It is I! I am back from my holiday…well if u can call it that, I did basically what I do at home but with company :P

I have been back for a whil but I haven't had the writing buzz, I had the reading buzz. I finally finished "the fellowship" yippee!….but I still have to more books to go --'

Anyway it was so nice to open my hotmail and find more reviews!! Its so nice to know people are actually reading this!

Anyway now I am not going away (at least I think not, maybe in august for my b-day for two days) again so I will update as much as I can and get this finished and hopefully start a new fic.

Disclaimer: as nothing has changed I still don't anything that belongs to core or Eidos, all that is mine is the plot

Chapter 10

"The Tree"

Lara and Kurtis waded out of the dark water and onto the small island that had the great tree planted in its centre. To the both of them the tree seemed abnormal and mysterious, and as they neared it, they realised that the wood was dead yet the leaves on its branches were green and healthy.

Lara walked up to the tree and shone her torch onto its body looking for some clue when she saw burnt into the wood a single symbol that was nearly as tall as her.

Something in her mind jolted as she saw it, it was the mark that Karel had on his hand.

"Do you know what that symbol means?" Lara asked

"It does look familiar…it probably angelic script." Kurtis said as they walked closer to it

"Karel had it on the palm of his hand." Lara started to walk around the tree looking for some kind of entrance of lever "It looked like it was burnt into his hand."

"Ouch." Kurtis winced at the thought

"Aren't you meant to be a tough guy?" Lara asked playfully

"Yeah…but there are two types of pains that I am afraid of."

"And they are?" Lara turned around and flashed the torch in Kurtis's eyes as if she was interrogating him

"Why should I tell you?" He said as he tried to hide from the light with his hand but Lara kept moving the torch "Would you stop shinning that thing in my face please?"

"Not until you tell me." Lara smiled with a small grin

"Burning and needles." He mumbled

"Needles?" Lara chuckled, Kurtis shot her a look then grabbed the torch then grabbed Lara around the waist and pulled her against him and shone the light in her eyes

"What about you?" he whispered as he leant in closer towards her

"I'm not afraid of anything." Lara said while in her head she was battling the urge to kiss him

"I think you are." Kurtis moved in even closer that their lips were near to touching

"Let go of me." Lara whispered quietly

"I don't think that's what you want." Kurtis was about to move in and kiss her but Lara placed her hands on his chest and pushed away from him releasing herself from his grasp

"Who are you to say what I want?" Lara said as she turned her back to him and looked over the symbol again.

'God I hate him but at the same time I want to give into him.' Lara thought bitterly

"So, any ideas?" Lara asked

"Not really." Kurtis grunted

Lara sighed and knew it would be the same as earlier; he wouldn't talk to her until he eventually came around.

"You're so helpful." Lara sighed and extended her hand scraping it across the design then she winced in pain.

"What happened?" Kurtis quickly asked

"Nothing, I just cut my hand." Lara replied as she tried to look for a bandage in her bag

"Here let me help." Kurtis sighed and knelt down next to her. He held the torch over the bag and pulled out a roll of bandages and a pair of scissors, he took Lara's hand and cut a small piece of bandage to clean up the blood trickling from her palm. He then cut a larger piece and wrapped it around her hand then gentle knotted it.

"Thank you." Lara smiled at him

"Whatever," he said coldly making Lara roll her eyes "So what cut you anyway?"

"There must have been something sticking out of the wood." Lara got up and walked over to the tree still shinning the light on it, there was now a red mark on the symbol from where she had cut her hand but there was nothing there to have cut her. "Kurtis do you see anything sharp here?"

He looked carefully where she had cut herself but saw nothing "No…that is really weird."

"Do you know how perceptive you are?" She said sarcastically which caused Kurtis to shoot her a look that said shut up without moving his mouth "Do you think Karel is here?" Lara asked trying to change the subject.

But before Kurtis could reply suddenly, a bright red light issued from the mark with a loud hissing noise. When the light died down Lara and Kurtis looked at the tree and saw that the symbol had disappeared and now there was a large hole where it was.

"Well, it looks like our problem is solved." Kurtis said as he took the torch and shone it down the hole "it's a long drop but there is water at the bottom. I'll go first." He said to Lara and handed her the torch.

Kurtis sat on the edge of the hole while Lara shone the light down into the water and then he let go. Lara heard a loud splash that seem to go on forever and when it finally died down she still heard nothing from Kurtis

"Kurtis!" She shouted down into the tree and shone the light down on the still foaming water, his head then suddenly appeared out of the water and he was gasping for air "Are you alright?!"

"Yeah!" he called "It's a lot deeper than I thought. Wait! I found a shallow bit."

"I'm going to throw the torch down!" Lara shouted then she tossed the torch at him and he caught it

"Ready!" Kurtis shouted as he shown the torch onto the water directly under Lara.

Lara checked her bag was safely fastened to her back and was closed up completely then she climbed over the hole and jumped down into the water below.

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