FOR TWO WEEKS we rested outside the gates of Constantinople.
Such a city I had never seen before in all my life, with its huge glittering domes, hundreds of tall towers, Roman ruins and temples, and streets paved with polished stone. Ten of Paris could have fit within its walls.
And the people... crowding the massive walls, roaring with cheers. Clad in colorful, lightweight cottons and silks, in hues of crimson and purple I had never seen. Every race was represented. European, black slaves from Africa, yellows from China. And people of no stench. Who bathed and smelled of perfume, dressed up in ornate robes.
Even the men!
I had traveled across Europe in my youth and had played most of the large cathedral towns, but never had I seen a place like this! Gold was like tin here. Stalls and markets were crammed with the most exotic goods. I traded for a gilded perfume box to take back home for Sophie. A relic already! Nico laughed. New aromas entranced me, cumin and ginger, and there were fruits I had never tasted before: oranges and figs.
I savored every exotic image, thinking of how I would describe it all to Sophie. We were hailed as heroes and we had fought almost no one. If this was how it would be, I would return both sweet smellingand free!
Then the knights and nobles rallied us.Crusaders ,you are here for God's work ,not for silver and soap. We said good-bye to Constantinople, crossing the Bosporus on wooden pontoons.
At last we stood in the land of the dreaded Turk!
The first fortresses we encountered were empty and abandoned, towns scorched and plundered dry.
The pagan is a coward, the soldiers mocked. He hides in his hole like a squirrel.
We spotted red crosses painted everywhere, pagan towns now consecrated in the name of God. All signs that Peter's army had been through.
The nobles pushed us hard. Hurry, you lazy louts, or the little hermit will take all the spoils.
And we did hurry, though our new enemy became the blistering heat and thirst. We baked like hogs, sucking our water skins dry.............