Heaven Can't Wait ۞ Baldwin IV

XVII - He, Jerusalem

The blanket of night began to cover them when the head of the garrison reached Iericho. According to Baudouin, traveling at night in this area had the advantage of a journey through coolness, but the limited visibility proved a significant drawback in what was a highly irregular terrain towards Karak. And the dangers of attracting attention with the counteracting light of torches were not worth it. It was deemed better to travel during the bearable sunlight of these last days of October.

In the time it took for the royal part of the army to assemble itself, a great part of day had already been lost to them. A party of three hundred knights rose to arms, and if necessary, more would be arming themselves, along with footmen. The Tower of David was lit to signify the departure and the bells rang. A departure that would forever be memorable to Lluna.

For it was leaving a home that had barely gotten the chance and worth to call itself that. Leaving to secure its future through a distant fortress should not have helped this unfamiliarity, but she held firmly onto the willpower that Sibylle had tried to instill in her. It had given her the energy and conviction to push forward, with the King as the very beacon of the purpose. Maybe her mother and sisters were correct; once you are tethered in marriage, the feeling to stand beside them comes natural. Contrary to every natural urge of the regular person to stand as far apart as possible from the judhami.

She got the chance to witness closely how Baudouin mounted and commanded Lialusin. He used a block like everyone else, but he got her to align with it simply with the use of his voice alone, with Arabic words mixed with something else entirely.

"That is amazing," she had told him.

"You may not think that way if you saw how I have to effect a dismount."

She imagined what he meant, but saw no negative effect in her thoughts at the vision of it either way.

"On the contrary, zawji. It is all of it remarkable above the customary. Was she trained like this from a filly?"

"Abu trained her, as he had trained me before, as soon as she was old enough. They brought her from Aleksandretta. A gift from my cousin Gabriyel—with blessings from Prince Roupen—when I came of age."

The mention of his kinship beyond this kingdom, and apart from France was a reminder of the complexities of her new world. Lluna was fascinated by this. He was a true easterner—more than her in a sense. Her ties to these lands were so frozen with the passage of time, but they had seen him born, and he had lived them all along.

"MashAllah."

His guards, some in white like him, some in blue, some in mismatched fashion, differentiated from each other's roles, had formed around them. Standards poking out here and there, carried by bannerets like Alvar, no doubt. Lluna liked those who wore nasal helms. The visibility of their faces brought the comforting reminder of humanity amidst what looked like a restless and battle-ready mob.

Lluna had tried to get Saud to heed the same way as Lialusin, using a block to mount too; he was light in build but tall. Saud first had to process the source of the command, but complied after Baudouin simply called his name, asking him to cooperate.

The King and Queen soon were seated in their hollowed saddles, side by side, cloaked in silken white that draped over their backs like folded wings. Tall and proud as their mounts, ready to show commitment by marching together out the gates of the city. They trod over the roots of the ancient trees cracking the white road down the hill. The fairwell orchestrated by their subjects resonated like a tremor that she swore was opening faults in the ground too. Passing by the Templum Domini, past the olive forest of Gethsemane which the queen breathed in like incense, there was a thin wadi acting as a moat, and through the road of the Mount of Olives they traversed. Arriving here eventually in this small ancient city.