But Arn also visited the wounded every day to observe a brief moment of prayer with them. Then he would go from bed to bed along with one of the doctors and translate his recommendations and opinions. All this was extremely foreign behavior, and at first Siegfried de Turenne had looked on medicine in Gaza with great suspicion. But reason also had a say in the matter, and it wasn’t easy to deny. Of the many wounded who came to Gaza after Mont Gisard, only one had died, but he’d had deep wounds in his abdomen, and it was well known that there was no remedy for such a grievous condition. But there was no denying the fact that the infirmatoriumwas emptied little by little, and that most of the wounded, even two who’d had their wounds burned with red-hot irons, would be able to go back into service. According to Siegfried’s experience, half of the brothers who were treated for wounds in battle would usually die. And of the half that survived, many would be cripples. Here in Gaza the infidel doctors had only had one death, and it was a hopeless case. That fact could not be ignored. So it would be foolish not to try and employ Saracen doctors also at home in Castel Arnald as soon as possible. This was not an easy decision for Brother Siegfried to make. But if he had refused to accept what he saw with his own eyes, he would have sinned against wounded brothers, and that would have been even worse.
Doctor Abd al-Malik was one of Arn’s oldest friends in Outremer. They had met when Arn was a shy and childish eighteen-year-old and new in service at the Knights Templar fortress of Tortosa far up the coast. It was Abd al-Malik who at Arn’s stubborn insistence had given him his first lessons in Arabic, which then continued for two years before Arn was posted elsewhere.
The Holy Koran was naturally the best of all texts for this purpose, since it was written in consummate prose, which Abd al-Malik always explained by saying that it was God’s own pure language given directly to human beings with only one Messenger, peace be unto him, as intermediary. But Arn explained that the Koran had come to be the standard for all written Arabic and thus had been perfected after the fact, since all had to sing in the same manner.
They could argue about such things because it did not trouble either of them that they didn’t share the same belief. And Abd al-Malik was a man who refused to be upset by someone else’s belief. He had worked for Seljuk Turks, for Byzantine Christians, for the Shia Caliphate in Cairo, and for the Sunna Caliphate in Baghdad; he worked wherever the payment was best. When he and Arn met again in Jerusalem just before Arn was to take over his new command in Gaza, they had quickly come to an amicable agreement, although not merely for the sake of old friendship. Arn had not hesitated to offer a princely salary for Abd al-Malik’s services, because he knew how many lives of Templar knights such a wage would save. Looking at it that way, it was no great expense. Healing an experienced Templar knight and getting him back up on his horse was infinitely less expensive than training a newly arrived whelp from scratch.
In those days there was no wealthier order in the world, and there were those who thought that the Knights Templar had more gold in their coffers than the king of France and the king of England combined. Presumably that was true.
Gaza was thus not only a fortified city and the last outpost in the south to combat the threat of Egyptian invasions. Gaza was also a trading city, one of the eight ports of the Knights Templar along the coast up to Turkey. The harbor at Gaza also had a special advantage because, unlike the harbor in Acre, for example, it was ruled only by the Knights Templar. This meant, among other things, that they were able to maintain constant trade with Alexandria, war or no war.
But Gaza also traded with Venice and Genoa and sometimes with Pisa. And the Knights Templar had their own trading fleet with hundreds of ships that were constantly sailing the Mediterranean. Because Gaza had two Bedouin tribes at its disposal, from there they could also link Venice with Tiberias just as easily as Pisa with Mecca.
Of the goods that the Knights Templar sold to Franks, Germans and Britons, Portuguese and Castilians, sugar was the most important commodity. Sugar was coveted at the tables of many princes in those lands from which the Crusaders came; it was worth its weight in pure silver. The immense wealth that passed through the hands of Gaza’s customs master and all his scribes might have tempted ordinary men to enrich themselves.
During Arn’s long sojourn in the service of the Knights Templar, however, such a breach had never been discovered. He recalled only one instance when someone’s white mantle was taken away because a gold coin was discovered on him, which the unfortunate had explained by saying that it was an amulet for good luck—which it demonstrably was not, since it brought only misfortune upon its wrongful owner.
As a fortress master Arn had the right to five horses, while an ordinary brother had the right to four. But Arn had refrained from acquiring the extra horse because for a long time he’d been so set on obeying his vow of poverty that not even the sight of 50,000 besants in gold could entice him. And all the brothers he had known up till now were the same way.
On the other hand, it was a relief for Arn to get rid of all hundred Egyptian prisoners, just as he felt both a sense of relief and of loss when he followed emir Moussa and Fahkr aboard the waiting ship bound for Alexandria. Moussa had come back to Gaza in person with Saladin’s ransom. They parted as friends and joked a bit that it would be a pleasure, at least for Fahkr and Moussa, to be able to hold Arn prisoner the next time they saw each other. Arn had a good laugh at that and pointed out that in that case it would have to be either a very brief or very long imprisonment, because unfortunately no gold besants would be paid for him. Such talk was pleasant enough for those who could not see into the future.
But none of them could have imagined in their wildest dreams what He who sees all and He who hears all had in store for them.
By the time Siegfried de Turenne’s wounds had healed enough that he could walk and ride somewhat, he was eager to try his weapons again. Concerning that matter he turned to Arn, because he found it best to begin by practicing with a friend of the same rank.
They went down to the weapons master’s armory in the courtyard of the fortress and selected the weapons they thought it wise to start with: sword and shield.
The practice weapons were the same as those they used in battle, but with blunt edges, not sharpened. The shields were likewise the same shape and weight as battle shields, but unpainted and with an extra-thick layer of soft leather so that they could withstand more blows.
As soon as the two walked outside in the raked sand on the practice field, Siegfried de Turenne attacked Arn with furious power, as if it were important to practice at full strength from the first instant. Arn parried him with a laugh and slipped away effortlessly; then he lowered his sword, shook his head, and explained that this was no way to exercise a wounded arm and thigh; it would only lead to more pain. Then he began aiming blows at Siegfried’s shield side, now low and now high, using slow, obvious moves as he studied his friend, who was having more and more trouble raising and lowering his shield with his injured arm.
Then Arn changed his practice moves to go in close and pull back, back and forth, so that Siegfried had to lunge and retreat, stretching his injured thigh each time.
Soon, though, Arn stopped the practice, saying that it was still obvious where his wounds were located, but it would be unwise to proceed any further just now. Yet it looked as if Siegfried was on his way to becoming the same fit man he’d been before Mont Gisard. At first Siegfried wouldn’t hear of stopping, because he believed that pain was something a Templar knight should be able to endure; it made a man stronger and tougher. Arn thought that this was true for men who were well, but it didn’t apply to the wounded, and he would order Siegfried bound to his bed if he heard any more such nonsense. Even though they were brothers of the same rank, they were now in Arn’s domain, so he could forbid Siegfried to practice with anyone but himself in the future. They turned in their weapons in spite of Siegfried’s complaints, and then they went to the church to sing the none.