Beloved Pilgrim Read Free

the
pilgrimage routes, but let brigands have a free hand. There are
rumors that some of the Turk leaders are sending their own guards
to attack larger bands of pilgrims."
    Adalberta put her hand to her lips, "No, how
horrible. Why?"
    The three young people turned their eyes back
to Sigismund in unison.
    "Well, there have always been brigands, but
they have attacked randomly. Pilgrim bands that hired armed men to
protect them could turn brigands away. No one really knows why that
has changed, but Peter the Hermit said . . . "
    Elias interrupted his father. "Peter the
Hermit?" Elisabeth noted not for the first time how deep his voice
had become.
    "A French priest. He is in Cologne to gather
pilgrims for a journey to the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem,"
Sigismund said.
    "Not much of a hermit, is he?" Elias quipped,
earning a short laugh from his sister and a glare from both
parents.
    "Show some respect," Adalberta corrected. "He
is a very holy man."
    Sigismund took a gulp of the wine a servant
had brought. His men, having seen to the disposition of their
horses, were wandering into the hall and taking seats or leaning up
against the timber walls to listen to their lord's account of the
hermit's tale.
    "He tried to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem
before, but he was captured by the Seljuk Turks in Anatolia and
tortured."
    Adalberta's eyes grew round.
    "Why?" asked her daughter.
    Sigismund sat forward, shaking his head.
"They are heathens. They are devils. Cruel and rapacious. They are
the enemy of all good Christians."
    "But a priest!" his wife cried
unbelieving.
    Albrecht shyly spoke up. "Mayhap they are
even more violent with our holy men?"
    The knight nodded. "It will seem so,
lad."
    Adalberta's eyes were guarded as she asked,
"And this Peter . . . from Amiens, you say? He is gathering a
multitude? To do what, my lord?" she asked.
    "To return to the Holy Land and take
Jerusalem back."
    "He is gathering an army?" Elias's voice held
a note of excitement. Elisabeth cast an alarmed look in his
direction. Elias had been itching to be in a fight. He had been
disappointed when their father had failed to take him and Albrecht
to Cologne for the meeting with the Emperor's representatives. Both
boys hoped the meeting was to plan war.
    "No, not exactly," his father replied, noting
Elias's crestfallen reaction. "He is calling it a People's Crusade.
Just the poor, the destitute who are under the care of Holy Church.
But to hear him speak! It was inspiring. He said, 'Deus lo volt.'
God wills it. We could not help but shout it back to him, every one
of us in the throng."
    Elias leaned to Albrecht and whispered, "I
would wager the local bishops would not be sorry to see their
burden thus eased. . . . "
    "Elias!" Sigismund's eyes were flaming.
"Enough with your impious comments!" The knight glared at his
chastened son, then slowly turned his face back to his wife.
"Liebchen, I am going."
    Adalberta hid her dismay. "I thought you
might," was all she said.
    "Then it is not just peasants going?"
Elisabeth asked.
    Her father sat up straight, squaring his
shoulders. "They will need protection. Many of the Emperor's
commanders and officers are asking for leave to go with them." He
looked sharply back at his wife. "I shall not go, if you are ill
and need me here." His eyes revealed his reluctance to make such a
promise. In a gentle voice meant only for her ears he added, "But
it is in large part to kneel at the Sepulcher and pray for your
health and long life that I wish to go."
    Before the lady could reply, Elias burst out,
"Then Albrecht and I are coming with you?" He beamed at his friend,
who returned the smile, but with anxiety written on his face.
    Elisabeth looked from her father to brother
to Albrecht and back again. A glance at her mother's averted face
told her Adalberta would not hold her husband back, no matter her
misgivings. Tentatively the girl inserted, "Mother has been very
weak of late."
    "Nonsense, girl. It's just the season. You
know how