Chapter 61

As the sun began to set, casting a warm glow over the city, Philippa gathered her most trusted advisors and the Lazarist knights. The intelligence they had received suggested that their enemy had already set camp outside Jacob's fort.

Philippa turned to Gideon, her eyes filled with determination. "We must march to the aid of Baldwin by nightfall. Our enemy seeks to strike when they believe we are at our most vulnerable. We shall prove them wrong."

Gideon, ever the strategist, nodded in agreement. "We shall prepare our forces and set out under the cover of darkness. Our leprosy-afflicted knights have the advantage of moving silently, and their disease will be of little consequence in the darkness."