At Sword's Point by Katherine Kurtz & Scott MacMillan

Author:Katherine Kurtz & Scott MacMillan [Katherine Kurtz]
Language: eng
Format: epub

Chapter 13

The prince extended his hand and Drummond shook it, bowing awkwardly as he did.

"Your Highness," he said, and then straightened up to look him full in the face. "Just what the hell's going on here?"

"I suppose there are a hundred answers I could give you, Chevalier Drummond, but I hope you'll settle for just one: the truth." The prince closed the file folder in front of him and gestured for Drummond to sit. "All of the guests here at the castle are representatives of the various orders of chivalry that have pledged to restore the Kingdom of Jerusalem."

"The Kingdom of Jerusalem?" Drummond asked, easing into a chair that von Liebenfalz moved closer for him. "I'm sorry, Your Highness, but I don't quite follow."

"The Kingdom of Jerusalem was founded at the time of the First Crusade and existed until 1244, when Jerusalem fell to the Moslems. As Prince of Antioch, I represent the royal family of that kingdom—a kingdom we have tried to win back for the Christian world since the Moslems first desecrated our holy shrines in the thirteenth century.

"We would have recovered our rightful lands and throne six hundred and fifty years ago, if the king of France hadn't succeeded in destroying the Knights Templar," he went on. "The Templars had built an enormous fleet and had raised enough money to finance a century-long crusade. When the French king heard of our plans, he met with us in secret and demanded to be named King of Jerusalem and Emperor of the East. The council of knights turned him down, and in turn he set about ruining our plans by destroying the power and wealth of the Templars. You do know about the Templars?"

"I was in DeMolay in high school," Drummond said uncertainly.

"Ah, then you know at least a little of what I'm about to tell you. The Templars were suppressed and destroyed. During the next four hundred years, our fortunes rose and fell with the politics of Europe. After the expulsion of the Moslems from Spain at the end of the fifteenth century, we had looked to that country to help us regain the Holy Land. Instead, the greatest power in the world went into decadent decline, living off the wealth of its colonies in the New World.

"In the eighteenth century, we had hoped to prosper by supporting the house of Stuart in its bid to regain the throne of Scotland and England. Even the defeat of Prince Charles didn't dim our hopes; but when he turned down the crown of America offered to him by Benjamin Franklin in 1781, we knew those hopes were gone for good."

Drummond frowned at that, for he had never heard anything about an American crown, but he decided this was not the time to interrupt the prince.

"We have been meeting and planning—or, if you prefer, conspiring—since the time of the French Revolution," the prince continued. "We helped bring Napoleon to power in exchange for his promise to mount a crusade to regain the Holy Land.

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