The Moon Worshippers (14 page)

Inaki hardly dared to ask the question that was in his mind. He drew up his courage and looked straight into the Moor’s eyes.

“Would the governor shut the city gates if he knew his son was safe?”

“Yes. He is risking his own life for his son. The Caliph of Cordova would execute him for treason, if he knew that he planned to open the city gates to Charlemagne.”

“What of the population of Zaragoza?”

“They would defend the city, but the garrison is too strong. The governor can open the gates without their support.”

Aguirre spoke rapidly to Inaki in Basque, so that the Moor would not understand.

“You don’t intend to rescue the boy and give him to this Moor?”

“Not quite,” replied Inaki. “I intended to rescue the boy, but his return will depend on certain conditions that the governor will have to accept if he wants to see him alive. We will not tell the Moor what they are until we have the boy. In that way he will co-operate until we are ready to make our demands known. Furthermore, we need him to carry our demands to the governor.”

“Good thinking,” Aguirre said.

Inaki continued to question Umar.

“Why had the boy been given to the Sisters?”

“To prevent further reprisals,” Umar said. He went on to relate how the boy had been out hunting with his escort. The Aragonese had attacked his party. One of the escorts had returned to Zaragoza, badly wounded. The governor had ordered the immediate sacking of three large Aragonese towns. This had been done. The Aragonese are Christians and the Benedictines had soon become aware of the boy’s capture. The original intention of the Aragonese was to offer him for ransom, as is the custom. The Benedictines had persuaded his captors to hand him over to them, so that no further reprisals would take place. They in turn had handed him over to the Sisters of the Moon for safekeeping; knowing that no one would be able to rescue him from them without the boy being killed. Furthermore, Christian monks could not be seen to hold a captive. It would seriously damage their credibility as the followers of Christ.

Inaki thought deeply. He had a thousand questions going through his head. He decided to keep them to himself for fear of giving too much of his plans away. He decided to ask one more question that was imperative to his plans.

“Umar, when is Charlemagne expected to reach Zaragoza?”

“On or about the middle of June.”

That just gives us three months,
Inaki thought.

“We have no time to waste,” he said to his men. “Let us hurry. Arturo move ahead and make sure all is clear before us. Aguirre we will talk as we march. Now let’s get moving.”

The men quickly collected their things. Put out the fires and fell into a line as they moved off.

Chapter Ten

The Go-between

They marched for four days without serious incident. They saw 200 Aragonese warriors on the third day, but these passed below them and they were easily able to hide until they had disappeared into the distance. So far they had been totally undetected. On the fourth day, Arturo had found the village and Inaki held council with his men that night.

“How will we find the go-between without raising suspicion?” asked one of the men.

“I’ve thought of that,” replied Inaki. “I will dress in the Moorish clothing we took and go into the village with Umar. The go-between will find us since he is expecting a message. He will make himself known.”

He’s expecting monks, not Moors,” Aguirre interjected. “Will he not be suspicious of you?”

“Perhaps, but I think he’s just hired help. Anyway, we can make up some sort of story along the lines that such important negotiations could not be trusted to monks. Besides, we don’t have a choice.”

“That’s too risky,” another man said. “Why don’t we just watch the village?”

“Because we just haven’t the time,” Inaki said.

The discussion ebbed back and forth for sometime, but eventually Inaki’s plan was accepted as best.

Finally, Aguirre added: “You can’t take the horse. One rider is too suspicious and would raise too many questions.”

It was agreed that the horse remained behind with the men. Umar would be instructed to hobble it.

“What about Storm?” Aguirre said.

“He comes with us. I will need him to keep an eye on Umar. Besides he gives me a certain edge. He’s worth two men.” Inaki got up, the discussion was over. He went over to Umar.

“I have been watching you, infidel, you lead by consent,” said Umar.

“You disapprove?”

“It is not our way. If you had any experience of battle, or knowledge of warfare, you would know that there is no time for conferences. A true leader orders and his men obey without question.”

Inaki bit his tongue. The man’s arrogance was unbelievable. Instead, he said: “Well I’ve a surprise for you. I’m going to confer with you. What is more, I’m going to listen to your opinion.”

In a few short sentences, he explained his plan and Umar’s part in it. Umar thought for a moment and said, “Your plan is good, but it has one serious fault. To pass for a Moor you must pray like a Moor. You must be instructed in our religion.”

“Teach me. I’m a quick learner.”

“You are an unbeliever. You are unclean. It is forbidden.” Umar turned away and tended to his horse. The conversation was over. Inaki stood for a few moments in shock. Then his temper rose.

“You would risk the life of a boy because of your religious beliefs?” he said vehemently.

“It is the will of Allah.”

Inaki turned away in disgust and returned to his men. They sat in silence as he related Umar’s words.

“What do we do now?” Arturo asked.

Inaki did not know what to say. The plan, as far as he could see, had been too deeply jeopardised by Umar’s attitude.

“I think we should go into the village,” Aguirre said, thinking aloud.

What, are you mad?” Inaki could not believe his ears.

Aguirre spoke gently, as if he was explaining something to a small child.

“Inaki,” he said, “you have lived in a village. How long do you think a go-between could live in a village undetected? It couldn’t happen. You cannot keep a secret in a village. No, the whole village would have to be involved. If I am right we will find the answer we seek in the village, but I would not hold my breath. I don’t think we will find anything in the village, at least not what we have been led to believe.”

“What do you mean?” Inaki said astounded.

“I think the Moor was prepared to die, rather than reveal all the information he had. Has it not occurred to you that he could not let the boy fall into our hands?”

“If you’re right, where does that leave us? With nothing? Anyway you’ve never liked the man,” Inaki spoke desperately, his heart sinking.

“Not quite,” Aguirre smiled. “The Moor had to gain time. He told us enough of the truth to keep him alive. He had to make his tale believable in order to stay alive and complete his mission.”

“What is the truth?” Inaki was totally bewildered now, and so were most of the men.

“Well, I think the part about the Benedictines is true.”

“Where does that leave us?” Inaki repeated the question more in desperation than in the belief that there was any possible answer.

“In a better position than you might think.”

“Go on.” Inaki began to feel a glimmer of hope.

“I think that they are and have always been the go-betweens. The rest of the story was just to gain time.”

The men began to murmur amongst themselves. Inaki sat deep in thought. One of the men spoke with the consent of the others.

“We agree with Aguirre, we should go into the village.”

“Not so fast,” said Aguirre, “first we must let the Moor escape.”

“Oh! That’s good,” said Inaki with feeling, “first we throw away a perfectly good plan, now we let the Moor escape. Whatever next?”

Aguirre looked at Inaki and calmly smiled. Inaki recognised the look. He had often seen it when Aguirre had been tutoring him and he had found something particularly difficult to do or understand. Inaki pulled himself together.

“I’m sorry, Aguirre, please go on.”

“Well, the way I see it is this,” Aguirre said, “somewhere close by, there must be some monks. If we pretend to revert to our original plan and watch the village, the Moor will think that he has fooled us. To make his escape easier we will split into small groups, on the pretence that we need to watch all the approaches to the village. Once he escapes two of us will track him. The others will go into the village and make general enquiries about the best route into France. We must try and gain information about the monks, but it must be done without raising suspicion. We will make out that we are making our way to France in order to improve our stock, in Navarra, of sheep. That way we double our chances of locating them. After that it’s a question of discovering how the monks communicate with the Sisters and their location.”

“Sounds simple,” Inaki said, sarcastically.

“It will not be easy and there is a lot that can go wrong, as you well know Inaki.” The rebuke was friendly.

“Yes,” Inaki said with a smile. “I think it’s time for a bit of acting.”

With that, the men rose, looking suitably depressed. Inaki gave his orders and the men split into small groups. From the corner of his eye, he could see that Umar was taking a keen interest. For three days they watched the village. Inaki became more and more impatient. Umar remained with the two men that had been left to guard him. They had orders to give him plenty of space, without making it too obvious. He had shown no sign of making a move. Time was passing rapidly. It would take them at least ten days to return to the Basque country and there was only fourteen days left before Charlemagne’s arrival at Zaragoza. The waiting became unbearable. Inaki felt, not for the first time, that he was living in a heartbreakingly cruel world of unspeakable disorder. He surveyed the land around him. It was beautiful. Behind and to the right and left of him were three huge mountains, their peaks covered in snow. It gave him a feeling of security; he felt at home in these mountains. After all, they where an extension of his beloved homeland. From where he sat, he could see the village comprised of a group of twenty conical stone huts and extending out from the village, in all directions, walled hay fields. Beyond the village and at the bottom of the mountain, a valley was extending east and westwards. A fast flowing river ran through the valley. At the other side, dense pine forests covered the mountains as far as the snow line. Good cover, thought Inaki, all around with plenty of wild game.

Finally, on the morning of the fourth day, the guards found Inaki. The Moor had slipped away that night. Inaki told one of the men to find their comrades and go into the village. He, with the other man, would track the Moor and meet them in the valley. Inaki moved quickly to where the guards had been camped. From his bag he took the Moor’s shirt and placed it over Storm’s nose.

“Seek,” he ordered Storm.

The dog did not hesitate, moving swiftly down the slopes, towards the valley. The horse had found the descent difficult and there were many signs where it had slipped on the stony mountainside. Moving in the darkness, horse and man had fallen several times and the tracking was easy. Once in the valley the Moor had mounted and the tracking had become more difficult. He was obviously aware that he would be pursued and took precautions to avoid leaving a trail. Man and horse had entered the river. The river was wide but not very deep. It took Inaki most of the morning to discover which way he had gone. At first he went down stream, but after searching both banks for several hours, neither he nor his comrade could find any signs of the horse. Storm and Inaki retraced their steps and returned to the place where the horse and rider had entered the stream. They moved upstream. Each man covered a bank. It was now mid-afternoon and still there were no signs. Inaki decide to give up and wait for his men. Perhaps with extra help he would be more successful. He sat down on a fallen tree and thought. What if Aguirre had been wrong? His mood became very black. He was totally despondent. He felt that he had failed. He believed that the loss of his friends had been for nought. His young comrade, a Basque called Elexoste, recognised his mood.

He spoke: “Don’t worry. When the others arrive, we will find the Moor. Have no fear.”

Inaki did not reply. He was too depressed to say anything meaningful.

Towards late afternoon, Aguirre and the rest of the men could be seen coming down river. They had a stranger with them. When they reached Inaki, Aguirre said to him, “You need to pay this man. We have brought two fine rams and six ewes.”

Inaki handed Aguirre the bag of money without a word. Aguirre took some silver coins and handed them to the man. He thanked Aguirre with a smile, bade them farewell and made his way back to the village.

“Robbing bastard,” Aguirre said under his breath.

“We’ve lost the Moor,” Elexoste said to Aguirre.

“Doesn’t matter,” replied Aguirre, “we know where he’s going.”

Inaki stood with his mouth open, the relief written all over his face.

“How?”