Part 18 (2/2)
”Some kind of clan totem?” Arnault guessed. ”Or maybe a cult symbol? It looked like an animal head-a bull, I think. In magical terms, such a symbol might be used much as we might use the picture of a saint, as a common focus, except that it was-well, I won't say ”~pre-Christian,' because what helped us repel the attack is also pre-Christian.”
”Something from a different spiritual lineage, then,” Torquil ventured. ”Not Judeo-Christian, but-Celtic, perhaps?”
Arnault shook his head, gazing into the meager flame of their campfire. ”If it was Celtic, it certainly wasn't Celtic in the sense that Brother Ninian and his Columban brethren would understand it. It wasn't even Druid, I don't think. Ninian told us that when Saint Patrick first brought Christianity to these islands, and used the shamrock to ill.u.s.trate the Trinity, some of the Druids he encountered were already prepared for the coming of that way of looking at G.o.d. They regarded it as a fulfillment rather than a supplanting.”
Torquil snorted softly. ”Somehow, I don't think those men today saw it as a fulfillment.”
”Nor do I,” Arnault agreed. ”Incidentally, did it seem odd to you that your relatively unsophisticated countrymen would attack an obviously better armed and armored band of mounted knights who were already spoiling for a fight? And forgive me if this seems proud, but I find it hard to believe that such a large band of Templars would not be recognized for what they are. Taking on such a force because you must is one thing. Deliberately attacking is quite another. The attack definitely didn't have the feel of them just stumbling upon us.”
”No, I agree. More like a deliberate ambush.”
The pair had ridden as far as they could before darkness finally forced them to halt for the night. They could only hope that they had left their fellow Templars far behind. Torquil picked up a stick and poked moodily at the fire between them, trying to forget how hungry he was. The saddlebags on the horses they had appropriated had produced little of culinary significance: a dry rusk of bread and a bit of moldy cheese in one, and nothing edible in the other. They had shared what there was of it, because they had nothing else and dared not call attention to their presence in the area, but they had concluded that de Sautre and his men must have been living off the land, probably demanding lodgings and food as they traveled.
”When de Sautre has a chance to think things over,” Torquil said quietly, ”I hope he appreciates that we stayed long enough to save his skin before giving him the slip.” He paused to toss a few more sticks on the fire. ”Of course, if he'd actually seen you do what you did, I don't suppose it would have done much to help our case.”
”A point which poses yet another mystery,” said Arnault. ”Those ambushers weren't hunting us, they were hunting de Sautre and his men. We just happened to be there in time for what would have been the kill.
The fact that they came prepared to use sorcery means that this wasn't just a skirmish between enemy forces. It wasn't even a grudge against the Order because Jay has been using Templars to fight against fellow Christians. Besides, I'm fairly certain our friends today weren't Christians. I think whoever was behind the attack has a different kind of grudge against the Templar Order. And I think I may know why.”
”I'm listening,” Torquil said.
Picking up his own fire-poking stick, Arnault rearranged the fire more to his liking.
”I haven't worked this all out yet, but I begin to see a connection between Jay and the de Sautres, and those missing pagan relics they say were disposed of in a lake that they can't or won't now identify, and a pagan sorcerer called Briochan-whose relics they probably were, and whose shade may well have been responsible for tearing apart Brother Colman's scriptorium. In fact, I seem to recall that Luc said there'd been some kind of amulet with a bull's face on it, among those missing grave artifacts.”
Torquil whistled low under his breath. ”Are you suggesting that Jay and his cronies did keep the relics, and those were Briochan's followers who attacked de Sautre and his men?”
”Something like that.”
”But-why would Jay and his cronies want pagan relics?”
”Perhaps for the same reason that the Temple collects sacred relics: to gain access to the powers a.s.sociated with them. We tell ourselves that we wield our relics in the service of G.o.d. I expect that those who revere Briochan's relics feel much the same way, using his relics in service of their G.o.ds. And it could well be that Jay and his a.s.sociates were- or are-attempting to appropriate Briochan's powers for their own purposes.
”All of our brethren are aware of at least a few of the more conventional Christian artifacts in the keeping of the Temple-splinters of the True Cross, various saints' relics. Perhaps Jay or men like him have guessed that an elite few of us also guard more exclusive and more powerful treasures, whose very existence is unsuspected by the rest of the Order. Denied access to those, it could well be that some disgruntled faction within the Order has determined to gain access to alternative sources of extraordinary power-and might even be trying to use them to their own profit.”
”That would certainly be in character for Jay,” Torquil muttered.
”Unfortunately, I fear you may be right, reluctant though I am to speak thus of a brother Templar. And if the rightful inheritors of Briochan have come to suspect that Jay has stolen away their holy things, one can hardly be surprised if they might conclude that the Order itself is responsible. Hence, this afternoon's attack.”
Torquil shook his head, frankly dismayed. ”As if it weren't enough that the Stone is ailing, and the Scottish monarchy is being undermined by sorcerous interference, now you tell me that we have to worry about corruption among our own brothers!” He sighed heavily. ”And de Sautre will deem us the renegades! What do you propose we do?”
”We still have our ongoing mission to accomplish,” Arnault said, ”and that is to prepare a foundation in Scotland for the building of the Fifth Temple. We must never lose sight of that. And whatever charges de Sautre may choose to lay against us at official levels, we've done nothing that le Cercle won't support. I expect that Gaspar and the Visitor can pull their usual strings behind the scenes to get us off- perhaps with some formal reprimand and maybe even a token penance, but I have no worries on that account, so long as we aren't prevented from getting word to them-and Luc will see to that. Meanwhile, Luc can continue to act as liaison, so long as he isn't compromised by aiding and abetting us openly.”
”That's fine for the long term,” Torquil agreed, ”but in the meantime, I should point out that we're still on the run, at least so far as de Sautre is concerned. It's a pity we didn't get a chance to ask him for news of the war-but I suppose we'll find out soon enough. Where next, then?”
”Scone, I think-and preferably before de Sautre gets there,” Arnault replied.
”I think we'll be well ahead of him,” Torquil said. ”He has wounded. He won't be able to travel as fast as we can- and he's also short a few horses.” He contained a snort of ironic satisfaction. ”He can't have been happy to discover that we got away with two of the fittest ones.”
”Aye, that will be one more grudge against us,” Arnault said. ”Meanwhile, Abbot Henry needs to be apprised of what we learned on Iona. After that, I'm none too sure. My instincts say we should get back to Paris as quickly as we can, and get our official status sorted out. That may be the only thing that will get de Sautre off our backs-and Jay, once he finds out about today.”
For the next two days, subsisting on little but water, they took advantage of every hour of daylight to press eastward, avoiding settlements and only risking even a religious establishment when they paused at last to ask news and hospitality of the monks of Dunkeld. The news made their hurried meal lie like lead in their stomachs as they pressed on toward Scone.
During their absence, not unexpectedly, Edward had advanced northward from Roxburghe to lay siege to Edinburgh Castle, which had held out for little more than a week before surrendering. He had moved next on Stirling, which yielded without any resistance at all. The English king was now said to be somewhere south of Perth-which put Scone within easy striking distance.
The gates of Scone Abbey were closed when they arrived, for it was after dark, but the porter remembered them, and immediately let them in. By the time they had stabled their horses, making apologies to the brother hostler for the loss of the mounts he had loaned them from the abbey, word had been taken to Abbot Henry of their arrival and a lay brother was waiting to accompany them to the abbot's quarters. To their surprise, they found Luc de Brabant in the abbot's company.
”Good Lord!” Arnault exclaimed, breaking into a broad grin as he came to embrace the older man.
”What on earth are you doing here?”
That Luc was likewise relieved to see them was evident, as he exchanged similar greetings with Torquil, but his sobering news soon dampened the reunion.
”You haven't heard, then,” he said. ”John Balliol has sued for peace. They're d.i.c.kering over the terms, but it's only a matter of time.”
”Where is Balliol?” Torquil asked.
”With what's left of the Scots army, somewhere north and east of here,” said a Scottish voice from the direction of the fireside. ”Word is that Longshanks has sent Bek of Durham to take the surrender. Once that happens, there's little to stop the English king from making himself sole master of everything between Berwick and the Moray Firth.”
Both new arrivals turned to survey the speaker, who slowly unfolded from his chair. Apparently about the same age as Torquil, he was a brawny, broad-chested figure of a man, a full head taller even than Arnault-who was above average height-but with a thatch of curly auburn hair and bushy beard and startling blue eyes.
”Ah,” Luc said. ”William Wallace, you should make the acquaintance of Brothers Arnault de Saint Clair and Torquil Lennox, Knights of the Temple-though one would hardly guess it, by their present state,” he added, indicating their black robes with a sweep of a white-clad arm. ”Will hails from Strathclyde-his father was a knight in the service of James the Stewart-but I met up with him down by Dunfermline.
Under the circ.u.mstances, it seemed a good idea to bring him here with me.”
The look of contrived innocence on Luc's face told Arnault that this was far from being the sum of the tale. Wallace himself undertook to supply further details.
”Och, I was being chased by a band of English hobelars,” he said with a grin. ”Their captain had been hounding me all the way from Kincardine. Brother Luc was gracious enough to let me climb a tree while he sent them off in the opposite direction.”
”A lie which I have already reported to my confessor,” Luc said, with a droll glance in Abbot Henry's direction. ”What Will has omitted to tell you is that he was only in danger of being captured in the first place because he stopped to help me rescue some holy sisters whose cart had broken down a few miles from the town.”
Wallace shrugged. ”Facis de necessitate virtutem,” he quoted. ”One makes of necessity a virtue.”
This ironic use of one of Saint Jerome's more memorable observations brought a smile to Arnault's lips.
Intrigued by this unexpected display of erudition, he began to share Luc's interest in Wallace.
”And may I ask what happened at Kincardine, that made this English captain so determined to capture you?”
Wallace shrugged and grinned again. ”My spearmen accounted for nearly a third of his company. He seems to think I'm the one to blame for it.”
”He's probably right,” said Abbot Henry. ”Even your uncle Robert would probably be forced to admit that you make a better soldier than a priest.” Seeing the looks of inquiry from both Arnault and Torquil, he added, ”One of Will's uncles studied here for a time, before he was ordained, so I've no qualms about offering sanctuary to anyone who shares his name.”
”I don't plan to be here for more than a few days,” Wallace a.s.sured them.
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