The troubadour's song by Patricia Werner Read Free Book Online Page B

said nothing, but stiffened her spine as he bowed to her.
    The good nights said, both men took their leave. As soon as the door behind them shut, the musicians stopped. But Marguerite turned to them.
    "Pray continue. Your music will soothe my . . . cousin and myself."
    Since the French guards were just on the other side of the door, she and Allesandra still had to be careful. They retreated to stools by the fireplace to talk softly out of anyone's hearing. The music conveniently proved a distraction.
    The two women clasped each other's hands and spoke urgently. Though ail had been planned in the afternoon before they'd had to garb themselves for supper, there seemed so many words to exchange now that the night was upon them.
    "Are you sure you will feel safe?" whispered Marguerite. "I have done everything I could think of. Your squire has readied the horses, and my steward has seen to extra food."
    "Yes, yes, of course. I am only anxious to be on my way," answered Allesandra. "But we must pretend to go to bed."
    Marguerite nodded, for she knew the plans.

    "And you will send me word of Raymond?" said Allesandra. "I will warn the believers, though we cannot expect the parfait to do other than martyr himself if it comes to it."
    Marguerite gave a deep sigh, lines of concern on her face, her shoulders sloping forward as if releasing the weight she'd carried all evening. "No, I suppose not."
    Allesandra was not herself a Cathar, one of those heretics the crusade sought to reveal and eliminate. But like most noblewomen in the South, she knew of groups of believers who gathered around a teacher, a parfait, who lived a life of self-denial and preached doctrines abhorrent to the Catholic Church.
    And southern Catholicism was considerably less strict than their co-religionists in the North. By custom and way of life, the people of Languedoc were a culture first and Catholics second. Catholics and heretics lived side by side in complete harmony and friendship here. But gone were the days when priests and heretics debated in public, each side enjoying the intellectual stimulation of the questions posed. All that had become dangerous. Now when heretics were identified by the bishop's courts, they were imprisoned, their property confiscated. - Allesandra did not want to think of the horrors that had plagued them since Pope Innocent III had taken up this crusade more than two years ago. She dared not think of it because the anger would prevent her from thinking clearly. And think clearly she must if she were to evade the French guards this night.
    She squeezed Marguerite's hand. "Do not fear for me. My squire will see me safely back to my demesne."
    "I will keep you in my prayers," said Marguerite.
    "And you will be in mine," said Allesandra.
    Then because she could not stand the apprehension, she gave her friend an ironic smile. "You will have the worst of it, I fear. For you will have to dine with Simon de Montfort day after day, unless he tires of your hospitality."
    Some of the grim expression left her friend's face, and Marguerite smiled. "I think he is a man who is easily bored with feminine company. I have no doubt he will take to dining with

    his men in the knights' hall. Especially if I make sure they get the best of victuals."
    Above the hall, the great bedchamber had been turned over to Simon. Gaucelm warmed his hands in front of a fire that awaited them when they had retired there. A retainer followed them into the room, and at Simon's direction, deposited a rolled parchment on the wooden table in the center of the room. Above them, oil lamps flickered in a wrought-iron wheel suspended from the ceiling beams by heavy chains.
    Simon divested himself of his fur-trimmed mantle and then stepped to the table and unrolled the parchment. The fact that the general had business on his mind did not surprise Gaucelm. He turned his attention away from the pleasant evening they had just spent and looked to see what Simon had to show