kingdom of nations

Chapter 57 Visitors to the Eagle's Nest (Part )

As soon as the king, no, the enemy commander was knocked off his horse, Count Raymond's knights cheered loudly, and their squires and armed servants immediately rushed forward desperately, trying to drag Amalric I away from the chaotic horses' hooves and tie him up - how could Amalric I's knights be willing to suffer such humiliation, and immediately rushed forward madly, and their squires and armed servants also waved axes and hammers to fight against the enemies of the same class as themselves.

This put the king in danger.

It can be said that if Count Raymond's knights dragged the king away and took him prisoner, he would be in the safe zone; conversely, if the king's knights dragged the king away, he could return to his own safe zone and re-equip himself to fight again.

Furthermore, if the participants in this melee had not been blessed, the king would not have been in so much danger.

When Cesar saw the arena camp before, he was still confused - the temporary buildings at that time, such as the platform for welcoming Princess Maria, were all built with wood, only the arena was built like a city wall, wide, thick, and more than thirty feet high - it turned out that the knights who prayed for the favor of the saint were almost like a group of monsters made of steel.

When they collided with each other, they were like bursting cliffs; when they chopped each other, they were like interlaced thunders. They smashed into the stone walls, leaving clear marks, and they could stand up and continue fighting immediately. Some knights were enveloped by holy light and rushed straight into the enemy camp on horseback, allowing themselves to be stabbed by spears without being hurt.

However, it can also be seen that even among the knights who have received the same "favor", the favors they receive are different. Some are weak, some are strong, some are short, some are long, some tend to attack, and some tend to protect. At this time, it depends on the commander's understanding of the knights and his judgment of the battle situation. Who is responsible for charging, who is responsible for holding the line, and who is responsible for breaking through...

In this respect, Amalric I was slightly inferior to Count Raymond. Count Raymond was surrounded by almost all Franks, but because the king invited William Marshal, several British knights also followed him to serve the king. Although they did not hide anything from the king, they were ultimately not as adept as the original Frankish knights.

Bohemond, the referee of the match, also noticed that the king's horse had fallen and there were at least a dozen knights fighting around him. However, Count Raymond was entangled by several knights of the Holy Sepulchre under the command of Amalric I and failed to notice the situation in time.

Bohemond suddenly rose from his seat and ordered the musicians to blow their horns.

The horn sounded, but the knights who were fighting fiercely could not stop immediately - they were too close to each other, and each person had to do his best to guard against several enemies. The dust was everywhere, and people and horses were howling. The squires and armed attendants also went into battle, and their losses were greater than those of the knights.

After all, some of them were of ordinary origin and could not afford the money for the "selection ceremony" - but in order to gain a status, even if they knew that ordinary people were the wheat in the millstone in this kind of battle, they had to go!
Their own blood, the blood of their companions, could not shake their desire for money and honor, especially the gleaming golden chain mail...

Even if they could capture a king in a tournament, they would have climbed a ladder to heaven! Especially in the words of poets, it wasn't just knights who were admired and valued in tournaments; squires and retainers could also be admired!

At this moment, even if the ground cracked open and a devil came out of the crack, it would still be hit by their hammer!
In this chaos, Amalric I tried to get up several times but failed. Although the divine light still shone on him, it was indeed weakening.

"No!" Baldwin said anxiously, "I want to go down!"

"Wait!" Cesar grabbed his arm. "Look!"

William Marshall knocked down the enemy in front of him with a hammer and finally finished his last prayer. He could feel the glory of St. Patrick enveloping him as it did every time before. Then he let out a loud roar and rushed to the center of the arena. He did not distinguish between friend and foe, and would fight anyone who stood in his way. In front of him, there was almost no enemy who could match him.

Weapons broke, knights fell, and horses fell to the ground. It seemed that in just a moment, he rushed into the vortex surrounding Amalric I, pulled the king up from the ground, made him fall behind him, and then rushed out of the battle circle like a tiger, just like before.

"Stop him!" someone shouted.

On the way back to his own safe zone, William met more than one brave knight, but no one could stop him. His followers followed closely behind him, tied up all the knights who fell off their horses, and dragged them back to their master - these people were all captives of William Marshall.

Amalric I dismounted in a safe area. He looked a little disheveled, and the dust and blood had tarnished his gilded chain mail, but he was not injured.

The king took a quick look and saw that there were actually four or five knights dragged in by William's squire. The distance from the center of the battlefield to the safe zone was only a few hundred feet. He couldn't help but show admiration. At this time, the squire also brought him a new horse and presented him with a new broadsword. He looked at William and saw that his radiance was almost inferior to his own. He was even more delighted. "Are you still able to fight?"

"It's no problem to fight for another three days and three nights!" William answered loudly.

"Then follow me!"

So the two of them rushed to the battlefield again. The king's knights were retreating, and when they saw the glittering gilded chain mail, they immediately gathered around Amalric I. They regrouped and fought with Count Raymond's knights once again. But perhaps because of his previous negligence, Count Raymond, feeling guilty, was no longer so aggressive. A team that had lost its edge certainly could not fight against a team in high spirits. As Count Raymond was knocked off his horse by the king's sword, the victory or defeat was decided.

Bohemond breathed a sigh of relief. This was the kind of thing the tournament host feared most, especially when the king or lord was a brave knight—you couldn't be sure when to stop the game... The audience would laugh at the timid host, the king would be unhappy, and the knights would feel humiliated.

The problem was that blessed knights were weapons that could turn the tide of battle, and there was no way to persuade them to use non-lethal weapons. In every battle, especially in melee combat involving forty to fifty, or even hundreds of people, if the situation was stalemate or there was a pre-existing grudge, both sides would become furious, turning a melee into a full-blown war...

Cesar kept pressing Baldwin's shoulder, and it took a while for him to feel it relax. "William Marshall," Baldwin murmured, "he is truly an unrivaled giant."

"We haven't grown up yet," Cesar said, not denying the excellence of others, but neither would he underestimate himself, or Baldwin: "He's in his twenties, and we're only nine." And from what he'd seen and felt, even as a leper, Baldwin's strength was no less than anyone his age. The sky darkened. This was the final race, and the crown rightfully belonged to King Amalric I. He replaced his horse, put on his mail armor, and, with a garland on his spear, passed it to the Byzantine princess who stood up amid the cheers of the crowd. The princess took it and placed it on her head, then tied a silk scarf around the tip of her spear.

Among the knights, William Marshall was the most popular one. Although the conflict between England and France had already begun to show signs at that time, even the most narrow-minded knight had to admire his generosity and martial arts. Moreover, the favor of the saint also showed how pious he was. There was no need to wait for the banquet. Noble ladies in the arena threw flowers and gold rings to him. William accepted them all with a smile, but politely declined further requests.

Seeing that he had rejected all the noble ladies, Amalric I asked, "Are you still going back to England?" He said, "There are still four more tournaments to be held. I will not participate in them. Perhaps you can get the crown."

"Have you seen my banner, sire?"

"I see it." The background is half red and half green, with a lion painted in the middle.

"This is a coat of arms given to me by my mistress, Eleanor of Aquitaine," William said earnestly. "I have promised her that I will return to London after a tournament and become King Henry's martial instructor and chief attendant."

Amalric I did intend to recruit William Marshal as a member of the Crusade, but he also heard that when William was still an ordinary knight, he followed his lord, Earl of Salisbury, to escort Queen Eleanor back to Aquitaine. Unexpectedly, they were attacked by rebels on the way and the Earl was killed. William tried his best to stop the rebels, allowing Queen Eleanor to escape, but he was captured.

At that time, William was still an abandoned second son. His master died and no one came to redeem him. He was also seriously injured. He had no money and could only tear off his knight's cloak to bandage the wound on his thigh. At that time, he thought he was doomed to die. Unexpectedly, Queen Eleanor asked about his situation as soon as she returned to the palace, and immediately paid money to redeem him.

With such a favor in mind, William Marshal would not betray Queen Eleanor, and Amalric I could not force him, so he could only give him a set of silver-plated chain mail and a box of gold coins.

It would be a lie to say that he had no regrets. Amalric I saw with his own eyes how he easily defeated three knights who surrounded him at the same time in the blink of an eye, as well as the squires and armed attendants who rushed up after their master fell to the ground. If William Marshall could be in his army, he would surely shine in the subsequent holy war.

"You should visit William Marshal more often," he told Baldwin. "He's a natural warrior, blessed with extraordinary gifts from Saint Patrick, and very similar to you." The king added, "Although I've asked Raymond and Bohemond to teach you, I must admit that while they can be trusted, in other respects... they are mediocre. If William could stay, I wouldn't have to worry too much."

Baldwin certainly wouldn't disagree, but after a moment's thought, he asked, "Can I take Cesar with me?"

"If you like," Amalric I said. Heraclius told him that what Caesar saw was a "shield" and later it was like "chain mail", but it didn't matter much, just like what Count Etienne saw was Saint Pelagius, but his power could temporarily appear in the form of a spear, and could also be divided into several small shields to protect others.

As long as the favor Caesar received was more inclined towards "protection" rather than "attack", Amalric I would be much calmer.

After Baldwin left, Amalric I called a servant of Princess Sibylle and asked about his daughter's situation. He didn't pay much attention to Sibylle at first, not because he didn't love his daughter, but because most fathers at that time did the same - to ensure that she had enough food, clothing, shelter and transportation, and her personal safety was guaranteed, and then find her a husband of equal status.

But not long ago, because of Count Etienne's refusal to marry him, he suddenly realized that his daughter was also capable of causing great trouble... Although he reprimanded and punished Sibylle, he could not just send her to a monastery - he could only put some confidence in her.

What he was worried about was that since William Marshall performed so well and he was so kind to him, some people might mistakenly think that he was planning to have an Englishman as his son-in-law... and that Sibylle might do something irrational. Fortunately, he heard from his servants that the Countess of Jaffa had been paying close attention to her daughter's movements these days, and Sibylle had been behaving himself and had hardly left his room.

By June, Amalric I thought, he could hand Sibylle over to Princess Maria for discipline. After a few years, when the turmoil subsided, he could find a suitable husband for her.

He maintained this cheerful mood until midnight. When the king returned to his bedroom, he saw a dagger placed neatly in the middle of the bed.

------

The commotion that night alarmed even Baldwin and Cesar.

They heard that Amalric I was very angry and loudly scolded the "treacherous Saracens", but the next day, another group of Saracens wearing robes and covering their faces entered the Castle of the Holy Cross.

They were an envoy from the Eagle's Nest, and they came here not to explain or apologize like last time, but to ask the king why he did not keep his promise.

It was not until Heraclius came to class that Baldwin and Cesar learned that during the "selection ceremony", someone in the Assassin organization accepted bribes and secretly took on the assassination mission of Amalric I. Amalric I therefore held the "elders" of the Assassins accountable. The "elders" sent an envoy to capture the traitors and ended their lives in front of the king.

The matter should have ended there - although the inside story may not have been so, what the king and the "elder" did not expect was that the team was intercepted and killed by the Knights Templar on the way back to the "Eagle's Nest", and no one survived.

Amalric I was planning a second expedition to Egypt. He had put a lot of effort into this expedition and even used his marriage as a bargaining chip. Of course, he could not tolerate any mistakes. If Nur ad-Din of Zengid was an old giant bear and Saladin of Fatimid was a young male tiger, then the Assassins were a poisonous snake in the desert. He would rather give up some of his interests to appease the snake than be bitten again.

But the Knights Templar obviously didn't think so.

(End of this chapter)