“When you say in the lake,” Eclair interrupted, “do you mean in the water? Don’t you mean she lived at the edge of the lake?”
“Not according to the legend. The lady somehow lived within the waters of the lake. I can’t be more specific, because it’s all based on legend. This is the lake that most scholars believe the legend refers to. That’s why I recognized your map so readily. As I said before, I’ve been out here many times before.”
The group came to an abrupt halt when they rounded a small hill and came to the edge of the lake.
Cat surveyed the area. “This is what I was afraid of. The lake has completely covered the area where the map shows the settlement was located. I’m sorry, but without a tremendous amount of effort, and expensive dredging equipment, we’re at the end of this adventure.”
Cat looked at the group, noting their disappointment, and tried to put a positive spin on the day.
“One good thing is that you’ve found the map itself. I’ll take it back to the university and have it checked for authenticity. If it turns out to be genuine, I’ll present it to my colleagues. That might stir up enough interest and excitement to mount an expedition to investigate this area again. With the university’s backing, we could dredge the entire lake, and perhaps find the remains of this settlement. You could be part of the operation as finders of the map.”
She looked from face to face. Cat noticed Eclair staring intensely at the lake.
“Eclair, I’m sorry. There’s nothing here.”
Eclair looked up, momentarily startled.
Cat looked at him quizzically. “Are you all right?”
“Sorry, just daydreaming. You’re quite right, there’s nothing to be done out here today.”
Dyla caught the hint of excitement rolling off of Eclair, but said nothing of it. She touched her brother’s arm so he could read her surface thoughts, as well.
“OK, let’s go. No sense standing around here any longer,” Darius said.
“Fine by me,” Munroe chimed in.
The group trudged back to the van and drove off. The ride back to London was a disappointing affair. Cat dropped them off at the bar.
“I’ll see what kind of interest I can drum up from this discovery,” Cat said. “If I could take the map, it would help a lot in substantiating the find.”
To everyone’s surprise, Eclair readily agreed, and handed her the map.
“Good luck. I hope you can find more help for us at the university.”
“I’ll try my best.”
Cat waved to them, and drove off.
“Why did you give her the map?” Darius asked.
“Because it’s worthless. There’s nothing out there.”
“Not entirely worthless,” Munroe said. “It’s an old document, and could fetch a pretty penny from the right collector. You shouldn’t have let it out of your sight.”
“We’ll get it back. I trust Cat,” Eclair said.
“Suit yourself. It’s been a long day, and I have some other affairs to take care of. I hope you three can fend for yourselves, tonight?”
“Sure,” Eclair replied quickly. “We’ll be in our room for the rest of the night. Maybe Cat will have new information for us tomorrow.”
“OK, see you tomorrow.”
After Munroe left, the trio went to their room, and Darius locked the door.
“Eclair, what’s going on? Why did you give that map away so readily?” he asked.
“Because I found it.”
“Found what?”
“I was probing the lake, and found a large mass buried deep beneath the surface of the water, and lakebed; something that couldn’t be there naturally. As I probed, I felt a strong pull of a crystal; a major crystal. No one has been able to find it, because it was sunk so deep into the mud, but I think it’s the site of the original explorers. I’m sure I can open a portal into it.”
“No wonder you gave up the map so readily. I knew something was going on. I could feel your excitement growing at the lake,” Dyla said.
Darius slapped Eclair on the back. “Well done, Eclair.”
“Thanks. Are you two ready to go back there? We should go ourselves, because there isn’t any easy way to hide a portal from Munroe or Cat.”
“Good idea, let’s go back tonight. It will be dark soon. We can grab something to eat downstairs, and then head out. Eclair, are you sure you can open a portal back to the lake?”
“Sure, in a few jumps. When we first came to London, I took note of different landmarks along the way.”
“OK, let’s go downstairs and eat. I’m starving.”
Both Dyla and Eclair nodded in agreement, especially at the mention of food.
The trio ate quickly. When they stood up to leave, the bartender called out to them.
“Do you need me to call you a cab?”
“No, thanks,” Eclair replied cordially. “We’re only going out for a short walk.”
The bartender nodded, watching the three leave the bar. Munroe had paid the bartender to keep tabs on them, and his orders were to call immediately if the trio left the establishment. He went to the end of the bar, picked up the phone, and dialed the number.
“Hello.”
“They just left the bar. They said they were going out for a walk.”
“OK, thanks.”
Munroe flipped his phone shut. Now what are you three up to?
Excerpt from the field journal of Catiana Spencer:
Time and again, reference is made to the Lady of the Lake, who helped Arthur in mysterious and enchanted ways. The location of her lake is shrouded in the mysteries of the stories about Excalibur, and the mythical island of Avalon. What can’t be explained is the repeated reference to the same stories from different perspectives. She has been mentioned frequently in concert with Morgan le Fay; to the extent some believe the two are the same person. In other instances, she is referred to as a feminine water sprite that lives in the water of the lake. Too many references of her exist to easily dismiss her as total fabrication.
Chapter 38 – The Lake
Cat sat at her desk in her office at the university. She pulled her magnifying glass out for a closer inspection of the map. Though it seemed genuine, there were many ways of faking a document. Wild goose chases were not something that Cat was fond of spending her time on.
Under her magnifying glass, Cat saw the fine lines that were inevitable in old parchments, but it was the ink that caught her attention. The black ink used in ancient times had a red-brown tinge to it because of the ingredients out of which it was made; lamp black mixed with iron oxide. The ink on this map was solid black, showing none of the telltale signs that ancient ink would leave. It was a clever, but worthless, forgery.
“Oh crap. I knew this was too good to be true. Might as well tell them the bad news tonight. No sense in keeping their hopes alive.”
Disappointed at the discovery, Cat climbed back into her van, and headed back toward the bar to tell the trio the bad news. Better the truth now, than bitter disappointment later.
She walked through the bar and up the stairs. She knocked on their door, but silence greeted her.
“Hello? Darius? Eclair?”
When no one answered the door, she went back downstairs and headed over to the bar. It was the same bartender, and Cat hoped that he knew where the trio was.
“Excuse me?”
The bartender looked up from his glass cleaning, and flashed a crooked smile at Cat. He liked it when pretty girls talked to him.
“Have you seen those three kids that are staying upstairs?”
“They ate dinner earlier, and said they were going out for a walk.”
“Any idea where they were headed?”
The bartender turned surly when he realized that Cat was only there to pump him for information. “Lady, I’m only a bartender, not a tourist guide.”
“Sorry to bother you. Thanks anyway.”
Cat turned to leave, and bumped into Munroe.<
br />
Munroe’s eyes widened when he saw her.
“Hi, Munroe, if you’re looking for our wayward travelers, I’m afraid you’ve missed them. The bartender says they’ve gone out for a walk, though where they’d go at this time of night is a mystery to me.”
“Interesting. What brings you out here so late? I know this area is not one of your favorites.”
“You’re right about that, but I have bad news. The map is a fake.”
“What? How did you determine that so quickly?”
Cat pulled the map out of her pocket. “Look here, at the ink. It doesn’t show any of the recognizable signs of aging. It’s hard to see without a magnifying glass, but trust me; the ink used to draw this map is modern, although it is written on ancient paper.”
“How could that be? Seems like a lot of trouble to go through to secure ancient paper, and then use modern ink.”
“I don’t have a clue. I only know the ink used to draw this map is modern.”
Munroe pulled out a stool, and sat down at the bar stalling for time. He knew where those kids were going. He had tracked them heading back toward the lake, by using the GPS locator in the cell phone he had given them. Why would they go back to the lake if they had perpetrated this fraud? Nothing was making any sense to him.
“Would they have used a pen to go over the drawing, to make it more legible, perhaps?” he asked.
“That’s ridiculous. Doing that would destroy its intrinsic value. Who would do that to an ancient document?”
“Maybe someone who didn’t care about the map, but only where it pointed to. I have a feeling I know where they’ve gone, but I wonder what they’re up to. I’m going back to the lake. I think I’ll find our trio there.”
“Tonight? In the dark? You can’t see a thing. Why would they go back to the lake?”
“Maybe they want to conduct their own search, without anyone watching over them. I wonder if they found something they don’t want us to know about.”
“If that’s what you think, then I’m going with you. I can’t imagine what they could possibly find, but who knows?”
Munroe stared hard at the young woman. He was not pleased. This was not the time for Cat to start demanding anything. Tonight might get a little dicey, and the last thing he needed was an intellectual bookworm mucking things up.
“Fine; I have to make a quick phone call first. I saw your van out front. Go hop inside and wait for me. I’ll only be a minute.”
“OK, see you outside.”
Ten minutes later, Cat stormed back into the bar looking for Munroe. When he was nowhere in sight, she set her sights on the bartender.
“Where is he?”
“Who?” the bartender asked, surprised at Cat’s intensity.
“Don’t play dumb with me. Where’s Munroe?”
“Last time I saw him, he was walking out the back door.”
“Damn him. If he thinks he can shake me that easily, then he doesn’t know me very well.
Cat ran out of the bar, got into her van, and drove off.
***
The twins watched Eclair stare at the lake. He’d been concentrating for nearly two hours. Darius looked questioningly at Dyla, and she simply shrugged her shoulders. What Eclair was doing was beyond anything the twins were familiar with, or even knew how to do. Opening a portal took a fair amount of power, but opening a portal so far under the water and mud was even more difficult.
Eclair’s first attempts failed repeatedly. After more than an hour of trying, he succeeded in opening a viewing portal, but they saw only a murky underwater landscape. There was nothing to tell them where they might be looking, or where the enclosure might be.
“Eclair, you must rest. It’s too much strain,” Dyla insisted.
Eclair gratefully sank to the ground. “This is harder than I thought. Certainly not anything they taught at the Institute.”
“You’re doing fine, Eclair, and you’re making progress,” Darius said.
Eclair nodded and, fifteen minutes later, he was hard at work again. There was nothing for the twins to do but sit, and wait.
Darius leaned over to Dyla to whisper in her ear. “Do you think he can do it?”
“I don’t know. Like he said, no one was ever taught how to open portals to underwater enclosures. I trust him though. If anyone can do it, he can.”
“Let’s hope you’re right.”
“I’ve got it,” Eclair said. “I can feel the crystal as if it was right beside me.”
Darius looked around the perimeter of the lake for any signs of life. “Dyla, do you feel anyone around?”
“Not anyone near. There are probably some people camping in the area though.”
“Great. The sooner we get inside, the better. I don’t like being out here in the open.”
“Give me a moment,” Eclair said.
A portal materialized directly in front of them, opening to a dark room with indiscernible features. Darius moved forward to look through the portal, but nothing was visible in the darkness.
“Are you sure this is it?” he asked.
“I’d stake my life on it.”
“How about mine?” Darius stepped through the portal, with the flashlight they had used at the mansion shining brightly. Dyla and Eclair waited for tense moments before he re-appeared lakeside.
“There’s breathable air inside, and the place looks Otharian. Let’s start searching.”
Darius moved back through the portal, with Dyla close on his heels. Eclair stepped up to the portal, still concentrating intently. Something brushed against him and went through the portal ahead of him.
“What the ...”
He was so surprised by the contact that he nearly collapsed the portal. He refocused and stepped through. He came face to face with Dyla holding Cat in a bear hug. Cat was struggling, but to no avail.
Eclair collapsed the portal.
“What are you doing here?”
Cat stopped struggling, her eyes narrowing as she stared at Eclair.
“How did you do that?”
Excerpt from the field journal of Catiana Spencer:
Though King Arthur and his sword Excalibur are the central themes of most of the fables and legends, they are not alone. As a lot of stories abound with the heroic deeds of the Knights of the Round Table, there are also those that speak of the treacherous downfall of that mythical time. Mordred is the culprit purported to have been Arthur’s nemesis, and was the direct cause of the downfall of Camelot. All facts surrounding these myths have been sorely contested, because no definitive evidence has yet to surface supporting the wild exaggerations. The first written histories supporting these legends were found in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historian Regum Britanniae. It was careful study of this historic text that has led me to believe that there is more to the legend of King Arthur, and the people who helped him, than what most scholars believe as fanciful stories.
Chapter 39 – The Chamber
Munroe watched from a distance while Darius, Dyla and Eclair stared at the lake. He thought he noticed a brief shimmering of light, but it quickly disappeared. He continued his watch for another hour. They were onto something, and he was rewarded for his patience when another circle of light appeared and the twins stepped through it. He was shocked when he saw Cat race after them and jump through before Eclair could pass through. He saw the opening disappear, reached for his phone, and punched the autodial.
“They found it. I watched them open a portal and disappear through. We can follow them in using the GPS locator. How long until you get here?”
***
“Who are you people? We’re under the water, aren’t we?” Cat asked.
Darius shone the flashlight into Cat’s eyes.
“We don’t have time for this. We need to find that crystal and leave.”
Dyla released Cat.
“What are you talking about? What crystal; go where? Can one of you please tell me what’s happening?”
�
�Tie her up and leave her for now,” Darius said.
“No,” Dyla said, disagreeing with her brother’s harsh treatment. “What’s the point, she already knows too much. We have to tell her.”
Cat’s head swiveled between Darius and Dyla.
“Tell me what? Don’t talk about me like I’m not here.”
“Fine, you can tell her while Eclair and I search for the crystal.”
Darius and Eclair moved through the room, until they found a tightly-sealed door.
“That’s it. The crystal is in there,” Eclair said.
“Good, let’s figure out how to activate the latch.”
It was Eclair who figured out the latch combination. Darius pushed open the door, revealing a short set of steps that led down to a larger room, which was shrouded in darkness. Darius and Eclair stepped through the doorway, leaving Dyla alone with Cat.
“Where to begin?” Dyla mused, still hesitating over what to tell Cat.
Cat jumped when the interior of the room blossomed with light.
“We found the energy source,” said a voice from the other room.
As the two men continued to search the other chamber, Dyla related their story to Cat.
“That’s about it,” Dyla finished, while Cat stared at her in amazement. “We have to find that crystal so we can open a portal, and get back home.”
Cat looked around the room, wondering if she would ever stop gaping.
“That’s quite a story. I’m not sure I would have believed it if I wasn’t standing here with you inside this chamber. Scholars have dismissed the legend of the Lady of the Lake throughout history. This place is absolutely amazing. Do you understand what you have found?”
Dyla shook her head, and moved toward the inner room.
“I only care about finding the crystal. We must get home. Nothing else matters.”
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