PROLOGUE

2011-10-28T19:44:00.000+02:00

Prologue

Paris, France -1307

Being warrior monksand military defenders of the Catholic Church, the Knights Templar existedpurely for the Crusades; or so it was commonly thought. When Jerusalemfinally fell, under the never-ending onslaught of Saladin, the Holy Land was lost and support for the Order quicklyfaded.

King Philip IV of

France

,deeply in debt to the Order, took advantage of the situation. In 1307, underextreme duress, Pope Clement V was forced to issue an arrest order for theKnights Templar on the charges of heresy. Pressured by the King to act, theHoly See operated more swiftly than could be anticipated.

Overnight, Templarstrongholds throughout

France

were raided simultaneously. The knights were arrested by the King’s men,tortured into giving false confessions, and burned at the stake.

Outrage spreadthroughout the land and as far away as

England

. Due to the continuousquarrelling, Edward I King of England, who was Philip’s brother-in-law, did notcondemn the Templars, prompting many of the French-based knights to flee to England.

Philip’s daughter,Isabella, married the Prince of Wales, becoming Queen of England, producing aneventual English claimant to the French throne itself, and war – a war that waslater to be known as the ‘Hundred Years’ War.

Back in France, thingshad taken a decidedly bad turn for King Philip. Villagers rioted, and firesburned. The Templars’ Grand Master, Jacques de Molay, called for a crisismeeting and summoned one of his most trusted knights, Vladimir Gaudin, son ofthe former Grand Master, to the helm of the meeting. It was a grislyatmosphere. Eleven Templar brothers stood in waiting.

‘Vladimir, your father’s plan to persuadeeveryone that the Templars had always been the guardian of the sacred bloodlinewas the work of a genius. He even managed to convince our so-called friends andallies, the Catholic Church, that it was the bloodline of Jesus Christ and MaryMagdalene that we were protecting.

‘It seems, however,that tonight our allies wish to see the evidence. Your father passed on theknowledge after the fall of Acre – theknowledge of more than two thousand years of religious turmoil, which has beenrecorded in the book of the way. Within lie the truth and thedetails about the real guardians of the bloodline, along with the bloodlineitself. This book has been in our possession since the beginning of time, andhas graced the hands of the Lord.’

De Molay opened thecasket and removed the face covering of the leather box inside, being verycareful not to touch the contents. As he tilted the box up to be viewed undercandlelight, a gold pentacle could be seen on the face of the book, along withnumerals and ancient writings. The Templars bowed in awe and immediately knelton one knee; only Vladimirremained standing.

‘No matter whathappens to me or to our brothers in this room, it shall remain theresponsibility of all brothers to serve and protect this manuscript. Withoutit, our very existence shall perish. King Philip will attempt to take the restof our treasures, the daggers, the jewels, and the goblets; he is not to becrossed. We shall sacrifice our gold for our future. I have faith in our churchand our holy father the Pope; he shall not fail us in our hour of need.’

A commotion brokeout among the knights, only to be subdued by Geoffroi de Charnay, de Molay’sright-hand man. Vladimirlooked distraught over the task ahead. De Molay passed Vladimira small parcel wrapped in a brown paper like material, stood up, and placed hishand upon Vladimir’sshoulder.

‘Within this packageis my caul, Vladimir.It is the only way you can prove your identity and the only way the Brotherhoodwill accept you. Should you be captured along the way, itmust be destroyed? The Catholic Church must never be allowed to possess such apowerful symbol. Therefore, I must remind all of you before you depart that ourmain joint objective is to preserve the existence of the Brotherhood at allcosts; this means protecting the manuscript. When I talk of the Brotherhood, Iuse the term loosely. You all know that we are many singular groups;nevertheless, we all worship the Grand Architect of the Universe, and we areall governed by God’s personification here on earth, the Brotherhood ofNazarenes. Your journeys will take you to lands far away, and along thesejourneys, you will encounter many enemies; however, you all know where to seekshelter.’

De Molay hugged Vladimir, whispering anancient Brotherhood blessing, as a tear trickled down his cheek. ‘You musttravel to Salon-de-Provence, Vladimir.Once there, you will be greeted by the monks of the Order and led to a place ofsafety. They will then ask to see the caul. Being high priest caulbearers, themonks will know it belongs to me. Then, and only then, will you receive yourfinal orders.

‘You will choosefour Templar brothers to travel with you on your journey to our leaders. Therest will stay by my side and fight for our honour. You must travel swiftly, Vladimir, for our veryexistence depends on you.’

The meeting wasinterrupted; the King’s men had arrived. The charge was heresy. The plea wasnot guilty. The result was fatal.

With the sacredmanuscript intact, Vladimir and his companions managed to escape. De Molay andde Charnay were arrested, but the remaining knights were true to their oath andwere brave till the end. The five Templar brothers were murdered, stabbed inthe left side of the neck with ceremonious daggers, and later burnt at thestake. De Molay and de Charnay were imprisoned.

Constantly underpressure from King Philip, the Pope disbanded the Order in 1312. Almost twoyears later, on March 18, 1314, three cardinals sent by the pope sentenced deMolay and de Charnay to life imprisonment. Realizing that all was lost, deMolay rose up and recanted, proclaiming the Order’s innocence. Philipimmediately ordered de Molay and de Charnay to be taken to the Isle desJuifs, where they were executed, burnt at the stake. From the flames, de Molaycursed both Philip and Clement V, saying that he would summon them before God’sTribunal before the year was out.

Believing the two tobe the last remaining leaders of the Templars, the king, with his debts nowcleared, could put his plan into action.

However, a littleover a month later, Pope Clement V died on April 20, 1314. Seven months later,King Philip fell from a horse while out riding and died on November 29, 1314.

Unknown to Philip atthe time of his death, the caulbearer fraction had taken refuge amongst anothersecret brotherhood and, thus, under this secret umbrella, lived on.

SYNOPSIS

2011-07-07T13:17:00.024+02:00

THECAULBEARER

“YoungTierney”

SYNOPSIS

Salon-de-Provence, France 1566.

Upon his deathbed, AlchemistProphet and Physician Michel de Nostrédame revealed his secret son, his sacredbook, and accompanying them a devastating prophecy.

Justas Nostradamus had predicted the arrival of the chosen one, so had he predictedhis own death. In doing so, he knew he had to pass on the sacred book and withit the legacy of the Caulbearers. The only person he could trust was his closefriend John Tierney I. The book contains the Caulbearers bloodlines, macabresecrets, prophecies, and shattering revelations that have been hidden forcenturies.

Almostfive hundred years later a child is born. Unlike any other child of his time,Young Tierney is born behind the Veil, a Caulbearer- King by right of birth, -and he guards an awe-inspiring ancient secret. The result is a grippingadventure starting with the chosen ones arrival. He will be known as “TheCaulbearer”.

Destinyhas chosen Young Tierney as the sacred books final and rightful owner. With theknowledge imprinted in his deepest memories, passed on from his ancestorsand combined with the secrets of the book, Young Tierney discovers the answersto a lifetime of inexplicable dreams and visions.

FromCIA and MI5 agents, to murderer’s mafia and secret codes, from Ireland andEngland to Boston and Berlin, the drama moves at a rapid pace with YoungTierney always one-step ahead, that is, until the CIA chiefs finally decideit’s gone too far, and choose to pull the plug. Young Tierney, forced to fleeto Berlin, meets and befriends a casino owner by the name of Frankie Schulz.Frankie has just one thing in mind:

Frankiesoon forgets about the riches as he sees the mysteries of the Caulbearer unfoldbefore his very own eyes. Tierney is sanctioned as a “section 151”, a danger tosociety, and the subject of an elaborate assassination plot. General Hanks isthe man giving the orders. Hank’s has a reputation as broad as his grin, butTierney has an advantage no one could possibly begin to imagine! Could HanksSucceed? Could divine intervention really exist? The odds and the physical elementsare against the Caulbearer, but with the gods on his side, the race ison.............

To becontinued….

Copyright: M.A.Martin mrmima@yahoo.de or info@the-caulbearer.com

THE CAULBEARER

PROLOGUE

SYNOPSIS