Galloglass Book One the Templar Read online

  De Gaudin and I boarded to the sound of hooves pounding down the wooden quay. Our galley backed oars at once. The arbalesters in the forecastle launched a storm of bolts at the Mamluks foolish enough to try and ride to the end of the pier. We continued to back water until there was room enough to turn about and head for the mouth of the harbor. Mamluks on horseback followed our progress along the harbor's edge and then halted as our ship glided out to sea. As we rowed past St. Thomas, I watched as Mamluk cavalry pushed their horses into the surf and began swimming them to the island. The cries of those trapped there were pitiful to hear. I learned much later their horsemen killed everyone on the island—men, women, children—no one was spared.

  I watched Tripoli go up in flames as the city was sacked. Roger de Flor stood beside me and handed me a skin of wine as the smoke billowed up, oily and black, filling the horizon. I drank without thinking, glad for the warmth as the wine filled my belly. And then, I fell to my knees and wretched as though I were trying to heave up my soul. In time, the Drachen swung south for Acre. Commander de Gaudin approached me once I had regained my feet and said, "When you are ready, there is much for me to tell, and past time that you heard it."

  We walked to the forecastle and as the sun filled me with warmth, I listened to Commander de Gaudin explain Master de Beaujeu's plan for saving the Levant and our Order. If what the Commander was saying was true, then De Beaujeu would need my skills for certain, yet I also knew that I would not, could not, be swayed. I would give them ten years. I owed Himbert that much. No more. Islay still called to me like a lover, its grey water and blue skies burned into my soul. Every day spent in the Levant made my desire to return that much greater. My soul would never be healed unless I returned. As Tripoli burned and de Gaudin plotted, I knew I would go back.