Templar's Code

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I lived in this world of darkness for myriads of years and no one ever knew that I was there.

—GNOSTIC HYMN

PROLOGUE

THE NEW WORLD

ARCADIA COLONY

1524

Isabelle d’Anjou threw herself at the foot of the black-robed priest. “Mercy! I beg you!”

“Haereticus!” the Jesuit screamed, his thin ascetic frame shaking with fury’s passion. “By this cross you will know him!”

An armed soldier, red surcoat emblazoned with a white cross, roughly grabbed Isabelle by the waist and hauled her away from the priest. Shrieking, a wild animal caught in a snare, the terrified girl grabbed at the beads dangling from the Jesuit’s hand. A desperate plea that went unanswered, the soldier plunging a falchion into Isabelle’s left breast. Blood arced through the air, splattering the priest’s cassock.

Raising his gaze heavenward, the Black Robe made a ritualized motion. Above to below. Left to right. “In nominee Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.” With upturned hands, the Black Robe continued his Latin chant . . . as the mounted knights slashed and swung their broadswords . . . as the soldiers ravished the village women . . . as the orange flames consumed the thatched huts in a fiery blaze . . . as the pitiless and unrelenting devastation raged all around.

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