When King Henry of France and Pope Innocent decreed in the early fourteenth century the end of the Order of the Temple and burned alive their main leaders, they could not achieve one of their main objectives: to seize the treasure of the Order. It was shipped surreptitiously in the port of La Rochelle to the coast of Scotland, and from there it began a long journey throughout centuries, which led part of the treasure to the beaches of South America.
A child finds in the Patagonian beaches some strange stones carved with text  fragments written in Latin and a cross of eight points. This triggers the action in the present, when the child´s family members, including a Mexican archaeologist of Maya ancestry and her husband analyze the stones. Realizing the Templar origin of the inscriptions, it begins an arduous quest to uncover the fate of the treasure. First contact is a Swiss anthropologist living in the city of Bariloche, in a region of lakes of the Argentine Patagonia. One of their surprising findings is that there are still descendants of the Templars forming a millenarian brotherhood advocated by the values of their ancestors, based in remote areas of the Andean-Patagonian forests. Thither are headed the scientist in a research expedition. Their departure is detected however  by a group of large-scale predators of cultural, artistic and archaeological treasures acting internationally, led by a mysterious former KGB colonel. They send a powerful armed group in the footsteps of the explorers.
Scientists make contact with members of the brotherhood, jealous care of their heritage, that includes not only material goods but one of Christianity's holiest objects according to the medieval conception.
Guided by the archaeologist, equipped with a special sensitivity for the detection of arcane, searchers are directed to a point inaccessible forest, in their search of the treasure .It is in  those places where bursts a bloody conflict between the warring factions.

The Knights Templar are Back

The preparations took two days. The number of participants was limited because the organizers wanted to be discreet about the search. They invited Teresa, Marcelo, Emil and Amalric who had taken part in the discovery and Chevalier Sant Just. By the local chapter were selected de Guiscard and eleven members including logically Waldir. Since they would have to move the cave heavy stone door and it would presumably be closed, travel along several tunnels and move heavy objects, a total of seventeen people, including three women, did not seem excessive. 


Chapter 19