Read 00 - Templar's Acre for Free Online

for the cities of Outremer was the ring of castles owned by the Knights Templar. This was why so many
Christians from all over the world were coming here, to Acre, just like Baldwin, in order to help the people protect their city, because the dread ruler of Egypt was threatening to overrun this
last enclave.
    Baldwin walked past yellow stone houses. The people here wore flowing black or white robes, with strange headgear, and their dark faces had intense brown eyes that watched him without speaking,
as though he was a foreigner and had no right to be here. Never before had he felt so alien, and to be here unarmed was doubly alarming.
    In the alleys were buttresses with arches beneath them for men to walk along, and irregular buildings that projected into alleys, all constructed of this golden stone. To have the money and
labour to set about creating a city of stone was astonishing. He knew of some buildings – castles, cathedrals, abbeys – which depended upon such materials, but not an entire city. Here
even peasants must live safe behind stone.
    He kept on, marvelling, until he reached a dead end, and there he stood, gazing back the way he had come. Down there, between the buildings of the twisted lane, he could see the sun glinting off
the sea, and he was compelled to stand admiringly, filled with serenity, it looked so lovely. On his way back down the hill, he stopped, wondering which road might take him to the cathedral. His
sense of direction, usually acute, was failing him. Surely the cathedral must be to his right, if the sea was before him?
    Hearing a door slam, he saw a woman appear in the lane, and he called to her. She ignored him, so he hurried after her. When he was a matter of yards from her, she threw him an anxious look. She
was tall – and slim, he thought, under flowing emerald robes – but beyond that he could see little of her. Her face was veiled, her hair hidden in a hood, but her eyes were visible.
Beautiful, they were: green, and outlined in kohl.
    ‘Mistress, I wondered if you could help me?’ he began.
    To his astonishment, she picked up her skirts and pelted away. Ach! There was no point in chasing her. She was fleet of foot, and he was not, after his injury. His head was pounding with pain
and the heat. In any case, with the luck that had dogged him since leaving Italy, she would be unlikely to speak his language.
    He stared about him dejectedly. These alleys all looked the same. After a moment’s reflection, he decided that his initial thought must have been correct. The cathedral must lie to the
west. He set off down the hill.
    At a crossroads he turned right, hoping that the higher ground that appeared to lie this way signalled the location of the cathedral. The alley narrowed, and then he saw that up ahead it
broadened into a wider thoroughfare. Yes, it definitely had the appearance of a less intimidating, less foreign area, and he was relieved as he walked on, until he entered a square and gazed about
him.
    At the northern edge there was a huddle of men about a table, drinking and laughing, and he gave a sigh of relief, for none looked like Saracens. Most were sailors. He walked towards them with
hope bursting in his breast that he could soon be out of here and safely at the cathedral, but then his steps faltered.
    The leader of the Genoese ship was among them, staring at him with hostility as he drew a long knife.
    ‘Only three dead? You have done well,’ the Marshal, Geoffrey de Vendac, said. ‘Any other troubles?’
    ‘We had to save a ship of pilgrims.’
    The Marshal nodded. He was slightly older than Ivo, strong and moderately tall, with a grizzled beard and brown eyes in a square face.
    Ivo knew him well, but never took advantage. The Templars were the most powerful force in Christendom, because they answered to God and the Pope, no one else. Not even the French King had an
army to compare with their Knights. But the Marshal had lost much of his confidence in