Temple of The Grail (47 page)

‘More or less,’ he smiled proudly,
and I prayed for his immortal soul.

The boy nodded and my master
continued. ‘Firstly, I realised that the monastery was founded by Templars sent
here by the Grand Master Gerard of Ridefort, after the fall of Jerusalem, have
I guessed correctly?’

There was a nod.

‘They came here in possession of the
Tables of the Law, and other secret gospels, for Setubar had elucidated this
for us, but we also because we saw translations in the library.’

‘So you entered the library? Very
clever . . . Ahhh . . . but perhaps you do not know that they were sent here
after the loss of Jerusalem, when there was a difference of opinion between
those who wanted to keep the order pure to follow the ‘bloodline’, and others
who wanted to admit ‘new blood’. Then there was the possession of the articles
from the Temple of Solomon . . .’

‘Ezekiel must have told you,’ my
master confirmed.

‘Yes . . .’

‘And so the grand master had the
articles brought here by the twelve Templars . . . to hide them! By the sword
of Saladin!’

The boy sat back with satisfaction. ‘This
is a monastery of Templars disguised as Cistercians with the sanction of St
Bernard, and so you now see why each abbot is an accomplished translator . . .
but none could translate the one precious item, the Tables of the Law.’

‘But there
was
one who could,’
my master said, ‘namely a special child whose arrival had been foretold . . .
only the one who was brought here by the four Cathar brothers was capable of
reading the ancient texts. Before he could do this, however, he needed time to
mature, but more importantly, he needed to undergo a special training, a kind
of initiation into the mysteries in order to accomplish the task, the perfect
work! Unfortunately the terrible war against the heretics by Gregory, and then
by Innocent, made it difficult for the four Cathars to bring him here
immediately, so they stayed at Montsegur waiting for an opportune moment. It
did not help that they were caught up in the siege, which they luckily escaped
with the help of Cathar nobles and other sympathisers. On their arrival here
they found that the twelve initial founders had become hermits, and that there
were others now who, during the course of time, had taken on the everyday
running of the monastery. Let us say then that these four who had for so long
kept this child safely guarded were now compelled to hand him over to the
twelve, am I right? And were then to live out the rest of their lives without
ever knowing what would become of him. Now these four wore the Cistercian
habit, but they were Cathars and kept their
perfecti
status inviolate
all these years. They integrated into the community well, and through time
became important members of it until the brothers became curious about the boy
whom they loved. When they heard his health was failing and that he was being
taken to the catacombs regularly, they wanted to see him, but were denied this
privilege. Brother Setubar had suspicions about whatever was happening and it
became a great source of uneasiness. Somehow he found out about the great work,
he disagreed with it and found a way of alerting the authorities. He sent a
message to the Bishop of Toulouse, written by a left-handed person, outlining
the numerous heretical tendencies that had taken hold in the monastery,
alluding to the existence of a known murderer in their midst who he knew was
sure to interest Rainiero Sacconi. This suited the bishop, for Rainiero was a
fellow countryman and would do what was necessary to assure his interests in
the monastery’s wealth . . .’

‘But Brother Setubar was not
left-handed, preceptor,’ Anselmo grinned.

‘No, but you are,’ my master
answered, elated. ‘He had you write the message, didn’t he? Because his hands
are gnarled with age, and also because if he were to send a message to Toulouse
it would incur suspicion, you could say you were seeking some transaction
pertaining to your duties in the scriptorium. Now, Brother Setubar knew that
you were lusting after the position of head translator, so he told you he would
talk Ezekiel into giving you the position if you helped him, am I right?’

‘Remarkable, but how did you know
that I was both left-and right-handed?’

‘The handwriting in your translations
was that of a right-handed man, and so at first I discounted you as the note
writer, but when I heard you play the organ, you played your left and right
hand with equal strength. Most right-handed organists play the left hand always
a little softer, but this was not the only indication. That morning we met you
in the church when you were with Sacar, you made the sign of the cross, and
mistakenly used your left hand.’

‘Did I? How careless of me, and how
fortuitous for you. Tell me more . . .’

The earth shook above us, but my
master went on as though he was immortal. ‘Brother Setubar must have known that
bringing the inquisitor here would mean the end for him and the other three
Cathars. He was convinced that they would be discovered, so a week before our
arrival, when word of the inquiry reached the abbey, he began to poison the
raisins and wine with herbs provided by Asa, a potent mixture of substances,
one of which is arsenic and the other atropa belladonna and so the delusions of
flying.’

‘If that filthy cook had not taken
the herb for his own use, you may have never guessed.’

‘Perhaps not.’

‘If only Asa had listened to me.’

‘He became suspicious of Setubar’s need
for the herbs, didn’t he? He threatened to see the abbot, so you both swore him
to secrecy and told him everything.’

‘Yes, well in this case I am the
fool, I loved Asa, he was so feminine, so . . .’ he laughed wildly. ‘You see,
preceptor, how we are all drowning in a sea of sin? I should have known Asa
would never understand, it was not in his character.’

‘Then how did you stop him going to
the abbot?’

‘I told him that before he did I
would confess our carnal sin to him.’

‘So you had unnatural relations?’

‘No, but the abbot would believe me,
for who would lie in a confessional?’

‘Diabolical!’ my master exclaimed,
and I thought I discerned the slightest hint of admiration in his voice.

‘But I gave him the healing formulas
that I found in the library and he was placated for a time.’

‘And so the words he would not
divulge, but what then caused the sudden death of Brother Samuel? He entered
the tunnels before the poisoned raisins could kill him . . . Something else
here was his undoing. Brother Ezekiel, too, had ventured here sometime before
his death, but he did not perish as brother Samuel did. All I can think is that
he must have known the ways of the tunnels, for he was the only one allowed in
the library, so he knew that he must avoid something, or perhaps he had no need
to avoid it for some reason that I have not as yet formulated. In any case, he
died of the poison that first night. But, it was you who killed Daniel!’

Anselmo smiled broadly, ‘Bravo!’

‘The night he died you went to him
and demanded that he tell you the ways of the tunnel. Daniel was the only one
who held the secret combinations, he alone had been told on his arrival here
many years before, and he refused to tell you anything. Moreover I believe he
threatened to go to the abbot or perhaps to me . . . I don’t know what he said
exactly, but in the end you had to kill him, am I right?’

‘More or less,’ Anselmo nodded his
head.

‘Before you killed him you had been
to the catacombs, you knew your way around a little because Brother Ezekiel had
taken you to the library.

‘No. Ezekiel knew nothing of the
catacombs, he only knew how to access the library through the scriptorium. It
was you who showed me. I followed you the night you entered through the panel.
That is how I knew how to get this far.’

‘Oh, so I have been mistaken . . .
they were your footsteps we heard on our way back after we heard the great
noise. The echoes made it sound as though you were coming our way, instead you
were fleeing before us lest we see you, am I right?’

‘Yes, the noise was the mechanism
triggered from within the catacombs.’

Andre was thoughtful. ‘You had no
reason to kill Daniel. He could not tell you anything more than you already
knew.’

‘I had to kill him, preceptor.’
Anselmo stood. ‘It was the only logical thing to do, for you are a creature of
logic. I knew that you suspected Setubar, but now also Asa, so that when you
found the way through the infirmary chapel you thought that maybe he had
slipped out through the tunnels and committed the crime after which he returned
again through the secret passage. It was a simple way of throwing you further
in both their directions. Ultimately, however, you expected that Daniel would
be next. How could I disappoint you, preceptor?’

My master paused for a moment. ‘You
assume much. But you must not think me so clever . . .’ my master retrieved the
iron bar, covered in blood and, to my horror, hair also, ‘for you thought that
I would suspect Asa on such flimsy evidence.’

‘He could have killed him. It would
only take a moment to hide the bar in the straw in the pallet in his room and
return unseen.’

‘But why would he hide it under his
own pallet when he could have left it in the catacombs? I may have been
prepared to believe it, had I been less attentive. Something told me that all
was not right.’

‘But how did you guess it was me?’

‘It was quite natural. You had dirt
under your sandals after you left the tunnels that night, and so when you
killed Daniel – I assume while we were in the library – the dirt
became mixed with Daniel’s blood and left a nice imprint of your sandal on the
floor. You are an unusually small monk and therefore it was not difficult to
connect you with the crime, and also the notes, for the day I discovered you in
my room, and you so inconveniently hit me on the head, I only noticed (as I
fell to the ground) your sandals. I did not know they were yours at the time,
but the thing that stayed with me was their unusual size, that is, small. Asa,
by contrast, was tall and so he had large, rather long feet. However, this was
not the only clue on which I have based my calculations. Note this iron bar.
The man who used this to kill Daniel was left-handed. You see the imprint of
blood? The fingers clasping it point to the left and the thumb to the right,
indicating that it was held in the left hand, and not the right, for in this
case it should have been reversed with the thumb pointing to the left and the
fingers facing right. You know there are no other left-handed monks in this
abbey and not many with unusually small feet.’

‘Very well surmised, but what about
Setubar?’

‘That one is a little obvious . . .
After the others were dead there was nothing more he could do, but before he
could kill himself . . .’

‘Before the
endura
, that is to
say, his suicide, he came to me in a fury . . .’

‘Of course he was in a fury, you
killed Daniel . . . after staining his hands with the blood of the others he
needed another
perfect
to give him the
consolamentum
, he would
need to be
reconsoled
, and now there was no one who could do it . . .’

‘Of all things this pleased me the
most,’ Anselmo said sighing with satisfaction. ‘When he came to me he said that
he wanted the codices destroyed because he feared their secrets were being used
to prolong life. This, he thought, was the end product of The Gospel of St
Thomas…because it says in the first verse, ‘Whosoever discovers the
interpretation of these sayings shall not taste death’, and as you know, the
physical body of Setubar was most productive as food for worms.’

‘But he did not know the orientation,
you told him you would tell him if he came down with you. You then pushed him
down some steps, which broke his legs, and you left him to die.

‘He told me that he wished the gospels
would burn on the pyre along with the silent ones and the boy, because he said
to prolong life was the greatest sin. He would have destroyed everything!’

‘And so the reason why Asa turned on
his master – his desire, as a man of medicine, was to discover the
miraculous healing methods that you gave him a taste of.’

‘He was a fool. There is no magical
healing, only the gospels and the tables! Codices! Think what they could give
the world!’

‘You mean what they could give you?’

‘There is nothing wrong with desiring
knowledge.’

‘Only if one kills in order to get
it.’

‘We are not so different, preceptor.
Why are you here if not to see for yourself what I have longed to see? You
understand me because you are not like the others, you are half-infidel and no
one understands learning better than infidels, not even the Jews. But you are also
a curious man, and curious men are of two kinds; there are those who justify
their sinful desires by calling them noble, and those who accept the truth and
can face their own imperfections.’

‘What has led me here is not so
dissimilar from your own curiosity, in that you are right, but I would not have
killed for the pleasure.’