by D. N. Carter
Paul and Alisha looked on as Sister Lucy shrugged her shoulders at her as they passed by, Stephanie’s eye catching Paul’s. Alisha saw this too and nudged him hard.
When the Templars returned to their positions, Alisha watched Stephanie help Sister Lucy up into her large caravan.
“That woman has an eye for you?” she said quietly to Paul as he looked at them. “Paul!”
“What? Sorry…what did you say?”
“Never mind,” Alisha sighed, shaking her head, and turned to walk back to their caravan as Arri stretched out his little hand. Paul quickly grasped it and kissed his fingers as he looked at Alisha.
“Ali…there is and only ever will be one woman on this earth who has my heart…,” he said as he leaned across and kissed her gently on the lips. He smiled.
“Hmmm! I still say that woman has an eye for you,” she replied and started to walk. Paul put his arm around her.
Theodoric stood next to Tenno and looked him up and down as he folded his arms. Tenno looked down at him hard.
“So you admit I have travelled further than you at least?” Tenno stated.
“Perhaps to foreign lands, perhaps not in actual distance travelled. Who knows? Does it matter?” Theodoric answered and nudged Tenno’s elbow. Tenno looked at his elbow then Theodoric dismissively almost.
“It matters. You boast often about your travels, your swords and your skill at archery…but I have yet to see any proof,” Tenno responded, his tone clipped.
“Do you ever lighten up or smile, man? Heavens above…we shall have plenty of time during this journey to compete if thou’st wish it so,” Theodoric said loudly as he patted Tenno on the arm hard and quickly hurried off after Paul and Alisha.
“Indeed we shall…,” Tenno whispered to himself.
Paul helped Alisha up into their caravan as she held onto Arri tightly.
“I shall feed him now and see if I can settle him down before we start moving off,” Alisha said as she stepped inside and faced Paul.
“Ali…you do know I love you don’t you?”
“Of course I do. Well, you better had,” she replied smiling at him. “And we both need you.”
Paul leaned in nearer, looked at Arri as he sucked his hand then at Alisha. She still looked so very young but here she was, a mother with a baby. Paul felt incredibly proud of them.
“You will always have me,” Paul remarked and kissed Alisha.
“Good. Now no running off to Princess whatever her name is,” she joked.
“No you most definitely must not,” Theodoric said as he walked into view and slapped Paul on the back.
“He won’t,” Alisha smiled.
“He better not. That is one woman you do not want to get tangled up with. Don’t get me wrong…she is beautiful and smart, but she has a habit of turning people’s lives upside down,” Theodoric explained.
“You know this woman well?” Alisha asked.
“Aye…that I do. But that is a story for a late evening.”
“Can we trust her?” Alisha asked quizzically.
“You can. She is without doubt one of the most honourable people I know. ’Tis but a pity the men in her court and life are not cut from the same cloth!”
“So am I correct in understanding that her father was in fact the Grand Master of the Templars but resigned?” Paul commented.
“Yes…but I am afraid that is an even longer tale to explain. But, as I have said, we shall have much time on this journey to discuss such matters. Now come, we must ready ourselves. Where is Taqi?” Theodoric said as he looked around at the many horses and knights forming up.
“I see him. I shall fetch him,” Paul replied as he saw Taqi some distance away stood alone with their spare horse next to a solitary tree at the very edge of the track that overlooked the steep cliff facing down towards the sea.
Quickly Paul ran over towards him. His head was down and his eyes covered by his right hand as he held the reins of the horse in his left hand. Paul slowed to a walk as he approached quietly. Taqi was sniffing. Quickly he wiped his eyes and stood up straight and coughed as soon as he sensed Paul was behind him. Paul moved to stand beside him but Taqi turned his gaze away to his left. Paul could see that he had been crying. He placed his hand upon his shoulder.
“Taqi, my friend…what is the matter?”
Taqi stood in silence as he fought to compose himself. As a Templar shouted out orders from the front of the forming column, only then did Taqi face Paul.
“Sorry. I was simply remembering my father that is all. Only now as we are about to journey on has it fully hit me…that I shall never again see his face…be able to talk and laugh with him,” Taqi explained, visibly upset as more tears welled in his eyes.
Paul looked at him and shrugged his shoulders and sighed.
“My friend…words fail me…but we are all here for you,” Paul commented as sympathetically as he could.
“I…I shall be fine. But this hole I feel in my heart has suddenly opened this day. Ali says she still feels his presence always…but I do not,” Taqi replied sadly.
Several Hospitallers on horseback moved past them to take up positions as the rear guard of the column.
“My father once told me that it is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons and that part never dies even when the flesh has passed away,” Paul said quietly.
“But no one ever told me how fearful the loss of your father could feel. I hide my tears from Ali so she does not fear also.”
“Tears have a wisdom all their own. They come when a person starts to let go and to work through their sorrow. They are the natural bleeding of an emotional wound, carrying the poison of bitter sorrow out of the system…only then can the road to recovery begin. That is what my father told me…”
“Paul, you speak wise words of counsel but I am afraid this deep wounding grief cannot be shared or cried away. Everyone carries it alone, his own burden, his own way…and so must I.”
“Taqi, I know for certain that we never lose the people we love, even to death. They continue to participate in every act, thought and decision we make. Your father’s love has left an indelible imprint in all our memories. I hope that you will take some small measure of comfort in knowing that our lives have been enriched by having shared that love. My father often told Stewart and me that of course we all die. The secret is not to live forever, but to create something that will. Your father has most certainly done that as well as given you the greatest gift anyone could give you,” Paul commented and paused until Taqi looked at him, puzzled. “He believed in you.”
“Paul…,” Taqi began but then stopped as he looked to the floor as he struggled to contain his sadness. He coughed and blinked several times. Paul looked back as the column began to slowly move off at the front. Taqi glanced over quickly. He opened a satchel strapped on the horse and took out a small linen cloth and handed it to Paul. “Here…I have been working upon this since last year. It has a symbol of both your family and mine that I have embroidered. Huh, I must have known eh? That is what I told Ali when I gave her a similar one. But I have also completed a symbol my father asked to place on it when he first discovered Alisha was with child… here look,” Taqi explained and unfolded the linen cloth that depicted a joint family symbol, though Paul did not understand how it represented their families as it also had an image of the skull and crossbones he was familiar with but also another depicting two sets of branches sprouting from a tree forming wings and large roots. “My father said I must tell you one day, and now seems probably the most appropriate time to say it, that the most important thing a father can do for his children…is to simply love their mother. And that he bequests just two things to you and Alisha…the first one being the roots of our families, to keep you firmly grounded…the second one being wings with which to soar with the freedom in your hearts. See, a winged tree!” Taqi explained as he rubbed his fingers over the winged tree image.
Paul held the cloth an
d shook his head, deeply touched by his gesture.
“Come on, boys!” Theodoric shouted as he leaned round from the front of the caravan towards them as the remainder of the column started to move.
Paul patted Taqi, thanking him, and rushed towards the caravan as it began to roll. Taqi mounted his horse and pulled it around and began to move alongside as Paul jumped up to sit with Theodoric and Tenno. Paul nodded at Taqi once more in appreciation as Taqi feigned back a brave smile.
Port of La Rochelle, France, Melissae Inn, spring 1191
“The poor young man. Feeling all that pain and grief but trying so hard to conceal it. What a kind soul he is,” Ayleth remarked as she pondered what had been explained.
“I am liking this Taqi very much the more I learn of him,” Gabirol commented as he finished off a line of writing.
“Me too…considering he is a Muslim,” Simon remarked, which immediately drew some strained looks from around the table.
“It has been my experience to learn that there are good and bad men, both Christian and Muslim alike!” the Hospitaller shot back.
“I did not mean it as an insult,” Simone replied apologetically.
“No…no one ever does until it is too late,” the Hospitaller retorted, shaking his head dismissively.
“You have previously mentioned about the skull and crossbones…but can you explain why Taqi would sew such an image of death upon a linen gift. I do not understand this,” Gabirol asked, puzzled.
The old man leaned forwards and thought for a few silent moments before answering.
“I think I told Simon that I would explain more about the skull and crossbones symbol later, so I see no reason why I should not do so now,” the old man began as Simon smiled broadly. “Some of you may already know that it is the symbol flown upon many Templar vessels. It was also a symbol that the Christian Jesuits were inaugurated on…but it does indeed have deeper mysteries connected to it. Let me explain for it is not a symbol for death, but an extremely ancient one that profoundly symbolised life,” he paused, then continued.
Fig 21:
“Templars have been accused on several occasions of piracy and henceforth we have tales of piracy on the high seas. I think it was you who pointed out that in time you feared the symbol would come to mean something else,” the old man stated as he looked directly at the Genoese sailor, who simply nodded yes in response. “But how many of you here have actually asked why the Templars use it?” All looked at the Templar as he sat up and shook his head. “I can reveal that they obtained, more correctly inherited, the symbol from an earlier tradition. It begins with a strange tale that is told to most, though not all, Templars. And this tale involves the number nine, a mother earth image and a skull. You may recall I have explained about the tall white haired man, named Kratos by the way, and his connection to Mother Earth symbols and the ones that both Alisha and Abi wear, yes?”
The old man waited as the group looked at each other and nodded, only Ayleth looking puzzled. The old man smiled at her. “Let me detail the tale briefly for it speaks of a great lady, the Lady of Maraclea, who was loved by a Templar, a Lord of Sidon; but she died in her youth, and on the night of her burial, this wicked lover crept to the grave, dug up her body and violated it. Some claim it was actually Gerard Grenier, who was the eldest son of Eustace Grenier and Emelota. He succeeded his father as Lord of Sidon. His mother Emelota remarried Hugh the Second of Le Puiset, a cousin of Queen Melisende, whose relationship with the queen was suspected of being too familiar.” The old man coughed. “For reasons unknown, Gerard disputed a fief with one of his vassals and tried to repossess it, but Amalric the First of Jerusalem intervened to reverse the situation in the vassal’s favour. Consequently Gerard often played the pirate at sea and led several raiding expeditions against both Muslim and Christian fleets whilst flying the skull and crossbones. After the Lord of Sidon had committed the gross act upon the deceased female, a voice from the void bade him return in nine months’ time for he would find a son. He obeyed the injunction and at the appointed time he opened the grave again and found a head on the leg bones of the skeleton, the very image of the skull and crossbones.”
“That is truly disgusting of him. Sick evil man!” Ayleth remarked, shocked.
“Well, the same voice bade him ‘guard it well, for it would be the giver of all good things’, and so he carried it away with him. It became his protecting genius, and he was able to defeat his enemies by merely showing them the magic head. In due course, it passed to the possession of the Order. It is more believable however that this Lord of Sidon actually ritualistically married the corpse to secure his position and in keeping with other rituals. Plus it was said that despite his brilliance and intelligence, he was unbelievably ugly,” the old man explained.
“I think I shall go with that version,” Ayleth smiled as the Genoese sailor nodded in agreement.
“As you can see, such stories are naturally seen as macabre and the ‘hidden message’ therefore evades us, which is the idea for what is really being conveyed, the importance of the union or balance, which creates a state of enlightenment as spoken of by all of our Gnostics, alchemists and mystics. As a Titular metropolis of Pamphylia Prima, Sidon dates as far back as pre Babylonian times. In the tenth century BC Sidon had its own coinage that bore the head of Athena, also Minerva, a serpentine, feminine deity linked with healing. Athena was the patroness of the city even though its people were sometimes termed ‘a piratical horde’ and Constantine Porphyrogenitus called Sidon a ‘nest of pirates’. Alexander the Great garrisoned here for a while, and temporarily subdued this piratical element for his own purposes. Under his successors Sidon became known as the ‘holy city of Phoenicia’.”
9 – 22
“Ha, them Phoenicians again,” Simon interrupted loudly.
“Yes, Simon. During that period the inhabitants enjoyed relative freedom, with games and competitions attracting people from far and wide. It was in AD 1111 that the Crusader Baldwin, who later became King Baldwin of Jerusalem, besieged the city and it became one of the four baronies of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. It was a very commercial, and in fact, warlike city, with a powerful navy, something the Templars looked up to and eventually emulated. From early on, Sidon was a rendezvous for pirates, and even the slave trade. So you can understand why Sidon was often referred to as a nest of pirates. So was this Lord of Sidon mentioned in the Templar story really a pirate or one and the same? Both had huge fleets and the leaders of Sidon were linked with the Templars and would have seen the Templars’ banking system as highly important. But it was not gold the hidden message in the tale is referring to for if Sidon had a hidden message in the text then it was simply that the Lord of Sidon was to get the Grail from the Lady of Maraclea, as intimated in the story, which reveals rather symbolically, the means through which he could claim it.”
“Sorry…you have lost me. Who is this Marcela again?” Peter asked.
“Maraclea you mean? This is a peculiar location name. But it has a symbolic meaning, a name with a hidden message in the language for why else would she be from Maraclea and not Antioch or Acre? Maraclea means ‘clear waters’ or ‘sea’. But the Templars had used the term using their standard etymological practice of breaking the word up into two parts, Mara and Clea. Taking the first part you will learn that there are some remarkable ‘coincidences’.”
“Huh…’tis but all new to me to hear these details,” the Templar remarked quizzically and frowned.
“As you know, much of the esoteric knowledge is only imparted to those of the inner circle. But I assure you what I explain is as taught to them,” the old man replied and waited for the Templar to say more. The Templar thought for a while then shook his head as Miriam held his hand. “Let me explain…Mara in Hebrew means, ‘bitter’ and was a common alternative for Mary, whether the mother of Jesus or the Magdalene. In Latin it equates to mare, which is ‘water’, ‘lake’, ‘sea’ and indeed linked to ‘horse’, a female horse. I
n Anglo Saxon the term mara meant ‘greater’ or ‘more’. In Buddhism Mara is ‘death’ or ‘evil one’. So there is a duality here!”
“Just like the duality of the twin riders on a horse for the Templars,” the farrier exclaimed excitedly, pleased with himself for understanding it.
The Knight Templar looked at him and nodded in agreement but still puzzled himself. The old man smiled at the farrier’s obvious excitement and continued.
“Mara is said to tempt us like Eve did in the Bible and indeed it was Mara who tempted Buddha on the night before his enlightenment experience. In the Garden of Eden it was the serpent who supplied the fruit of the tree of knowledge to Eve and therefore he was supplying enlightenment just like Buddha and Eve as Havveh is equated with a female serpent. The Buddhist Mara was also closely related to Rama, where ma equates to black or dark, a term associated with beauty and a term also meaning ‘Great Mother’. It can also mean ‘shining’. The second part of the word, clea, is a bit obvious really.”
“Not to me it isn’t,” Simon joked.
“Nothing is easy for you,” Sarah instantly shot back shaking her head again.
“Simon…’tis perfectly obvious really. Clea means ‘clear’ as well as simply ‘to clean’, ‘to clear’, ‘to be clear’, ‘to be pure’, ‘to be bright’ or ‘to shine’! Now the Lady of Maraclea was thought to have come from Armenia. Rife in Armenia at the time was what is known as Paulician Christianity, a version of Christianity that most of you here present would not recognise as Christianity as we understand it. The theology behind it led to what we know as the Bogomils, who have been linked to, and are even called the same as the infamous Cathars, or ‘Perfect Ones’, or ‘Shining Ones’ or ‘Pure Ones’. Most inner circle Templars know the word clea to mean ‘pure’.”
“I must be as stupid as Simon…no offence Simon, for I still do not see how this explains or unlocks the secret to what the skull and crossbones means. I thought it all stood for the large skulls you mentioned previously,” Gabirol asked.