A few villagers had gathered near the visitors to the glen. All eyes were on Laurent rather than on Guillaume and his sons. They were familiar with the three of them who made twice yearly journeys to the village.

“Laurent, I didn’t see you,” laughed Enguerrand. “You appeared as if by magic. How did you do it?”

This was the second time the boys had met Laurent.

“Well, it certainly isn’t because I am dressed fashionably,” Laurent added with his typical dry humour. “You can do the same, Enguerrand. It’s all in how you move through the forest, being at one with the forest instead of someone who belongs someplace else.”

Guillaume bowed to Laurent, an act which caught both young men by surprise. After all, it was their father who was the noble, not Laurent.

“It is time, Laurent, to reveal the truth about your relationship to my sons.” Turning to face his sons whose attention he had gained with the comment, he continued. “Louis, Enguerrand, Laurent isn’t just a forester as he appears to be.”

The villagers formed a circle around the four men once they had approached the sacred stone. Standing beside the stone was a woman the young men had never seen before in the village. For a moment they began to worry that the secret of the village had been breached. Then they saw their father make a deep bow to the woman. Louis and Enguerrand, saw the woman begin to glow with a golden light with Laurent standing beside her also beginning to be surrounded by an aura of gold. As they stared in amazement, the light became so intense that they fell to their knees with heads bowed.

“Rise sons of Guillaume,” called out the woman’s pure voice.

“Rise sons of Guillaume,” echoed Laurent’s voice which had somehow become fuller and richer.

The boys dared to look up and felt approval in Laurent’s eyes. They turned to see their father standing proudly beside them.

“It is time, Guillaume,” repeated Laurent.

“Sons,” Guillaume began, “I have told you of the old faith, and the ancient gods and goddesses of our ancestors. You are descendants of the gods and goddesses. Before you stand Brighid, goddess of the sun, and Lugh, god of the sun. We are in service to them. They are the inspiration that has birthed the Templars.”

~

And so it came to pass that Enguerrand and Louis joined the ranks of those tasked with the preservation of the old faith. Louis was sent to Scotland where his uncle, Pierre, had carried much of the fortunes of the family and the Knights Templar. In 1154, Louis fathered a daughter, Ada de Longpré. Ada soon earned the nickname off “countess Ada” from her father who claimed her as his favourite.

~

Laurent stood beside Louis de Fontaines de Longpré at the reception being held for the representatives from Palestine being held by the new English King, Henry II. Most of the other nobles present, were French Normans by descent or representatives of the various French provinces that had been added to his rule before becoming King of England.

“Our King has amassed quite the empire,” Louis spoke as an aside to Laurent. “And you, you haven’t aged a day since I first saw you. How do you manage to avoid being discovered for who you really are? There are many who would turn you into the church to be burnt as a witch.”

“Yes, Henry is advancing our plan although he doesn’t know it,” Laurent returned ignoring the question. “Despite his methods, Henry has finally secured a peace treaty with King Stephen. The Templar brotherhood has inspired Henry to extend his reach with hopes of adding Wales and Ireland to the empire that Henry is desperately trying to build.”

“Are you sure it wasn’t Eleanor, who is behind his insatiable hunger for power?” joked Louis. King Louis VII of France had his marriage to Eleanor annulled due to her inability to produce a male heir for King Louis during their fifteen years of marriage. Eleanor had wasted no time in marrying Henry who was eleven years younger than her.

“Of course,” Laurent agreed. “She is after all, from Aquitaine. King Louis is going to rue the day he let her go as Henry will seize more of France when all is said and done. But enough of that. I am here to let you know that your daughter, Ada, will have a child out of wedlock with Henry. Despite Eleanor’s power, Henry will continue to find pleasure with other women, especially younger women.”