The Vault of Bones by Pip Vaughan-Hughes

chilly northern land to another - we all miss the sun, eh, boys?'
    Fulk de Grez glanced at us with something almost like mortification in his eyes. These men, I saw, must be from Outremer. They had probably fought hard their whole lives, against the Infidel, pestilence, the sun itself, and this was their reward: handmaidens to this half-emperor. Yet they played their parts with exceedingly good grace. Gautier de Bussac brought a silver dish with water and clean linen towels, and we all washed our hands. The serving-maid came in with a silver flagon of wine, a tray of glass cups and a dish of little honey cakes. Only when everything was set to Baldwin's satisfaction did they retreat to an inner chamber.
    'At last’ said the emperor, when we all had a glass in hand. ‘I have been waiting for this moment.'
    ‘I am honoured that one so illustrious should be so eager to make my acquaintance’ said the Captain gravely.
    'Forgive me, but I am an impatient man’ Baldwin went on, then paused. He took a sip of wine, which was rather poor stuff, and sighed. 'That is not true at all’ he said. 'I have already learned that you are more perceptive than most men, Jean de Sol, and very well informed about my affairs. So you will know that I am nothing if not patient. I waited for years for my Regent to hand the throne over to me, or at least to die, but like Methuselah he clung to life like a strangling vine. Now he is dead at last, but I must wait patiently by the thrones of my rich cousins while they decide whether or not they will grace me with a little gift. I am patient because I need their gifts, not for myself, but for my empire. This you already know, I think, but the Empire of Romania is all but destitute. Venice took everything at the very start, and they hold all the choicest land. They squeeze the trade-routes like a wolf's jaws around the throat of a lamb. When the crusaders took Constantinople they set up their empire and left it supplied with nothing more than promises while they moved on to other deeds. My brother Robert, who was a besotted fool, died nine years ago, and if old John de Brienne had not been named Regent there would no longer be an empire. We are beset on all sides: by John Asen of Bulgaria, by John Vatatzes of Nicea, byThessalonika.' He sank back in his chair as if the very act of telling these things had exhausted him. 'My barons are loyal when it suits them so to be. My Greek subjects, to a man, loathe me as they loathe all followers of the Church of Rome. So I need money, a great deal of it, and soldiers. I have not been home for two years, and yet I am still empty-handed - no, I have my hands full of promises.' And he held up both fists and shook them. His knuckles were white.
    'But what do you wish to discuss with me?' asked the Captain. 'I am no Henry of England or Louis of France. I have no armies and no treasury. You have all my sympathy, but I believe you want a little more than that’
    'Straight to the mark, sir - thank God. You know what is in my mind, so let us be direct with each other. You know of the Chapel of Pharos’
'I do’
'Do you know what it contains?'
    'The relics of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ, so I understand’
    I all but choked on my wine at these words, so carelessly uttered. If I had not held a goblet I would surely have crossed myself with reflexive piety, but I did not, and in another moment the training of my new life had overpowered the habits of the old one. Meanwhile, Baldwin brought his hands together and kissed his fingertips. I had seen the same gesture last night.
    'Those wonders have been guarded there since the Empress Helen brought them out of the Holy Land a thousand years ago. It is beyond .. ‘ He shook his head.
    'Forgive me, but I am as overcome as you are by even the mention of such relics’ said the Captain with great care. 'The greatest wonder is the Crown, is it not?'
    'The Crown of Thorns itself’ Baldwin breathed. 'The thorns that pierced