William

Fires incinerated the lord’s manor. The stench of burnt corpses consumed the air. A baby’s cries were heard by the local peasants who rushed to put out the blaze. The body of the lord’s wife, Mary, was found along with several guards. French assassins no doubt, thought the peasants. Matthias, a lowly peasant, lifted a baby boy out of a burning hay cart as his companions watched the manor crumble. The boy was no doubt William, the lord Henry’s son. Henry had gone to the Holy Land on some crusade for the Pope. “Now look at what your religious zeal has done to you my lord,” thought Matthias. Looking down at William’s horribly scorched body, Matthias thought he would not survive the night.
Matthias kept the boy’s heritage a secret, even from his wife, for if he were ever to be discovered the assassins would return. With the passing of time, William grew to be immensely strong and resilient. Pain did not affect him for the burns that covered his body caused him more pain than anyone could possibly imagine. At the age of twenty, William was a marvel to look at by the peasants. Standing six and a half feet tall and covered in bandages, he was an intimidating figure. William eventually learned his true heritage from his peasant father and resolved to stand before the Pope in order to discern the reason as to why assassins destroyed his father’s estate and the location of his father.
After many months traveling to Rome, William finally arrived before the gates of the Vatican. The Knights Templar who guarded the gates denied him entry. William became outraged and slew all the guards who stood in his way. Finally William fought his way to the Pope’s chamber and asked him why he could not have peacefully had this audience with the son of Henry. The Pope responded cunningly, “Young William, I have made many enemies by calling this crusade, forgive me. I knew your father well, he was a good man. However, upon receiving news of your apparent death and the death of your mother at the hands of the infidel assassins, he took his own life. Now William, I will give you your father’s holdings in the Holy Land near the port city of Acre. There gather an army and drive the infidels out of Judea. If you accomplish this, I will see to it that God allows your mother and father access into Heaven.”
With this news, William left will all speed to the Holy Land. He ordered an Arab blacksmith to fashion a war hammer encrusted with precious gems and an enormous tower shield almost as large as he was. With these tokens of war, William marched on Jerusalem with the Crusader army.
The Muslim and Christian armies stood facing each other outside the walls of the great city. All the Templars viewed William with fear and apprehension for he towered over them and his body was nearly fully encased in steel armor. Suddenly, William began walking towards the opposing army. He ordered his own force to attack only if he appeared to have fallen. Believing William to be a messenger, two Arabic horsemen rode to meet him. As they drew close to him, the young lord smashed his shield into one, knocking the horse and rider to the ground, then just as swiftly brought his hammer to the side of the other horse’s head. One of the men’s necks had been broken in the fall while the other swept out his scimitar and struck. The blow glanced off William’s right shoulder plate and the man lost his balance and stumbled. William took this opportunity and brought his hammer crashing down. This event prompted a wave of thousands upon thousands of arrows to fill the sky. The hisses of the arrows drowned out all sound. William calmly lifted his shield high and continued walking towards the Muslim army. Arrows bounced off or stuck into his shield. The enemy cavalry did not attack him in fear of the Crusader cavalry to maneuver and flank the infantry. The sight of one man, seemingly impervious to harm with a white cross emblazoned on a black tower shield, caused the Muslim force to believe God himself was protecting him. Meanwhile, the Crusaders looked on with awe and believed this to be the perfect opportunity to advance. With a thunderous charge, the heavy Templar cavalry engaged the Muslim cavalry and the enemy infantry fled into the city. After a ten-day siege, the Crusaders took Jerusalem.
News of William’s victory spread like wildfire throughout Judea as well as Europe. The Pope gave William his own castle and appointed him commander of the Crusader army. Victory after victory caused the Crusaders to control all of the Holy Land, most of Egypt, and Persia. It seemed there was no stopping William in conquering the known world. The Pope himself became jealous and fearful of the warrior’s influence. He had become an emperor adored by all of Christendom. Sending forth his spies, the Pope determined that William could be replaced by a successor who would answer to him alone.
As the emperor slept in his vast castle near Acre, the Knights Templar launched a surprise attack and set fire to the keep. Caught at unawares, William secretly fled to Jerusalem. While hiding amongst his loyal guards, he uncovered that the Pope had devised the plot for his assassination and that the Pope had proclaimed William was a blasphemous devil who worshiped Satan. Of course, everyone had to believe the Pope or be excommunicated. Furious at this treachery he sacked the Templar’s headquarters at the Al-aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and returned the city to Saladin, the Egyptian sultan.
No one had heard of William for many years after the “fall of Jerusalem”. Although the sudden and mysterious death of the Pope shocked Europe, a few English knights raised their tankards in honor. A host of knights arrived at Matthias’s farm. After hearing rumors about the return of William to his father’s estate, the new Pope had sent these men to uncover whether these rumors had any truth in them. “It’s not him, said the knights after viewing him in the fields and spitting on him. It can’t be.” The Pope never received the message.