedonian dog!» someone said ... but it was not clear who had spoken.
The fact that the three soldiers made a gesture of reverence speaks volumes about who the guy came.
«Willaume, we only spoke because the breath is part of the compensation. » Tancred justified himself with a thread of irony, the very one who questioned the non-intervention by everyone.
«Tancred Long Hair, one day you will explain to me why they call you that.» replied Willaume, or William of Hauteville.
«Long Hair was my grandfather ... I just inherited the name.»
Then he looked at the largest of all and immediately after Conrad next to him.
«Roul Punch Hard, what you do for this boy is honourable. »
«Willaume, something stronger than blood binds me to my brother Rabel.»
«This shows that there is a heart behind that axe»
Then he caught his breath and said:
«Anyway, I want you to know that I come from the various guard tents ... and Harald didn't like it. »
«I don't think anyone liked it. You can't humiliate a captain like that! » Tancred reiterated.
«I am sure that if I had been in Arduin's place you would not have stood by. »
«You can say it loud, Willaume! » Geuffroi argued.
«But it would have been suicide! Pure Arduin knew it today. »
«It will be suicide for Arduin even if it occurs tomorrow ... or the day after tomorrow ... or in a month.» strengthened another newly arrived.
It was Drogone, for all Dreu, William's younger brother. In the twilight of the sunset, since it turned its back on the twilight, they recognized it immediately because of the symbol of the Norman noble family of the lower course of the Seine sewn on the tunic; at least fifty followed him and it began to seem the prelude to a revolt.
