Chapter 6: The Blood of Christ
Ah, perhaps these new letters will hold the answers he was looking for.
David felt, for the first time in ages, a true researcher, tracking histori, observing the processes that made current middle east be what it was now. The stories he was reading might be eight centuries old, but the words, the passion that these men displayed before such dramatic and moving events, broke the barriers of time.
"From Andre du Montbard, Fifth Grand Master of the Order of the Temple to Bernard du Treville, Marshall of the Knights:
My good Bernard, it was years ago we last saw each other, after our good Lord Everard sent me in mission of escort of King Louis of France, after his bitter journey back to his demesnes from Acre. Since then I have tried to be a good counselor and I have also tried to make him help the holy land efforts. My efforts were futile, the king having a great deal of trouble after the surprising developments that have occured after the anullation of his marriage to Duchess Leonor of Aquitaine.
I felt quite surprised then, given the scarce success of my task, when I received the news that I was to be the new Grand Master, and thus my pressence would be needed with urgency in Outremer.
But not only I did felt surprised, but also deeply worried, since with these news other arrived with the circumstances of the death of former Grand Master Bernard du Tremelai, may God hold him in his Glory. The name of the order has been stained by corruption and avarice, and everybody in the French court is commenting his horrible and well desserved, or so they say, end in the walls of Ascalon.
I knew Bernard, and I supported him to be Grand Master of our Sacred Order. He was never an ambitious man, but humble and fearful of God, so I can't understand how the events I have been told can be true."
By sheer coincidence, David remembered the history of the end of the Templar command in Ascalon. When the first breach could be achieved in the walls of the fortress, the templar knights throw themselves into it, blocking the pass to the rest of the army, not letting them pass to help.
If he recalled correctly, they behaved in such a despicable way to secure the sacking rights in what seemed the beggining of the end for the Ascalon siege. But it was not like that... the warlike citizens of Ascalon throw themselves fiercely to block the breach... and since the Templars had not allowed nobody but themselves to pass through, they were pushed away by the superior number of defenders. Because of such avarice the Grand Master and all his honour guard died, and the siege of the city, the breach secured and repaired, still would hold for three additional months.
But the following document, a scroll, made him open wide his eyes. To start with, it was sealed with a still enduring red wax seal and a 'top secret' like warning on it. Perhaps, as it was just after the other letter, the one from the new Grand Master, meant it was its reply, the explanation of Tremalai's death.
Breaking a seal was something that would perhaps bother greatly the authorities when he managed to get out of this mess and this archeological treasure he had found was revealed.
What the hell, David thought... Curiosity was too big a temptation for him and he was not going to wait...
"From Bernard du Blanquefort, Marshall of the Knights, to the Grand Master..."
Ah, not only the Grand Master had changed, but the militar leader of the order too.
"... so it will be registered what really happened during the siege of Ascalon...
...During the frist assaults to the walls of Ascalon, one knight in our own ranks distinguised himself out of bravery and daring, a Templar Brother coming from northeastern Iberia, second son of an aragonese noble, sent to our order since he was a child..."
David cursed. The ink with which the name of said knight, or that is what he supposed it was, had been scratched from the parchment, that was clearly damaged in that section ¿Why seal a document and mark it as secret, if it had been previously censored?
"... dark faced, eagle nosed, his masters and teachers always felt ill for him, since it was clear that through his veins muslim or jew blood was flowing, specially knowing that in Iberia the Christian kingdoms not always kept a good enough distance with the enemies of our Faith."
What a bloody eufemism... so, it was clear the knight in question was the bastard soon of one local baron who had an affair with a moorish woman, and later was brave enough to recognize his offspring. It was quite curious that he had decided to dedicate his child to the most fanatical crusading order of knights.
"... but his dark and intelligent eyes and his hooked nose made him perfect to disguise himself as jew or sarracen, and he had been the eyes of the order in enemy lands even from tender age."
"... he left then the besieged fortress at night with great agitation and haste, holding secret council with Grand Baster Tremelai, and with the rest of his high command.
He said to us he had found a strange and old jewish merchant, trapped in the city because of the sudden arrival of the crusaders, who had affirmed he knew of the location of a powerful relic, the cup that Our Lord used during his Last Supper..."
David nearly dropped the scroll. The holy Grail. The Grail, no less! What the merchant jew knew was nothing less that the Grail itself!
"... the Grand Master and our knight..." again the scratched name
"...made then a plan to be able to get out of the city the old jew and his books. But the plan would be kept in absolute secret, since nobody should know of the true porpouse of the Order..."
The rest of the document was clear. The Grand Master and his most valiant knights had sacrificed their lives so the misterious aragonese knight and the old jew could pass secretly through the breach. All for an absurd history. A chimera. He did not bet for the poor jew's life when the Templars would discover the obvious deception. Ah, he had no time, it seemed...
"... unfortunately, an arrow hit the jew in the belly, injuring him deeply, and he died of this wound in our camp, but managed to give us some clues of the location of the holy chalice. With his books, we thought we had enough information.
Disgracefully, when we later checked the old man's books, we found them in very old hebrew characters, and even then in what seemed an unbreakable cypher. According to " Again the scratched name "
the only man able to translate and break those texts was muslim soothsayer called Omar-al-Nasr... who lived in Damascus, far from our reach.
It is of great importance that we get this man, by any means necessary."
And that was the end of the secret document. Bah. It was not that important... the traffic of false relics happened often in Outremer, specially given the flow of credule christian pilgrims to Jerusalem, ignorant and superstitious people eager to accept that a donkey's bone was no less than the holy finger of Saint Mary...
The following documents narrated in a quick manner the fall of Ascalon before the skillful strategy of King Balduin, despite the desperate attempts of the Egyptians to break his siege. The crusaders were soldiers much more expert than the Fatimid mercenaries, and all the attempts were broken with few difficulties and deaths.
When Ascalon finally fell, king Balduin III showed a surprising but well calculated mercy, allowing the remaining defenders to go alive from the city after a rich ransom, and a treaty promising the Fatimids he would not keep on pushing south. All was ready to go back to Syria... and take revenge against Nur-al-Din! The riches captured in Ascalon, adding the ransom to them, were many... enough to pay for an army big enough to take said campaign.
But the templars were now disgraced by their apparent avarice and because having put the siege in danger. They were casted away from the king's favour. Balduin, unable to know the true aim of the reckless templar action during the siege, decided the Order could not be counted upon in his future attack to Syria, leaving them with garrison duties in Jerusalem. All efforts had been for nothing fof the Templars, or so it seemed. Trying to catch a dream, not only they had not got it, but also had lost the royal favour. Anyway, David remainded himself, the crusaders never conquered Damascus.
