Read Online Brethren: An Epic Adventure of the Knights Templar by Robyn Young - Free Book Online Page A

knight, who was studying the battling sergeants. Jacques de Lyons, a retired Templar commander, had fought the Muslims at the battles of Herbiya and Mansurah. At the former he lost an eye to a Khorezmian Turk’s blade and at the latter he lost three hundred of his fellow knights. At New Temple, his injury and temperament earned him the name given to him by his tutees: Cyclops. This was a name that was only ever whispered as, according to rumor, the last sergeant to use it openly had been permanently consigned to a fly-infested village, six leagues south of Antioch.

    “Everything I do displeases your uncle.”

    “It wasn’t you he slighted just now,” murmured Garin, chewing an already ragged fingernail and watching the two sergeants on the field circle one another. He looked back at Will. “And can you blame him? You have to be more careful. He says you’ll be expelled if you break any more rules. He’ll make sure of it, he said.”

    The two sergeants came together. Brocart, the smaller of the two, shouted as Jay barreled into him in an ungainly charge, cracking him on the shinbone with the edge of the blade.

    “At least we were better than them,” said Will, as the two sergeants went down in a tangle of limbs.

    “Are you even listening?”

    Will glanced at Garin. “What?”

    Garin gave him a pained look. “I was saying you’ve got to be careful. You neglected a chore for the sake of an hour’s sleep and you’ve spent the last ten days paying for it. I’ve hardly seen you.”

    “It wasn’t for sleep. I…” Will paused, then dropped his voice to a whisper and told his friend about the initiation he had watched with Simon.

    “Are you crazy ?” Garin shook his head, incredulous.

    “I had to see.”

    “But you’ll see it firsthand one day.” Garin’s face still showed disbelief and something else now too.

    “I couldn’t wait five years. We’ve always talked about it, haven’t we? Always wondered what happened?” Will grimaced. “I would have seen more if that beak-nosed servant hadn’t come in.”

    “And Simon?” said Garin stiffly. “Why involve him?”

    “I needed someone I could trust to keep watch for me.” Will stopped, noticing Garin’s expression. “I would have asked you,” he said quickly, “but I knew what the answer would be. I would have rather asked you, you know that.”

    Garin shook his head, although Will thought he looked a little placated.

    “It wasn’t right that you witnessed the initiation, much less a groom. Simon isn’t the same as us.”

    “He wears the same tunic.”

    Garin sighed. “You know what I mean. Simon is the son of a tanner. We are the sons of knights. Simon will never be a knight, never be noble.”

    Will shrugged. “If kin makes a man noble, then I’m only half high-born. The rest of me is as common as any groom.”

    Garin laughed mildly. “That isn’t true.”

    “You know it is. My father may be a knight now, but my grandfather wasn’t and my mother was a merchant’s daughter. We weren’t all born with the advantage of your family’s heritage.”

    “Well, your father is a knight and that is enough to make you noble.” As Garin turned away, his tunic slipped to one side, revealing a livid, scarlet welt just below his collarbone.

    Will frowned and pointed to the mark. “How did you get that?”

    Garin followed Will’s gaze, then yanked up his tunic. “You caught me with your blade yesterday.” He forced a smile. “You don’t know your own strength sometimes.”

    Out on the field, Brocart disarmed Jay with a sloppy cut to the wrist that caused the boy to drop his sword in pain. The sergeants on the sidelines shuffled nervously as Jacques headed over followed by the two combatants, Jay clutching his hand. At the end of training, the knight would deal out punishment, usually a grueling ten circuits of the field, to the sergeant who had fared the worst in combat. Will picked at a splinter on his sword,