Part 3
He would go by way of Paris. To do this he crossed the Channel on a ship. Leaving Paris he went by way of Vezelay, Lyon and Marseille. From Marseille he went on board a ship to Candia - one of those Venetian made vessels that transported crusaders to the Holy Land. From Candia he sailed to Limasol and next to Famagusta and after that to Acre. From Acre he went on horseback to Jerusalem where he joined forces with the crusaders of King Richard the Lionheart.
He took part in many battles, and soon gained a reputation for courage and remarkable ability with the sword, the spear, and the battle-axe. He also fought in the vicinity of Damascus, Emesa and Antioquia. He began to feel at home in the Holy Land and life with the crusaders became one of the most important things in his life. He made a great many friends there, and he learned a great deal about fighting. His ability and his military competence improved dramatically. He became well-known even among the Saracens, who respected him for his bravery, his loyalty and gallantry. Oddly enough he once ended up saving a Saracen's life, Selim Ben-Nakir El-Kasim Yussuf, who became his friend in the name of God. He gave Desmond as a present a sinister-looking scarf, to wrap around the face so that only the eyes would show.
Desmond saw Evelyn most of the time. Not during the combats, for although she was always very near him he didn't see her or had time to see her, although he sometimes felt her presence. But after the combats he would leave the company of his friends and go to a more retired place and she would come to him and they would talk and discuss what had happened during the day or in the combats. They also talked about things in general. So in Desmond's life now there was the Crusade Army, the Holy Land, the battles, his friends among the crusaders, and Evelyn.
One day Desmond was hurt in combat near Antioquia while laying siege, nothing serious just a superficial scratch but it nevertheless cut the skin and bled a little. Evelyn cleaned the cut with water and put a bandage made of very soft material on it. She could have used her magical powers and solved the problem easily in a minute but she preferred to treat Desmond as a mortal lady would have done. It went wrong and the bandage didn't fix one hundred per cent, it slanted and then fell. Evelyn said it hadn't been a good job after all. She was sad and she felt embarrassed. Desmond told her it was nothing and helped her with the bandage, suggested a few things here and there and let her do the dressing on her own and in the end it worked.
Then after a period of not six, but nine months, the time came to start the journey home. Strangely enough, he felt sad, and homesick for Jerusalem and the whole region.
He went to Acre where he boarded a ship that took him back to Marseille. From there he went by road through France. He travelled alone and when he stopped, Evelyn appeared and they talked. At night he camped near the road and she would come and they would talk until late.
Sometimes he would go on foot and Evelyn would walk beside him. This going on foot became more and more frequent so that they could talk more. Funny things happened and they laughed, sometimes Desmond would make a mess of something or would lose something that would be found later, and Evelyn, despite being a fairy would make mistakes and do something wrong or funny just as well. One day she tore her dress on a thorn in a rose bush. Her flesh didn't appear as there was a petticoat, a light gray one, under the light sky-blue dress. When she came nearer there was her hair, her warmth, her scent, and her dress was torn and it had marks here and there and she also had dust marks here and there and it was so good to walk beside her and it was so nice to talk to her to listen to her and when the arrow was about to kill him a long time ago near Sheffield at the start of their friendship she had caught the arrow beautifully in her hand and stopped it from striking him and she had cried 'No!' and he had caught her breath in the face and had breathed it and it had been good to breathe her breath.
'Where do I put this tent peg?' she asked him.
'Leave it over there near the tent corner, please.'
Desmond had decided to camp and was making preparations to it.
'I'll go now, Desmond,' Evelyn said.
'Do you have to?' He never knew why she had to go or where she went to when she left, but he had never asked her, not to be indiscreet.
'I do. But I won't be long. Isn't there anything you need?' she said.
'No, Evelyn, thank you. Where are you going, I mean, will you be back soon?'
'In two hours' time, more or less. Desmond, you don't want me to go?'
'No, go,' he said without conviction, 'go if you have to. But come back.'
'Of course I will,' she said.
She left.
