Pt. 3
The team returned to Angel Island and retired to their various tasks. Nick checked the house's security system, as he had done every night since the Dark Priest's sons had sabotaged the system. Alex walked through the hologram into the computer room to begin a search for the mysterious donor of the Museums newest exhibit. Derek secluded himself in his study, a copy of the manifest which had accompanied the gift of amour scattered across his desk. A copy of a reference book he had retrieved from the library also lay on the desk, open to a drawing of a Templar in full battle armour. He read through the list of pieces with interest. The inventory listed the existence of a mail helmet or haubers, mail leg protection called chauces de fer, armour for the shoulders and feet and a triangular body-shield. He frowned at the last listing.
"Something wrong?" Nick asked, stepping through the partially closed door.
"Yes. This manifest lists a shield as part of the display. But there was no shield in that case, only the armour. So where is it?"
"Maybe it was too big to fit in the case." Nick replied, walking around the desk to look at the paperwork in Derek's hands.
"No. The display case was designed to accommodate a life-size mannequin wearing that armour. The shield would have fit within the case perfectly. Somehow it never made it to the display area." Derek shut the reference book gently, his hand brushing it's well-worn cover fondly.
"If it was in as bad a condition as that chain-mail was, the movers probably mistook it for a part of the packing crate. It's probably still in the storeroom. So you think that what both our weird visitors were looking for was on that shield.?"
Derek gathered up the loose pages of the manifest with a sigh. "We won't know until we find it."
"Want me to check on it tonight?"
"Yes. I'll call the curator and make sure there is someone waiting to let you in."
Nick started for the door then stopped and looked back at his precept. "What do you think is going on here, Derek? What's so important about some old armour?"
"I'm not sure." Derek admitted, rubbing his tired eyes. "But I think it is something that we need to look into."
On the opposite shore two figures walked along the edge of the water, their feet leaving almost no impression on the wet sand behind them. Damien stared across at Angel Island soberly.
"I wonder how much he remembers." He commented thoughtfully, stopping to let the water play around his boots.
"If he remembers." Marianne corrected, kneeling to dig a stone out of the sand to toss into the waves.
"Oh he remembers. The dreams have remained with him since his father's death. They have fueled his interest in the Order. Now that interest has made him the recipient of a gift he knows nothing about. It will arouse his curiosity. He will search for answers and we will walk just a step behind, ready when the time comes to intervene."
Marianne dipped her hands in the ripples of waves as they flowed over her "brother's" boots. "Hopefully before the other party in this hunt shows up. By the way, there was something missing in that exhibit tonight."
"Yes, the shield." Damien replied absently.
"You might have told me you noticed that while we were there."
"Didn't I? I must be getting forgetful in my old age." His smile lit up the darkness as he helped the woman beside him stand.
"No, you just enjoy testing my powers of observation. After all these years, a person would think you would get tired of these games. Especially considering the importance of what we are searching for." Marianne wiped her wet hands on her companion's dinner jacket, noting with grim satisfaction the muddy stain which marred it's perfect whiteness. She gathered her long, dark skirts around her ankles and started down the beach.
"I take it you're going to return and look for the shield." Damien called out to her, watching her figure slowly melt into the fog.
The only answer he received was the call of a night bird as it winged its way toward the lights of the city.
