Temple Sword

Chapter 30 The Fourth Vow
Eighth day of St. John's month (June), 1303
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The ferrymen rowed in unison, while Antal peered anxiously at the shore, seeing an unusual commotion on the island, but not knowing why.As they got closer, the boy could see clearly that the faces of the assembled crowd were mournful, clearly not celebrating his return.

"Don't move around!" The wrinkled ferryman spoke for the first time.

The boy sat upright uncomfortably. He continued to look towards the shore, but he still couldn't make out what was going on there.The speed of the raft was so slow that when he finally reached the shore, Antal stepped out without leaving a word of thanks.

A small group of wounded soldiers were resting on Margaret Island, and servants busied themselves around bringing bandages, water, and even wine and food.The number of soldiers was not many, about twenty.The next moment, he saw two priests and a little boy walking towards him from the monastery, and he was immediately overwhelmed by a terrible premonition.

When did Levant say he would be back?

A week later... Now it's far more than a week!
He rushed to the gate with black and white banners. The small courtyard of the monastery seemed more crowded than ever. All he saw outside the gate were ordinary mercenaries, while the wounded Templars were receiving Heal and help.

There were no more than a dozen of them, and the courtyard was mostly filled with bewildered priests and hurried servants. None of them seemed to notice Antal. They walked by him, but no one was willing to say what happened.

Then the boy noticed a flag that was different from the others. The red and white flag had St. George wrestling a dragon on it. He had never seen it, but Levant had told him more than once about his family. The coat of arms, the description is exactly the same as what he saw in front of his eyes.

Under the banner is a bearded knight with blood on his face and dazed eyes. The pain in his eyes makes even Antal in the distance feel distressed. He probably knows who this person is, but he doesn't want to hear about the knight For reasons of sadness, he finally walked in front of the injured noble with difficult steps, swallowing his saliva.

"My lord!" he called to the knight, but the man ignored him, as if he hadn't heard Antar's call at all.

The boy touched his arm, and the knight shuddered, looking at Antal in unease and bewilderment.

"My lord, I am Antal, son of William Barto," he said politely, "I have just returned to the island after recovering from my injury in Buda for a few days, can you tell me what happened?"

"You are Antal?" He patted the boy on the shoulder.His hands were shaking, and the boy couldn't tell whose blood was on them, his own or someone else's. "My son always talks about you and I hope to see you as a knight someday."

The boy's premonition was confirmed. The man who lost his soul under the gorgeous banner was Levant's father. His deep voice seemed to imply something terrible.

"Where did so many wounded come from, my lord?" Antal asked. "Have you returned from the battle?"

"We set off from Gyre straight to Fort Chesnake and stayed there for two nights," the knight stared at nothingness again, "then we met some soldiers of my old friend Sir Balazs of Tao Tao on the way , they were engaging about thirty men, and we jumped into the fray without even thinking, not noticing that there were a dozen archers hiding behind the trees on the other side, and we knocked them out with just one charge, Then the archers were chased and hacked to death. Most of them were fine, some were slightly injured and some were seriously injured, but my son, my son!"

The knight began to sob helplessly, and Antar's head began to spin.He had to lean against the wall, but he still fell to his knees in pain, his fist trembled violently, his whole body began to tremble, and a chill came from deep inside his heart.

"My son fell before he swung the sword once!" The man sobbed louder and louder, tears washing the congealed blood on his face. "An arrow went straight through his throat, and when we won... when we won, he was dead!"

He is dead.

Antar didn't want to understand what the words meant, Levant died before he became a knight, in a battle that wasn't for the kingdom, or the royal family, or even God.He died in a simple hand-to-hand fight, without even swinging a sword once, and he was killed in the most cowardly and shameful way, with a bow and arrow, from a distance.

The pain turned into anger on Antar's body, he stood up abruptly, and ran directly towards the servant's residence.The boy didn't see Peter in the crowded courtyard, where he was supposed to be, but he didn't find Peter there either.

Along the way, he was thinking about whose territory Gyre, Fort Chesnak, Taotao and even Buda belonged to, and then he suddenly realized that these places belonged to the Kossergi family.He remembered being nearly killed by Corségi's men the first time he and Umberto left Dubica for Buda.The boy silently swore that twenty of Corsergi's men would pay with their lives for killing Levant. Before completing this oath, he could not accept the three oaths of the Templars, and he had no guilt about it.

The chapel was also empty, and Peter was nowhere to be seen, as if the earth swallowed him up. He passed through the crowd in the courtyard again, and finally found a servant with a familiar face.

"Hey, you!" Antar grabbed his clothes, "Did you see Peter? I can't find him anywhere."

"Don't you know?" The servant looked at him in surprise, "Peter was caught stealing wine, he was whipped in public the day before yesterday, and then expelled from the monastery."

He must be played by the devil, Antal thought, this is just a terrible nightmare, but nightmares usually wake him up, but this time he couldn't wake up at all.For some reason, the boy returned to Zelda Heli's knight and crouched in the corner.

Levant's father stopped crying and stared with determined, exasperated eyes at a small cart being pushed out of the gate by six monks, on which lay the body of a young man, cleaned. And wrapped in a shroud.

"I'm taking my son home," the man said, his voice completely different from before.Antar guessed that he must have made similar vows to his own, but the boy could never imagine what it was like to be a grieving father who lost his son.

Antar rose and stood before the knight. "Levant is my best friend, my lord," he said. "We share everything, like brothers. I swear that I will sacrifice the lives of twenty Kossegi soldiers. Your son has revenge."

"I will take off the head of Ivan Koseiji." The knight did not intend to dissuade Antal, "My name is Saipan, and I am the son of Hector of the Polka family. There are territories, hundreds of families and a hundred soldiers. If you are my son's brother, you are my son, and I have no offspring but Levant. Listen, Antal, son of William Barto, If you need any help from me, come to me anytime."

Before Antal could speak, Saipan turned around and rode on his horse, and left the gate with his head held high, as if he wanted to prop up the entire collapsed world with his own strength.

Zoutermont sat calmly in his armchair, as unaware of what was going on in Antares as if the chaos of the past few days had affected him.With a bored face and his right leg resting on the armrest, he looked at the boy with a faint smile.

"Well done, squire," he yawned big, "You seem to have gained weight these days."

"When I was lying on the bed, they provided me with a lot of food," Antal deliberately omitted the word "adult", "My left arm still hasn't recovered, and my knee hurts every step I take, but What bothered me the most was that my belt, dagger and sword were gone."

Zortmund opened his arms innocently, "Is there anything I can do for you?"

The boy was silent for a long time, trying to suppress his anger, he really wanted to throw himself on the oath-breaking knight, strangle him with his own hands, let him see his life being squeezed out slowly, but he couldn't do that .

"I'm the way I am because of you, Zoutermont," he said grimly. "I nearly died in that goddamn barn, and then they robbed me, and you're the one to blame for it all." , you know it yourself!"

"Servant, watch your mouth!" Zoutermont stood up, but failed to scare the boy as before, "I am your master, your master, you should respect me, boy!"

There was a faint smile on Antal's face, "You have to get my things back, Zortmund," he said in a non-negotiable tone, "I have to get my belt back before noon, otherwise I will let you You suffer."

"Did I hear you right, are you threatening me, you little mouse?"

"You heard that right."

Zortmund couldn't take it anymore, he swept away the debris in front of him, jumped over the table between the two of them, and rushed towards Antal.

The boy dodged the slap, "You can't move a finger of me, you traitor!" He grabbed Zoutermont's arm, "You have too many secrets in your head, if the abbot Discover them, and you will be expelled from the Order forever!"

The threat worked, and Zortmund withdrew his hand, his eyes a little shaken.He took a step back, straightening his cloak with trembling hands.

"Secret?" he asked. "What are you talking about?"

"You broke your vow of chastity," Antar replied, "to the woman who bore your child, and you made me hand over the purse to her more than once."

"You have no proof," Zoutermont retorted.

"If I were you, I wouldn't be so stubborn. You also broke your vow of poverty. How can a Templar be so rich that he often gives his lover a lot of gold?"

"I shouldn't have believed you!" whispered Zortmund. "You will regret it if you don't obey my orders and instead meddle in my affairs."

Antar ignored his threat and continued to list the crimes of the oath-broken knight.

"You owe a lot to Olivier. He's the worst moneylender in Buda. You bet on him. It's a felony to have an affair with him to put your servants in danger. You say you What now, Zoutermont? What will the people say when they know the story? What will the abbot say?"

"There is no proof!" Zortmund repeated, pulling his hair. "Compared to the slander of children, of course they will believe my words."

"If you want evidence, then I will give evidence and witnesses, if that is what is really wanted," Antar replied calmly, "but God does not need these to convict you, and if you take my Get back your belt and weapon, I will pretend to forget your order to me and the fact that you almost killed me, you just need to repent your sins to the Lord and pray for my forgiveness every night."

Zortmund, his face ablaze, paced up and down the room, sank into his beloved armchair, filled his glass and drank it down.

"Well, as you wish." He slammed the cup on the table, "I will get your things back tomorrow, and then you don't need to serve me anymore. On the surface, I am still your master, but I I won't give you any more missions."

Antal nodded, he knew that no matter what he could not sneak into the city like before.Whether or not Zoutermund was exposed to Ambrosius or not, he could not go to Buda to be with his girl in broad daylight, and perhaps this encounter was God's punishment for neglecting his true duty, Who knows.He had to remain on the island for now, unless he could get permission to leave the monastery elsewhere.

"You know, it's not over yet," Zoutermont called to Antal, who turned and went out. "One day you'll pay for all of this."

"Believe me, Zoutemont," the boy replied without looking back, "I won't be the one paying the price, and I look forward to that day more than you do."

(End of this chapter)