In 1099, a mysterious child of noble origin was taken in by Jews who had fled the Crusaders' arrival in front of Jerusalem.
Years later, Ada, the descendant of this child, travels through Palestine with her father. He's a merchant and knows medicin...
Will my fate be to wait forever in the dead of night?
What a cruel irony for a girl who has traveled the world since childhood!
My father and I sailed aboard large ships with Genoese, Venetian, or Pisan flags. Simon wasn't afraid to trade with these people, even if their incessant quarrels were the cause of numerous brawls on land and at sea.
And we had no choice but to join convoys, as a single ship was a tempting prey for the Mohammedans.
Simon and the Narbonne bourgeois were partners. My father transported alum from Egypt, Syria, and Anatolia. He also looked for pearls, fabrics embroidered with gold, and spices only the Orient provides.
The House of Barcelona dominated trade in the Mediterranean, yet my father and I traveled regularly. We frequently went to Alexandria, one of the busiest Muslim ports in the oriental Mediterranean. I had the chance to see the large lighthouse guiding ships as they approached a dangerous coast.
Its height is incredible.
Many horses carry wood to its summit by an interior ramp, and hundreds of rooms shelter men dedicated to maintaining a fire piercing the night.
I also admired Tunis on the African coast, the first place of trade between the Islamic Orient and the Maghreb.
I saw other cities like Tripoli of Berberis, where roads crossing the Sahara end.
Then my father got old, and long sea trips eventually exhausted him.
He learned the Jewish community in the city of Sens was looking for an experienced physician. So we lived in that town for a while, and it was there that my father suddenly became ill.
Memories, sad or happy, vanish into darkness.
The night will soon end, and I hear a slight noise. I watch the cloth stretched behind the bedroom door, slowly waving like a ship's sail when there's not enough wind.
Thank goodness! It's probably my husband.
***
He's here at last.
What could I say or do?
He throws his sword and clothes on the floor without speaking to me. I feel uncomfortable, so I turn my eyes away from him.
But I remember our first meeting in darkness, through a narrow hallway.
It was an ordinary evening at Sens's pleasure house. When my father became seriously ill, he was too weak to care for his patients, so I replaced him. People knew me because I had been assisting Simon for a long time. He had taught me everything, and I had read his precious medical books.
I'm an excellent physician too.
Hawise, the innkeeper, had called me to deliver a baby. The child would be entrusted to the Saint-Maurice church priest on the other side of the bridge. I had quickly crossed the city at nightfall, its rivers and gardens. It was surrounded by great walls built with huge stone blocks from the Roman town's remnants: the baths, temples, and tombs.
I was hurrying so as not to keep the patient waiting. Simon treated Jews and Christians even humblest, and I did the same.
Inside the pleasure house, I didn't see Hawise, but only clients, drinking a lot and playing dice in the company of girls with painted faces. So, I rushed upstairs.
In a dark hallway, I bumped into the cousin of the man who would soon become my husband, but I didn't know it yet.
This rascal, stinking of wine, tried to grab me with his big hands. I shouted and defended myself, hoping to draw Hawise, "Help me! Leave me alone, cursed drunkard!"
This idiot cousin let out a gurgling sound because of wine, undoubtedly. "Whoa, bad girl," he bawled. "You're afraid you won't be paid handsomely for your services. But don't worry, my beautiful! Tonight, you will taste all delights and my purse, too." While talking, he squeezed me tighter and tighter, and my strength was running out.
My future husband accompanied his cousin to this debauched place. Not knowing I was the Jewish physician's daughter to whom his father owed his life, he didn't intervene on my behalf. Indeed, the spectacle seemed to distract him. He probably thought he saw a young whore struggling, perhaps to make herself more desirable.
Hawise finally came to my rescue with her protégés, and they laughed as they pulled me away from the rascal. "Cursed women," he protested, "I want this young beauty at any price."
Hawise always laughed, dragging him to one of the rooms. "Alas, my lord! You will have to be satisfied with us. You see, this girl isn't one of my protégés. She's our physician's daughter," she confessed.
Meanwhile, my future husband still didn't utter a single word.
I remember staring at him keenly, with a lot of insolence. I had never seen a man so well-built and with a perfect face.
The light was dim, so I imagined his eyes were like wolf eyes, full of beauty, mystery, and strength.
***
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Narbonne is a beautiful city in Occitania.
In the Middle Ages, alum was indispensable for dyeing clothes, and alum stone was renowned for its astringent and antiseptic properties.
The word 'Mohammedans' was often used in the Middle Ages to refer to Muslims.
