Knights of the Black and White (77 page)

You think people might not be inclined to rebel and spill blood, seeing the proof that the Church has been exploiting them and their families for hundreds of years?

“Those hierarchical clerics I mentioned, popes and patriarchs and the like, are all men, my friend—not a God or a saint among them. And being men, they will go to any lengths they feel are necessary to protect them and their
livelihood
. To
any
lengths …

“Should we all vanish from the world tomorrow, we Poor Fellow Soldiers of Jesus Christ, it would not be the first time in history that such a thing has happened. Archbishops and cardinals take great pride in representing 746

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God. They have His ear and they are zealous and jealous in preserving their right to pronounce His opinions and His judgments.”

“So they might wipe us all out. Is that what you are saying?”

“Aye, of course it is. Like flies.”

There was a long pause while they rode in silence, the only sounds being made by their horses’ hooves and the occasional creak of saddle leather, and then Montdidier asked, “So what did de Payens end up saying, really?”

“That we have allies and assets. That we are not without power of our own. That our own roots go back further and deeper than those of the Christian Church. That we have access to, and possession of, the documented truth of what we claim, while no one else has. That we have the ability and the intellect to keep our sources—and our treasure—securely hidden. And that we are not stupid enough to put ourselves at risk by wandering into peril, starry eyed and naïve.

“He said we will win, eventually, but not in any way that I, or you, might ever think of. And at the last, he bade me be patient and prepare myself, and all the rest of you, for great and sweeping changes to our world, changes, he said, that would be incomprehensible and unimaginable were he even to attempt to point them out to us now. They have not yet begun to occur, he said, but once they do begin, they will be unstoppable, and we, the Poor Fellow Soldiers of Jesus Christ and the Temple of Solomon, will have the power to change the entire world.”

Montdidier sat with his head to one side, eyeing St.

Clair askance for several minutes before he grunted and said, “All nine of us? That, if you will forgive me for saying so, sounds like the ravings of a madman. And while we are on the topic of madness, tell me, if you will, Stephen, how we all became soldiers of Christ in the first place, when there is not a Christian among us?”

“Protection.” St. Clair did not even hesitate. “Protection, pure and simple. Who would suspect sedition among the Poor Fellow Soldiers of
Christ
? The name allowed us to go about our lives without hindrance while we were seeking the treasure. As for the madness in what de Payens said, I thought the same at first, and then I questioned him more closely. He really does see great changes ahead for us. Recruits, for one thing. He sees us attracting hundreds of them, from all the lands of Christendom.”

“From Christendom … You mean Christian recruits?

How can that be? I know the Order of Rebirth has been reborn, but it will continue to be a secret society, will it not? How then can we admit Christian knights?”

“Easily, Crusty. That was the first thing I asked de Payens when he mentioned recruitment, and he had already thought the matter through. Our ancient Order will continue to exist within the new order here in Jerusalem, whether we be called the Order of the Temple Knights or something else. The name we call the new order is not important, but its activities will be, and the activities of the Order of Rebirth will continue to be exercised, concealed among its activities. It will take 748

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thought, and much organization, but Hugh and St.

Omer think it can be achieved. Hugh believes the Church will be brought to recognize our Order, and that will be the making of us.

“He has great faith in Bernard of Clairvaux, de Montbard’s young nephew who is abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Clairvaux. He is confident that, with the backing of Clairvaux, allied with our own Order’s Grand Council and all the temporal power that can be brought to bear there by the Angevin Counts, Fulk of Anjou, Hugh of Champagne, and others like them, our Friendly Families will be able to prevail upon the Pope to accept not only the existence and import of our discoveries but also our sincere reassurances that nothing sudden will be forced upon the Church in the near future, until the Church Fathers themselves have had a sufficiency of time to study these matters and decide upon their validity.

And in the meantime, he believes, we, and our works here in the Holy Land, will receive the full benison of papal recognition and favor, in return for our cooperation and silence.”

“And you believe that.” It was not a question.

St. Clair looked at his companion and nodded his head slowly. “I do. It took me some time to accept everything I had been told, but I now believe de Payens is right. In finding what we have found, we may have changed the known world and improved the life of every man, alive and to come, from what it has been to this point. For a thousand years there has been nothing, no dissenting voice, to gainsay the Church, or to

threaten it with the loss of its worldly influence. Now we have the power to play that role, and in that way we may have made people’s lives better—theirs, and our own. That is worth believing, I think.”

Montdidier grinned and removed his flat-capped helmet, thrust the mailed cowl back off his head, then shook his head to loosen his matted hair and scrubbed it with one hand before replacing everything. That done, he drew his long sword and stood up in his stirrups.

“Tonight, friend Stephen, we will drink a cup of wine to that. To the betterment of people’s lives throughout the world. But it will still require armies of people with these—” he swung his sword around his head—“to see to their safety. So we will drink a second cup to ourselves, and to our friends and brethren, the knight monks of the temple, Poor Fellows that they are.”

FINIS

Jack Whyte
is the author of the immensely popular Camulod series, a four-generation saga of the rise and fall of King Arthur, which has been translated into many languages. Born and raised in Scotland, he has lived for many years in Canada, working as an English teacher, a professional actor and singer, an advertising executive, and, always, a writer. Whyte now lives with his wife, Beverley, in British Columbia, where he is at work on the second novel in the Knights Templar trilogy. Visit the author’s website at www.jackwhyte.com or www.camulod.com.