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PARIS, FRANCE

JANUARY 1308

JACQUES DE MOLAY SOUGHT DEATH, BUT KNEW SALVATION WOULD never be offered He was the twenty-second master of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Teious order that had existed under God's charge for two hundred years But for the past three months, he, like five thousand of his brothers, had been a prisoner of Philip IV, king of France

"You will stand," Guillaume Imbert ordered from the doorway

De Molay remained on the bed

"You are insolent, even in the face of your own demise," Imbert said

"Arrogance is about all I have left"

Imbert was an impish man with a face like that of a horse who, de Molay had noted, seerand inquisitor and Philip IV's personal confessor, which 's ear Yet de Molay had ht joy to the Dominican's soul But he knehat irritated hi you desire"

"You have already done more than you realize"

That was true, and de Molay once more rued his weakness Imbert's torture in the days after the October 13 arrests had been brutal, and ed at the memory of his own admissions--that those ere received in the Order denied the Lord Jesus Christ and spat upon a cross in contempt of Hi on the brothers to confess as he'd done, and a sizable lot had obeyed

But just a few days ago emissaries from His Holiness, Clement V, had finally arrived in Paris Clement was known to be Philip's puppet, which hy de Molay had brought gold florins and twelve pack horses laden with silver with his went awry, that 's favor Yet he'd underestied not for partial tributes He wanted all that the Order possessed So charges of heresy had been fabricated and thousands of Tele day To the pope's emissaries de Molay had reported the torture and publicly recanted his confession, which he kneould bring reprisals So he said, "I iine Philip is presently concerned that his pope may actually have a backbone"

"Insulting your captor is not wise," Imbert said

"And ould be wise?"

"Doing as ish"

"And then hoould I answer to my God?"

"Your God is waiting for you, and every other Templar, to answer" Imbert spoke in his usual e of emotion

De Molay no longer wanted to debate Over the past threeand sleep deprivation He'd been placed in irons, his feet smeared with fat and held close to flames, his body stretched on the rack He'd even been forced to watch while drunken jailers tortured other Templars, the vast majority of ere ators, clerks He was ashaoing to volunteer anything further He lay back on the stinking bed and hoped his jailer would go away

Ih the doorway and yanked de Molay upright

"Bring him," Imbert ordered

De Molay had been arrested at the Paris Temple and held there since last October The tall keep with four corner turrets was a Templar headquarters--a financial center--and did not possess any torture cha the chapel into a place of uniuish--one that de Molay had visited often over the past three months

De Molay was dragged inside the chapel and brought to the center of the black-and-white-checkered floor Many a brother had been welco

"I am told," Imbert said, "that this is where the most secret of your ceremonies were performed" The French room, near a carved receptacle de Molay kneell "I have studied the contents of this chest It contains a huhbones, and a white burial shroud Curious, no?"

He was not about to say anything Instead, he thought of the words every postulant had uttered elco to God

"Many of your brothers have told us how these ite has your Order become"

He'd had enough "We answer only to our pope, as servants to the servant of God He alone judges us"

"Your pope is subject to e lord He will not save you"

It was true The pope's emissaries hadof his confession, but they doubted it would make much difference as to the Templar's fate

"Strip him," Imbert ordered

The smock he'd worn since the day after his arrest was torn froo, as the filthy cloth smelled of feces and urine But Rule forbid any brother fro his body He knew the Inquisition preferred its victims naked--without pride--so he told hi act His fifty-six-year-old frahts, he'd taken care of hinity, and calmly asked, "Why must I be humiliated?"

"Whatever do you mean?" The question carried an air of incredulousness

"This room was a place of worship, yet you stripthat the brothers frown on such displays"

I twill cloth "Ten charges have been leveled against your precious Order"

De Molay knew the idols, to profiting fro homosexuality

"The one that is of most concern to me," Imbert said, "is your requirement that each brother deny that Christ is our Lord and that he spit and trample on the true cross One of your brothers has even told us of how soe of our Lord Jesus on the cross Is that true?"

"Ask that brother"

"Unfortunately, he was overmatched by his ordeal"

De Molay said nothing

"My king and His Holiness were e than all others Surely, as a ered over your denial of Christ as our Savior?"

"I prefer to speak only to my pope"

Iuards clamped shackles onto both of de Molay's wrists, then stepped back and stretched out his arard for his tattered muscles Imbert produced a multi-tailed whip from beneath his robe The ends clinked and de Molay saw that each was tipped with bone

Imbert lashed the whip beneath the outstretched arh hi behind a sharpness that did not dull Before the flesh had time to recover, another blow caive Imbert any notion of satisfaction, but the pain overcaony

"You will not mock the Inquisition," Imbert declared