September 1243
September 1243“Eustache!” Dagobert took the chance and whispered his friend’s name through the narrow window that allowed a measure of air into the cellars below Raimon’s home.
The count’s domicile could no longer be called a keep, for its walls had moved outward to encompass all of Toulouse. Raimon’s home was only a larger and finer version of the other houses in this prosperous town, though ’twas well defended.
Darkness had fallen and even the sentries could do little to dissuade Dagobert from this impulsive choice. He was out of time and coin, and still he had learned little of Eustache’s situation. In two months of hiding and trespassing, the only place he had been unable to search was Raimon’s cellars. If Eustache was not within, Dagobert would have to conclude that
