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I have nothing, I yelled at him. Can't you see that?
He came down with his sword. I think I closed my eyes, for I knew this last,
desperate defense would not hold. A chunk of my staff shattered. To my
astonishment, a patch of metal showed through.
Black Cross slashed at me again and again, yet each time, the staff
miraculously held. The wooden rod split open like a casing, revealing
something underneath.
Iron.
My eyes clung to it. I was staring at the long, rusted shaft of an ancient
spear.
The Tafur stopped, his gaze transfixed. The spear shaft led to a molding in
the shape of an eagle, aRoman eagle. The blade that came from it-dark, blunt,
rusted-was encrusted with a bloodlike stain.
Good Lord in Heaven.I heard myself gasp. I blinked, twice, to make sure I
wasn't in Heaven already.
My staff... the wooden staff I had taken from the church in Antioch, from the
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dying priest's hands... It wasn't a staff at all.
It was a lance.
Chapter 98
I DO NOT KNOW how to describe what happened next.
Time seemed to stand still. Neither of us moved, held by the incredible sight.
Whatever this was, I could tell by the Tafur's stupefied amazement that the
lance was what he had sought all along. Now, miraculously, it was in front of
him. His eyes were as large as moons. Though it was rusted and dulled, just a
common thing, a glow seemed to emanate from it.
Suddenly he lunged for it! I yanked it out of his reach. He was still above
me, with all the advantage. He reared back his sword. I had no defenses. He
would surely split my chest this time.
I thrust with the only thing I had-the lance. The blade split his mail and
pierced his ribs. Black Cross cried out, his dark eyes open wide, but even
with the lance in him, he did not stop. He went to raise his sword again. I
pushed the lance in deeper. This time his eyes rolled back in his head. He
tried to lift the sword once more, his arms reaching the height of his head,
hands squeezing the hilt.
But his arms suddenly dropped. He gasped, opened his mouth as if to speak, and
blood leaked out.
I pushed hard on the lance again and he froze, upright, disbelieving, as if he
could not lose now, not with his prize in sight, so close. Then with a final
grunt, Black Cross crumpled and fell onto his back.
I lay there for a second, stunned that I was alive. I forced myself to my
knees and crawled to the dying man, his hands wrapped around the shaft of the
lance.What is it? I asked.
He did not answer. Only coughed: blood and bile.
What is it? I cried. What is this thing? My wife and son died for it.
I pulled the spear out of his body and held it close to the dying man's face.
He coughed again, but this time it wasn't blood-he was laughing. Do you not
know? His chest wheezed-and then, a thin smile. All along... you were blind?
Tell me. I pulled him by the mail. Before you die.
Youare a fool. He coughed again and smiled. You are the richest man in
Christendom and do not know it. Do you not understand what lay in those tombs
for a thousand years? Do you not recognize your own Savior's blood?
I stared at the ancient, bloodstained spear, my eyes almost bulging out of my
head. The spear of Longinus, the centurion who had stabbed Christ while He was
dying on the cross.
A numbness was in my chest. My hands began to tremble.
I was holding the holy lance.
Chapter 99
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I STAGGERED to my feet, cradling the precious relic in my hands. Emilie rushed
up first and threw her arms around my neck. The battle had ended and we had
won. Georges, Odo, and Father Leo came running toward me.
Other people approached, cheering, dancing with joy, but I could not take my
eyes from the lance. My staff... I was barely able to speak. All along, it was
the holy lance.
Everyone stopped, converged. A hush fell over the crowd.
The holy lance... ? someone repeated. A ring formed around us. Murmurs of
exclamation and joy. All eyes fell on the rusted blade, the tip slightly
broken.
Mother of God. Georges stepped forward, his tunic splattered with blood. Hugh
has the holy lance.
Finally everyone knelt, myself included.
Father Leo examined the lance without touching it, fixing on the old, hardened
blood upon the blade. God's grace. He shook his head with a look of wonderment
in his eyes. He recited scripture from memory: But one of the soldiers with a
spear pierced His side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.
It's a miracle, someone shouted.
It's a sign, I said.
Odo spoke, his coarse voice on the verge of laughter: Jesus, Hugh, were you
trying to save this thing until we really needed it?
I could not speak. People were shouting my name. Stephens henchmen were dead.
I did not know whether it was our will or the lance that was responsible, but
either way, we had beaten them back.
I looked at Emilie. What a knowing smile she had, as if to say,I knew ,I
knew.... I reached for her hand.
Everyone whooped and shouted. Hugh.Lancea Dei. Lance of God.
I had been saved. Not once but many times. Who could understand it? What had
been entrusted to me? What did God want with an innkeeper? With a jester?
The holy lance! everyone shouted, and I finally threw my fist in the air.
But inside I was thinking,Good Lord ,Hugh , what is next?
Chapter 100
WHAT WAS NEXT was bolder and more amazing than anything I could have imagined.
Our victory was complete, but it came at a great cost. Thirteen of Stephen's
mercenaries lay on the ground, but we had lost four of our own: Apples;
Jacqui, the stout and cheery milk woman; a farmer, Henri; and Martin, the [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]