by Andrea Wölk
Sunny had him on his back in the wink of an eye and was sitting on top of him. Her hand was gripped tightly around his throat.
»You think I’m a traitor? Come on, say it!« She pressed Maroush down into the mattress with all her might. He stared up at her eyes without emotion, distracting her from what he was actually doing. Only after Sunny felt the cold steel of the dagger on her throat did she loosen her grip.
»You are a lot of things to me.« He spoke calmly, but his body was radiating an intense heat, which gave him away. With an expert move, he twisted Sunny around on the bed burying her underneath him. »What are you afraid of? Do you think I would take you as my wife against your will?«
She tried to punch him in the chest with her fists, but he kept her playfully under control with one hand. »So, what’s your answer?« They just glared into each other’s eyes for a few seconds and the air around them seemed to be vibrating. Invisible sparks were flying, creating a realm, which contained only Sunny and Maroush. When she ran her little tongue along her dry lips, Maroush couldn’t hold himself back and he lowered himself slowly to her lips and kissed them gently.
He remained in this position waiting to see how she would react.
Sunny closed her eyes and let him kiss her, trying not to fight against it. The scent of him everywhere robbed her of her senses. Without wanting to, she opened her lips and carefully explored his mouth with her tongue and arched her back to get as close as possible to him.
Maroush slowly let go of her wrist and ran his hand along her collarbone, returning her kiss without forcing her. His tongue played with hers and it took everything he had to not passionately take her right there on the spot. He could feel her hand playing with his hair and then, much too late, he felt the cold, sharp metal on his cheek. When he opened his eyes, Sunny underneath him holding his own Dolch. »Get off me!« Maroush lifted up his hands, rolled off her and then stood up. She got up after him. »Go!« she demanded. When he turned around, Sunny pulled the sharp blade across his cheek with enough pressure that a drop of blood emerged from the wound. »That’s for calling me a traitor.« In one skilled movement, the Dolch landed in the doorframe and without even turning around, Maroush pulled the knife out of the wood.
»The sword the body wounds, sharp words the mind.«
Upon saying these words, he left the room.
As Aragón walked through the main portal of the High Cathedral of Saint Peter and Mary in Cologne, he dipped his fingers in holy water and crossed himself, then bowed his head and genuflected humbly. Sunny followed his example and then, after they had all entered the church, the warriors spread out so they wouldn’t stand out as a group.
Sara and Eva joined a crowd of Japanese tourists participating in an English tour. Phoebe had organized landing the helicopter at the Cologne airport and from there, it had only been a stone’s throw to the cathedral square. Shia and Ruben looked up in awe as they passed under the vaulted ceiling of the choir. The early mass in the Chapel of the Virgin was just ending and some visitors chose to exit, while others continued strolling through the church.
»So, you and Phoebe,« commented Shia quietly while looking around.
»You don’t like the idea?« Ruben questioned and his tone of voice contained a hint of aggressiveness. Shia waved off the comment. »No, I’m the last person to judge you. I’m just worried. I don’t want Phoebe to get hurt. She’s a little unstable sometimes.«
»Believe me, my brother, the last thing I want to do is hurt that woman.« Shia stopped walking.
»It could still happen even if you don’t mean to. Just like you can’t cover the rays of the sun, you can’t ignore the light of truth. And you know she doesn’t share your maxim.«
Ruben looked him directly in the eye. »Yes, but I love her and I can’t just ignore that. I’d do anything not to hurt her, I’ve promised her that much. But why would you be the last one to judge me?«
Shia looked around for a second. »Eva doesn’t share my maxim either. I was wrong. But you’re right, I love her and no matter what happens, she’ll always be my soulmate.«
He said it so earnestly and in the place where they were standing, his words sounded so sincere. Ruben seemed surprised. »What’s her maxim?« Shia bit his lips sullenly.
» It’s fortes fortuna adiurat – Fortune favors the bold. No one’s got that one.«
Ruben thought about the maxim for a minute. »Strange. It doesn’t just refer to Eva really, but to more than one person – it’s plural. Otherwise it would be the bold one, don’t you think? Whatever that’s supposed to mean.« Shia walked on nodding his head in thought. He hadn’t even noticed that. What was that supposed to mean?
The cathedral was gigantic and even if you had an entire army, it would be impossible to get a close look at everything. They all agreed that if the Diarium really was hidden there somewhere, then it would be somewhere less obvious. Aragón sat down on one of the pews in the southeast end of the choir to take in the atmosphere. He watched the people walking past him and tried to analyze the countless windows, but none of them seemed to point in the direction of the Diarium.
There were millions of hiding places. Any one of the figures along the hundred pillars supporting the choir could hide something. Aragón was the first to recognize the hopelessness of this endeavor.
Jôrek and Channing bought tickets for the treasury and the tower, although it was clear to both of them that they wouldn’t find anything helpful there. »I think the only one of us who feels comfortable in here is Aragón.« Channing stopped in one of the niches inside the treasury.» Aragón’s a monk, didn’t you know that?« Jôrek smiled at the surprised expression on Channing’s face. »Then you probably don’t know that he was also a king,« he whispered quietly, stepping to the side letting two elderly women by, who’d been looking at them as if they were going to walk out with something. He shook his head dumbfounded as Jôrek quietly told him the story of Aragón’s life. Channing listened, as if spellbound, hardly believing what he was being told.
Eva and Sara listened in on the tour for over an hour without much success. They came to a stop in front of the high alter and looked around admiring the statues. A young Japanese girl from the group ran past them and tripped, falling to the floor right in front of Eva. Eva reached down to help the girl, but noticed too late that she had skinned her knee. The scent of blood reached her nose and her fangs began to emerge. »Oh my God!« cried Sara tearing Eva away from the girl after she noticed the hissing sound coming from Eva. The little Japanese girl was screaming and her parents were there immediately to calm her down. Sara pulled Eva as quickly as possible towards the west exit as far away from the scent of blood as possible.
Eva gasped for breath in front of the door. »Oh my God, that was a little girl! I almost attacked a child!« She couldn’t believe it. Sara patted her arm to calm her down. »It’s okay, sweetie. It happens to all of us in the beginning. You’ll get used to the scent and will be able to keep yourself under control. Everything’s new now, so just be patient.«
Two young men were standing close by, obviously checking them out. »Hey, did you inhale too much incense in there?« they yelled grinning. Sara glanced at them hungrily and flashed her fangs at them. The two men backed off nervously and then left. »Chicken shit!« murmured Sara and then turned her attention back to Eva. »Should I tell Shia?« But Eva waved it off.
»No, I’m fine. I’m sorry, but the scent was like roses,« she said rubbing her forehead. »I have everything under control now. Let’s go back inside.« At the entrance, they ran into the others, who’d been equally unsuccessful in their search for clues.
Sunny followed Maroush at a safe distance through the cathedral, which in the meantime was packed full of tourists. She could see that the little wound had healed and there was no trace of their fight the previous night. Maroush stopped in front of the stained glass window in the northern section of the church studying the individual panes. Although Sunny wasn’t looking at him, she
directed her thoughts in his direction. »Have you found anything that could help us?«
Without paying her any attention, he shook his head. Turning his back to her, he didn’t even have the decency to look up. Sunny wouldn’t let him just blow her off so she grabbed his arm and turned him around towards her. »What’s going on? What did I do to you?« she hissed so softly that only he could hear her. He shook his head indifferently. »Nothing’s wrong. I’m treating you just like I said I would.« »You’re ignoring me. That’s different.« Anger flashed in Maroush’s eyes. »You should know what you really want by now,« he said just as quietly and very clearly, leaving her standing there. »I know exactly what I want Tariq ibn Ziyad!« she shouted out to him, so much louder than appropriate in church that he turned around mid-step and walked back towards her. »Okay. Then tell me what you really want.« He stepped up extremely close to her, like a wall protecting her from the rest of the world. Sunny returned his fervent look, not letting him intimidate her. To create some distance between them, she ran her hand along his chest up to where his black shirt was buttoned where she could touch a little of his golden brown skin. Maroush wasn’t tall for a warrior, but at six feet, he was still two heads taller than she was, making her feel small and weak. His hot skin burned like fire to her touch, running up through her arms. She looked at the curly black hair growing on his broad chest, wanting to touch them one second and the next second scoffing at such an absurd idea. She looked him in the eyes and was lost. His dark eyes were glowing intensely like the beacon of a lighthouse inside the church. Sunny swallowed hard when Maroush reached for her hand and pressed it to his chest. She felt his powerful heartbeat, as if his heart were beating for her alone. She felt the blood rushing through his veins as if it were flowing through her own body. For just one second, they were one. In a heartbeat, Sunny saw how life would be at his side; dangerous, strong, full of passion and love for each other. But the feeling only lasted a second.
He gently stroked the hand she’d rested on his chest and led her finger to his cheek. The rough stubble of his beard prickled pleasantly on the palm of her hand sending chills through her body.
He fleetingly kissed the tips of her fingers and said, »Happiness doesn’t just happen. You can only find it if you look for it. If you want me Sunny, you have to come to me. I’ll be waiting for you!« He let go of her hand, turned around and quickly strode towards the exit, his long hair blowing behind him.
The security guard at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris was chewing stale gum and giving the visitor a look of complete boredom. »Hey, I only want to know if someone already picked up the car. You can tell me that much, can’t you?« The security guard shifted his weight from one leg to the other. »That will cost you something. Information like that isn’t free.« The visitor nodded. »Okay, here’s five hundred Euros. If I give it to you, I want to know who picked the car up and where they went with it.« He waved five large bills in front of the security guard’s nose, but when the guard noticed the expensive watch on the visitor’s wrist, he knew he could get more.
»You want two pieces of information. That will cost you double.« »Okay, think hard because this is my last offer. I’ll give you one thousand Euros for the name and address.« The guard nodded sharply and entered some data into the computer. »A man named Channing McArthur, residing in Ploumanac’h, picked the Audi R8 GT up two nights ago« »Where is that?« »It’s in Brittney. You have all your information, now where’s my money?« The visitor pulled the bills out of his wallet and stuck the piece of paper with the address in Ploumanac’h inside.
»Nice watch you have there. Must have been expensive.« The visitor looked down at the watch and laughed. »Oh yeah, it’s a Breitling Flying B Chronograph and it didn’t cost me a thing.«
The mood at the Granit Rosé had reached an all time low. The warriors hadn’t known what to expect, which clues they would find, but to come back without any results at all was the last thing they had expected. Channing stood there shaking his head, as he read through the pages again. »We must have missed something important. Something so obvious that we just overlooked it.« »What do you remember about the keeper of the Diarium, Shia? What did he tell you before he died?« Eva was nervously pacing back and forth in the meeting room.
»He told me he’d been a stonemason before he was transformed.« »Hey, that’s a clue. A stonemason. That fits somehow. When did they finish building the cathedral?« Eva got really excited all of a sudden and Phoebe started punching data into her laptop to find out.
»They started building in 1248 and finally finished in 1880,« she read out loud from the cathedral’s homepage.
»1880, and then nine years later Alban Heffyn gave me the parchment pages,« contemplated Shia. »That’s what’s been going through my head the whole time. But I can’t figure out exactly what bothers me about this story,« said Channing feverishly. »Alban Heffyn isn’t a real name. It means summer solstice. That just doesn’t fit together. What does that have to do with the cathedral?«
Everyone was looking at Phoebe, who immediately understood and started searching the Internet. It took her a minute to read through the results of her search and finally found what they were all looking for.
»You’re not going to believe this,« she mumbled quietly. »It says here that during the summer and winter solstice, rays of light pass through the eastern choir window inside the cathedral, pointing directly to the alter and the nave.«
»Alban Heffyn,« murmured Channing quietly, considering this. »Phoebe, when is the summer solstice?« »It’s June 21st!«
Summer Solstice
Chapter 19
When the summer solstice occurs on June 21st, the sun reaches its highest position in the sky, marking the day of the year with the longest period of daylight and therefore the shortest night. Not a good day for the hunters of darkness, thought Channing as he crept across the cathedral square in the dark towards the south entrance. They had to be in their positions by sunrise. Maroush, Shia, Ruben and Aragón were keeping guard, while Jôrek waited in the helicopter he’d landed right in the middle of the square. The warriors had to act fast so that they wouldn’t be noticed. The sun was just beginning to rise in the east when they silently entered the church and made their way towards the eastern window. Single rays of light were already beginning to shine through the Magi Window and were slowly creeping in a line on the floor towards the alter, the window transforming the light into a prism which continued moving slowly forward.
»Come on!« grumbled Shia impatiently. It was clear to him that they could be caught in the act at any moment. Channing put his finger to his lips to quiet him down and then everything happened incredibly fast. One of the rays illuminated a wooden platform in the middle of the church. The beam of light was so dazzling and bright, and so incredibly different from the others that you could practically trip over it.
Ruben was wearing a headset with Phoebe waiting on the other end. »Phoebe, what can you find out about the wooden platform in the middle of the church?« »Give me a second.« Ruben could hear the clicking of the keyboard in the background.
»There’s a mosaic under it. It’s called the mosaic in the crossing.«
»Thank you, my darling, stay on the line.«
»We have to break open the platform. There’s something hidden underneath.« Shia grabbed the tools they’d brought in with them and pulled up the heavy planks with Maroush’s help. The beam of light was pointing directly at the center of the mosaic which they could clearly see after they’d removed the platform. It showed the sun, surrounded by personifications of the times of day, a ring of zodiac signs and portrayals of the phases of the moon. There were four small, square pictures in the four corners depicting the elements of fire, water, air and earth.
»Where should we start?« asked Ruben quietly. »No, look. The ray of light is pointing directly at the face of the sun. We need to pry open the ring.« »Of course,« nodded Channing, »rays of light which can’t harm
warriors of faith.«
When Shia positioned the chisel on the mosaic, the stone moved slightly.
»Wait. Don’t destroy this precious artifact,« whispered Channing grabbing the chisel.
He pressed the stone down a little on the other side, so that the circular stone rose up a little.
Channing reached underneath and lifted the plate up with Ruben’s help.
»Holy Mary, Mother of God!« Aragón reached into the hole and pulled out an object carefully wrapped in sand-colored linen.
»Hello! Whose there? What are you doing in here? The cathedral is closed!« A man was quickly approaching the warriors from the western entrance. »We have to get out of here!« hissed Shia.
All of a sudden a monk appeared out of nowhere smiling at them. »I see you’ve found the Diarium, my brothers.« Aragón quickly approached the man from behind holding a knife to his throat. The monk held up his hands in defense. »Relax, my friends. I’m Gabriel, a warrior of faith like you. I’ve been waiting for you to show up for over one hundred and twenty years.« Aragón carefully removed the knife from the man’s throat. »You’re a monk?« »No, it’s just a disguise so that no one would notice me in here.« Softly laughing, in one fluid movement he pulled the robe off over his head. »It was Alban Heffyn, who prepared me for your coming. Every year on the summer solstice I’ve come and guarded the sacred book so that it wouldn’t fall into hands of the non-believers. We have to hurry, the first mass of the day is about to begin and we have to be gone by then.« With Ruben’s help, he moved the stone back to its original position. »Now let’s get out of here fast!«
