Butterfly

AN: The plot will pick up in this chapter, not a lot, but it gives you an idea of what's going to happen... Oh, and I'm sorry if this Lara seems a little bit depressed. I noticed that the other day when I was checking over my chapters. But things will pick up for her, just you wait and see...

And, I almost forgot my manners, thanks to TrJunePearl and ExtremeRainbowRaiderPrincess for the review (s)!

Left, right, together, Lara thought to herself as she swam the lengths of the pool. She was practising a drill of a more tiring, yet more relaxing stroke, that most people would hate. But for Lara, the more she felt the Butterfly stroke test the muscles in her arms, the more relaxed she felt. Her legs flopped in the water, like a mermaids tail movement, making her move faster with each stroke she pulled. She came to the edge of the pool and panted for breath as her arms stung. She had began her 'warm-up' over an hour ago. And choosing the stroke that she did, it wasn't exactly the best for a warm-up. If anything it would drain her energy for the real thing.

Still holding onto the edge, she began to kick her legs out slowly behind her, pulling her body up so she was floating on the surface of the pool. She let go of the edge and turned onto her back, spreading her arms and legs out in a star shape. She looked up at the ceiling, taking in the pattern and designs of the roof. The weather had luckily changed around; in a change from a week of rain, wind and more rain, it had turned into streaming sun and heat waves. But, then again, that was the British summer for you. The weather was lovely this morning; the sun beaming down on everyone and the heat warming the skins of the people down below.

Lara closed her eyes and sighed as she just floated there, waiting for the day to bring along what it did. Her mood had picked up after the last storm had finished. Alistair and Zip were desperate to find out what was troubling her so much, but it would've been too hard to explain to them. They didn't know how much a threat Karel was. The only person besides Lara that knew what he was capable of wasn't around any more. And it would hurt her too much if she tried to contact him. Whenever she mentioned Karel's name, everyone else thought 'oh, well, she took care of him. Just like what Lara always does.' But they didn't know how it felt. The feeling that she had tried her best to stop someone, presumably killing them, just for them to pop up not dead and haunt you. The feeling that no matter how much you tried to get rid of something, it kept on coming back to you like a boomerang. The feeling of being useless. And that was a feeling that Lara didn't like one bit.

She opened her eyes and rolled over onto her front before swimming to the edge of the pool. She pulled herself up and sat down on the concrete floor, wading her feet in the water. She looked up, taking in the designs and patterns of her pool room. She had never really taken in the designs of her furniture; just looked at them when she was going somewhere. She scanned down the Greek statues that she would usually use to swing from the attached pole and then down to the fish blocks that she would pull out in order to get up onto the balcony's. They had always seemed like a necessity, more than just a piece of furniture to Lara. All the blocks and levers that led to lots of undiscovered places in the house is what made it Croft Manor. It couldn't be just like any other house. It needed to have its secrets to match its owner. She turned her head and faced straight forward. She stared there for a moment. Just thinking.

As she looked out at the grounds of Croft Manor, she could have sworn she saw a figure standing there, just before the front gates. She suddenly felt alarmed as she remembered that she was the only one awake in the house; everyone else had retired for bed at least an hour ago that evening. She automatically reached for the Glock 22 in her thigh holster. She had learned to never go anywhere without her trusty pistols. Her grip tightened on the handle as the figure seemed to be staring right back at her. A flash of lightning came, so bright, Lara was forced to squeeze her eyes shut. When she opened them, she found the figure nowhere to be seen and felt the adrenaline she had not felt in such a long time rise in her blood.

The events of the previous night played over and over again in her mind; trying to make sense of whether she was seeing things or if someone was really there. Her daydream continued as she stared forward, at the water in front of her. Everything seemed to be blocked out at that moment. "Lara," she saw Zip's reflection in the pool and heard his voice, but didn't act on it.

"Lara?" Zip asked again. She still didn't reply. He bent down and placed a hand on her shoulder, her wet skin making the palm of his hand become wet, also.

"Lara?" his voice became more alarmed and Lara turned her head to look at him. "Sorry, what is it?" she asked.

"Forgot to give you this the other day." he handed her a brown envelope and she looked at it in her hands. "Whatever it is, it can't be good. You know what they say about brown envelopes." he shook his head.

Lara chuckled lightly at Zip's attempted joke. But he was right, the last time she had gotten a brown envelope was when she was being told her great aunt had died. But that was at least a decade ago. Things might have changed since then. She turned it over, looking at the address it had came from. Berwick? She thought. She didn't know anybody about that area. "Any idea who it's from?" Zip asked as Lara stood up.

"Not the slightest." she smiled before exiting the pool room and heading upstairs to get some clothes on to replace her swimming suit she had been wearing.

Lara emerged from her bed area and made her way over to the coffee table. On it was the newspaper from the night before and the letter Zip had given her. She sat down and picked the envelope up, tearing at the paper before unfolding a leaf of paper that was enclosed within it. Her eyes scanned down the page, looking for any alarming words like death. Nothing threatening seemed to be written down, so she made a start at reading the whole letter:

Dear Miss Croft,

Let me introduce myself. I am Mason DeComble and in need of your assistance, At lest he gets to the point, Lara thought as she continued to read, I understand you are a freelance archaeologist, as am I and I would find it very helpful if you would join me on an excavation. If you choose to accompany me, we shall be travelling to Bamburgh castle, in the well known town of Berwick, in search of a specific artefact. I understand that you are good with your guns and I would be lying if I said they wouldn't be useful on our adventure, Adventure? He had said excavation the first time, they will also come in handy for when I begin looking for someone. Or something - rather.

I hope you can contact me and also that the enclosed piece of paper may answer some of your questions.

Regards,

Mason DeComble.

What exactly was this letter? Was this man asking for her to help on a site, or to become a mercenary? And what did he mean about her guns? Bamburugh Castle was a public landmark, anyone could come along and see her shooting something. And it wasn't as if she would have to use them; all that castle had was a bunch of old furniture and pictures from the 18th century. Nothing interesting. She placed the letter down on the table and reached for the envelope again, pulling out a small A5 piece of paper that showed a picture. Her jaw almost dropped when she recognised the glyph on the paper. "Lux Veritatis?" she asked aloud as questions flooded her mind. She had thought that Kurtis was the last one. And why would he possibly need her? Had Kurtis spoken to him? If he knew who he was, why hadn't Kurtis mentioned him before? Did this DeComble character even contact him? She threw the picture on the table, sighing deeply before leaning back in her chair. She needed a break.

She picked the newspaper back up, wanting to read the article from the night before properly. Young girl flees orphanage after suspecting herself of harming other children. For full story, turn to page 11. Lara flicked threw the pages until she saw the number eleven in the bottom right hand side of the page:

A fifteen year old girl ran away from her orphanage home in Berwick-Upon-Tweed in the early hours of the morning after suspecting herself of harming her room mate in her subconscious. Morgan Heissturm, originally from Utah, America, but moved to Glasgow, Scotland from the age of five onwards, was put into care at the age of eleven after her father died of internal injuries, her mother being deceased shortly after her fifth birthday. The teenager had already claimed to have 'powers' that she could control when she was in a fit of rage. Although no one had listened to her, people are beginning to wonder whether this girl should be taken as a threat or not.

Lara put it back down. She still thought that it was possible for the child to have powers, but they couldn't be that severe if she had learned to control them without any help. On the plus side; Lara did like the name Morgan.

She picked the letter up again before walking out of the room, heading for the library. When she entered, she walked over to the bookcase and, reaching it, began to read the letter again. There was no evidence that the person she hoped had recommended her to Mason DeComble, was the person that did. But she couldn't get her hopes up. Not for them to just come crashing down again.

She looked up at the bookcase, Bamburgh. She tapped her fingers along the spine of each book she past, until finally pulling one out. She flicked threw the pages, reading various information on the history of Bamburgh castle.

Bamburgh Castle is one of the famous landmarks of the city of Berwick. It is mostly known for it's history, from the Anglo-Saxon capture to the destruction of the castle from the Vikings and the reconstruction of it in later years.

She scanned threw the rest of the page, with still nothing to do with the Lux Veritatis. The rest of the book showed the same. She sighed, placing the book back in the slot it had been in. The only way for her to find out what was so important about the castle was to do the simple thing; ask. But she didn't know anything about Mason DeComble, but somehow, he seemed to know an awful lot about her. The source of where it had come from was what worried her. Her only choice was to contact him. She walked back up to the desk, turning the envelope over so that she could see the telephone number and address of the sender.

Still holding onto the paper, she reached over and grabbed the telephone and typed in the numbers that were listed. After a few beeps, she heard a voice at the other end:

"Hello?" a man with a thick Jordy accent asked.

"Hello, this is Lady Croft, is Mr DeComble there?" she asked.

"One minuet please, Lady Croft. Sir has been expecting your call."

Oh has he now, she thought. The man on the other end, presumably the man's butler, had covered the speaker, but Lara could still hear his shouts for the head of the house. She waited patiently for 'sir' to come to the phone.

"Ms. Croft?" this time the man had a Scottish accent, obviously not from Berwick.

"Yes. I'm calling about the letter you sent me."

"Ah, I was hoping you would call. Have you decided to take up my offer?"

"That's exactly why I'm phoning. I don't understand your offer. First of all you said excavation, the next adventure, then you mentioned guns and looking for someone..."

"I am looking for someone, but I would prefer that we discuss it in person. And as for the guns, you can never be too careful. You of all people should know that."

"And the adventure/excavation?"

"Well, a recent dig found an artefact under the castle grounds that had no relevance to any of the royals that lived in the castle. Except for one. They displayed it in the museum, and I believe it will be more of use to us than them."

"Robbing? You're planning on robbing Bamburgh Castle?"

"As I said, this artefact is of more use to us than it is them."

"And what about the picture of the glyphs? What has this got to do with the Lux Veritatis?"

"I believe the artefact is to do with it."

"Are you Lux?"

"It didn't go unnoticed did it? Now, about that offer..."

"I'll think about it. Thank-you for the explanation. I'll hear from you soon." and she hung up, not giving the man a chance to reply.

She exited the room, walking down the stairs and into the Tech room, where Zip was sitting at one of his many computers. "Zip, could you please find all the information you can on a Mr Mason DeComble?"

"Will do." he began to type, getting straight to business.

"Who's he?" Alistair asked as he entered the room.

"A rather determined man. He contacted me recently, and I don't know what to make of him." she leaned back against the desk, staring straight forward.

"Determined?" Alistair asked.

"He seems to want me to help him on something. Apparently something to do with the Lux Veritatis and Bamburgh. He plans on taking an artefact from the castle."

"He plans on robbing Bamburgh Castle?! Why? The artefacts in there are almost exquisite. All the precise detail in every one of them."

"Yes, Alistair I know."

"Here we go." Zip turned the monitor of the computer to face the two archaeologists. "Mason DeComble. Mother's Scottish, father's French. Lived in Scotland all his life until he moved to France before moving to Berwick a year later. Went to St Andrews University and became a successful business man. Changed his interest to archaeology. That's it really."

"Explains the accent, thank-you Zip."

"What exactly are you planning on doing?"

"I'm going to visit him in Berwick. I want to hear of what he wants me for. If it's good enough, I'll join him."

"Did he mention anything to you that we don't know from here?"

"He said he was Lux. Not in so many words, but all the same."

"What's 'Lux'?"

Alistair cut in before Lara could answer, "Lux Veritatis."

"What's that with you?" Zip asked Lara.

"I had an old friend who was Lux. Haven't seen him in a while. I've been involved in a few activities with the Lux Veritatis."

"Who's this 'old friend'?"

"Kurtis Trent. I think I've mentioned him before."

"We've heard you say his name in your sleep more than when you're concious." Zip muttered under his breath.

"What was that?"

"Nothing. You want me to book anything?"

"Just a train ride. It's not that far. I've got his address, and I'll need a few suitcases packed."

"I'm on it." Zip said. "When are you leaving?"

"Give me three days. I need to find out more about the artefact." she turned to face Alistair, "Could you look up all the recent excavations near or at Bamburgh Castle?"

"I'll try my best, Lara." he nodded before heading upstairs to the library to begin his research.

Lara turned and exited the Tech room, walking to the gym, hoping to take her mind off the current situation.

She was about to jump off the pole she had been balancing on when she heard Alistair shouting her name. It made her startle and Lara fell off the pole, only managing to grab it at the last minuet. She looked down at Alistair as she hung there, waiting for him to explain why he had interrupted her.

Alistair squinted his eyes as he looked up at Lara. She was at the top of the gym, just hanging on a pole, looking at him, like it was a natural thing to be hanging by a pole two-storeys high. "I've found some rather useful information. I think what your friend is looking for is the Bamburgh Shield. It was found in a recent dig and is said to be related to the Bamburgh Sword that Bryan Hope Taylor found in 1960. They were always kept together until William The Second tried to get the castle back from the Normans. One was buried with him, the other with his companion, Robert de Mowbray. They only found Mowbray's corpse with the sword, only now finding the shield but still not William's body. Some legends say that they were weapons that could be used to defeat pure evil, even Satan himself, being indestructible. Made of pure ferilium, something that doesn't usually come around easily."

"Just like the Chirugai." Lara mused. There were many things in that sentence that could relate the artefact to the Lux Veritatis. First of all, the Shield and Sword were made of the same iron as the Chirugai, then, it could be presumably used against evil, such as Demons and dark forces that it came across.

"What?"

"A Lux weapon. I've seen it being used many times." She pulled herself back up onto the pole, sitting on it.

"Well, if it's made from that substance, remind me to not get on the wrong side of one of them." he chuckled.

"Of it. There's only one left." she corrected.

"Oh, sorry. Remind me not to get on the wrong side of it."

"I'm sure you won't Alistair."she dropped to the ground, bending her knees as she landed.

She walked out of the gym, running a hand up the banister as she walked up the stairs. "Where are you going?"

"I've got some packing to do, remember?"

AN: Ah, the lovely butterfly stroke. A very very horrible stroke. Especially if you're doing it in a swimming race.

OK, so, you don't know how much research I had to do for this chapter, honestly, it took ages. There's all this Bamburgh this and Bamburgh that and the Vikings and Normans and etc.

So, where are we going in the next chapter? Berwick-Upon-Tweed. The home of my OC Mason DeComble. And, I've got a little treat for you in the next chapter. Kurtis is back! But, only for like two seconds and then the chapter ends.

I'll see you on Tuesday for the return of Kurtis!