to save their lives. Our men left this city after three days; they
climbed tall, jaggedly rocky mountains, then descended into a valley
no less fertile than the valley in which Kephali was situated, where
they stayed for fifteen days, rejoicing in the abundance, and resting.
The Franks then found out that there was a nearby fort, to which
many pagans had come. Our men quickly laid siege to it, and were
about to win the town, when the inhabitants offered a plentiful
supply of cattle to them, together with some flattering words,
tricking them into delaying the siege for a while. The next morning,
our men moved their tents closer to the city, preparing to undertake
the siege. When the pagans perceived what was happening, they fled
quickly, leaving the town deserted. The Christian army entered, and
found plentiful supplies of grain, wine, wheat, oil, and other useful
items. They celebrated the holiday of the Purification of the
Blessed Mary there, and received the delegates sent by the king of
the city of Camela, who promised to give the count horses, gold and
silver, and to do no harm to the Christians, but to show them
appropriate respect. The king of Tripoli[191] asked the count if he
wished to enter into an agreement with him, in exchange for ten
horses, four mules, and a large amount of gold. The count said that
he would not consider a peaceful settlement with him, unless the king
became Christian. Then they left the fertile valley, which I
mentioned above, and reached a place well fortified by nature, high
on a rock, called Archas, on the thirteenth of February, on the
second day of the week. They set up their tents near the fortress,
which was filled with an innumerable multitude of pagans, Turks,
Saracens, and Arabs, whose numbers increased the original strength of
the locations. At this point, fourteen knights from the Christian
army fighting at Tripoli, which was near to this fortress, happened
to come along, for no other reason, I think, than to find food. The