Temple Sword

Chapter 74 The Oath of Convenience
1309 Summer
Dubica, Slavonia, Hungary

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A heavy and tense silence fell in the chamber of the Templar Monastery.The twenty-three knights sitting around the table said nothing, and the news from the west made them despair.

"We have to make a decision!" Huge said. He is the newly appointed abbot. He has never been interested in William Barto's actions, nor does he like this famous knight in the Holy Land. "Why don't you talk?"

"Because we don't want to die." A man with red hair and a beard stood up from a chair. "We don't want to bleed for a man we've always supported, but now betrayed us."

"The king did not betray us!" retorted the abbot, "We are all still here, and our Knights still have the property, power and privileges in Hungary!"

"But he's not on our side either," the red-haired knight returned to his seat, "who knows how long these properties will remain in our hands..."

"True!" agreed one of the stout knights. "Let me say that we will do nothing for the King of Anjou!"

"The Corsergis are no longer satisfied with plundering the market," Hugh stroked the back of his head, "the churches and monasteries were also looted, this is not just the king's trouble, understand, we will also be robbed Influence!"

"They don't dare to attack us," the fat knight said confidently, "They don't have the guts!"

"Are you sure?" William Barto spoke for the first time, his voice was low and tired, as if he had just woken up from a deep sleep, and was immediately dragged into the most insignificant discussion in the world. "Just as Nogaret's soldiers arrested our brothers in France, someone may one day come after us."

"We're not going to catch them!" protested the red-haired knight. "We're going to defend the monastery, we're going to fight them off!"

"The sons of the Corsergis have an army, Tobias!" the abbot raised his voice. "There are sixty-seven of us, half of them are children, and the rest are servants. You want to fight with them." A siege?"

"I...just..." The red-haired knight frowned and shook his head, then remained silent.

"What do you think, Abbot?" asked the blond knight sitting on the other side of the table, with the same scar on his face as William. "Perhaps, resuming the Iron Curse?"

"Maybe I'll do it, Andronica, yes," said the abbot with a wry smile, really not knowing what he was supposed to do. "If a few years ago we were able to protect some bazaars from intrusion, then with a smile we also have the responsibility to defend the church, to defend this sacred ground!"

"Ecclesiastical lands!" retorted Tobias, "if they are so important to the Pope, let him protect them himself!"

At this time, William Barto jumped up from his seat at a speed that didn't match his age, and slapped the table heavily with his open palm, with such force that everyone was startled.

"You damned coward!" The former Eastern Lion roared at the knight opposite him, "You swore to the Pope, and if you forget, I will remind you that you are his soldier! If you don't like it, then Just go, break your own oath, or join the Knights Hospitaller! We need lions, not bitches!"

The grey-haired old William, with his hands propped on the table, stared at Tobias with every drop of anger in his fifty-five years of life.The red-haired knight with a big beard didn't dare to look at William, he looked away, then slowly got up, and walked out of the hall without saying a word.

"Then it's settled," William pushed himself away from the table. "Who else wants to leave? Who else wants to give up the current oath and find a more comfortable and convenient oath instead? Come on, come on!"

"For God's sake!" Hugh held up his hand. "That's enough, Sir Barto!"

"Really?" William turned to him, his blood red eyes bulging. "I think now is the time!"

William walked frantically around the big table with reproachful eyes, and the knights could tell from the old man's strange staggering gait that he was either drunk or seriously ill.

Everyone knew what had happened to him, Antal, whom he had raised after his return from the Holy Land, broke his oath to the Order and was bribed by the King, who even chose a wife for him.Hugh had always objected to William Bartow being given too much freedom because of his reputation in the East, and he even gloated a little after hearing this.But now seeing the old knight reeling under the weight, he felt somehow sorry for William.

"We must continue the discussion," Hugh tried to reason with William, "Sir, please return to your seat."

"Before I sit down," said William, "I must find out how many cowardly oath-breakers there are among us!"

Several knights, including Andronica with the scar on his face, stood up and supported William so that he would not trip over him. The old knight angrily drew his ancestral sword from its scabbard.

"Stay away from me!" he roared, "I was killing in the name of God before you were even born!" He made most of them sit down again with a few swings of his sword.

"Sir Barto!" the Abbess slapped the table and shouted loudly, "Stop, don't let your surname be ashamed!"

Only Andronika dared to approach the violent crusader, and he immediately smelled the alcohol on his body. "Put down your sword, Lord Barto!" he told William softly.

"Andronica!" William recognized the knight who was once under his command, "I want to give it to him!" He shook the sword in his hand, his eyes filled with tears, "After I die, it will It should have been his!"

"I know." The blond knight nodded and moved closer. "But it's best to put it away for now."

William Barto closed his eyes, overwhelmed by drunkenness and fatigue, and if Andronica hadn't caught him in time, the unconscious lion would have fallen to the floor by now.

"Yasmin..." William murmured, before falling unconscious.

That meeting never ended, just as William Barto never entered the Templar monastery in Dubica again.

(End of this chapter)