Eagle Byzantium

Without further delay, half an hour later, Hugh found Count William Grandmenile, who was watching the dancer's performance with great interest in a tavern near the bathhouse in the Grand Hospital.

Hugh said a lot of things. He said that although he wanted to serve Emperor Komnenos, he was afraid that the misunderstanding and estrangement between His Majesty the Emperor and the pilgrims would harm him, and he was afraid that His Majesty would not trust him.

"It doesn't matter at all." William, whose tongue was swirling due to the alcohol, held up his wine glass and slumped on the stone chair drunk and heroic. "Leave everything to me. I have delivered letters to Constantinople before. The emperor's border guards and soldiers will not make things difficult for me. We will go straight to Philadelphia. I guarantee that you won't lose a hair..." William looked very gloomy and leaned close to Hugh's cheek. His voice was soft. "We will wait to receive the gift from His Majesty in the palace. As long as I say that Bohemond secretly occupied Antioch and was unwilling to return it, His Majesty will definitely support us with a large amount of money and cross the sea to raid the lair of the red-haired thief." Then, William stopped talking cautiously. He was already drunk and began to burp. He waved his hand. Two brown-skinned dancers hurried over to rub his belly to relieve his depression and said intimate and flattering words, which made William laugh.

"Then we must have a striking sign to show your status and friendship with the emperor." Hugh proposed this when he saw that his goal had been achieved.

William Granmenil agreed very readily. He told Hugh that when he was about to leave the Mute Valley, he was willing to walk in front with his entourage and fly the Norman scarlet battle flag, and "Your Excellency, the noble brother, you will follow behind."

"You are indeed a drunken fool, so I will rely on you to go ahead." Hugh said so in his heart, and he involuntarily took the cup brought by the dancer, and began to drink in a slightly better mood.

When the day of departure arrived, Earl William did what he said. There were two cavalrymen holding red flags in front of him, and he and four knights walked behind them, while Hugh and his entourage kept a distance of about 100 feet from William. Hugh himself was at the end of the team, and he did not wear any beautiful armor or helmet, and was very cautious. The valley is divided by the Sarlev River, with gray soil and green mountains on both sides. Several garrison soldiers wearing only helmets raised their halberds and asked them for documents to pass the customs. After checking, they were allowed to pass.

Then, they continued to walk about three or five miles forward. Hugh suddenly hurried to William's side and said, "Throw away the scarlet flag. I just drove my horse and asked a local woodcutter for money by the woods. There is a mountain path ahead that can be bypassed. Let's go there!"

Hearing this, William still had a look of not reacting. Then Hugh looked around nervously and said to him, "Gawain is definitely not a good person. I think there are big problems with the previous documents, and the inn where we stayed yesterday is also full of Gawain's spies. He thinks They have completely controlled our route and may ambush us on the designated mountain road, so we must change the route randomly. Once we leave Seleucia, we will be safe. "

"Why?" William still looked stupid, but he still followed Xio's arrangement. The group looked around and saw that there were no people chasing them, because the checkpoint just now was the last line of defense of Seleucia on this side (after all, the focus of defense is on the city of Seleucia and the north end of the Mut River Valley), so they hurriedly walked into the path designated by Xio.

This road, at first, had scattered sloping fields and small forests on both sides, and then after turning around a few rugged valleys, it became narrower and narrower. All the people were swinging on horseback, looking nervously at the almost straight cliffs below, with jagged rocks all over the bottom, a stream that had just swelled up due to the summer rain, and looking up, there was an endless dense forest, and a road that could only pass two people was sandwiched in the middle.

"Don't panic. As long as we follow this stream to the end, we can probably officially set foot on the road to Philadelphia tomorrow, so that we can bypass Gawain's team." Hugh kept cheering up the people around him.

As they walked, the sun gradually set in the west. All the people, including William who was walking in front, did not dare to get off their horses to make a fire. They could only drink the clear water in the horn cup and eat dry food to fill their stomachs. After passing through a section of undulating terrain, the Normans in front cheered softly: the road ahead became wider, and there was no cliff below it. It was surrounded by several gentle slopes and jungles, just like walking in a wine pot and reaching the bottom of the pot.

"Come on, just pass through here." Hugh shook his fist and said.

Under his words, the knights and squires cheered up, quickened their pace, stepped on the thick fallen leaves and the rain puddles mixed in them, made a rustling sound, and urged their horses to cross here.

However, the next road was wrong - Xio looked up and around, but the expected sunny road did not appear. The path in the forest became more and more winding and narrow, and the trees on both sides were tall. Birds made frightened calls, chasing each other, flying out and circling in the dim twilight...

The knights around Hugh stared at him with some surprise and distrust, which made the French prince feel uneasy. Logically, this road should not be like this. He was so smart that he didn't believe that Gawain would tell all the people in Seleucia about the misleading conspiracy!

However, it felt more and more wrong, because a knight pointed to the long grass behind the woods and said, "There is no wind today, but the grass is moving everywhere, and the birds are startled for no reason. Your Highness, is there really an ambush?"

"Don't hesitate, anyway, there is William Granmenile in front, everyone hold your sword and stay alert. If something happens to William in front, we will immediately run in the opposite direction!"

The sky was half dark, and the dark clouds after the rain were low. Soon Hugh saw that William Granmenile in front suddenly sped up on his horse, and the horse's hooves flew up, and many of them were soaked by rain. The fallen leaves were swept to both sides. Just as he was about to send someone to ask the earl to slow down, tragedy suddenly happened. A trip rope popped out from the flat road in front of William Granmenil's horse, bringing with it a flurry of fallen leaves. Amid the wailing, the earl's horse was tripped immediately, and the earl himself fell forward in a panic. The flag bearer who rushed to the front and the four knights beside the earl were in chaos, shouting everywhere and fumbling for weapons in panic. Many figures rushed out from the woods on both sides. They obviously regarded the earl who fell to the ground as prey.

This group of people were Gawain's subordinates, Prince John's subordinates, Turks or local bandits. Hugh didn't have time to think about it. The only thing he could do was to turn his horse's head and run desperately in the direction he came from! (To be continued ~^~)