The mission part 7

Carter's POV

This is the final straw of my crusade, the artifact must be saved from the Templar's hands, the were not ready to take it and a part of that is that they don't have the keys to the gates but we must wait and let the semedium rest and regain her strength, she didn't have any in her to go and help me get the artifact, it must be done but we still have to wait. five days have past and the semedium has gotten better and she is regaining her strength, we also learned that her name was Catharina, she is very young she is pretty strong and athletic for a girl, the dress is in a sort of night gown style, the cloth of her clothing was smooth and it has a light blue color with a white lightning on it, it seems pretty odd but I hope that she will have the strength to help on my quest. I came to her new chambers so I can ask her if she is alright, as I got in she wasn't in her bed, she was a mirror combing her hair, for the first time she shows her true age and face, she has a tan in her skin like mine but with black hair, her eyes are sky blue and her face is a very young one, she must be a bout thirteen years old, the right age for her to find a man to love, as I got in she turn and looked at me.

"Why did you came in here."

"Are you all right?"

"I'll live, what doesn't kill me makes me stronger."

"Good cause you'll need that strength."

"You're right."

"But you must rest now, you're not strong enough to go out yet."

"I know Carter."

"There is time for us but are you ready for our next phase."

"I feel strong enough, and I'll need a weapon in case something terrible is going to happen."

"Ok we will give you one."

As promised we were waiting for her to come down from her new chambers, she was dressed for a quest and I was surprised that she was dressed in breaches instead of a skirt like all women do, but if she is going to fight then we must help her on our way. Night time has fallen we start to walk through the city, every thing is dark and the only light were from the stars, there is no moon so there is a greater chance that we might go unseen easily, we must go to the gate where the artifact is, now we may know where it is, the 'house of the emperor' must have been the ancient imperial palace on the palatine hill, the palace is in ruins but there is still evidence of the entire place, as we got in the ruins we start to look for a door that will get us to a hallway that might be the way to the artifact, for many minutes we found nothing till I found an eagle, I start to feel the wall and as I put a knock there is a small noise of echo behind there, this is the door, the problem was it is bolted shut.

"Catharina look!"

"What is it did you found it?!"

"That I did, look at this eagle, this is the way we should go through."

"I see this the door."

"The problem is that it's bolted shut, not even a battering ram will break this open, we need a pickax and time to open this."

"No."

"What do you mean no?"

"The eagle needs my touch."

She extended out her hand and pressed it on the eagle, the eagle start to glow gold by her touch, and as it did the door start to open upwards, it was a few centimeters low so we duck our heads in and then the door start to close on us.

"Well there goes our only exit."

"We will get out Carter, places like this always have another way out, it is just the power of the gods that we need to be brought back to the surface."

"So we have but one choice do we?"

"That we do."

"So we must go through the endless dark of this sinister place."

We started walking through the entire hallways of dark, we relied on our sense of touch to guide us through the dark, I wished that we have a torch or a star that we could hold in our hands, but the problem is that there is none. We went further into the dark until there is a giant dark room, I don't know the full size of the room but further on by ten meters there is glow, we start to walk up to that that glow and turns out it was a misshaped cube with some parts missing, I thought that would be our light until I saw a large smooth block with a hole in it and some black glass type that is connected to it, something came into my mind and I place the cube in the hole and let it drop in it, in a split second the glow immediately touched the glass spreads it's glow through it, and then there was light. the entire room is the size of the hall of a cathedral, Catharina and I were awestruck by it.

"Ancient technology."

"How do you know this Catharina?"

"I have learned about it with my friends, this is what the kings used in Greece to light up their secrete chambers."

"There were ancient bloodlines?"

"There is."

"what happened to them?"

"Well my teacher told me some have died, wiped out in my opinion, but he also said that they are still out there living the ways of the poor, others have said that they have disappeared from the face of the earth."

"Disappeared, as in like vanished from sight?"

"Possibly."

"But that is witch craft."

"Witch craft! I don't think so, more likely that they don't know their heritage."

"I see, lets go through that door."

We start to go through the door that is on the other side of the room, we got in the room and start to walk through the halls and then we came in to a rocky room, the walls were rough as a mountain, but there are wooden planks for a bridge, and there are mining tools, pickaxes and baskets, all of them made of inferior steel and iron, the whole place was dug deep but as I start to notice there are rays and crystals of gold, but this type of gold is something that I never have seen before.

"This was also a mine, a gold mine. I have never seen gold like this, this isn't a normal type of gold!"

"Your right, this isn't any old gold, nor is it enchanted gold, this is imperial gold."

"Imperial gold?"

"I have learned that the emperors of the ancient empire use this metal to create weapons for their champions to defend the empire of sinister beasts that threatened the empire."

"Wow, so they used this metal for weapons in order to slay dragons?"

"More than just dragons but yes they do."

"All right lets continue on."

We continued on our journey, as we got to a smaller room we found a large gate in front of us, it is closed shut but as I noticed there are key holes, then I Remembered the keys from the pantheon, I placed them into their slots and they start to glow, the lines on the gate start to glow gold and the gates swung open, and there is a square room and there is square stone stump, that is about a meter high and on it is a glowing ball of gold and crystal,We got close to it the gates closed behind us, another exit has been blocked of, we start to look at the ball and Catharina touched it, then the unthinkable happened the ground shook and then we start to descend on a small piece of the floor, it went slowly down and we went deeper into the ground. We went down and it was deep for about what I believed two hundred meters, the walls are to steep and smooth for us to climb out but as we got down there is a tunnel that twists, we start to walk through and then we went into a round room, it was about a hundred meters from floor to ceiling, we descended down the stair and in the middle is an alter of some kind, as we start to walk towards it and on the alter is the artifact, for the first time it is been found, I told Catharina to take it and as she touched it the artifact start to glow and it and disintegrated, but what happened was when it was disintegrating a flash came and we were blinded, after the flash the artifact was replaced by an golden eagle, a bird of prey larger than the hawk and much more harder to get as a pet for hunting, but the bird is not what surprise me, what surprises me was the color of the bird, the bird was pure gold, the feathers, the beak, the talons, and the claws are gold, the eyes and and the inside of the mouth is flesh, as we touched it the feathers are still soft, but Catharina is the only one that is surprised.

"That is lost eagle of Zeus, it has been kept here so the artifact is his cage."

"So we have freed this bird."

"Wow, I must bring this sacred animal back."

"That you must."

"Now that I have helped you, now you must help me, please help me stop the Templar's from destroying my friends."

"I will but I must do something different in order to do that."

Three days came, Catharina was right about our exit, we got out of chambers to the surface, I was happy to see daylight again but there is a problem that I must solve, I wrote to the mentor back home in France that I finished my mission, and I also wrote to Sofia that I'm alive and that I am coming home, she must be very desperate to see me coming home, I couldn't blame her but I am now going to see my lovely wife and son again. I am now the HQ packing for my journey home, I packed food, water, and coins for the journey, the Papal assassins were kind to give me a horse, but before I start to leave Leonardo, and Ferrucci came to me to say their goodbyes, and Catharina also came with the eagle on her shoulder.

"Catharina you have done the assassins an Honorable job."

"Thank you and with out you we wouldn't have found the eagle."

"I know an I'll promise you that I will help your friends, in order to do that I must seek the court of my brother."

"Swear it on the Styx."

"I swear it on the Styx."

"Good and thank you for freeing me."

"Your welcome. Leonardo it was nice to meet you."

"Ringrazio il mio amico, and thank you for helping my brothers."

"votre accueil mon ami and make sure that you will bring Catharina home safely."

"Ci sarà."

"And Ferrucci you have done well, you will become a great assassin."

"Grazie Carter, it is nice to fight along side you"

"Yes it was, I will miss you, all of you."

I mounted on my horse and then I start to ride back to France, there is one more thing that I must do, I must seek the court of my brother and king, the semediums are in danger and I must help them and there is only one way and it will be very hard to do.