"What, then?" demanded Karl, his keen grey eyes fixed upon the Saracen's impassive face.
Kasim salaamed to the ground before replying. "My lord and sultan is gracious; he opens my lips. Let him not be offended. I have said that the people of my city are consumed with fear of the mighty Afranj; they tremble lest the fierce giants of the North be loosed in their midst."
"So--you would have me forego the placing of my wardens in your burg. How shall it be held when all your warriors are withdrawn?"
"The walls are high, O sultan. The townfolk will bar out my lord's foes and my foes. Can my lord doubt that they will hold fast for the sultan of their own faith?"
"How, lord vali," demanded Anselm, the Count Palatine; "if your folk are so friendly, why should they seek to be rid of us? I would not be the one to speak of mishap; yet here is bitter truth, sire: Should not God and the holy saints give your Majesty victory; should we fare homeward, a war-broken host; would these timorous Navarrese then open their gates to give succor; or would they not rather seek our harm, to gain favor with the pagan king?"
Kasim smiled blandly, and would have spoken again, had not Karl held up his hand for silence. For a little, the king gazed at the thousand and more Saracen horsemen massed together in dense ranks on the spot where they had been halted by the cry of their chief. Then he glanced up at the burg on the height and back to the little maiden behind him.
"O sultan of sultans--" began Kasim; but again Karl held up a restraining hand.
"I cannot grant your wish, lord count," he said. "I must hold to the compact. Count Olvir, you will guard this stronghold with your vikings, and Rothada and her companion shall remain here in your care. It had been wiser to have left the maidens at Casseneuil."
Olvir frowned with disappointment at this unexpected turn of events.
"It was not to sit behind stone walls, lord king, that I joined your host," he protested.