A rather short and disappointing chapter, but read it anyways!! XD
Lara held onto the overhead pole as the chopper's blades cut through the dry air, heading for Grimsey Island. She watched as the ocean below rippled lightly in waves. She drew in a silent breath, glancing forward, hoping she could merely speculate by the time of day how much longer it would take them to get there.
Kurtis glanced at Lara. "It doesn't look much farther," he said. "Maybe five minutes."
Lara nodded. "Perfect," she said, meeting his gaze. He held it with her for a moment, seeing right through her. When she realized he was looking at her and not through her, she let out a small, defeated sigh. "Yes, I'm worried about Emma," she admitted.
"I know you are," he said. "She'll be fine. She's with Garin, and she has powers, too."
"That she doesn't know how to use," Lara added.
"It shouldn't take long," Kurtis said. "Before you know it, we'll be back to France, and Emily will be fine."
Lara drew in a silent breath, gazing out the window once again. "I sure hope so," Lara muttered.
The chopper dropped Lara and Kurtis off directly at the northern edge of the island. Several hundred feet down below, they could see the waves as they rapped against the cliff edges. Lara waved to the pilot as he flew away, offering her gratitude. Then, she turned to Kurtis. "Right, so we're looking for an underground crypt via some secret cave," Lara said. She tapped into her headset. "Any idea as to where this cave could be, Alister?"
"Along the northern edges…?" he replied.
"Not helpful," she said. "We'll check in with the locals…all one hundred of them."
"And I'm sure they'll be delighted to help a foreigner," Alister muttered.
"I have a way with words," she reasoned. She turned away with Kurtis, heading in the direction of the small cathedral in the distance. The entire island was deserted of people, it seemed like, and it had the ominous feel of a ghost town. "There's bound to be people inside," Lara said to Kurtis of the church.
"Let's hope they're not in the middle of their worship," he said.
They headed forward and opened the giant red doors. Since the place was quiet, they assumed there was no church service in session. They opened the second set of doors and stepped inside. The inside of the church was old and dingy. The pews were made of wood, which was rotting with age. There were cobwebs in the ceiling corners, and the bowl for the holy water was dried up. "I think a worship session was the least likely thing to happen," Lara muttered.
They heard a scuffle behind them and turned quickly on their heels, their hands reaching for their weapons. They stopped when they saw it was just an ordinary man – well, ordinary loosely used. He swayed back and forth on his feet, clutching at his head as if he were in pain. "I told you to get out of here!" he muttered to them angrily. "Don't make me call Father in here!"
"I'm sorry?" Lara asked. "Who are you?"
"You," he said lowly, pointing towards them. "You've come back to kill me, haven't you? You demons!"
Lara glanced at Kurtis with confusion. "I think you've been misled," Lara said calmly.
"You'd better get out of here before Father comes! It'll be the end of you this time!"
"We're not here to cause harm," Lara reasoned. "We're looking for someone to help us…"
He shouted in pain. "Would you just leave me alone?" he demanded loudly.
Lara took a soft step backwards. This man is insane, she thought. Then, a door opened from behind them. She turned and faced the sound as a man came through the door, dressed in the robe of a priest – a more economical dressing. He was angry. "If you value your life, you'll leave immediately."
"We're just here to find something," Lara said.
"Like last time?" he asked. "The last time your kind came through here, Malcolm went insane."
Lara glanced back at the man, then turned towards the father. "Our kind?"
The priest calmly approached the man, helping him rise to his feet. "Searching for the armor of the Black Angel."
"You've got it wrong," Kurtis spoke up. "We've never been here before."
"But perhaps we know of whom you're referring to," Lara said. "A man named Karel?"
The priest turned towards her, then turned his attention back to Malcolm. "Help me take him to the home down the street. Then, we'll talk."
Lara and Kurtis glanced at each other uneasily, then helped the priest to carry the man down the dirt road towards the house at the end of the street. Malcolm immediately seated himself at the desk and began chanting under his breath, scribbling words and pictograms on pieces of paper before him.
"What's happened with him?" Lara asked softly.
"Several months ago, Malcolm went for a walk into the distance of the island, and he didn't return," the priest explained. "He left in perfectly sound condition, and then returned insane. Eventually, we were able to find out that a man named Karel had kidnapped him and tried to steal the neuronal transmitters from his brain in order to locate some artifact apparently stashed away here on our island."
Kurtis slowly approached Malcolm, leaning over the desk to watch him, a hint of sadness in his eyes. Lara turned back towards the priest. "What artifact was it?" Lara asked.
"An ancient knight's shield," he said.
"The armor," Lara added. "That's what we've come for, although we're being hunted by Karel as well. Was he able to find it?"
"Unfortunately, yes," he said. "Thankfully, he didn't kill Malcolm – instead, he left him half-alive, insane like he is now."
"He was fortunate to have survived," Lara said.
"He was psychic," Kurtis spoke up.
They turned towards him. "I beg your pardon?" the priest asked.
Kurtis gently took one of the scribbled papers from Malcolm's pile of drawing, holding it up towards the others. "These glyphs must've been what he'd seen on the armor," he said. "Karel had been trying to steal his telepathic nerve waves to find it. It looks like the armor was broken into two pieces, though. The drawings show the actual shield, but look here…" He pointed to the center of the drawing. "There's an insert here – like something needs to be put in it."
"The armor!" Malcolm shouted. They turned their attention to him. "Grimsey's cove, Grimsey's cove, Grimsey's cove," he muttered, rocking back and forth on his chair. Then, he began chanting in a foreign language.
"Latin," Kurtis said quickly. "He's saying something about the Lux disk."
"That must be what fits into the insert," Lara speculated.
"Grimsey's Cove is just north of here," the priest spoke.
"If Karel didn't find the Lux disk," Lara said, "then perhaps it's still in Grimsey's Cove."
"Only one way to find out," Kurtis said, dropping the paper back onto the table. Malcolm reached forward to the paper and drew it towards his chest, clinging to it for dear life.
Lara glanced up at Malcolm, then turned to the priest. "I'm sorry for what happened to him," she said softly. "We're going to find Karel, and when we do, we'll make sure he learns his lesson."
The priest gently gripped Malcolm's shoulder. "I respect your decision, whatever it is you might do." Lara nodded, and then she and Kurtis turned away, exiting the house.
Lara dropped into the moist cave hidden along the northern cliff's edges. She turned on her LED light to look about, glimpsing several glyphs and foreign writing. Kurtis dropped into the cave behind her. "What are these markings?" she asked him.
Kurtis brushed his hand fondly over the markings. "Lux Veritatis glyphs," he said. "It looks like a poetic stanza – it just keeps talking about the armor."
"If the armor and the disk were together, why would Karel leave one piece behind?" Lara asked, heading deeper into the cave.
"Maybe they weren't left together," Kurtis said. "Maybe there was another cave, perhaps on the opposite side."
"Perhaps…" Lara said slowly. She followed the cave deeper, the markings fading with the depth of the cave. Then, they reached the end of the hallway, and found there was nothing left. "Well, this is disappointing."
Lara turned towards Kurtis, but found him unresponsive. His arms were reached forward, his mind wandering about under the influence of Farsee. She sighed, leaning against the wall to wait for him to finish. What a show-off, she thought.
After several moments, Kurtis returned to his body. "Finished yet?" Lara asked, a playful grin on her face.
He grinned back. "Don't be so impatient," he said. He approached the wall, brushing his hands over it. "This is a door," he said. "The disk is beyond it."
"So how do we open it?" Lara asked.
Kurtis ignored her, continuing to ponder over the texture of the door. Then, he placed his hand on the center, and his hand illuminated. The cracks in the texture of the door illuminated as well, revealing glyphs that lasted for just an instant. Then, the hall began to shake. He stepped back, and the door rose through the ceiling, dust falling off as it ascended. Kurtis turned to Lara with a smirk. "Like that," he said. He gestured for her to enter. "Ladies first," he said.
Lara glared at him for a moment, then brushed past him, entering through the corridor. The room was detailed with intricate patterns on the floor, walls, and ceilings. In the center, there were two vertical columns and an aura of blue energy between them. A small, gold disk floated in the energy. They approached it, admiring the artifact. "So if this is where the disk is," Lara said, "where had the shield been?"
"And why would Karel have left it behind?" Kurtis added.
"Well, regardless," Lara said, reaching forward, "it's ours now." She removed the artifact from its position, admiring it. Then, the room began to shake. They glanced about and realized the door was coming down. "Go!" Kurtis shouted to her. Lara quickly rushed forward, diving under the door as it descended. Kurtis followed just behind, and they quickly picked up the pace, running down the corridor. The walls alongside them began to compress, closing in on them within seconds. Lara moved as quickly as she could, then dove forward into the water, Kurtis following suit.
Lara turned towards where the cove had been, glad to have gotten out in time. She kept herself afloat, turning to Kurtis. "I suppose Siamak didn't want anyone getting near his armor," she said, relieved to be out of the death trap.
"We have the disk," Kurtis said. "That's all that matters."
"But without the shield, it's useless," she said. "We need to reach the sword quickly."
They swam through the water and back towards the cliff's low edge, pulling onto dry land. Lara shivered under the weight of her wet clothes, but fought to make notice of it. She tapped into her headset. "Alister, we've found the disk. How's the rest of the research coming along?"
Immediately, Lara received static feedback, a sharp ringing echoing through the headset. She cringed at the ear-shattering sound. "Alister, hello?" she repeated. She received the same feedback again. She turned towards Kurtis, her stomach coiling. "Something's wrong," she said.
As if that wasn't obvious -_- And Malcolm was inspired to me by Tony from TR3...so yeah.
Okay, check ya guys on Wednesday!!