The Watcher's Stone
Chapter 5: City of 1001 Churches
Lara rose before the sun did, and the pair made their exit from the grain silo just as the farmers and workers in the small village began to filter out of their homes, leaving nothing but a trail of dust in the air from their truck. Lara drove for a few more hours as Kurtis napped some more, until they arrived at Adwa and could take a flight to Turkey.
The City of 1001 Churches… What was modern day Ani, Turkey, used to be an Armenian city which held the ruins of hundreds of cathedrals and churches. Apparently the Lux Veritatis had a habit of building their hidden vaults, sanctuaries, and bases beneath holy sites. Many were deemed UNESCO World Heritage sites, making them ripe for discovery. Hidden in plain sight – that seemed to be a trend with the Lux Veritatis.
She and Kurtis purchased tickets giving them permission to tour the ruin grounds, and as soon as the guides and authorities in the area looked away, they slipped off on their own, detouring from the main cathedral.
Look for another cross of Saint Peter, Kurtis had told her. Churches were everywhere. As far as she could see on the horizon, there were scattered ruins along the border of Turkey and Armenia. It could take them all day searching for an upside-down cross, but at least when they found it they wouldn't have to worry about tourists as they had in Lalibela. There was hardly anyone here. Other than themselves, there were only a few guards scattered around the largest, most intact ruins.
She asked one of the guards about it. "Have there been any other visitors today?"
"Not today. Yesterday a couple stopped by. No one visits Ani."
"Thank you." That confirmed the Cabal weren't aware of this place. Or Lara and Kurtis had beaten them to it. This place was far too remote for an army of Cabal mercs to blend in for an ambush.
They started with the largest cathedral which was missing its dome top, then moved towards what appeared to be the remains of a fortress, eventually working their way through several former buildings. When they were inside an old church with one half of its side missing, she found the first clue. Within the vaulted ceiling, in what likely used to be the altar, were the remains of an upside-down cross.
Lara examined her surroundings. Now what were they to do? Would Kurtis need to work his psychic powers like at Lalibela, or would this base be less protected? Peering around to make certain no one was watching, she began touching the tall stone walls, seeking a switch or button or something of the sort. Without speaking, Kurtis copied her actions, searching for something as well. She stepped back and felt something beneath her boot shift. Glancing down, she saw a small section of the stone floor raised slightly above the others. Could be nothing…
She crouched down and messed with it. She tried pushing down on it, wiggling it side-to-side. When she tried to pull it out, it slid up and clicked.
A scraping sound echoed from behind. Inside the altar, a large flat piece of the stone floor raised, then slid to the left, revealing stone steps leading down into the earth.
Lara glanced around and pulled a flare from her backpack, and proceeded down, as Kurtis followed behind.
They were in another narrow spiral staircase. Once she was below enough to stand straight up, she heard the entrance stone slide back into place, trapping them within. Her grip on the flare tightened.
Just breathe, she reminded herself internally. She wasn't trapped. Even Egypt couldn't trap her.
She shook her head. Now was not the time for this. She reached for the scarab amulet Putai gave her, feeling its shape beneath her teal top. Besides, she reminded herself, she had one of the Lux Veritatis with her, and surely he'd know how to exit this place. Straightening her shoulders, Lara continued down the stairs.
After a few meters of descent they came across torches, which Kurtis lit with his words, removing the need to waste all their flares or get out the flashlights.
The stairs opened to a small rectangular room. The entrance to the tomb, crypt, whatever it was, was protected by a large arched iron gate. Kurtis moved ahead to stand before it, and held his palms out as he had before in Lalibela.
In his vulnerable state she took the opportunity to examine his features closer than she dared while he was present. Her eyes trailed over his features, over his slightly parted mouth, the small scar beside his eye, the patch of dark hair on his chin. Strange, she thought, that I should be attracted to him. His looks were rather ordinary. He did not dress sharply, his body – though muscular – was riddled with scars, and his height and build were both average. Everything about him from the outside seemed completely average.
But Kurtis was anything but average. He was extraordinary. Try as she might, she couldn't stop the pull she felt towards him, like he had his own magnetic force. A mystery she wanted to unwrap.
His words from the other night echoed in her head: No point in pretending at sentimentality. How she wished for a glimpse inside his mind, to see what he really thought of her. Could he truly only see her as a means to an end?
She wasn't going to figure it out by staring at him, so she quickly roamed her gaze over the rest of the room, looking for a clue.
Kurtis snapped out of his trance, grunting softly.
"You know how to get through this gate?" she asked.
"That's what I was finding out. There's a switch beyond that collapsed tunnel over there–" he pointed to the jumble of stones in the corner. "I think it's connected to this."
"What exactly is it that you're doing?" she wondered aloud. She had wondered about it since the first time, but now that they weren't actively being shot at or chased, it felt an appropriate time to ask.
"I'm…seeing."
Lara craned her neck, looking past the gaps in the iron gate. All she could see was a long corridor with spaced doorways. "Pardon?"
"Farsee. I can project my vision beyond my body."
"Wonderful," Lara replied sarcastically. "So now I can add 'Farsee' to your list of magical powers, along with opening concealed passageways, talking down murderous skeletons, bursting doors open without laying a finger on them, falling from great heights without injury, and controlling a deadly frisbee with your mind."
Belatedly Lara realized how keeping track of every special skill of his might sound awfully close to admiration.
Kurtis' lips twitched in one corner. "Among others. But check this out." He walked over to the collapsed tunnel and pointed at a section where there was remaining space not covered with stones. "This tunnel reaches to the other end." He crouched, surveying the crawlspace. "I don't know if I can fit through. Shoulders might be too wide." He stood and peered at Lara's body dispassionately, lingering around her hips and chest. "Bet you can, though."
Lara tried her best to ignore his gaze. "Right, wouldn't want to tear open your wound again," she retorted, purposefully reminding him that he was currently weak and needed her. She turned her back to him and dropped to her hands and knees.
She tried to disregard the prickling feeling of being watched as she lowered herself onto her belly and army-crawled through the tight space, careful to avoid jostling any of the collapsed rock and stones. Once squeezed through the gap, she stood and dusted off herself, looking around. A short corridor stood before her which turned a corner. She followed it, coming to a dead end with a lever in the wall. She pulled it and returned the way she came.
The gate was now open, and apparently Kurtis wasn't waiting around for Lara. He had gone ahead and Lara caught up to him, a spark of irritation rubbing at her.
They advanced. Coming to a fork in the path, they both paused and looked at one another.
"I'll take right, you left?" she suggested.
"Wait." Kurtis lifted his hands again, using his Farsee ability once more. When he returned to normal, he shook his head. "Both paths loop around to a main corridor protected by two gates. There's switches at the end of each one. I think both need to be thrown."
Lara crossed her arms over her chest. "So…I'll take right, you left?" she repeated.
"...Yeah." Kurtis rubbed the back of his neck. "Be careful, they looked rigged with deadly traps. It'll be no problem for me with my powers, but you don't uh…" Lara tilted her head slightly, waiting for him to finish. "Just be careful."
Lara lifted one corner of her lips. "Always am." She about-faced and proceeded.
The path wound around, first left, then up, right, left, another left, finally coming to a straight hallway with another lever positioned on the farthest wall. But unlike the pathways before, this was clearly set up with obstacles. There were gaps in the floor spaced evenly apart, the orange burning glow of fire erupting beneath. The hallway broke apart with slants, too vertical to walk on. Lara surveyed ahead, planning out how to get from point A to point B. She'd have to slide and jump to the next slide, propelling herself over the fire pits, then ahead there would be more traps. The walls had odd horizontal notches embedded in them that her experience told her were not to be trusted.
Jumping forward, Lara began. As suspected, she couldn't maintain her footing on the smooth, slanted flooring and she started to slide down. Pushing off with both feet, she propelled herself over the fire pit to land on the next section of slanted flooring. This one was shorter and she jumped sooner, flinging her arms out to catch the ledge of the next slanted platform.
Yeouch, her feet were hot. She bent her knees and lifted her boots up, glancing down briefly to see the flames licking towards her, and then pulled herself fully up, sliding forward once more. Another two jumps and she was once more back on flat ground.
As she approached the horizontal slots in the walls, a screeching noise sounded around her. Ducking, she avoided a large circular rotating blade that projected from the wall and slid back in, repeating. She rolled past another, and then dived over the final one, rolling to stand on her feet. Finally she was in front of the lever. She pulled it, and to her left a small grate opened in the wall, allowing her to crawl through. At the end the flooring slanted and she slid down, landing on her feet.
Just as Kurtis said, before her was the main corridor with two iron gates, except now one was swung open. She wondered how she could have opened both if she'd been alone, and searched the nooks and corners of the area, spotting high up, another crawlspace. It likely led back to the fork in the corridor. Then the second gate also opened before her eyes, and a few moments later, Kurtis fell down the slope to land at Lara's feet.
She wondered how he used his powers to get through the traps. He appeared not to have any scrapes or burns on him, no bloodstains on his shirt either.
"Shall we?" she asked, and without waiting for a reply, proceeded down the corridor through the two opened gates.
They arrived at a large open area which reminded Lara of an obstacle course. A deep chasm below them contained platforms of various heights, some with rope nets along the sides, others that were too tall for a normal person to jump and reach without any climbing apparatus. A small pool of murky, still water was below, possibly for swimming training. On the other side of the chasm, slightly above Lara and Kurtis' level stood a large door with a lever beside it. On the right stretched a wobbly, wooden bridge connecting their side to the door side, and on the left was the end of a zipline, also connected to the far side, the handle waiting by the door. Below the door at the bottom of the chasm appeared to be some kind of ancient trampoline–an animal skin stretched tightly with ropes contained within a metal ring with legs holding it off the ground.
"What is this place?" asked Lara.
"A training room." His flat expression was distant, as though his mind was somewhere far away in the past.
"Looks fun."
Kurtis shook his head but didn't say anything. He stared at the obstacles in silence.
Prompting, Lara asked, "Did you train in a room like this?"
Kurtis shrugged. "Like this, yeah. We trained with baetyl training stones. Stones crafted into various sized blades and projectiles. They're made from special meteorite iron like my Chirugai, and can respond to psychic energy. The Order used them to hone our telekinetic powers. Once we are good enough controlling them and ourselves, we'd be ready to begin practicing with one of the real weapons, but only the strongest of us could ever accomplish that."
The Chirugai was one such weapon. Lara glanced down to it where it was attached to Kurtis' belt. She recalled its power in her hands, the force with which it tugged her about. He must be quite strong then, she thought, impressed.
"And Brother Occitan spent his last years here?"
Kurtis shrugged again. "That's what the diary said. Through that door should be more of the base. Living quarters and such." Then he walked on the wooden bridge, and Lara followed.
"How is it that you're one of the only of your kind still alive?" she asked Kurtis' back.
"I left the Order when I was 19." His voice was so low even in the silence of the subterranean room Lara strained to hear. "Joined the French Foreign Legion, completed my five years, and Kurtis Trent was born. The Chirugai was my father's, and my mother sent it to me after he died. So that's how I'm still alive – because I ran away. This is the first time I've been in one of these rooms since."
Joining the military to escape the past–what a cliche. But Lara couldn't find fault with the plan, not when the French Foreign Legion offered their committed soldiers a fresh start without question unlike any other military in the world. He would have been 24 years old by the time he finished his service, but clearly he was no longer so young. She wondered how long had passed with him hiding away from the Order.
"How old are you now?" she asked.
Kurtis halted on the bridge and Lara nearly walked right into him. He turned his head, lips upturned in a smirk. "Why do I get the feeling you wouldn't appreciate me asking you that question?"
Lara felt his body heat spreading out, warming her front, and the rope railing creaked as she gripped it tight in her gloved hands. "Don't you already know?" she retorted. She was sure he did. He must have procured a dossier on her at some point before their meeting in the Strahov complex, as he had already known her last name by then. Possibly even before that.
"I'm 35," she said anyway just to prove him wrong. She felt no shame about it; she was still in prime athletic condition, especially after her months of training with the Bantiwa.
A deep hum sounded from Kurtis like he was eying up an appetizing and succulent meal set before him. "I like older women…"
He continued crossing the bridge and Lara stood there a moment, trying to calm her suddenly pounding heart. Why did he have to sound so…so alluring? Just what was he was playing at? Shaking her head behind Kurtis where he couldn't see, she decided it didn't matter. Her automatic physical reactions to Kurtis' presence wasn't an indication of feelings. She could admit to herself she found him attractive, maybe even a little sexy, but that didn't mean anything needed to happen. She didn't want anything to happen. She wanted to tidy up this business with the Cabal and find her tribe, and Kurtis was inconsequential to the rest of her life.
Best possible outcome, she had another friendly acquaintance at the end of this. Maybe she could have a little fun with him before they parted ways – after this was all over. Worst possible outcome, she'd have to kill him. Regardless, her life would go on.
Once on the other side of the chasm, Kurtis pulled the wall lever to open the door, revealing a small arena. Rising from the floor in a half circle were rows of stone seats, three high, all facing a raised platform. It wasn't difficult to deduce what this room may have been used for, but Kurtis explained anyway.
"This is a sparring arena. Once an Initiate could handle the basics of the baetyl stones as well as harness their powers throughout the obstacle course, they had to practice their skills in a fight. Baetyls would be launched at them en masse while they practiced controlling their own and dodging the blades." He huffed a noise like a laugh. "One of the trainers called me 'Scurillitas' because I was always playing jokes on the others and taking risks with the blades."
She tsked quietly. She didn't know enough about him to say with certainty that Kurtis wasn't a buffoon, but she got the feeling that the training was forced on the Initiates whether they liked it or not. Thinking back to all the times she'd been reprimanded in school, she concluded she'd probably also receive such a nickname if she'd been born a Lux Veritatis.
"That trainer is dead now," he said dismissively with a shrug. "So I got the last laugh."
They strolled through the arena to the opposite side where another door awaited. A hallway with unlit torches met them, and Kurtis recited his little spell under his breath again, igniting them all at once. Lara repressed a shiver at the gust of warm air.
Ten doors stood on each side of the hallway with Roman numerals above, and on the other end of the hall was the final door, XI. Its trim was more elaborate, its number above slightly larger. Kurtis bypassed all the other doors to head toward that one.
Lara paused to briefly peek through door number IV. Made up like some medieval inn room, it had a cot, a small dresser, a chamber pot, and a couple of dry water basins. The room had a musty smell she'd come to associate with closed off places unused for centuries. She blinked, and in the second of darkness, she could have convinced herself she was in some tomb in Egypt.
She closed the door and looked down the hall – Kurtis hadn't bothered to wait for her. Catching up, she saw him inside a room somewhat grander than the one she just looked at, searching in the drawers of a large wooden desk. The room was absent of decoration, save for a painting of St. George slaying the dragon. Him again? The Lux Veritatis must've enjoyed that particular motif.
She walked up to Kurtis the moment he pulled out a sheaf of papers. Small, worn, yellowed, and one edge uneven from tearing, they matched the appearance of the diary pages in Lalibela.
"What do they say?" Lara asked, and watched Kurtis' eyes move back and forth as he read.
"That he's still thinking about the Stone."
Under the veil of night Brother Occitan hurried to the study where he last saw Bogomil leave his diary. Soon they would take even that from him, as they took everything else.
He applied grease to the hinges so the door wouldn't creak as he opened it, and holding out his candlestick he stepped carefully to the desk. His diary, with the soft leather cover and rough pages, had been the only place he could release his thoughts and feelings anymore. Prayer offered him no comfort, not with the revelation that no one in the heavens was listening. The Nephilim spirit which followed him everywhere – even here – did not let him alone with his thoughts; it was always interfering, trying to change him, trying to convince him of something. He no longer knew what it wanted from him. Perhaps its only purpose was to drive him mad, and in which case it was succeeding.
Flipping to the back, he began to carefully tear out the blank pages, trying to make the tears clean and inconspicuous. It would do no good if Bogomil noticed and they turned over his quarters again searching for them. Why they wouldn't allow him the comfort of a diary he didn't know. It wasn't as though he would never again have access to paper and quill and ink. He no longer understood his fellow brothers in the Order. Their thoughts were alien to his, hostile and foreign like the Nephilim, like the Black Alchemists'. Unknowable.
He left a few blank pages untorn to fool Bogomil. Once he had what he needed, he gathered them in a stack and fetching a bottle of ink and a quill, returned stealthily to his quarters. He did not sleep that night. The tip of his quill did not rest, just as his mind never rested.
Mind swirling with possibilities, Occitan wrote everything that sprung to the front. Almost. There was one thing he dared not write, not even speak aloud. He knew not whether the spirit which sat on his right shoulder was lying to him, but he decided the risk was too great. The idea of banishing them all – unthinkable! He wished he could wipe even the idea from his thoughts.
Yet, a miniscule part of his reasoned mind fought the suggestion. Leave a hint. Just a hint. One may never recover these pages, the Stone may remain hidden for all eternity, but he was still a scholar at heart. Knowledge could never be forbidden. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened to you.
His heart ached with the loss of his child. His father. A second chance – for the both of them – snuffed out too early. If only Bogomil would listen to reason, would let him explain– but he was blinded. All he could see was the evil applications of such power, and not how it could be used to save the Lux Veritatis.
As the demon had revealed to him: evil was relative.
Lara spoke, "Occitan found the Stone in Egypt, and it has a ram's face on it. It sounds like it could be depicting the god Khnum, who was considered the creator of human childrens' bodies which he would place inside their mothers wombs." She walked closer to look over his shoulder at the pages and tapped her chin in thought. "Or more likely, because of where he found it, the Lower Egypt equivalent Banebdjedet, who had a cult center at Mendes. He was often depicted with four ram heads with unusual twisted horns meant to resemble a type of ram that's nowadays extinct. He was associated with fertility and sexual pleasure, and during the Ptolemaic dynasty he was conflated with the Greek goat-like Pan. But there was nothing 'demonic' about him."
"In any case, the Lux Veritatis would've seen other religious objects as pagan idols and capable of attracting demons."
"Clearly. Egyptian mythology doesn't have evil spirits, but I can say from experience that it has forces I can't explain, and its gods are as real as the Nephilim. But what does an amulet of Banebdjedet have to do with the Nephilim? Banebdjedet was a god sexual vitality but he made human children."
Kurtis looked up from the sheets. "Well, you're right about the Egyptian god. Listen: During the time of the Nephilim persecution, Azazel the Giant, named so after his father Azazel the Watcher, escaped discovery for a time by disguising himself as an Egyptian god. Banebdjedet, 'Lord of the Djed', used his powers to entice the locals to worship him, and used the talisman, this 'Watcher's Stone', so named after the Nephilim fathers, and likely created by them as well. But his actions in creating more Nephilim were too hasty, and his true nature was discovered by Banebdjedet's priests and they killed him. No one knew what had happened to the Watcher's Stone until now. I know all this because the demon which has haunted me since I've acquired the talisman, and indeed has become like an old friend, has told me so, that I may trust his intentions."
Lara crossed her arms. "Sounds like this Azazel should have bided his time. But how was he killed?"
"With the Periapt Shards, probably. They existed before the Lux Veritatis was founded. This 'Nephilim persecution' happened long ago as well."
"Why does Karel need the Watcher's Stone? Can't he make babies the old-fashioned way?"
Kurtis tilted his head and opened his mouth, then hummed. "Maybe not. In nature, hybrids are usually sterile, or on occasion can only reproduce with one of their parent species. The Watchers are all gone, and a human and Nephilim offspring would only be one-quarter angel; less powerful, probably not desirable to the Nephilim."
He turned his gaze back to the diary pages, and read some more:
"I've prayed the Lord takes away these obsessive thoughts, but they come even in my sleep. I never lusted for another in all my years. It never bothered me particularly much that I had no heir. My nephews and nieces, and my position in the Order were always enough until that talisman impressed the idea into my head. The demon who sits on my shoulder shows me visions of a future I only just glanced – of all the brothers and sisters, from now until even before the Order was formed, alive and powerful, crushing the Cabal. Everyday I regret my decision to pick it up, but also my decision to tell Brother Bogomil about it. How different could my life be if I'd used its power! The Order could be restored in a fortnight, our forces so numerous and powerful no Black Alchemist could stand against! The evil wiped from the Earth and righteousness reigns!"
Lara spoke, "It sounds less like it makes children or clones, and more like it revives formerly dead Nephilim." She met Kurtis' eyes. "A sort of reincarnation? And not only Nephilim, but also those in the Lux Veritatis."
Kurtis gave a quick shake of his head. "No, no. A demon told him that, it's obviously lying. Trying to get old Occitan to use the Stone and make Nephilim."
"But Bogomil wrote that Occitan created a boy with it – not a Nephilim – and that Occitan said the boy was his own father."
"Maybe the demon tricked Occitan into thinking it was his father. Bogomil said it was a changeling, a demonic copy."
Lara placed a hand on her hip. "Perhaps Bogomil was unwilling to see what was right in front of him, just as you are."
A short rumble of protest came from Kurtis' throat, but he otherwise did not argue. "There's more here:
"I am glad that the means to destroy the Watcher's Stone has been lost to time – for though destroying it may finally banish the Nephilim to hell, preventing them from ever being revived once more – it would also mean freeing the spirits of our brothers who watch over us on this mortal plane. As of yet, there are still many who continue to serve the Lux Veritatis even in death, guarding our secret places, protecting our knowledge from the undeserving. One day, after I've passed on to join those spirits, I may be called back by a brother to fight the ultimate evil. So I dare not mention the name of this legendary weapon, as it, like the Stone, is too valuable to fall into the wrong hands, should one be capable of exhuming it from its watery grave."
Lara interrupted. "So is that how those skeletons I keep running into work?"
"God, I hope not. When I die I don't want anything bringing me back. I definitely don't wanna be stuck guarding some dusty base no one's ever gonna use again. But it does sound like there's a weapon that can destroy the Stone. Too bad Occitan doesn't say what it is."
"Any ideas?"
Kurtis shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing comes to mind right now. We can worry about that once we get the Stone."
He continued reading:
"The allure of this Stone is impossible to forget, and the only thing that prevents me from seeking it out is that I am too old and infirm, and will no longer be allowed to leave these training grounds. I overheard Bogomil speaking to Limoux about the Stone before they left me in this place all alone, believing I was in a deep sleep. 666 leagues away from the key Limoux will hide it, protected by the forces of our sacred Order and watched over by the angels."
Lara interrupted once more. "The key was in Lalibela. 666 leagues…" She quickly did the conversion. "That's approximately 1,998 miles. Does that tell you anything?"
Kurtis wiped a hand down his mouth, thinking. "If they hid it in another Lux Veritatis base then… I need a globe or a map."
She scanned the room. No globe, but perhaps some of the rolled up scrolls on the bookshelves contained a map. She went over and unrolled a few enough to peek at their contents, before finding a crude circular shaped drawing.
"Will this do?" she asked, unrolling it completely and holding it out in front of them both.
Dated from the medieval period, it only contained a crudely drawn Europe, Asia, and Africa. Kurtis furrowed his brows.
"We can take it with us, but I'd really need a modern map with a scale indicator to figure this out."
Lara gently tapped the map. "But wouldn't they have used such a map when hiding the Stone and coming up with the code?"
"Yeah, but maybe not this map which is why I want a modern map for comparison. We'll take it with us though."
She wanted the answer now, but at least Kurtis would know where the Lux Veritatis bases were. She rolled the map back up and stuck it into its scroll case while Kurtis read through the rest of the loose pages. He set them back in the drawer where he found them, and as he closed the drawer, the room shook.
The ground beneath Lara trembled. A rumbling sound echoed through the room, the earth around them began shaking and moving. Other scroll cases clattered to the stone floor.
"Earthquake," Kurtis said, and hooking the map scroll to his belt, the pair ran out the door and down the hall. The quakes felt harder than any earthquake Lara had felt before, perhaps because they were beneath the surface. Somewhere else in the base she heard the echoes of crashing stone and rock. They exited the sparring arena and pushed through the large double doors.
Lara skidded to a halt right before the chasm. She lost her balance and fell on her behind. Her heart raced and her legs felt like hard, immobile rock. She wasn't trapped, she told herself, but she would be if she didn't move. She breathed hard and fast. At the bottom of the chasm in the training area, a crack appeared down the middle. A section of the obstacle course collapsed.
She blinked, and realized Kurtis was halfway across the bridge already. He paused when he realized she wasn't behind him.
"Lara!" he called, and partly turned as though to go back for her. Her heart leaped into her throat as she hauled herself to her feet, stepping back from the ledge.
A chunk of the ceiling fell down, blocking her way onto the wooden bridge. Kurtis cursed.
Swiftly surveying her options, she spotted the zipline on the right end, leading all the way over the chasm and back to the entrance gates.
"Go on ahead!" she called, and without further waiting she sprinted over, firmly gripping the handle in both hands. Fleeting thoughts crossed her mind–what if the line was compromised from age, what if it snapped and she fell to her death, or worse, she broke her legs and was stuck at the bottom–but she'd never once worried about such things in all her years. Ridiculous to let a silly thing like a memory stop her now. She launched herself off, letting out a breath when she felt the slight bounce as the line accepted her weight.
Stale air rushed past her face, loosened pieces of her hair whipped around. Crumbling bits of rock from the ceiling fell around her as everything shook, but somehow never touched her. On the other side she saw Kurtis facing her on the other side, moving his hands around in front of him. A rock fell directly in her path, but at the final second before it would break the zipline or land on Lara, it miraculously curved around her. Kurtis held one hand cupped in a bowl, his gaze on Lara intent and concentrated, and she felt warm air cupping her from behind, pulling her down the zipline faster.
Her boots touched the ledge on the other side of the chasm and propelled by the force she stumbled, colliding with Kurtis. His strong arms caught her, wrapping around her snugly. Lara looked up and Kurtis' face was mere centimeters away from her own, and his warm breath fanning across her lips. His hooded blue eyes roamed over her features, his large hands tightening their hold on the small of her waist. He shifted so their bodies were pressed fully together, but another tremor snapped his eyes up and his grip loosened.
Lara pulled away. The fog that had settled over them cleared in an instant, and Kurtis was pushing away and making for the exit before she even realized what happened. They sprinted through the gates, and taking the lead, Lara climbed up into the narrow crawlspace above that would take them back to the entrance gate.
The tremors were dying. She no longer heard the bits of crumbling ceiling colliding with the ground, that deafening roar of rocks slamming together. They sounded so much like the interior of the pyramid as it was collapsing. Lara squeezed her eyes shut as she crawled, blindly moving by feeling alone, her breath coming out in quick shallow puffs. Dust entered her mouth and she coughed.
Then she felt a warm hand on her calf, just a fleeting touch. She wasn't in Egypt.
She reached the end of the tunnel and flipped herself out, dropping onto the stone floor. Kurtis followed right after.
"I think the earthquake is over," Kurtis said. "Just aftershocks now, but this place isn't stable, we should scram."
Lara nodded, and together they hurried back to the opening room with the collapsed hall. "I see how that passage got caved in."
By the time they reached the top of the spiral stairs the worst of the aftershocks were past, but Lara wouldn't relax until she was firmly in the open air with the sun shining down on her.
She sighed in relief once she was out of the subterranean ruins and back in the above-ground ruins of the Armenian church. It seemed the earthquake caused little damage to the church ruins above. Kurtis brushed some dust off his shirt sleeves and reattached the map scroll to his shoulder holster. He stared at her, and Lara smoothed her features, not wanting to give any indication of her earlier panic.
"Well, I'm starving, and could use a wink or two of shut-eye," said Kurtis casually.
Her gaze flickered down to Kurtis' abdomen, but thankfully his injury wasn't bleeding through again. Remembering the uncomfortable manner in which they slept the previous night and the method by which he claimed self-regeneration, Kurtis would probably benefit from an actual bed.
"Then it looks like dinner and a hotel are in order," Lara agreed.
"And a map."
"With the number of tourist hotspots in Turkey, shouldn't be an issue of finding one."
Lara slid the end of the wooden skewer from her lips, savoring the flavorful and aromatic kebab meat on her tongue before chewing thoughtfully as she leaned back in the hotel room lounge chair. She had procured the sleeping arrangements while Kurtis had procured a map and food – some fast and cheap takeout kebabs, in contrast to the higher end double room she'd booked for them – but was nonetheless satisfying for its low price. Her stomach rumbled its compliments even as she filled it. Though Kurtis poured over the two maps unrolled side-by-side at the desk, his mouth was also never without a bit of meat or veggie.
Not that Lara was thinking about his mouth in particular. It was night already in Istanbul, and the view of the twinkling city lights and the Hagia Sophia through the window was more fascinating to her. Or so she tried to convince herself. The Hagia Sophia Lara had seen before. The unobstructed view of Kurtis' backside was new to her.
With her boots left near the door, she curled and uncurled her toes within their socks like a cat kneading its paws, and took another bite. She did not stare at Kurtis' back or rear or anything of the sort, even as his back muscles shifted visibly beneath his shirt. Correction: she did not stare, merely cast repeated and furtive glances.
He had removed his black t-shirt and now hunched over the maps in just a white gauzy three-quarter sleeved henley– form-hugging and practically see-through– and olive cargo trousers. Lara still didn't know what to make of him. She knew a few things about him: his legal name was Kurtis Trent, roughly 181cm, used to be in the French Foreign Legion, could read and speak Latin fluently, had psychic powers, and was one of the last members of an ancient order of warrior monks.
But none of that really told her anything important, like whether she could really trust him, if he was worth knowing. While part of her understood his reasoning in running away from his past, another part marked it against him as cowardly. She tried to imagine whether he'd go out of his way to save her, or whether he'd save his own skin. She had foolishly given up the last Obscura Painting in exchange for him, but if the roles had been reversed, would he have done the same?
She didn't know.
Finishing the last of her kebab, she stood and strolled over to his side. On the modern map Kurtis had made a few circles in pen. One in Egypt, one in Ethiopia, and one in Madagascar.
"What's the news?" she asked once she'd swallowed the last of her meat.
Kurtis stabbed the paper with his pointer finger. "These are the Lux Veritatis bases I know of that are within approximately 2,000 miles of the key."
"I thought there'd be more."
"There's a lot more in Europe, and many have been taken over by the Cabal and perverted into places like the Strahov Fortress." He tapped the circle in Ethiopia. "Obviously its not in Lalibela. The one in Egypt is the base near Mendes, where Brother Occitan found the Stone. I don't think the brothers would have put it back there since it's too obvious."
Lara crossed her arms, cocking her hip. "Sometimes the obvious answer is the correct answer."
"Maybe but not usually when it comes to the Lux Veritatis." He tapped the circle in Madagascar. "I think it's here."
Lara examined the two maps. The medieval map didn't even have Madagascar drawn on it. "I thought Madagascar wasn't known to Europeans until the 16th century. Would the Lux Veritatis have built a base on the island so long ago?"
"The map you took from Brother Occitan's room wasn't specific to the Order. The Lux Veritatis had contacts with traders in Asia, Africa, the Arab peninsula. They learned of places that Europeans didn't 'discover' until hundreds of years later. The base in Madagascar was constructed around the same time as the one in Lalibela, and I don't really know what it's for." He shrugged, finally looking away from the map to meet Lara's eyes. "I've never needed to go. But I do know that we have several bases around the world that were constructed basically only to house items we needed to be kept hidden. You raided the one in Paris."
Lara had many questions, like how the Order was capable of constructing such elaborate bases all over the world when they were so few and a secret society on top of that – but she suspected Kurtis wouldn't know the answers either. But she did know that her belly fluttered with excitement at the prospect of breaking into more ruins like the Tomb of Ancients. The only other alternative, according to Kurtis, was the place in Egypt, and Lara wasn't keen to return there just yet, so if he believed the Stone was in Madagascar, she was willing to believe it too.
"And are you going to be sitting this one out?" she asked him.
"Not a chance. If it's as well-protected as the diary seems to imply, you'll need me."
"Like I needed you in Paris and Prague?"
Kurtis retorted, "Like you needed me in Lalibela."
Lara refrained from saying she would have found her way without him, and slyly glanced down at his midsection. Surely Kurtis was feeling helpless with his injury impeding him, and after getting some food in her stomach, she felt no inclination to wound him further. As far as tag-alongs went, she could do far worse.
"Right," she said instead. "Well if that's all, I'll book us a flight."
Author's Note: Please leave reviews/comments if you are reading. It's so quiet here! I'm just posting this into a void I guess.