Jan Guillou - The Templar Knight

Translated by Steven T. Murray

‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions’ Jacula Prudentum, 1651, no. 170

In the name of God, most benevolent, ever-merciful.

‘God is great in His glory, Who took His votary in the night to a wide and open land from the Sacred Mosque to the most distant Mosque whose precincts We have blessed, in order to show him Our sign; Verily He is all-hearing and all-seeing.’

The Holy Koran , Sura 17, Verse 1

Cover Page

Title Page The Templar Knight The Crusades Trilogy Jan Guillou Translated by Steven T. Murray

Dedication ‘The road to hell is paved with good intentions’ Jacula Prudentum, 1651, no. 170

Epigraph In the name of God, most benevolent, ever-merciful. ‘God is great in His glory, Who took His votary in the night to a wide and open land from the Sacred Mosque to the most distant Mosque whose precincts We have blessed, in order to show him Our sign; Verily He is all-hearing and all-seeing.’ The Holy Koran , Sura 17, Verse 1

PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS PRINCIPAL CHARACTERS KNIGHTS TEMPLAR Al Ghouti - Arn de Gothia Arman de Gascogne, his sergeant Arnoldo de Torroja, Master of Jerusalem Odo de Saint Armand, Grand Master Siegfried de Turenne Harald Øysteinsson Grand Master Roger des Moulins CHRISTIANS Count Raymond III de Tripoli Reynald de Châtillon Gérard de Ridefort King Baldwin IV Baldwin d’Ibelin, later Baldwin V Guy de Lusignan, later King Guy Agnes de Courtenay Father Louis Heraclius MUSLIMS Yussuf ibn Ayyub Salah al-Din - Saladin Fahkr - his brother al Afdal, Saladin’s son Ibrahim ibn Anaza INHABITANTS OF GUDHEM MONASTERY Abbess Rikissa Cecilia Algotsdotter (Rosa), betrothed of Arn Cecilia Ulvsdotter (Blanca), betrothed of Knut Eriksson Sister Leonore Ulvhilde Emundsdotter Fru Helena Stensdotter FOLKUNG CLAN Birger Brosa, Arn’s uncle Magnus; Arn and Cecilia’s son Eskil Magnusson, Arn’s brother King Knut Eriksson Philippe Auguste, King of France Richard the Lionheart, King of England Babarossa, Emperor of Germany

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KNIGHTS TEMPLAR

Al Ghouti - Arn de Gothia

Arman de Gascogne, his sergeant

Arnoldo de Torroja, Master of Jerusalem

Odo de Saint Armand, Grand Master

Siegfried de Turenne

Harald Øysteinsson

Grand Master Roger des Moulins

CHRISTIANS

Count Raymond III de Tripoli

Reynald de Châtillon

Gérard de Ridefort

King Baldwin IV

Baldwin d’Ibelin, later Baldwin V

Guy de Lusignan, later King Guy

Agnes de Courtenay

Father Louis

Heraclius

MUSLIMS

Yussuf ibn Ayyub Salah al-Din - Saladin

Fahkr - his brother

al Afdal, Saladin’s son

Ibrahim ibn Anaza

INHABITANTS OF GUDHEM MONASTERY

Abbess Rikissa

Cecilia Algotsdotter (Rosa), betrothed of Arn

Cecilia Ulvsdotter (Blanca), betrothed of Knut Eriksson

Sister Leonore

Ulvhilde Emundsdotter

Fru Helena Stensdotter

FOLKUNG CLAN

Birger Brosa, Arn’s uncle

Magnus; Arn and Cecilia’s son

Eskil Magnusson, Arn’s brother

King Knut Eriksson

Philippe Auguste, King of France

Richard the Lionheart, King of England

Babarossa, Emperor of Germany

During Muharram, the holy month of mourning, which occurred when the summer was at its hottest in the year 575 after Hijra, called Anno Domini 1177 by the infidels, God sent His most remarkable deliverance to those of His faithful He loved best.

Yussuf and his brother Fahkr were riding for their lives and right behind, shielding them from the enemies’ arrows, came the Emir, Moussa. Their pursuers, who were six in number, were steadily gaining on them, and Yussuf cursed his arrogance, which had made him believe that something like this would never happen since he and his companions possessed the swiftest of horses. But the landscape here in the valley of death and drought due west of the Dead Sea was just as inhospitably arid as it was rocky. This made it dangerous to ride too fast, although their pursuers seemed completely unhampered by this. But if one of them happened to take a spill, it would be no less fateful than if any of the men being chased should fall.

Yussuf suddenly decided to cut across to the west and head up toward the mountains, where he hoped to find cover. Before long the three pursued horsemen were following a wadi , a dry riverbed, up a steep slope. But the wadi began to narrow and deepen so that they were soon riding in a long ravine, as if God had caught them in flight and was now steering them in a specific direction. Now there was only one road, and it led upward, growing steeper and steeper, making it harder and harder to keep up their speed. And their pursuers were coming steadily closer; they would soon be within shooting range. The men being chased had already fastened their round iron-clad shields to their backs.

Yussuf was not in the habit of praying for his life. But now, as he was forced to decrease his speed more and more among all the treacherous boulders at the bottom of the wadi , a verse came to him from God’s Word, which he breathlessly rattled off with parched lips:

He who has created life and death in order to test you and allow you to prove who among you, by his actions, is the best. He is the Almighty. The One who always forgives.

And God did indeed test His beloved Yussuf and showed him, first as a mirage against the light of the setting sun, and then with terrible clarity the most horrific sight that any of the faithful in such a hunted and difficult situation could see.

From the opposite direction in the wadi came a Templar knight with lowered lance, and behind him rode his sergeant. Both of these foes were riding at such speed that their cloaks billowed behind them like great dragon wings; they came like jinni out of the desert.

Yussuf abruptly reined in his horse and fumbled with his shield, which he now had to pull around to the front to face the infidel’s lance. He felt no fear, only a cold excitement at the nearness of death, and he steered his horse over to the steep wall of the wadi to present a narrower target and increase the angle of the enemy’s lance.

But then the Templar knight, who was only a few breaths away, raised his lance and waved his shield, as a signal to Yussuf and his brother to move aside and get out of their way. They complied at once, and the next moment the two Templar knights thundered past as they let their cloaks fall, which fluttered to the dust behind them.

Yussuf quickly issued an order to his companions. With difficulty, their horses’ hooves slipping, they clambered up the steep slope of the wadi until they reached a spot from which they had a good view. There Yussuf turned his horse around and stopped, for he wished to understand what God meant by all of this.

The two others wanted to take advantage of the opportunity and escape while the Templar knights and bandits settled matters as they saw fit. But Yussuf rejected all such arguments with a curt gesture of annoyance because he truly wanted to see what would happen next. He had never in all his life been this close to a Templar knight, those demons of evil, and he felt strongly, as if God’s voice were advising him, that he had to see what was going to happen; mere common sense would not stop him. Common sense dictated that they should continue their ride toward Al Arish for as long as the light permitted. But what he now saw he would never forget.