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Thank you. It's dawn on October 13,37, in a grand walled residence in Paris, France.

Jacques de Mollet sleeps soundly in his bed.

Although Jacques is in his 60s, he's in good health.

He's the grand master of the Knights Templar,

a powerful and wealthy religious order of the Catholic Church.

Jacques has given a lifetime of service to the order.

He's become so important that yesterday he was given the honor of acting as a pallbearer at a royal funeral,

that of Catherine of Cortinay, sister-in-law of acting as a pallbearer at a royal funeral, that of Catherine

of Courtney, sister-in-law of the French king, Philip IV. But Philip is wary of the influence

that Jacques wields. The relationship between the Templars and the French crown is strained.

Jacques wakes suddenly. Someone is pounding on the door to his bedchamber, so he rises and opens the door to a concerned-looking fellow knight who tells Jacques they're under attack.

Hurriedly, Jacques follows the knight downstairs and out into the courtyard, where shouts from the street beyond the walls echo through the early morning.

But before Jacques can ask, who's making such a racket, the gates to the Templar compound

are forced open, and a stream of heavily armed men charges into the courtyard.

A few Templar knights try to stand in their way, but the strangers quickly subdue them.

Then, one of the armed men spots Jacques's

distinctive bald head and full beard, pointing in his direction. Strangers move menacingly toward Jacques

and order him to surrender. Jacques's eyes blaze with anger as he tells them to leave the holy

...