He moved forward and was about to follow Indy when he nearly collided with Elsa as she rushed out the passageway. By the time he reached the bottom of the steps, Indy was on his knees beside his father, and the sultan’s soldiers had closed around him. Brody pushed his way through the soldiers as if they were of no consequence. They were without a leader now and simply watched out of curiosity.
Brody crouched down and helped Sallah lift Henry’s head. Indy quickly put the cup to Henry’s lips. Henry was too weak even to open his eyes. Indy poured, but the water just ran down the side of Henry’s mouth.
“Come on, Dad. Drink. Please drink.”
Brody looked anxiously at Indy and saw the worried look on his face. He had to do something. He leaned forward and helped him to open Henry’s mouth. He felt Henry’s throat move. He was drinking. He had swallowed some of the water. He was sure of it.
Indy then carefully removed the emergency dressing from Henry’s wound and poured some of the water over it. Quickly he placed the cup to his father’s lips again and poured more water down his throat.
They waited.
Indy was certain his father’s breathing was growing stronger. He leaned over and listened to his heartbeat. It was steady and resolute. He could almost see and feel his father coming back to them.
Suddenly Henry’s eyes fluttered open. They focused first on Sallah, then Brody, then his son. Finally, they settled on the Grail Cup.
Indy smiled, feeling a certainty in his heart that his father was out of danger. He probably would never be able to convince his skeptical colleagues that water from an ancient cup had healed his father, and there would be plenty of doubts and controversy about whether this was the real Grail Cup.
But so what? He knew. That’s what mattered. He had seen and experienced the beauty and power of the Grail. In doing so, he had ascended in his own quest from cynicism to doubt to awakening. The quest was fulfilled, and with it the Last Crusade finally neared its end.
“Dad. You’re going to be all right. I believe it. I know it.”
TWENTY-THREE
End of the Quest
HENRY’S HANDS SHOOK as he reached out for the Grail Cup, but now it was from excitement, not weakness. The color had returned to his face, and his eyes were wide open, clear, cognizant. His wound had been covered again, but it was no longer bleeding and didn’t seem to be causing him any great discomfort. With Sallah’s help, he had been able to rise up on his elbow.
As Indy proudly passed his father the Grail Cup, he heard a clatter behind him. He jerked his head around and saw the sultan’s soldiers dropping their weapons and shrinking back. Their curiosity had turned to fear. They didn’t want anything to do with guarding the wizards who had performed the miraculous healing, and suddenly all of them fled the temple.
All but a couple of the Nazi soldiers immediately gave chase, shouting and threatening to shoot the sultan’s men. But they kept on running. Sallah swiftly made the most of it. As the two remaining Nazis called to their companions, he stealthily made his way toward the nearest rifle. He swept it up, spun around, and ordered the remaining Nazis to drop their weapons. “Die Gewehr herunter he repeated when they momentarily hesitated.
“Do as he says,” Elsa snapped at them.
They hesitated but not for long. They set down their weapons and raised their hands.
Sallah, however, didn’t realize that another Nazi had stayed behind and was standing a few feet behind Elsa. As the soldier reached for his pistol, Indy dove for his legs, tackling him. The Nazi twisted about and turned his gun on Indy. He was about to fire, when Elsa kicked the weapon from his hand.
Indy rose up on one knee, gazing at Elsa, amazed and baffled at what she had done. The Nazi took advantage of the moment and punched him. Indy grabbed his jaw, frowned, then collared the Nazi and landed a punch that was hard and direct. The soldier flopped to the ground and rolled over. Indy stood up and smiled at Elsa. He didn’t know what to make of her. On one hand there was abundant evidence of her deceitfulness, yet she had just saved his life. Elsa’s complacent look abruptly turned to horror. Her mouth dropped open, quivered a moment. “Watch out! Behind you!”
Indy turned just in time to block the arm of the same Nazi as he stabbed at him with a long, vicious-looking knife. Sallah ordered the soldier to drop it. The man looked up at the rifle barrel, his eyes flicked to Sallah’s face, and he released the knife.
Indy grabbed it and spun the Nazi around. “Go join your buddies.” He pushed him roughly toward the other two Nazis.
Indy looked over at his father and realized that when Sallah left him, he had remained sitting up, holding the Grail Cup to his stomach. Indy started to ask him how he felt, but Henry was gazing past him, eyes glazed, a rapturous expression on his face.
Now what?
Slowly Indy turned and saw the Grail knight standing on the steps.
“I know you,” Henry called out to the knight. “Yes, I know you.”
“Were we comrades in arms?”
“No, from the books. You’re the third knight, the one who stayed behind. But I don’t understand. You had the Grail Cup. Why are you so old?”
The knight descended the rest of the stairs. “Many times my spirit faltered, and I could not bear to drink from the cup, so I aged, a year for every day I did not drink. But now at last, I am released to death with honor, for this brave knight-errant cometh to take my place.”
Indy looked from the knight to his father, uneasiness churning a path through his gut. “Dad, there’s a misunderstanding here. I didn’t really . . .”
“He is not a knight-errant,” Henry scoffed. “He’s just my errant son who has led an impure life. Unworthy of the honor you bestow.”
Indy nodded. “Yes, an impure life.”
“Totally unworthy. Son, do something worthy, and help your father stand up.”
Henry set the Grail Cup down and wrapped an arm over Indy’s shoulder.
“You sure you want to try this, Dad?”
“Of course. I’m feeling better by the moment.”
Brody took the other side, and they gently lifted Henry to his feet. Indy hoped his father’s recovery was not just a temporary one brought on by the sight of the Grail Cup and the belief that it could cure him. He wanted the cure to be real.
“There, see?” Henry cringed a moment, then courageously straightened up. “That wasn’t so bad.”
“Are you really cured, Dad?”
Henry frowned at his son as if he were still a child asking silly questions. He took his arms away from Indy and Brody. “How many times have I told you, Junior, that belief creates reality. I believe—I knew—the cup could heal me, and it has. It has.”
After everything that had happened to him today, Indy didn’t see any reason to doubt him. He thought back to what the old Indian had said to him after he had climbed down from the mesa and told him about the eagle. Now you know that you have the power within you to attain all that you seek, no matter how difficult the challenge.
Eagles and the Grail Cup; the knight and the Indian. It was all a jumble. But his father was alive, and they knew each other now as never before. He watched as the knight stepped closer and peered into Henry’s face.
“Is it you then, brother? Are ye the knight who will relieve me?”
“Alas, no. I am but a scholar.”
The knight gestured toward Brody. “Is it you, brother?”
“Me? I’m English.”
The knight looked baffled and walked over to Sallah, who had herded the Nazi guards away from the others and was still keeping an eye on them. He placed a hand on Sallah’s shoulder, apparently confident that he’d found his replacement. “Ah, good Knight.”
Sallah didn’t understand. He looked at Indy.
“He said, ‘Good knight.’ ”
Sallah nodded to the old man. “Yes. Good night. Sleep tight.”
Indy bent down and picked up Henry’s hat, tie, and watch. He froze as he saw Elsa out of th
e corner of his eye, inching closer to the Grail Cup. Suddenly she took two quick steps, grabbed the cup in both hands, and held it up. She gazed at it as if in a trance. Her eyes were fixed on it with such an intensity that Indy finally understood that nothing else truly mattered to her. Not him. Not the Führer. Not anyone. She was obsessed by the Grail.
Indy was distracted by the old knight, who stepped in front of him. “Why have these strange knights come,” he muttered, “if not to challenge me?” He shook his head, bewildered, and walked away as Indy rose to his feet.
“For this, you fool,” Elsa answered. She clutched the Grail Cup to her chest and bolted for the entrance of the temple.
Indy was about to give chase, when she stopped and turned. She was a few feet from the entrance of the temple, silhouetted in the late afternoon light. She must have realized, he thought, that she wouldn’t go far in the desert on her own.
“We’ve got it. Come on. Let’s go.”
“No!” the knight yelled. “The Grail can never leave this place! Never!”
He looked over at Indy and Henry. “Remaining here is the price of immortality.”
Henry glanced from the knight to Elsa. “Listen to him. He knows. The Grail will be nothing but an old cup if you take it from the temple.”
“I don’t believe him.”
“You must not cross the seal,” the knight warned, pointing past her.
Elsa turned and took several defiant steps toward the entrance.
“She will pay dearly,” the knight said quietly.
“Wait,” Indy shouted, running after her. The images of what happened to Donovan were still fresh in his mind. “Wait, Elsa. Don’t move.”
She neared a large metal seal on the floor but paid no attention to it. She was not only captivated but overwhelmed by the Grail Cup, and her eyes were glued to it.
“Elsa!” He reached her just in time and grabbed her arm.
She peered up at him with those incredibly blue eyes of hers, and he felt something shift and slide in his chest. “It’s ours now, Indy,” she said softly. “Ours. Don’t you understand? Yours and mine. No one else matters. Donovan is dead; we’ll keep it from the Führer.”
He shook his head. “It’s staying here.”
With sudden and unexpected strength she pulled her arm free of his grasp. She cuddled the Grail, like a child with a stuffed animal, and stepped defiantly onto the seal. Then she backed across it out of the temple.
A moment or two passed, then a deep rumbling sound that was felt as much as heard erupted beneath the temple. The canyon walls started to shake. Dust flew as debris began to tumble from the shaking walls. Elsa spun around, terrified, and ran a few steps into the temple. Indy backed away from her as the floor shifted under his feet. He turned and saw one of the massive carved knights shuddering. The pillars rocked. He leapt aside as a stone cap shook loose and tumbled toward him, pulverizing at his feet.
Henry was holding his arms above his head, trying to protect himself from falling rocks. As the floor kept shaking, Brody lost his balance and fell to one knee. Sallah grabbed both men by the arms and jerked them away just as one of the pillars crashed where they had stood. The knight, meanwhile, fled up the steps toward the passageway and his inner sanctum.
Indy signaled the others to hurry toward the entrance. He turned and saw Elsa. She was looking up at one of the swaying columns of stone, her eyes wide with fear. The earth suddenly shifted again, and she lost her balance. She pitched forward, and the Grail Cup slipped from her hands.
As the cup rolled away from her, a jagged crack seared through the center of the seal and across the temple floor. Elsa struggled to her feet. Her legs straddled the gap, which was slowly widening.
The crack split apart the inner steps leading to the passageway and knocked the knight from his feet. He fell back, rolling down the steps. Another crack ruptured the floor of the temple, perpendicular to the first one. Henry toppled like one of the pillars, and Brody wobbled like a drunk next to him. Sallah and Indy both froze, uncertain which way to turn. Behind them the knight crawled laboriously up the steps.
The Nazis made a run for the entrance and leapt across the crack that Elsa straddled. At the same instant, she pushed off with one foot, but as she did, the ground bulged on the side she had chosen. She desperately clawed and scratched, searching for a handhold.
The Nazis were in the same predicament. They had almost reached the top of the incline when they slid back and fell into the abyss. Their screams echoed long after they were smashed to their deaths below.
Elsa clung to a boulder protruding from the side of the crevice. Below her she could see the Grail Cup lying on a rock jutting over the edge of the crack. Instead of climbing up and away from the abyss, she lowered herself on one side of it and reached for the cup.
Indy realized the danger she was in and dashed over to her. He stretched out on his stomach and extended his arms, shouting to her to grab his hands. Their fingers brushed; then he inched forward and clasped both of her gloved hands. He pulled with every bit of strength he had, but it wasn’t enough; he started to slide forward.
“Junior, Junior,” Henry shouted.
“Indy,” Sallah bellowed.
As Indy pulled, Elsa wrenched one of her hands free. She reached down toward the Grail Cup, which rocked back and forth, inches from the chasm. Her fingertips grazed the edge of it, but she couldn’t quite grasp it.
“Elsa!” Indy yelled. With his free hand, he grabbed hold of a rock.
“I can reach it,” she gasped. “I can.”
Indy’s hold on her was slipping. She stretched toward the cup and was about to grasp it when her glove slipped off her fingers. They each clung to the glove, their hands no longer touching. The glove stretched. It started to rip.
“Indy!” Alarm riddled her voice. “Don’t let go. Please.”
The glove ripped more.
“Elsa!”
He let go of the rock and lunged for her wrist, but it was too late. Her fingers slipped, and she fell backward into the chasm, her screams ringing out in the temple.
Indy slid forward, plowing his hands into the earth in a desperate attempt to stop himself from hurtling after her. He was about to slide into the blackness when hands squeezed around his ankles like a vise.
“Indy!” Sallah yelled. “I’ve got you. I’m going to pull you out.”
“Wait.” He reached out for the Grail Cup, but his fingers fell several inches short of it. “Lower me a little more.”
“Don’t be crazy, Indy,” Sallah grunted, struggling to hold on to his friend. His feet were inching forward, and it wasn’t because he was trying to lower Indy toward the chalice.
“A little more,” Indy gasped.
“No, Indy. Please.”
“Junior, get back up here,” Henry barked from behind Sallah.
“I can get it. I can reach it.”
“Indiana.”
“Dad?” It was the first time his father had ever called him by name.
“Let it go,” Henry said calmly.
Indy abandoned the Grail and clawed his way backward as Sallah pulled at his ankles. The dirt he loosened tumbled down onto the Grail Cup. He looked up once just in time to see the cup slide off its perch and into the abyss with Elsa.
Sallah gave one final yank, grunting loudly as he pulled Indy over the lip of the crevice. Indy sprawled on his stomach, staring into the black chasm that had swallowed Elsa and the cup. The horrified expression on her face as she slipped away had burned a path through his brain. If he had done what his father had, if he had told her just to forget the cup, he could have saved her.
Henry’s hand was tight on his shoulder. His voice was urgent. “Come. Now. We’ve got to get out.”
Indy nodded, picked up his hat, took one more glance over the side, and stood up.
Sallah guided them forward. “Where’s Marcus?” Henry called out in alarm.
“I’m here,” he said from somewhere nearby.
More and more debris was falling around them. Indy tried to clear his mind of guilt, of the nagging certainty that he could have saved Elsa if he had tried a little harder, if he had acted differently. After all, he owed her. She had saved him. And he had failed her.
But he knew she was partly responsible for her own death. She wasn’t leaving without the Grail. There was nothing more to do but let go of his guilt and save his own life. Somehow, he knew, she would want it that way.
He followed after the others, then noticed that his father had stopped and was staring toward the steps. Indy followed his gaze and saw the Grail knight standing impassively at the top of the steps a few feet from the jagged crack. Rocks and dust were tumbling around him, but he seemed completely oblivious.
The knight raised his right hand, a farewell. It was as if he were saying the Last Crusade was finally over, and the Grail was safe. To Indy it made sense. He now realized the Holy Grail was more than an ancient and sacred cup. It was more than a means of attaining immortality, more than a way of miraculously healing.
He had sipped the ambrosial waters from the cup, and had understood. It was the essence of a higher awareness that was in him and in everyone who bothered to look for it. Now, he vowed, he would do the best he could with the understanding and knowledge he had gained.
Henry smiled back at the knight and nodded.
“Dad.”
Indy pulled on his father’s arm and hurried him away as massive rocks thundered down around them and pillars collapsed. The walls were crumbling, and jets of steam hissed up through the crevices. But Indy knew they would survive. They had made it this far—they would make the final steps.
A moment later they reached the top of the outer stairs. Indy took one more look inside the temple and thought he saw the Grail knight still standing at the top of the steps.
“Henry, Indy. Come on,” Brody yelled from the saddle of a horse outside the temple. “I know the way. Grab a horse and follow me.”
Brody spurred the horse, which bolted ahead, then circled and careened around them, nearly running over Sallah. He floundered in the saddle, but finally took control and galloped into the narrow canyon.
The Adventures Of Indiana Jones Page 55