CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

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The trip to France was a crazy one, how he wished he could just create a portal in mid air as easily as his mom could just open a door but instead they travelled for days across the desert, and by sea, it was a good thing he had Raheema, she was an amazing companion. She had never travelled by sea before and she loved it. He could tell she was an adventurer, he loved to watch her stare at the sea at sunset, while he sketched her or a part of the vessel or two doves that settled on the ship or the mast. He kept himself busy throughout.

One day as he went about walking the deck of the ship, he found a flute. He picked it up and found a seat on a barrel. Then he began to play a tune.

Immediately, it caught the attention of the crew, they listened.

"Is that a dirge" Raheema called. She had been listening too.

"Even she knows good music" Fiji said.

"Shut up Fiji"

"Go on, a bit more lively, come on now" She urged him. He smiled and began to play, she began to clap in tune, the song caught rhythm and before he knew it everyone had joined in, clapping, then Raheema began to dance, the captain joined her and soon the crew, they danced and danced till the sun went down.

***

France

They arrived on the port of France but immediately Kuzo knew where he had to go. The date was 12, October, 1307 and that meant Molay was to be at the funeral of Catherine of Courtnay, wife of Count Charles of Valois and sister in law of King Phillip, he was to be one of the pallbearers. Immediately the ship docked, he found Raheema.

"The King knows about your arrival, you will be taken to the castle, I need you to find Summer, take Fiji with you, tell her I'm here and I'm going to find De Molay, I believe he could tell us about the last piece, speak of this to no one but Summer, got it?"

She nodded. He turned to walk away, she grabbed his sleeve.

"Be careful" Raheema said. He could tell she was genuinely worried. He touched her arm and gently squeezed it. She smiled and he did too.

"You should be fine" Kuzo said to her and then he went his way.

Finding De Molay was not such a great task, but getting to him was the problem. Kuzo spied him from a distance and made sure he didn't lose sight of him. When the sermon was over, De Molay walked up to his horse, this was his chance.

"Sir De Molay" He run up to him.

Just at the same time a young man called to him.

"At least the young lad shows some respect" De Molay said, making reference to the fact Kuzo had addressed him by 'Sir'.

"This doesn’t change anything"

"I didn't expect it to for someone who knows nothing about sacrifice or respect, all you do is hide in your fathers shadow, you will perhaps be a much better King than your father would ever be but you fail to see just yourself through the eyes of solidarity, you choose to do so rather through the eyes of a King whose lack of judgmentseparates himself from honour much faster than he separates himself from vision. A man who lives to satisfy his worldly needs will die without a soul to boast of riches, alone and empty of light. Tell me my little Prince, whom do you live to please, God or your father the King?"

"Mind what you say about my father, you could be charged with treason"

"I will anyway, the sooner the better to spare my poor soul anymore countenance in the stench of a stinky cloak and a slippery crown" De Molay mounted his horse. Kuzo enjoyed his comebacks but he knew he had no time for word battle scores.

"Sir, my name is Kuzo, and I need to speak with you"

"Good heavens lad, where have you been" To Kuzo's surprise, De Molay stretched out his arm towards Kuzo and helped him mount his horse. Then the horse began to canter.

"The brown skinned maiden has been looking all over for you"

"Summer?" Kuzo had to admit he didn't think Summer had it in her to go ahead of him and figure the Templar bit out. He smiled.

"Smart girl, she found you" Kuzo said in glee.

"She sure did, we travel tomorrow to the caves of….."

"No..no..no, we can't travel tomorrow"

"Friday the 13th, Summer kept going on and on about it, I know I know, we're gonna get arrested" De Molay said.

"Doesn’t it frighten you, yo would be tortured"

"Listen son, torture isn't new to us, torture is how we've lived our lives"

"It's this sort of overconfidence that’s gonna get you in a mess" Kuzo said.

"I did not betray the cross did i?" De Molay asked.

Kuzo sighed,

"No one knows for sure whether you did or did not but there were contradictory statements from you all through history, no one really knows what to believe, they will break you, no one judges you anyway, well there might be a few who would but that is not the subject now, we cannot go after the staff tomorrow, it must be today, now" Kuzo demanded.

"Listen kid, I don't know the gravity of your situation or why you're both so impatient but tomorrow will give us the perfect distraction if what you say would happen truly does. Yes the Templars will be arrested simultaneously, and no one would have a clue what's going on behind their backs. Voila!, the perfect escape" Kuzo didn't know what to think.

"Very well then"

"Summer would be joining us tonight, five of my most trusted Knights will escort you to the Basel Cave, after which you are on your own, you would follow my precise instructions that will take you to the staff and Kuzo, don't go in there alone.

Kuzo didn't know why he had made such a specific request, it seemed rather odd.

"I wasn’t thinking of, is there something I should know?"

De Molay stopped the horse and dismounted it. Kuzo did same. They had arrived at the Templar Commandry. Kuzo stopped to admire the architecture.

"Come on in"

It was already night fall and that meant time was not on their side.

As De Molay led Kuzo into the gigantic fortress, Kuzo said.

"One more thing Sir De Molay, if you were to be burned at the stake…"

"Is that how I am to die?" He turned abruptly and scratched his white beard.

"Funny, I always thought it would be by crucifixion on an X shaped cross" De Molay continued his walk.

This man was certainly out of sanity. Speaking of his own death like it was a tunic you could just choose in a clothing shop.

"Would you curse the people who killed you?"

"And waste my last breath securing a place in hell as if a brief torment here on earth by fire was not enough" Another Knight met them.

"Our brothers await us" He said.

"Good, I'm starved"

"And the girls?"

"They would be with us soon, I'm sure"

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