in de Pirenne said. "Four of
them."

Simon squinted again and saw that each of four Armenians on horseback
was leading a riderless horse.

Even though it was a warm evening, he felt as if a sudden blast of cold
wind were blowing right through him. He sat frozen in the saddle.

_Dear God, are we too late?_

"Follow me," he snapped, kicking his palfrey hard.

Riding as quickly as they dared down the rocky, unfamiliar road, they
heard church bells chiming out the Angelus. The shadow cast by the hills
to the west rose to engulf them as they descended.

The Armenians had gathered on the other side of a meandering river at
the very bottom of the valley and seemed to be trying to decide where to
cross. Simon still saw no sign of the Tartars, but it was too dark to
make anyone out clearly.

In his dread he rode his horse straight into the river. She stumbled on
the rocky bed a time or two, and once plunged into a deep place where
she had to swim. It being the end of August, all the streams hereabout
were at their lowest level. Even so, when Simon got across he was soaked
up to his waist.

He saw the Armenians unslinging their bows and nocking arrows. "It is I,
de Gobignon!" he shouted. He heard Friar Mathieu call something to the
men, and they lowered their bows. Good that they were alert, he thought,
but what might have happened to them on the road to make them so?

He rode in among the Armenians, and felt a hollow pit in his stomach as
he saw the rich saddles on two of the riderless horses, silver and
mother-of-pearl inlays glistening even in the darkness of the forest.

"Simon!" Friar Mathieu, on donkeyback, called.

Simon turned to the nearest cart and looked in over the shoulder of the
driver, one of the Armenians, who stared at him from under heavy brows.

There, on a bed of straw, lay two bodies. They had the short, broad
build of the Tartar ambassadors. Simon's heart stopped beating.

"Mary, Mother of God!" Simon whispered. He got down from his horse.

Mathieu was beside him, gripping his arm. "Did you come looking for us,
Simon?"

Simon was sick with despair. He gestured feebly at the two bodies.

"What happened to them?"

"You might call it a mischance due to their inexperience. I tried to
warn them, but they would not heed me."

"Mischance? What sort of mischance?" Did it matter, Simon wondered, how
this had happened? He had failed utterly and absolutely, that was all
that counted. His foolish d