Logan shrugged.
‘And it floods at high tide!’ she added, enraged by his indifference. ‘How the hell are they supposed to swim if they’re tied up?’
‘That’s their problem,’ Tristan insisted. ‘They invited this fate when they threatened your life.’
‘I won’t do it!’ Karita stood firm and defiant.
‘Fine.’ Tristan handed her the map and the torch. ‘I’ll do it myself.’ He grabbed Molay and began dragging him toward the hole in the ground.
‘Don’t you do it.’ Karita began to panic, until it occurred to her how she might threaten the ghost. She began folding the map. ‘One more step and I’ll rip this map into confetti.’
Tristan stopped and dropped Molay. ‘Are you sweet on this lying thug, is that it?’
‘Are you jealous?’ Karita realised the true source of Tristan’s anger.
Stunned, Logan’s expression turned to that of a man betrayed. ‘I’d just like to see you live through this.’
‘But you’re not a murderer, Tristan.’ Karita appealed to his good nature.
Logan’s eyes filled with tears suddenly, for her claim was true enough. ‘I’d kill to save you.’
Karita softened her tone, touched by his concern.
‘I don’t doubt that your motive is in my best interests and maybe I am naive, but …’ Karita tucked the map into a pocket and approached Logan, ‘I’d rather die than have these men’s souls on my conscience for the rest of my days. And I’m sure that killing these men was not what your Master had in mind when he sent you on this quest.’
Logan began to tremble with the emotional distress Tristan felt. ‘They took everything from me.’ He looked down to direct his anger at Molay.
‘No!’ Karita grabbed his face and made him look into her eyes. ‘Not these men,’ she stressed, and unsure of how best to ease the ghost’s painful memories, she kissed him.
As their mouths melted softly together for the longest while, Karita felt all the tension and anger rush from Logan’s body. The gates to her heart, which had been closed for years due to lack of motivation, were suddenly flung wide open, and love, joy and happiness came flooding out.
Logan grinned as Karita pulled back, flushed and radiant. ‘A very convincing argument, I must say.’
Karita shrugged, rather overawed herself. ‘I excelled at debating when I was at school,’ she commented, unsure of how to explain her tactics.
‘I would warrant, you did, lass —’ With the sound of a gun being cocked, the smile dropped from Logan’s lips and their attention was drawn to the now conscious Preston Molay.
‘I know how you feel about Logan de Scott, Miss Torelle,’ Preston rose to his feet, the gun aimed at Karita, ‘so I am guessing your beloved ghost is having another possession session.’ As Molay shifted his aim to Logan, Karita jumped into the line of fire.
‘Were you lying to me about the gun, Preston?’ Karita appealed, scared out of her mind by her own heroics. She knew what Preston was thinking; with Logan dead there would be no body for Tristan to possess.
Preston mulled over the question, maintaining his aim. ‘No.’
‘Then put it away.’ Karita stared him down as she inched her way toward him. ‘The Brotherhood will ensure your worldly freedom if you kill us, but only you can ensure the freedom of your eternal soul.’
‘Stay.’ Preston backed up a step, and Karita froze. Clearly, Preston was in conflict with himself and she didn’t want to rush him into choosing unwisely.
‘The great Master who once worked through Tristan —’
‘Karita, no,’ Tristan interrupted, to caution her against disclosing anything about that entity.
‘I’ve met him,’ she boasted and Logan groaned in protest. ‘It’s all true, Preston … the afterlife, reincarnation, the House of the Spirits, all of it! But the treasure can only be found by the righteous,’ she emphasised and her point hit home this time. ‘From what I can tell of you and Tristan, you are both good men, who’ve kept bad company. If you could just stop seeing each other through the Brotherhood’s eyes, you might both realise that you can help each other.’ She lightened the tone of her lecture, as Preston lowered his aim. ‘I see no reason why we can’t all get what we want out of this.’
‘Sanest idea I’ve heard yet,’ Preston admitted, tucking his gun away.
‘We can’t take him along,’ Tristan objected. ‘Whatever we discover, mankind is not ready to know of it. The Master said so.’
‘From what I can tell of the Master … if he doesn’t want Preston to know or remember anything, then he won’t.’ Karita took a deep breath to contain her frustration. ‘Or perhaps, once made privy to divine inspiration, Preston will realise his colleagues are not ready.’ She approached Logan and removed the gun from his person. ‘What I guess I’m trying to say is that we have no right to judge a man we hardly know … so why don’t we leave those kinds of decisions to the powers that be, hey?’
‘I still don’t trust him,’ Tristan stated for the record.
Karita moved to Preston and held out a hand to request he hand his weapon over.
‘Well, I trust you.’ He cooperated, whereby Karita cast both guns into the deep shaft.
‘You,’ she gave Tristan the map and the torch, ‘give directions. And you,’ she directed Preston, ‘get the chest.’
6. House of the Holy
Long ago it was known that man could
do everything he conceived he would.
It was only man who changed the game,
by believing himself unworthy of gain.
The steadfast soul need never fear,
divine assistance is always near.
The Man clear of heart, soul and mind,
will transcend the ring-pass-not of time.
Fortunately, there were not too many obstructions en route, bar the dense scrub of the forest and the darkness of the moonless night. They were pacing out an old trail on a northerly bearing, which the legend claimed would lead them to a great marker of cold fire.
‘What the …?’ Tristan mumbled as he shone the torch over a boulder that lay directly in their path.
Karita stumbled out of the bush next, inspecting her clothes, which had become ragged on the way. She was disappointed to discover that she’d just ruined a perfectly good pair of trousers and a sweater. ‘What is fire-like about this?’ Karita threw her hands up in the air. ‘Cold, yes … great, certainly … but fire, gentlemen?’
‘Well, assuming this is the marker,’ Tristan advised, checking their instructions, ‘the map ends here, with a riddle.’
‘Let’s have it,’ Karita urged.
‘At the heart of the rose is a symbol,’ he read, ‘at the centre of which lies the House of the Holy.’
‘That’s very pretty.’ Karita was losing her patience. She was tired, dirty, hungry and seemingly lost! ‘What the hell is it supposed to mean?’
Tristan looked at her apologetically; he obviously had no idea.
‘Great!’ She looked at Preston, who’d been very quiet, to find him looking very pleased with himself. ‘Do you want to share your joy with the other children?’
‘I’d just like to state now, before I answer this little conundrum for you both, that I don’t have to.’ He aimed his point at Tristan. ‘So, I think this proves Karita’s theory that I am meant to be present, as without me your hunt would end here, unfruitfully.’
‘All right.’ Karita urged him to get on with it. ‘Your readiness to bequeath information is a credit to you.’
‘Only if the information proves correct,’ Tristan growled; he didn’t like being upstaged in front of the object of his desire.
Preston looked at Karita; he was out to impress. ‘You asked what is fire-like about this marker? This is one of six such boulders that are laid out in the shape of a cross that is almost nine hundred feet long. The element of fire is related to the south in all esoteric doctrine. I think we can safely assume that this stone represents the so
uthern tip of the cross. Legend states that the boulders marked the final resting place of the Holy Grail.’
Karita wasn’t too sure what she thought about that and so looked at Logan to hear Tristan’s view.
‘The Grail is the Philosopher’s Stone, which is the key that unlocks the House of the Spirits to mankind,’ he mumbled. ‘This is one of the central teachings of the order of the Rose Cross …’
‘Yes …’ Preston encouraged Tristan’s train of thought.
‘We must look for the central boulder of this configuration,’ Tristan concluded.
‘Elementary,’ Preston warranted with good cheer.
‘But if there are six boulders, doesn’t that mean that there are two central boulders?’ Karita figured.
‘The Rose Cross was not a crucifix,’ Preston got in before Tristan could tell Karita, ‘but rather the same cross that is now used as the Red Cross symbol.’
‘Which way does the extra boulder lie?’ Tristan tested Preston’s knowledge.
‘To the west.’
‘So we head north and the next boulder should be the heart of the cross.’ Karita clapped her hands, eager to resume. ‘Thank you, Preston, that was very helpful.’ She nudged Logan to get Tristan to admit he’d been wrong about him. ‘Wasn’t it, Tristan?’
A grunt was all she got, as Tristan moved off to lead the hunt once more.
The next boulder looked no more remarkable than the last, but Tristan approached the huge obstruction to inspect it at close range with the torch.
‘Thank God!’ Preston entered the clearing and set down the heavy little chest. ‘Can we open this now?’
‘One moment.’ Tristan begged for Preston’s patience as he searched over the boulder’s surface for a particular marking. ‘It must be on the top,’ he concluded, unable to find what he was looking for. ‘Give me a leg up, will you?’ He motioned Preston closer.
‘Are you looking for a keyhole?’ Karita asked, thinking it rather farfetched, but then, so was this entire adventure.
As Preston struggled to hold the weight of his colleague, Tristan scanned the top surface of the boulder. ‘Indeed,’ he said, sounding satisfied and a little disbelieving. ‘It’s here … I’m nearly home.’
‘Fabulous,’ Preston lowered him back to the ground. ‘Now … the chest?’
Tristan approached Karita and held out a hand. ‘The key to the chest if you would, Miss Torelle.’
Karita pulled the band from the end of her long braid and as she unwound her hair, a large metal key, which had been concealed in the dark mass, was revealed.
Preston was impressed. ‘I would never have looked there.’
‘So, who is the superior sex?’ Tristan commented, as he took possession of the key. Karita grinned smugly at the compliment.
‘The Brotherhood might have done better to send one of the Sisterhood on this quest,’ Preston admitted, but plagued by a query he looked at Tristan. ‘I am wondering, de Scott … how did you come across this chest? Or were you the one who buried it?’
Tristan was amused by the question, surprised that it had not been raised before now. ‘I was not the one who buried it,’ he admitted. ‘It was in the ground hundreds of years before my house was ever built on the property.’
‘But that puts the date of the burial before Australia was even located by Europeans?’ Karita didn’t understand, and Preston was frowning as he struggled to accept the answer.
‘So, too, was this site constructed before recorded European occupation of this country,’ Tristan pointed out. ‘It was only after I started channelling the glyphs from the Master that I perceived the information about the treasure buried on my property,’ Tristan told them. ‘When I followed the detailed information pointing to where it had been buried and found the old chest, I realised that I was not going insane … I really was channelling a Master entity, and it was he who hid the treasure here.’
‘But how?’ Karita still didn’t comprehend.
‘A true Master needs nothing more than his will to travel anywhere in the universe, so an undiscovered country on the opposite side of the world would really not be too much of a feat,’ Tristan explained. ‘The Master hoped that by the time Australia was discovered mankind would be ready to unlock some of the ancient mysteries. When this proved not to be the case, the Master informed me of the treasure and requested that I return it to the House of the Spirits for sakekeeping until a later date.’
‘But you did not take up the quest at that time?’ Karita wondered why.
‘I thought the Master had been far too quick to judge the Brotherhood, who had me well within their power.’ The regret on Logan’s face reflected Tristan’s regrets. ‘I decided to tell them of my association with the Master and we all know how that turned out.
‘When I was disowned by my Chapter and my family, I felt angered by the position the Master had placed me in and I refused to aid him further. But, of course, I would never have been in that predicament if I had only done as the Master had asked in the first place … I just needed someone to blame, I guess. By the time I realised my life was under threat, it was too late to take up the quest. Instead, I died in torment and, trapped in that house, I became determined to protect its secrets from the Order which had ruined my life.’ Tristan took the key and crouched down in front of the small chest to open it.
‘No wonder you wanted to drop me down a hole.’ Preston was very sympathetic, suddenly. ‘I don’t expect the brothers have really matured that much since your time, Tristan.’ The entity inside Logan only grunted in response as Preston squatted down beside him, eager to see what the chest contained. ‘Did you open the chest when you first dug it up?’ he wondered.
‘I did,’ Tristan confirmed and then looked at Preston to grin broadly, ‘and I was amazed by what I found.’ He turned the key and the padlock fell open. Once he removed this, Karita edged closer, eager to see what was inside. Still, she kept a little distance between her and the men, not wanting to disturb the male bonding session taking place.
‘Behold, the Philosopher’s Stone.’ Tristan opened the chest and the sharp burst of golden light blinded all present momentarily. He then took the tall glass pyramid in hand. The pyramid had a frame of gold that extended past the base of the pyramid to become legs, forming a tripod. The metalwork was beautifully engraved with the ancient motif of the Rose Cross.
‘But that doesn’t look like a stone at all. Or a key,’ Karita mumbled, her eyes mesmerised by the light and the tiny sparkling particles that danced about within the confines of the glass.
‘The Philosopher’s Stone is what lays inside, lass,’ Tristan enlightened her. ‘Those tiny particles of gold you see are pure divine light … “the fountain of eternal life”.’
‘This is far more remarkable than the ancient doctrine that spoke of it,’ Preston said, completely overawed by the energies emanating from the piece. ‘You were right to keep this hidden.’
Actually, Tristan was surprised that Preston hadn’t snatched it from him by now. ‘Time to return it to the Master then.’
Preston nodded to agree, whereupon he and Tristan both stood up. A loud crack was heard, and as the ground gave way beneath them, both men dropped into the earth.
Karita was close enough and fast enough to grab Preston around the upper arm and stop his fall, but as he had hold of Tristan’s wrist which clutched the glowing source of wonder, Karita found herself struggling to hold the weight of the two men. She managed to drag Preston’s upper body out of the pit, and he got a foothold on a rotted piece of wood.
‘Karita, can you grab the the golden tripod from Logan?’ Preston strained to keep hold of Logan’s wrist, although his grip was slipping. The sound of the heavy chest hitting the bottom of the pit, made them all realise how deep the shaft was.
‘Not without letting you go, and if you lose your foothold …’ Karita knew there was only one way. ‘Drop the damn treasure, Tristan, and pull yourself up or your great-grandson is going die!’
‘If I drop the treasure, then I am cursed for all time,’ he protested. ‘I can’t take another century in limbo!’
‘I’m losing you, buddy.’ Preston couldn’t believe he was actually going to allow the priceless treasure to be destroyed. Preston could have let Logan go and grabbed the golden tripod that was the key to the House of the Holy Spirits, but he just couldn’t bring himself to put the acquisition of knowledge before a human life. ‘The first cause of the Masters is service, Tristan … no Master will commend you for murder.’
‘I have done my service,’ Tristan cried out stubbornly.
Karita was feeling torn up herself, although it was probably more from strain than sentiment. ‘With a pure heart and pure intentions you are as powerful as I AM, that’s what the Master said,’ Karita yelled out in desperation. ‘Damn it, Tristan, let your bloody curse go!’
In a moment of pure abandon, Tristan tossed the glowing jewel into the void and gripped hold of Preston’s hand. Karita aided Preston, who hauled Logan up behind him and all three adventurers collapsed on secure ground, puffing and moaning in the wake of the close call.
The key was heard smashing to smithereens at the bottom of the old shaft. Karita rolled over and propped her head on one hand to say reassuringly to the man who was occupying the body alongside her: ‘You did the right thing, Tristan … and even if the Master is not proud of you, I am.’ A kiss was his reward.
‘Miss Torelle … I didn’t know you cared,’ he replied with a grin.
Karita sat bolt upright, as it was not Tristan she’d kissed, but Logan. She could tell by his accent. ‘Where’s Tristan?’ She stood up, concerned for him.
‘Tristan?’ She called, as she turned in circles searching. ‘Tristan!’
The ghost tried to reassure her but his accomplice could no longer see him, or hear him, and Tristan feared that the powers-that-be had abandoned him once more. Then he noted a light-filled mist rising from the hole that had nearly claimed the lives of his company. Karita, Logan and Preston didn’t appear to be aware of the occurrence, so it had to be otherworldly.