A whole summer had come and gone since Merrily had seen him last. His hair was still long and rough but more yellow-white, now, like old bone, his dog collar faded to the colour of parchment.
He likes the effect he has, she thought, one hand on the kettle, one hand on the tap. This combination of old hippie and Victorian scholar. He’s very much aware of his image.
She hadn’t been back from Garway more than a few minutes before he’d trudged in with his case, a hand raised to Merrily, a nod to Mrs Morningwood, before pulling out a chair and spreading papers and books over the refectory table like dealing hands of cards.
‘I thought you weren’t coming till this afternoon.’
‘Got someone to see at two. Might be a bit knackered after that, Merrily. Up far too late last night, thanks to you.’
‘Sorry.’
‘No consideration, this lass. Leave that for now. Sit down here. Read this.’
‘This is Huw Owen. Mrs Morningwood, Huw.’
‘Oh aye?’
Huw looked up over his reading glasses. Mrs Morningwood was wearing black jeans and another Army sweater with shoulder patches. Her injuries looked like war wounds and, if anything, worse than last night. One eye was half-closed and weeping; she wiped it with a tissue and put on her sunglasses.
‘I’ve got a sore shoulder,’ Huw said. ‘Reckon you can do owt?’
‘Massage, Mr Owen?’
‘I were thinking summat in a pot.’
‘That can be arranged.’
‘Ta.’
Outside, it had started to rain out of a half-blue sky. Merrily accepted the pages of text Huw was waving at her, glimpsing a Maltese cross before he grabbed them back.
‘Save you some time and bullshit.’ He turned over a couple of the sheets, tapped a paragraph. ‘Start there.’
‘What is it?’
‘It’s about how to become a Knight Templar,’ Huw said.
‘Now or then?’
‘For you, never. It’s a lads’ thing.’
Answer:
‘This somebody’s primary school project, Huw?’
‘Save the sarcasm. Over the page and read the bit I’ve marked.’
Merrily sat down. Under the heading Obligation, she read about the pilgrim having his staff and cross taken away in exchange for a sword, placed in his hand by the Grand Commander.
After which, he swore that he would never knowingly take the blood of a brother Templar, but espouse the brother Templar’s cause, knowing it to be just. And if he failed …
‘Oh dear.’
… May my skull be sawn asunder with a rough saw, my brains taken out and put in a charger to be consumed by the scorching sun and my skull in another charger, in commemoration of St John of Jerusalem, that first faithful soldier and martyr of our Lord and Saviour. If ever I wilfully deviate from this my solemn obligation, may my light be put out from among men, as that of Judas Iscariot was for betraying his Lord and Master.
Merrily sighed, put down the papers. ‘Masons.’
‘Masonic Order of Knights Templar,’ Huw said. ‘But fear not. Only Christians are admitted.’
‘That’s good to know.’
‘It’s in the rules, lass.’
‘If you’re going to have your skull sawn open and your brains fried, best to have it done by a good Christian, that’s what I always say.’ Merrily propped her elbows on the table, chin falling into cupped hands. ‘Huw, I’m feeling tired already. This is a big subject, I’m a little woman. I know nothing about Freemasonry.’
‘Why I’ve come over, lass. I’m a man, and I know a fair bit.’
‘What?’ She looked up. ‘Does that mean …?’
‘No. Not that I haven’t been approached, mind. Twice, in fact.’
‘Since being ordained?’
‘
‘They actually … dress up like Templars?’
‘Oh aye. Full bit. Costs an arm and a leg for a full Templar kit, but they get it back. One way or t’ other.’
‘So I’ve heard. Huw …’
Huw looked at her, thin smile.
‘Why do I need to know this? Are you telling me the Bishop of Hereford …?’
‘That’d be nice, wouldn’t it? But, sadly, Brother Dunmore, according to my information, never progressed beyond basic Craft Masonry and hasn’t been to a Lodge meeting for a number of years. Although the bugger’s never formally resigned.’
‘Why would a man like Bernie get into it in the first place?’
‘Happen his dad were in it. That’s how it usually happens. Fathers, brothers. Family tradition.’
‘What do they get out of it? Apart from contacts and favours. Allegedly.’
‘Get out what you put in. Most of ’em, it’s a social club. Relaxed night out. Well, relaxed after you’ve gone through the bit where they hold you at knifepoint. For others, it’s a spiritual journey. Sounds like a joke, but for some it becomes just part of your life — it
‘Leading to?’
‘The light. Masonic light. You’re travelling towards enlightenment. Through knowledge.’
‘Gnosticism.’
‘A prominent Mason, Canon Richard Tydeman, said — famously — that trying to describe the joys of Masonry to an outsider was like trying to describe the joys of motherhood to a spinster.’
‘How would he know?’
‘Suffice to say it brings a sense of order and direction and personal satisfaction to men who were just meandering along. Gives their lives a very clear focus. Whether this—’ Huw shook the papers ‘—mirrors any actual Templar rituals we’ll never know because the Templars never wrote owt down, but it’s become one of the most popular and sought-after degrees in Masonry. Read the next bit.’
The sword is taken from the candidate and a skull placed in his hand
Furthermore, may the soul that once inhabited this skull, as the representative of John the Baptist, appear against me in the day of judgement …
‘What’s that say to you, lass?’
‘Baphomet,’ Mrs Morningwood said, and Huw smiled at her and stretched his legs under the table, hands behind his head.
‘One major theory is that Baphomet translates as
‘And that’s the Christian bit, is it?’ Merrily said.
‘Or the Christian veneer. Borrow a Biblical figure, make him your own. Regular, ground-floor Masonry you only have to accept a supreme ruler of the universe. Whose name, for the record, is Jahbulon, which they’re not supposed to say outside the temple. And which opponents of Masonry say is a weird combination of Christian and Satanic — principally, Jah, for Jehovah, and Baal, the opponent or Devil. The Methodists brought out a report in
