town would burn and when the first flying sparks were settling on the roofs near the cannon, the heavens opened.
A crash of thunder tore across the sky and then the rain slashed down. It fell so hard that it blotted out the view of the castle from the town gate. It turned the street into a watercourse, it soaked the powder barrels and it extinguished the fires. Smoke still poured upwards, but the rain hissed on glowing embers. The gutters ran with black water and the fires died.
Galat Lorret, the senior consul, came to Joscelyn and wanted to know where the townsfolk should shelter. Over a third of the houses had lost their roofs and the others were crowded with billeted soldiers. Your lordship must find us food,“ he told Joscelyn, and we need tents.” Lorret was shivering, perhaps with fear or else from the onset of a fever, but Joscelyn had no pity for the man. Indeed he was so enraged at being given advice by a commoner that he struck Lorret, then struck him again, driving him back into the street with a flurry of blows and kicks. You can starve!“ Joscelyn screamed at the consul. Starve and shiver. Bastard!” He punched the old man so hard that Lorret's jaw was broken. The consul lay in the wet gutter, his official robes soaking with the ash- blackened water. A young woman came from the undamaged house behind him; she had glazed eyes and a flushed face. She vomited suddenly, pouring the contents of her stomach into the gutter beside Lorret. Get out!“ Joscelyn screamed at her. Put your filth somewhere else!”
Then Joscelyn saw that Guy Vexille, Robbie Douglas and a dozen men-at-arms were staring open-mouthed at the castle. Just staring. The rain was lessening and the smoke was clearing and the castle's shattered frontage could be seen again, and Joscelyn turned to see what they gazed at. He could see the armour hanging from the keep's battlements, the mail coats stripped from his dead men and hung there as an insult, and he could see the captured shields, including Robbie's red heart of Douglas, hanging upside down among the hauberks, but Guy Vexille was not staring at those trophies. Instead he was looking at the lower rampart, at the half broken parapet above the castle gate, and there, in the rain, was gold.
Robbie Douglas risked the archers in the castle by walking up the street to see the golden object more clearly. No arrows came at him. The castle appeared deserted, silent. He walked almost to the square until he could see the thing clearly and he peered in disbelief and then, with tears in his eyes, he fell to his knees. The Grail,' he said, and suddenly other men had joined him and were kneeling on the cobbles.
The what?' Joscelyn asked.
Guy Vexille pulled off his hat and knelt. He stared upwards and it seemed to him that the precious cup glowed.
For in the smoke and destruction, shining like the truth, was the Grail.
The cannon did not fire again that day. Joscelyn was not happy about that. The new Count of Berat did not care that the defenders had a cup, they could have had the whole true cross, the tail of Jonah's whale, the baby Jesus's swaddling clothes, the crown of thorns and the pearly gates themselves and he would happily have buried the whole lot under the castle's shattered masonry, but the priests with the besiegers went on their knees to him, and Guy Vexille did the same, and that obeisance from a man he feared gave Joscelyn pause.
We have to talk with them,' Vexille said.
They are heretics,“ the priests said, and the Grail must be saved from them.”
What am I supposed to do?“ Joscelyn demanded. Just ask for it?”
You must bargain for it,' Guy Vexille said.
Bargain!' Joscelyn bridled at the thought, then an idea came. The Grail? If the thing existed, and everyone about him believed it did, and if it really was here, in his domain, then there was money to be made from it. The cup would need to go to Berat, of course, where fools like his dead uncle would pay mightily to see it. Big jars at the castle gate, he thought, and lines of pilgrims throwing in money to be allowed to see the Grail. There was, he thought, profit in that gold, and plainly the garrison wanted to talk for, after displaying the cup, they had shot no more arrows. I will go and talk with them. Vexille said.
Why you?' Joscelyn demanded.
Then you go, my lord,“ Vexille said deferentially. But Joscelyn did not want to face the men who had held him prisoner. The next time he saw them he wanted them to be dead, and so he waved Vexille on his way. But you'll offer them nothing!” he warned. Not unless I agree to it.'
I will make no agreement,“ Vexille said, without your permission.” Orders were given that the crossbowmen were not to shoot and then Guy Vexille, bare-headed and without any weapons, walked up the main street past the smoking wreckage of the houses. A man was sitting in an alley and Vexille noticed that his face was sweating and blotched with dark lumps and his clothes were stained with vomit. Guy hated such sights. He was a fastidious man, scrupulously clean, and the stench and diseases of mankind repelled him. they were evidences of a sinful world, one that had forgotten God. Then he saw his cousin come onto the broken rampart and take the Grail away.
A moment later Thomas crossed the rubble that filled the gateway. Like Guy he wore no sword, nor had he brought the Grail. He wore his mail, which was rusting now, frayed at the hem and crusted with dirt. He had a short beard for he had long lost his razor and it gave him, Guy thought, a grim and desperate look. Thomas,“ Guy greeted him, then gave a small bow, cousin.” Thomas looked past Vexille to see three priests watching from halfway down the street. The last priests who came here excom municated me. he said.
What the Church does. Guy said, it can undo. Where did you find it?'
For a moment it looked as if Thomas would not answer, then he shrugged. Under the thunder. he said, at the lightning's heart.“ Guy Vexille smiled at the evasion. I do not even know. he said, whether you have the Grail. Perhaps it is a trick? You put a golden cup on the wall and we just make an assumption. Suppose we are wrong? Prove it to me, Thomas.”
I can't.'
Then show it to me. Guy begged. He spoke humbly.
Why should I?'
Because the Kingdom of Heaven depends on it.' Thomas seemed to sneer at that answer, then he looked curiously at his cousin. Tell me something first. he said.
If I can.'
Who was the tall, scarred man I killed at the mill?“ Guy Vexille frowned for it seemed a very strange question, but he could see no trap in it and he wanted to humour Thomas so he answered. His name was Charles Bessieres. he said cautiously, and he was the brother of Cardinal Bessieres. Why do you ask?”
Because he fought well. Thomas lied.
Is that all?'
He fought well, and he very nearly took the Grail from me. Thomas embroidered the untruth. I just wondered who he was. He shrugged and tried to work out why a brother of Cardinal Bessieres should have been carrying the Grail.
He was not a man worthy of having the Grail. Guy Vexille said. Am I?' Thomas demanded.
Guy ignored the hostile question. Show it to me. he pleaded. For the love of God, Thomas, show it to me.'
Thomas hesitated, then he turned and raised a hand and Sir Guillaume, armoured in captured plate from head to foot and with a drawn sword, came from the castle with Genevieve. She carried the Grail and had a wine skin tied to her belt. Not too close to him,“ Thomas warned her, then looked back to Guy. You remember Sir Guillaume d'Evecque? Another man sworn to kill you?” We are meeting under a truce,' Guy reminded him, then he nodded at Sir Guillaume whose only response was to spit on the cobbles. Guy ignored the gesture, gazing instead at the cup in the girl's hands.
It was a thing of ethereal, magical beauty. A thing of lace-like delicacy. A thing so far removed from this smoke-stinking town with its rat-chewed corpses that Guy had no doubts that this was the Grail. It was the most sought-after object in Christendom, the key to heaven itself, and Guy almost dropped to his knees in reverence. Genevieve took off the pearl-hung lid and tipped the stemmed gold goblet over Thomas's hands. A thick green glass cup fell out of the golden filigree and Thomas held it reverently. This is the Grail, Guy,“ he said. That golden confection was just made to hold it, but this is it.”
Guy watched it hungrily, but dared make no move towards it. Sir Guillaume wanted only the smallest excuse to lift his sword and ram it forward and Guy had no doubt that archers were watching him from behind the slits in the high tower. He said nothing as Thomas took the skin from Genevieve's belt and poured some wine into the cup. See?“ Thomas said, and Guy saw that the green had darkened with the wine, but that it also now possessed a
