dragging their bare feet through the dust. Who would dare commit a crime of
“Good-bye, my girl,” the old women said. “Take heed of what we’ve told you. If you decide to carry on, be careful. Don’t go into any town or city. You could be seen and followed. Only stop at farmhouses, and then only when you see women and children in them.”
Aledis watched the group move off, with the two old women struggling to keep up with the others. A few minutes later, she was all alone. Until now she had been in the company of the peasants, talking with them and allowing her thoughts to fly out as she imagined herself with Arnau again, excited by the adventure she had experienced after her sudden decision to leave everything and follow him. Now, as the voices and sounds of her companions faded into the distance, Aledis suddenly felt lonely. She had a long way ahead of her; she put a hand to her forehead to try to make out where she should go, protecting her eyes from the sun, which was already high in the bright blue sky. Not a single cloud spoiled the magnificent dome joining the horizon to the vast, rich lands of Catalonia.
Perhaps it was not only a feeling of loneliness that Aledis felt when the peasants departed, or the strangeness of finding herself in this unknown landscape. The fact was that Aledis had never seen the earth and sky laid out before her, with nothing to prevent her from looking all round her and seeing everything stretched out in front of her ... whenever she liked! She stared and stared. She stared toward the horizon, beyond which she had been told lay the town of Figueres. Her legs trembled at the thought. She turned and looked back the way she had come. Nothing. She had left Barcelona behind, and could see nothing she recognized. Aledis looked in vain for the rooftops that until now had always come between her and this unknown marvel: the sky. She searched desperately for the smells of the city, the smell of her husband’s leather workshop, the noise of people, the sounds of a living city. She was on her own. All at once, the words of warning the two old women had offered her came flooding into her mind. She tried to catch some last glimpse of Barcelona. Five or six days! Where was she to sleep? How would she eat? She raised her bundle. What if their warning was true? What should she do? What could she do against a mounted knight or an outlaw? The sun was high in the sky. Aledis turned again toward where they had told her she could reach Figueres ... and Arnau.
She tried to be careful. She was constantly on the alert, listening for any sound that might disturb the road’s peace and quiet. As she drew near Montcada, where the castle stood proud on its hill, defending access to the plain of Barcelona, the road filled once more with peasants and traders. It was almost midday, and Aledis joined them as though she were part of one of the groups heading for the town, but when they came to its gates she remembered the old women’s advice, and instead skirted it and continued on her way on the far side.
Aledis was pleased to find that the farther she walked, the more the fears that had assailed her when she found herself alone gradually subsided. To the north of Montcada, she met up with more peasants and traders. Most of them were on foot too, although some rode on carts or on mules and donkeys. They all greeted her cheerfully, and this generosity of spirit also cheered Aledis. As she had done earlier, she joined a group, this time of merchants headed for Ripollet. They helped her ford the River Besos, but as soon as they had crossed it, they veered off left toward Ripollet itself. On her own again, Aledis avoided Val Romanas, but then found herself facing the real River Besos, a river that at that time of year had enough water in it to make it impossible for her to cross on foot.
Aledis looked down at the rushing water and at the boatman waiting unconcernedly on the riverbank. When he smiled a condescending smile at her, he revealed two rows of horribly blackened teeth. If she wanted to continue on her way, Aledis knew she had no choice but to use the services of this grinning fool. She tried to draw the top of her dress tighter over her bosom, but having to carry her bundle made it difficult. She slowed down. She had always been told how gracefully she moved: until now, she had been pleased at the idea. But now: the man was a big black bear! A filthy mess. What if she dropped her bundle? No; he would notice. After all, she had no reason to fear him. His shirt was stiff with dirt. What about his feet? “My God!” His toes were almost invisible under the grime. Slowly. Slowly. “What a dreadful man!” she could not help thinking.
“I’d like to cross the river,” she said in her bravest voice.
The boatman gazed up from her breasts to her big brown eyes.
“Ha,” was all he said, before brazenly staring at her bosom once more.
“Didn’t you hear me?”
“Ha,” he repeated, without looking up.
The only sound came from the water rushing by. Aledis could feel the boatman’s eyes on her. She breathed more rapidly, which served only to make her breasts stand out even more. The man’s bloodshot gaze seemed to penetrate to the deepest corners of her body.
Aledis was all alone, lost in the Catalan countryside, on the banks of a river she had never heard of and that she’d thought she had already crossed with the traders heading for Ripollet. Alone with a big, strong brute of a fellow who was staring at her in the most disgusting way with bloodshot eyes. Aledis looked all round her. There was not a soul in sight. A few yards to her left, at some distance from the riverbank, stood a rough cabin built of tree trunks thrown together. It looked as vile and filthy as its owner. In among a pile of rubbish near the entrance stood an iron tripod with a pot cooking on it. Aledis could scarcely bear to think what might be inside the pot: the smell it gave off was enough to make her feel nauseous.
“I have to catch up with the king’s army,” she began to say hesitantly.
“Ha,” was all she got from him again.
“My husband is a captain,” she lied, speaking more firmly now, “and I have to tell him I’m pregnant before he goes into combat.”
“Ha,” said the boatman, showing his blackened teeth once more.
A trickle of saliva appeared in one corner of his mouth. He wiped it away with his sleeve.
“Don’t you have anything else to say?”
“Yes,” he replied. His eyes narrowed. “The king’s captains usually die quickly.”
Aledis did not see it coming. The boatman hit her swiftly and powerfully across the side of the face. Aledis spun around and fell at the feet of her aggressor.
The man bent down, grabbed her by the hair, and started dragging her toward his hut. Aledis dug her fingernails into the flesh of his hand, but he kept on dragging her along. She tried to get to her feet, but stumbled and fell again. She struggled, and threw herself against his legs, trying to stop him. The boatman evaded her
