Temple Sword

Chapter 17 Taxes at White Castle
The sound of horseshoes kept ringing, but they did not get close to Antares and Umberto after a long time.Far away behind them, at least a dozen horseshoes were tapping the ground lightly, and there was a light sound.For more than two days, they listened and waited to see if a rider would catch them, but the sound just followed them.

Antal grew increasingly annoyed with these invisible stalkers, as he and Umberto had been riding along winding forest roads, never getting a chance to see them, and Umberto wouldn't let him turn back. Find out.

"Maybe it's better not to know who they are," he reassured the boy. "Maybe they didn't follow us on purpose."

"That's why I want to go and see, Umberto!" Antar said stubbornly, "I've had enough of maybes, I want to find out!"

"No," Umberto's voice hardened, and since they set off from William's estate, he's been much harsher on Antares than before, as if he's trying to replace William's role, "you can't get anywhere Go, if anything happens to you, your uncle will cut off my head!"

"We shouldn't be arguing about this," Antar said to himself. "I shouldn't have said a word, and you won't listen to my reasons anyway."

"Remember how you got here," Umberto reminded him. "Templars can't do what they want. You should know that. I thought you'd learned from your mistakes."

"Every moment I'm with you, I'm being punished for what I did before."

A long staff appeared out of nowhere in Umberto's hands. He rode close to Sareche, and then used this flexible wooden staff to strike Antar's back heavily.

The boy let out a cry of pain. Even through the thick cloak, the blow was quite painful, but the Italian didn't stop there. He hit Antar's back four more times, and the last one hit the horse. On his son's ass, Sarecher jumped up in fright and rushed forward.

"You will regret it!" Antal yelled after finally reining in the horse, "I will make you pay back three times!" This made Umberto laugh until tears flowed out.

"From now on we'll call this the Wailing Stick." He held it up high, "and as soon as we get home I'll hand him over to William and tell him what an effective tool it is. "

"It doesn't work at all!" the boy protested.

"Really?" Umberto raised his eyebrows, still trembling with laughter, "You were always behind me and kept looking back, but now thanks to this Wailing Stick, you are riding in front of me!"

Antal shook his head helplessly, "I can't believe it! You started beating me before I left home. We were still friends in Dubica, remember?"

"We're still friends," said Umberto, "but the Wailing Stick is our new friend, and its job is to keep you in line, and I'm not kidding, Antal, you'd better be in line, or you'll be There are stick marks all over the body!"

They continued to ride, howling and laughing, while the unknown sound of hooves behind them accompanied them.

At night, Antar took the stick, broke it in half, and plunged it into the flickering flames.He thought that the matter of the Wailing Stick was over, and went to sleep contentedly.The next morning, however, he was woken up by Umberto's slap on the thigh with a stick.

"For God's sake!" the boy jumped up angrily, "You're only a servant, you can't do anything to me!"

"I am your master's servant," said Umberto, holding up the newly picked stick, "and your master has entrusted me to watch over you, to keep you in order, to eat your breakfast quickly, and to take care of things, and we can On the road!"
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Antal squatted behind a bush with tears in his eyes, not because of the hard work he had to do, but because he was dissatisfied with Umberto's new attitude and way of treating him.He had to find a way, and he couldn't continue like this.

In Dubica, his uncle raised him to be an extremely agile fighter, and the next time Umberto approached him, Antal would grab the stick when the singer made a shot and firmly tell him not to use it again. The stick hit him, and all he had to do was keep his eyes open and watch his back all the time.

"Did you hear that?" asked Umberto, who had been on the road for at least an hour.

"Hear what?"

"Just listen carefully!"

Antal frowned and listened to the surrounding voices. "I can't hear anything."

"It's fine if you can't hear us. Look, no one is following us anymore. You don't have to worry about it. What's the point of finding out who they are? They may not be following us."

"or……"

"Or what?"

Antal didn't answer, just stretched out his right hand and pointed forward, and saw three men waiting in a small clearing for them to walk out of the woods along the winding path.They were all on horseback, blocking the way.

Antal recognized them at once: the same three bad-faced rascals who had mocked him in Seksard a few days earlier.

"Look, this is really the will of the Lord!" Before the three of them could speak, Antar said first.Umberto watched the scene with a frown, unable to understand the meaning of the boy's words.

"It's you?" Their cloaked leader raised his eyebrows, "I didn't expect that the person we've been following for so long is actually you, this is indeed a surprise."

"You'd better stand aside and let us pass." Antal said in a calm voice.He remembered the vow he had made earlier, and while his stomach was still quivering, he refused to flinch again.

"We'd be happy to let you go," the man with the scar on his face nodded, "but you have to pay your taxes first!"

"Tax? What tax?" asked Umberto.

"Immigration tax, after paying the money, you can continue to the Sekeshbai Castle."

"This is just an ordinary meadow," Antal shook his head and replied, "We never said we were going to White Castle."

"It's our master's way," objected the moerskin man, "you'll have to pay wherever you go."

"Who is your master? Some forest animal?"

"Shut up, brat!"

"What if we don't have money?"

"Then you have to obediently turn around and go home."

Umberto suddenly reached for the money bag on his belt and untied it, "How much do you need..."

"Quiet, servant!" Antal yelled at him, and raised his hand threateningly, as if to vent all the grievances he had suffered before.

"What did you say?" Umberto lost his breath in shock.

"This is my money. When I tell you to pay, you pay again!"

Antal turned around, turned his back to the three people blocking the way, and then leaned against Umberto.

"I need you to cooperate with me," he whispered as best he could, giving the singer a look, "and back with the horses to the damaged oak we passed, while I talk to them , pick another broken branch from the ground, pick the biggest one!"

"Are you crazy?" Umberto whispered, eyes downcast, and from a distance, he seemed to be begging his master's forgiveness. "What exactly are you trying to do?"

"Just do as I say, let me call the shots!"

He turned to the three men again, lifting his chin slightly as he did in the city.

"I am Antar Barto," he announced majesticly, staring at the three people blocking the way, "the lord of the southern province of Seni, heir to the Grand Master of the Knights Templar, and cousin of Jacques de Molay My legitimate son. My servant once served the Anjou family in Naples, and now he serves by my side, don't mess with the wrong person, step aside!"

The three people in front of Antal were stunned for a while, they looked at each other, and then looked at the boy again.

"Lie!" The man without a sword shouted, "If you are the nephew of the Grand Master of the Knights, why don't you take your guards with you?"

"Trust me, you won't want to know the answer," the boy raised half an eyebrow, and slowly slid his left hand onto the hilt of his sword. "One Templar can fight five ordinary soldiers. I counted, and there are only three of you, and you don't look like real soldiers at all."

"You little lying slug!" The scarred man drew his battered sword.

"You god-sent ghoul!" Antal roared at him, and his brain was instantly filled with boiling blood.He turned his horse's head and galloped into the woods, heading for the oak tree.Umberto did as he was told, and he was waiting for him with a long, thick branch in his hand.

"What do you want to do with it?" Umberto asked as Antal snatched the branch from him, but the boy had already turned his horse and charged forward.

"Drive!" Antar yelled, grabbing the branch with all his strength and clenching his teeth.Pushing it straight forward, tucking the end under his arm, he murmured in Arabic as Sarecher lowered his head and rushed out of the woods unstoppably.

The boy knew that the first thing he had to do was to dismount the leader wearing the cloak, leaving the two without any armor protection. He was sure that if he could use enough strength to complete this sprint, and Hit that man, and the other two shouldn't cause him too much trouble.

The three of them saw the huge black horse coming straight towards them, and they immediately wanted to disperse, but the man in the middle didn't have time to dodge. Just when he kicked his spurs and was about to activate, the branch spear slammed into his back with terrifying force. on the chest.The leader of the highway thieves was directly poked off the horse, and he fell heavily on the ground, coughing up blood from his mouth, panting heavily, and probably had several broken bones.

Antal threw the thick branch directly at the man, who groaned in pain, but couldn't move the wood away from him with enough strength.The makeshift lance wiped Antal's palms bloody, but he took out the biggest threat with this dash.

"Who else dares to challenge the blood relatives of Master Morai?" he asked.

The man with the scar on his face charged towards him on horseback after a roar, Antar drew out his sword, and cut open the man's thigh with a quick horizontal cut before the man's weapon fell down. .With a scream, he fell off the saddle, clutching his legs tightly.

Antal didn't notice that the third person had dismounted from his horse and was still approaching him. He saw a long spear stabbing directly at his face. He narrowly avoided the blow, but the other person's body Still holding a tomahawk in one hand, Antar didn't quite have time to parry the second blow, and the edge of the ax cut a gash under his left shoulder.

With a yell, he yanked his leg out of the stirrup, dodging another blow, and kicked the man to the ground with a slash of his leg.

Antar also got off his horse, he hadn't finished the battle yet, and this last enemy didn't mean to give up.With an ax in his right hand and a spear in his left, he attacked Antar, but he did not know that Antar was much quicker than he, even when wounded.Judging from the way he shot, the man didn't know any offensive posture: he ran towards Antal with his weapon held high above his head, without protecting his body at all.

While swinging his sword at the man's abdomen, Antal turned forward to avoid the attack, and then drew a diagonal line on his back with his sword.The boy stepped on his back knee and made him kneel.

The whole small grass fell silent for an instant, Antal gasped and looked at these bloody enemies, he walked to the side of the man with the scarred face covering his thigh that had been cut to expose the bones.

"It's for the Knights Templar," he spat on the man's chest, "for the rest of my life, don't forget it!"

Only then did Umberto emerge from the woods, looking anxiously at Antal's bleeding arm, but the boy took his hand away contemptuously.

"It's all right," Antar said, nodding, wiping his sword on his corduroy trousers, and sheathing it. "I will not take your lives," he said to the leader who was still lying on the ground, coughing helplessly, "you may not die, if it is God's will...but while you are recuperating, take good care of yourself." Think about it, who in this world will pray for you?"
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—

By the next morning, Antal's wound was badly infected, and although Umberto washed the wound with brandy and made herbal ointments, the boy's wounds did not find any relief.

The singer felt that the surrounding rotting flesh should be burned with a torch, but Antal disagreed, and his cowardice was rewarded: the boy was drenched in cold sweat and shivered all night.Even if he falls asleep briefly, he is often woken up by nightmares.

Umberto made another bandage for his arm, and then over the camp fire prepared a fever-reducing decoction of willow bark and mignonette, which he drank all the time.In the morning he concocted another potion of linden and elderflower, but the boy's fever persisted.

"It's getting worse," Umberto said on the third night, while they were still in the forest. "I'm afraid I can't cure it."

"Will I...will...die?" the boy asked tremblingly.

"No, of course not!" Umberto forced a carefree smile. "what are you talking about?"

"They'll... cut it off... won't they?"

Thinking of this, Umberto's heart sank.

"I don't know, Antal," he wiped the boy's forehead, "we're half way to White Castle, and we'll be there in two days. We'll find a priest there to help us, you Can you hold on?"

Antar gritted his teeth and nodded repeatedly.

"That's good, go to bed now! We'll start at dawn, and we'll be there in two days."

Antal's condition worsened again the next morning, and it wasn't long before he was unable to ride a horse.He lay on the black horse and put his arm around its neck, while Sarecher walked cautiously forward, as if fearing that his master would fall off it.

On the fourth day after the injury, Antar dreamed of his mother, a black figure without a face beat her to death again and again, the woman looked at Antar motionless, he screamed and cried, but But nothing can be done.He watched this scene many times, and his heart became more and more painful.

"Wake up!" Umberto patted his face gently.

"What happened?"

"You weep in your sleep, master." It was the first time the singer called the boy, who worried about him and kept vigil for him, praying for his life. "You're calling for your mother."

"I... I had a very, very bad dream..."

"You should burn the wound," suggested Umberto, biting his lip.

Antal got up and grabbed Umberto's clothes weakly, "No, no, no!" The boy said in horror, "Don't use fire, anything but fire will do!"

"It's too late, the wound is infected, I don't know what to do..."

"There is only one day left before White Castle," the boy lay down again, "I can hold on."

Umberto just shook his head, he gave Antar a drink of water, carefully cleaned and bandaged the wound, and then returned to his straw mattress, unable to close his eyes, began another prayer.

Antal soon fell asleep. In his dream, an angel appeared in front of him with a sword by his side and a burning red mark on his chest.He dispelled the darkness, punished his mother's murderer, and brought him to safety.

"Do you think I'll be such a tall and strong warrior someday?" the boy asked hopefully.

"Of course you can, if you want," replied the angel, "and it won't be long."

"It won't be long..." Antal repeated.

These words soothed him, and he finally fell asleep peacefully.There is nothing in this deep dream, no sound, no smell, no taste, no picture, only endless and peaceful blackness.

Then, a tiny light source appeared in the distance, and the boy looked at it curiously as it slowly approached him.

(End of this chapter)