Chapter 8

The retinue of the small contingent of Knights Templar numbered slightly less than a score of individuals. They were mostly male but some were of the female persuasion without the guise of femininity that would tempt dedicated warriors of Christ from their appointed tasks.

Judging from their demeanor, Rowena suspected the females were displaced former nuns similar to her own situation. They all appeared noticeably literate with quills, ink and scrolls forever in their sphere like the Knight’s accoutrements of warfare ready to hand and part of their “persona”. Rowena did her best to blend into the background in their presence because she was uncertain with their reaction to the fact that she was a female, difficult to decipher, somewhere in between their nun-like assistants, and the giggling girls that fluttered about them with carnal intent written in red letters across their pretty faces.

Of the three Knights Templar fighters, the most libidinous was Sir Rodrigo. His Sicilian heritage was hot-blooded and rooted in the dust of centuries of religious conformity. He was particularly close to his beautiful mother, a widow of respected standing in the mountainous region of his birth. She was reputed to be both mature in years but “tight” as a virgin in matters of a carnal nature. It was painful to Sir Rodrigo to think of his beautiful Madonna in such a base manner and he compensated for his distress by secretly anointing carefully selected older females with his restorative fluids of redemptive creamy formulae in a fully discreet fashion of measured nocturnal bliss. He never boasted of his carnal conquests for the sole reason of pretended chastity in accordance with his well-intended vows. He had come to the conclusion that his weakness for older women dressed in widow’s garb and still possessed of almost virginal tightness was a path designed by God for his spiritual evolvement and a true test of his carnal desires. He seldom spoke to the female receptacles of his heavenly fluids for fear of being drawn into some sort of conspiracy of concupiscence that would drain his physical form and endanger his soul for all eternity.

Rowena had witnessed his systematically sublime seduction of a neighbor of Lady Cordelia achieved with little effort and scant few words of encouragement to lead her astray. The exercise gave her ample warning of the dangers of falling under the control of the man’s demanding passion and she kept him at arm’s length as diplomatically as possible.

The poor gentlewoman of stunning beauty and fine figure walked with measured gait up the circular stairs to her appointed bed-chamber for removal of her all-black costume and exposure of her milk-white skin. It was as if she was under a trance that robbed her of her free will to resist the advances of the devious but dedicated religious man with needs of the flesh that required her temporary sacrifice of chaste purity for the greater glory of God in all of his mysterious ways too complicated to comprehend by mere mortals. She opened up for Sir Rodrigo with a little smile of submissiveness and a sense that a refreshing bath would restore her loss of dignity.

Rowena looked at Lady Alice with a constrained feeling of pity. In a way, she knew her pity was misplaced because deep in her heart, she wished that it was her ascending the stairs to offer up her youthful flesh to the closed fist of God in a way that would satisfy her physical being as well as her ingrained moral strength of character ever willing to sacrifice all in the never-ending journey on the path to redemption.

The dark-haired daughter of Robin Hood was kneeling in docile reverie inside the tiny chapel next to the main gathering room of the castle when Sir Lawrence strode in with all the pomp and circumstance of a Knights Templar intent on his mission to communicate with God. She huddled under the shield of her forest green hood and tried her best to shrink into a puddle of invisibility in the corner pew made of hand-split oak. She drew her cloak tighter around her shivering body hoping the handsome Knight would not notice her presence in the darkened room. This part of the castle was particularly cold in the hours of darkness due to lack of any fireplace to warm the chilly winter’s air. The adjoining great room was much warmer with its well-tended fire and cheerful light of many candles to illuminate the far corners in every direction. She wanted only to withdraw and silently repair to the room and the comfortable sense of hidden presence in the midst of talkative maidens all chattering about the visitors of battlefield fame. It was easy to understand Sir Lawrence’s desire to be alone in the chapel to restore his equilibrium in the face of such candid admiration. The temptation to reward one of the pretty little things thoughts of carnal bliss with intimate relations had crossed his usually prayer-filled mind but he had driven it away from fruition because he feared the damage to his immortal soul.

Lawrence glanced at the shrouded shadow in the corner and dismissed him/her as not worthy of notice when more important things occupied his thoughts. He immediately started to recite his customary litany of prayer and clasped his hands together like just another poor soul seeking the true path to eternal salvation. Unfortunately, his past transgressions in the midst of battle and the struggle for survival caused him great distress and he moaned in sincere regret for his often violent aggressions against the infidels with mean-spirited and sometimes evil intent. He asked forgiveness for his sinful use of the infidel females as a matter of convenience in the sex-starved fields of dangerous existence. Some of them were so draped with fabrics of every description that he had to imagine the curves still hidden from view. The foreign females were mostly submissive for the coins he freely gave, but a few were drawn to the size of his hulking body and the strangeness of other world intimacy. In actuality, he was unable to remember a single name or a memorable face and only the warmth of their enveloping flesh gave him pause before he started his daily prayers.