The Legend of the Black Monk

by Nigel Cubbage

  Rupert paused. ‘But we cannot contact you. How will we know?’

  ‘I have this, remember?’ The old man reached into a pouch under the seat of his wheelchair and took out a mobile phone. ‘I swapped numbers with Rebecca. I will make contact if I need to. Don’t call me in case they find the phone. Here, you will need this to see in the tunnel.’ He took a cigarette lighter out of his pocket. ‘I will have to close the entrance while you are gone in case I have visitors. If you return, tap three times.’

  Rupert nodded. He took one final look around the room and squeezed himself through into the gloom.

  The small passageway seemed to be part of the original building but did not look like it had been used in years. The dust and the cobwebs were so thick in places that he had to close his mouth and eyes and fight his way through them. He clicked Von Krankl’s lighter open and made his way along by the flickering orange flame. Further along, the passage divided. One way led down and Rupert thought he could hear the sea somewhere close below. In the other direction was an old door, which did not look as if it had been used in a long time. He managed to force it open and felt a rush of fresh air. It opened into a little copse on the hillside below the monastery. Rupert judged it would not be too difficult to scramble down to the shore and along. It was low tide and it would be possible to get across the rocks to the mainland. This would be his escape route then. He returned through the trees to the passageway and pulled the door behind him. He decided to explore the other direction, down.

  A curious, haunting sound was coming from somewhere. It was not like any noise he had ever heard before. Rupert stopped, holding out a hand to steady himself against the rocky wall, and listened. What was it? He edged a few paces along and stopped again.

  It almost sounded like singing, or chanting. Rupert’s heart beat a little faster. The strange sound was spooky and he was not altogether sure he wanted to go any further. ‘Pull yourself together,’ he muttered to himself, shaking his head. ‘It’s a monastery. It’s probably just the monks praying.’

  With an effort, he crept slowly forward, the noise growing louder. He rounded a turn and saw a faint orange light glowing, flickering along the walls like the tongue of a snake. Rupert headed towards its source, reaching a ledge where the passageway opened out and he could suddenly see down into a wide cavern below. His eyes opened wide in surprise.

  Chapter 24

  Coded Messages

  Drew, Rebecca and Laura sat in the front two pews at the Smugglers’ Chapel, admiring the shafts of light streaming through the window.

  ‘Read Kraus’ message again, Gilmour,’ said Rebecca. ‘Something is nagging at me. The bit about finding the gold … read from there.’

  Laura spread the piece of paper open. ‘Here it is:

  They found Himmel’s gold. Followed us that day. Why I never came back. Himmel took me back to move it, and to kill me. Himmel is now no more. Only I now know the true location.

  My life’s work, Saladin’s nemesis, Napoleon, where to look. Answer to another mystery.

  JK June 17th 1955.’

  Rebecca smacked the back of the pew in front, making the other two jump. ‘Himmel is now no more!’

  ‘So Himmel was dead by 1955. Do you think Kraus killed Himmel?’ Drew asked.

  ‘At least a possibility,’ replied Rebecca. ‘Everything stops after this. The trail goes completely cold.’

  ‘Er, isn’t that because Kraus died?’

  ‘But if Himmel was dead, surely they would look after Kraus, not starve him, because he would now be the only man who now knew where to find the gold?’

  ‘Point,’ said Drew, nodding slowly.

  ‘It doesn’t make sense yet,’ said Rebecca drumming on the pew in frustration. There is something we are not seeing.’

  ‘Perhaps that’s what we’ll find in the window,’ said Laura, hopefully.

  ‘Perhaps,’ said Rebecca, sounding unconvinced. ‘But …’

  ‘But the window clue is something Kraus would have left before Himmel died,’ said Drew, getting to his feet and going over to stand before the window. ‘So it can’t be the whole answer.’

  ‘Exactly,’ said Rebecca. ‘Blimey! We might make a detective out of you yet, Campbell.’

  ‘My life’s work, Saladin’s nemesis, Napoleon, where to look. Answer to another mystery,’ read Laura and looked up at Rebecca. ‘What’s that all about? Who was Saladin?’

  ‘Leader of the Turks in the later Crusades. We did it in history last term – were you not paying attention?’

  Laura, Rebecca and Drew spun round in astonishment.

  ‘Rupert! How on earth?’

  They rushed forward to greet their friend, smiles all over their faces.

  ‘Well I had to break out in the end, seeing as you lot were obviously never going to find me. I was taken to the monastery and held prisoner there. We found a secret passageway out of the monastery, the Black Monk’s old smuggling route. Now, tell me what’s new!’

  For the next few minutes, they did just that and Rupert related Von Krankl’s unexpected appearance at the monastery.

  ‘Glad to hear you reckon Von Krankl is okay too. I had to trust him. Anyway, just before I came here, I explored the whole passage and this was really curious. There was a funny noise, a sort of wailing coming from somewhere deeper in the caves. At first I thought it might have been the monks praying or something’

  ‘Oh, Rupert, honestly!’

  ‘Well, they do, don’t they? All that Gregorian chanting. Anyway, it wasn’t of course.

  No, there was a big sea cave, a boat and a couple of monks with this device of some sort.’

  ‘What sort?’ asked Rebecca, puzzled.

  ‘I have no idea, but it was flashing and giving off this weird wailing noise.’

  ‘Like a signal?’ asked Drew.

  ‘Yeah! I heard them talking about a shipment tomorrow, coming in under cover of darkness.’

  ‘What could that be?’ wondered Laura.

  ‘Well we are going to be there to find out,’ said Rebecca, with an air of finality.

  ‘So then,’ said Rupert, ‘you guys have been having some fun without me. Old bones and cryptic messages.’

  ‘Well if you didn’t keep getting yourself locked up by the bad guys! You’re worse than Campbell.’ Rebecca’s tongue was firmly in her cheek as she reached for the little book about the stained glass window. ‘Now, Brains, seeing as you are here, perhaps you can solve the mystery of the window. Saladin’s nemesis, in all these pictures of Crusaders doing battle, would be …?’

  ‘Richard the Lionheart. But … hmmm, he doesn’t seem to be here.’ He pored over the book. ‘Ah! So the central figure, local hero Sir Lytton Hobbe must be our guy.’

  ‘Odd message. He says something really clear about how Himmel discovered the gold, then a really cryptic bit – My life’s work, Saladin’s nemesis, Napoleon, where to look.

  Answer to another mystery. It’s like code, in case the wrong person reads it.’

  ‘And where to look? Take a pointer from something in the window?’

  ‘Pointers are dogs, aren’t they?’ asked Laura.

  ‘Posh dogs,’ murmured Drew.

  ‘Oh here we go again! Don’t be so working class hero.’ Rebecca mocked. ‘They are simply pure bred dogs.’

  ‘Sure … bit of racial supremacy. Keep the breed pure … bit like Nazi philosophy.’

  ‘Now you’re being stupid. I like pointers, therefore I am a Nazi?’

  ‘I still think those people on Crufts are seriously weird.’

  ‘Ever considered that maybe YOU are weird, Campbell?’

  ‘Have we finished, children?’ asked Rupert merrily. ‘Fascinating discussion and all that but rather off the main ‘point-er’.’

  Rebecca turned to Drew and nodded in assent. ‘Quite right. Back to the pointer please?’

  ‘It wasn’t just me.’ Drew stopped in mid-sentence and shook his head in resignation.

  Back
at the window Rebecca was waving a finger in the air. ‘Got it! What do you point with?’

  ‘Your finger?’ said Laura, tentatively.

  ‘Exactly! Look at Lytton.’

  In the central pane, Sir Lytton Hobbe held a shield with his coat of arms in one hand, while his other pointed to somewhere in the distance.

  ‘What is he pointing at?’ Rupert voiced the obvious question.

  ‘There’s nothing there,’ said Laura, bemused. ‘The pane finishes a few inches from his finger and the next one is plain blue …’

  Rupert gave an involuntary gasp. ‘What is it, Rupe?’ Laura put a hand on his arm.

  ‘Flags, just like in the fireplace.’

  ‘Make sense, please, Rupert,’ commanded Rebecca.

  ‘Von Krankl was a signals officer. The navy used to use flags to send signals between ships, like the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson, ‘England expects’ and all that. And the secret door out of my cell was marked by flags, saying ‘Open’ and ‘Close’.’

  ‘Look at the edges!’ Drew pointed at the panes around the edge of the window, each containing a small flag. ‘It’s the code! Kraus left a message in the window using good old naval signals.’

  ‘But we don’t know what it says,’ grumbled Rebecca. She stopped, noticing a wide smile on Drew’s face. ‘Wait a minute. First you know Morse code … now you know flags?’

  Drew nodded. ‘I’m not just a pretty face. And it explains Kraus’ Napoleon reference. In the Napoleonic signals system, you read the flags down the mast, starting on the starboard side and then the port.’

  ‘So we should read down the right hand side first and then the left, you mean?’ asked Rupert.

  Rebecca was staring at Drew, half in amazement, half in horror. ‘This is too nerdy! People on University Challenge don’t know this stuff! I can’t believe I let you kiss me.’

  ‘So you did ?’ Laura shrieked.

  ‘You watch University Challenge?’ squealed Drew in mock horror. ‘Look, do you want this mystery solved, or what?’ He smiled non- chalantly.

  ‘Go on, then. What does it say, Lord Nelson?’ Rebecca folded her arms, ignoring Laura.

  ‘And if you say “Kiss me Hardy” –’

  ‘Ah, well now, let’s see …’ The smile faded. ‘I might need a code book.’

  ‘Oh, here we go!’ Rebecca smirked knowingly.

  ‘I can get the gist! … wait, wait. This side says Find there you go!’ He stepped back, please with himself. The others looked at him blankly.

  ‘And … find where? … what?’ Rebecca waited expectantly.

  ‘Ah, well it doesn’t say. Leastways, I can’t read it.’

  ‘What does it say on the other side?’ asked Laura.

  ‘Er. … Look, I need to get a code book. I bet the Admiral’s got one up at the manor.’

  ‘Looks like another trip to the Library,’ said Rebecca, sighing. ‘This is so frustrating. The location of the gold might be right here and we can’t read it.’

  ‘Wait a minute!’ said Laura, excitedly. ‘There was a code book in the Admiral’s envelope, wasn’t there?’

  ‘Of course!’ said Drew.

  ‘Remember, we’ve got to be at the monastery tomorrow night to see what the monks are up to and we need to go to the wreck to see this mystery accomplice of Von Krankl’s and take him some food,’ said Rupert.

  ‘And I don’t know about you,’ said Rebecca, ‘but I am starving. Let’s go back to the farm, grab some food. Then two of us can go to the wreck while the others get the code book and decipher Kraus’ message.’

  ‘Plan,’ said Drew.

  ‘And Laura…’ continued Rebecca. ‘How about paying Jimmy H a quick visit and asking him to get Grendel Baverstock to look at the bones in the chamber. You never know, he may come up with something.’

  Chapter 25

  The Napoleonic Answer

  Rebecca leaned against the range in the farmhouse kitchen and looked out of the window, enjoying the warmth on her back. Beyond the garden wall, she could see white crests being whipped up on the sea in the distance. The wind was getting up.

  ‘What have we been missing?’ she asked the room in general.

  The others exchanged puzzled glances. ‘We think Sky is in with the Nazis. The Nazis do not know the location of the gold, hence they are desperate to find out from Rupert … why? Remember we were curious about the Admiral’s death? The doctor who nobody had ever seen, the ambulance that came very quickly and the fact that Sky whisked him away to hospital and nobody saw him again after that.

  What if they were taking the Admiral prisoner?’

  ‘Maybe the old boy died on them before they had a chance to get anything out of him?’ said Rupert.

  ‘Hmm.’ Rebecca sounded unconvinced.

  Over a hastily eaten sandwich, they decided to split into two groups. Rebecca and Drew would go to the wreck with food for Von Krankl’s mystery friend which they raided from the fridge, while Rupert and Laura would tackle the riddle of the stained glass window.

  Drew looked slightly put out when Rupert appeared with a web print-out of the naval flag code and described it as ‘pretty simple stuff, a monkey could probably read this’.

  Time was not on their side, now John Sky’s cover had been blown. With Rupert’s mother and Guinevere away, and Gaston preoccupied with the farm, they would at least be clear to carry on without having to answer too many questions. If Rupert and Laura could solve the riddle of the window and discover the location of the gold, provided they could stay one step ahead of Sky and Daedalus, they might yet carry out the Admiral’s last wish.

  * * *

  ‘Keep an eye out in case we are followed,’ said Rebecca, as they left the farmhouse.

  She and Drew made ready to head down the little path through the trees to the boathouse, looking nervously around.

  ‘Eyes peeled for cassocks, everybody,’ said Drew. ‘Sky probably suspects we’re up to something and once they find out Rupe has gone, the gloves will come right off. He’ll know that we know and there’s no telling what they might do.’

  Rebecca stopped suddenly. Rupert and Laura almost crashed into her. ‘Hold on! We can buy ourselves some more time. Why do they have to find out Rupert has gone? It will be easier if they don’t.’

  ‘Undoubtedly … but they will, won’t they? Find out, I mean.’ Rupert looked perplexed.

  ‘Sky needn’t know that we know … Not if you go back.’

  ‘Go back? Are you nuts?! Why would I want to go back?’

  ‘Daedalus wants to know what you know, doesn’t he? You can keep him occupied for us and try and find out whether he knows anything we don’t. And what if the clues in the chapel are in German, like the Morse code? Only Krankl can translate. So you’ll have to go back. Take some photos on your phone. Oh I forgot, you don’t have one! Laura, lend him yours. Take them to Krankl with the code book. Take Laura with you so she knows the way in. She can come back and tell us what Krankl says.’

  ‘Rebecca,’ said Rupert deliberately, setting his face grimly. ‘Daedalus is not a man to mess with. He has got these dogs … I don’t want to spend any more time than I absolutely have to within a mile of those dogs. They are killers. He has already threatened he will set them on me unless I tell him where the gold is.’

  Laura put her hand on Rupert’s shoulder. ‘Come on Becks. Perhaps it’s not such a good idea.’

  Rebecca looked silently out to sea for a moment. Turning, she fixed the others with a determined stare.

  ‘Uh-oh, I’ve seen this look before,’ murmured Drew.

  ‘It’s a simple choice. Dogs or Nazis. Which do we want to deal with? Because once Sky knows Rupert is out, those Nazis will stop at nothing and they are far more dangerous than a couple of muts. Look, take some pepper out of the kitchen and if you do have any bother from the dogs, throw it in their faces. They hate it.’

  ‘That’ll work,’ said Drew, trying his best to sound positive. ‘I saw James Bond do it once…
’

  Looking dubious, Rupert disappeared into the kitchen and returned clutching a small jar of pepper. He held it up with a wry look before putting it in his pocket.

  ‘Your Grandpa would be proud of you,’ said Rebecca. ‘Come on, Campbell, the wreck awaits.’

  Rebecca and Drew were soon out of sight. Rupert turned to Laura and blew out his cheeks.

  ‘Got a tough streak in her, that one, hasn’t she?’

  * * *

  Laura and Rupert set off over the lane and fields towards the woods and the chapel. ‘Will Von Krankl be okay till you get back, do you think?’ Laura looked concerned.

  ‘If they find out I’ve escaped, he’ll say he went to sleep and when he woke up, I was gone. They’ll think I got out of the room the normal way unless they know about the passage, which I doubt because it clearly had not been used for years. And they would hardly put us in a cell knowing there was another way out, would they? He’s got a mobile if he needs us.’

  ‘Oh great, let’s ring and check he’s okay!’

  ‘We can’t ring him! What if the monks are there in the room with him? If they find the phone, they’ll take it off him. He’s got Rebecca’s number. We have to wait till he calls.’

  ‘But you don’t want to find yourself walking right back into trouble with Daedalus. I didn’t like the sound of those dogs any more than you. Couldn’t we text him?’

  ‘Same problem.’

  ‘Surely he’ll have it on silent?’

  ‘He’s old … this is technology.’

  ‘That’s ageist! … Probably right though …’

  They had now crossed a stile into the woods and were approaching the Smugglers’ Chapel. It started to rain, so they ran the last few hundred yards and were grateful to reach cover. No sooner had they arrived than the rain started to fall in torrents, quickly forming puddles and streams along the path through the graveyard.