The Lost Power: VanOps, Book 1

by Avanti Centrae

  Bear looked up and to the left as he thought. “It was a shape commonly used in medieval metalwork for reliquaries and other containers. To our modern eye, it looks like a small house, although a tomb was the intent. Part of it is hinged and it may have a lock. The word is French and from the Latin capsa for ‘box.’”

  “Impressive,” the old man rumbled. “Usually we have to explain those things. So anyway, yes, it’s a box and even we don’t know what is inside it.”

  Maddy had been watching the exchange. “We want, maybe need, to find the châsse. So how do we pass these tests?”

  She was always good about getting directly to the point.

  Edith’s head nodded like a bird. “Ah yes, the tests. If you choose to stay, you will face more than one test. For instance, one test is a duel. The tests are designed to see if you are fearless, can handle pain, and have sound judgment. And they are also designed to protect you, as what is inside the châsse holds immense power. The power could harm someone fearful, perhaps...how do you say?...backfire.” Her voice took on a more serious tone, “There are...risks. Several students have regrettably died over the years, and I’m sorry to say your grandfather, Maximillian, failed.”

  “Students died?” Will echoed, feeling hollow. He didn’t like to fail at anything, but in his view, death was the ultimate failure. And the word had brought him back to his grief.

  “Yes, I’m afraid so. These tests were established over a thousand years ago under explicit instructions from Ramiro. Life was different then. He had rather...how shall we say?...elaborate ideas and thought that it would be better to have one of his progeny die than for power to fall into the wrong hands.”

  Will exchanged a glance with Maddy. How did she look so calm?

  Edith added, “You may leave now, but once you begin testing, you must see it through. Also, you must promise supreme secrecy about this location as we have long-standing agreements about who may attend here. If you fail to abide by the secrecy, we will know, and I’m sorry that I must add, you would regret it.”

  Will didn’t like the threat.

  “What kind of duel?” Maddy asked, again seeing to the heart of the matter.

  “The kind where only one person survives,” Samuel said, with a solemn tone.

  Maddy swallowed hard, and Will felt his gut clench in fear.

  Edith’s hands fluttered. “And your friend is not eligible for any of the testing. He is not family.”

  Will and Maddy turned to look at Bear, who shrugged.

  “If you wish, he will be allowed to stay under the legacy bodyguard clause,” Edith continued.

  Will chose not to ask for details about whatever the clause meant. He could imagine well enough, and Bear did fit that mental construct.

  Edith darted about the room, unable to stand still. “Before the duel, the guidelines allow you five days to rest from your journey and train. Then there are a short series of tests to ensure you have no phobias and are of strong heart. If you pass those tests, you progress to the duel. Afterward, assuming you make it through that and a surprise, you receive a tiny brand, about the size of Samuel’s thumb, which you must suffer in silence. Any sign of pain, such as a grimace, a moan, or a shout, and the brand will be covered with a larger, circular brand, and you will not be able to continue on your quest.”

  Will shivered. A brand? Like a horse? This just keeps getting better.

  Then Edith delivered the final insult, “No tobacco or alcohol is allowed here in this underground town, which is older even than Ramiro.”

  Will was not even mildly amused that his hand twitched toward his cigarette pack. A volcano of fury was building in his belly.

  Edith nodded briskly. “We have shared all the rules and will ask you to step outside now for up to twenty minutes. Please discuss and decide.”

  As they stood, Samuel boomed, “Think well. There is no shame in turning back now and much danger if you choose to go on.”

  CHAPTER 29

  3:20 p.m.:

  As soon as the door to the office of the Guardians of the Jerusalem Testing Society shut behind them, Maddy started to speak, but Will exploded, “What the hell? There’s no way I’m sticking around in this underground dungeon to fight somebody--and to the death!”

  Maddy thought he sounded almost hysterical and figured it was going without smokes that had him tweaked around an imaginary axle.

  “Calm down. Let’s make a rational decision about this.”

  “Calm? Sure, kill or be killed? That’s calming. Oh, yeah! This doesn’t sound good to me, Sis. I say we leave now. Right now!”

  Maddy could feel the heat of his anger, or maybe she was also starting to get ticked off because he didn’t see why they had to stay. Her tone showed her annoyance. “I think you’re just pissed you can’t have a smoke.”

  Will’s fists clenched. “Do you want to die?”

  “We need to stay.”

  “They said people have died down here. Did you hear that?”

  Maddy noticed Bear sitting this argument out by looking at the symbols on the other doors. It was up to her and Will to decide what to do.

  “No, of course I don’t want to die, but have you considered that we might, if we go back out there? Will, there are people trying to kill us!”

  “And so are these people!”

  “Not exactly.”

  In the dim light, Will looked even taller than normal. “How do you know?” He raised his voice.

  She raised her voice, too. “I do know that out there, people are trying to kill us. That Dad and Maria are already dead. And you forget I’ve been training for years.”

  “Have you ever had to kill someone?”

  “No, and I don’t want to. Killing someone contradicts all of my aikido training. Perhaps there’s some way out of that, but we won’t know unless we stick around to find out.”

  “Well, I don’t want to stick around. I know there’s no way I want to get branded. Pain isn’t my thing. Let’s leave.”

  “And then what? Let the Russians find the châsse and do god knows what with it? Go home with our tail between our legs? Or stay on the run, scared of our own shadows, not knowing why Dad and Maria were killed? I thought you wanted justice!”

  At these last words, Will deflated.

  “I do,” he spoke the words as if they were forced out of him by the torture he so vocally wanted to avoid.

  Maddy didn’t want to stick around either but knew she was right, so she pressed the point. “It worries me that the Russians want the châsse. And I want the truth. There’s no other way, Will. If one of us succeeds in passing, we at least have a shot at figuring out who wants us dead and what they want so badly. Or else we’ll always be looking over our shoulders.”

  Will took his cigarette pack out of his shirt pocket, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it. “You’re killing me, Maddy. I already want a smoke.”

  Then, tantrum complete, the side of his mouth twitched in the briefest of smiles.

  The energy between them shifted. Maddy let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding and her shoulders relaxed, too. “Good choice, Will. Let’s go see what’s next.”

  She squared her posture, walked back to the door, and knocked, already hoping like hell she could find a way out of that duel.

  CHAPTER 30

  July 1, 6:20 a.m.:

  Will awoke with a start, covered in sweat.

  He listened to his own labored breathing inside the broader silence. Opening his eyes to the pitch-blackness that enveloped the room he shared with Bear in the ancient underground complex, he tried to calm his breath.

  It was another of his falling dreams. He’d had them since his mom died in the car crash when they were four, two years before his grandfather disappeared and died. What a horrible time that was for them, and for his father.

  The car crash--he was in the backseat.

  His breathing was still rapid and shallow, and he didn’t want to remember the car flying th
rough the air.

  “Argones,” Bear whispered.

  Part of him heard Bear but he couldn’t answer. Also, he didn’t want to remember how unsafe he’d felt, alone in that car with two dead bodies. By wrenching his mind away from that scene, he resisted feeling the terror. He didn’t want to delve any deeper.

  Couldn’t.

  His arm had healed, his chin had scarred, but he still blamed himself. They hadn’t wanted to take him. But oh, how he had begged to go to that birthday party.

  “Will, are you awake?” Bear’s southern voice sounded more insistent this time.

  Somehow, Will managed to pull himself into the present. “Ugh. Hi. Sorry, did I wake you up?”

  “No worries, I heard you moving around and you kinda moaned. Are you okay?”

  He wasn’t, but men didn’t talk about this kind of stuff. “Uh, yeah, I’m fine.”

  There was silence. Will knew that Bear wasn’t buying it, but he understood and didn’t press the point.

  “What time is it? You want to go get some breakfast?” Bear asked.

  “Sure.”

  As he dressed, Will wasn’t sure how many of his memories were his own and how many were from the retelling of the story. He had been so young when it happened.

  Still, since his dad’s last words had been to send them on this quest, Will held out hope that following the trail would somehow help solve the murders and go a little way toward redeeming himself.

  He just wasn’t looking forward to the process.

  CHAPTER 31

  7:00 a.m.:

  In the morning, after Maddy woke and realized that her dad was still dead, Vincent wasn’t in bed with her, and that she was in some godforsaken cave getting ready to die in some godforsaken fight, she figured a little conversation with Hana, her new roommate, was in order.

  She’d never been a morning person, but perhaps a chat about the blond German guy she’d seen at the other end of the dining table last night would improve her mood.

  As they got dressed, Maddy asked, “I’m from California, what about you?”

  Hana was a good six inches shorter than Maddy, with bobbed blonde hair, bangs, sunny-blue eyes, perfect teeth, prominent cheekbones, full lips, and had a great figure.

  Maddy felt like Popeye’s tall Olive Oyl next to a curvaceous Playboy Bunny. Especially when she dressed in the same blue jeans she’d worn yesterday, and Hana put on a gorgeous athletic suit that must have cost several hundred dollars.

  Hana replied with a Danish accent, “I’m from Denmark. We cannot share last names, ya?”

  “I suppose you’re right. How long have you been here?”

  “Just two days now.”

  Maddy dug her hairbrush out of her backpack and began to brush her hair. It was a relaxing ritual. “What can you tell me that you’ve learned?”

  Hana shook her head and closed her eyes for a moment. “The training...it is hard. And it is okay to share about the distress tests. But more than this I cannot say.”

  “So, what kind of distress tests?”

  “There are three that we’ve learned of from other students,” Hana paused. “The Guardians don’t speak of them. I have not done them yet, you understand, but I have heard.”

  Maddy hoped small cramped places weren’t on the menu. “Go on.”

  “The first test is to climb a sky-high ladder and walk across a rope bridge, over a cavern filled with spiders and snakes, and to a platform on the other side.”

  “Doesn’t sound so bad.”

  “It gets worse. The second test you jump into a hole blindfolded and land sometime later in water.”

  Maddy figured Will to fail that one if even he made it past the first one, which she doubted, given the height of the ladder. “Screening out people with fear of heights and water in the same test.”

  “Yes, clever. Lastly, you have to walk through a dark tunnel that gets progressively smaller until you have to crawl on your belly to reach the other side.”

  Rats! Maddy knew that test would be in there somewhere. She repressed an involuntary shudder. All that weight bearing down on her, trapping her inside--Stop! Think about something else. Deal with that when it comes.

  “They’ve been rather, uh, thorough.”

  “Indeed. Myself, I worry about the spiders. One bit me when I was a child and the doctor said they might have to take my hand off. You?”

  Maddy finished brushing her hair. “Small spaces are not my thing.”

  Hana nodded in sympathy. Dressed, she sat on the bed.

  Maddy sat on the twin bed across from Hana. “Know anything else about it?”

  “No, this is all.”

  Maddy tried to push her, but Hana remained quiet, so Maddy changed the subject. “Who was the tall blond man at the dinner table last night? The one sitting with the green-eyed blonde woman and the stocky chap? Sounded like he had a sexy German accent.”

  This question evoked a sparkling laugh from Hana. “Ah, you have your eye on Juergen. He is handsome, isn’t he?”

  Maddy nodded as she recalled the broad shoulders, chiseled features, and thick blond hair pulled back into a short ponytail.

  Hana smiled. “But what about the man you came with? He is not with you and your brother?”

  Maddy wasn’t sure how to answer. “He’s a family friend.”

  Hana raised one eyebrow and laughed her sparkling laugh again. “He looks at you in another way.”

  “He’s so short!” Maddy burst out.

  “You are tall, yes. Nice long legs you have. Juergen is tall, too. Perhaps you will...how do you say?...hit it off. Perhaps not. I noticed your family friend. He’s not so short and seems to have a tall spirit.”

  Maddy had never thought of Bear that way. “Tell me more about Juergen.”

  “You will have to discover him for yourself,” Hana said.

  Maddy wasn’t at all sure she was ready to discover anyone new. A little flirting might be fun, but her heart still ached from the breakup with Vincent. And she knew she was still a basket case in the wake of her father’s and Maria’s deaths. “Really, you don’t know where he’s from, his interests, nothing?”

  “I know nothing more than that he is German.”

  Twice defeated, Maddy decided breakfast was in order before she began training for the duel that could end her life.

  CHAPTER 32

  2:00 p.m.:

  After breakfast, Will’s gut nagged him about their situation. He wondered what the Jerusalem Testing Society was all about and already missed his nicotine. After surviving this morning’s nightmare, he wanted a smoke.

  According to Juergen, Dieter, and Elena--the Germans he sat next to at breakfast--to leave this place alive, they had to “run the gauntlet,” or go through a series of tests such as heights, snakes, etc. That fear testing was five days out, followed by the duel.

  As soon as he heard “heights,” a sinking feeling began in his stomach. Heights had never been his thing.

  But, in the meantime, there was the practice hall. It was a large, open space, larger than the dining hall, and Will considered, not for the first time, how this underground town had been built. It had taken a lot of work to create these vast, open spaces out of rock. Perhaps the ancient inhabitants had used caves as starting points and used the complex as a place to escape when invaders threatened.

  That was Bear’s theory.

  Will was just impressed by the resulting underground facility.

  Here in the practice hall, there were several mats, sectioned off for practicing with weapons, and walls full of those weapons to choose from. He and Bear stood at the side of the room, checking it all out.

  “Looks like they have all the medieval weapons,” Bear said.

  “Help me out here. I’m not a weapons kinda guy. What are they?”

  “Okay. Those poles are quarterstaffs and there are some knives on that wall.”

  “I’m not an idiot.”

  “You asked.”

  Will poin
ted to the middle of the wall. “You’re an ass. What’s that thing that looks like a long hammer?”

  “Horseman’s pick, sometimes called a war hammer.”

  “How about that long pole with the spiky head?”

  “Mornin’ star,” Bear drawled.

  “Poetic.”

  “Right. You’ll also notice there are no guns here.”

  “Hmm, you’re right. I hadn’t noticed.”

  “So, what are you goin’ to use?” Bear asked.

  Will was surprised by the question. “Me?”

  “Yes, you. You need a weapon.”

  “Screw that. I’m an engineer, not a warrior.”

  “But you’re here now and on this quest. You might need to defend yourself. And what if the surprise they mentioned turns ugly?”

  “I’m not going to have time to get good at any weapon. The only thing I ever used in aikido was a wooden knife blade.”

  “Are you drawn to the sword, that mornin’ star, or anything else besides knives?” Bear insisted.

  “Not really.”

  Bear sighed. “Okay, then. I’ll show you how to throw ‘em.”

  “Let’s hope I don’t hit you in the eye with one.” Will was only half-joking.

  Bear ignored him and moved off toward the wall of knives with his nearly imperceptible limp. Once at the wall, he looked over a few, handled a couple, and put them back.

  Will was curious in spite of himself. “What are you looking for?”

  “Balance.”

  Bear finally chose three.

  He brought them over to Will and they stood in front of the targets about ten meters back. Bear handed one of the knives to Will. “Hold it like a hammer.”

  Will reached out and took it. It felt cold. Heavy. He caressed the blade with his other thumb. Sharp, too. He’d probably cut himself. “A hammer? On the handle? Don’t you hold the blade?”