‘My Lord Prince, please forgive me, I bring you a big problem.’
‘Dearest Mahnoor, my name is Edgar. We are a family of brothers and sisters and I hear you are soon to become one of us, so you must call me Edgar.’
‘Thank you.’
She pulled away her veil to reveal a stunning, dark-skinned face of exceptional symmetry and flawless complexion. Her hair was jet-black and her eyes the colour of burned almonds, while her distinctive Arabic nose lent a hawk-like acuity to an otherwise tender image. She cannot have been more than sixteen but had an enticing sensual aura about her that was quite intoxicating.
‘Does your father suspect anything?’
‘Not about Sweyn, but he knows something is different.’
‘Do you know your father’s plans for you?’
‘Yes, he wants me to marry another Muslim, of course, a man of some stature, an emir or a general.’
‘How will he find such a man here?’
‘He’s going to send me to Alexandria at the end of the year. My uncle is there and is very well connected to everyone in the Caliphate.’
‘What do you think of Sweyn’s plans?’
‘I am very frightened. My father will kill me if he finds out.’
‘I’m sure he will be very angry.’
‘No, I mean what I say. He will kill me.’
The poor girl was clearly not exaggerating.
‘If I elope, he will find me and kill me. For him, it’s a matter of honour. If I stay, he will not permit a marriage to a Christian, regardless of Sweyn’s marriage to Adela. That doesn’t matter — the important thing is, he’s a Christian.’
Sweyn moved closer to her.
‘What if I convert to Islam?’
‘Do you know what that involves?’
‘I’m not sure I’d make a good Muslim, because I’m not much of a Christian, but I’m happy to try.’
‘You would have to learn Arabic and recite the Quran from cover to cover.’
‘I can speak a few languages already; one more can’t be that difficult. As for the Holy Book, I’ll learn it by rote — you can teach me.’
Mahnoor embraced Sweyn and started to sob.
‘Would you do that for me?’
‘Of course I would! I would suffer any ordeal for you.’
I looked at Adela, who also had tears in her eyes. But I still had my doubts.
‘Would your father accept Sweyn as a Muslim?’
‘I don’t know; he is a difficult man.’
I decided it was time for reflection.
‘Mahnoor, when can we meet again?’
‘In a few days my father is travelling to Messina and will be away for several weeks. I can come again during his absence.’
‘Let’s meet again then, when we can make our plans.’
The next day, I sought a private audience with the Count to seek his advice.
He could not have been clearer in his view of Mahnoor’s father.
‘Suleiman is a villain; he’s part of the old Sicily, where Palermo was a crossroads for most of the thieves and cut-throats of the Mediterranean. I know he is smuggling weapons from Spain, but he is the most important Muslim merchant in Palermo and I don’t want to move against him until things are more settled. But rest assured, when the time is right, he will rot in my dungeon.’
I explained Sweyn’s infatuation with Mahnoor, the nature of his marriage to Adela and the options that Sweyn wanted to pursue.
‘You English weave some complicated webs! I would never have guessed; Adela is an accomplished soldier, I just assumed they had grown up together and that marriage was a natural consequence.’
‘All that is true — the difference being Adela’s state of mind following her trauma at Bourne. She will never get over it. I would appreciate your help; the four of us are very close and I would like us to stay together and to add Mahnoor to our family, if at all possible. If not, then Sweyn must go his own way.’
‘Well, I am happy to plead their case with the Bishop of Messina, but I think it’s a lost cause. He will do as he’s told, but Suleiman will not hear of it. He knows what a catch his daughter is and wants her married to someone of high birth in the Egyptian Caliphate. She has more than enough charm, and he has more than enough money to attract an emir of some standing — probably some old dog, tired of an ageing wife. He certainly won’t let a junior knight with only modest means, who is both a Christian and already married, stand in the way of his scheme to live the life of a potentate in Egypt.’
Ibn Hamed reiterated Count Roger’s view when Edwin and I rode out to Calatafimi to get his advice. He was perhaps even more vehement: any kind of legitimate bond between the two of them was out of the question.
And so, when Mahnoor arrived to see us for the second time, I had already warned Sweyn and Adela what my advice would be. Mahnoor seemed a lot brighter than before, but they were forearmed and much older and wiser than a sixteen-year-old girl who had rarely been far from her father’s sight.
I dreaded what I needed to say to Mahnoor, and was distraught at the prospect of what it meant for the future of our Brotherhood.
‘It seems highly unlikely that an annulment, a conversion and a Muslim marriage is going to work. Quite apart from his renowned intransigence, your father’s plan for you is so clear and determined that marriage to Sweyn is out of the question.’
‘I suspected as much, but I just hoped that there might be a way. Thank you for trying.’
Sweyn put his arm around Mahnoor and looked her in the eyes.
‘This is the closest we’re going to get to a marriage ceremony, and here are our witnesses. Dearest Mahnoor, will you come with me to find a new life together in Aquitaine?’
‘I will, without a second’s hesitation.’
Adela embraced them both. Edwin shook hands with Sweyn and rather tentatively kissed Mahnoor on the cheek. I felt compelled to play Devil’s advocate — partly because it was the right thing to do, but also because I was desperate not to lose Sweyn and the beautiful young Moor.
‘Are you both sure? Sweyn, you go to a simple life tending your estate; no more gallant adventures as a knight.’
‘I know the price, but it is one worth paying for the woman I love.’
‘Mahnoor, you will lose your inheritance, never see your family again and live in a Christian world so very different from here.’
‘My life so far has been like that of a bird in a cage, and my only future is to be slobbered over by a fat emir and then discarded to embroider in a harem with the other unwanted women. I am exchanging that for true love — is there really a choice to be made?’
Mahnoor’s frank and succinct answer made me smile inwardly. There was no doubting her sincerity or her commitment to Sweyn. As for him, we all had our doubts, but he was so obviously smitten with his Princess of Araby that there was no choice but to let events take their course.
Arrangements were made the next day for passage to Narbonne on one of the Count’s ships. Under cover of the dead of the night, the two young elopers were secreted in a cargo of silk and wine and given an escort of our sergeant-at-arms as well as his man and six of the Count’s men, who would travel with them as far as Toulouse.
There was great sadness at the parting. Adela, Edwin and I stood on Palermo’s deserted quayside as the wind of the turning tide caught the ship’s sail and tugged it out to sea. I could not see them — they were out of sight deep amidst the cargo — but I held them in my mind’s eye, huddled together, anxious but excited, like children on a daring adventure.
The ship was soon no more than a distant silhouette against the moonlit sky, the sound of its creaking timbers and straining sail gone; all we could hear was the lapping of the waves against the dock. Adela was the
