Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars

Prologue of my attempt at a novelization of the first Broken Sword game, hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Broken Sword or its characters.

Prologue

"Paris in the fall, the last months of the year, at the end of the millennium. The city holds many memories for me, of cafés, of music, of love...and of death."

I smiled as I sat on the chair by the outdoor table of the café. I had come to Paris on vacation and was already finding myself in love with the city. I usually took my vacations slightly later in the year, while there would still be other tourists and such about, their numbers wouldn't be quite so large. My most recent welcome discovery was the café I was currently sitting at, 'Café De La Chandelle Verte'.

I had stopped by to order a coffee and now sat waiting for it, taking a break from my tour of the city. Little did I know my peaceful vacation would be so rudely interrupted and in such a fashion that would drastically shape how my life would turn out, in ways I never even imagined. My name is George Stobbart, from California; I am a tall slightly build Caucasian man with blonde hair cut short at the back but left somewhat long at the front, with blue eyes. I wore a simple pair of denim jeans, a plain white T-shirt, a dark green/blue jacket and simple brown shoes.

An average man, having a normal holiday, that's how it appeared and that's what I literally thought it was. Until that earth-shattering event happened. I grinned a the young blonde haired, brown eyes waitress came out of the café with my coffee. She set the cup down on the table with a warm smile. I smiled back, casually brushing back my hair. She was a pretty woman, I couldn't deny that. Then suddenly an old man approached. He was around sixty, grey-haired, wearing a simple suit with a grey hat and overcoat. His eye colour was hard to determine behind his glasses. But as he drew the waitress' attention, practically pulling her towards him, I narrowed my eyes a bit.

'What's up with this guy?'

However he then raised his hat in a gentlemanly fashion and, after a brief talk, he and waitress disappeared inside the café. I bit down on the toothpick I had been using to clean my lunch out of my teeth and sighed. I then became aware of a bunch of balloons, novelty ones with smiley faces, floating right next to me. A little irritated by the unwanted intrusion I burst the closest one with my toothpick. Only to reveal a man dressed as a clown, carrying an accordion behind them. He leaned in, grinning at me before slipping past. Still playing his accordion the clown, in his ungainly big shoes, made his way towards the café and slid in through the doorway.

Raising an eyebrow, as well as my coffee cup I considered this scene. 'Must be break time at the circus.'

I rolled my eyes at my thoughts and took a sip of my coffee.

Mere moments later however, the clown came rushing out of the café, his accordion was gone, instead he was carrying a briefcase. The very same briefcase that I remembered seeing the old man carrying before he entered the café.

'Wait a minute…?' I thought, startled. 'Did that clown just...'

I never finished my thought, for at that moment, there was a tremendous bang, then bright lights and a horrible ringing noise before everything went black. When I recovered my ears were still ringing, but, rapidly blinking I realized everything else was fine, I was covered by the umbrella that had been positioned over my table, lying on the ground.

Then it all came back to me, the clown, the old man, the waitress, the theft and now, as it all came together, I realized, the explosion. I yanked the umbrella off me, sitting upright and glaring. I knew right away what I was going to do; I couldn't just leave this, I had to find that clown and get to the bottom of this. Little did I know, this would be the start of a long and incredible adventure for me, that would turn my world upside down.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.