The Templar's Heart

The troops rode on even closer.  Gregory walked, as if in a daze, out into the road to gain a better look at this person, this apparition.  Someone was speaking to this small knight, an older man, the General.  He was tall and handsome, and definitely in charge.  The knight smiled back at him, and that smile; that one innocent gesture contained all the proof Gregory would ever need.  Gregory knew this knight could be none other than his Rachael, his lost lamb.  It had to be her, with no hair and dressed so oddly.  He didn’t care, he knew what he saw, and he saw Rachael!  Without thinking he went running toward the soldiers, yelling her name at the top of his lungs.  “Rachael!  Rachael!” Rachael turned to the side, and looked at the young man running toward them.  “Gregory…?” she replied, in low and astonished tones.  It was him.  She knew it for certain, but what was he doing here? Gregory saw the immediate recognition on her face; he could make out his name on her lips as she spoke it.  She had seen him, and she had recognized him too.  There was no doubt in his mind that he had found Rachael.  “Rachael, what is it!”  Thomas demanded.  He saw the commotion ahead, and had heard her name called from the distance.  “Thomas, I think it is Gregory.  I cannot face him.  Please do something.”  She slowed her horse, letting other knights pass in front of her.  Let them be the barrier she needed to keep away the distress she felt.  She still loved Gregory, but Thomas was her husband and had become everything to her.  There was no returning to the choices she once could have made, that was all in the past now.  Gregory ran towards the troops.  He saw the look of confusion and anguish come over Rachael’s face.  He saw her backing away through the crowd.  “No!”  He screamed.  “Rachael!”  He yelled as he ran toward her.  Knights immediately surrounded him.  Gregory found himself in the middle of a dozen mounted soldiers; and he found himself at sword point.  “Who is this lunatic that calls one of our ranks by a woman’s name?”  Michael called out to Gregory insistently.  All Gregory could see were huge horses, and armed men.  Thaddeus tried to break through to help, but he too was quickly detained at the end of several swords.  “That is no knight!  That is Rachael, my betrothed!  I have known that woman all my life!”  Gregory demanded.  He was frustrated and breathless. “That my friend, is a Knight of the York Order of Templars, and you are either blind or drunk.”  Michael retorted, as the official spokesperson. The rest of the knights, Rachael and Thomas included, rode by quickly and continued down the road.  Rachael looked back behind her.  She caught a fleeting glimpse of Gregory, and they made eye contact again.  She turned to Thomas with a deep concern in her voice and asked, “they won’t hurt him will they Thomas?”  Tears streamed down her cheeks, and her voice was hoarse and flat. “No Rachael, they will not hurt him.”  But Thomas was hurt.  He found he was rather upset by the obvious fact that Rachael seemed to still care for this man.  He pushed the thought out of his mind.  Jealousy was an ugly emotion, and Rachael had not done anything wrong.  Yet, it still bothered him.