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animal. The weary king walked into his wife’s tent. Eleanor smiled, relieved. Her husband had survived.
    Louis saw the smile but not its reason. He was exhausted and heartbroken. “Well, Eleanor,” he said, “can you tell me why I find you on this side of the mountain instead of up above?”
    “My dear husband, you know that the grass always looks greener on the other side of the mountain, and you see, it is indeed greener here in this valley.”
    Louis had had enough of his wife’s wit. He lost patience. As he lost patience, he seemed to lose weariness, too. He swung around and ordered Odo to find the leader of the forward van, Geoffrey of Rancon.
    When Geoffrey appeared, the king shouted, “You, sir, are guilty of treason. You have disobeyed orders, and you shall hang in the morning.”
    Eleanor, above all things, was honest. “Louis, I am afraid that if you hang my vassal, Geoffrey of Rancon, you must also hang his duchess. For I am more to blame than is he.”
    “Hang you?”
    “Yes, Geoffrey acted under orders, my orders; it was I, not he, who disobeyed. Geoffrey of Rancon was merely following the commands of his duchess, his queen …” Eleanor paused a minute and added, “and yours.”
    Louis paused. His arms fell to his side. “All right, Eleanor. Geoffrey of Rancon shall not hang. He shall leave the Crusade and return home in disgrace.”
    “And am I to return home, too, my king?”
    “No, Eleanor,” Louis said, “I have a worse punishment in store for you. You will continue on the Crusade.”
    “But that is hardly punishment. I love travel.”
    “But you shall also show some restraint. And I know you do not like that. You and your lady friends, your Amazons, will control your whims and become obedient pilgrims. Plain pilgrims, I may add.”
    “Aye, my lord,” Eleanor said.
    “Tomorrow we will climb down from these treacherous mountains and go to Antioch by sea.”
    “Why not?” Eleanor said. “We’ve traveled over mountains, along the seashore, and across a plateau. Now it’s down to the sea. I am grateful, my lord, that you cannot stretch your wings and fly; the air is the only route to the Holy Land we have not tried.”
    Louis said, “Your bad behavior will end with that remark. Tomorrow we close ranks and head for port, and you, Eleanor, will close your mouth and do likewise.”
    Eleanor was struck dumb. Louis had never spoken to her like that. But she smiled. Perhaps, she had married a king after all.

9
     
    ELEANOR’S NEW HUMILITY did not last. The Crusaders had to stay in a dirty port town on the coast while they rented enough boats to make the journey to Antioch. Eleanor’s impatience warmed, percolated and boiled over during the three weeks’ wait. She did not like stink or squalor, and the port town had too much of both.
    At last they sailed for Antioch. When they reached port, Raymond was there to greet them. Eleanor had not seen her uncle in a decade. He was handsome and daring and gay, and he shared Eleanor’s exquisite taste in dress and furnishings and art. It took only the tenmile trip from the harbor to the castle for Eleanor and her uncle to make up for the ten years they had not seen each other. Eleanor emerged from that ride as saucy as the Amazon who had started out on Crusade.
    Antioch appealed to Eleanor. Why would it not? It had as much history as Constantinople, almost as much commerce, and it was even more beautiful. It was more like home. Like the Aquitaine. The stiffness of court life, which Eleanor had seen and had practiced in Constantinople, was softened by her relaxed, high-spirited uncle. What a man was Raymond.
    What a man! He showered his guests with gifts. Wines cooled with mountain snow, perfumes, cloths and jewels. He had the openhandedness that comes in men who love to share their great good taste with others.
    Raymond also had other reasons for being generous. His other reasons were political. He wanted Louis’s forces to join his to recover