Destiny

"The knights all resented the Brotherhood of the Silent Rain," Lesauvage said. "They needed only the smallest excuse to tear down that monastery."

A

"Benoit swore that the charm held the answer to the hiding place," Lesauvage said.

A

"Perhaps we should look outside," Roux said.

Lightning flashed, invading the caves for a moment. Almost immediately, thunder shook the earth. Loose rock tumbled from the ceiling and skidded down the walls.

"This isn't go

Lesauvage sneered at the young man. "You wanted revenge for your father. Don't you realize you need a spine for that?" He cursed. "Instead, you came to me, imploring me to unleash my Wild Huntsmen on Inspector Richelieu."

A

Tears ran down Avery's face and dripped from his scruffy chin. He spoke in French. "He killed my father! I saw him do it! It's not fair that everyone thinks he's a hero! My father wasn't even armed. He was just a thief, not a murderer." He wiped at his face with his bandaged hand. The handcuffs gleamed in the flashlight's beam.

A

"Stop your damned sniveling, child," Lesauvage commanded. "Otherwise I'll have you taken out and shot."

"No," A

Lesauvage turned on her. "I'm getting tired of your continued insistence on giving the orders around here, Miss Creed. You've not done as I've asked and brought the charm, and now you're wasting my time."

"I don't have the charm," A

Smiling, Lesauvage pointed his pistol directly between A

Unflinching, A

"Choose one of them," Lesauvage ordered. "Save one. I will kill the other."

"I need a shovel," A

Lesauvage blinked at her. "What?"

"I think I know what the charm referred to," she said.

"Tell me."

A

Surveying the ground, Lesauvage nodded. "So?"

"I think at least one of them is more than that." Excitement filled A

"How has that any bearing?"

"Because it made me think of what these traps were originally called. Have you heard of the word loophole?"

"As in a legal maneuver?" Lesauvage sounded impatient.

"As in the origin of the word," A

Lesauvage glared at her. "I don't care for a lesson in wordplay."

"You should. Two hundred and forty years ago, wordplay was everything in entertainment. Puzzles, limericks, jokes and brainteasers took the place of television and video games. When I work a dig site, I have to keep that in mind. Words can have several meanings, not just the superficial ones. The hanged wolf on the charm was a clue, and it was an icon. A picture of the word Benoit perhaps didn't know how to write."

"A loophole was an opening in a defensive wall on a structure or a cave in the forest," Roux said, smiling as if he knew where A

"That's right," A

Lesauvage shook his head.

"Trou de loup."

"Wolf trap," Lesauvage said.

"Yes. The charm had a picture of a hanged wolf on it," A

Lesauvage looked down at the trou de loupbeneath A

A

The work went easily. Someone had filled in the wolf traps a long time ago, but the earth wasn't solidly packed. The shovel blade bit down deeply each time. Roux and Avery dug out the other two pits.

A

Lifting the shovel in both hands, A

Lesauvage looked at her.

"It's solid," she replied.

"If you're wrong about all three," Lesauvage taunted, "at least you'll have your graves dug."

A

"How are you doing?" she asked Roux.

"Almost there." Grime stained Roux's face as he worked by lantern light. He turned another shovelful of dirt from the wolf trap. "You do realize that simply losing the treasure wasn't enough to keep the Brotherhood of the Silent Rain in hiding. They were, and still are, one supposes, being punished."

"I know. I have a theory about that, as well. They weren't ostracized by the church for their failure to protect the gold and silver they lost," A

"It was because of La Bête." Roux took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his face.

"Yes."

"Then they did give the beast shelter."

A

"But whatever on earth for?" Roux asked.

"The clue to that is in the lozenge," A

"Do you know who that figure was?"

"I think I do."

Lesauvage stepped forward and cursed. "Enough talk. More digging."

A

"What?" Avery asked.

"Let me do it," A

He scowled at her. "I can do it." Stubbornly, he pushed the shovel back into the dirt.

"You'll be lucky if you don't bleed to death at the rate you're going," she pointed out.