The Templar's Legacy (Ancient Enemy) Read online

  “If we come back to get it. Right now, we need to find a way to bar this door again,” I said.

  “Finn,” said Dave. “In case you forgot, what we really need to do is find a way out of here. Jen’s beast-men of ill intent from her vision are probably searching the church by now.”

  “He’s right Finn, we’ve got to get out of here,” said Jen. “We can come back later.”

  I shook my head to clear it. Whatever that thing was, it was older than Christianity. If Colette or the other Delacroix found it, they would be devastated, if not killed by its guardians. I couldn’t let that happen.

  “On second thought, maybe we should just stay put here,” suggested Dave. “Jen could hide us if anyone comes nosing around. Even better, if it’s Mark’s guys and they start fighting Colette’s family, we can wait here till they kill each other.”

  “No, Dave, if Mark is up there, I need to stop him, to help him.”

  It quickly became clear that our only course of action was to get to the upper chapel and try to worm past or incapacitate any people in our way.

  Jen headed up the stairs. She told us she could sense whether there were people in the room above us. I was impressed. I hadn’t realized she had that skill. She gave us the all clear. We opened the door and hurried out as quietly as possible. My mind was reluctant to leave the cave and drop the memory of soft warm flesh under cold hard stone. I shook it off and made sure to close it back up again before rejoining my friends.

  Dave had found a few simple cotton robes adorned with the cross that were worn by those leading the worship. Jen had another in hand and threw one to me. She whispered, “Maybe this will buy us some time if we’re seen.”

  “Is anyone out there?” I asked.

  She shook her head, and I breathed a sigh of relief. If the intruders had been here, they’d left again. Jen put up her “not my problem” hoodoo, and we hurried to the front of the chapel. After checking with Jen, Dave cracked open the door and looked out onto the courtyard.

  He let the door shut. “Nothing going on out there.”

  “Could you have made a mistake about the attackers?” I asked Jen.

  She scowled. “No. This was the same as when I knew you’d gotten hurt and when your family was attacked. I know what I saw, even if I couldn’t tell who they were.”

  “Maybe the religious clowns here are conducting night maneuvers hoping to scare us out?” said Dave with his eye still to the small crack between the closed doors.

  Jen pursed her lips, grimaced, and chewed on Dave’s idea like it was a chunk of raw liver.

  “That just doesn’t feel right.”

  “Maybe they were just performing recon?” I suggested.

  Her doubt showed on her face. “It was a lot of people, Finn.”

  I didn’t like contradicting her or suggesting I didn’t trust her, but no one was out there. “Maybe it was just a dream?” I asked.

  Doubt crept into her face, pushing her eyebrows up at the center. “I don’t know. It didn’t feel that way. When I heard you shouting for me, I came back.”

  She sure wasn’t just sleeping Capitaine, noted Spring. I had to agree with her.

  Dave gave a little warning, “Pssst. Someone’s coming.”

  “Are they close?” I whispered.

  “Hard to tell,” he whispered. “It looked like something was moving near the opening of the courtyard.”

  “Come over here,” I said moving to the front right corner of the chapel.

  “Just a sec...”

  We waited tensely for him to see some other movement. Nothing happened for a very long few minutes while Dave plastered his eye to the small crack.

  Every second wound my tension tighter. Something was going to happen.

  Dave gave a little curse and then dove over to us as the door started opening carefully. Dave stayed on the ground while Jen and I stood absolutely still. Beside me, Jen stiffened under my hand. She was putting out her cloak of indifference.

  The door swung open, letting in a little light from outside. I strained to see what was happening. A strange animalistic silhouette stepped silently into the room and scanned it carefully before it stepped back.

  I heard a muffled voice. “Nothing here, sir, it’s not the front door, looks like a church or something.”

  I didn’t hear a response, but the door closed quietly, leaving us alone in the room.

  “They’re leaving!” whispered Jen.

  I whispered back. “He said ‘sir’! It had to be my Uncle Mark.”

  “Or a lieutenant,” replied Dave quietly as he got off the floor. “Did you see the mask he was wearing? It was a gas mask.”

  “Crap, they’re planning on gassing everyone! The Delacroix won’t stand a chance against that.” I couldn’t let them kill Colette—or her family.

  I hopped to the door and put my eye up to the crack. It was so small, I had a hard time believing Dave had seen anything at all. I took a chance and opened the door a tiny amount. Through it, I could only see shadows on the ground and stars in the sky.

  I pulled up my Sight and suddenly about a dozen auras flared across the yard.

  Sweet, said Spring enthusiastically. Now if we only had a sniper rifle...and a bell tower. Then we’d be in luck.

  ...and any skill at all, I pointed out.

  Hey, we kick butt at Call of Duty, Gears of War, and Far Cry!

  Yes, but they’re games designed to let pimply faced kids like me feel powerful.

  Oh, yeah. Works pretty well, doesn’t it?

  Shhh.

  I examined the auras more closely, looking for one that was more powerful than the others. I knew that one would be my uncle. The shadow would want him to keep the most power for himself.

  It would also coat him in dark black slime.

  Oh, right. I’d forgotten about that. I wondered if I’d be able to see him at all with my Sight.

  Wait, of course I would. The Sight doesn’t have anything to do with light. Does it?

  A flash of visible light from the southern wing preceded an earsplitting alarm, which pierced right through my brain. Ow.

  I guess they finally found the front door.

  They sure had. The alarm was followed by a foomp and a crash of glass. A dozen spotlights in the courtyard turned the darkness into daylight, highlighting the figures who looked like short Cyclopses with a single protruding eye and the snout of a gas mask. As one, the attackers threw off their night vision goggles and started firing. The shots sounded muffled to me, but it might just have been the noise of the alarm overwhelming everything else. There was a shout from the house, and several of the attackers fell to the gravel.

  I shouted over the alarm at Jen. “Come on, we have to find Mark! We have to stop them before good people start dying.”

  Dave and I both grabbed one of Jen’s hands, and we ran out into the firefight protected by her hoodoo and my prayer. Instead of moving across the central courtyard, we took the colonnade across from the main entrance. It offered us some measure of protection from the occasional stray bullet.

  Several bodies had piled up in the main entrance to the south wing. I couldn’t tell who they were and I couldn’t afford to look. Instead, I searched through the people in the courtyard with my Sight.

  Nearly everyone still standing had a bright aura of power, but none of them carried the black weight of Wendigota.

  “I don’t see him!”

  “Maybe he’s outside the courtyard,” suggested Dave.

  I pulled him and Colette forward to the end of the colonnade and looked out to the long winding drive, which lead to the house.

  The alarm shut off, allowing my brain to pay a bit more attention to our surroundings. Smoke was now pouring out of the south wing and several family members ran out through the main doors only to be picked off one by one.

  Rage filled me. They were killing innocent people. People I knew and loved.

  Jen yanked my arm. I whirled on her. She said, “Finn, l
isten! Someone’s up on the wall above us!”

  As she said this, I heard a crack of a rifle above us and a shout of pain from across the courtyard.

  I concentrated my senses on the sniper and felt more than saw the unmistakable miasma of a shadow.

  “It’s Mark. You two, stay down.”

  I ran down the colonnade to the north entrance. The door was locked and barred. I pulled back, poured my power-enhanced will into my limbs, and slammed forward with everything I had. The doors shuddered under the impact but didn’t open, so I did it again, and again. Finally, the heavy doors flew open and I ran into the hall, ignoring the pain in my arms and wrists.

  Behind me Dave said, “Slow down! Don’t go after him yourself, you idiot.”

  I paid him no heed. My urgent anxiety left no room for caution and thought. I sped down the hall to the stairs, bounded up them three at time, swung back to the front and smashed open the door leading to the top of the wall. I entered the treacherous, tight, spiral at full speed. When I came to the trap door, I smashed both my hands against it and heaved.

  Finn, just unbolt it, you idiot!

  That would take too much time. I smashed against it again and the door flew open to smack on the stone catwalk between the crenellations.

  So much for surprise.

  I leapt up and landed on my feet facing an anonymous assassin in a black gas mask. He had his gun up and pointed my way. His aura oozed blackness and malice. It came from Wendigota, so the one being ridden had to be my uncle. I dodged randomly as I heard the muffled pop from the gun. A bullet grazed my right shoulder. I accelerated toward him as fast as I could, desperate to reach him before he let loose another bullet. I was too slow.

  Another pop and an impact smacked my head back. I weaved, lost my footing and met my uncle’s foot with my face. Everything flashed electric white, then black.

  When the darkness faded, I was already up and fighting.

  I got it, Spring! I took back control of my body and jumped back out of Mark’s lethal range. My right leg gave out underneath me with a bowel-loosening grinding of bone and muscle. Apparently, when I wasn’t paying attention, I’d taken a serious blow to the leg. I tumbled back but offset my impact against the stone by slapping my arms down. I was completely out-classed, but I still had some skills.

  With a smooth, practiced move, Mark pulled a long thin sword out of nowhere and brought it down on me. I caught it on the outside of my right arm and deflected it along the bone. My arm went numb as a fillet of flesh peeled off it. For a moment, Mark was over-extended. I tried to think of a way to take advantage of his extended reach, but his recovery was lightning fast. I tried to mount a mental offense against the shadow, but as stunned as I was, I couldn’t put it together.

  There was a roar behind me and Dave the Bear flew over my head, took Mark’s sword through his shoulder and smacked into Mark with his entire weight. The two of them slid several feet back and slammed hard against the parapet wall. Dave smacked headfirst into the stone with Mark underneath him.

  There was no way Mark could have survived that. I cried in rage and frustration, but was unable to stand on my shattered leg. Blood and gray bone protruded through my shin. I’d have to hop if I was going to move.

  Jen came running up behind me. “Finn! Are you...oh shit!” Jen landed next to me panting hard.

  I couldn’t spare her any attention because the mammoth bear in front of me was moving.

  I stared in complete disbelief as Mark pushed a thousand pounds of unconscious bear off of himself and crawled free.

  I couldn’t move so I only had one option. I formed a golden wall of force, pumped it with power and slammed it through Mark. Instead of pushing the shadow far enough to rip Mark’s soul in two, I stopped as soon as his aura flared white under the strain created by the unrelenting grip of Wendigota.

  Mark screamed inarticulately, and tried to get to his feet. I created another blade of force and brought it down on Mark’s aura as close to the shadow as I could. My blade cleaved through both soul and shadow and the larger part of Mark’s aura smacked back to him while the rest disappeared into the hungry blackness of the shadow.

  As quick as thought, I created a sphere of my will around the creature as it attempted to escape. There was no escape for it. I crushed it down to a mote. The feeling of damnation and hatred coming through my shield plunged through my mind like a dagger, but I didn’t relent. I pushed as hard as my power allowed. I tried to squeeze the vile thing right out of this universe, but I couldn’t do it. It remained. It squirmed, quailed, and raged against my will, but it didn’t have the power to stop me. It was time to bind it again.

  I pulled on the power at my command and wove a cage around it. The cage was unbreakable, but I needed one more thing.

  “Jen! Help me! I need an anchor.”

  She didn’t even hesitate. She offered me a small part of her aura and I cut it off. I moved with confidence and singular concentration and soon had the shadow’s new prison complete.

  I took several deep breaths to try and bring myself down from the mania that had just possessed me.

  On my third breath, a spear of fire pierced through me. I screamed as it burned within me and pinned my mind down like a bug on a cork-board. The coruscating pain disrupted every attempt I made to think.

  Spring!

  She didn’t answer my call.

  “I’ll give you ten seconds make your peace with God before I send you to your eternal judgment.”

  Mémèr’s aged-cracked voice gave me an external direction for the pain, and I was able to turn my head from where I’d fallen face first on the blessedly cold stone. Mémèr stooped above me. The righteous fire in her eyes echoed inside of me. The spear of her will expanded within me and threatened to tear me apart.

  “No...” I managed to croak out. “Don’t...”

  “May God have mercy on your soul, Finn Morgenstern.”

  I screamed at the new, and previously unimaginable, pain.

  Rending

  Mémèr was ripping me apart, and I couldn’t stop her. In blind panic, I used Wendigota’s cage as a shield against the spike of her power. The cage unraveled and Wendigota exploded free.

  Instantly the spike disintegrated and swirled into the oblivion of the shadow’s endless hunger. Now it was the old woman’s turn to scream. The shadow eagerly flowed back to the source and quickly attempted to engulf her. But, she had nearly a century of experience using the power of the shards, and she was by no means defenseless. She thrust pieces of her soul through the shadow and then proceeded to rip it apart as she had started to do with me.

  I tried to bring myself back together and watched in amazement as the shadow was shredded under her assault. Could she have been right from the beginning? If she could fight off the shadow, then she should have the caduceus, not me. My arrogance had blinded me to the possibility that another person might be able to do what I couldn’t.

  Then, my hope died stillborn when I watched what was happening. Every spike of power Mémèr used was soon swallowed by the small shreds of darkness. The brightness of her soul dimmed under implacable onslaught of the shadow.

  In an instant, her aura was coated in blackness. Despite my exhaustion, I couldn’t let that happen, so once again I pulled my power together and formed a barrier to the shadow. The pain in my mind was excruciating. Mémèr had done to my spirit what Mark had done to my leg. I called for Spring once again and this time she answered.

  I’ve got you, go!

  I pulled up a shield and slammed it toward Mémèr’s shuddering form. The shadow somehow sensed the presence of its impending doom and Mémèr’s aura flared to life around the blackness. Somehow, Wendigota was using her soul as a shield, but it didn’t stop me, I ripped the shadow off Mémèr. I felt the rending of her soul splash through me, and the sickness it caused nearly broke my concentration. I caught myself and I closed my shield over Wendigota and fought to bring it under control once again. It used the po
wer it had consumed from the Delacroix matriarch to assault my will. The cold of death, of oblivion, penetrated into my mind, and I screamed with the agony of each advance.

  The pain smashed against my tattered control, and I reached the end of my endurance. Nothing I could do would stand against the pain and fatigue assaulting me.

  Finn! It’s weakening, hang on just a little more.

  I can’t! It hurts!

  Look! Colette’s here! Feel her? Draw upon her strength.

  I reached desperately for Colette and found her. I drew her power within me. The fire I pulled upon burned away the cold, but the pain of it staggered me and threatened to consume me.

  Then Jen was there and she stabilized me, gave me strength I didn’t have before. With that base, I tapped the offered fire from Colette, channeled it, changed it, and I found the stamina to continue.

  I pulled the shadow away from Mémèr, and her aura came with it. Somehow, the monster had cleaved her from her body, but I didn’t have time to think about it, I drew more heavily on Colette and tightened my grip around Wendigota. Even with three of us, it was still far more powerful than it had ever been, and it was far from defeated.

  My mind reeled from the cold hunger and rage, which clawed away at my new reserves. I could feel Jen struggling to hold me together as I fought. I could feel Colette buffering me from the worst of the beast’s ravages, taking the brunt of its attacks, but it wasn’t enough. I needed more from her, so I called upon our link for more power, more support.

  Her presence doubled in my mind, and she assaulted the shadow with me. Together, we overcame it and I began to wrap it into a new prison of force and will. As I struggled to finish the last bit of my weaving, Colette’s presence had diminished to a whisper, but she offered the last of her strength for the binding.

  Take it! She commanded, I pray that God will forgive my arrogance. Tell her never to forget that God’s purpose must always be served, whether we recognize it or not. We cannot always know, we can but pray to be the instruments of His will. Now take it!

  Sudden doubt speared through me. Something wasn’t right. I balked at taking the proffered gift. Somehow, once again, I wasn’t comprehending what I was truly doing with my power.