The Knights of the Spring Dream

by Tom Hunter

  Towards the opposite side of the room was a large desk. Behind the wall was a large poster depicting St. Augustine, with a number of smaller posters surrounding it with inspirational messages such as So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand, and God can restore what is broken and change it into something amazing. All you need is faith.

  A woman sat behind the desk. Striking rather than beautiful, she had a timeless quality about her that made it difficult to assess her age. She wore a white doctor’s coat over a simple blouse, her black hair loosely tied back in a topknot. The nameplate on her desk announced that she was Fatima Shannib.

  “Yes, Saeed?” she asked. “I take it you have good reason to bring these outsiders to me?”

  Saeed bowed deeply. “I do,” he replied. “These people appear to know of our Order and have requested an audience with you.”

  “I see.” Fatima steepled her fingers as she examined her visitors. “And how did you come to hear about my Order?”

  Akhenaton stepped forward and bowed even more deeply than Saeed had, sinking to one knee.

  “My lady, I am Akhenaton of the Summer Dawning cell, and I have journeyed far to stand before you. It is a deep honor and privilege to serve you and I offer you all that I am and all that I will be to further our cause.”

  “Ah.” Fatima sighed deeply. “You may leave us, Saeed.”

  “Yes, my lady.” Saeed bowed again, backing out of the room and closing the door behind him so they could talk in private.

  Akhenaton threw himself to the ground, prostrating himself before Fatima.

  “My lady, please forgive me for allowing St. Augustine’s secret to be captured and removed from its sacred resting place,” he pleaded. “I completely understand if you require me to remain in Annaba. I am ready to face whatever punishment you deem necessary for me to pay for my failure.”

  “Oh, Akhenaton.” Fatima smiled, getting up from behind her desk and going to help him up. “There is never any need for you to beg forgiveness from me. We all act under God’s will and we are all equal in His eyes. Only He can judge us. I saw that the Bruard would outwit you in one possibility, so there was always a chance they would take the relic. Never fear. There’s still a good chance that things can go well.”

  “What do you mean, ‘in one possibility’?” frowned Shafira, as Akhenaton stood.

  Fatima perched on the edge of her desk. “The reason why I was chosen to lead the Order was because of the powers that God has granted me. Although I prefer to say that I guide rather than lead. We are all free to make the choices we will.”

  “What powers?” asked Samuel. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m an Oracle,” Fatima replied simply. “God speaks through me and shows me what will happen should a certain path be followed. The easiest way to explain it is as if I’m standing at a crossroads with a number of different roads leading away. I have the ability to walk down each road to see where they lead before making a final decision about the best route to take. This enables me to help the Knights maintain order in a world prone to chaos, and protect the sacred from the profane.”

  “Oracle?” scoffed Waleed. “Next you’ll be telling me that you can sprout wings and fly!”

  “Show some respect,” hissed Akhenaton, swatting him.

  “Now, now, Akhenaton,” chided Fatima. “Waleed is perfectly entitled to his opinion. I am not here to prove anything to anyone, merely to say what is and what will be.”

  Waleed did a double take. “How did you know my name?”

  Fatima smiled sweetly. “The same way that I know that you have spent your life looking for the easiest way forward and in the process have made things very difficult for yourself. You should know that it is never too late to change the path we choose. It is still possible for you to prove your worth, to live up to the potential that, up until now, you have chosen not to fulfil. However, if you make the wrong decisions in the coming weeks, that possibility may no longer be open to you, so have a care and tread cautiously.”

  Waleed looked shaken, no longer cocky or arrogant.

  “So you can tell us where the Bruard has taken the headdress?” asked Samuel eagerly. “And how we can stop them? This is incredible! With you on our side, we can stay one step ahead of them. We can save the world and be home in time for tea!”

  Fatima laughed. “I wish it were that simple,” she told him. “While it is true that I can see the possibilities that lie ahead and there are certain little signposts that tell me which timeline we are traveling down, there are limits to what I can do. There are a number of rules at play, rules that scientists have already determined. For example, every action has an equal and opposite reaction, part of the checks and balances that God has woven into His creation to ensure that His gift of free will cannot be abused or removed. If I were to tell you everything that is to happen from start to finish, it would set off a chain reaction of events that would lead to catastrophe, much as a butterfly’s wings in America can trigger a tornado in China. You will have to trust me that I will tell you what you need to know, when you need to know it.

  “In addition, there is also the principle that when you observe something, you change it,” Fatima continued. “If I look too far into the future and treat it as a fait accompli, I render that possibility null and void, triggering a different set of events. I’m afraid that the future is my burden to bear and I can only tell you what you need to hear to allow the most favorable possibility to come to pass.”

  “That sounds terribly lonely,” observed Shafira.

  Fatima shrugged, though a flash of sadness crossed her face. “I have God to comfort me,” she told Shafira. “I can never be truly alone with Him by my side.”

  “So if you can’t give us details of what will happen, what can you tell us?” asked Samuel.

  “I have sent out word to those cells charged with guarding the remaining relics,” Fatima replied. “I have warned them to expect a visit from the Bruard and advised them to secure the artifacts, moving them to new, more secure locations. However, this might not be possible, because all the relics are guarded by traps and deadly riddles, and the secret to passing safely through the obstacles has been lost in time. I’m afraid that we have allowed ourselves to become a little complacent, trusting to ancient security measures to protect priceless artifacts in a modern world. It is a mistake that I am praying does not have tragic consequences for the world.”

  “I don’t know,” commented Josh. “I almost crash landed into the cave where the hat was kept and Basile and Samuel almost died in the catacombs. It doesn’t seem to me that those ancient technologies were entirely ineffective.”

  “And yet you were able to bypass them, were you not?” Fatima pointed out. “No, we need to make sure that we are ready to withstand anything the Bruard can throw at us, which means accepting help when God sends it to us.”

  She went round to the other side of her desk and opened a drawer. Taking out a handheld jump drive, she gave it to Samuel.

  “On this device are detailed the map coordinates of where you need to go next,” she revealed. “However, they are encrypted and you will not be able to decode the cypher until the time is right.”

  “More games designed to show how dark and mysterious you are, I bet,” sneered Waleed, recovering some of his swagger. “Why not just tell us where to go and let us get on with our mission? Why all this cloak and dagger nonsense?”

  “Cut it out, Waleed,” exclaimed Akhenaton. “She told us to trust her and that’s what we need to do.”

  “I don’t trust anyone,” Waleed boasted. “Not you, and certainly not her. You can fall for her ridiculous lies if you like, but I’m not going to be duped, not again.”

  “I know. She broke your heart.”

  Waleed’s eyes widened as Fatima spoke gently. “Don’t worry,” she soothed. “I won’t reveal your secrets. They ar
e your stories to tell. But you and I both know that I understand completely why you are so cynical and why it is so hard for you to believe the evidence that is right before you. If it helps, she did love you. She just loved money more.”

  “What is she talking about?” asked Josh, an intrigued look on his face.

  “Nothing,” snapped Waleed. “It’s not important. And nice way to divert attention, Fatima. We should be talking about how to stop the Bruard, not ancient history.”

  “And you’ve just explained exactly why it is I can’t just give you the location of your next destination,” smiled Fatima. “There are a number of possibilities that lead away from this moment and there is something preventing me from telling which will come to pass. I don’t know why, but if I try and go past a certain point, it is as if I’m trying to peer through a thick fog. I can see outlines but no real detail, no matter how hard I try. Perhaps it is God protecting me. I know that all will become clear in time, but all I can do for now is put some precautions in place to head off the more serious outcomes and hope that the Bruard doesn’t smash through them. Tell me, Waleed. If you were captured by the Bruard, do you think you would be able to keep secret the next piece of the puzzle or would you tell them everything the moment they produced a blade?”

  Waleed muttered something unintelligible, folding his arms and turning away from the psychic.

  “It is imperative that the Bruard does not learn about the other elements that are essential to unlock the full potential of St. Augustine’s secret and conquer the world,” Fatima warned them. “This is why you need to proceed in the dark as much as possible. It is for everyone’s protection, just as we have isolated the cells of the Order for the safety of all.”

  “What exactly is St. Augustine’s secret?” asked Basile, having been a silent observer until now. “I must confess that a lot of what you say goes right over my head. There were hints to what that headdress could do in the cave where we found it, but nobody would tell us precisely what was going on and what it all means. If we’re going to go on a quest to save the world, surely we should at least have some idea of what we’re up against?”

  “That’s fair,” nodded Fatima. “And I can tell you a little about the various aspects of St. Augustine’s secret and why it is important that the artifacts remain hidden away in the safe hands of the Order. You see, you uncovered only one part of the mystery. To be sure, the headdress that the Bruard stole is incredibly powerful in and of itself. Anyone who wears it gains short term abilities allowing them to manipulate the minds of others through their emotions. I’m sure you can see how that could be abused in the wrong hands. Make the right person angry and you sow discord. Make another person feel affection towards someone they wouldn’t normally otherwise worry about and you open the door for their doing something just to show their ‘loved one’ that they care or even kill a supposed love rival.”

  “And the Bruard has this power.” Akhenaton turned pale, realizing the full, devastating impact of his mistake.

  “You cannot allow guilt to overwhelm you,” Fatima advised. “Yes, they have the hat, but on its own, its powers come at a terrible price, exaggerating the negative aspects of the wearer. For some, this means it’s just a pretty papal cap of no real consequence. A good hearted person will see it as a way that will allow them to heal others–although this can be a dangerous path to tread. As they say, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions… And for the unstable, it will enhance and emphasize those instabilities even further, tempting them into using the headdress’ ability to heal their own mental illnesses, yet having the opposite effect.”

  “Which means that if someone like Pin were to wear it, he could become even more evil and twisted than he already is,” put in Samuel.

  “Indeed,” nodded Fatima. “However, that’s not all the headdress can do. For those gifted genuine psychics such as myself, it amplifies our ability to read and foretell possibilities, enabling us to provide written records for those who will come after us.”

  “Which is how the chamber had all those pictures and engravings about our current situation, despite being drawn centuries ago,” Basile nodded. “So have you used it?”

  “No.” Fatima shook her head. “I won’t pretend that I haven’t been tempted, but I’ve found that my gift is a curse as much as it is a blessing. I don’t like to think about what I might see if I were to use St. Augustine’s Secret, especially since I wouldn’t have the checks and balances that the ancients put in place to prevent its abuse. It simply isn’t worth the risk.”

  Waleed opened his mouth, no doubt to sneer, but then closed it again.

  “So for the Bruard to use it, they’d need a psychic like you? Aren’t you worried that they are going to target you?” asked Shafira.

  “They may well target me, but they would still be missing out on a number of crucial components,” Fatima revealed. “There is another reason that I have never tried to wield the headdress. There are dangers for those who are not worthy and I am among their number.”

  “You could never be unworthy,” remarked Akhenaton loyally.

  “That is terribly sweet of you,” laughed Fatima, “but no. I really am not worthy. You see, there is almost no limit to the power of St. Augustine’s Secret, but for it to function on a worldwide scale, there are two extra pieces to the puzzle, the first being that the wielder be a direct descendent of St. Augustine’s line. That’s how I know that I’m not worthy. I may have dedicated my life to his service, but St. Augustine is not one of my ancestors. That honor lies with others.”

  “So the Bruard needs to find someone descended from St. Augustine if they want to take over the world by using psychic powers. What else?” Samuel asked.

  “In addition, they require St. Augustine’s scepter to serve as a psychic focus,” Fatima told him. “Without the scepter wielded by the right person, the headdress is more of a danger than it is an asset. Only a fool would try to use it without those.”

  “A fool–or someone desperate,” pointed out Samuel. “We can’t discount the possibility that Pin will try to use the headdress on its own, no doubt forcing some poor individual to wear it to see what happens. When he fails to unlock its potential, he’ll pull out all the stops to find out why. We have to make sure that the scepter and St. Augustine’s lineage are out of his reach–permanently.”

  “Don’t worry,” Fatima reassured him. “As I said, I have put measures in place to protect the scepter and the lineage until you are able to recover them and take them to safety.”

  “So even though we’ve found you, we haven’t completed the mission?” confirmed Josh. “Great.”

  “Don’t be like that, Josh.” Samuel nudged him, grinning. “Come on. Didn’t you always dream of saving the world?”

  “Only if Tom Cruise gets to play me in the movie of my life,” Josh replied.

  “Would you settle for Chris Pine?” asked Fatima, a twinkle in her eye.

  “What do you need us to do?” asked Samuel, wanting to get back on track.

  “You need to recover the scepter and the lineage, and protect them at all costs.” Fatima was all business again, as she detailed their new assignment. “The Knights will do our best to assist you and we will throw as many false leads at the Bruard to distract them. Many cells have been set up that protect absolutely nothing. The Knights who are members have no idea, genuinely believing they are watching over something essential. Only the High Marshal of each cell knows the full details of what they are guarding, and have the discretion to look after their relic in the way they deem most suitable. Everyone else simply obeys orders, and knows that they serve a higher purpose. If we are lucky, the Bruard will pursue one of those cells first, thus giving you the chance to elude detection.

  “On that drive, you will find details of the sites where you will find the scepter and St. Augustine’s lineage. We kept records of all his close relations and their descendants, including his first cousins, so that we could find them in a
time of great need. Now we need to ensure their safety. There are so many that we simply do not have the resources to guard every single one of them. It is best that the Bruard never learn of their existence in the first place.”

  “Why not just destroy the records?” suggested Waleed. “I mean, if these relics are so dangerous that nobody can ever use them, if we erase all trace of knowledge surrounding St. Augustine’s line, then boom! World saved and we can all go home.”

  “That which can harm can also heal,” Fatima told him. “St. Augustine’s Secret also has great power to do good. We would potentially be placing the world in great danger to remove the protective abilities of the artifacts.”

  “It seems to me that the world has done just fine without them so far,” grumbled Waleed.

  “That’s because you don’t know how many times the Secret has been used to avoid horrific catastrophe,” Fatima countered. “As an Order that operates outside the law, we have done many things over the centuries that have benefited mankind. For instance, one small technical mistake in a lab in Germany ensured that the Nazis didn’t develop the atomic bomb before the Americans. One that we arranged. If they got it first, the world would be very different now. There have been many other things, but nobody will ever learn of them. We live to serve, not to seek glory.”

  “Speak for yourself,” muttered Waleed, folding his arms and glaring pointedly at a clock hanging on the wall.

  “Very well,” laughed Fatima. “I can tell that you’re eager to start your mission, and you’re right. I have been talking for long enough. Unless any of you have any further questions, I suggest you go back to your motel and work on decrypting the drive.”

  “Ah.” Samuel grimaced sheepishly. “About that. It would appear that the Bruard followed us here. One of the men who was responsible for trapping Akhenaton, Basile and I in the cave where the headdress was kept has followed us here. Although we managed to fight him off, there’s no doubt that he’s still in the area and if he’s here, there’s a good chance the Bruard is after you as well.”