House of Acerbi

castle, and her husband, Armand Acerbi, was its lord. Before he had departed for battle, Acerbi had given these two soldiers orders to protect his wife and young daughter with their lives.

“Come, Catherine … you must keep up!”

“I’m coming!” Catherine cried. She looked up and saw her mother and the two soldiers disappear around a corner. Scrambling up the steps, Catherine caught sight of them running down a long corridor to her mother’s bedroom. Posting the guards outside, Marie motioned Catherine inside and closed the door. Marie crossed the room to a blackened fireplace and removed a stone block from the wall above the mantle. From a hollowed-out space, she removed a small wooden box-a box that young Catherine had never seen before. Placing the box on the table, Catherine’s mother slowly opened the lid and lifted three parchment scrolls from inside. She held them to her breast and closed her eyes for a brief moment before fixing Catherine with a look that caused the child to step back in fear.

“Here, little one … take these. You must keep them safe. Hide them well and guard them always.”

“Ce qui est errone, Mere? What’s wrong, mother?”

“There are men outside the walls. Bad men. Your father has gone to fight them. The soldiers outside the door will take you to the tunnels beneath the castle. Hide these scrolls inside your tunic and go with them. Do what they say, Catherine. They will take you to my sister’s house in Carcassonne.”

“I want to stay with you, Mere!”

“I must wait for your father to return, Cherie.”

With the sounds of battle outside growing louder, Marie Acerbi rushed to the open window and gasped. An army of mounted invaders dressed in black had just blown through her husband’s small band of men.

It had been a senseless gesture trying to defend this pile of stone, Marie thought to herself. But deep down inside, she knew that her husband had been defending much more than just stone. He had been defending his family and the honor of his people.

In the valley below, Marie saw a bearded man on a white horse looking down at the bloodied body of her husband lying next to his men in the field of trampled sunflowers. The man on the horse then swiveled in his saddle and looked up at the castle, and for a brief second it seemed to Marie that their eyes had met in an icy embrace. From the edge of the window, she watched as he turned to a soldier beside him and pointed to the hill. With the sun reflecting off his blood-splattered armor, the soldier waved his sword in the air and began galloping toward the castle. Within minutes, the dark invaders were swarming up the hill from all directions, their hearts pounding and their veins still engorged from the adrenaline-fueled frenzy of battle.

“You must go now, Catherine!”

“No, Mere! Come with me.”

“No, my sweet. My place is here. Your father and I will be together soon. Go now, and guard these scrolls with your life. You must pass them on to your children, and they must pass them on to theirs. Do you understand my little dove?”

Tears welled up in young Catherine’s eyes. “Yes, Mere.”

Marie held her daughter close before opening the door to her room and nodding to the two soldiers outside.

“Watch over my daughter and remember my words well, for if my husband had not left you behind to guard his only child, your bodies would now be lying next to his in the field below. Your lives have been spared so that you would live to deliver his only child to my sister’s house in Carcassonne. You have been given a sacred trust, and if you fail in my husband’s final command to you, your very souls will be doomed to hell for all eternity!”

The two soldiers exchanged frightened glances as they both dropped to their knees and bowed their heads.

Good, she thought, smiling to herself. Her speech to the two soldiers had obviously assured that they would pass through hell itself to deliver her daughter to safety. She bent down and took Catherine’s small face in her hands before kissing her gently on the forehead.

“Goodbye, Cherie. I promise we will see each other again one day.”

Marie stared into the eyes of her daughter before she stood and walked back into her room. Without looking back, she slowly closed the door.

One of the soldiers grabbed Catherine in his arms and the two men began running down a winding stairway. Beyond the castle walls, they could hear the rattle of armor and the whinny of the horses as a huge battering ram beat rhythmically against the castle’s massive wooden doors.

Rounding a corner, they continued down a hidden staircase that led to the tunnels below. Stopping only to light a torch, they ran as fast as they could through the labyrinth of underground passageways, until finally, they emerged a half mile away, below a cliff that rose sharply above the river.

At the top of the cliff, Catherine spied a neighboring castle that appeared to be deserted. Apparently, its residents had witnessed the attack on the Acerbi castle and had wisely decided to flee in advance of the murderous army that was now sweeping across the land.

Scouting their surroundings before moving on, the two soldiers pressed into the surrounding forest, taking turns holding young Catherine in their arms as they ran, each knowing that they were bringing favor upon themselves from God above in delivering this child from harm.

As the forest greenery closed in behind them, Catherine peered over the shoulder of the running soldier and saw flames leaping from her castle home on the hilltop in the distance. She knew that her mother was still there, and that somehow, her spirit was now entwined in the rising dark smoke.

Everything that little Catherine had loved was now gone. Both her parents and the castle she had lived in since the day she was born were now nothing but memories. Ashes to ashes-dust to dust. Fighting back the tears, she gazed up at the intact but abandoned castle on the cliff above. There, sitting on a large white horse, was the bearded man. Soon, he was joined by other men-the same men who had just attacked her castle and were now spreading out over the land in search of other castles to attack.

Catherine reached up with one hand and pushed the scrolls further down into her tunic. Her mother had told her to keep them safe … and keep them safe she would.

Looking back up at the man on the horse, she saw him looking out over the forest, as if somehow he knew that there was another Acerbi out there somewhere, another lamb for the slaughter.

Keeping her eyes fixed on the man, little Catherine watched as he wheeled his horse around and disappeared back down the hill. A deep rage rose up within the child, and at that very moment she knew that her destiny had been set. As soon as she was older, she would seek out the man on the horse-and vengeance would be hers.

CHAPTER 1

Oosterbeek-The Netherlands

Present Day

Rene Acerbi’s dark blue limo swept through the main gate of the fashionable resort and continued along a tree-lined road until it reached the hotel’s new, Euro-futuristic-looking conference center. Stepping from the car, Acerbi looked up at the architectural work of art rising above him. He had paid for the building, but up until now he had only seen the architect’s flat, one-dimensional drawings. Sheathed in reflective silver metal, the giant, egg- shaped structure was much more impressive in real life.

Two years before, Acerbi had walked into the architect’s office to look at the plans.

“What is it?”

“It’s an egg, Mr. Acerbi. It signifies new birth … the theme you requested.”

Acerbi spent several minutes staring at the blueprints on the drafting table, pondering the shape of the building, until finally a tight smile crossed his lips. “I like it. You may proceed with construction.”

Now, walking through the front door for the first time, he removed his coat and handed it to one of the security men walking by his side as they followed a long curving hallway lined with floor-to-ceiling glass along the outside wall. Continuing on, they passed through the blue-carpeted space until they came to a pair of stainless steel doors that led to the center’s large auditorium. Acerbi paused and looked back at the men in suits before taking a