The Templar Knight. Jan Guillou

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СКАЧАТЬ has told me, that you want to be accepted as a knight in our circle?’

      ‘Yes, Jerusalem’s Master!’ answered Armand with sudden enthusiasm that he could not hide. ‘I would give my life to…’

      ‘No, no, not like that,’ Jerusalem’s Master laughed, raising his hand. ‘As a dead man we have not much use for you. But one thing you must now learn. If you want to become one of us, one of the brothers, then you have to learn never to lie to a brother. Think about that, now. Don’t you think that my beloved brother Arn and I were once young like you? Don’t you realize that we were sergeants like you? Don’t you think that we can see through your dreams, because they were our dreams too? Don’t you imagine that we understand what pride you feel for what you have accomplished, which as far as I can see was fully worthy of a knight-brother? But a brother must never lie to another brother, and you must never forget that. And if you’re ashamed of unworthy thoughts, if you’re ashamed because you’re proud of what you did, then it’s all right that you feel such shame. But it’s always worse to lie to a brother than to feel pride, or what you may think is pride. You can always confess your pride. But faithfulness to the truth before brothers is what you must never forsake. It’s that simple.’

      Armand sat with his head bowed, staring at the tabletop, and could feel his cheeks aflame. He had been reprimanded, even though the words of Jerusalem’s Master were friendly and his tone brotherly.

      ‘Now we’ll start again,’ said the older man with a weary little sigh that didn’t sound quite genuine. ‘What happened and what did you accomplish in the battle, my good young sergeant?’

      ‘Jerusalem’s Master,’ Armand began, feeling his head turn to air and all his thoughts flee like birds, ‘we had been tracking the robbers for a week, we had studied their tactics, and we realized that it would be hard to catch them in the act. We had to find a position where we could meet them face to face.’

      ‘Yes? And then…did a good situation present itself?’

      ‘Yes, Jerusalem’s Master, at last it did,’ Armand went on with renewed courage, having convinced himself that he only had to present a normal account of battle. ‘We discovered them as they were pursuing three Saracens unknown to us up into a wadi which formed a trap like a sack. It was just what we were hoping for when we saw them begin pursuit from a distance, because they had used that tactic before. We took up position and attacked when the time was ripe; my lord Arn first, of course, and I on his flank behind him as the rules prescribe. The rest was easy. My lord Arn signalled to me with his lance how he would first launch a feint against the robber on the left in front, and that opened a good gap for me to aim and strike with my lance.’

      ‘Did you feel fear at that moment?’ asked Jerusalem’s Master in a suspiciously gentle voice.

      ‘Jerusalem’s Master!’ replied Armand loudly yet hesitantly. ‘I must admit that I did feel fear.’

      He looked up to see how the others around the table reacted to this. But neither Jerusalem’s Master nor Arn, or the other two high knight-brothers, betrayed by their expressions what they thought about a sergeant who showed fear in battle.

      ‘I felt fear, but also resolve. This was the opportunity we had waited for so long, and now we could not fail! That was what I felt,’ he added so rapidly that his words stumbled over each other.

      Now Arn carefully pounded his Syrian wine glass on the table and then Jerusalem’s Master did the same, followed by the two knight-brothers, and then they all burst out in laughter that was hearty but not malicious.

      ‘So you see, my good young sergeant,’ said Jerusalem’s Master, shaking his head and chuckling to himself, ‘what one must endure as a brother in our Order. You confess to fear, eh? But let me tell you this. Any one of us who does not feel some fear at the crucial moment is a fool. And we have no need for fools among our brothers. So, when can he be initiated as a brother in our Order?’

      ‘Soon,’ said Arn. ‘Very soon indeed. I shall go through the first conversations prescribed by the Rule as soon as we return to Gaza.’

      ‘Excellent! Then I will make a visitation in person for the initiation, and I will be the one to give you the second welcome kiss after Arn.’

      The Master raised his wine glass to Armand, and the other Templar knights followed suit. With heart pounding Armand tried to keep his hand from shaking as he raised his glass and bowed in turn to his four superiors before he drank. He felt suffused by a great joy.

      ‘But right now the situation is critical, and it may be difficult to find the three days required for the initiation ceremony, at least in the near future,’ said Arn, just as the talk should have taken a less sombre turn. There was no comment, but they all shifted their attention to Arn to hear what he had to say.

      ‘Among the three Saracens whom we rescued from a tight situation was no less than Yussuf ibn Ayyub Salah al-Din,’ Arn began abruptly. ‘In the evening we broke bread and conversed, and from that talk I understood that we shall soon have war upon us.’

      ‘You broke bread and sat with Saladin?’ Jerusalem’s Master said harshly. ‘You ate with the greatest enemy of all Christendom and you let him escape alive?’

      ‘Yes, it is true,’ replied Arn. ‘And about this there is much to say, but the easiest is that he was allowed to get away alive. First of all, we have a truce, and second, I gave him my word.’

      ‘You gave Saladin your word?’ asked the Master in astonishment, his eyes narrowing.

      ‘Yes, I gave him my word before I realized who he was. But now we have more important things to discuss,’ Arn went on in the tone he used on the battlefield.

      Jerusalem’s Master sat in silence for a moment, rubbing his fist on his chin. Then he pointed suddenly at Armand, who was now sitting with his gaze fixed on his lord Arn with wide, frightened eyes, as if only now did he understand what had happened, and with whom he too had broken bread.

      ‘My good sergeant, now you must leave us,’ commanded Jerusalem’s Master. ‘Brother Richard Longsword here will show you around our quarters and our part of the city. Then he will escort you to the sergeants’ night quarters. May God be with you. May I soon have the pleasure of giving you a welcome kiss.’

      One of the Templar knights then stood up and indicated to Armand the direction they would be going. Armand stood up, bowed hesitantly to the now grim-visaged knights at the table, and left.

      When the iron-clad wooden door closed after Armand and his high escort, a heavy silence settled over the room.

      ‘Now I’ll begin,’ said Jerusalem’s Master after a moment. ‘You know Brother Guy, who has just been made weapons master here in Jerusalem. You two hold the same rank, and the three of us have serious problems that concern us all. Shall we start with the matter of breaking bread with our enemy?’

      ‘By all means,’ said Arn lightly. ‘What would you have done? We have a truce, which is hanging by a thin thread, as we all know, and Saladin knew it as well. The robbers were the ones who had to be punished, not peaceful travellers of one faith or another. I gave him the word of a Templar knight. And he gave me his word. A moment later I understood to whom I had granted safe passage. So, what would you have done?’

      ‘If I had given my word I could have done no differently than you,’ agreed Jerusalem’s Master. ‘You worked here under Odo de Saint Armand, didn’t you?’

      ‘Yes, СКАЧАТЬ