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Chapter 17: Gargoyles
Mansion de Boiur
Indiana Jones cocked his gun, aimed and shot. He was actually pretty impatent for dusk to roll around. Kamau, Sigurd and Leo were lounging around with him. Sigurd looked up at him.
'Are you that bored, Indy?' he asked. 'Or anxious?'
'I think "anxious" would be the word I'd use,' Indy said. He opened the barrel and started reloading his gun. 'This guy's actually going to be trained.'
'So are you and, the odds are, this guy's never even been anywhere near a war,' Kamau said. 'People get knighted in this day and age for no reason other than they're rich and they did one good thing for a king or queen.'
'I wonder if Victor had to stand on a box to knight him.' Leo grinned to himself. Indy and the others chuckled too, all aware of just how short the current King of Italy happened to be. Leo went on, leaning back in his chair. 'The thing is that Parodi hasn't been in war. Likely, he doesn't even know what a threat to life feels like.' He paused. 'I couldn't find what he was knighted for but it was obviously enough to get him favour with Abner. Maybe he was talking to the other royals, looking for someone that looked like a good candidate.'
Indy scoffed. 'All you have to do to get favour with Abner is massage his ego.'
Leo looked at him. 'So how did you get favour with him? You don't massage peoples' egos.'
'On one point my father was already friends with him,' Indy said. 'On another point, I have as much dedication to archaeology as he does, which I'm starting to think isn't too good a thing.' He ignored their knowing grins. 'On the last point, I was his favourite student and I went all the way to…'
'Being one of the most recognised archaeologists in the world?' Sigurd asked.
'Yeah.' Indy shrugged.
'Tell me about it.' Kamau chuckled. 'When you three were in Libya in 1926, he bragged about it while you were out of the room. I think he was trying to prove he was brilliant and impress me into handing the Headpiece over.'
'He was,' Indy said. He set his gun down and reached over for his whip. 'How many blades do you think Parodi will have on him?'
'That depends.' Sigurd leaned back and folded his hands behind his head. 'If he's prepared for you, quite a few. But, he might also have a habit of carrying weapons on him all the time.'
'Better bring this with me, then,' Indy said.
Versailles Palace
Marion closed the door in Parodi's face and locked it. She leaned back against the door and fidgeted with Indy's ring on her finger. Only twenty-four more hours of this and then Abner would learn.
France was a republic and Marion wasn't a puppet on a string. The time for French Royalty had come and gone. Abner was going to learn that Marion had opinions and desires of her own, that she wasn't going to let anyone stop her from what she wanted. He would soon learn exactly whose side Marie was really on. And Marion knew just how to do it.
Marion was pulled out of her thoughts when she felt the power of the Psalms being invoked. She scowled and walked over to the window. As she went, she saw something else interesting.
What was Abner playing at?
Mansion de Boiur
Kamau suddenly sat up straight, spluttering his ale. He wiped his arm across his mouth. 'That wasn't Marion.'
Indy looked up sharply. 'What?'
Carlos, Leo and Sigurd looked up in interest.
Kamau rubbed his hand over his beard, a habit he had for when he was anxious but before he acted. 'The Psalms have just been invoked, but not by Marion.'
'We're about to be attacked then, ja?' Sigurd asked.
'I say we get some place where Marie won't be incriminated if someone gets away,' Leo said as they stood up.
The four men marched out of the room. As they did, the three mothers, Penny and Sara walked out of the kitchens.
'Kamau, did you feel that?' Chinaza demanded.
'I think all of us felt that, mama.' Adeola spoke from where she and the other five Holy Children stood at the banister to the next floor up.
'She's right,' Kamau said.
Penny turned to the six above. 'You lot stay here and keep working on it. Whatever this magic is, it'll be aimed at Indy. We'll get out of the area and fight it.'
'I'd go to Notre Dame, si j'étais vous,' Marie advised. 'Those walls can survive just about anything.'
~NQM~
Indy knew his way around Paris from his time at Sorbonne. Notre Dame was easy to find for him. And he didn't doubt the others had been here numerous times as well. It was the biggest building in central Paris, dwarfed by very little – generally speaking, the Eiffel Tower.
The only problem was as they got to the courtyard in front of the ancient church Indy heard something. And, apparently, so did the others. It was a low growling, hissing noise that seemed to echo all around the area.
They all stopped. Indy moved and he noticed the rest of them do the same until they stood in a circle, looking in all directions. They all drew weapons, blades or guns. Indy watched partially curious and partially incredulous as cats and dogs both came into view. There were far too many to count. Their eyes glowed and they all had an "H" and an "O" separated by a triangle of three dots somewhere on their bodies. Some liquid, nothing natural to the bodies, was dribbling out of the animals' mouths, eyes and noses. And he knew that became it was going down too freely and it was discoloured.
'Gargoyles?' Catalina murmured.
'What?' Indy asked, his eyes flickering up to the stone gargoyles of the church.
'Real gargoyles, not the well-known kind,' Carlos said. 'Marie told us about them a while ago. They're living or dead bodies filled with mercury and put under the control of a Psalms-user.'
'Mercury?' Indy asked, eyeing the liquid. 'If they were alive, that'd kill them.'
'Unless the Psalm of Restoration was used on them, si.' Leo nodded once. 'I can see why Abner used animals. They still have the senses to sniff us out and they're a lot faster than human gargoyles.'
'How do you beat them?' Indy asked.
'Sever the symbol,' Penny said.
The animals lunged at them with snarls and hisses. Indy shot off six rounds and rolled out of the way. All the bullets hit their marks, slicing through the symbol on the animals. It was a shame too. Indy liked dogs.
Indy kept moving as he reloaded his gun. Sara also had a firearm, but she was the only one. The rest of them came from eras where blades were the common practice. Still, Sara handled that rifle very well. They were surrounded by animals and they were cutting into them all. Except Kamau and Chinaza. They were standing together, muttering incantations. They were knocking down animal after animal after animal like they were dominoes.
But there were just too damn many of them.
Versailles Palace
Marion had slipped out of the palace walls. She'd peered in and seen exactly what was happening outside of Notre Dame, looking through the eyes of one of the dogs. Contrary to popular belief, dogs were not colour-blind. And she'd seen that every single mature large or feral cat and dog in Paris had been taken over and sent at Indy specifically. They had the instructions to kill him.
Why Abner would do that to his favourite student would be inconceivable to many people. But the old bastard was beyond caring now. He'd gone to a place that Marion wasn't sure he could come back from.
Whoever said "if you want to test a man's character, give him power" was right on the money.
And Abner had a weak character.
Marion pulled the cloak tight around her as she stepped into the centre of the constructed stone circle. Marion held le Sabre de Beaumont and struck the ground with it. Latin words ran along the blade and Marion begun.
The heavens declare the glory of God
And the firmament sheweth his handiwork
Day unto day uttereth speech
And night unto night sheweth knowledge
There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard
Their line is gone out through all the earth
And their words to the end of the world
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the Soul:
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
Paris
Indy was pinned by a particularly large dog when it threw its head back and howled. As did all the dogs. The cats let out loud, screeched meows. Indy was able to push the dog off of himself and climbed to his feet, grabbing his dropped gun. He and the others gathered together again, watching the spectacle. The symbols lifted off of the animals and they all collapsed, dead as they should be.
They all fought to catch their breaths. Penny was the first to speak. 'Indy…the next time I see that girl of yours, I am going to hug her.'
Indy just laughed.
