I see that everything might be achieved at once. I tell Dia my plans and she remonstrates with me but will do as I ask. She finds us plain clothing that we may travel incognito. Rostagnus will accompany us. Dia and I stitch money into strips of cloth that we can wear around our waists: silver solidi and a few gold mancusos, only for emergencies. If we bandy about gold we will be conspicuous. I write a note for Bernadette telling her to take care of Adalmoda, Arnau, Inés and Sancha while I am gone. I leave Ramon a note telling him that I am taking Towhead and Beren to Toulouse and Hughie to Cluny and then I will return, although in truth I have not decided on that last point as yet. I wait until Ramon is sleeping and I slip out of bed and join my party at the northern gate. He requires me! In darkness we take the road towards the mountain monastery of Montserrat with its miraculous Black Virgin and then, skirting the mountain, we head on to Berga and the foothills of the Pyrenees.
