The Return of the Knights Templar-: Sextant Collection, #1

By Cèdric Daurio

When King Henry of France and Pope Innocent decreed in the early fourteenth century the end of the Order of the Temple and burned alive their main leaders, they could not achieve one of their main objectives: to seize the treasure of the Order. It was shipped surreptitiously in the port of La Rochelle to the coast of Scotland, and from there it began a long journey throughout centuries, which led part of the treasure to the beaches of South America.
A child finds in the Patagonian beaches some strange stones carved with text  fragments written in Latin and a cross of eight points. This triggers the action in the present, when the child´s family members, including a Mexican archaeologist of Maya ancestry and her husband analyze the stones. Realizing the Templar origin of the inscriptions, it begins an arduous quest to uncover the fate of the treasure. First contact is a Swiss anthropologist living in the city of Bariloche, in a region of lakes of the Argentine Patagonia. One of their surprising findings is that there are still descendants of the Templars forming a millenarian brotherhood advocated by the values ​​of their ancestors, based in remote areas of the Andean-Patagonian forests. Thither are headed the scientist in a research expedition. Their departure is detected however  by a group of large-scale predators of cultural, artistic and archaeological treasures acting internationally, led by a mysterious former KGB colonel. They send a powerful armed group in the footsteps of the explorers.
Scientists make contact with members of the brotherhood, jealous care of their heritage, that includes not only material goods but one of Christianity's holiest objects according to the medieval conception.
Guided by the archaeologist, equipped with a special sensitivity for the detection of arcane, searchers are directed to a point inaccessible forest, in their search of the treasure .It is in  those places where bursts a bloody conflict between the warring factions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cedric Daurio
• Release date: Nov 4, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393131779

Cèdric Daurio

Cedric Daurio es el seudónimo adoptado por un novelista argentino para cierto tipo de narrativa, en general thrillers paranormales y cuentos con contenidos esotéricos. El autor ha vivido en Nueva York durante años y ahora reside en Buenos Aires, su ciudad natal. Su estilo es despojado, claro y directo, y no vacila en abordar temas espinosos. Cedric Daurio is the pseudonym adopted by an Argentine novelist for a certain type of narrative, in general paranormal thrillers and stories with esoteric content. The author has lived in New York for years and now resides in Buenos Aires, his hometown. His style is stripped, clear and direct, and does not hesitate to address thorny issues.  

Book preview

PROLOGUE

––––––––

The child hurriedly took off his shirt and sandals and began running on the sand. His parents observed him for a while but convinced that there was no danger in the desolate beach, nearly empty at that early hour, took care of other things. The mother began to spread sunscreen throughout her body and the father installed the beach umbrella in the sand and opened the newspaper under its shadow.

The boy approached the umbrella and picked up a shovel and a bucket to make castles in the sand and walked away again. That day there was a very remarkable low tide, result of a spatial coincidence of the Sun and the Moon superimposing their attraction and repulsion and thus exaggerating the tidal magnitude.

The child was attracted by large snails that the sea had left exposed in its retreat and collected several of them and placed them in a row like soldiers on parade, as he usually did with his toys; then he sought other attractive objects on the sand until he found a black stone in the form of an almost perfectly circular disc bulging in the center. He then placed it in the snail’s row and began digging in the wet sand around it. Suddenly something caught his eye, he left the shovel on the ground and picked the dark stone watching it carefully. He stood up and went to his parent’s umbrella always with the stone in his hand.

Look Dad, this stone has some rare marks.

The father took the object in his hands and clearly distinguished a few deep incisions apparently made with a sharp tool.

It looks like a Maltese Cross or part of it, because it´s broken.

The mother approached with curiosity, took the stone from the hands of her husband and added.

No doubt that these marks were done by human hands. Listen, you can take advantage of Uncle Marcelo and his wife´s visit next week.

I did not know they were coming. Will they stay at your parents' home in Pigüé or at ours in Bariloche? Asked the father, and added ironically. What an honor! His wife is the beautiful Mexican woman?

They will first go to Pigüé and then will visit us in Bariloche. And yes, the wife is a Mexican archaeologist and I know she has participated in expeditions and found important pieces, that is why I think we should show her this stone. Maybe she can say something about those marks.

" I'll make a sketch of the place where Matías found it. Matu, take me to the place where you found this stone.

Delighted by the importance given to his finding the boy took his father's hand and walked with him to the snail’s parade  saying.

The stone is mine, I found it. You are going to tell that to Uncle Marcelo, right? And to that lady.

Father and son walked through the vast expanse of sand that the sea had uncovered in the remote beach south of San Antonio Oeste where the differences between high and low tides are among the biggest in the world, and where tourists that in summer populate the Las Grutas resort rarely arrive.

Arriving at the precise point the father busily set to scan the ground, where the low tide was exposing new beach stripes.

Look Matu, there is another dark stone as the one you found, only bigger.

The boy took the object with both hands, and as he found it too heavy he handed it back to his father. The latter examined it and said.

Here there is part of an inscription, but almost worn out. The new find excited the curiosity of father and son, who redoubled their efforts to cover a larger portion of beach, but no additional findings were made.

Matías was somewhat disappointed that his parents, who regularly answered all his doubts, in this case could not explain what was found, but the prospect of a specialist coming in a few days calmed his anxieties.

CHAPTER 1

––––––––

Non nobis, Domine, non nobis, seed nominal Too da Gloria

(Not unto us,O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory)

Thibaud de Montbard spurred his horse that was unwilling to cross the dense forest amid the total darkness and torrential rain of that autumn evening. The rider understood the prudence reasons of the animal which did not dare to jump in the frond with a visibility near zero, but the urgency of the task bringing him there justified any risks so that man and beast went into the grove without further ado.

Three hours before another messenger on horseback had come from Paris to the Templar Commandry with the terrible news that the raids and attacks against authorities and members of the Order was widespread throughout France and had even begun in Germany and Italy. Hundreds of brothers were being arrested and tortured in order to extort infamous confessions and thus give excuses to the royal and ecclesiastical authorities to confiscate the vast properties of the Order spread throughout Europe, but they had failed to capture the Grand Master Jacques de Molay, who had disappeared perhaps warned by the efficient intelligence services of the Order.

While riding his horse through the woods, the gentleman pondered the tremendous injustice committed against the Order of the Temple, forgetting that for two centuries its members had shed their blood in defense of the Holy Land and the thousands of pilgrims coming from Europe to visit the holy places. The fighting against the Turk was merciless, giving no quarter and had finally ended with the disappearance of all the Christian kingdoms in the Holy Land.

Created in the Holy Land in 1118 by nine knights led by Hugues de Payens, the Temple had become a religious and military order, which at its peak had in its ranks some 20,000 members, 1,500 of whom were the elite of monks-knights.

At the time of the First Crusade the Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solominici (Order of the Poor Knights of Christ of the Temple of Solomon) had received from the Crusader King of Jerusalem Baldwin I the site of a mosque, under which lay the grounds of the former Solomon's temple. At that site they had established their headquarters, which ushered in the modern era to countless myths of esoteric nature referred to the discovery in the basement of the site of priceless Christian relics, including even the Holy Grail, whatever its real nature was. From very modest beginnings, with a very few gentlemen who had even to share their mounts the Templars progressively obtained protection from powerful secular and ecclesiastical characters of the time including Pope Urban II and Bernard of Clairvaux, which granted them  privileges such as autonomy from the bishops and direct dependence on the Pope. Bernard had given the general regulations that ruled the Temple, with similarities and differences to other monastic Orders of the time.

The Christian kingdoms created in the First Crusade in Palestine were mere islands, isolated or interconnected according to the tide of the times, in the midst of a hostile Muslim ocean which struggled to throw them into the sea. The Templars were involved in the two successive centuries in all the battles of the Crusades, with their triumphs and defeats against incomparably more numerous forces. They became along with sisters and rival Orders of the Hospitallers and Teutons, the backbone of the defense of the Christian territories. Their heroism and selflessness were examples for fighters of all time. Thousands fell in the line of duty, and they gained the respect of the pilgrims under their protection, the envy of allied orders and the fear of the Turks.

Simultaneously with their activities in Palestine the Templars created in the European rearguard a formidable network of facilities and activities of different stamp. They received donations and legacies of its members and of many nobles who admired their work. The Order had about 50 castles scattered throughout Western Europe and approximately 8,000 Commandries and this network resulted in the development of overland trade by allowing errant traders to spend the night in safety within their walls thus avoiding the dangers of the roads at the time, infested with bandits. They also created the rudiments of a banking system and instruments such as an accounting system, checks and letters of exchange giving pilgrims to Santiago de Compostela and Jerusalem the possibility to travel without cash, carrying instead documents issued by the Order; this allowed them to make money deposits in the place of departure and make partial withdrawals along the route. The Templar Knights also created a powerful military and commercial fleet which competed with Venice and Genoa, the maritime powers of those centuries.

The monarchs of different nations had been in debt with the Order for generations, either to finance wars or to maintain their standard of living and that of their courts. One particular debtor was the King of France Philip IV called the Fair (Henri Le Bel), due to the ransom paid by the Templars to the Turks for the liberation of his grandfather Louis IX, caught in the Seventh Crusade.

With the advent of the Sublime Door of the political and military genius of Sultan Saladin the countless factions of Islamic tribes succeeded in uniting under his command; as a consequence the overwhelming numerical majority of Muslims gradually imposed to the courage of the Christian defenders of the kingdoms in the Holy Land. In a defeat in the Battle of Hattin the chivalric orders were decimated. After several losses and conquests, Jerusalem finally passed into the hands of the Turks in 1244. The  Templars and Hospitallers had to retreat to Acre, which seemed an impregnable fortress but nevertheless fell to the Ottomans in 1291.

Several crusades attempted afterwards to recover Jerusalem but the priorities of the European reality had changed and monarchs were no longer interested in reconquering the Holy Land at all costs, so they did not provide human and material support leaving the Templars isolated. Thus ended the great human tragedy of the Crusades, with countless victims in Islamic and Christian populations.

The Knights Templar had then withdrawn into Europe, where they had for centuries accumulated wealth and possessions based as said on legacies and benefits of trade and financial intermediation.

According to secret orders previously issued by King Henry IV, on October 13, 1307 one hundred and forty knights, including most of the leaders but not the Grand Master of the Temple were arrested in Paris, while in the rest of France such orders were carried out in the rest of the Templar strongholds. The Order was beheaded and their possessions confiscated including castles and lands, being this appropriation and the extinction of his debts to the Order the true objectives of the French monarch. They expropriated property, weapons and other assets belonging to the Knights, but never found the treasure in silver and gold royal officials had expected.

In the subsequent processes King Henry backed by his puppet Pope Clement V, managed to condemn the Temple based on a series of absurd accusations of heresy, worship of false gods in the figure of an idol called Baphomet, spitting on the crucifix and acts of sodomy, all allegedly happened during initiation ceremonies.

This was the political context in which our story begins.

Thibaud de Montbard was heading for La Rochelle, stronghold of the Order, with precise instructions: the remaining assets had to be put out of danger immediately, which meant removing them from France by sea from that small town, main Templar port on the Atlantic Ocean and home to a powerful sea fleet at that time. The messenger did not know the preparations being made for that purpose, but the message he was carrying specified that the task had be done without delay. The Templars believed that their fight was spiritual and worshiped courage and honesty but they had no illusions about the nature of man so that the mandate that the rider conveyed his brothers was clear: to safeguard those assets, supposedly a treasure of gold as a prerequisite for the future revival of the Order.

Indeed, according to the few remaining documents of the time, on Thursday, October 12, 1307 there were anchored in the port of La Rochelle twelve Templar ships. At the end of the next day there was none.

––––––––

His legs were already asleep by inaction. Indeed, James Campbell was standing on the cliff from noon, peering the entrance of the narrow creek with the expectation of seeing a sail appearing. In a certain moment he looked down; on a small plateau Sir Colin Stewart and a visitor called Blanchefort were animatedly talking in French, language that the young James could barely understand; James admitted that he should have listened to his father Sir Niall Campbell and have made the effort to learn it and then he might be participating in the talk and learn firsthand the events that would come upon. He made the decision to correct this deficiency in the future as it seemed to be growing ties with the Templar Knights who spoke French, and could not be expected to learn the Gaelic dialect spoken in the Scottish Highlands. His eyes closed due to fatigue despite his efforts to keep them open. He rubbed them vigorously to activate the blood in that area and returned to watch the stretch of sea penetrating into the coastline. What he saw startled him and caused a leap that brought him perilously close to the cliff edge that fell steeply to the sea. A two-masted ship had already passed the eastern tip of the bay and the sails of a second could be envisioned further back.

Sir Colin !, Monsieur de Blanchefort. Shouted James with all his might. Come quickly!

The men looked up and saw the choppy signals that James was performing with his arms and began to climb the cliff.

Nine ships Said Sir Colin in English, so that everyone could understand. Had they not informed you about twelve? The question was addressed to the Frenchman.

Those are the ones that three days ago departed from La Rochelle. I do not know if something happened along the way, or if some ships took a different course. The data is poor, and the decisions of proceeding to sea were taken in the course of the day while loading the vessels, so that it would not surprise me if there have been changes. They may have diverted to Portugal, with which the Order has always had good relations. Sailing from La Rochelle to Portugal's coast by the Bay of Biscay for the most part avoids detection by ships of the French king.

Well, we will have the chance to ask what happened to the ships captains. Now we go where my men are waiting so we can supervise the landing and help move crews and cargo to ground.

––––––––

Robert Bruce, who reigned as Robert I of Scotland, had been excommunicated by Pope Clement V for alleged involvement in the murder of John Comyn in the Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, and was at that moment engaged in a war against the British invaders . Therefore, the way to Scotland was cleared for the Templars, since there did not apply the papal bans. In addition, they assumed that the Scottish king would welcome in the immediate future brave and experienced warriors as the Knights Templar, who indeed would provide him the victory in 1314 on a much larger English army at the Battle of Bannockburn through an unstoppable charge, as  those that before had decimated and driven away the Turks.

James approached the boats that arrived at the shore carrying different kinds of cargo from the ships. They  were transported by crew members, by men of rival clans that Campbell and Stewart had brought for this purpose and other strange characters, dressed in simple robes of ordinary material whose general appearance made James think of monks; however they were muscular men and some of them wore on their faces and arms what appeared to be combat wounds.

Some of the packages allowed the boy to guess

their contents, they were clothing and personal effects of passengers carried by the boats; others were catering supplies, including empty casks that would surely be re-filled and returned to the ships. Behind the series of packages James spotted a row of chests made of hardwood with iron fittings, which were guarded by armed men who prevented him from approaching the chests. The prevailing discipline on the beach and the orderly way in which the download maneuver was carried out called James´ attention. He could not help but relate this fact with the rumors that had reached his ears that the ships belonged to the Knights Templar who had just reputation for order, discipline and silence.

The packages were uploaded onto the shoulders of the laborers from the beach to the top of a ravine where the men of the Scottish clans were waiting to arrange them in bullock carts. As the cars were filled, the alleged monks climbed to them, now brandishing unexpected swords, and undertook the journey to an unknown place in the hinterland. James looked engrossed the organized labor of so many men, unusual show in Scotland at that time even in military events.

––––––––

Don Antonio Fonseca grasped the rope to overcome the effect of the violent pitching of the ship, which had produced him an almost continuous dizziness since they had left Porto twenty days before, only relieved by their short stay in the CaboVerde Islands. The year was 1535, and two months before he had left the monastery of Thoman near Santarem where he had spent the previous fifteen years. Don Antonio missed the orderly and peaceful life of the convent, in particular he missed Don Miguel, his superior and protector . However the mission that had been entrusted to him gave the monk great expectation and anxiety: to transfer boxes belonging to the Order of Christ from their site in Ribeira Grande to Salvador, off the coast of Brazil, a hamlet recently founded to which it had been attributed the rank of capital of the Portuguese colonies in South America.

Don Antonio, according to the Order´s customs, had not asked any questions about the contents and destination of the cargo, but legends, traditions and experience in the institution had convinced him that it was part of the treasure that the Order of Christ had inherited from the Knights Templar some centuries before when the latter disappeared from Portugal and all of Europe. He had a general idea of how the events had developed a few centuries earlier. Two of the ships that departed from La Rochelle had probably gone to Portugal, carrying only monks-warriors and their weapons to join the recently formed Order of the Knights of Christ. Years later, given the good reception that the Kingdom of Portugal had given the Templars, part of the  metal treasure had been transferred to the monastery of Thoman, and another part to a fortress that another fugitive contingent had built up in the Norman Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In both cases the purpose of the transfer was to finance two groups that shared both a common origin and eternal goals.

He sensed that the purpose was safekeeping those assets - whose existence was never formally recognized-because the Commandry that the Order of Christ had in Ribeiro Grande, Cape Verde islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, was no longer safe. Indeed, the archipelago, which for decades had been just one post on the route of the slaves taken to America, was now also used by English, French and Dutch pirates and corsairs due to its strategic location precisely on the road from America to the Iberian peninsula. The fear was that during their stay they would devote to the plundering of the Portuguese establishments including the Commandry.

When Pope Clement V disbanded the Knights Templar in 1314, the various kingdoms were quick to pursue the members residing in their territories and confiscate their property except King Diniz of Portugal, who without disobeying the Papal Bull took the matter with parsimony. Indeed, the Knights Templar had played a leading role in the liberation of Portugal from the Muslims and enjoyed high prestige among the population. Eventually, the king created in 1323 the Militia Christi Frates, or Order of the Knights of Christ, which incorporated immediately en bloc the Portuguese Templars and their property, as well as fugitive Templars from all  Europe, especially France. They settled first in Castro Marino and in 1357 in Thoman. The Rules of the new Order were however different from the those of the Temple, as the purpose was to replace the legal and financial autonomy that they had enjoyed -and were seen as a threat by European monarchs- by the strict subordination of the monks to the king´s secular power. Indeed, the Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator was eventually appointed as Grand Master of the new Order.

With the travel and colonization enterprises conducted by Enrique in Africa, the Order acquired a new role consistent with its fundamental mission: to bring Christianity to the Islamic parts of Africa, through war and evangelization. Many Commandries were opened in the African Atlantic