Sinai Corridor.

The scorching heat distorted the air.

Even if it's autumn now, don't expect to find a little chill in the desert at noon, and when you wake up in the morning, it's often bitterly cold.

Cellina sat on the back of the camel, and with a snap of her thumb she pried open the cookie box, took out a chocolate chip cookie that had just melted and stuffed it into her mouth.

"Climb this rocky mountain, which is the white stone well I told you, there is plenty of water there to fill all the utensils and water bladders you carry, but the people of Tur also know about it, and they live nearby, and I dare not guarantee that they will take refuge in you."

It was a Bedouin guide who spoke.

As a loose tribe, the Bedouins naturally could not be monolithic, and some chose to go to the chariot of Yasar, while others chose to take refuge with the foreign Franks, most of whom were due to the perverse actions of the local lord Yassar.

But there were also many centrist who were reluctant to leave the territory where they had lived for generations, and who were not willing to die for the conflict between the Franks and Arabs.

"You don't have to guarantee anything, we crusaders will not attack such a remote place, but we hope to buy enough water from the tribes here when we need it, which can be exchanged for salt, iron tools, and grain."

A local knight said with a smile.

"I trust you, but you have to be prepared to waste your saliva convincing the people of the Tours that their patriarch is a hard-nosed old man."

"To be honest, I'm not very good at convincing people, unless that's what I do."

The knight patted the armed sword hanging from the saddle.

"The flame is on it, and hopefully things won't turn out to be so bad."

The caravan moved slowly.

The hussars had changed their attire, and they rode dromedaries wrapped in white linen robes, tightly wrapped except for their eyes, and their horses were left vacant to ride in battle.

The way these camels walk is very interesting, each step is the same hooves moving together, it looks like they are on a crutch, which allows them to walk on the soft sand, flat and steady.

"Arish is actually a really good place, we learned from the Copts, built cisterns, dug wells, irrigated hillside farms, but unfortunately, the beautiful Arish has become a ruin."

The guide's eyes were full of regret.

Tens of thousands of people were either driven away by the lord's guards or left to die in the looted town, where there was not a single clean well left, which was a complete disaster.

He didn't know who to resent him.

Crusade? Or Yasar? Or was it the son of a son of a bitch who gave this order, the Governor of Egypt?

"We'll rebuild it sooner or later, have you heard of the Divine Tree?"

The local knight raised his head triumphantly: "This is a miracle of God, a miracle of my family as a god favorite, as long as you accept the rule of the Marquis, sooner or later, this land will become a fertile ground like Alandler and the New Habsburgs." ”

There was a hint of yearning in the guide's eyes, and he felt a little unrealistic, how could miracles come so easily? Even if there were, the Frankish princes would not have squandered it on the land of Sinai.

He smiled helplessly: "If there really is such a day, I will convert to your Cross Sect as soon as possible." ”

The local knight laughed and said, "There will come a day, man, and it has long been proven that the Holy Fire will not be able to protect you, Saladin has been defeated twice in a row at the hands of my lords." ”

The guide's face changed slightly.

Another leading knight rebuked, "Pay attention to your words, and don't forget what Master Hans told you when he left?" ”

The local knight opened his mouth and said with a hint of reluctance apology, "Sorry, man, I didn't mean to offend your faith, I know how religious you are—for I was a devout Zoroastrian before, but at that time, no matter how devout I prayed every day, it wouldn't change my poverty. On the contrary, after converting to the faith, I became a knight with a manor and land. ”

The guide smiled awkwardly, and did not answer the conversation again, but said, "I'll go ahead to explore the way, and if I'm not mistaken, we'll be almost at Baishijing." ”

The leading knight whispered to Cellinina, "I sent two men to watch him?" ”

"No, he has no malicious intentions, and even if he does, he can't escape my pursuit."

Cellinina shook her head: "Haas, do you know this path?" ”

"I'm sorry, miss."

The leading knight shook his head, but added, "But I've heard of this path. In the past, when the port of Ayla and Alain were occupied by pagans, Christians often chose to take this path and make a pilgrimage to St. Catherine's Abbey, but most of them were afraid that they would not be able to reach their destination, and they did not know the horror of that plateau. ”

Celinina subconsciously glanced back at the steeply raised slope behind her, and between the dry and barren mountains, you could faintly see antelopes and jackals.

Haas said in a deep voice: "No matter how terrible we describe it, they see it as a test that God has given them, as if the more suffering and pain they experience, the more salvation they will have." ”

The local knight then sneered: "Only a fool would do that, isn't the shortcut to salvation already given by His Majesty the Holy Majesty and the Marquis?" ”

Haas gave him a helpless look.

He really didn't like this noisy, Bedouin knight.

Cellinina sighed with emotion: "It's completely different from the coast. ”

On the shores of the Sinai Peninsula, you can see crystal clear blue waves, schools of fish, and colorful corals – but if you climb over a hill, the sight is completely barren.

The further south you go, the more so.

Cellina frowned suddenly.

In the distance, she could smell a faint stench of corpses, which were definitely not animal remains.

The guide ran back from the front, and with a gesture, the local knight said: "There is a situation ahead, he told us to prepare for battle, and send a few people over in advance to take a look." ”

"I'll go with him, Haas, you stay here."

Cellinina spoke.

Together with the local knights, she urged her mount to run forward.

By "situation", the guide refers to a herd of hyenas tearing at corpses, with cars that have fallen to the ground and burned to the ground to the frame.

"Fuck off! You filthy brutes. ”

The local knight cursed, and they only glanced up at him, and then continued to bury their heads in the chest and abdomen of the corpse, dragging out a large organ that was already covered with flies, and feasted on it, as is the case in the desert, whether it is a man or a beast, you have to fill your belly quickly.

"I'll do it."

Cellina spoke, but there was no movement.

The hyena group, which was originally eating, immediately ran away with their tails between their legs as if they had encountered natural predators.

The guide and the local knight looked at her in awe.

The guide came to the corpse, looked at it for a while, and then wrinkled his eyebrows and said: "It may be someone from the Tours Department, but I'm not sure, I've seen a few people from the Tours Department before, but they look like this now, and no one can identify them." ”

He pointed to the mountains behind him: "They must have wanted to escape into the mountains and rely on the barren streams there to hunt antelopes, goats, and grouse. ”

Cellinina asked, "Your lord, the one whom Yasar sent to kill, right?" ”

"I don't know, but it's likely."

The guide's eyes were complicated.

"From the very beginning, they had no intention of intervening in the war between you Franks and Arabs."

The local knight began to make noise again: "Hey, listen to me, man, the war is not going to open up to you just because you don't want to participate, you have to choose a side, the only thing I can say is, follow us, it will not be worse than following Yasar." ”

The guide said bitterly, "I hope so." ”

Cellina frowned, "Speed up, we don't have time to delay." ”

If she could, Cellina would prefer to go it alone, she was much faster than a camel, but she didn't know the way.

When they climbed over a bare stone mountain, they saw a flock of vultures hovering in the distant sky, and a corpse that had been thrown to the ground at random on the edge of a lush oasis.

A rough count shows that there are at least hundreds.

The guide's face turned pale, and he clenched his fists: "These damned beasts, aren't they afraid that the Holy Fire will sin on them?" ”

Undeterred by the sight, Cellina walked briskly towards the oasis, and before she could reach the well, which had been lifted from the shutter, she could smell the pungent rancid stench.

"Miss Cellinina, please stop."

The local knight stepped forward eagerly and said, "Let me go and inspect it." ”

He stepped forward and looked at it twice, then turned his head with bated breath: "As before, the well has been stuffed with several corpses, some sheep and some people, and this well is completely unusable." ”

Actually, it's not that it can't be used.

The corpse water can still be drunk even if it is boiled.

But when the army travels, the fuel they carry is limited, and firewood is obviously a very rare thing in the Sinai Peninsula.

Cellina nodded expressionlessly, still stepped forward, and confirmed the face of a swollen man's corpse floating on the surface of the well, before turning around with a frown: "Is there a water source nearby?" Be as stealthy as possible, we're too late, and the enemy is too fast. ”

The guide was about to speak, when a swollen arm suddenly stretched out from the well and strangled the local knight's neck.

Without thinking, Celinina whistled in the wind.

A severed arm had fallen to the ground.

The local knight sat on the ground with a shocked face, looking at the swollen corpse that had crawled out of the well, its eyes dark and swollen.