Heart of Gold (28 page)

Below, the middle circle of the pattern trembled. With
a grating rumble, it began to descend, slowly. Soon, Aubrey
could see a ladder leading into the depths. A low growl
came from the darkness below the floor, which caused
some consternation in the Holmlanders. Muller took a
revolver from under his coat and gestured to the ladder.

Wait
, Aubrey motioned to von Stralick and George.
Muller and Schnagel climbed down the ladder.

Now, it was simply a matter of getting down without
being detected. He looked to the windows and again
rehearsed the spell for solidifying sunlight, but his
thoughts were interrupted.

A cry came from the depths of the temple, then a gun
shot. The whole world rippled, and Aubrey gasped,
stunned by the immensity of the magic rolling from
beneath the temple. He felt, for an instant, as if he were
being crumpled like a sheet of paper. The sensation took
all the breath from him, then it was gone and it was
replaced by one more familiar, but equally upsetting.

He was falling.

He flailed, trying to catch hold of something –
anything! In a frozen instant, he saw that he was going to
miss his lunge at the ledge, and that George and von
Stralick had been thrown off as well.

He also saw the bewildering sight of the dome and the
walls of the temple being stretched upward like soft
toffee that had been left in the sun.

Then time resumed its march and the floor rushed
up to meet him. He struck – and bounced upward a full
six feet.

While grateful, it wasn't exactly what he'd been
bracing for – marble, in his experience, being notoriously
inflexible. He struck the floor again and rebounded in a
state of complete bafflement.

By the time he'd managed to control his up and down
motion, he'd come to the conclusion that whatever magic
had twisted the substance of the temple had changed the
floor too. Shakily, he stood and kicked at its soft sponginess.

George staggered over, wobbling and rubbing his
elbow. 'I thought we were doomed.'

Von Stralick limped over. 'Have you seen my cane?'

'We have more important things to –'

A roar came from beneath the temple. Aubrey, George
and von Stralick whirled. A scream was followed by two
more shots then another roar. A part of Aubrey's brain –
a part that remembered that his ancestors were simians
who spent their entire existence terrified and trying not
to be eaten – made the hair on the back of his neck stir
and rise at the sound of that roar.

Suddenly, a lion bounded out of the depths and stood
facing them. It shook its mane and roared again, a sound
full of blood and teeth, its echoes shaking the walls of
the temple.

A lion
, Aubrey managed to think, which was better than
the gibbering he was on the verge of.
A real, live, angry lion.

The brute was enormous, and Aubrey, frozen to the
spot, thought it had a
presence
that made it seem even
larger. His heart hammered, his hands curled into puny
fists. The lion's vast animal solidity emphasised – in a very
real and threatening way – how vulnerable, how weak
humans were. The lion was a hunter, unchallenged and
mighty, while Aubrey felt that he was definitely in the
category of 'food'.

George stared, his eyes wide, his mouth open. 'Good
Lord,' he eventually managed to say, almost reverentially.

Without taking his eyes off the lion, von Stralick bent
and groped around on the floor. When he straightened
he had his cane. Slowly, he drew back his right hand and
pulled out the sword that had been hidden inside.

The lion was unsettled by the spongy floor. It lifted
and dropped its paws, snarling and twitching its tail.

As if it's not enough to be facing a lion
, Aubrey thought,
we have to have one that's in a bad mood
.

The lion finally settled its attention on Aubrey, George
and von Stralick. Rumbling deep in its chest, it began to
stalk toward them.

Aubrey's stomach did its best to turn to ice. He backed
away across the bouncy floor, his magical senses itching.
This lion had something magical about it, but its undeniable
physical presence was overwhelming such
considerations. Aubrey couldn't take his eyes from the
enormous canine teeth – ivory daggers that looked
extremely functional.

Shouts and noise from beneath the floor of the temple
made it stop and swing its head around. Aubrey, George
and von Stralick took the opportunity to sidle around the
hole, keeping it between them and the lion. Aubrey was
glad to see that the entrance was not far away.

The lion stared down into the darkness, then it roared
again. It lowered its forequarters and, with one great paw,
swatted at something below. It looked, for all the world,
like a cat trying to catch goldfish in a pond.

A gunshot made the lion pull back, snarling, but then
it slashed again, drawing a Holmlander oath.

'Easy,' Aubrey murmured. 'Move slowly and we can get
out of here.'

'I support that,' von Stralick said fervently.

'I'm all in favour of the plan,' George said. 'Let's end
discussion right now.'

They eased out of the temple. Behind them, roaring,
shouting and gunshots indicated that the lion and the
Holmlanders were coming to closer quarters. Aubrey
eyed the trees in the distance. 'Do you think we can get
to them before the lion does?'

'There's one way to find out,' George said.

Von Stralick didn't say anything. He sheathed his sword
stick and started sprinting.

P
ERCHED ON THE ACCOMMODATING BOUGH OF AN OAK,
Aubrey watched as two Holmlanders scrambled out of
the temple. They scattered.

A few seconds later, the lion burst out, roaring challenges
to all. Then it bounded across the grass and
crashed into the thicket, disappearing in seconds.

'Muller and Schnagel haven't come out,' Aubrey
noted.

'Alive or dead?' von Stralick wondered. The Holmlander
shared a branch with George. 'And is the Heart of
Gold still there?'

Aubrey reached for his pocket. The fragments were less
urgent but seemed to be pointing away from the temple.
'I don't think so.'

'Let's make sure,' George said. He dropped to the
ground and started toward the temple. Aubrey approved
of his knees-bent, arms-spread gait. It was the model of
caution.

'Any sign of the lion?' von Stralick called.

George shook his head.

Aubrey slid, gripped the bough, then eased himself to
the leaf-covered earth. Von Stralick grumbled as he
climbed down. 'A lion? What on earth is a lion doing in
Lutetia? I thought they lived in Sahelia.'

Aubrey brushed himself off. 'Lions once lived right
across the Continent. Probably they roamed around right
here, like bears used to.'

Bears. Aubrey stopped dead. Bears, elk, aurochs and
now lions. All of them former denizens of these parts,
now hunted into oblivion. They would have been
commonplace to the original settlers in these parts. In
the Gallian past.

He hummed a little. He knew he had a significant
point on his hands, but no matter how he turned it, he
couldn't quite see its entire shape. It was frustrating, but
he had to be content that he'd made some progress in
sorting out the many mysteries that had fallen on Lutetia.

He joined George, who was crouching and scanning
the area. 'All quiet,' he reported.

'No sign of the lion?'

'No. Nor of anyone else coming from the temple.'

'Look at the dome,' Aubrey said.

It was smeared, as if it had been softened and then pushed
to one side by a giant thumb. Aubrey was fascinated. Such
forces should have cracked the stonework, crumbled
the concrete, but the very nature of the materials must
have changed while they were being stretched. Most had
returned to their original hardness, but the rubbery floor –
fortunately – had retained its changed nature.

When they reached the temple, von Stralick held his
sword stick ready and went first. George followed, while
Aubrey came last.

The interior was quiet. They crossed the floor in a
series of awkward, bouncing steps. Aubrey went onto his
hands and knees and peered into the depths.

'See anything, old man?' George asked.

'Not yet.' Aubrey summoned a glow light, a novice's
spell. He could make out the iron ladder clinging to the
side of a round shaft two or three yards across, and a
tunnel opening from it at the bottom. 'No wild beasts, no
Holmlanders.'

He sat back on his haunches. The tunnel led north.
The gardens extended for another mile or so in that
direction. After that?

'Is it safe?' von Stralick asked.

'I've no idea.'

'The Heart of Gold?' George asked.

'It's not down there.'

'Not wanting to state the obvious, but that means it's
somewhere else then. Any ideas?'

Aubrey shrugged. 'Von Stralick?'

The Holmlander clicked his tongue. 'Let us examine
what lies beneath the temple. It may give us some notion
of what Muller and Schnagel are up to.'

Von Stralick climbed down the ladder.

When Aubrey reached the bottom of the shaft, von
Stralick had already entered the tunnel. From the light of
Aubrey's glow spell, he could see that the Holmlander
was bent nearly double, and he held his sword stick in
front of him.

After about twenty or thirty feet, Aubrey stumbled out
of the tunnel to find von Stralick standing upright,
studying his surroundings. 'A bunker,' he declared. 'This
is the refuge I spoke of. Probably built while the temple
above was being constructed. Done secretly, of course.'

They were in a round area about four yards across. An
oil lantern hung from the low ceiling, which was just
above von Stralick's head, and another tunnel mouth
opened opposite the one George just emerged from. A
table and five mismatched chairs stood in the middle of
the round space, and piles of bedding were thrown
against the walls. Some of the bedding was torn and
shredded. Four doors opened onto the area. None were
closed, and in the closest Aubrey could see a fourdrawered
cabinet and a desk. A map pinned to the wall
of the room showed Lutetia and the environs.

'This belongs to Holmland?' George asked.

'It looks like one of ours, and we saw Muller and
Schnagel enter.'

'D'you have any like it in Albion?'

Von Stralick smiled. 'Why would we have any refuges
in Albion? And would I tell you if we did?'

'You've checked the rooms?' Aubrey asked. He
cancelled his glow light, not needing it with the oil
lantern.

'I did. We are alone.'

George kicked at a pile of bedding, then stepped back.
'I say. Blood.'

Aubrey went to his friend. The blankets were soaked
in red. 'Whoever it belonged to would be in a very bad
way by now.'

'We have a trail.' Von Stralick pointed at the floor with
his sword stick. He took the oil lantern. 'The blood leads
to the other tunnel.'

T
HE TUNNEL WAS WELL MADE – LINED WITH RED BRICK
that kept it dry and solid. Aubrey found himself admiring
the planning that had gone into preparing this hideyhole.
Months of work, all of it secret, to construct
something for an uncertain future.

The tunnel was unbranching, and Aubrey soon grew
tired of walking hunched over. He knew that George and
von Stralick, being taller, must have found it much more
uncomfortable, but they didn't complain, shuffling along
in silence.

Aubrey was entranced by the light of the bobbing oil
lantern that von Stralick held up. The soft yellow light
pushed away the darkness, showing the way through the
unknown. He smiled at the image. It appealed to him,
and he likened it to the search for knowledge – especially
magical knowledge. More light, less darkness. More
knowledge, less ignorance.

After some time, George spoke up. 'I say, von Stralick,
where d'you think we are?'