My name is Dominik Patryk Martinus, born the year 1209 in Briton. My father is Alfred John Martinus and my mother was Natalia Wójcik and this is my confession.
I was raised in Briton by my father, my mother - a Polska woman - died in childbirth. My father was a bad man, he would beat me, and he would steal whatever he could to feed his addiction. I saw his acts with my own eyes, and I vowed to never be like him and I left him in my 16th year. He was passed out on the floor and I doubt even to this day, if he is still alive, whether he cares I left. If I walked past him I doubt he would recognise me and I certainly would not bother giving him a passing glance.
I joined the church hoping to escape my father's shadow, but it stretches a lot longer than I ever anticipated. After being accepted and beginning my studies, I found myself compelled to act like my father. I would steal, at first it was meaningless, harmless things, like extra food or drink but soon I was stealing clothes, property of others, even tithe coins. At first, I was sick with myself, nervous, scared I would be caught and I prayed to be better. To be a better man. To help others instead of taking but I was not healed.
I was also, up until that point, not caught and I began to wonder if it was God's plan. Maybe that there was a higher purpose? Afterall it has been almost three years since I left home and I hadn't been caught. But if there was a plan, when would it be revealed to me?
My answer came less than a year later when, upon visiting the Church of St Paul the Hermit in Buda, I was caught trying to steal a coin from one of the priests. I thought it was then I would be punished, that God's fury would finally come down upon me, however it turned out to be a blessing.
The priest I tried to steal from explained to me that he runs a sub-sect of the church, one designed to reclaim all that the patron Saint missed out on during his exile to the cave in the Theban desert. He believed that it was the will of God to reward Saint Paul and his disciples by taking what he deserved.
I must admit I was dubious, and the explanation was against all of God's teachings, however it provided within me a sense of belonging and I thought that maybe this is God's plan for me. Maybe the priest was correct.
I agreed to join them, and they taught me methods of theft I never thought possible. Misdirection's, distractions, working in teams, begging, sleight-of-hand. It was all new and it was all wonderful to me. I worked hard and for the first time in my life I was enjoying living and was happy within myself.
My belief that this was God's will strengthened by the day.
And then came my biggest challenge. I was visiting Berne Abbey in the Holy Roman Empire and during my explorations I came across a man who was very protective of his belongings. During one moment, when he was away from his room, I snuck in to see what he was so protective about and discovered a bag located in a false floor hide hole in the corner of his room. I pulled the bag out and almost fainted when I saw what it contained.
Gold. Jewels. Rings. Crowns. Sceptres. Cups. I could not even begin to describe everything that was in there. I thanked God for leading me to this treasure. I knew it was for our order, for Saint Paul.
Just before I left the Abbey, I made sure to have the man leave his room, I created a distraction and waited. When he lef his roomt, I removed the jewels and hid them in my room, leaving immediately the next day.
According to the brothers at Berne Abbey, the Mongol army were invading across Europe and I told them I would go to the St Peter and Paul Church in Poland.
What was meant to be a brief visit ended up being a 4-year stay. The Mongol invasion advanced far quicker than anticipated and they arrived in Poland before I could leave. I knew I had to leave with my treasure, to return to the church here in Buda. I was getting angry and short tempered with everyone. I wanted to leave but the Templars would not allow it.
Then the Mongols attacked Tyniec and I was getting desperate, fearing they would take my treasure. I searched for a way out of the underground base and, upon discovering the back way out, I used it to try to escape but found the Abbey was surrounded by the invaders.
I reiterate that I was desperate, and a feeling of great dread fell over me as an idea struck me and I visited the Mongol camp. Although the language was a barrier, I managed to strike a deal with them. In return for my safe passage out of Poland, I would show them the entrance to the underground base.
They agreed and I let them in. I was given a horse and I escaped like the wind clutching my treasures as my fellow brothers were being slaughtered. I prayed for them and I wept for them, but I could not bear to give up my treasures.
I arrived here not long after and carried my treasure into the vault of Saint Paul but I found I could not give them up, if I put them down and left the room I felt ill and would shake with fever and only being in the presence of the treasure would soothe me.
No one knew of the treasure, I dumped everything else I stole into the vault but kept my treasure in a bag and kept that with me in this room that became my home and, now, my tomb.
I am not sure how long I was down here but we were attacked, the Mongol Horde must have followed me, perhaps suspected what I carried with me. They have destroyed Buda; my fellow brothers have deserted the church but I cannot leave my treasure, so I waited.
And the horde came, and I hid. They took everything. All of the treasure we have stolen and hoarded for centuries they took while I hid under the cot clutching my bag of treasure.
They found me, flipped the cot off the top of my head and pulled the treasure from my clutches, like a parent taking a toy from a helpless child. I thought they would kill me but instead the leader - a brown skinned man with thin moustache and long, thin beard as is the style of their kind - laughed at me and said something in their language. I think they called him 'Badu' or "Bagdu", and the only other word I could make out was 'Sarai' as they were leaving.
The next thing I knew they built a wall made of crude stones and I was stuck in here with only a candle, a pen and paper and my cot. I will die here and very soon.
I write this confession to cleanse my soul, to rid myself of this fever, and ask God for my forgiveness and for a means to escape so that I may reclaim my treasure. I will pray and continue to pray for an escape.
Dominik Martinus.
Nate put the book down on the table, "Geez, what an asshole."
Sully laughed, "Yeah, a bit rich to preach with one hand while stealing with the other."
"And then asking God for help to go chase down the treasure he stole."
Sully picked up the book, "Is there anything else?" he asked flipping through the pages.
Nate shook his head, "No, I think he would have used up most of his ink writing that down." He took the book from Sully and put it in his backpack.
While he was doing so, Sully shone his torch around the room and after a moment he said, "Hey...uh..Nate?"
Nate looked up at Sully who was pointing at the far wall where the cot was, Nate followed the torchlight and saw more scratches in the stone but they weren't the scratches of a man trying to get out, they were words written in scratches and dried blood.
They weren't sentences, just words, short ones, like 'God', 'Mongols', 'Badu' and then words like 'treasure', 'mine', 'get out' and 'Sarai' and other illegible or smudged words. There were streaks of dried blood as if he had run bloody fingers down the walls trying to scratch or grip some of the stones and pull them out.
"Did he write this in blood?" Sully asked.
"Looks like he wore his fingers down to nubs then he gave up and started praying for help."
"So, the Mongols took the Crown Jewels?' Sully asked.
"Looks like it" Nate said.
"Have we reached a dead end?"
Nate thought for a moment, "Maybe not." He paused for another minute thinking and then said, "Alright, so King John tries to steal the Crown Jewels in 1216 with Roger of Wendover. He falls sick and Roger takes them to the Netherlands where he hides out in Berne Abbey until 1236 when Dominik Martinus steals them from him and, when trying to come here he is rerouted to the St Peter and Paul Church in Poland.
"He's stuck in the church for four or five years and then, in 1241, fearing the Mongols will steal his treasure, he strikes a deal with them to let him go free in exchange for entry into the bunker where they slaughter the priests and Templars."
"Sounds about right." Sully agreed.
Nate continued, "He heads straight for here, I assume he thinks this is a safe place where he is holed up with not only the Crown Jewels but countless untold treasures stolen over the centuries, including-" he pulls out the Solidus -"this.
"But the Mongols follow and ravage Budapest until they find their way here, take the treasure, take the Crown Jewels, brick Martinus in here to die of starvation in the dark and they go..."
He looked at the writings on the wall and it all made sense for him, "Of course" he whispered.
Sully looked at him, "What is it?"
"Sarai Batu."
"Sarai what?"
Nate turned to him, excited and speaking fast, "Sarai Batu was the Golden Horde's headquarters, their capital city. When the Mongols invaded here, the leader was Batu Khan, not 'Badu'. It was located on the Akhtuba River in current-day Russia." he pointed to the name 'Badu' on the wall written in blood.
"Nate, none of that made a goddamn lick of sense."
"Ok, let me start again. So, we know all that happened with the Crown Jewels until they got to this point, right?"
"Right" said Sully.
"But what we haven't explored is the other side of it, the involvement of the Mongols. The Mongols were a ruthless force coming from Asia, they attacked Europe many times over, sacking and killing at whim and their empire expanded from Mongolia to Korea in the East, Tibet in the South, half of Russia and towards Hungary and Poland. They were huge. And they didn't stop there, they raided Poland, Hungary, Serbia, Bulgaria, Croatia, a lot of Europe.
"But in 1241 they invaded Hungary and after destroying the place and killing half the population, they just went home. Historians suspect the reason for it is because the Great Khan Ögedei had died and they needed to elect a new Khan. But Batu already had the Golden Khan established by then so why did they need to leave? They could have continued their sacking of Europe but, instead, they chose to go back to Sarai Batu.
"And now I understand why, they found the Crown Jewels."
Sully asked, "What makes you think they are the reason?"
Nate smiled, "Based on everything we have found so far, there has been one common theme whenever someone comes in contact with the Jewels."
"And that is?" Sully asked impatiently. Nate's dramatic flair was clearly annoying him.
"Everyone who possesses them wants to flee somewhere and keep them safe. King John wanted to leave England, Roger of Wendover went to Berne Abbey, Dominik Martinus wanted to come here. They have all wanted to keep the treasure somewhere safe. So why would Batu Khan be any different?"
"Why indeed?" came a soft voice from behind them.
Nate and Sully swung around to find a monster of a man standing in the entrance. He was, at least, five inches over six feet, in his mid-40s with tanned skin, dark hair cut short in a military style and eyes the colour of stained oak. He stood in the opening, hands clasped behind his back, a small smirk on his face, "I must commend you, Mr Drake," the man said speaking with a Turkish accent. "You have done a marvellous job so far."
Nate frowned, "Yeah, uhh, thanks. Who are you?"
The man walked into the room, his heavy boots thudding on the stone floor while Nate and Sully followed him with their flashlights and watched the man examine the desk. He ran his index finger along it and examined the dust on it before brushing it away. Then he went to the cot where the body of Dominik Martinus knelt in eternal prayer, he gazed over the writings on the wall before examining the skeleton.
"So, this is the Hermit's thief" he said airily. He yanked the wooden cross free from the skeletal fingers and the skeleton tumbled over.
The man brought it close to his face and examined it with a keen eye and then put it in his pocket. He turned to face them, "Did you know" he said, "that one method of torture for the Mongols was immurement, that is to put the person in the box and leave them to die? No food, no water. Usually they would do it out in the sun but," he indicated the stone walls, "I suppose in this case they had to improvise."
Nate was feeling uncomfortable, there was something extremely disturbing about this person and that was ignoring the fact he was down here with them in a church that had been undiscovered in centuries.
"Hey, asshole, enough with the history lesson. Who the hell are you?"
The man smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes, "I apologise, my name is Miraç Khanoğlu."
Khanoğlu? Where have I heard that name before?
"What do you want?" Sully asked interrupting Nate's thoughts.
This time Khanoğlu's smile did touch his eyes, "Why the same thing you want, Mr. Sullivan, the lost Crown Jewels of England."
Flood lights flashed behind Khanoğlu and the vault and Martinus's makeshift tomb lit up like Christmas, casting Khanoğlu in a menacing silhouette.
"That was awfully dramatic" said Nate. "Besides, you're about 2000 kilometres too far east. Try the Tower of London."
"Mr Drake, please do not insult my intelligence. I am well aware of King John's lost jewels and I have been searching for them for a very long time. Apparently in the wrong place and I have apparently employed a salak."
He said the last word with disdain.
"Ok, even if we knew what the hell you were talking about" Sully hedged, "clearly what you want isn't here. Look around, there's nothing but dust and bones."
Khanoğlu raised his hand and two men appeared on either side of him, while they were silhouetted by the bright lights behind them, there was the unmistakable shape of handguns pointing at them.
Nate and Sully raised their hands above their head and Khanoğlu stepped aside and held out his hand, "This way if you will please."
Nate and Sully walked out of the hidden room and into the brightly lit church. There were ten more men, all dressed in dark fatigues, carrying Steyr AUG assault rifles and Yavuz 16 handgun in thigh holsters. Khanoğlu walked around the coffin of St. Paul running his hand along the rim of the stone.
While they waited in silence as Khanoğlu caressed the coffin, Nate looked around for a way out and he noticed a second door along the right-hand wall. It was a simple wooden door and there were two more men looking in it, probably seeing where it leads. Nate nudged Sully and indicated the door with his head.
Sully nodded knowingly.
Khanoğlu said, "I don't think you will find escape as easily as you did in Poland, Mr Drake."
Nate frowned, "How do you know about Poland?"
Khanoğlu looked up from the coffin, "The most pathetic thing about people is how easily they can be bought. And if they cannot be bought, if they have some ridiculous moral conviction, they can be threatened. Everyone has a breaking point, Mr Drake."
The way he said it, so matter-of-factly, made Nate involuntarily shiver. This guy was not only creepy, he was unnerving,
"So the cops were working for you?"
Khanoğlu smiled, "I was told you were a clever man, Mr Drake. Yes, the Policja were working for me. I wanted to keep involvement to a minimum, but you and Mr Sullivan have forced my hand."
"I thought we made a clean escape from Poland; how did you find us?" Sully asked, trying to buy some time.
Khanoğlu finished examining the coffin and turned to one of his men, said something quietly to him. The man nodded and indicated to another and they left the room, exiting via the door that lead back to the Red Hedgehog House.
"I am a very rich man, Mr Sullivan. I have resources beyond your wildest dreams and you, with your petty methods, are not difficult to find if one is willing to make the effort."
"Has anyone ever told you that you are unbearably cryptic?" Nate said.
Khanoğlu was on him in a flash, his right fist flashing before connecting with his cheek and Nate's head exploded in pain and he found himself on the cool stone floor.
"Jesus Christ" he groaned.
"Others may tolerate your Neanderthal humour, Mr Drake. But I do not." Khanoğlu said walking away.
Sully was down at his side, "You alright, kid?"
Nate nodded, trying to clear his head, "Was that his fist or a truck he hit me with?"
"I'm not sure he isn't a walking, talking truck" Sully grunted, grabbing his arm and helping him up.
The two men returned, carrying cartons the size of a shoebox.
"Get them ready," Khanoğlu told them. The men nodded and began unpacking the boxes. They were pulling out small square blocks and placing them on the pillars. Nate's eyes widened when he realised what they were.
"What are you doing!".
Khanoğlu said, "After the Mongols capture a city and the enemy surrenders, they would depart the city leaving an envoy behind. If the conquered city killed the envoy, the Mongols would return and kill the entire population.
"Now when it came to the rulers of the conquered city, they had some unique methods of disposing of them. One of them was to roll them up in a carpet and trample them with horses. Unfortunately, I do not have carpet, nor horses with me so I am going to do the next best thing..." he paused, as if for dramatic effect. "I am going to bring this church down on your heads."
Sully took a step forward, "Whoa, wait a minute-" he began but received the butt of a gun to the back of his head.
Nate started forward as well but suddenly there were two guns trained on him, "Take it easy fellas." He looked at Khanoğlu, "Surely we can work something out, a cut of the treasure. Fifty-fifty?"
Sully groaned on the ground.
Khanoğlu smiled a mirthful smile, "Why would I settle for half when I can have it all?"
"You gotta find it first" Nate taunted.
"And I suppose you know where it is, Mr Drake?"
Nate shrugged, "I have a fair idea."
"As do I, thanks to my salak"
"I must thank you, Nathan" said a cool, crisp, British voice. A familiar voice, once he heard once before and it all made sense now.
"Kelvin Spence," Drake groaned as the archaeologist emerged from the shadows. Now he remembered where he heard Khanoğlu's name before, back at the Bishop Museum when he overheard Spence's conversation in the hallway.
"Oh you son of a bitch!" Sully grumbled, standing up, hand pressed against the back of his head.
Kelvin wore a smug smile on his face. He wore a button khaki shirt and hiking trousers, a complete contrast to Khanoğlu and his men. "I must admit that without you I would never have left that mud pit back in England. I was convinced the Jewels were lost in the wash, but alas, they suffered an even more enthralling fate.
"Jesus Christ, Spence. Enough with the evil mastermind schtick," Nate muttered.
He laughed and continued as if Nate hadn't spoken, "What a journey they have been on," he pronounced, "and who would have thought it possible! The Crown Jewels in the hands of those filthy Mongols! They wouldn't have even known what to do with them!"
Khanoğlu was on him before anyone could react, he was almost a blur, and backhanded Spence across the creek. The man spun with the force of the blow and crashed into one of the stoic-looking armed mercenaries standing next to him. The mercenary held him up and Spence, who had a bright red welt on his cheek, looked ready to say something but wilted like a flower under the glare of Khanoğlu.
"Don't ever speak down of the Mongols, salak!" Khanoğlu snarled. There was a fiery rage in his dark eyes and Nate thought he might pummel him. But then he blinked and seemed to compose himself, his chest slowly heaving as he took deep breaths and whatever rage he had was gone.
He turned to his men and nodded his head to Spence, "Come, we have spent enough time here." Then he called over his shoulder, "Mr Drake. Mr Sullivan. I wish you peace in the afterlife."
He reached the door that led back to the Hedgehog house, Kelvin following behind him like an obedient puppy, and more men following behind him. Khanoğlu turned to the two men who remained with Nate and Sully, guns drawn and said, "Until the last moment."
They nodded but didn't take their eyes off them.