The Watcher's Stone

Chapter 3: Trap

Colorful, geometric patterned rugs lined the floor of the rock-hewn church, and red velvet draped the walls to capture sound and heat. Icon paintings of various saints decorated the surfaces, and as they quietly walked, they passed a napping priest curled on the floor.

And good thing the priest slept, because they needed to step over him to reach the entrance to the lower levels. As silently as possible, Kurtis stretched his palms out and with his powers opened the door that was stiff from disuse. Encased in darkness once more, they each lit a flare and held it out. Cobwebs strung from corner to corner and the air felt stagnant and tasted of dust. Kurtis noticed a shiver wrack down Lara's back. She didn't turn to see if he followed, simply began descending the spiral stone stairs.

"Creepy," Kurtis murmured. But this was probably all blasé to Lara.

About a floor length below, the stairs ended in a rectangular room, which opened at the far end to a circular room. A cone of light in the next room directed their attention, illuminating a sepulcher. The entire area was larger in diameter than even the actual church above. The flooring changed from compacted dust and earth to smoothed sections of stone, the change marked by gap that ran along the entire floor, walls, and ceiling. A similar gap ran along the edge where the rectangular room opened to the circular room.

"You should stay back by the stairs." Lara glanced behind her to Kurtis. "On this side of the line. Just in case."

Though he was fine with walking, she was right to order him to stay put. The way she was glancing around, visually inspecting the room spoke of her suspicions. If they needed to move fast, Kurtis would probably survive, but spill his guts in the process. This was why he 'hired' her in the first place.

Lara stepped into the room, every muscle tensed. Her flare started to sputter out, so she grabbed a fresh one and tossed the old one on the floor.

Suddenly, Kurtis' view of her was spliced by the abrupt slamming of a gate. In front of Lara the noise echoed, another gate blocking her escape to the next room.

He gave a cursory tug at the gate, not expecting it to budge. He tried pulling it back up or bending the bars with his mind, but they were too well fortified. Figures.

An unfamiliar noise began to fill the room, the sound of stone sliding against stone. Above, the ceiling began to slowly descend as spikes poked through narrow holes between the stone pieces.

"Watch your feet," Kurtis barked. He began pacing the area beside the stairs, brought up a hand to card through his hair without thought.

Spikes rose from mirrored holes in the floor, one drawing dangerously close to Lara's crotch before she adjusted her positon between them.

Kurtis scrambled for a way to help, trying the gate once more. But he didn't know the first thing about boobytraps. As a Lux Veritatis, he never had to disarm them. This place was built to keep others out.

…Meaning there had to be a release lever or switch in the room somewhere, for those selected members who were permitted entrance.

Lara called to him. "A lever, Kurtis! Do you see anything?" Her gaze bounced all over, searching for a hidden switch.

It seemed she had the exact same thought he did.

The spikes from below stopped extending at about waist-high, but the ceiling of spikes was still slowly descending. She'd have less than a minute before being run-through.

Whoever designed it did it well. The walls were made of uniform stone squares – any one of them could be a possible trigger. But surely something would give it away. If only his powers could be of some use–

Oh.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and quickly projected his vision outside his body.

The edges of the scene blurred. He saw Lara attempting to manipulate one of the stone squares of the wall to no avail. But on the opposite wall a piece of stone glowed in his mind like it was screaming over here, over here!

"Lara, I see it, I think." Kurtis held his own flare, and pointed to the wall across from her, on his right. "That sliver of stone. Do you see it? It stands out just so among all the squares."

Lara turned around and held her flare out, the fizzling light bouncing against all the spikes, casting grisly shadows on the walls and distorting their appearance. Lara glanced up at the descending ceiling. Kurtis followed her line of sight. The spikes were closing in.

Quickly, but not too quickly she'd trip and impale herself, she made her way to the right wall, to the area Kurtis was desperately motioning towards. She dragged her fingers across the stones, feeling the raised outline of the thin rectangular block. Lara glanced up again. A spike was nearly upon her head, so she tilted her head to the side. Sweat beaded at Kurtis' forehead. He really didn't want to see such a pretty lady skewered before his eyes, especially when their partnership seemed so promising.

Fingers digging into the space around the rectangle, Lara pried at it until it slid loose, the top curving down but remaining attached at the bottom. She pulled down until it clicked. The sound of the ceiling descending stopped, and all at once the spikes quickly reversed, swallowed up by the stones, and the ceiling began a slow ascent back to its original position. The gates on both ends of the room lifted slowly.

Kurtis rushed over to her quicker than he should have, his heart racing. During all of that she didn't for a moment look worried. In fact, she had ordered him to stay behind, as though expecting this situation.

Impressive.

He wished to say something to her, to let her know he was glad she was alright, to praise her cool head, but nothing he came up with in his mind sounded right. This woman had a reputation. This was, after all, the woman he stole an Obscura painting from, who retrieved the final Periapt Shard from Eckhardt's lab. What she must have overcome to do either of those would have made this trap room seem like child's play in comparison.

In the circular room, several crevices were carved into the walls, fanning out, each filled with bones, some still adorning clothes or armor. Once more on the wall was a landscape painting of Saint George and the dragon, though this one different with more details. The rescued princess sat behind him, her hands clasped in prayer and gaze directed toward heaven, while George jubilantly lifted his shining sword over the dragon's corpse.

In the center of the room was an intricately designed sepulcher. It stood up from the floor as though carved directly into it. Lara approached it. Nothing carved on the top stone indicated who laid within. Placing her hands against the rim of the lid, she began to push. Kurtis joined in, and soon the lid was ajar.

It was empty.

Well, except for the small wooden coffer within. About the size of a cigar box, its construction was solid, the material thick. It was closed with a simple latch mechanism. Lara flicked it open.

It was just a key, but it also wasn't just a key. Kurtis didn't know why he expected it to be bigger, or look different. Just a simple silver key, but psychically it quivered, as though it was sentient and aware of its own importance, its enormous responsibility of keeping such a powerful artifact contained.

…Or perhaps Kurtis was reading too much into it.

Lara picked it up, turning it around in the air, then placed it back inside and shut the lid.

"Well, now what?" she seemed to murmur to herself.

"We find the door that key opens."

Lara shot him a tired glance. "Sometimes that's the hardest part."

"Guess we do need to find the rest of those diary pages."

"How do we know this is the correct key? I'd hate to go on a wild goose chase when we're in a race against a Nephilim."

"It's the correct key," he said quickly, narrowing his eyes at the coffer. Even with his line of sight cut off by the lid, he could still sense the key within. He reached a hand out towards it, then quickly retracted it.

Lara cocked an eyebrow. "Are you always so strange, Mr…?" She trailed off, his last name unknown to her.

He knew her surname. He knew a lot of things about her. He did his research. He regarded her in silence that dragged on a beat too long before deciding to answer.

"Trent. And sorry for being so cryptic with you. I'm just not used to talking to anyone about this stuff."

"You're referring to your unique abilities?"

He huffed quietly. "That's one way to put it. My 'unique abilities', and the Lux Veritatis."

He wondered what Lara thought about it all, specifically him. He recalled her bewildered expressions at his Chirugai, her shock at his telekinesis and other displays of psychic power, but she never made any mention of them until now. The few people outside the Order that had seen him use his powers always made such a fuss about them. It was kind of refreshing that she acted as if it was normal.

He glanced around at the piles of bones. "C'mon, let's get out of here. I don't usually hang out with the dead." Grabbing the coffer from Lara's hands, he turned and strode back to the stairs.

When they reached the top of the stairs, the priest who had been napping on the floor was no longer there. The sanctuary was nearly empty as well, and an uneasy feeling settled over Lara. The place had been bustling with worshippers, pilgrims, and tourists just an hour ago. Sunset was near, but the churches were still open to visitors–shouldn't there be more people nearby? As they climbed up the trench to reach the surface, she worried their spelunking hadn't gone unnoticed and someone had called the authorities to arrest them.

"Lara," Kurtis suddenly said in a grave tone.

Then she was pushed to the dusty hard ground and his body covered hers.

Bullets rang out. Lara fumbled with the clumsy robe, her hands searching for her holsters beneath it whilst trying to crane her neck to find the source of the gunfire. She heard and saw from the corner of her eye an orange blur streak in the air vertically, its whirring noise familiar to her from the Louvre. The flying weapon–the Chirugai, Kurtis had called it–whirled out of the trench. She heard a deep cry and the gunfire abruptly stopped. Blood gushed over the trench and sprinkled down on them. Then Kurtis was gripping Lara's biceps and pulling her up just as she freed her pistols.

They had no need for words. A single, brief glance into Kurtis' shining blue eyes was like an entire conversation between them. An ambush. The Cabal found us. We have to keep the key out of their hands.

The Chirugai came back and fitted in Kurtis' hand. "I'll be the distraction," he said. "You find us an exit route."

Lara nodded. Standing back-to-back with weapons raised and ready, they continued out of the trench, immediately coming against more gunfire.

Ducking back into the trench, Kurtis cursed. "We're like fish in a barrel in this trench."

"That boulder just ahead would provide adequate cover."

"If we can reach it before being riddled with holes."

Lara thought. She'd been in stickier situations, and an opportunity always presented itself sooner or later. She just needed to be on the lookout for it.

"How well can you control that thing?" she asked, motioning towards the disc in his hand. Kurtis also had his firearm unholstered.

"Completely, but if I can't see what I'm throwing it at…"

"Right." Lara stepped towards the edge where the trench rose level with the ground and crouched. Sticking her gun out briefly was met with an onslaught of gunfire. She quickly pulled it back in.

"They're waiting for us out here. We ought to go back and find another exit."

They quickly ran back the way they came, gradually descending in the trench until it turned into a tunnel. Kurtis stopped her then, gripping her arm. He was panting harder than she expected from his physique.

"Wait. Lemme check something."

Without waiting for Lara's response, Kurtis leaned against the tunnel wall, rested his head back, and lifted his hands out, fingers downturned and palms thrusted outward. She expected the motion to explode the tunnel or something of the sort, but Kurtis simply stood there, eyes lidded and gaze glazed over.

Curious, Lara glanced ahead and behind before stepping in front of him, and narrowed her eyes. His jaw went slack, and his lips parted ever so slightly. A small puff of breath left his mouth. His eyelashes fluttered, his thick brows twitching together before smoothing out. The trance-like state Kurtis was in seemed to go on so long that she began to wonder if she ought to leave him behind. She wasn't keen to mimic Swiss cheese because she was waiting around for Kurtis to do…something.

Then Kurtis opened his eyes fully, all at once he gasped, his arms dropped, and his boots scuffled against the rocky ground. He blinked and fixed Lara with his gaze, now sharp and no longer clouded and distant.

He pointed towards the direction they had been heading down. "That way's clear as far as I can tell. But behind us they're sending a couple men after us. They got more watching from the top of the trench."

"So we keep going this way," Lara concluded, and continued jogging. She had no idea what all that was about, but with Kurtis she was learning to just accept that he was a man with extraordinary powers. At the moment, there was no time or need to get caught up in the hows and whys.

Behind her she heard Kurtis panting, and he quickly joined her, squeezing past her to take point. Her bare arm was scraped against the rock, leaving a stinging, burning streak.

"Excuse you," she hissed.

Kurtis either didn't notice or care, and began to jog ahead, raising his Chirugai high.

Suddenly someone came around the bend. Kurtis extended the blades of his disc, and the person shrieked.

Just a woman. She cowered and pushed herself flush against the wall as Kurtis quickly retracted the blades. He mumbled apologies then warned her to hide. The woman eyed them both dubiously, clearly scared out of her wits, and rushed past them both.

Poor girl. Lara was familiar with the feeling of having that weapon pointed at her neck, and it wasn't a situation she'd ever want to find herself in again. She was glad, all things considered, that Kurtis saw her as an ally now.

They continued down the tunnels and trenches, taking the most branching path possible in hopes that the Cabal forces would be thinned out having to cover all possible exits. At one point they encountered a Cabal merc who Kurtis swiftly and quietly dispatched via a Chirugai blade in the throat. Unfortunately the spurt of blood stained his white robe, ruining the disguise. Briefly he paused, clutching his midsection, but when Lare inquired if he'd been wounded, Kurtis brushed off her question and carried on, wincing and softly panting from exertion.

Finally they reached the exit to the trench, clear on the other side from where they started. Doing his magic trick again, Kurtis reported that there was only one Cabal guard waiting nearby, but that there was also adequate cover and a straight path to a nearby road that could lead them out of Lalibela.

"I'll take him out," Lara offered. She glimpsed down Kurtis' form, recalling the times he'd seemed out of breath or in pain. "And fetch us a ride. You alright to hold any reinforcements off for a few minutes?"

Kurtis frowned. "No problem." He pulled his large handgun out once more from beneath his bloody robe.

Lara led the charge, diving out with guns ablaze. She quickly killed the Cabal member, and together the pair sprinted behind a large rock outcropping which visitors likely used for sitting, with trees on the other side providing shade. Without sparing a glance, Lara continued on running, leaving him behind to draw the forces towards him. Though Kurtis had said it was a straight shot to the road from their location, Lara nevertheless took a winding path through the trees and bushes, overhearing as she kept out of sight the Cabal forces in the area being alerted to Kurtis.

Until this point, she hadn't thought much about whether Kurtis had been telling the truth. But seeing the Cabal here, willing to potentially kill innocents and shoot up a historical site so publicly, reinforced the idea that the Cabal had to be stopped. If they were willing to do all this to get the key, the Watcher's Stone had to be dangerous.

Once she made it onto the road she slowed to a brisk walk, keeping the hood of the robe over her head as many other women visiting the churches did, and took stock of her surroundings. On the outskirts of the paths to the churches were a few pick up trucks, cars, and larger transport trucks. All of their drivers seemed missing except one, whose pale face, brimmed hat, and padded vest gave him away as one of the Cabal. Lara edged along the side of the truck. The man glanced in the truck side mirror just as she unholstered a pistol. Within the next second the man had a hole in the side of his head, Lara pushed him out of the truck and took his place, twisting the keys to start the vehicle up.

Luckily the earlier gunshots at the churches had frightened off most of the local pedestrians and so she went unnoticed as she reversed the truck and drove down the foot-only path towards the churches.

Cabal mercs shot at her as she zoomed by. She shot out of the side window and killed a few in retaliation, even ran one over before she swerved the truck right beside the large rock where Kurtis was pinned down. Reaching over, she shoved the passenger door open. Relief was visible on Kurtis' face, and he dove in, pulling the door shut behind him. Lara peeled away, tires kicking up dust as they made their exit.

"Won't be long before they come after us," she said in a rush and checked the rearview mirror.

Kurtis slumped in his seat, one arm over his midsection. His ripped the turban off his head and sweat dripped down his ashen face. It was then that Lara noticed the red stains on his robe, which she had believed to be others' blood, had grown larger.

She gasped. "What happened?"

"I'm fine," he groaned, looking around as though he had no idea where he was. "Looks worse than it is. Feels…worse than it is."

"I'm taking you to a hospital."

"No, keep driving. Hospital can't help. Turn northwest."

"What? The main road is south–"

"They won't expect us to take one of the unsealed roads," he interrupted. "They're longer, they're riskier, there's nothing for miles on them."

She thought about it. She had always preferred the riskier path. "You make a good point."

Lara drove, keeping an eye on both Kurtis and her rearview mirror every several seconds. It wasn't long before another truck was visible in the near distance, gradually catching up in speed.

At first Lara thought to try to out run them, but as they got farther and farther from Lalibela's outskirts, the landscape became more barren with far fewer trees or shrubs to disguise their vehicle. The Cabal would be able to track them even if they put a great distance between them. The only option was to take the truck out, then, and the closer to Lalibela, the better.

So she slowed down a bit to allow the other truck to catch up, readying a gun with one hand as the other kept the steering wheel steady.

Kurtis lolled his head towards her. "Why are we slowing?"

But the truck was fast approaching their side, she didn't have time to explain. Lara slammed on the brakes, allowing the enemy truck to sail past the driver's side, and as it did so she unleashed a flurry of bullets on it, aiming for the driver and the tires.

None connected. Swiftly she turned the steering wheel, veering their truck behind and around to the other side.

"Lean back," she barked at Kurtis, who was wincing and cradling his midsection. He did as told, one hand still gripping his firearm.

Lara pressed on the gas and aimed for the left rear tire, and fired a few more rounds. A loud pop followed by a burst of dust signaled she hit her mark. Abruptly the other vehicle began to swerve and slow, and as the driver came into view on her right, she aimed her gun for the driver.

Gunfire sounded. She tapped the brakes, avoiding having her own wheels popped. But the Cabal driver couldn't keep control of his truck with the back tire deflated and was continuing to slow. She readied herself to be faster on the draw this time.

A second before the window of the driver passed by, a second before she would have opened fire, another gunshot bellowed in her ears. Before she even registered what happened, the Cabal truck was quickly slowing and filled her rearview mirror, nearly clipping the back of their own vehicle. For a split second she thought he was trying the same maneuver she had, until she noticed the deep red mark on the side of the man's head and the slack way his head was angled to the side. She glanced to her passenger, pleased to see the wisp of smoke trailing from Kurtis' hefty handgun.

He slumped further in his seat and his hand fell down, the gun tumbling out of his grasp onto the truck floor bed.

He licked his lips, his eyelids sliding shut again. "Try to drive straight, OK?"

Lara nodded, more to herself than him. He seemed in even more pain than before; all that swerving and jerking about must have been too much for him in his state.

But no one else from Lalibela seemed to be following. It seemed Kurtis' hunch had been mostly correct – the Cabal must have split up their remaining forces to search for them, but only sent one vehicle down this less established path. At some point once the sky had darkened to needing the headlights, Kurtis passed out in the passenger seat. His head was lolled to the side, eyes closed, almost resembling the man he killed earlier, but his breath still came every second in a slow and steady inhale-exhale.

"You better not die," Lara muttered to herself, feeling the slightest bit of concern. "Don't want to deal with dumping your body." He's probably heavy.

She thought of the Sh'mulahl. An incredible plant which the Bantiwa collected and extracted its oils to create a healing elixir. It had healed her after her entombment in Egypt, and she wished she had some with her to heal Kurtis. She had no idea if the plant grew in Ethiopia or how to mix the tonic–she hadn't been with the tribe long enough to be given the honor of inheriting that knowledge.

While she drove she thought of the tribe – her tribe. She missed Putai; she would know what to do to help Kurtis. As he had pointed out, she needed him to get the artifact. She couldn't just give up and let the Cabal have it now. And though she hardly knew this strange man, she couldn't give up on him, either.