Gene of Isis

and Aquitaine began to pour into the valley below Montsegur.

By the last day of the year of 1243, several attempts had been made by our enemies to scale the Roc de la Tour, our first major defensive position on the mount. Our knights feared that the Crown would capture the position before long.

For the first time since I had arrived at Montsegur, having fled Narbonne with my younger sister, it was feared that the church could seize the sacred treasure currently housed in the fortress and so plans to shift it to safer keeping had to be made.

In normal circumstances, such conspiracies are hardly a woman’s business, but as my sister and I, by virtue of our bloodline, were charged with delivering the ancient treasure to Montsegur prior to the fall of Narbonne, it again has fallen to us to decide where best our family legacy can be delivered for preservation and security.

As a scholar, scribe and a daughter of the blood, it is my duty to keep a record of the plight of my family and our holy legacy, so that in future ages the truth might be known. Our days would seem numbered and yet I intend to record our plight until I draw final breath and leave the barbarity of the world of the dark lord, Rex Mundi, behind to find my eternal repose in the higher kingdoms of the god of love. JANUARY 10^TH 1244

On the first of January, a courier from Saint-Paul-Cap-de-Joux arrived bearing letters from our brethren in Cremona. With the aid of an ancient map, this courier, Jean Ray, managed to bypass our besiegers, who were growing more and more discouraged by their lack of progress. The fact that this man negotiated a safe passage through our mountain gave we Perfecti of Montsegur hope that our secret treasure might be dispatched from this fortress in safety—but to what destination?

A meeting of our church and political leaders was held that evening and Bishop Bertrand Marty suggested that we test the route we were to take out of the fortress, and to that end, two warriors were assigned to follow Jean Ray as he retraced his steps back down the mountain with what remained of Montsegur’s treasury. We would send the party to the chateau of Blancheford, near Rennes-Le-Chateau. There, the descendants of the late Bertrand de Blanchefort, the fourth Grand Master of the Temple knights, still maintained contact with the inner order of the knights known as the ‘Chevaliers de l’Ordre de Notre Dame de Sion’, the ‘Prieure de Sion’, or just ‘P.S.’. If our warriors got through, they could also ask for assistance for Montsegur.

The priestesses of the Holy Mother have had a secret connection with the knightly order since 1127, the year that a part of the sacred treasure that I am bound to protect was entrusted to my order. The Grand Master of the Order of Sion at the time, who carried the title of the Defender of the Sacred Sepulchre, was Hugues de Payens. He headed a party of Temple knights who journeyed from Jerusalem to the Champagne Court at Troyes carrying many spoils from the first crusade. St Bernard, who was supervising the safe passage of the holy treasures through France, advised Hugues de Payens that two items amongst the holy bounty were best left with my sisters for safekeeping.

It had been the Order de Sion which had forewarned my order of the pending attack on Narbonne, requesting that the items guarded by my order be moved to Montsegur. I hoped that the Grand Master of the order could now suggest a secure destination for these items.

On the third of January our bishop’s plan was executed. Under the cover of darkness, two warriors and the courier would climb down the sheer western face of the mountain, and into a secret passage carrying the bulk of the city’s material wealth and a communique to the Grand Master of the P.S.

As we have had no word of the party’s capture, all we can do now is wait and hope for aid before it is too late.

Last night, Gascon mountain troops scaled the northeastern tip of the pog and finally succeeded in taking the Roc de la Tour. It will not be long before their catapults are in range of our fortress walls and then all will be lost. FEBRUARY 25^TH 1244

For the past two months there has been little to report but our slow defeat, destruction and death. Our enemies have effectively fought their way toward the fortress and now the Catholic catapults are close enough to launch their huge stone missiles into the inhabited terraces of Montsegur with fatal accuracy. The bodies of the dead are piling up and without excess wood to burn them, disease will surely be next.

Our warriors have launched several counterattacks in the hope of dislodging the enemy, but since their capture of the Roc de la Tour many reinforcements have arrived.

All hope of surviving this siege has now dissipated, and yet, so long as our sacred treasure remains concealed within Montsegur, surrender is not an option. We have been forced to consider evacuating our treasure without any directive from the P.S., for if we do not our worst fears will be realised. MARCH 2^ND 1244

Praise be to the Great Mother. Two nights ago our prayers for an end to this conflict, one way or another, were finally answered. In the past week we have lost several of our finest sergeants to stone missiles, so this godsend comes not a day too soon.

Our courier has finally returned with a knight of the order to which we appealed for help. The knight, surprisingly, is not a Frank, as are many of the Sion Order. He is a recruit from the Scottish faction, in the service of Marie de Saint-Clair, who inherited the position of Grand Master of the Sion Knights from her late husband Jean de Gisors upon his death in 1220.

This Grand Master has surprised me with the extent of her knowledge about my order and the treasures in our possession, and she has sent with her knight a very detailed plan as to how we should proceed to escape with these sacred items from Montsegur. I shall detail these orders as they come to pass, save unwelcome eyes should chance upon my work before our plan can be executed.

Yesterday, in accordance with Marie de Saint-Clair’s suggestion, our lord, Pierre-Roger Mirepoix, left the fortress to negotiate terms of surrender. Our enemy offered what, on the surface, appeared to be very generous terms. Our men-at-arms would receive a full pardon and could depart the fortress with all of their wealth and weapons. Our citizens, including we Perfecti, would be freed, provided we denounced our heretical beliefs. In other words, we must convert to the Church of Rome and in so doing must disclose our knowledge, and the whereabouts of those most sacred items which thousands of the faithful have martyred themselves to protect. A fifteen-day truce was granted so that we could consider the terms, at the end of which time Montsegur would be handed over to our invaders. In return for these generous terms, our lord agreed to hand over hostages to the Franks. If any among us tried to escape, the hostages would be killed.

These hostages were volunteers from our men-at-arms, who knew next to nothing about the sacred cause for which they fought, or of the secret plan behind our surrender.

As I watched the twenty knights march from the fortress, I prayed that I might do my job well. These imperfect