...The gatekeeper of Inverness Castle peered out a small viewing window at eye level.
"I am the Chevalier Auguste de Cavallon. Do me a favor, give this medallion to Father Leopold," the Chevalier took the medallion from his neck and handed it to the gatekeeper.
The gatekeeper immediately opened the wicket for Chevalier.
"Come on in."
The gatekeeper, not yet old, a gray-haired, trim monk, dressed in a dark blue cassock, gestured for the chevalier to follow him. The little pony was taken in by a groom, also dressed in dark blue clothes.
Then another monk appeared. The gatekeeper handed him the guest's medallion. He twirled it in his hands, and then turned his gaze to the Chevalier. Auguste did not like his cold penetrating look, and he involuntarily felt a cold in his chest.
The monk returned the medallion to the Chevalier, turned sharply and said over his shoulder:
"Come after me!"
Auguste was led through the endless corridors of the castle. Having overcome the spiral staircase, he thought: "Yes, it's better not to walk around the castle alone, you can get lost ..."
A group of monks dressed in blue and green cassocks passed by him, quickly in a military manner. On the necks of the monks, in green robes, the chevalier managed to notice silver medallions.
Finally, Auguste and the monk accompanying him reached their destination. The monk opened the door and disappeared behind it. Auguste looked around. At some point, the castle seemed empty to him.
But the door opened again, and the monk appeared.
"Father Leopold will receive you," he said.
Auguste entered a small office. An elderly man was sitting at the table. Auguste remarked to himself, with genuine interest, that his cassock was terracotta. And on the neck of a high-ranking monk was a golden medallion. The owner of the office looked up from the documents lying on the table and fixed his eyes on the guest. The monk who had accompanied Auguste closed the door tightly and stood beside the door with his arms folded across his chest.
Father Leopold, and it was he, and Auguste looked at each other with undisguised mutual interest. All the monks that Auguste managed to see here in Inverness, including Father Leopold himself, were like twin brothers alike: gray-haired and with a military bearing.
Father Leopold smiled.
"Show me your medallion."
Auguste placed the medallion on the table in front of the 'terracotta' monk. He looked at it carefully and nodded in the affirmative.
"There is no doubt that it was this medallion that I gave to Monsignor Jacques de Molay more than twenty years ago, when he was Master of England."
Chevalier was mentally surprised: "How could he determine that the medallion belonged to the Grand Master de Molay? It only shows the Templar cross and nothing else! Maybe Father Leopold sees something that others do not see?"
Father Leopold smiled again. Auguste had the feeling that he was reading his mind. The 'Terracotta' monk didn't ask too many questions. The de Molay medallion was a kind of password. If a person showed a medallion, then he needs help and shelter.
Auguste was accommodated in a small room with a window overlooking Loch Ness, from which a picturesque view opened. The Chevalier laid out his simple possessions. He put the figurine, the bag of gold and the cup into the chest, covering them with a cloak on top. The furnishings of the room in Inverness Castle exactly reminded him of the furnishings in Limassol Castle, with the only difference being that there was a splashing sea down there, against the walls of a Mediterranean castle, while here there was a lake.
Chevalier refreshed himself with pleasure from a bowl of water, after which he put on a dark blue cassock. Father Leopold allowed the new monk to keep the gold medallion, but warned that at his level of training, the medallion was not supposed to be worn. From what Auguste concluded: monks in blue...
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