THE WORD SPREAD like fire from battalion1 to battalion. Get ready.... Full battle gear. We're going in,tonight !
Tonight, another charge? Weary and frightened soldiers around me moaned in disbelief. Do they think we can see at night what we cannot even shoot during the day?
No, this time it's different, the captain promised. Tonight you'll go to sleep fucking the emir's wife!
The camp sprang alive. There was a traitor2 inside Antioch. He would give up the city. Antioch would finally fall. Not from its walls crumbling3 but from treachery and greed.
Is it true? Robert asked, hastily putting on his boots. Do we finally get to pay them back?
Sharpen that knife, I told the eager lad.
Raymond ordered the army to break camp, giving the appearance that we were headed for a raid elsewhere. We pulled back two miles, as far as the river Orontes. Then we held until close to dawn. The signal was spread.Everyone be ready....
Under the shield of darkness, we quietly crept back within sight of the city walls. A sliver4 of orange light was just breaking over the hills to the east. My blood was surging. Today, Antioch would fall. Then it was on to Jerusalem. Freedom.
As we waited for the word, I put my hand on Robert's shoulder. Nerves?
The boy shook his head. I fear not.
You may have started the day still a boy, but by its end you'll be a man, I told him.
He grinned sheepishly.
I guess we'll both be men. I winked5.
Then a torch waved over the north tower. That was it! Our men were inside.Let's go ! the nobles shouted.Attack !
Our army charged, Frank, Norman, Tafur, side by side, with one purpose, one mind. Show them whose God is One, the leaders cried.
Our battalions6 headed toward the north tower, where ladders were hoisted7 against the walls and wave after wave of men climbed over. The sound of shouts and vicious fighting erupted from inside. Then, all at once, the big gate opened.Right in front of our eyes. But instead of attacking Moslem8 horsemen streaking9 out, our own conquering army spilled in.
We made our way helter-skelter through the city. Buildings were torched. Turbaned men rushed into the street and were cut down in bloody10 messes before they could even raise their swords. Cries of Death to the pagans andDei leveult , God wills it, echoed everywhere.
I ran in the pack, with no great malice11 toward the enemy but ready to fight whoever confronted me. I saw one defender12 cut in half by a mighty13 ax blow. Battle-thirsty men in tunics14 with red crosses lopped off heads and held them aloft as if they were treasure.
In front of us a young woman ran out of a burning house, screaming. She was pounced15 on by two marauding Tafurs who tore the clothes from her body and took turns mounting her in the street. When they were done, they ripped a bronze bracelet16 from her wrist and bludgeoned her lifeless.
I stared in horror at her bloody shape. In her clutched fist, I saw a cross.Good Lord , she was Christian17.
A moment later, from the same building, a fiery-eyed Turk, maybe her husband, charged at me with a scream. I stood paralyzed. An image of my own death rose in my mind. All I could think to utter was, It was not me....
But just as the man's spear was inches from my throat, his rush was intercepted18 by Robert, thrusting his knife into the Turk's chest. The man staggered, his eyes horrifically wide. Then he toppled onto his wife, dead.
I blinked in amazement19. I turned to Robert with a sigh of relief.
See, it's not just God who watches over you. He winked. It's me.
He had just uttered these words when another turbaned warrior20 charged toward him, brandishing21 a long blade.
The boy's back was turned, and I saw I could not get there in time. He was tugging22 on his knife, but it remained stuck in the dead Turk's chest. His face was still lit with that innocent grin.
Robert! I screamed.Robert !
收听单词发音 |
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battalion
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| n.营；部队；大队(的人) | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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crumbling
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| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
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sliver
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| n.裂片，细片，梳毛；v.纵切，切成长片，剖开 | |
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winked
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| v.使眼色( wink的过去式和过去分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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battalions
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| n.（陆军的）一营（大约有一千兵士）( battalion的名词复数 )；协同作战的部队；军队；（组织在一起工作的）队伍 | |
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hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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Moslem
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| n.回教徒，穆罕默德信徒；adj.回教徒的，回教的 | |
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9
streaking
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| n.裸奔（指在公共场所裸体飞跑）v.快速移动( streak的现在分词 )；使布满条纹 | |
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bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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malice
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| n.恶意，怨恨，蓄意；[律]预谋 | |
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defender
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| n.保卫者，拥护者，辩护人 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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tunics
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| n.（动植物的）膜皮( tunic的名词复数 )；束腰宽松外衣；一套制服的短上衣；（天主教主教等穿的）短祭袍 | |
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pounced
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| v.突然袭击( pounce的过去式和过去分词 )；猛扑；一眼看出；抓住机会（进行抨击） | |
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bracelet
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| n.手镯，臂镯 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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intercepted
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| 拦截( intercept的过去式和过去分词 )； 截住； 截击； 拦阻 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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21
brandishing
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| v.挥舞( brandish的现在分词 )；炫耀 | |
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tugging
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| n.牵引感v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的现在分词 ) | |
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