The Spymaster's Protection by S A Monk Read Free Book Online

Christian and Muslim alike. He no longer worked undercover, behind enemy
lines, as he had done in the beginning when Master Torroja had assigned him the
task, but he traveled far and wide, managing and controlling the Order’s vast
network of spies.
    He operated informants everywhere; at the court in Jerusalem,
in the homes of the nobility, the towns and villages, the ports, and the
various fortresses and houses of the military orders. His network stretched
into Saladin's camps and strongholds. Information was gathered from all over
the realm. He even had a contact at Rashid al Din Sinan’s headquarters in the
north. Not even the fanatical sect of Syrian Assassins or Hashshashin could
hide from his web of eyes and ears.
    Sabotage was not the job Lucien had come to the Holy Land to
perform, but he excelled at it. He could easily pass for a Saracen when dressed
as one. He was nearly as dark as the native peoples with his black hair, dark
brown eyes, and dark golden skin. He spoke the languages of the region
fluently, and he was familiar with most of their customs and habits. He knew
the Koran as well as the Bible. He never traveled with a companion, the way all
of his brothers did. He did not tonsure his hair, nor grow his beard overly
long because he still traveled into enemy territory occasionally.
    His life was a solitary one, and it had suited him well enough
for the most part, though he often felt torn between his dual heritages.
    He had learned to respect his enemy. He called many Muslims
friends, and he understood and even sympathized with their hatred of the
occupation of their land. He was idealistic enough to wish for a better
relationship between the two races, but practical enough to know it probably
would not occur on this earth. They were too divided, despite men like Saladin,
who was more enlightened and merciful than his predecessors.
    How could peace ever have a chance with men in command like
the current Grand Master of the Temple and Gabrielle's ambitiously greedy
husband, Reynald de Châtillon? And last year, they had lost the leadership of a
man Lucien had deeply respected, Baldwin IV. Despite his debilitating disease,
Baldwin had been a worthy King of Jerusalem. Even Saladin had respected him.
When not bed-ridden by his leprosy, he had led his countrymen with honor and
intelligence.
    Unfortunately, the current king did not walk well in his brother-in-law’s
shoes. Crowned by his wife, Queen Sibylla, sister of Baldwin IV, this past
October after a bloodless coup, Guy of Lusignan was respected by few men in the
kingdom, most especially Lucien's friend Count Raymond of Tripoli.
    Before Baldwin IV had died, he had made Raymond regent of his
underage nephew Baldwin V, Sibylla's sickly son. Awaiting word from Rome on who
would be the next King of Jerusalem, Raymond had tried to fulfill Baldwin IV's
wishes that Guy of Lusignan, Sibylla's second husband, not be put on the
throne. Then young Baldwin V had died this past August.
    Raymond had sent the little king's body to be buried in
Jerusalem, while he stayed in Tiberius, the seat of his wife’s southern fief.
With the underhanded support of Gérard de Ridefort and Reynald de Châtillon,
Acre and Beirut were seized in Sibylla's name, while she and her knights met in
Jerusalem. The Templar Grand Master and the Lord of Oultrejourdan, Reynald de
Châtillon, had watched supportively while the Patriarch of Jerusalem,
Heraclius, had crowned Sibylla in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. She, in
turn, had then placed the crown of the kingdom on her husband’s head.
    Her half-sister, Isabella, had been outwitted in her plot for
the throne, though at fourteen, her enthusiasm had been manufactured by a
second group within the kingdom that sought power. Nevertheless, that faction's
power evaporated when Isabella's comely youthful bridegroom made a secret
alliance with Guy and Sibylla in Jerusalem. Humphrey of Toron's defection ended
the rebellion and cemented the success