Berry, Steve - Cotton Malone 01 - The Templar Legacy by Berry Steve

Author:Berry, Steve [Berry, Steve]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: General, Fiction, Thrillers, Suspense
ISBN: 0345495128
Amazon: B000FCKPF8
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 2006-02-21T06:00:00+00:00

“I stayed in that bed for three weeks,” Mark said. “After, my movements were restricted to certain parts of the abbey, but the master and I spoke often. Finally, I agreed to stay on and took the oath.”

“Why would you do such a thing?” Stephanie asked.

“Let’s be realistic, Mother. You and I had not spoken in years. Dad was gone. The master was right. I was at a dead end. Dad searched for the Templar treasure, their archives, and for the Templars themselves. One-third of what he’d been looking for had just found me. I wanted to stay.”

To calm her growing agitation, Stephanie allowed her attention to stray to the younger man standing behind Mark. An aureole of freshness hovered about him, but she also registered interest, as if he were hearing things for the first time. “Your name is Geoffrey?” she asked, recalling what Mark had called him earlier.

He nodded.

“You didn’t know I was Mark’s mother?”

“I know little of other brothers. It is Rule. No brother speaks of himself to another. We’re of the brotherhood. From where we came is immaterial to who we are now.”

“Sounds impersonal.”

“I consider it illuminating.”

“Geoffrey sent you a package,” Mark said. “Dad’s journal. Did you receive it?”

“That’s why I’m here.”

“I had it with me the day of the avalanche. The master kept it once I became a brother. I discovered it gone after he died.”

“Your master is dead?” Malone asked.

“We have a new leader,” Mark said. “But he’s a demon.”

Malone described the man who’d confronted him and Stephanie in the Roskilde cathedral.

“That’s Raymond de Roquefort,” Mark said. “How do you know him?”

“We’re old friends,” Malone said, telling them some of what had just happened in Avignon.

“Claridon is surely de Roquefort’s prisoner,” Mark said. “God help Royce.”

“He was terrified of the Templars,” Malone said.

“With that one, he has good reason.”

“You still haven’t said why you stayed at the abbey for the past five years,” Stephanie said.

“What I sought was there. The master became a father to me. He was a kind, gentle man, full of compassion.”

She caught the message. “Unlike me?”

“Now is not the time for this discussion.”

“And when would be a good time? I thought you were dead, Mark. But you were secluded in an abbey, commingling with Templars—”

“Your son was our seneschal,” Geoffrey said. “He and the master ruled us well. He was a blessing to our Order.”

“He was second in charge?” Malone asked. “How’d you rise so fast?”

“The seneschal is chosen by the master. He alone determines who is qualified,” Geoffrey said. “And he chose well.”

Malone smiled. “You have a devoted associate.”

“Geoffrey is a wealth of information, though none of us is going to learn a thing from him until he’s ready to tell us.”

“Care to explain that one?” Malone asked.

Mark spoke, telling them what had happened over the past forty-eight hours. Stephanie listened with a mixture of fascination and anger. Her son talked of the brotherhood with reverence.

“The Templars,” Mark said, “rose from an obscure band of nine knights, supposedly protecting

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