Back in Black

'So that's everything,' said Albus. Being freed from jail by Lillian Rourke and Hermione Granger had its advantages beyond mere liberty. The Portuguese authorities, keen to cooperate once the security risk was dealt with, had offered them space in the government headquarters to talk, but Lillian had turned her nose up at such. A few, imperious commands and a Portkey later found them in one of the more auspicious hotels in magical Portugal - or, for the moment, one of its conference rooms.

Because of course Lillian Rourke and Hermione Granger would want to be in a conference room when bringing everyone back up to speed.

'Not quite,' said Rose, and looked at Matt. 'What didyou do to that dragon?'

'Yeah, I thought it ate you,' said Scorpius, who was sat next to her, didn't seem inclined to move away any time soon, and kept a hand resting casually on her forearm. She was perfectly comfortable with this, even if her mother was in the room.

Matt was worn and battered but did a poor job of hiding his grin. 'Once I knew it was a golem, I knew there'd only be one way of taking it down. Anything as powerful as a golem can't just be enchanted - okay, so I don't know the full technical workings because that's ancient and strong and wacky magic, and I wasn't sure if I wasn't acting off, well, myth and legend -'

'Skip to the end, Doyle.' Selena was pale, her voice tight.

Matt faltered. 'Er, okay. Golems are reportedly animated not just by magic, but by words of power inscribed on a piece of paper which rests in the golem's forehead or mouth. I was right, and found the roll of parchment in the dragon's mouth. These words are traditionally Hebrew words, and this one was - "emet", which is "truth" in Hebrew. But if I defaced one of the letters, that changed the inscription from "truth" to "death". So it killed the golem.'

'Mid-air,' said Albus, lips twitching.

Matt finally looked bashful. 'I didn't have much of a choice.'

'It would seem not,' said Lillian Rourke, sat next to Hermione at the head of the table. 'Tremendous work, Mister Doyle, truly. Considering it seems like a giant flying construct effectively immune to magic was set to go on an unstoppable rampage otherwise. Not many people would have known of that, or thought of it.'

'Maybe not, but we've had a few run-ins with golems. It's been sensible for me to learn what to do.'

Lisa looked up. She'd been quiet through the retelling, but now she drew a slow breath. 'Are there any leads on Thane or Raskoph?'

'Regrettably not,' said Hermione. 'They took advantage of the chaos to flee. But Santiago's interrogations of the Council wizards you incapacitated have confirmed what they first told you. In their research into the Chalice of Emrys, they found mention of the golem here in Tomar, an old Templar guardian. They seem to be low on leads on the Chalice - or, at the least, none of the prisoners here know of any leads - but someone in the Council thought an unstoppable golem-dragon would make a weapon they wanted.'

Scorpius shrugged. 'Who wouldn't want an unstoppable golem-dragon?'

'The dragon was to be bound and controlled by that statue in the tomb, and Raskoph was conducting the ritual to transfer control and then awaken it. Attacking them disrupted the ritual and set the dragon on a rampage,' Hermione said.

Lisa grimaced. 'Perhaps a tactical misjudgement from us.'

Selena shook her head. 'It was still possible they were going to drop Phlegethon - Eridanos, I mean - on Tomar. Hesitating could have killed people. We made the best call we could at the time.' She hesitated. 'Has anyone found de Sablé? Or the guy dressed up in ancient armour who was asleep in a Templar tomb and is claiming to be de Sablé?'

'If he's done a runner,' Matt muttered, 'I'm going to vomit with irritation.'

'He's not come forward at Tomar,' said Lillian.

'We'll have to go back there when we're done. Find him.' He looked at the others, taking in the states of Albus and Scorpius at the least. 'Or, okay, I'll go back there.'

'When we're done,' said Rose, nodding, and looked at her mother. 'So, that's us. In researching the Chalice, the Council have found other matters of interest, like golem magic and Ager Sanguinis. Which is worrying.'

'It is,' said Hermione, 'but at least it means they're not that hot on the heels of the Chalice.'

'Though neither are we,' said Matt. 'I'm still going through de Sablé's writings, but talking to the guy himself, if it is him - I kind of hate that a thousand year-old wizard-knight sounds bloody logical - would be better.'

'At least Raskoph and Thane didn't seem aware of him,' said Selena. 'Or if they were, they didn't tell their flunkeys.'

'They would have become aware,' said Lisa. 'So even aside from the golem, our arrival was timely. We would not want to see de Sablé in the hands of the Council of Thorns. He might know everything.'

Rose thinned her lips. 'At least they do not. Or, I hope not. But, anyway.' She looked at her mother, then at Lillian Rourke. 'We've been out of the world a while. What did we miss? Other than the election results?'

'Oh, yeah,' said Selena. 'Congratulations on world domination, Mum. I know it's just what you've always wanted.'

Lillian gave her daughter a smile. 'I would have given it up just to know you were safe, dear.'

'And now you've got both.'

This is eerie, thought Rose, observing mother and daughter, but she turned her gaze on Hermione. 'So, news other than the Convocation having a hope in hell of making a difference with Chairman Rourke?'

'Truth be told, I'm not surprised the Council of Thorns are hunting down alternate avenues of power,' said Hermione. 'They're on the back foot, globally. The work against Eridanos is going well. They might be changing the virus, but we're countering them at every turn. It wouldn't surprise me if that's what they want from Ager Sanguinis - sites of necromantic power like that are prime for them to empower or alter the virus.'

'I'll talk with the Syrian authorities,' said Lillian. 'See about securing the place. Then they can't use it.'

'This matter of the Veil is curious, too. I think it's time we shake someone in the Department of Mysteries until answers come out,' said Hermione.

Scorpius quirked an eyebrow. 'Wouldn't they then have to change their name?'

'Progress has been made in Brazil, too,' said Lillian, ignoring the joke. 'We've made contact with the anti-Acosta movement and are getting them funding, equipment, and manpower where we can. We won't see a Dark Magic administration go unopposed, and to hell with sovereignty. It's a terrorist takeover and the International Magical Convocation will treat it as such, even if we have to conquer them to free them.'

Rose also raised an eyebrow. 'The Convocation aren't dragging their feet in this?'

'I'm not letting them,' said Lillian.

'All in all, it's quite hopeful,' said Hermione. 'Raskoph and Thane are their wild cards.'

'I have a question,' said Albus, sitting up. 'What does the Council even want? "World Domination" sounds a little melodramatic.'

'It might sound it,' said Lillian,' but it's what it is. They've united dark wizards and witches across the world in an unprecedented manner. The prisoners we've taken say they've been leading up to this over five years. Five years of making contacts, worming people into positions of power, before finally striking.'

'It's all smoke and mirrors,' said Hermione. 'Or, that's my theory. All Eridanos and Phlegethon have achieved is a body count and getting people scared.'

'It's hurt faith in the governments of the world,' said Lillian. 'It's my goal for the Convocation to restore faith. The Minister of Magic's ratings have never been lower than they were during the Hogwarts crisis.'

'They're still low,' said Hermione. 'While yours are sky-high.'

'Which I know isn't fair. I know I've taken the credit for the recovery while he's taken the blame for the fall when the latter's the Council's fault and the former's a group effort.' Lillian gave a grimace of a smile. 'But I think that this is what the Council of Thorns wants. To destroy hope and belief, and exploit fear and anger.'

Rose nodded. 'I'm glad to hear the Convocation's filling that gap. Though what Santiago was saying about the powers they've passed to help fight the Council of Thorns is… a little worrying.'

Lillian winced under the look Hermione gave her. 'This was not my proposal. But I backed it. And it's making a difference. This is why the International Convocation can only be temporary, and I know this.'

Albus sat up. Though he was still scuffed and battered, his lip cut, he was still bright-eyed and alert. 'We're getting off the topic. We need to figure our next move.'

Hermione looked pained. 'Can your next move not be to come home?'

'I'd love to see everyone,' said Albus. 'But this isn't over.'

Rose lifted a hand. 'I think our next move is to rest.'

'My next move,' said Matt, sitting up, 'is to go find de Sablé. Before he disappears for good.'

Selena looked at Matt. 'You look like hell.'

He frowned at her. 'Thanks.'

'I mean, should you be tromping around Tomar?'

'I want to find de Sablé. That is the most important thing right now. If we're nipping home, or if people are coming to see us here, then that won't be right away.'

Scorpius stiffened next to Rose. 'I'm not going back to Britain.'

Hermione's lips thinned in that way Rose knew meant she was particularly upset about something. 'I will see about some Portkeys from Britain,' she said in a low, careful voice. 'We've arranged this accommodation here in Lisbon for you all. And - and we can worry about what comes next if you find de Sablé, or if you find a lead off him or his writings.'

And as Rose listened to her mother, she could hear how ardently she hoped there would be no such lead found.

Selena's head was still spinning by the time she and Matt appeared back in the dusty courtyard of the Convento de Cristo. Had it only been three hours since they'd been locked here in a firefight with Raskoph? It felt like a lifetime. From the tumbling golem-dragon to a Portuguese cell and the reunion with her mother, she was starting to feel like a dishrag that had been wrung out too much.

But she couldn't show it. Now wasn't the time. 'I suppose we'd best start in the tomb. Otherwise, we should look for a ditched tabard and chainmail. If he's gone incognito then he's probably changed.'

'Yeah.' Matt frowned as he looked about the courtyard. The Portuguese magical authorities were now on the case and the area was closed off so Obliviators could do their work and scrub the scene of anything which might threaten the Statute. The building was being as repaired as it needed to be to preserve the story, Muggles were being healed and memory-wiped, and this looked like it would be an operation of several days at the least. 'I guess Santiago's guys have no reason to poke down there, at least.'

'They might,' said Selena. 'But not yet.'

Wordlessly they headed for the castle. That they'd been allowed to apparate in at all counted as their access pass for the control team, and their destination was nowhere the Statute had been threatened, so they could move freely.

'So,' she said in a faltering voice as they walked the corridors towards the stairway to the tomb. 'You jumped on a dragon's back and climbed to its jaws to carve up magic words in its mouth.'

'I know.' Matt sighed. 'It was stupid.'

Yes. 'I was going to say impressive.'

He stopped at the door to the stairway and turned to her with a frown. 'Now that's unsettling.'

'What? I can say nice things.'

'You just usually say them under layers of sarcasm, or pointing out how incredibly foolish someone was at the same time.' Matt hesitated. 'Don't get me wrong. People need to be called on how ridiculous they're being. But that's, like, your job.'

Integral supporting role I've got there. Selena bit her lip. 'Would it make a difference if I pointed out how incredibly dangerous what you did was?' Her voice was threatening to betray her, and she drew a slow, careful breath. I will not let him see me crack.

Matt's frown deepened. 'Does that usually stop you?'

She straightened. 'I paid you a compliment, Doyle. I said it was impressive. Would you prefer it if I laid into you?'

'It'd be more normal.'

Something surged in her chest. 'But it'd make no difference!' So much for hiding the cracks. 'You were so hell-bent on rushing off to play hero, and you will be again!'

Even though he'd all but invited her comment, he still took a step back, expression tensing. 'That's rich, coming from the girl who manipulated us into this mission in the first place. We wouldn't even be here, risking our necks, if it weren't for you. So why am I getting snapped at for doing something dangerous but important? You've been looking like you want to shake me for the last three hours!'

'I'm here to stop the Council.' She fought to keep her voice level. 'You are hungry to prove yourself, and it's going to get you killed. You could have passed on what you knew to Albus or Scorpius. They were already in the air, it would have been easier for them to take action. But you didn't. You ran off and did it on your own so we'd all know this victory was brought about by Matthias Doyle. He doesn't just read books, he kicks ass, too.'

Matt's brow furrowed. 'So it would have been better if I'd made Albus or Scorpius risk their necks? That makes exactly no kind of sense.'

She turned her nose in the air. 'We're all in this to stop the Council. We have to think about winning, not about claiming these victories for ourselves. What you did was selfish.'

She went to sweep past him, make for the stairs, but he grabbed her elbow and pulled her around, expression tensing. 'Run that by me again,' he said in a low, hurt voice. 'I apparated onto the back of a moving, flying target and shoved my head literally into the jaws of death because otherwise people were going to die. Run by me again how that's selfish.'

'Sorry,' she sneered, heart hammering in her chest, throat tightening. 'Should I be showering you in adulation?'

'No! It was more terrifying than it was exciting, but I knew what I was supposed to do, so I did it. It wasn't about being cheered. What makes that bad or selfish?'

She pulled her arm free, and he didn't fight her. 'I had to race into that wreckage,' she said before she could stop herself, voice low and throaty, 'and I didn't know if I was going to find your body in the middle of it.' Again.

But he hadn't been there at the end of Phlegethon, and so didn't make the connection, his brow knotting with confusion. 'So I should have made you race in there afraid you'd find Albus' body? Or Scorpius'?'

I was. But it's not the same. She turned to stalk down the steps into the gloom. 'Never mind.'

He paused a moment to sputter, so she'd made it to the bottom of the stairs by the time he caught up, stood in the antechamber before the final doorway to the tomb. 'No, Selena -'

Then a voice rolled out. 'I can hear you. Footsteps in here are not quiet.'

They froze, then Matt drew a deep breath and stepped past her to approach the doorway. Of course living history would distract him, Selena thought bitterly, even though she'd been trying to run from the topic in the first place. She followed him regardless, the two of them entering the tomb to see that tall, broad-shouldered, armoured figure stood before his own sarcophagus.

'So,' Matt breathed. 'You're Reynald de Sablé. Apparently.' His brow furrowed and he reached into his jacket to pull out the roll of leather-bound papers they'd been studying these past few days. 'Where did you hide this in Ager Sanguinis?'

De Sablé gave a thin smile. 'Behind the Veil Chamber. In a hidden room accessed through the stairs. Did you find the passage from that room which leads to the surface?'

'I did not.' Matt blinked. 'So the Chalice is real. Really real, I mean, it really does prolong your life.'

'If you are worthy. I am informed you seek it.' De Sablé looked at Selena. 'While I saw that you stopped the guardian, prevented the chaos it might have wrought, you will forgive me if I am not inclined to give you answers simply because you ask.'

'No, I - of course not.' Matt's voice had taken on a hushed edge. 'But we've followed this trail to Paris, to your tomb in the Catacombs. We found where the Chalice had been. We found Ager Sanguinis, we found where you'd kept the Chalice there, we found your writing -'

'All this means is that you hunt it. Many would hunt it.'

Selena drew a slow breath. 'We stopped Raskoph, we stopped that ritual -'

'And their intentions were dark if they wanted that Guardian, and it does not surprise me that they want the Chalice also, but it takes more than facing darkness to be righteous. We are righteous by our actions, not righteous by being merely better than our foes,' de Sablé sneered.

'This isn't the time for philosophy,' said Matt. 'I don't know how we're supposed to prove ourselves with nothing but words, anyway.'

'Words,' said de Sablé, 'can be the most powerful magic of all.'

Matt straightened. 'We seek the Chalice not for its power. Life and death? I don't crave that control. I don't crave eternal life. We are doing this to stop those who would use it for dark means, would use it to power dark magic, would use it to kill. You can mistrust us all you like, but unless you know for sure that the Chalice is beyond the grasp of men, then you're either going to have to trust us or take matters into your own hands to protect it.'

'And you weren't protecting it here, sleeping,' pointed out Selena. 'You weren't even keeping the Council of Thorns from this Guardian.'

De Sablé scowled at that. 'Their ritual did not disturb my rest. It seems they were careful to avoid triggering our protective wards, even if I doubt they knew what they would be.'

'No, I think if they knew you were there, you'd be a guest of theirs by now. So, unless you had some really masterful plan at work, you're up against enemies you didn't even know of, who would have grabbed you and would be looting your mind for information on your precious Chalice if it weren't for us. You owe us one,' said Matt.

'My duty is to the Templars,' said de Sablé. 'Not any perceived debt.'

'Then you're failing your duty.'

In one heartbeat, everything changed. De Sablé wasn't standing at the tomb, tall and impassive - he was grabbing Matt by the shirt and slamming him against the wall. Without thinking Selena swept behind him, wand levelled at the back of his skull. 'I wouldn't do that if I were you.'

Matt squirmed. 'It's fine,' he croaked. 'I'm making a point.'

'Ineffectively.' But de Sablé let go of him, face like thunder, and Selena lowered her wand. 'You do not get to judge my duty.'

'Do you have allies? Are there other Templars alive, out there protecting the Chalice? Because if not, you might want to do something about that.' Matt leaned against the wall, chest heaving. 'I understand your apprehension. But we're the good guys here. The Council of Thorns would use the Chalice to fuel a necromantic illness that turns the bodies of the living into Inferi. They're trying to bring the world to its knees using this. We've fought them, we're opposed to them, we want to do the right thing. And I've studied your writing, I've studied the Templars. I have a little understanding of what you're about in this. I don't want to use the Chalice. I want to keep it safe.'

De Sablé stared at him for a long moment, a muscle twitching in the corner of his jaw - then he turned around, stalked past Selena, and returned to the sarcophagus in the centre of the room. 'Our resources are not what they were. But I thought that the Chalice was lost. I thought that was for the best.'

'It might be. We don't know where it is. They don't know where it is. But they knew enough to look here for the Guardian; we knew enough to look to Ager Sanguinis for clues. Trust us.' Matt straightened. 'Please.'

When de Sablé turned around, his expression was blank. 'You swear.' His voice was low, rumbling. 'You swear by the Lord God, you swear by all that is holy and righteous, that you seek to protect the Chalice, not to use it.'

'I swear it,' said Matt, chin tilting up. 'By all that is holy to me. By my friends, by my family.'

He looked at Selena, who tried to not roll her eyes. 'You didn't see him trying to kill himself to stop that "Guardian"? Isn't that enough?'

'It's why I have given you this chance to explain yourselves.'

But de Sablé still looked expectant. Selena's lip curled. 'I swear on the memory of Methuselah Jones, who died to stop the Council of Thorns, that I seek to protect the Chalice, not use it. As if you have the bloody right to judge or question me, when you were asleep while they worked right under your nose.'

Matt sighed. 'Way to antagonise the guy whose help we want,' he breathed.

To her surprise, de Sablé smiled. 'There is nothing wrong,' he said softly, 'with a little righteous anger.' He straightened. 'I am sorry for your loss.'

'I don't need you to be sorry.' Selena tossed her hair back. 'I need you to explain.'

He inclined his head. 'I was born in Valois, France, in 1096. My father was a landed knight, but I was the youngest of four sons. It seemed certain that I was destined for a life in the church.' He leaned against his own sarcophagus as if ignorant of irony. 'And then it was discovered that I possessed magic.

'I was fortunate. One of my father's allies was a wizard, and he knew the signs. I was taken under his wing to learn and to be safe, to be inducted into the magical community. For a time I served my liege as one of his wizarding advisers, bridging the two worlds, helping him defend our people against dark magic. Then came the formation of the Knights Templar. A holy order, yes, but one with many wizards in its ranks, united in its intention of protecting pilgrims of the Holy Land by steel - and by magic.

'I do not know for sure how the Chalice of Emrys fell into the hands of my compatriots. I was a wizard and knight of some rank in the order before I learnt of its existence, and after long service in the Holy Land and in France, I was given the great honour of becoming its bearer and its guardian. With the Chalice we could save men on the brink of death - and bring back those who had passed over. With it, we were mightier warriors in the service of God.'

Selena looked at Matt, and managed to not comment. But de Sablé spoke on.

'Being its guardian unsurprisingly brought risk, and within three years I had taken a wound on the field of battle so grievous that I had to sip from it in order to survive. And again, and again, over ten years until I realised that in my fifties I looked much as I do now.' He lifted a hand to his face, hard but not that heavily lined, worn but with vigour still. 'For the Chalice blesses those who are that entwined with it, and time does not find them. For good, it would seem.'

'And you brought it to Ager Sanguinis,' Matt prompted.

De Sablé looked vexed at the interruption. 'It was a bloody and painful battle, and that land was seeped in dark magic from all the death and suffering. Even isolated as it was, we could not allow a site from which Cauchemars rose so brazenly to be left unsupervised - for the danger they brought, and because there is power in such darkness. A power our enemies would not have hesitated to use.'

Selena looked again at Matt, whose lips were moving wordlessly at 'Cauchemars'. Then he nodded. 'Nightmares. Dementors. Fitting.'

'The Fort was built, and the Veil constructed to harness those dark energies, to - as you would say - keep a lid on them. You have the results of my studies. I was unsure if I should leave behind a copy of my writing, but even if the Saracens found that place, I realised that if they were Godly enough to find my records then they were worthy of the knowledge.'

Matt looked like he was resisting the urge to roll his eyes, but de Sablé didn't notice. 'I gathered, with the sections in Arabic. It's astonishing research on the nature of necromancy and matters like the Veil.'

'The Veil held strong for all this time, then?'

'There's no evidence of anyone else having been there. If they were, they didn't find or take your records.'

Selena cocked her head. 'Then what happened?'

De Sablé sighed. 'We lost the Holy Land. The Templars withdrew. And I returned with the Chalice to Paris. It had been our intention that we would lock the Chalice away, hide it until the time came that we would ride once more as warriors of God, not as bankers, men of money.' His lip curled. 'The tomb in the caves under the city was built for that purpose, and the Chalice kept there for some decades. When the time was right, I would rest with it.'

Matt quirked an eyebrow. 'I thought you weren't ageing.'

'I was not. I do not. It seems five sips is what it takes before time is no longer my foe, or perhaps God recognised that I had guarded the Chalice with honour and would continue to do so.' De Sablé shrugged. 'I had no place wandering the world if I was to guard the Chalice. But it would be madness to stare at the walls of a chamber forever. There was a spell to place me in a deep slumber, awoken if disturbed, guarding the Chalice until it was threatened or until it was needed again.'

'But then the Templars fell,' Matt prompted.

De Sablé nodded. 'Betrayal from the Church. No great surprise. There was resentment in their ranks for the heavy presence of wizardry, and jealousy of the wealth and power we had gathered. Many of my fellows were arrested, and it seemed likely that the Church or the king's men would learn of the Chalice and try to claim it for themselves.'

Selena's expression cleared. 'So you made the fake.'

'Indeed. A duplicate was made to rest in the tomb, and I brought the relic with me here, to Portugal, where we were safe from Papal hands.'

'Then where is it?'

De Sablé winced. 'Not here.'

'That's an ominously vague answer.'

'There were many who wanted the Chalice. Those chasing me from Paris, others in the new order who craved it for themselves. It was not safe by my side, and I suspected it was not safe in Europe. And so I entrusted it to two of my fellows from the Templars, young wizards, who would take it across the sea, to distant lands.'

Matt brightened up. 'The New World?'

'Before the Laymen knew of it. Wizards could travel such distances, of course, and I thought it would be safest if no Laymen would find it. They took their ships empowered by spells across the ocean, seeking a resting site and…' He looked away, his brow furrowing. 'Disappeared.'

'That was a good idea,' said Selena flatly.

De Sablé scowled more. 'I thought it for the best, truth be told. If the Chalice was needed, those of a righteous heart would find it. But my superiors in the Order of Christ disagreed. When the first Laymen expeditions west began, they made sure that old Templar wizards were amongst them, seeking that island.'

Matt laughed before he could stop himself. 'Oh, you're kidding me.' He bit his lip at the curious and accusing looks. 'No, seriously - that old story about how Columbus' navigators were Templars?'

'Yes,' said de Sablé, obviously not seeing the humour. 'They were there to look for the Chalice, and those who had taken it. But they found nothing. And I waited here, even as our order withered, even as the magical world faded more from the world of those we were supposed to protect.' His jaw tightened. 'It was some centuries later before the wizards asking for my aid in finding the Chalice seemed worthy. Then I did give them guidance, and they set across the ocean to seek the island, and the Chalice. They sent us word, they seemed close to finding it, but then… then they disappeared, too.'

Matt's brow furrowed. 'That's less promising. They found where the Chalice was and then promptly went missing?'

'Indeed,' said de Sablé. 'And if I must be honest, I took that as a sign. The Chalice went across the ocean, and then it was lost. If so many have sought it and failed, then it is God's will that it not be found.'

'While I'm not necessarily opposed to something this many people are dying for staying hidden,' said Matt, 'I don't think the Council of Thorns care about God's will.'

'Perhaps not.' De Sablé ground his teeth together. 'Very well. I have trusted you this far. There are many documents I have kept, further writing from the planning of the expedition west, the messages from that third expedition which found something before they went missing.'

'Whereabouts was this?' said Selena.

'The islands they call the Bahamas.'

'Makes sense,' said Matt. 'If Columbus' first expedition was guided by people looking for it. That's where he first made landfall.' Then he raised an eyebrow. 'What about the golems?'

'What of them?'

'Why was one here? Why have the Templars so extensively used magic of Judaic origin? In so many hidden and secure places, places where you hid the Chalice, there have been golem guardians.'

'It is magic of Outremar,' de Sablé agreed. 'Powerful magic, tremendous magic. Not to make constructs; any wizard can do that, even if constructs which are eternal and strong and self-sufficient are useful. But what is so valuable is their immunity to magic itself. It was this magic which the Templars found at Jerusalem -'

'You're shitting me.' Matt grinned. 'Golems. That was the secret the Templars found under Temple Rock in Jerusalem? That is the great Templar mystery?'

'Indeed,' said de Sablé, impassive. 'And it was one of the reasons the Church feared us so much. Wizards were everywhere in those days. But if the Templars had a weapon immune to magic, then our enemies had, indeed, reason to be afraid. We had not mastered the magics enough to use them as more than guards; we could not field armies of golems to retake the Holy Land. This was not magic I researched, but some of my fellows were experts. They fled from Paris with me to come here, and the dragon guardian of Tomar was their greatest achievement. It protected this land against the invasions from the south, but it seems their work was lost to the ages, also.'

'It has been,' said Matt, though he couldn't stop smiling. 'That's amazing. That's really amazing.'

'Amazing though it is,' said Selena, 'we could do with those documents if we're still going after the Chalice. Because that's a lead the Council of Thorns don't have, and we need to get a head-start on them. Before they find out from somewhere else.'

'They are secure,' said de Sablé. 'I will fetch them.' He paused. 'What do you intend to do with the Chalice once you find it, once it is safe from harm?'

'I don't know,' admitted Matt. 'There are people, researchers who would want it. I'm tempted to have it understood, but this thing's already been a tremendous amount of trouble.'

'It has. However.' De Sablé's lips thinned. 'I believe that it was meant to be lost. Which means that, if you find it, then it was meant to be found. There is great horror in the Chalice, but righteousness too, in the correct hands.'

Then he advanced on Matt, slowly this time, and reached out to nudge back his jacket, resting his hand on the pommel of the Templar sword from Badenheim. 'The warriors before you who wielded these swords did the impossible. We achieve nothing mighty through fear. Do not shy from God's work if the chance is before you.'

Selena watched them; watched Matt's expression grow more stern, more serious, and she didn't know if she found this laughable, horrifying, or sobering. This was a Knight Templar, a wizard almost a thousand years old, and destined to live perhaps a thousand more. An ancient magical artifact was on the line, and they faced enemies who would use it to end or ruin hundreds, thousands of lives if given the chance. If ever there was a time to put their deeds before their own safety, it was now.

Matt gave a slow, honest nod. 'I won't.'

And Selena's heart and gut knotted at the knowledge that he was telling the truth. Even if it killed him.

A/N: The golem lore which Matt speaks of is in-keeping with the mythological origins of the golems. Words of power were placed in their mouth, and their alteration or destruction would bring about the de-powering of the golems. This would have been hypothetically possible with the human golems, just none of them wanted to try shoving their hands down their throats. Much of what de Sablé has to say is derived from historical fact, minus, of course, anything to do with the Chalice of Emrys. The involvement of Templars in Columbus' expedition is one of those old conspiracy myths, and comes mostly from the presence of the Order's cross on the sails of his ships.

Next… the Bahamas! Or, first… family!