Chapter 6

It was when a small female child pointed to me and called me “Greybeard” that I suddenly realized I had spent far too much time in the Holy Land.

When I sat down to contemplate my status, I realized that I had a sizable harem of a half dozen females, all young and nubile, and that I was able to poke them whenever the urge hit me without any fear of conflicting issues. I was no longer a young warrior, but a seasoned knight with lots of battles under my belt.

The fact that I had spent most of my adult life fighting in a land of unbelievers to uphold the teachings of Holy Mother Church and paved the way to salvation for untold numbers of the faithful was no longer of great consequence to me after years of struggle and disappointment. The bulk of my close retinue were either clerics of dedicated fighting orders sworn to ultimate loyalty to the Pope or fallen away nuns with years of pious denial in their history and now willing vessels of physical pleasure with chains of guilt surrounding their souls for every sin committed in the name of humanity.

I had reached a point of complete immersion in the images of heads stricken from torsos and defeated enemies tossed into the fires of destruction like logs to fuel the winds of war. The sounds of screams and pleas of mercy washed over my presence unheard and unattended. I had long ago given up sorting out the guilty and the innocent in the secure knowledge that one less infidel was one less enemy of Christendom.

I gathered my haphazard clan of followers and ruefully studied my options.

There were almost five score of us including several scrawny children with the look of carrion birds and not of joyous childhood. The remainder of us was divided into the two genders with females outnumbering the males by a ratio of two to one. Why that had come about, I had absolutely no idea. I suspected it was the natural urge of the males to have a preponderance of females about them to preclude any lack of available partners for nocturnal adventures and better left private from in these writings for purposes of future denials.

There were at least a dozen of the females in a family way and that was not unusual in these times of uncertain life spans. Most of the men involved in the Holy Crusades failed to make it a return trip to the Holy Land and their family lines suffered the consequences.

Sir Robert decided it would be well worth the effort to bring these survivors back to the land that had given them birth and see how their constancy of life would influence the pace of social development at home. He was curious to see what mischief the home-bodies had concluded in their absence and to what end his followers would direct.

He looked at the several huge wooden chests hidden under the tools of war including armor and extra boots for the men. They had been growing in number recently as he liberated them from the heathen hordes.

Only Robert and a select few knew the contents of the chests.

They were crammed full with gold and jewels stolen from the pilgrim caravans making their peaceful way to the paths of Christ in the Holy Land. The silver and gold rosary beads were too numerous to count and he knew one single item would likely feed a family of the faithful for a full year with much to spare for other needs. It was in his mind to establish a monastery and a convent for the education of the devout hoping that the example of the Crusade sacrifices would inspire a new generation to continue fighting the infidel in his own home.

It was fortunate that they found a ship of sufficient size to contain their entire entourage and all of their possessions and tools of war. The ship’s captain and the crew were well mannered with Sir Robert’s followers because in God’s truth they were a dangerous bunch well-armed and ready to do battle at the drop of a hat. The cut-purses and the criminals likewise kept their distance because it was like meeting a troop of the King’s dragoons right out in the open ready fight and on a constant state of alert in all directions. Most of the females were armed as well because sometimes in battle the difference was in sheer numbers and not the weight of muscles to win the day. The women made excellent archers and were able to put their accuracy to the test at a distance making gender a non-issue.

At first, Sir Robert was determined to make way direct to his ancestral home, but his advance spies informed him it would be of little purpose because the lands had been long broken up into smaller sections and his main estate was burned to the ground these past ten years. The lands had gone to seed and no crops existed to feed the hungry mouths of his followers. No wanting to start out with a failed estate, Robert took the advice of his banking advisor and purchased an estate confiscated for non-payment of taxes and in need of hard-working residents to win the day.

They formed a caravan of sorts with most of the entourage hidden under the sheltering canvas to make their way to the new home. The fields around the estate were not being tended but they were in fairly good shape considering the fact they were fallow for a full year. Most of the animals had been either sold or stolen. Robert came to the quick conclusion that they would have to purchase their stock at the nearby farmer’s market to begin their noble experiment. Fortunately, they still had plenty of provisions carried with them from across the seas to make do for the beginning days. They soon had a selection of domestic animals to herd back to the estate. With the addition of the stock, the residents of the estate now had plenty of work to do and Sir Robert set about making certain the place was well stocked with provisions for the coming winter. He employed several young people from the surrounding area to assist his entourage in managing the estate and he purchased a large quantity of hay from the next farm to tend the animals during the gap between crops and to fill the bedding of the farm workers. Several of the female followers in a family way were excused from duties and allowed to help out by uncluttering the main house. Several other smaller buildings were cleaned and readied for the use of his key fighters to establish smaller households of their own making with their chosen mates from the Holy Land. He had the local priest bless them all to forestall any accusations of living in sin from some of the sanctimonious citizens jealous of their affluence in a time of high taxation and precious little cash money.