Having felt a peculiar coincidence between his story and my own, I asked: "Did this volunteer die over there?"
Everyone in the room was staring at me now. Professor Haggins eyes went from mine to Simon, whose eyes were burning a hole through me. "Yes. How did you know that?"
Tension began to build inside my chest as I asked: "What was her name?"
Simon continued to stare through me as he said: "Her name was Rebecca Badeau. She was my fiancé."
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Rebecca almost dropped her digital notepad. Words can't describe how she felt that very moment. Nothing could have prepared her for it. I was killed? she said to herself. Of course she knew she was very much alive, but to read about it in an ancient manuscript was more than she could handle. She reread the last few paragraphs over and over again, trying to comprehend all of it. He said we were in love, Rebecca realized. Not her and Simon, but her and William. It was beyond bizarre. How could we've been in love? Love didn't just happen in her world. But what was probably most disturbing to her was that even in the manuscript she was paired to marry Simon. How could that have been known 3,500 years ago? The answer was obvious, It couldn't have been known. Rebecca didn't know what else to do but to keep reading:
*******
Rebecca, I hope you're staying with me here. I know this is probably a big surprise to you, but I wouldn't have written this if it weren't the truth. You can probably now see that this is bigger than anything imaginable. Yes, you existed in my time just as I probably exist in your time.
*******
Rebecca reeled back suddenly. The thought had never occurred to her. William Coulee exists right now?
*******
I wish I could explain it further (and I will) but now is not the time. Please, just keep reading. It's important for you to know all of this in order to understand how you could have existed in my time just as well as yours.
*******
This isn't possible, she almost said aloud. I didn't exist 3,500 years ago! It was impossible—or was it? Rebecca's mind spun out of control as she continued to read:
*******
When Simon told me that the two of you were engaged to be married, I actually had to repeat it back to him. I was in love with you and I thought you were in love with me. Never, during the three months we lived together, did you tell me that you were engaged to another man. It was a nightmare to hear. The word "shocked" doesn't quite say enough.
I looked in everyone's face; they didn't seem to notice the impact Simon's words had on me. They didn't see the explosion of shock in my chest and the bubbling abyss of jealousy in my stomach. And let me tell you something about jealousy—jealousy is no one's friend. Jealousy is a lover of none. And at that moment, jealousy was wrapped all around me, whispering sweet hatred into my ear. As I looked into Simon's burning gaze, jealousy told me to jump up from my seat, grab the crippled man and toss him into the fireplace, just as it was probably telling him that I had an affair with you. Jealousy had entered the room and it was now taking control of the conversation.
It took everything in me not to explode. And I'm pretty sure no one was aware. I'm pretty sure no one could see the fiery twister cycling out of control inside of me. Yeah, I'm pretty sure no one noticed—no one except for Simon. He knew something. Despite the wretchedness twisting my soul in half, I witnessed Simon paying close attention to me.
"Did you know Rebecca?" asked Professor Haggins.
I tried to look at him with a calm expression but faltered with answering. I didn't know what to say. Simon had just confessed that you were engaged to him. What was I supposed to do, tell them that you and I were in love? So I decided to say something in the middle. "I believe Rebecca was one of the people I interviewed."
"Really?" Simon said calmly. But when I looked at him again, his eyes were anything but calm.
"I think so," I said as innocently as possible.
"Continue, Professor," Mr. Vermil said finally. He must have noticed the thick cloud of tension stirring between Simon and me.
Professor Haggins nodded and did as ordered. "After I received the documents, it took me the better part of four years to get the translation into an acceptable form."
I had a hard time listening. I was too busy replaying every conversation I had with you, every moment, every second. I tried to recall if you ever mentioned anything about this. I tried to look back and see if there were any signs, if there were any signals. I asked myself why you hadn't told me about him—why you had lied to me. I just wasn't prepared for all of it.
Professor Haggins continued, "The translation of ‘Linear A' will probably go down as my crowning achievement—that is if people ever learn about it."
You told me that you loved me—that you wanted to spend your life with me—that we were soul mates. If you were lying, then you were the best actress I had ever met.
But then a thought occurred to me that maybe you weren't lying—maybe you were really in love with me and the sham was your relationship with Simon. Maybe the two of you were separated. Maybe you two weren't getting along. I had so many questions I wanted to ask—I wanted to know more about your relationship with Simon. I wanted to hear it for myself. I wanted answers.
*******
Me too, thought Rebecca.
*******
Professor Haggins had finally cut through my thoughts and said: "The documents stated that the priests found what appeared to be holy books written in a language foreign to them. They tried to translate the text, but its mysteries eluded even their most knowledgeable and wisest. After that, they decided to return all the items to the box and declared it nothing more than a traveling shrine to the Hebrew God."
His statement cleared my head a little. I was able to say: "So the documents were really inside the Ark."
Simon appeared to finally be distracted as well. He looked over to Iah who was about to speak next. "The question," Iah said, "was what happened to the Ark after Solomon inherited it with Jerusalem. As the Professor descriptively told, the Ark held a mystical book."
"Right," Professor Haggins said, "but then it disappeared from history. There was no more mention of it in the Bible, leaving most scholars to believe that the Ark never left Solomon's Temple."
"But how did it end up in Bosnia?" I asked again.
"As you probably know, Jerusalem was sacked several times after Solomon's death and the Temple was destroyed," Professor Haggins said. "It's theorized that the Ark was destroyed during one of these encounters and that's why it isn't mentioned again in the Bible. But we believe we have evidence stating otherwise. Mr. Coulee, I'm sure by now you've heard of The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, or better known as the Templar Knights, am I correct?"
There had been a lot of hoopla over the Templar Knights during the prior few years and several books, as well as movies, highlighted them in different ways. "Weren't they the keepers of the Holy Grail or something like that?"
A disappointed acceptance crossed Professor Haggins's face. "They're a little more complicated than that. Two Knights from France and veterans of the First Crusade, Hugues de Payens and his relative Godfrey de Saint-Omer, first established the Templars around 1119 AD. It was their purpose to help protect the people traveling from afar to the Holy Land from robbers and bandits. The King of Jerusalem gave them the ruins of Solomon's Temple as their headquarters. They then recruited seven others into their monastic order: Payen de Montdidier, Archambaud de St. Agnan, Andre de Montbard, Geoffrey Bison, and two men recorded only by the names of Rossal and Gondamer—nine knights in all, which is a small number during a time where vast numbers usually decided the outcome of a battle. There is a growing argument that the original nine knights forming the Templars were too small a number to do anything they proposed. Their number didn't change for about the span of ten years and they did little in the way of protecting pilgrims coming to the Holy Land."
"That's true," said Simon in a low voice.
Professor Haggins continued, "The un-denying fact is that there was no need for the Templar Order in the first place. The Knights Hospitaller, the Order of St. James, the Order of the Holy Sepulchre, were already formed and did the duty of escorting pilgrims to and from the Holy Land. The Templars knew this and used it as a cloak. They had other intentions."
"Searching for the Holy Grail, right?" I said.
Simon shook his head and said: "They were looking for the Ark of the Covenant." He then glared at me.
Professor Haggins said: "The clergy of the Church and their speech givers really pushed that the Holy Land belonged to them and not the infidels controlling it. They ignited the sense of adventure in the hearts of young men all across Europe and gave them a united cause that all could rally behind. Once Jerusalem was captured and the path to and from the great city was secured, the next logical step was to further show their dominance in the region by ridding surrounding cities of their Muslim influence. What they needed was something that would not only be the symbol of their divine right to the land but also be the most powerful weapon anyone had ever encountered."
"The Ark of the Covenant," I said.
Professor Haggins nodded.
"So you think that the Templars might have found it buried in the Temple?"
Professor Haggins shook his head and said: "Certainly not. If they had then surely they would have paraded it around the city to show their divine superiority."
"But they did find something," Simon grunted. "Jewish sages, for centuries, proclaimed that Solomon had constructed hidden chambers deep below the Temple to hide the Ark in case of an invasion. But all of these theories were unproven until 1967, when a large tunnel was excavated and found under the mosque currently located where the Temple once stood. Dr. Theoman thought that when Nebuchadnezzar II sacked the great city and destroyed the temple, the Ark was safely stashed in this holding. The Templars spent ten years excavating the tunnels, looking for this chamber and the Ark. Then finally in 1129 AD, they found the chamber except what was inside was not exactly what they expected to find. They found a box, but not the Ark of the Covenant. This box was far simpler and contained a single book."
Professor Haggins said: "Rather than admitting defeat in their cause, the knights removed the codex and brought it to their headquarters to be examined. It was very old and written in a language far different than anything they had seen prior. It is also said that the book was sealed with seven symbols that looked anything but Christian in origins. But before they could take the book back to the Vatican, a member of their sacred order had taken the book and traveled to France with it, ultimately inspiring what is known as the original Grail tale. This, as you can imagine, infuriated the Templars and greatly worried the Church. For the Templars, their sacred relic had been stolen by one of their own, and for the Church, the most powerful weapon that could be used against them was no longer in the hands of their strongest military order. It was now loose in the world with the threat of it falling into enemy hands, and it did."
"How so?" I asked.
"Well, legend has it that the book was entrusted to the Cathars in Southern France. The relationship between the text and Cathar beliefs went well together. Therefore they were the most logical choice for safekeeping. It was thought that whatever was written in the book probably formed the basic ground for what all Gnostic religions stood on. The Cathars also had several strongholds and they kept the book hidden from the Church until the time was appropriate to release it. But the Church found out about this. The Pope issued a Papal Bull declaring a crusade against the Cathars in Languedoc, offering the land of the heretics to any who would fight. This offer of land drew the northern French nobility into conflict with the nobles of the south. King Philip II, as well as the Templar Knights, came crashing down onto Languedoc. It is estimated that one million lives were lost in the Albigensian Crusade. It was one of the most senseless wars to ever occur."
"Yes," Simon said coldly. "The war technically ended in April of 1229 with the Treaty of Paris, but the attacks didn't end there. The inquisition that followed was bloody and long. Montségur, a fortified castle that sat on top of a three thousand foot mountain in the Pyrenees Range, was the last stronghold to fall after a nine-month siege in 1244. The men and women who occupied the fortress were interrogated, tortured, and burned in a pit of fire. Over 200 were massacred on March 16th, 1244. After that the story of the Cathars was pretty much over. The Church stomped out the remaining groups and completely seized the region. It appeared to the Pope that victory was near and the lost book would be in hand soon enough—but things didn't exactly work out how he thought.
"After seizing the fort at Montségur and the burning of the Cathar men and women, they found no traces of the lost book. Furthermore there were a few tortured witnesses confessing that they saw four men escaping the fortress during the siege while carrying le tresor cathar."
"The Cathar treasure?" I asked.
"Yes," Simon said, sounding less agitated but not wholly friendly. "The long lasting rumor in the region is that the four men escaped the siege and climbed down the mountain with the sacred text. These four men had split up and went separate ways in order to lead their attackers away from the one who had the text, which was supposedly hidden in a location that would be identifiable with their belief so that later generations of men and women would be able to locate the book and one day unveil its lost knowledge."
I asked if any of the Cathars who escaped were ever caught. Simon shook his head and told me that there was no written record of the Church ever nabbing any of them. So then I asked: "Why Bosnia?"—for the third time.
Simon adjusted his collar before answering: "Because the Bosnian Church flourished around that time and was a Gnostic religion. It was the perfect place for a Cathar refugee to hide himself from the Catholic Church and the inquisitors, especially considering that the Bosnian Church was supposed to be Catholic. We believe, as did Dr. Theoman, that one of the four men who escaped with the lost book went there and took refuge with the people sympathetic to their cause."
I had to admit: they were putting together a pretty convincing argument that something might have traveled to Bosnia, however all of their evidence was circumstantial. They still hadn't provided any real concrete evidence that the Book of Thoth laid buried in some hill. "Look guys, everything you've told me tonight has been nothing but speculation. Did Dr. Theoman really begin an excavation in Bosnia purely based on a tentative theory? Did he have any proof at all that there might be truth to this idea of yours?"
Professor Haggins, Simon, Dr. Thatcher, Iah, and Mr. Vermil all gave each other looks—either for reassurance or for—something else. "Well William," Mr. Vermil finally broke the silence, "I think there is something you need to see. I believe this will answer your question."
Just then, Simon rolled away from the conversation and over to a desk that contained many documents. He removed something and then rolled back. In his hands was a photocopy of a letter. "Here is your evidence."
*******
The green railway light went off overhead. Rebecca looked up at the map and saw her stop was approaching. Reluctantly, she closed the translation as the railway slowed. There was a moment, while reading the chronicle, that she actually forgot her worries—the moment, however, was over.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The sun had set outside the railcar windows. Night came early that time of year. The railway platform slowly rolled into view and looked alien in comparison to how it looked during the day. Almost everything glows at night, including the benches and railings. Rebecca exited with only one other person and walked down the stairwell. The cool air blew against her skin, causing shivers, as she walked from the platform to the sidewalk and toward her flat. High above the station was the image of Minister Theoman, smiling. It was the same image Rebecca and Jillian stood under that morning, when her troubles began. The look in his eyes used to give Rebecca a warm feeling of security, but now
it was giving her a chilled feeling of insecurity. The salty smell of the lake filled her nostrils and the far off crash of the surf echoed in her ears. Rebecca tried to warm her arms by rubbing her hands up and down them but for some reason it wasn't working—she kept trembling. She never liked walking alone in the dark. No one did. Even though the MSF kept the sectors perfectly safe at all hours they couldn't protect the people from their own imaginations: the true driving force behind fear. And the one thing on everyone's minds at nighttime was the Stalkers.
Most people didn't speak of them and many more pretended they didn't exist. The Stalkers became the adult version of the Boogie Man. Rebecca was only seven when she first heard of them. A child's story, she tried to tell herself: a child's story that every adult feared.
"What are the Stalkers?" a young Rebecca had asked her father during dinner one night.
Francis looked to Francesca for support but there was none to be found. "Well, what have you heard?"
Rebecca was a little reluctant to say. She was afraid of sounding foolish. "Not much, I just heard that they existed."
Francis's brow wrinkled. "Well there you have it."
"What do I have?" asked Rebecca.
Francis took a bite of green beans and talked through chewing, "The Stalkers are something that exists."
She was a little disappointed by the answer. "That's it?"
"What else do you want to know?"
She felt like it was a trick so she chose her question wisely. "Why are they called Stalkers?"
Francis swallowed his bite and took a drink of water. "Do you know what the term ‘stalker' means?"
"It's similar to hunter, right?"
Francis nodded. "Then you already know."
"That the Stalkers are hunters?"
Francis's silence told her that she was correct.
"What do they hunt?"
Francis looked as if he might had expected it but still wasn't sure as to how to say it. He looked to Francesca again for support, but she pretended not to be engaged. He then sighed. "Look, tell me what you've heard and I'll clear up anything that's not right."
The Sinner King: Book of Fire Page 14