NOT LONG AFTER SUNRISE, THE PARADISE LED US ALL up the channel on the landward side of Zara. Our galley was one of three immediately following her. I could see the shadows of our masts gliding along the city walls.
The first I knew about the huge iron chain stretched across the channel was when the Paradise rammed into it, screeching and screaming. The chain sheared through the bow, and the iron bollards sunk into the stone moles on either bank were ripped out of their sockets. The two ends of the massive sea-plait sprang into the air before they fell back and lashed the water.
The oarsmen kept their heads, though, and brought the transport in to the first dock, only another two hundred paces up the channel.
Lord Stephen and I heard that two Venetian cooks hidden in a small chamber under the hold-planks were sawn in half, and they were naked as needles.
“God’s own punishment,” Lord Stephen said grimly.
The Doge ordered half the fleet to wait offshore, to discourage Zarans from escaping, but even so the harbor was packed with our galleys.
Everyone seemed in a hurry to go ashore after being aboard for three days and three nights, and the confusion on the quay was all the greater because so many people wanted to see the damage to the Paradise for themselves. But before we had time to disembark, a Venetian councillor came aboard. It was Gennaro, whom we met at the sea-feast, and he advised us to wait until we were assigned a campsite.
He was just about to leave when he saw Simona and Serle, and Simona saw him. First they stared at each other, then they both caterwauled. Such a storm of relief and delight and sorrow! They fell into one another’s arms.
Simona told us Gennaro was her father’s first cousin, and she didn’t even know he was on our crusade, and he didn’t know she was, and he is a good man, and has three daughters, and he’s sailing on the Doge’s own galley, and he will protect her.…
“We’re protecting you,” said Serle. “I am.”
“I am!” said Bertie.
“Tutti! Tutti!” Simona cried gaily. “Everybody!” Then she engulfed Bertie in an embrace. “Tu!” cried Simona. “Tu specialmente!”
Gennaro winked at me. “Signor Artù!” he said. “Cows’ eyes! Sea snails!”
When Gennaro went ashore, he took Simona with him. She didn’t come back yesterday, but this afternoon she hurried into our camp, and told Serle and Lord Stephen and me what had happened.
The Doge’s servants had scarcely hammered home the last peg of his vermilion tent before the councillors of Zara rode out of the city to speak to him.
“They offered him the city,” Simona said. “They offered him everything in it. Everything! One condition only.” Simona wagged her pudgy right forefinger. “He spare their lives.”
“God be praised!” I exclaimed.
“What did the Doge say?” Lord Stephen asked.
“He said he must ask the French crusaders,” Simona told us. “He told the Zara councillors to wait. In his tent.”
“I see,” said Lord Stephen.
“Surely Milon will be pleased,” I said. “And Villehardouin.”
“Of course!” said Lord Stephen. “The last thing we want is trouble here.”
“So why did he ask them?” said Serle.
Lord Stephen’s eyes gleamed. “Tact,” he said. “And tactics. If he consults the French now, aren’t they more likely to consult him later? And maybe the Doge thinks it won’t harm the Zarans to simmer in the stewpot for a while. They’ve been troublesome for more than twenty years.”
Then Simona told us Count Simon de Montfort and Enguerrand de Boves visited the Doge’s camp while he was away, talking to all the other French leaders.
Simona cupped her left ear and leaned against the canvas. “Count Simon and Enguerrand talked alone to the Zarans,” she said.
Lord Stephen never took his eyes off Simona for one moment.
“They said the French pilgrims are Christians and the Zarans are Christians. They said the French would never attack Zara. They told the Zarans not to surrender their city. Their beautiful city! So long as the Zarans can defend themselves against the Venetians, they have nothing to worry about.”
“How dare they?” Lord Stephen said, very quietly.
“I don’t understand,” I said. “The Zarans have already surrendered. Doesn’t Count Simon want them to?”
“Aha!” said Lord Stephen. “He feels slighted because he wasn’t asked about who should build our ships, and he objects to a Lombardian and a Venetian leading French crusaders. But even so!”
“And Robert de Boves,” Simona said. “Enguerrand’s brother. He rode up to the walls and shouted the French pilgrims are friends, Christian friends.”
“Outrageous!” Lord Stephen said angrily. “So what did the Zaran councillors do?”
“They thanked Count Simon and Enguerrand for telling them God’s truth and for their Christian friendship. Then they left.”
“Dear God!” said Lord Stephen. “Does the Doge know?”
Simona shook her head. “I go back now,” she said.
“We’ll come with you,” said Lord Stephen. “Sooner or later actions have consequences, and I very much doubt whether Count Simon’s actions will prevent bloodshed, as he supposes.”