The Blade of Gilgamesh. Jeff Edwards

Order is doomed, but Philippe must not be allowed to succeed.’

      ‘You have a plan?’

      ‘We must be here when Philippe’s men arrive. It must appear that he has been successful and that our arrest has been a complete surprise. Under questioning we will do all in our power to denounce the charges brought against us, but when we can stand the pain no more we will confess our sins.’

      ‘Confess! To Heresy!’

      De Molay nodded, ‘My brothers, I am asking you to risk your very souls for the Order. Philippe must not succeed.’

      ‘How can he not succeed if we are all to be burned at the stake for crimes we have not committed?’

      ‘Because our interrogations, our trials and our deaths will take time, and that time will allow us to defeat the King. When he finally opens the doors to the Treasury he will find it empty. A squadron of our ships lies at anchor in our naval base at Le Rochelle, and we will load all our treasures aboard them under cover of darkness. Two days from now the ships will slip away, and by the time Philippe arrests us, they will be out of France.’

      ‘Where will they go?’

      ‘Where Philippe has no power. The Portuguese King is a friend to our Order and we will establish a new headquarters there. I will also command some captains to find their way to Scotland in case Portugal should ever turn against us in the future.’

      ‘And where will the sword go?’ asked a brother.

      De Molay looked over at the man and sensed the tone of greed in the man’s voice. ‘The sword goes with the rest of the treasure.’

      ‘Philippe will track the treasure down and demand its return,’ the man responded.

      ‘Not if he doesn’t know. I’m ordering all records of the Order to be destroyed.’

      ‘And if we are tortured to reveal the information?’

      ‘Tell them what they want to hear. It will do them no good.’

      ‘But we will be doomed.’

      ‘Doomed, yes,’ nodded Jacques de Molay, ‘but the power of the Order will live on. Our Holy Orders will have to be forsaken, but the Templars will survive.’

      ***

      Following the long meeting Jacques de Molay sent his loyal servant Thomas in search of the Order’s Treasurer.

      Their meeting took place in the privacy of de Molay’s sleeping quarters while Thomas, sword in hand, stood guard at the door.

      ‘I fear Philippe may have spies even among our brothers,’ de Molay began, ‘How else could he have gained the knowledge of our secret rituals that he now turns against us.’

      ‘Do you have anyone in mind?’

      ‘Before you arrived I issued instructions to have Brother Frederick de Gruen locked in his room until we receive notice that the boats have cleared harbor. He was far too interested in the sword for my liking. I may be wrong but there is far too much at stake for us to take any chances.’

      ‘I agree.’

      ‘And it is for that reason that I am not sending the sword away with the rest of the treasure.’

      ‘Oh?’

      ‘I want you to select someone. You will not tell me that person’s name so that I will not be able to reveal it even under torture. He must be a person of great intellect and bravery. The sword will be entrusted to him and you will give him the following instructions. He will take with him all the records pertaining to the history of the weapon to hold in safe keeping. The documents and the sword are to be kept by him and his descendants until the day arrives that they receive coded instructions notifying them that the Order has risen again and it is safe for the sword to return.’

      ‘I will see to it immediately.’

      ‘You know of someone?’

      ‘Yes. I will dispatch him this very evening.’

      ***

      In the total darkness that follows the dropping of the moon beneath the horizon, two horsemen left the Templar headquarters.

      Each man led a pair of pack-horses whose saddlebags weighed heavily with gold from the Treasury.

      In addition, the lead rider had an ancient sword strapped to his back beneath his long riding cape and his horse’s saddlebags contained the history of that sword.

      ***

      On Friday the 13th October, 1307, exactly as Jacques de Molay had predicted, Philippe of France made his move.

      In exquisitely timed lightning raids across the expanse of France the properties of the Templars were raided and the members of the Order arrested. Even though these were men trained in battle they surrendered without a fight, exactly as they had been ordered to do.

      Philippe had his revenge. The Templars were tortured and forced to confess that the outlandish charges brought against them were true.

      They were sentenced to death, but many recanted their admissions before dying.

      Jacques de Molay was one of these, and as the flames licked around him he announced with his dying breath that both Philippe and Pope Clement V would soon join him.

      Both were dead within twelve months.

      ***

      While the wagons containing the Templar treasure wound their way toward the port of La Rochelle, two horsemen turned their mounts in the opposite direction and made for the border of the Italian states.

      The man selected for this important task was named Antonio and the young man had been one of the Templar’s chief accountants, second only to the Treasurer himself.

      The second man was Thomas, Jacques de Molay’s personal servant, who had sworn an oath to protect the sword and its carrier with his life.

      Antonio knew that France could never again be safe for a Templar and he had decided to return to the province of his of birth, where he would enjoy the protection of his extended family.

      Their destination was the region of Mugello, north of Florence, where his family had been farmers for many generations. The family’s enterprises had prospered and allowed his father and uncle to attend university in Padua. There they had graduated as doctors and adopted the surname of Medici which is plural for ‘doctors’.

      The family had their eyes firmly set on gaining further wealth and prestige which was why Antonio had been chosen by his family to join the Templars. Their Order was the most powerful business enterprise that Europe had ever seen, and the best place for an emerging family to gain the business knowledge that would lead them to future riches.

      Now, with the Sword of Gilgamesh in their possession and saddlebags full of Templar gold, the Medici family was set to become a power to be reckoned with.

      Chapter 10

      The ornately carved and magnificently painted banqueting hall was bedecked with a myriad of colourful banners, while a band of musicians played a jaunty air from their loft high above.

      Below them, the long table stretching down the centre of the room groaned under the weight of food, while servants stood behind every chair to ensure that the revellers needs were catered to.

      Despite this ostentatious display of wealth Lorenzo de Medici, who was called ‘The Magnificent’ by his supporters, was not a happy man. He would have preferred the feast to have been cancelled but his rivals needed to be shown that it was he, Lorenzo, who ruled Florence, just as his family had done for generations.

      As the head of the richest and one of the most powerful families in Europe, Lorenzo had attracted many enemies, not only amongst his commercial rivals but from the Church in Rome as well.

      This rivalry had culminated in Easter 1478 in the murderous