Hi- long time no see. Hopefully the delay's been worth it. Please enjoy :
Chapter four: The bonfire night battle
The small town where Lara had landed was now waking up and going about its business as usual. It appeared that none of the islands inhabitants had been disturbed by last nights occurrence in the mountains and had slept through.
As Lara sat down on a short wooden jetty in the docks the local fishermen watched her curiously as they prepared to set out to sea, it seemed unusual to them that a woman as pretty as Lara would be travelling alone. Especially out of the tourist season.
Lara gave them a friendly nod as she reached into her pocket and produced a pair of sunglasses. She hit a buttton on the side and the tech room swam into focus. After a moment Bryce and Hillary appeared beaming at her.
"Hi boys" She smiled warmly, very pleased to see them.
"Lara hi!" They chorused and immediately bombarded her with questions. "How'd you get on? Did you catch up with Arnhem?"
"I'm fine thanks and yes I did." She nodded
"And...?" Bryce asked expectantly
"And he was mauled to death by a hell hound whilst disturbing the Gods of ancient Greece." Lara intoned in a bored 'sing-song' voice
"So nothing out of the ordinary then." The techno wizard smiled back taking a bite of his sandwich, it was lunch time in England. Lara's lips pursed slightly, she hadn't even had breakfast yet.
"He was trying to get his hands on this." She said lifting the arrow up to the eyepiece in an attempt to distract Bryce from his taunting meal. "It's the rest of that arrow, any luck finding out what it is yet?" She finished almost sarcastically with a playful glint in her dark eyes.
"Lara if you know just tell me." Bryce sighed desperately. He'd been working flat out for nearly three days with no luck and was in no mood for games.
"I thought you could find anything out Bryce." She teased.
"Lara!"
"Try 'the arrow of Artemis'" She smiled, putting the poor man out of his misery. He disappeared across the room for a moment leaving Lara and Hillary alone. Hillary took Bryce's now vacated seat and turned wearily to his employer. Lara thought that he looked very strained, as though he had something on his mind. It didn't take a genius to work out what was concerning him.
"Where's Dianne?" Lara asked softly.
"She's not back from school yet." He sighed miserably
"Is she okay?"
"I think you need to talk with her when you get back Lara, she's really down." He ran his fingers through his short hair distractedly and looked sincerely into the screen "She just wants to spend some time with you."
"I had to do this Hillary." Lara replied feeling very guilty "Sometimes I don't have a choice in what I do and I can't let her get involved. It's too dangerous." She finished desperately almost pleading for him to understand.
"I know Lara." He nodded his support "But there are other ways to involve her in your life besides adventuring."
"How?"
"I don't know.. "He searched for the right words "'Girl talk' I suppose is the best way to put it."
"Me? 'girl talking?'" Lara's eyebrows raised incredulously.
Hillary shook his head "You don't have to talk Lara, you just have to listen."
"Okay," Relented Lara "you're right. When she gets back tell her I'll be home tomorrow evening we'll chat then."
"Ah" He stopped her "she's out tomorrow. Bonfire night in the village with her friends from school."
"I'll sort something out." Lara promised. Suddenly there was a cry from across the room.
"Bingo!" Bryce whooped
"Found something?" Hillary called sarcastically. He lifted the camera and moved it over so that Lara could see.
"Yep." Bryce grinned triumphantly "An article on a 1940s dig in Crete. Looks like they found your temple first Lara.Get this: the man in charge of the dig was a Dr Walter Croydon!"
"Mortimer's father?" Lara enquired
Bryce nodded "I should imagine so. It says here that they found the arrow head but not the arrow. Croydon and his partner Tristan Ford spent the the last 60 years researching the arrow and trying to find the temple again."
"We need to find their research." Hillary said turning to Lara
"We could always ask Mr Ford" Bryce put in smugly
"He's still alive!?" Lara was shocked "He must be in his 90s"
"Yep and working at the British museum."
"I take it all back Bryce, you're a genius!" Lara smiled "Pick me up with the arrow head tomorrow at the airport and we'll pay Mr Ford a visit. "
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It wasn't until the Victorian grandfather clock struck eight that Hillary realised something was amiss. He'd taken over from Bryce in the tech room once Bryce had left for London to take the arrowhead to Lara. Hillary had lost track of time stuck behind the computer screen but the clocks chimes had now drawn his attention to the fact that he hadn't heard Dianne leave. She was supposed to have left for the village two hours ago yet he hadn't heard a peep from her.
The fireworks display had already started, he could hear the whizzes and bangs and the occasional brightly coloured spark had illuminated the room. 'Why hasn't she left?' He wondered rising from his seat 'She'd better not have snuck out'
Hillary mounted the grand wooden staircase in the hall and headed up to the second floor. He made his way along the balcony to her room but stopped when he noticed that the door to the library was open.
The library was a long Georgian room, filled with towering pine bookshelves stacked to the ceiling with dusty volumes. There were desks and comfortable chairs around an old stone fireplace decorated with swirling knots and laughing faces, they creped Hillary out slightly as they seemed to stare at you as you sat reading. But the grandest feature of the library was the massive window on the far side, overlooking the village. From that spot you could see for miles around.
The glow a firework bathed the dark room in green light for a second drawing Hillary's attention to a figure sitting on the windowsill arms around its knees. He moved closer and stood behind Dianne. She did not turn her head but continued to stare out at the display.
"I thought you were going into the village." Hillary said softly. Dianne still kept her focus on the village. Hillary could see that her eyes were very bright, as though she'd been crying. It took her a moment to answer.
"I didn't really feel like it." She whispered, wiping her eyes on her sleeve "Has Bryce gone?"
"Yes," Hillary replied placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "he left a while ago. He and Lara should be back anytime soon."
"Great. Another flying visit is it?" She said bitterly.
"Dianne," He sighed perching next to her "I know it's not easy on you but you have to understand.."
"Why?" She cut him off angrily rising from her seat "Why should I always be the one to 'understand' to compromise. It's not like she ever notices when I make an effort. She'd probably be just as happy if I weren't here."
"That's not true." Hillary said firmly "Remember when you were away at school..?"
"When she packed me off to boarding school you mean." Dianne interrupted again, turning her back on the butler. He rose up and gently spun her around.
"It wasn't like that," He pleaded, desperate for the girls to get on "she thought it was for the best. It was what your father wanted for you." Dianne calmed down slightly at the mention of her father. She nodded sadly as she sat back down on the sill. Hillary continued "Lara was miserable the whole time that you were away. I haven't seen her like that since your father died. She loves you she's just terrible at showing it."
Joining her again he put one arm around her and pushed back a stray strand of her long dark hair with his free hand. Her appearance reminded him strongly of Lara when she was young.
"I've never told you about my first day here have I?" He whispered "I arrived expecting it to be like any number of my last jobs. I'll never forget Lara answering the door on me. She was so young, only a year older than you are now. She looked so tired and drained and she was so exhausted from crying than she could barely stand. I remember she was bustling around in the kitchen trying to make us some tea, she was practically clinging to the work surface for support, but she still wouldn't let me help her."
"So she's always been this stubborn then?" Dianne smirked, Hillary laughed
"By the time that she'd finished I was convinced that she was about lie down and die and then you started to cry in the next room. She just leapt up and ran in after you, she was suddenly full of life, totally different. I watched her pick you up and play with you and all trace of her depression was gone."
"A lot's changed since then Hillary" Dianne reminded him shaking her head.
"Yes some things have changed," he relented "you've become as stubborn as your sister for one thing. But the way she feels about you wont change. Sweetheart, you are what keeps your sister going and though she might not say it as often as she should, I know that she feels it."
"Thanks Hillary" She hugged him tightly but suddenly pulled apart when a loud bang shook the house. "What was that?" She asked fearfully, thinking that a stray firework had hit the building. The noise seemed to have come from the hall. Hillary went to investigate.
He poked his head gingerly out onto the landing overlooking the entrance hall. A gunshot rang through the house and a bullet whizzed past his head, missing by inches and burying itself deep in the wooden doorframe. Hillary jerked his head inside as a voice bellowed:
"NO! WE NEED THEM ALIVE!"
The butler turned to face Dianne "There's someone in the house!"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lara's plane from Greece was delayed so it was very late by the time that she and Bryce reached the museum. They'd been lucky enough to find a parking space near the station and walked the short distance from Tottenham court road. They walked swiftly through the rain washed streets as it was so cold. Lara was suffering all the more as this time yesterday she'd been sweating it out in sunny Greece.
"Do you think they'll let us in?"Bryce asked doubtfully as they made there way up the impressive steps.
Lara didn't reply. She simply gave him a knowing smile and knocked loudly on the huge front doors. A disgruntled security guard appeared, his expression softened greatly when he saw who it was. Lara was a regular 'after hours' visitor at the museum and was know to most of the security staff.
The man welcomed them both in, flustered that he had been so rude. He apologised profusely as he led the way inside. After a brief discussion the guard led the way to Mr Fords office.
Their feet echoed through the main hall ad they made their way up the white staircase past the reading room. The museum seemed eyrie with no one in it. Bryce had only ever been inside while it was filled with tourists and school children filming everything in sight. Plastic statues of Anubis and busts of Tutankhamun watched them pass through the gift shop. They freaked him out a little so he hurried to keep up.
The guard led them through Ancient Egypt, then Rome before the finally reached Greece. It felt to Bryce as though they were travelling the world in seconds and he wondered vaguely what this era would leave behind. He was so lost in thought that he wasn't looking where he was going, and crashed painfully into Lara as they stopped suddenly outside a door.
The guard told them to wait while he saw if Ford was busy. He was gone a matter of moments before he poked his head out again and waved them inside. He left closing the door behind him.
Fords office was in fact a storeroom. It was dimly lit by high ceiling lamps and didn't appear to contain any windows. Inside was row after row of wooden crates and shelves piled high with meticulously labelled pieces of broken pottery and stone. In between one of these rows was a long wooden desk, strewn with reports and research. A small hunched man sat half obscured by a teetering pile.
He seemed as ancient as any of the exhibits. He had lost all of his hair and his face was so badly lined he looked like a mosaic. A pair of, sunken and tired watery eyes peered back at them over thick horn- rimmed spectacles as the pair of them shifted uneasily into the room. They appeared to have disturbed him in the middle of something. However he didn't seem to mind. He rose slowly from his chair and crossed to meet them.
"Mr Ford?" Lara enquired, taking his withered hand.
"Ah you must be Lady Croft." He croaked delighted at the company.
"Yes but please call me Lara. This is my assistant Bryce" Bryce nodded a greeting to the old man who returned it with a toothless grin.
"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Ford asked as he shifted slowly back into his seat.
"I was wondering if you could tell us about the arrow of Artimis" Lara asked moving closer.
To Lara and Bryce's surprise the old man suddenly became enraged. His eyes burned with fury. "That blasted thing!" He yelled hoarsely "I wish I'd never set eyes on that damned temple. What a waste of human life!"
"Do you mean Croydon?" Bryce asked, backing off slightly.
"His, my own." Ford wailed "We should never have gone there in the first place let alone spent our lives trying to re-locate it. Where has it got us? What have we achieved? If only He'd listened!" He finished, weeping into his hands.
"Who?" Lara pressed him. She spoke softly and placed a comforting hand on his fore- arm. Ford shook her off.
"Walter of course! Poor Walter, his boy's dead to I believe. No doubt murdered for his fathers mistakes."
"Mistakes?" Lara said puzzled "Mr Ford is there something that you need to tell us?"
"Need?" The man moaned bitterly "My dear girl there is no need for you and your friend to get any further involved than you already are. Forget the arrow, forget my ravings. I'm just an old man and a foolish one at that."
"I'm already involved," Lara said pulling out the two arrow pieces from her bag, a look of terror passed across Tristan Ford's face "please Mr Ford tell me what's wrong."
"Where did you get this?" He breathed.
"The temple. Mr Ford what do we need to know?" Lara pleaded.
"Oh!" Ford exclaimed desperately "Oh no! What have you done you foolish child?"
"I didn't.." Lara began to protest but the old man cut across.
"The Nymphs. Why didn't they stop you?" He demanded.
"They tried." Lara smiled, slightly pleased with herself.
"And they'll try again." The man said harshly "My dear girl this arrow should never have been removed from the temple. You have unleashed a power terrible enough to destroy the world. You know the legends of Artemis yes?" Both Lara and Bryce nodded "The mortal Niobe boasted to Leto, mother of Artemis and Apollo that as she had more children she was a superior mother. Upon Hearing this Apollo and his sister hunted down all of Niobe's children and left no survivors.
Seeing what her children had done Leto took their arrows and burnt every one. Except for this one. Artemis hid it from her mother by turning it to silver and burying it in a hidden temple. It is said that with this one arrow it is possible to wipe out entire nations. It is a very dangerous tool in the wrong hands Lady Croft. You must understand we did not know this at the time."
"Sorry," Bryce stopped him, looking slightly concerned "can we go back to the Nymph dogs 'trying again'?"
"They are there to protect the arrow," Ford explained matter of factly "they have hunted Walter and myself our entire lives just to find the head. Now that the entire arrow is missing...."
"Great!" Bryce exclaimed hysterically "If Arnhem wasn't dead I'd kill him!"
"Arnhem?" Ford breathed
"You know him?"
"I know a Victor Arnhem, he was our guide in the temple".
Bryce and Lara exchanged glances "Did he have a son called Xavier?" She asked.
"He may well have done. He was a dangerous man Lady Croft. He would have used the Arrow given the chance."
"What for?"
"Our expedition was right in the midst of the Greek civil war." Ford explained, a touch of sadness and regret in his voice "Arnhem was a militant member of ELAS. Who knows what he could have done with the arrow. But we did not..."
"Know this at the time." Bryce finished for him "Okay. look there's no problem really." He turned to face Lara "Arnhem and son are well and truly out of business and we've got the arrow. All we have to do is get it back to the temple before the nasty nymphs get us."
"Might be easier said than done." Lara said looking past him. Out of the shadows a swarm of beautiful nymphs moved slowly and threateningly towards them.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hillary crossed the library hurriedly and grabbed Dianne's wrist dragging her across to the old stone fireplace. She watched in amazement as he pushed a seemingly ordinary knot in the carved pattern and a set of crumbling spiral steps appeared leading down into the darkness. He forced her in and it sealed itself shut behind them. In the darkness he felt for a switch and a light came on illuminating the dark passage way. Dianne looked at him quizzically for an explanation but he seemed in no mood to give one. He led the way down still holding on to her. The steps were narrow and falling apart, Dianne clung tighter to the butlers hand for support.
"What's this?" She panted, struggling to keep up. They were going two stairs at a time so must be nearing the basement.
"It's a secret passage way, it leads to the kitchens." Hillary told her distractedly. He let go of her hands as they reached a wooden wall. It was a dead end, or so Dianne thought.
To her further amazement Hillary began to fumble in the darkness, he was crouched down on the dusty floor. Even in the dim light Dianne could see a dramatic change had taken over him. It often did in these situation. 'situations' Dianne mused, 'that we all to often find ourselves in.' Whenever he was in charge of her safety Hillary's gentle and soft movements were replaced by precision and decisive movements, as though someone else had taken over him. She wondered vaguely if he had been in the army when he was young 'He is pretty handy with a gun'
Dianne looked up at the large wooden wall and suddenly felt a hot, prickly wave of anger wash over her. "Why wasn't I told about this?" Dianne demanded angrily
"Because you'd have used it." The butler replied simply. He found what he was looking for and the wall moved aside to reveal the darkened kitchen. It contained a large, scrubbed wooden table but had no chairs as they never used it, several wine barrels against the far wall and a vast array of appliances and utensils lining the other. The kitchen was under ground but had a unusually high ceiling as it had to connect with the back gardens via a hatch. In the manors glory days it had been used to deposit the coal and the wine barrels, now days it remained unused
Dianne and Hillary entered silently. They could still hear the fireworks and distant roar of the villagers but now there was a new sound. The intruders looking for them both above in the house and out in the grounds. Dianne moved to a high window on the far wall. Standing on a box she was just able to make out darkened figures roaming the gardens, they were armed.
She turned her attention back to Hillary who was busy counting along the disused wine barrels. He kicked the third one open and delved inside producing a handgun.
"Now listen to me," He said moving closer to the hatch "when we go through the hatch head straight for the maze. Whatever happens DO NOT LOOK BACK. Keep going and stay with me." He took Dianne by the shoulders and looked deep into her eyes, she was startled to see him so afraid "If anything happens to me head for the centre. There's a secret bunker, just twist the head of the lion statue."
"So many secrets!" Dianne sighed annoyed that they had kept so much from her. Did they really not trust her?
Hillary shook her to make sure that she understood "Dianne, did you hear me? KEEP GOING!" He took her hand and slowly opened the hatch. They crawled out into dark Smokey air. It stank of the distant bonfire and the chemicals from the fireworks. They could still hear the pops and the bangs as they ran, full pelt over the black rain soaked grass around the side of the house, their feet slipping as they went.
Neither of them had a jacket so the night air stung them and caught in their chests as they neared the maze. In the din behind them Dianne heard a deep bark
"Nero!" She called out turning her head.
"Keep running" Hillary urged dragging her onwards. Dianne looked behind her to see the large black dog running towards them, several figures in black were giving chase. The animal covered the distance between the two parties in seconds and pounced on Dianne dragging her down under his enormous weight. Slamming her into the wet grass. Hillary turned and lifted the gun. The bang sounded through the grounds louder than any firework.
"Hillary!"
The butler slumped to the floor eyes closed and lay still next to Dianne. The air was already tight in her lungs from the cold but now it seemed to have left her completely. Noise from the fireworks display and the invading villains merged into one distant roar that didn't quite reach her ears. In a daze she pushed the dog aside and crawled to her fallen friend. His white shirt was already completely dyed with blood which shone inky black in the moonlight.
Before she had reached him she felt herself being dragged to her feet by two well built men. Her vision was so badly blurred she could not see their faces . It felt as though she'd completely forgotten how to use her body, all of her senses had deserted her in shock. She shivered as her legs buckled beneath her and the men were forced to hold her up by her elbows as a figure drew into focus. An aging man in a well pressed suit stood before her. His face was obscured by an ancient Greek comedy mask. It smiled manically at her as a calm and soft voice spoke.
"Good evening miss Croft." It said "I believe that you have something of mine."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The shelves stacked with Greek artefacts swayed ominously for a moment before crashing down on them. Lara reacted instinctively, grabbing Bryce and dragging him under the desk .She rolled on to the other side once the rain of ancient crockery had subsided indicating with a simple hand gesture that he should stay put.
She coughed as several decades of dust rose through the air choking her and obscuring her vision. As the dust began to settle she scanned the room for Ford. The elderly man had not been able to escape in time. He had been crushed under the weight of a falling shelf. His head and torso were protruding from underneath one of the heavy shelves. His skull was cracked, drenching the worn out carpet in blood. His eyes were open, staring glassily into the abyss. It was obvious to Lara even from a distance that the old man had passed on.
The Nymphs continued to advance. Searching desperately around Lara grabbed a large piece of wood that had split from a crate. She stepped onto the desk and prepared for an onslaught. To her surprise the Nymphs did not change into their hound form. Two of them leapt with startling speed and agility onto the desk. She swung her makeshift weapon at the first, sending it cascading with a tremendous force back into the group. It knocked several of them over as it landed. The second Nymph struck her sharply from behind sending her face first into the desk. Lara rolled onto her back in time to see the Nymph pull back a punch. She rolled onto her side as the creature struck. The force of the blow had been so severe that the Nymphs had had gone straight through the thick wooden desk. Lara pulled her leg up into her chest and kicked out at the Nymphs face sending it flying backwards into one of the few crates that remained in tact. Suddenly she heard Bryce cry out. She turned to see that one of the Nymphs was holding her friend a clear foot off of the ground by the throat. His battered old trainers kicked out desperately as he gasped and struggled for breath.
Lara moved desperately forward but the remaining Nymphs blocked her path.
"RETURN WHAT YOU HAVE STOLEN!" The nearest one growled in a distant and screechy voice.
"We were about to!" Lara protested desperately as Bryce grew red in the face. She dived back into her bag and produced the Arrow pieces. To her surprise the Nymph did not take it from her. However the one holding Bryce let him drop. He coughed and wheezed on his knees as he slowly regained his breath.
"YOU MUST NOT LET IT FALL INTO HIS HANDS AGAIN!" The Nymph told Lara.
"Who?" She asked perplexed "Arnhem? He's dead"
"HE STILL THREATENS THIS WORLD"
"You didn't kill him?" Lara breathed indignantly.
"HE STILL CAUSES PAIN AND SUFFERING IN THIS LIFE" The nymph said unhelpfully
"But he is dead?" Lara was very confused now.
"HE WALKS THIS LAND" The nymphs chorused and faded away as if they'd never been there.
"He's in England?" Comprehension suddenly dawned on Lara "Oh no.."
Was it okay? I was a little worried about switching between the action and that it could get a little bit melodramatic. Let me know if you liked it Plz