Free East of Ashes by Gideon Nieuwoudt Page B

blanketing the entire area, reducing visibility to a few hundred feet at best. But Lamech could soon make out that the figures awaiting their arrival were Crusaders.
     
    None of them really wore any matching clothing that could be considered part of a uniform, but every single one of them sported a red cross on their person in some form or another. Some of the Crusaders had a cross embroidered on their tunics, others had it painted on the front of their helmets; still others had a smaller red cross painted over their hearts in crude strokes.
     
    The grimness and silence with which they stood and waited struck Lamech the most. It was clear from the way they carried themselves that they were battle-hardened fighters. Lamech could only surmise that the weak ones had fallen in battle long ago. Those that remained were the ones who had the nerve and the fighting skill to survive.
     
    His suspicions were confirmed the moment he stepped onto land at St Simeon and saw them up close. Although they were all smiling at the newcomers, every single one of them bore evidence of constant battle over the past year and a half since the Crusade got underway in earnest.
     
    One had a scar that ran from the top of his right ear all the way down his cheek, ending in a hook on his chin. It had not healed well due to the minimal medical assistance the Crusaders had at their disposal.
     
    Another's entire nose was missing with two gaping holes in its stead. During the siege of Nicaea a few months earlier he had narrowly missed being cleaved in two by an enemy sword when he jerked his head back at the last moment, but lost his nose instead.
     
    They were welcomed warmly enough by the Crusaders, whose joy at the reinforcements and supplies was evident. Lamech's hand was grabbed and sh a k en in greeting by seemingly every soldier there, each of them looking him straight in the eye and embracing him as a fellow Crusader.
     
    At first , being welcomed as such sat uncomfortably with him. His was not a holy war, but he realised that in the eyes of those around him, he was there to help free Jerusalem. If it would ease his way, he was not going to correct them.
     
    Once more he reflected on the events that had led him to this place. Right up to the attack in Arles, he had not given vengeance much thought. He had known that her murderer had joined up with the Crusade during the first wave, but he had not considered going after him.
     
    After his father stayed his hand in the man's house that day, the rage had left him as he was numbed by grief. Taking the opportunity presented to him, her murderer had left town and joined up with the Crusaders just as they were setting out.
     
    Lamech had tried to keep up to date with what had happened to the man, silently wishing he would never return. But he ha d not expect ed him to die within only a few short months though.
     
    The news had left Lamech deeply unsettled. When her murderer died at the hand of a Caracen soldier, all possibility of revenge had died with it. Only then had Lamech surfaced from the depths of his own grief and realised how much he had actually craved to do something about her death.
     
    That craving had led him down a deadly path that soiled his hands in blood, but the lust for revenge had not lifted. He had sunk into deep depression and despair, frustrating anger becoming his constant companion. He had fled to Avignon to avoid capture for what he had done, but the anger had followed him.
     
    Meeting Leala and then later witnessing the feelings between her and Joash had ripped him wide open, momentarily unhinging his murderous emotions. The way they had clung to each other after surviving the attack in Arles had brought back a memory that was sharply driven through his very being like a nail, bursting the chambers of his heart wide open.
     
    Chasing through the night on the back of his horse, memories of her had ripped through him until he fell off his horse and collapsed next to