Temple Sword

Chapter 175 The First Friend
Antal Barto, chief knight of the court of Charles Anjou, is now thirty-five years old and a mature man.

As a young man he trained the king himself, won him battle and siege after battle, bled with him at Rozgne, and then helped him conquer the highlands years later.

Antal considered himself a loyal knight, and he didn't see what else he had to prove.Isn't he doing enough?What more could the king ask of him?
"Tell me, did you recognize your old friend Laszlo among the entourage of Muladen Subis?" the king then asked, his eyes still fixed on the scenery outside, and in the blink of an eye Antal's The heart sank directly.

"He joined us with those Dalmatian hooligans more than a month ago. If I recognize him, you must recognize him too. Answer me! Is that so?"

How could Antal not recognize Laszlo?He had recognized his misguided old friend from the moment he left Knin, with whom he had grown up on Uncle William's estate, became his squire, and then godfather to his son.

Laszlo has changed a lot since they last met, his unkempt hair, untrimmed beard, tattered clothes, and repulsive appearance are all things of the past.

Laszlo behind Muladen was an elegant and wealthy man, well armed and well-groomed, the kind of petty nobleman that anyone would welcome in company.

Antal couldn't imagine how Laszlo suddenly became another person, and he didn't know what kind of fate brought him to the court of the Governor of Croatia. As Muraden was placed under house arrest by Charlie, Laszlo also fell into a trap. Worst situation ever.

Antal at first stalked him cautiously and suspiciously, watching his stubborn old friend march toward his doom without a fight.

Later he felt that if he didn't stare at Laszlo, if he didn't pay attention to him, if he didn't talk to him, maybe no one would know his real identity.

So Antal pretended that Laszlo was just another Croatian entourage among strangers, and treated him with indifference, hoping that the people at the court of Timisoara would not recognize him, after all he had changed a lot during this time.

But when Charlie, who was standing by the window, asked him this question, Antar found it all futile.The king had seen through the tricks he had been playing for months, and no matter how much he denied it, it would be an obvious lie.

"Yes, Your Majesty," the knight lowered his head slightly, "I recognized him."

"Antal, this man is a murderer and a fugitive," the king turned around with a stern face, "by God, the law should give him a just punishment, and according to the law of God and man, he must die. "

At this moment, the former Templar suddenly realized what a cruel test Charlie had designed for him.

"You can't ask me to do this!" In desperation, Antar yelled angrily, "What can you prove by killing your own friends? No matter what kind of hellish mission it is, there is no such damned test!"

"You're wrong," Charlie said calmly, "only those who obey the law unselfishly and who are strict with themselves are worthy of the most important tasks.

Such a person cannot be blinded by his feelings, and does not choose between friends and relatives, because he has only his own duty in his eyes, and he will always perform the right task for the good and cause of the kingdom. "

"Your Majesty, I beg you," Antal tried to persuade him, "Laszlo is like my brother..."

"A poor boy, your uncle raised him from the dregs, and I stupidly made him a knight!" The king raised his voice, "You have nothing to do with him, he just served you for a while." It was only time. But then he betrayed me, betrayed you, and betrayed all that knightly status means.

Now he's just a murderer, and without even coming out to justify his horrific actions, he got away!Isn't that the most despicable of vices? "

"I never claimed he became a good man," Antar admitted more candidly than ever, "God saw my soul, and as cruel as it sounds, I'm not going to question the law.

It's just...it's just that I shouldn't be a tool of the law, Your Majesty!This is my request to you, nothing more! "

"So you want me to give this task to a stranger?" Charlie asked coldly, "to a bastard who doesn't understand mercy?

Maybe the man would give him a slow, painful death, and then take everything from him while his body was still fresh?Would you prefer him to suffer this fate? "

Antar didn't answer, he stared at the king with his mouth shut, blowing through his long nostrils like an angry bull in a cage.

"This is not a friendly request," Charlie told him in a tone that could not be questioned. "This is your king's order."

The two pairs of eyes stared straight at each other, like two statues, or two opponents fighting with their eyes.Antal finally couldn't stand the king's cold gaze, he turned his face away.

"Your Majesty, do you have any orders?" he asked dejectedly.

"Let the guy who was waiting outside come in when you left. I want to talk to him alone." Charlie turned his back on him and went back to the narrow window. "Remember, we're going home in two days.

If Laszlo gets the punishment he deserves by then, I know I have someone I can trust completely, and if not, I know what I have lost. "

The knight nodded with his back to the king, then angrily opened the door and rushed out of the room.

In the dim corridor outside, Istvan Lakfi sat on his stomach in a compartment by the wall, waiting for the king to summon him.He didn't say anything, but judging from the expression he stared at Antal, Lily Knight understood that Lakfei heard everything.

Antal didn't know whether he was eavesdropping on purpose or overheard the content of the loud quarrel, but the eyes of the silent Sekai knight made him sure it was the former.

"Your Majesty is waiting for you." Antar said, then quickened his pace and disappeared into the darkness.
-
1322, Hallows' Month (October)
Zagreb, Croatia

-

After vespers, as night fell, they met in the dark in an abandoned barn on the edge of town.

Antal had bought off the barn owner so that he could use the place as he pleased, and made the farmer forget the fact that he had seen the knight.

He had to think twice about how to deliver the message to Laszlo, but since Charlie wanted Antal to take care of his old friend himself, the knight finally decided on the easiest way.

He found Laszlo on the street, grabbed him by the shoulder as he deadpanned and tried to avoid it, and turned to himself.

"If you want to live, meet me here three hours after vespers." He sighed, stuffing a crumpled map and some hastily written words into Laszlo's cloak , and then disappeared into the crowd.

The knight didn't know if Laszlo took his warning to heart, or if he was willing to talk to him, but he had been waiting for his friend in the empty barn that night.

A strong wind hit, accompanied by a thunderstorm roaring with terror, Antal thought that Laszlo would definitely not come.Just when he was about to give up hope and return to his castle residence, a familiar figure appeared under the faint moonlight at the barn door.

"Laszlo!" cried the knight, relieved, "I thought I was waiting in vain."

"I know I'm in deep danger," the wet man walked in, "I can't tell you how grateful I am, but I... I did terrible things, Antal!"

"I know," Antar said sadly, "but now is not the time to confess to me..."

"A lot has happened in the past year," Laszlo said, grabbing his friend's arm, "I wish I had time to tell you everything!"

"Maybe one day you will," Antar said in a low voice, "at another time, in another place...but hear me now!"

"No, you listen!" the man shouted with some excitement, "You must know that I have regretted it hundreds of times since we separated, and I wish I could have been a better friend! Ever since I...do After those things, I... have changed a lot.

I feel like my old self has been replaced, and now I am a completely different person, a better person.God, I wish this change happened sooner!Then everything would be completely different now..."

"I have personally killed your order," the knight interrupted Laszlo's words, "You heard me right, I must personally execute the sentence. If you are not here, if you have not returned to Charlie at all, all this will be It won't happen, what are you thinking?"

"I have no choice," the man shrugged, and he accepted the terrible news calmly, "I thought I could finally start a new life, I swore to Muladen, he made me his advisor and bodyguard Take him with me, I must follow him..."

"Laszlo," the knight asked softly, "do you understand what I just told you? Do you fully understand?"

"Yes, Antal, I understand," Laszlo replied with astonishing calm, "I don't think I have anything to object to."

"what?"

"Listen!" Laszlo sighed heavily. "I've got nowhere to run, I'm stuck. Charlie has convicted me of murder, I've been homeless for over half a year, then miraculously taken in, treated like a human being for the first time in years, but now Everything fell apart.

Where else can I go?If you must kill me, I am right in front of you now, and I will not resist.I have made peace with God and I hope He will forgive me.

I don't want to rot in a dark, dank dungeon, and I don't want to die in a cage and be dumped, with some brutes scratching my body.

I'd rather have a quick, crisp, gentle death.There is nothing better than dying peacefully at the hands of a friend.Come to think of it, you brought me into the court, made me defile it, and now you have to clean it up. "

Antal couldn't believe his ears. Laszlo's overly calm monologue made him sick, and the whole world revolved around him.His friend told of his escape and rebirth, accepting his fate to die at the hands of Antar.

The knight couldn't understand how he, who had been the king's brother, would end up in such a nightmare situation.Finally he pulled himself together and grabbed Laszlo's arm.

"No, it's impossible!" he declared in the firmest voice, "It's not the end of everything, the world is big enough, if you're careful, you've got somewhere to go, trust me!"

"But where should I go?"

"A wagon full of hay is waiting for you nearby," said Antar, "with two red lanterns on it, and the wagon will take you safely to Rijeka. There, you board the first ship, and Sail south at the captain's will and start a new life there!
If you have succeeded once, you can succeed a second time.And," he hesitated for a moment, "never come back, do you understand?Never come back! "

"I don't have any money, Antal," Laszlo shook his head in the dark, his eyes seemed to have tears in his eyes, "I got a lot of money under Muladen's command, but most of it stayed in Belgian Sco..."

"Take it!" The knight shoved a heavy money bag into his hand, "This is all I can get together, if you use this money well, you can hold on for a couple of months after paying the boat fare." Months. Let's go!"

Laszlo stood blankly in front of his childhood friend, holding a full purse, not knowing what to say.He knew how much he had misunderstood Antar all these years, but no matter how much he wanted to turn back time, he couldn't change the past.

Finally, he opened his arms and gave the knight a tight, wordless hug, and both of them knew that this might be their farewell.

"I also hope that I can be a better friend." Antal looked at the back of the man leaving slowly, and muttered to himself with a heavy heart.

Before Laszlo stepped into the rain, the figure of a stout man appeared at the door of the barn.

Isstvan Lakfi held a long dagger in his right hand, the tip of which gleamed with pale moonlight, and before Antal could stop him, he plunged the iron blade of the dagger into Laszlo's stomach inside.

Laszlo fell to his knees in an instant, and the money bag slipped from his hand. Lakfey still clenched the handle of the dagger, and cut into his body with the weapon, tearing a long wound.

Antal screamed frantically into the cold night, his voice drowning out the thunder for a split second, and he didn't even realize it.

He rushed to the barn door, threw himself on the ground, and took Laszlo's head in his arms, but his friend was dead.

Laszlo's wound was steaming under the moonlight, and the dark blood continuously splashed out from his gradually cooling body, wrapping Antares in a pool of black blood that solidified rapidly. The friend he just rescued is now dead. A corpse, lying powerless on his lap.

"What have you done, damn it!" He yelled at the silent Lakfee, no one was as despicable and hateful as the person in front of him, "Go to hell, go to hell!"

"You have faithfully carried out the king's order, and I will testify to you." Lakfee told him in a lifeless voice, and then put down the dagger that took Laszlo's life. "Bury him well and never speak of it again."
-
1322, the last day of the Hallows' Moon

Timisoara, Hungary
-

Elizabeth Piest was finishing a new wool coat for five-year-old Carmen with her own hands when the Chancellor broke in.

"My queen, my queen!" the man panted heavily, "Please forgive me for intruding rashly, but..."

"Tell me!" Elizabeth waved impatiently, "Have we encountered any danger?"

"No, no!" said Demeter Neck, out of breath, "do you remember that knight... my... my queen, your... your husband took him everywhere, But... no, but now... now..."

"I don't understand what you're talking about!" Elizabeth stood up, "You still take me to see what happened, I'm going to be scared to death by you."

"When are we going to see Mom?" Carmen asked innocently.

Elizabeth squeezed the little boy's cheek affectionately, and handed him over to the care of one of her maids.Demeter also slowed down a little at this time, saying that someone had come to the palace, but he did not reveal who the uninvited guest was.

"Follow me, my queen!" said the Chancellor excitedly, and I led them into the inner courtyard. "

As soon as they stepped out of the gate, three men with ragged clothes and sunken cheeks knelt down in front of them.

One of them is a man with a spear, and the other two are weary women.One of them looked like a servant from her clothes, and the other looked a little more respectable, but it was not very different, the only difference was that she had blue eyes.

"Who are you?" asked Elisabeth Piast, in her usual cordial tone, and she glanced at Demeter curiously, still not understanding why he had brought three wanderers to Timisoara. It is a big event in the palace, and I don't understand how these people passed the guards.

But the next moment she understood everything.

"Your Highness the Queen!" The blue-eyed woman began to sob the moment she opened her mouth, "My name is Agnes, and I am the wife of the king's knight Antal Barto, please help us!"

(End of Volume Four)
(End of this chapter)