Free Requiem: The Fall of the Templars by Robyn Young

Hospitallers’ quarrel with them was born less out of vengeance and more out of an ongoing attempt to undermine them in the hope of gaining control of Templar territories and assets. It was hardly, as Hugues said, grounds for a merging of the orders.
    “But if Pope Boniface commands it?” Robert asked the visitor.
    “Then we may have a struggle on our hands, though the fact he is sending a mere bishop as his representative tells me this isn’t a particularly pressing matter for him at this juncture. Perhaps he simply wishes to gauge our response to such a proposition? From what you have told me, the pontiff didn’t mention anything of this during your time in Rome.”
    “No,” acceded Will, “but that isn’t surprising. Pope Boniface’s election wasn’t popular with everyone in the Sacred College and while we were there he was kept busy placating his rivals. Jacques was away for months, visiting the king in Naples and our preceptories in Venice and Genoa, so other than a few meetings in the spring, we hardly saw His Holiness at all.”
    “You said the summons came from Edward,” said Robert. “So it can only be assumed he does support the pope? This is what we’ve been afraid of, ever since he started demanding money from Everard. The old man feared it would only be a matter of time before the king acted on his ambitions for the Holy Land, and now, with the grand master bent on returning . . .” Robert hefted his shoulders. “Though I cannot say I blame him. There are times I wish we could avenge what was done to us at Acre, times I feel so consumed by fury I the fall of the templars
    39
    cannot imagine how I ever saw any Muslim as a brother.” He looked at them.
    “But the Crusades are over and despite what was lost that is a good thing.
    King Edward pledged himself to the cause of the Brethren. He should be with the Brethren in seeing the cessation of hostilities as an opportunity for continued peace between East and West, not planning to deliver us all back into war, even at the bidding of the pope.”
    Will was quiet. His comrade had no idea of the lengths Edward would go to in securing what he wanted. Edward only cared for peace when it suited him. He made alliances and broke them with utter disregard for any who might be ruined by his actions and he did it all with a shrewdness and a ruthlessness that were staggering.
    “You spoke of your concerns over Edward when you inducted me into the Brethren,” Hugues was saying. “But Edward has made no move east in all the years since he signed a truce with the Muslims. How can you be so certain he is working against us? If there had been any doubt in Everard’s mind over the king’s intentions he never would have elected him as our guardian. True, I never really knew the priest, but one thing was clear during the time I spent with our brothers in Acre: Everard believed in the Anima Templi above all else and would not have done anything to endanger it.”
    “Everard made a mistake,” said Will in a low voice. “We were almost destroyed with the theft of the Book of the Grail. He was eager to replenish our strength and he chose the wrong man. He regretted it until the day he died.”
    “We don’t know why Edward will be at the meeting,” continued Hugues.
    “He had dealings with Bertrand de Got in Gascony. Perhaps he plans to be our advocate? If anyone could dissuade the pope and the bishop from this course of action it is him.”
    Will’s tone was steel. “Edward is not our ally. He has betrayed us again and again.”
    “How?” pressed Hugues. “Other than some requests for funds that may well have been innocent appeals, what has he done? I have read Everard’s writings that you sent to me before the fall of Acre. There was no reference to any betrayals, just Everard’s fear, formed mostly through your own suspicions I might add, that the king wasn’t seeking peace when he agreed to be our guardian, but a source of revenue to fund a war in