The Mask of Destiny

by Richard Newsome

  They reached the far end of the temple and a stair-well that descended into darkness.

  ‘This must be the entrance to the inner sanctum,’ Nico said. ‘The holiest place in the temple. Where Apollo talked to the Oracle.’

  ‘Are you feeling anything, Gerald?’ Sam asked. ‘You know—vision things.’

  Gerald tried to concentrate, to conjure something out of his brain. But all he could sense was a head stuffed with cotton wool.

  ‘Nothing,’ he said. He shone his torch down the stairwell. ‘May as well take a look.’ He led the way down.

  ‘So, Nico, this Apollo,’ Sam said, ‘was he a good god or a nasty god?’

  ‘He was the god of music, of the sun and of prophecy,’ Nico said. ‘But all the gods had their failings. He would go into insane rages if women rejected him—Apollo could do terrible things.’

  ‘Terrific,’ Sam said. ‘At home with the nutty god of jealous fits.’

  Gerald reached the bottom of the stairs to find a blank stone wall. He moved his torch over the surface; the flames licked across a featureless lump of solid granite.

  ‘No markings, no handle, no nothing,’ he said.

  Ruby squeezed in beside him on the bottom step and wedged her shoulder against the rock.

  ‘That’s not moving for anyone,’ she grunted. ‘It must weigh a tonne.’

  ‘Now what do we do?’ Gerald said.

  ‘Hey, Gerald,’ Sam said. ‘What’s that on the wall by your elbow?’

  Gerald looked down to his left. Set into the side wall was a bronze plate, about half a metre square.

  ‘It’s flat metal,’ Gerald said. He squatted to his haunches to look closer. ‘There are three circles close together in the middle. There’s something pressed into them. Hold on.’ He moved his torch in.

  ‘Far out,’ Gerald breathed. He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the metal plate.

  ‘What is it?’ Ruby asked.

  ‘My family seal,’ Gerald said. ‘Again.’

  The yellow light flickered across three clear indentations in the metal plate, each imprinted with the triangle of arms and the blazing sun of the Archer family seal.

  Gerald plugged the three holes with the tips of his fingers. Then his eyes sprang open.

  ‘The rings!’

  ‘What?’

  ‘The three signet rings,’ Gerald said. ‘Sam, come down here.’

  Sam shuffled down the stairs to stand behind Gerald and Ruby.

  ‘The three rings are a key,’ Gerald said. ‘This must be the way into the Oracle’s chamber. Gaius, Marcus and Lucius must have locked it so that the only way to open it was for all three of them to be here.’ He pressed the seal on his ring into one of the holes. It fitted perfectly.

  ‘Come on you two,’ Gerald said.

  Ruby placed her ring into position. It was a seamless match, too. Sam leaned over Gerald’s shoulder and stretched out to reach the bronze plate.

  The moment the third ring slotted into place there was a low rumbling beneath their feet, as if a giant clock-work mechanism had been summoned to life. Ruby shot a glance at Gerald. ‘There better not be any booby traps,’ she said. The rumbling vibrated up their legs, then the massive granite block at the bottom of the stairs swung inwards.

  Gerald looked at the others. ‘Let’s see what my relatives were keeping locked up in here.’

  They walked into a square room with a low stone ceiling.

  In contrast to the extravagance of the temple above, the room was quite bare. Along one wall was a line of about twenty stone busts, all women, blank eyes staring into the centre of the chamber. Two golden eagles, wings spread wide, perched on narrow stands on either side of a square section of the floor that was sunk about twenty centimetres into the ground forming a shallow pit. A single oil lamp was suspended from the ceiling, above the sunken floor.

  ‘It’s a bit plain, isn’t it?’ Ruby said. ‘If you’re going to commune with the gods, I mean.’

  Gerald surveyed the chamber. He hadn’t known what to expect, but this certainly wasn’t it. He placed his torch into a metal bracket on one side of the door, and Ruby found another one on the other side.

  ‘So this is where Apollo hung out,’ Sam said. ‘Bit of a dump.’

  Gerald crossed the floor, stepping over a white line of marble that split the room in two, and down into the shallow pit to look at the eagle statues. ‘Maybe he was impressive enough in person that he didn’t need to decorate,’ Gerald said, running his fingers over the sculpted feathers on the eagle’s chest.

  ‘Or maybe it was all a load of rubbish,’ Ruby said. ‘A show for the pilgrims, to keep the money rolling in.’

  ‘Are you still saying all this is coincidence?’ Gerald said. ‘What about my name carved in stone out the front?’

  He couldn’t make out Ruby’s mumbled reply.

  ‘Is that lamp getting dimmer?’ Sam asked, looking at the light above Gerald’s head. ‘Come on, Nico. Let’s go top up the oil. Won’t be a minute.’

  Sam and Nico disappeared back up the stairs. Ruby crossed the room and sat on the floor, her feet in the pit.

  ‘So now what?’ she said, letting out an enormous yawn. ‘We’ve found the treasure of Delphi. But that doesn’t get you off the hook with the police.’

  Gerald plopped down next to Ruby. His shoulder brushed against hers. ‘I know. We’re still no closer to proving that Charlotte killed her uncle and framed me for it.’

  Ruby slumped an elbow onto her knee and took a deep breath. ‘I’m so tired.’

  Gerald blinked. ‘Me too.’

  ‘How do we get out of here? Do we just wait for Jarvis to find us?’

  ‘I guess so.’ Gerald leaned up against Ruby’s shoulder. ‘My eyes are so heavy.’

  Gerald slipped sidewards to the floor. He rested his head on his arm. The adventures of the summer had finally caught up with him; he couldn’t remember feeling so drained. He closed his eyes. There were footsteps coming down the stairs. Gerald lifted his head and forced his eyelids open. The lamp above them had dimmed even further. He could make out the shape of two people entering the room.

  ‘Nico?’ The voice slurred from his lips. ‘Sam?’

  Gerald’s mind was a fog. But he could swear that one of the faces staring down at him was that of a silver-haired man. And was that a walking stick in his hand?

  Sir Mason Green smiled at him.

  Then a wave of fatigue swept Gerald away.

  Chapter 28

  ‘Nothing is certain.’

  Gerald knew he was dreaming. He knew he was asleep and in the middle of a nightmare. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t open his eyes. It was like he’d forgotten how.

  Everything was awash—like he was wearing a leaky pair of swimming goggles.

  He was in the dining room at Avonleigh, his country estate near Glastonbury. But for some reason, the room was filled with water.

  And there were people in the room. Lots of people.

  There was his mother; her face suddenly came into focus. ‘Nothing is certain, Gerald,’ Vi trilled, then swam out of view.

  His father wafted by, his face shimmering like oil on water. ‘Nothing is certain, my boy.’ He executed a neat tumble turn and frog-kicked away.

  Gerald tried to make someone stop and talk with him, but everyone was too busy. ‘Nothing is certain,’ Mr Fry said before dashing off after Miss Turner, like a dolphin after a fish.

  Alisha Gupta and Kali drifted past hand-in-hand, giggling. ‘Nothing is certain, Gerald,’ they chorused, blowing him kisses.

  Mr Hoskins, the old family friend, was sitting in a wingback armchair, trying to light a cigar. He darted out of the chair to shove a small white ball into Gerald’s mouth. ‘Nothing is certain,’ Hoskins said, ‘Even peppermints.’ He kicked and swam out a window.

  Gerald gagged as the mint bit into his throat. He spied his housekeeper fussing over a table arrangement that was trying to float off. ‘Mrs Ruther
ford,’ he called, trying to get to her. But the harder he swam, the further away she drifted. ‘Mrs Rutherford!’

  From nowhere, the face of Sir Mason Green flashed up, leering at him. The old man raised his hand and struck it hard against Gerald’s cheek.

  Once.

  Twice.

  And Gerald was awake.

  His face burned from the assault. He sat up with a jerk to find Mason Green glaring down at him. Green was standing between the statues of the golden eagles in the Temple of Apollo, leaning on his cane. A cane, Gerald knew, that contained a lethal sword.

  ‘Gerald,’ the man said with a smug grin. ‘Aren’t you going to say hello to an old friend?’

  Gerald’s mind buzzed. How could Green possibly be there?

  ‘Stay out of my dreams!’ Gerald managed to say. ‘Stay away from me.’

  Green’s smile lingered. ‘Oh, this is no dream, Gerald. You are well and truly stuck in harsh reality.’

  Gerald stared up at the man through narrow eyes. ‘I don’t care what deal you’ve done with the devil,’ Gerald said. ‘Where are my friends?’

  Green laughed—a polite gentleman’s laugh. ‘Such a fertile imagination. No, Gerald. I haven’t done any deals. I just planned ahead.’

  Gerald went to stand. But Green whipped the sword from the scabbard and motioned for Gerald to resume his seat. ‘You didn’t seriously think I gave myself up to the authorities to go through the tiresome inconvenience of a trial? The law is for other people, Gerald. I have more important things to do.’

  ‘But I saw you die,’ Gerald said. ‘In the court.’

  ‘Ah, did you see me? Or someone very like me?’

  ‘What? Your twin brother?’

  Green was horrified. ‘How could you suggest such a thing, Gerald? Family is very important to me. No, that was merely a lookalike. I got the idea from one of those tin-pot African dictators who used a double to stand in for him at public appearances just in case someone decided to take a shot at him. It’s amazing what can be achieved with cosmetic surgery. I found someone who sounded a bit like me and looked a little like me, and then paid him to look a lot like me.’

  Gerald was appalled. ‘Who would take money to get killed? That’s insane.’

  ‘Oh, the chap didn’t know about that little detail. He thought he’d serve a few years in prison at worst, then come out to a fat Swiss bank account. And as I hear it, the way my barrister was going, he was probably going to walk free anyway.’

  ‘Then why kill him?’

  ‘A calculated gamble, Gerald. The best way to stop the police from snooping on your affairs is to have them think you’re dead. And the best way to stop someone from getting in the way is to frame him for the murder. And thanks to my niece’s delightful skills in the chemistry lab, we achieved both. She got a first at Cambridge, you know. We’re very proud of her.’

  Gerald focused on the tip of Green’s sword, which was still pointed at his chest.

  ‘You see, Gerald,’ Green continued, ‘you were always the greatest threat to my little endeavour. But after you survived your scrape in India, it was just too difficult to have you killed. It would have raised too much suspicion. I came up with the idea for a double a few years ago. He’d been living a comfortable life in one of my Swiss chalets, learning my mannerisms and imitating my voice. He served his purpose well. But I didn’t count on you escaping from the police.’

  ‘You’ve got your treasure now—all the gold in Delphi,’ Gerald said. ‘Big deal. You’re already a billionaire. But you’re a dead billionaire as far as the world is concerned. You’ll have to stay in hiding forever.’

  Green laughed again. ‘Gerald, have you listened to nothing I’ve told you? It’s not about money. It’s about what every man, if he’s honest with himself, is thirsting for. Power. Absolute power. To be subservient to no one—to be above all.’

  ‘How does a mountain of gold get you that?’ Gerald said.

  ‘It doesn’t. All that shiny metal? Keep it. It’s yours. Give it to the poor if that helps you sleep at night. Don’t you know your family secret yet, Gerald?’

  Gerald fixed the man with a flint-like glare.

  ‘I am the progeny,’ Gerald said. ‘I am the two strands of this place, entwined again, sixteen hundred years after it was buried.’

  ‘Bravo, Gerald! You have done well. I’ve had my eye on your family for longer than you’ve been alive. As you know, I collect ancient documents. And the legend of Delphi has long intrigued me. That’s how I learned of your family’s unique status. So when you were born, the product of the descendants of the Oracle and its destroyer, I knew you were special. Your great aunt tried to protect you, of course, sending you to Australia. But your destiny would always bring you here. Gerald, you are tied to this place. That is why you had such a strong reaction when you touched these.’ Green lifted a slender tube from the floor and eased a cover from one end.

  ‘The golden rods,’ Gerald said.

  Green smiled. ‘What did you call them in India, Gerald? Cheap old relics?’ Green snorted with delight. ‘They gave you quite the jolt. So they should. They are the key to everything. The key to knowing everything.’

  Gerald had a sudden flash of understanding. ‘That’s what you’re after?’ he said. ‘To see the future.’

  ‘Of course,’ Green said. ‘Knowledge—the ambition of every cultured human.’

  Gerald stared at him, horrified. ‘But if you see into the future, you can influence what’s going to happen— you can change destinies.’

  ‘Yes,’ Green said with a smirk. ‘I will be a god.’

  The power of the Oracle in Green’s hands—a man who had killed without hesitation. It was unthinkable.

  ‘That’s why Emperor Theodosius sent Quintus and his sons here in the first place,’ Green said. ‘To steal the secret of the Oracle.’

  ‘Yeah, and kill everybody in the town,’ Gerald said with disgust.

  ‘I believe that was the plan. But my research shows that Quintus and his sons decided that the Oracle’s power was too great to be trusted to anyone, particularly the emperor. So they made sure he would never get it.’

  ‘They weren’t after the gold?’ Gerald said.

  ‘Gerald, you’ve got to stop thinking in such base terms. This is about ultimate power. The Oracle was expecting your ancestors, of course. She knew what was coming. And she was prepared. Clea convinced Quintus to help with her plan. Together with the townsfolk they created a fake town, designed to look like it had been sacked. They then buried the real city, leaving the Oracle’s secret safely inside. To make sure it was secure, the three brothers each took a golden rod in a locked casket and set off, never to see each other again. When the emperor found he’d been crossed, he sent my ancestor Octavius Viridian after them. As you know, he found Marcus in India and killed him. That’s how Marcus’s ring came to be mine.’

  Gerald was astonished. His ancestors weren’t murderers—they’d tried to protect the Oracle’s secret.

  Green slid one of the golden rods from the tube. ‘I will be the most powerful person in modern history. Presidents and kings will bow down to me, just as the mighty prostrated themselves to the Oracle in ancient times.’ A look of ultimate greed shone in Green’s eyes. ‘I just need one last thing before I fulfil my destiny.’

  The lamplight played across the surface of the rod like fingers on a gilded flute.

  ‘I’ve asked you before Gerald, and I’ll ask again. Tell me what you see, when I do this?’ Green dropped his sword and grabbed Gerald by the hair. He held out the golden rod and laid it across Gerald’s forehead.

  Gerald’s eyes shot wide. The cotton-wool fog inside his head ignited in an inferno. Gerald could see with absolute clarity. He tried not to tell Green what he saw, but he was compelled to speak.

  ‘There’s a person.’ Gerald could hear his own voice filling the room, as if it was someone else speaking. ‘Wearing a mask. The most powerful being on earth.’

  G
reen whipped the rod away. Gerald collapsed to the floor with a colossal headache.

  ‘Perfect,’ Green said. ‘Truly perfect.’

  Gerald was on his hands and knees in the shallow pit, sucking in air. His head felt like it had been fried. ‘Where are Sam and Ruby?’ he breathed. ‘And Nico?’

  Green took the remaining rods from the tube and laid them at his feet. ‘They are with my niece, where they belong,’ he said.

  Gerald didn’t understand. ‘Belong?’

  ‘Naturally. Charlotte and your friends have known each other for years. She used to babysit them.’

  Gerald jolted his head. What was Green saying?

  ‘Gerald, you need to understand—neither fate nor coincidence brought you here. I did.’

  Green paused to let the enormity of his words soak in.

  ‘I thought I could find this place by myself, Gerald. That’s why I framed you for the murder—to get you out of the way. But your escape from the police forced a change in plan. And it worked in my favour. Have you ever tried fly-fishing, Gerald? You really should. Using wit and subterfuge to fool another creature is the most tremendous fun: to dangle something in front of its nose until it risks everything to take a bite. How do you think I found you so quickly in this place? How do you think I’ve been able to follow you all the way? In Glastonbury with the diamond casket? Then in India and France.’

  ‘What are you saying?’

  ‘Young Sam and Ruby have played their parts brilliantly. But surely you must have suspected.’

  Again, Green paused, glaring down at the horror dawning on Gerald’s face.

  Then, as if he was thrusting his sword into Gerald’s chest, Green rammed the point home. ‘Sam and Ruby have been working for me all along.’

  Chapter 29

  Gerald stared down at the dusty floor. Green’s words were clear enough, but Gerald could make no sense of them.

  Ruby and Sam…had betrayed him?

  ‘They were bait, Gerald. To get you to use your special talents to lead me here. And you swallowed it whole,’ said Sir Mason Green.