Behind the Veil (24 page)

Tancred’s answer was swift. “Return to Palermo.”

“If you do, there will be the man ibn-Rushid.”

“I know. But I will return regardless. He must be an older man if he loved my mother. Perhaps he will be wiser now, and weary of his bitterness. Maybe I can make some manner of peace with him.”

Walter looked skeptical. “If not?”

Tancred kept silent for a moment, and then sighed. “If not, I will face the matter if it raises its serpentine head.”

Walter’s hard eyes softened. “Well said. Let me also say this. Derek would have failed had he been in your dangerous position. He was tender, oft-times even foolish on some matters. But you—” and Walter looked at him again—“I knew your courage would drive you on. But to reclaim your honor and to find the true guilty one? I confess I did not know you so well, Tancred. Nicholas did. In truth, in spite of  Rolf’s interest in you and the good adoptive father he has been, it is Nicholas who is your father.”

“Yes, in that you speak the truth. Nicholas is aware I have looked on him as such.”

“I have something to confess to you.”

“It is not necessary.”

Walter looked at him sharply. “Do you fear I will at last show a droplet of tenderness? Is that too much for you to accept?”

“I have learned these years to live with your hate.”

“Then I want you to understand what I would never tell another. There was never hate.  Ask your uncles. They know. I drove myself the more rigorously to find you, not for retribution alone, though I told myself it was so, but for the need to lay eyes on you again. I feared I was wrong but could not humble myself before the clan to admit it. I hoped you would humble yourself before me, giving me a reason to yield, to offer you forgiveness, but you would not relent your integrity, and I was too proud to be the first to admit my error.”

“We all stumble in our walk. That you admit your pride is a consolation to me.”

“Then you do understand, Tancred?”

“I do not fully understand myself. And I knew you only as the head of the clan after my father, Dreux, was killed in battle. If there is a kinder man within you, I am sorry but I do not yet know him, nor understand him.”

“Then you will forgive me if I did not fully understand you,” his uncle said. “For you also, even as a youth, hid your heart behind armor.”

“I was a Moor before you received me as a Norman son of Count Dreux Redwan. To keep to my own counsel seemed wiser, and safer.”

“Yes, true. I hid mine as well. Do not all men?”

“Then we do understand each other.” Tancred looked at him and was able to smile.

Walter, too, showed a brief grin. “Then perhaps we can both understand better in the future. This woman Helena, the niece of Nicholas—” Walter gestured his head back toward where she waited with her uncle. “She is to be congratulated for reaching beyond your armor to your heart.” He gave Tancred a hard appraisal. “Where did you find her?”

“Constantinople.”

Walter arched his brow. “A spoiled damsel, is she?”

“She improves with time,” Tancred said with a glint of amusement in his eyes. “She is well worth the trouble. She is the daughter of General Lysander. Her courage is indomitable. I am exceedingly proud of her.”

The tension had eased, yet the constraint between them remained. Words were few; much was left unspoken. Tancred turned to walk back.

“Wait,” Walter said.

Tancred paused and followed Walter’s gaze to where the Redwans lounged near  their horses, watching them.

“You know what they expect, do you not?” Walter said. “Though they would never admit it, they desire a show of peace and unity.”

Tancred looked at him and saw the quiet flame in his uncle’s eyes. It would have been easy to walk away. It was difficult to come to grips with the need that he too, felt after his betrayal.

A memory came to his mind unbidden. Joseph, the firstborn son of Jacob and Rachel in the Old Testament, was sold into slavery by his heartless older brothers. Many had been Joseph’s trials and afflictions during years of Egyptian slavery, but God had not forgotten him.  In the end he’d been elevated from slavery to become prime minister of Egypt, and there’d been reunion and forgiveness with his brothers. “You meant it for evil,” he told them, “But God meant it for good.”

Tancred too,  had learned much through these years of trial, and his faith in Christ was stronger than ever. He would hold no grudge against his uncle.

Unexpectedly he laughed. “Peace, my uncle!” He threw his arms around Walter.

Count Walter Redwan grasped him eagerly. “My son! Everything is yours. The galleons, the merchant ships, the castle. With your strong hand and wit all will survive during my absence. The enemy, like hungry wolves, lie in wait to snatch it up while I am gone.”

“You are not returning to Palermo?”

“I will go on with Bohemond. I have taken the vow. We have Antioch. And now? Jerusalem!”

“I have no heart for the crusade,” Tancred confessed.

“It is good that you do not. Marry, produce heirs, and bless the Redwan line.”

“With that, we are in full agreement,” said Tancred. “But there is one more friend I must recover before I leave here…”

Behind the Veil  / The Royal Pavilions boo
k3
/ Linda Chaikin

Tancred found what he was looking for some distance behind the old ruins. He gave a familiar whistle. Alzira pricked up her ears, gave a low whinny and stood on her hind legs, pawing the air. Tancred came up to untie her as the Arabian mare turned her soft nose and nuzzled his neck.

“Well, Little Princess Alzira, you look none the worse for our long separation. I cannot say the same for your owner.”

He mounted her and rode back through the ruins to rejoin Helena. The mare’s hooves echoed on the ancient stones as she pranced forward, tossing her head and swishing her tail.

Helena, sitting astride the stallion, Altair, waited with Nicholas and Jamil to return to the  Castle of Hohms,

As Tancred reached them, his eyes on Helena, Jamil’s smile was wistful. He turned to Nicholas. “They are happy, are they not, Master Nicholas?”

“They are indeed, Jamil,” Nicholas agreed. “Such a warrior and so beautiful a lady match well together, especially when she is my niece. Like the wind to the wings of the falcon.”

“Come,” Tancred said. “Let us leave these old ruins at once. Rolf and the others are waiting for us. We ride to the Castle of Hohms.”

***

Though Seigneur Rolf Redwan was disappointed to learn that Tancred would not remain at the castle very long, his pleasure over the upcoming marriage to Helena and the expectation of visiting many grandchildren in Palermo, Sicily, appeased him. And after all, Adrianna would now be staying at the castle instead of returning to Constantinople. Rolf had fallen in love with her while protecting her from Basel during the past months. As far as Rolf was concerned, she was a gift from God; and Adrianna desired to marry Seigneur Rolf Redwan and remain with him and her baby son at the Castle of Hohms.

Helena had been overjoyed at seeing her mother again—and her tiny baby brother. And now, the unexpected news that Rolf and Adrianna were to be married! Helen’s happiness was complete.

Hakeem, too, had ridden with them to the castle. He now snored below in the great hall, content to have his head in place, knowing he was returning to the Moorish section of Palermo, where he would once again take his position as guard to al-Kareem and serve as Tancred’s secret ally.

And Nicholas had reason for celebration. Adrianna had named her son “Nicholas.” He was pleased over his sister’s wish to marry Rolf Redwan. The boy would have a strong father and would be raised to worship the true and living God. Thereafter, Nicholas had made the surprising decision to go on with the crusader knights to liberate Jerusalem.

“You are sure you will not return to Sicily with us?” Tancred inquired.

“In time, if God wills. First, I wish to see Jerusalem free. Then, there is the Lysander inheritance and summer palace in Constantinople to deal with. It belongs to me, Adrianna, and Helena. Who knows whether one day you and Helena might not wish to live there, or even your sons and daughters?”

“Then since you will be going on to Jerusalem, I would ask that you return the relic,” Tancred told him, reaching into his tunic and pulling out a small cloth bundle. Wrapped inside the aged material was the ancient lance head that old Odo Redwan, the family priest at the Redwan castle had so long ago entrusted to Tancred to return to its place at the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Odo had believed it belonged to the Roman soldier who pierced Christ’s side at His crucifixion. Neither Tancred nor Bishop Nicholas believed it to be the very same one, but he had promised Odo he would return the relic.

Tancred handed the object to Nicholas. “I entrust this to your safekeeping now. May God protect you and return you to us in Palermo. And remember, I will need you to train and discipline Jamal!”

“And Christ  continue with you, my son. Do not fear for me. I will live through this crusade, and you will one day greet me in Palermo and introduce me to your children. Besides, as you say, there is Jamal. I have not forgotten him.”

***

After darkness fell, Tancred stood on the castle steps with Helena in his arms in the silent the desert night! How warm were the breezes coming down from the rocky hills! How delicate the pale golden moon in the ebony sky! Tomorrow they would leave for St. Symeon to catch a boat to Cyprus, and from there, a ship to the Norman kingdom of Sicily.

“I have every reason to express my gratefulness to God. I now possess what I have wanted since the first time I saw you. Like a vision, you had vanished. And now you are here, and you are mine.”

“I am yours,” she whispered. “I will always be yours.”

The Redwan castle
, Helena thought with excitement.
Sicily…Palermo…what will life be like with Tancred?

One thing was certain, it would be exciting and, no matter what, they would never separate again.

***

Jamil approached from the courtyard sporting a fancy hat with a feather that Nicholas had given him. He stopped when he saw Tancred and Helena locked in each other’s arms. The smile on his handsome young face showed his own satisfaction. Life in the West was going to be good, he told himself. He sensed this in his heart. He could feel it in the warm westerly wind that had risen like a blessing from the Creator—softly touching his face. He remembered his sister, Aziza, with sadness and yet hope. He looked up at the silvery stars and knew that as a Christian with faith in the Savior, Jesus, she had a new home too, with God, where she was rejoicing. He silently retraced his steps to locate Nicholas.

God is good, he thought, as he left his new adoptive parents in their happiness, and ran, smiling, to find Nicholas.

End of Behind the Veil
— Boo
k3
, Royal Pavilions trilogy

(Book 1,
Swords and Scimitars)

(Book 2,   Golden Palaces)

Tancred Redwan
, Norman warrior, Student-physician, scholar, and seeker of Truth.

Helena of the Nobility
, the beautiful Byzantine Heroine.

Adrianna,
Helena’s mother.

Nicholas
, the maverick warrior-bishop, god-father of Tancred, and Helena's blood uncle.

Philip the Noble
, Minister of War in Constantinople and Tancred’s rival for the heart of Helena of the Nobility.

Mosul
, the Moor, and assassin; cousin to Tancred, and arch-enemy.

Lady Irene,
the aunt and enemy of Helena, the mother of Philip.

Bardas,
the Greek eunuch slave belonging to Helena.

Basil,
Bishop
in Constantinople, enemy of Nicholas.

Hakeem
, the Moor from Palermo, and Tancred's faithful friend.

al-Kareem
, the Moorish grandfather of Tancred.

Count Dreux Redwan
, deceased father of Tancred.

Count
Rolf Redwan,
uncle and adoptive father of Tancred.

Derek Redwan
, half-brother of Tancred.

Leif Redwan and Norris Redwan,
Tancred’s Norman cousins.

Walter of Sicily
, uncle of Tancred, and his accuser in Derick’s death.

Prince Kalid
, son of the Emir of Antioch.

Ma’sud Khan
, Kalid’s uncle.

Rufus
, Captain of Lady Irene's personal bodyguard.

Jamil,
the Armenian slave boy serving Helena in Antioch.

Aziza,
Jamil’s older sister and loyal maid to Helena and Tancred.

Adele,
wife of Leif Redwan.
.

Odo
, the old Norman priest, gave Tancred a relic spear-head while dying.

Captain Rainald
,
Genoese ship captain, ally of crusaders.

Hadrian
, Baron’s chief captain, helped Tancred escape the baron.

The Baron,
the carnal slave owner, bought Tancred for a galley slave.