Mark Chadbourn - The Silver Skull

James wrung his hands. "I am a king, yet I am a slave."

"None of us can be ourselves-our lives are not our own. We all make sacrifices for the good of the ones we serve, and that is how it should be."

"But I would not be a slave to him!"

"Nor shall you, for much longer. We will never be truly free of them, but there will be a time when we have driven them back to the edges of life, and for most people they will become a memory, nothing more."

"Your words give me confidence. Remember me to your Queen, and, if you find it in your heart, pass on what I have said." He gave a weary smile, a nod, and went in search of the choir.

His resolve reaffirmed, Will moved towards Nathaniel, Meg, and Reidheld, who had been watching from afar. All the joyous noise of the festivities faded into a dull background buzz as his thoughts coalesced around the image of jenny in the cornfield. Was Cavillex telling him the truth, or was it a lie designed to cause emotional pain? New hope that would eventually be crushed so brutally it would be worse than not having hope at all? It showed the cold effectiveness of the Enemy: in only one moment they had identified and attacked his most vulnerable area. He tried to force the image back into the deep, dark place where he had learned to keep it so he could continue with his life, but it clawed its way back, refusing to be subdued. Raw once more, the old questions hit him with renewed force: alive or dead? Salvation or damnation?

Unsettled, Nathaniel wanted to know the identity of the new arrivals, and appeared only partly placated when Will told him they were Spanish agents, although Meg was convinced. "They are here because they know I have the cipher and they are afraid I will reach their prize before them," Will said. He watched the Unseelie Court select unsettled women and men for dancing partners, and added, "Though how they knew I would be here this evening, I have not yet concluded. But they must not be allowed to follow us, or prevent us reaching the object of our search. Nat, you must come with me."

"You can count on us," Meg said with a confident smile.

"Do not take any risks," Nathaniel said with concern.

"We shall not fail you," Reidheid added, "though our lives be forfeit."

"I said, do not take any risks!" Nathaniel stressed. He touched Meg's hand briefly before Will tugged him away.

"She has a brave heart, Nat. Trust her," Will whispered as they slipped across the room. Nathaniel cast one backwards glance as Meg drew attention to herself by causing a commotion with one of the attendants. At the door a guard barred their way, but James caught his eye and nodded. The king exchanged a brief, curious glance with Will before accepting that whatever was planned was in his best interests. He turned away as Will and Nathaniel darted through the door.

"I am in debt to the king," Will said as they moved through a chamber where servants bustled into a long corridor with views across the darkening hunting grounds at the rear of the palace. The sky was a deep blue, turning rapidly to black, the trees stark silhouettes, the moon and the stars gleaming. "He is a good man, burdened by the demands of his office." Will realised he felt a strong affinity for the young monarch.

All the activity in the palace was centred on the State Rooms, and the rest of the corridors and chambers through which they passed were still and silent. Returning to the quadrangle, they found a door on the south side that led to a short corridor with another door leading directly into the abbey.

Inside it was cool and dark, the glow from the candles flaring up the walls to the vast wooden beams supporting the roof and drawing sparkles of brilliant colours from the stained-glass windows. The empty abbey was filled with the pungent aroma of incense. Their footsteps echoed on the stone flags as they made their way into the nave and looked up to the transept and the choir where the shadows gathered.

"Where do we begin?" Even though Nathaniel whispered, his voice carried far amid the perfect acoustics of the interior. He shivered and glanced towards the door to see if he had drawn any attention.

"Search the interior for any sign of a martyr," Will said. "A statue. A painting. An icon. An image hidden in the stained glass. A carving in the wood. It is here somewhere."

Nathaniel moved off to begin his search at the west end near the tower. Will approached the transept. The original design of the abbey overseen by King David had been altered here. During an attack by the English army forty years earlier, the eastern part of the abbey church was destroyed where it enclosed the royal tombs of James V, Magdalen, his first queen, and his infant sons by his second marriage to Mary of Guise. Will studied the rebuilt section and wondered if his search was futile. Perhaps a statue of the martyr had not been replaced during the restructuring, or some other clue to the location was missing.

As he continued to scour the abbey, he began to fear he was correct for there was no sign of a martyr anywhere. Despondently, he returned to the nave where Nathaniel paced back and forth, scanning the interior.

"Anything?" he asked.

Nathaniel shook his head. "Perhaps we look in the wrong place."

"No, I am convinced the Templar Knights would have hidden the item here, beneath the protection of God, in the most reverent area of Edinburgh."

"Then perhaps there is some sign we are missing."

Will agreed. "Let us reconsider. We are dealing with a cipher after all. A martyr may not be a martyr." While Nathaniel looked up to the heavens for inspiration, Will sank into one of the wooden pews and rested his chin in his hand. Thinking aloud, he said, "David dedicated this foundation to the Holy Rood. His mother, St. Margaret, brought that precious relic, a fragment of the True Cross, back to Scotland from the land of the Magyars." He mused, "Margaret ... martyr," then shook his head with frustration.

Craning his neck, Nathaniel continued to examine the shadowy ceiling of the abbey with curiosity.

"Nat! Concentrate on the matter at hand," Will insisted.

"There. Do you see that?" Nathaniel pointed at the main arching beam of the abbey roof.

"This is no time to search for bats."

"There! On the beam!" Nathaniel urged.

With irritation, Will followed his assistant's pointing finger. After a moment of squinting, he identified a badge above the centre of the aisle: a red cross on a square, half white, half black. "One of the Templar flags," he said thoughtfully.

"If you had spent more time on your studies of the Christian faith, and less in the stews of Bankside, you would know that the red cross is the mark of a martyr."

"Nathaniel, you are a constant source of inspiration to me. Disregard all I said about you."

Will dropped to his knees to examine the stone flags of the aisle. Hammering his fist on the one directly beneath the badge resulted in a hollow echo.

"Where the martyr stands in black and white," he said with a pleased smile. "I think we have it." With his nail and then with his knife, he scraped the dirt of centuries out from around the edge of the flag. "If we had a tool, we could prise it up," he said.

"I will search." Nathaniel hurried off into the gloom of the abbey. Will heard him searching cupboards and opening doors, and after a while he returned and shook his head.

"What now?" Nathaniel asked.

Will looked towards the door to the palace. "We cannot afford to leave this to another day. The Enemy could arrive at any moment." He paused, and said to himself, "Though Kintour said they could not walk near the entrance to where the Shield was kept."

"Why could they not walk here?" Nathaniel asked suspiciously.

Will ignored him. "No, there is no choice. We must break through this flag. Fetch me that iron candleholder."

"I fear your constant desire for attention is getting the better of you," Nathaniel said. The candleholder was several inches higher than Nathaniel, and he had to brace himself to lift it with a grunt. He staggered over to Will and lowered it slowly to the flags with another grunt.

"You are growing soft, Nat. I must work you harder." Will braced himself and lifted the candleholder as high as he could. When he brought it down hard, the resounding crash boomed off the walls of the abbey. Nathaniel jumped and looked to the door. At Will's nod, he ran to it and peered out. Listening for a moment, he said, "Nothing yet. I can hear the music from the festivities. Perhaps it drowned out your attempts to bring disaster round our ears."

Once he had closed the door, Will brought the candleholder down again. A few flakes cracked off the centre of the flag, but it remained solid. With mounting anxiety, Nathaniel checked out of the door again.

The third time Will thundered the candleholder against the flags there was a loud crack, but no sign on the surface of the stone. The fourth time the flag shattered into pieces that plunged into a dark hole beneath. Cold, damp air and the smell of great age rushed out of the space.

Nathaniel checked out of the door one final time and then rushed back to Will with relief. But peering into the void by Will's shoulder, he grew hesitant. "There is something about that sight that fills me with dread," he said.

"Then let your heart beat slower, Nat, for I would have you wait here," Will told him.

Nathaniel bristled. "Are you saying I cannot match the courage and fortitude of the great Will Swyfte?"

"No, Nat, I am saying I need someone here to keep watch at my back," Will lied.

This placated Nathaniel, and his relief showed in his face, which pleased Will quietly. Crouching on the edge of the hole, Will prepared to lower himself in. "Wish me luck, Nat. Fortune favours fools!"

CHAPTER 24

ehind Will, a shaft of light plunged down into the hole from the abbey and he could hear Nathaniel moving around the edge, trying to follow his progress. With a single candlestick for light, he edged along walls lined with stone blocks, well aged and glistening with damp, the floor perfectly level. Despite the fine workmanship, he was aware that after four centuries collapses could lie ahead, perhaps even drops into the foundations.

The stale air told him that wherever the tunnel led, it was sealed. After a few paces, it sloped down until Will estimated he was at least twenty feet beneath the floor of the abbey.

Finally, he came to a raised step. The change in the timbre of the echoes suggested a large space lay beyond, but the candlelight barely penetrated a foot into the chamber.

A stone column topped by a plinth stood just inside the entrance. Carved into the top was the Templar cross and an image of two Knights on a horse, underneath which was engraved Sigillum Militurn Xpisti-the Seal of the Soldiers of Christ.

Lowering the candle, Will saw a legend had also been engraved:

Under God's ever-watchful eye,

A Shield against Earthly decay shall lie.

But the fires of heaven and hell consume

The unworthy seeker who enters this tomb.

Studying the message of damnation, Will was puzzled by the reference to the "fires of heaven," but could see some greater meaning was coded into the legend. "There is a mystery here," he mused aloud.

Amid the disorienting echoes, Will edged past the plinth into the suffocating darkness of the chamber. It was impossible to tell how large the space was, or where the Shield was located. As he progressed, the candle revealed that plain flagstones were about to give way to ones engraved with the Templar cross, stretching as far as the candlelight penetrated.