Temple Sword

Chapter 27 Before the Storm
1303, Day No.5 of the month of Pentecost (May)

Buda, Hungary -
—

The girl walked excitedly through the market and finally escaped from the noisy crowd.She made a familiar right turn around the corner of the house, forward past the blacksmith's shop, and right there again, as the houses thinned out and the town grew quieter.Out of the gate she did not go far to the edge of the woods beside St. Paul's Creek.

The boy was waiting for her next to the big tree they had marked together nearly two months ago: Together they held Antar's daggers and carved an X into the trunk.

"Where have you been?" Antal asked impatiently, but not wanting to play the role of the offended lover, he jumped up to the girl, hugged her tightly, and kissed her soft and sweet lips for a long time .

"I've got a lot of work to do at the hotel today," Agnes explained between kisses. "The market is full of people."

They went into the depths of the wood, where the undergrowth grew thicker, and they sat down in familiar places where no one could see them from the city.

"I can't stay long today," the girl stroked Antal's face, "I was already late yesterday and was scolded by my father, and I almost didn't have time to change my clothes before mass."

"It's not fair," Antal sulked, stealing a kiss from Agnes to ease his grief. "Purchase, mass, training... There are always these things between us that stand in our way."

"You're making it sound like it's my fault," she turned her head away, "and it's not because of me that we have to meet in secret."

"I don't want to be kicked out of the Knights."

"I know," Agnes said with tears welling in her eyes, "for as long as you can remember, you've believed that you'd be a Templar, but Templars can't marry..."

"All my ancestors had children," Antar argued in a low voice. "They all knew how to love, and they were all happy people."

"Happy people?" she asked, "are they happy when they are with their lovers, and they must always keep a secret, lest they be excommunicated from the Order?"

"There are other possibilities," he tried to reason with her. "My grandfather Peter officially married my grandmother with the blessing of the priest, and he entered the Knights Order a few years later."

"You've told me this," Agnes wiped her tears, "that they never met again after taking the oath of obedience, poverty, and chastity."

"I told you about Carlos too." The boy continued to try.

"Do you think my father would let me marry a black-robed Templar?"

Antal's patience was exhausted, his facial features were distorted, he pulled up a handful of grass angrily, and threw it away helplessly.

"Even if you weren't a knight, your father wouldn't let you marry me. If I wasn't a Templar, I'd be a nobody, and I'd be four years younger than you. I know he's been asking you to find yourself a Decent man, it's a wonder he didn't force you to marry a rich fat squid."

Agnes turned pale, as she often did, and Antal tried to comfort her, but her heart sank into pain.They couldn't live without each other, but they couldn't belong to each other -- at least not yet.Almost every lucky day, they met briefly at the edge of the forest, and nearly every encounter began with such a conversation.

After the crying there will be kisses and hugs, and then they will find peace in each other's arms.They talked about everything, from the sky to the earth.

"I'm sure now," said Antal, after cutting a pear in half, "that Zoutermont was the worst knight in the world, and he was a Templar for nothing!"

"Is it about the woman?" Agnes turned on his lap, "Tell me about it!"

"Yes, about the woman," laughed the valet, "every Monday I have to go to the house with a rather large purse and come back with an empty purse. I always Stopped at the door, but the woman was in such a good mood today, she even offered me a glass of wine."

"And... did you ask about that?"

"Well... I didn't ask!" Antar frowned, "However, I looked around very carefully, and there was no man in that house. If there was a man who lived there, then he died many years ago Or move away."

"But the woman is sewing new clothes, and has a servant," she went on for him, "and she has a young son who has never seen his father."

"Yes."

"I can't believe it." Agnes laughed, unable to take her mind off the relationship between the two of them, well, that's how other people live, even if Zoutermon might not be out of love for that strange woman Love and have a child.

"That's not the whole story," Antal scratched her body, "You know my fifth mission, who I had to hand over a heavier purse to?"

"to whom?"

"A shrewd-looking guy named Olivier, you can bet on him that he's not doing things that will please God."

"How did you know?"

"I asked the soldier who has a good relationship with me, and he knows what's going on. Of course, it doesn't matter," he sighed contentedly, "as long as I can come to town every day, I'm willing to give the whole sack of gold coins Bring it to him."

As if to cap off their last kiss, the church bells rang and they stood up without a word, dusting off their clothes and picking grass blades from each other's hair.

"When can I see you next?" Antal asked.

"If you were here at the same time tomorrow, I would be here too."

"I love you."

"I love you too," Agnes murmured shyly, leaning against his chest, and then smiled slightly, "but I pray to the Lord that He will make you an old, fat, Rich squid."
-
The evening prayers were over, and the apprentices went to bed after eating in the cafeteria. No one noticed that in a dark corner of the monastery, two figures did not move towards the direction of the dormitory like the others, but walked in completely opposite directions. go.

When the others turned their heads to sleep, they had crept under the cover of the building outside and made their way quietly to the stables, where they camped in one of the empty ones.There was a third boy waiting for them, dressed in simple and cheap servant's clothes, and treated as equals with the two men who stalked towards him, for neither servant nor squire cared where they came from, and would What will become, they are friends, they have already agreed on this.

Another attendant besides Antal is called Levant. He is 15 years old this year, but he does not look younger than Antal. In fact, he looks a year older than him.Everyone took it for granted that Antar looked younger than his age because he looked a little skinny, but the boy in training was stronger than most of the other apprentices and squires.

It was during a training sparring that he befriended Levant, who was knocked down with a sword and they were both reprimanded for it.Antal was criticized for knocking his partner down with too much force in practice, while Levant was criticized for his lack of balance.The boys knew that the real reason was lack of sleep and no breakfast that made Levant unsteady. As punishment, they had to leave the training ground and kneel in front of the altar outside to pray for an hour before continuing to practice.

No one saw Antal take a morsel of bread and cheese from under his cloak, and each day Agnes would pity him with some food she had brought from the inn, so that the boy could have a few bites before morning mass.He shared the rest of the food with Levant that day, and their fates have been intertwined ever since.

Soon after, Antal learned that the boy was also from Serdahli, his birthplace, where his family had lived for generations, which made them feel like brothers to each other and treated them like brothers. Treat each other.

"Did something happen this afternoon?" Antal asked Levant as they settled down in their little stronghold.

"Nothing special," replied Levant, rummaging through the trampled straw, "as always, prayers, training, Latin lessons, you lucky bastard staying in town!"

"While you were still breastfeeding your mother, I was praying and fighting and learning all kinds of weird languages."

Servant Peter laughed. "If I didn't know you guys," he said, shaking his head with a smile, "I would definitely think you didn't like each other."

"I found it!" Levant stopped turning over the straw and picked up a wooden board covered with a pit.He took out a leather wineskin hidden in the pit and passed the holy mead from hand to hand.

"The wine will run out soon." Peter observed after a while, "I'll bring in new ones next time."

"Be careful, don't be found out!" Antar said worriedly, "We don't necessarily need wine."

The servant just waved his hand, "They have too much wine, they don't even notice if I go to fill up Levent's water bag from time to time, it's like getting water from the Danube."

"No no, it's not my water bag anymore," Levant reminded the boys, "it's our water bag, our common property, our brotherhood!"

"As you said," Antal yawned, and then reached under his clothes, "while I can remember, this is tomorrow's ration."

Lately, his cloak has been bewitched, and he's always pulled out all sorts of treats during his clandestine evening wine-tasting sessions, and this time he's stashed three apples and three small slices of jerky.

"Remember to eat nothing, clean!" he warned them, "don't let anyone find out!"

"Don't worry," Peter hid his share, "don't say it's tomorrow morning, I can finish it now."

"And then nothing before lunch?" Levant also took the food gratefully, "You are a generous friend, Antal, but you are also very mysterious, at least tell us, where did you get these ?”

"I've been around town a lot," the boy laughed, "and that's all I can say."

"Any news from Buda today?" Peter asked. "How are the people doing?"

"They are the same as before," Antal shrugged. "They are busy, chatting, buying and selling, bargaining, arguing. I can only see a small number of soldiers."

They were all anxiously waiting for the news, but the news just didn't come.They knew that the fate of the entire kingdom was at stake: a single word from the pope could determine the fate of everyone, and he had been doing this all along, and today was no exception, the fate of everyone living in this kingdom had been changed.

Today, Wenzel of Przemysl and Charles of Anjou bow their knees before Pope Boniface, and they will use this brief interim peace to hear the Pope's final decision on which of them to be God's Chosen King of Hungary.

This fruitless struggle for the throne has been going on for two years, the nobles are divided, the priests of Buda are crazy, and the citizens are completely puzzled and shake their heads and sigh.But the lords seem to be enjoying it, because they are the ones in charge: Italians and Czechs, the two candidates for the throne have power in name only, without a castle.

"After the war, everything will be yours." Their words dripped like poison into Wenzel and Charlie's ears, and at the same time, they were quietly dividing up the remaining property of the Arpad family.

The three friends argued for a while about who the pope would choose as king, but in the end they all came to the conclusion that the Holy See was always on the side of the Anjou family, and this time should be no exception.

"We shall not see each other again for some time," said Levant as they parted. "To-morrow I shall go to Gyre with my master, who has business to attend to there, and we may be in a week. to come back."

"Perhaps you will hear the Pope's decision before us," Peter smiled at him. "Have a good trip, my friend!"

"God be with you!" Antal hugged him, "eyes on the horizon, hand on the hilt of the sword, tell us what happened in a week!"

"Then I have to prepare wine for me. If there is no wine, I won't tell you," Levant laughed. "Good night, God bless you!"

(End of this chapter)