Destiny

"And perhaps this one leads to the one we use." Brother Gaspar realized that the monastery had been left virtually undefended. He turned from the wolf trap. "Take half of your men into the tu

The treasure had been found. Did that mean that Father Roger of Falhout's dreadful secret had been discovered, too?

Brother Gaspar lifted his robes and ran as fast as he was able. Nearly 240 years ago, some of the terrible secrets the Vatican had chosen to hide had spilled out. Over a hundred deaths had resulted because of that choice.

How many more lives would be sacrificed to keep the secret?

Lightning flared overhead, exploding inside the cave like a light bulb shorting out.

Glancing up, shielding her eyes against the spots that danced in her vision, A

"There," Roux said, pointing.

"I see it," A

Lightning strobed the sky again, igniting another flare that danced across the water swirling at their knees. The water level was rising, and that concerned her. A flash flood would drown them.

"We can't get up there," Roux said, slapping the slab of rock that framed the cave.

Judging from the walls, the cave had been carved by constantly flowing water thousands of years ago. The result was a smooth surface that couldn't be climbed.

"Then we keep going," A

Less than fifteen minutes later, A

However, the thing that drew A

"Light," Roux said.

"I see it." Warily, A

The light source was stationary, not the flickering randomness of the lightning. And it was pale yellow, not flaring white.

Cautiously, she made her way up the pile of broken rock that had spilled over the cistern's side. Holding the sword in one hand, trying to avoid as much of the water as she could, A

A room lay beyond. It was another cavern actually, but someone had built a low stone dam to help trap the water in the cistern. Plastic five-gallon water containers sat in neat rows beside the dam. Candles burned in sconces on the walls.

"What is it?" Roux asked.

"A room," A

"Someone is living there?"

"Several someones from the look of things," A

"Is there a way in?" Roux asked.

A

Avery Moreau leaned against the wall nearby. He held his arms wrapped around himself. His teeth chattered and his breath blew out in gray fogs. "He's going to kill us, you know. Lesauvage. He won't let us escape because we know too much."

"Hang in there, Avery," A

Reluctantly, the young man nodded. He heard her, but he didn't share her hope.

Hefting a large stone block, A

The third time she slammed the stone into the cistern, the side cracked. Then sections of the cistern tumbled to the cave floor and the stream below. Water deluged A

Roux tramped through the sudden increase in the water level and pi

"I'm fine." A

The broken section of the cistern wall drained most of the water. A

Catching hold of the cistern's edge, she heaved herself up and in. Kneeling, she offered her hand to Avery and pulled him along, then did the same for Roux. She took a candle-powered lantern from a hook on the wall.

Stone steps, shaped from the bones of the mountain, led out of the cistern room. A

When she waved the lantern close to the steps, she found impressions worn deeply into them.

"Whoever lives here has been here for a long time," she observed.

"It's a monastery," Roux said. His voice echoed in the stairwell.

"What makes you so sure?"

"Can you imagine anyone else living like this? Cloistered. Underground. With only the rudimentary amenities. And you said you didn't know where the Brotherhood of the Silent Rain came from." Roux looked around. "I think you can safely say that you do now."

Three turns later, A

I guess there's no need to lock doors on a subterranean fortress no one knows about, A

The cavern was long and quiet. Spiderwebs filled the open spaces of the roof. Rectangular openings in the walls occurred at regular intervals.

A

"What is this place?" Avery asked. His voice sounded brittle.

"A cemetery," A

The young man stopped in his tracks. "We shouldn't be in here, should we?"

"No," A

All of them were crafted of flat stones mortared together in rectangular shapes left hollow for the bodies. Once the dead were interred, the lids were mortared on, as well.

A

Brother Gustave

1843-1912

"What are you looking for?" Roux joined her in the search, working on the other side.

"Father Roger." A

Rats, no doubt drawn into the caves by the ready supply of food kept on hand by the monks, scattered across the top of the coffin. She didn't want to think about what the rodents would have done to the bodies if they'd gotten inside.

"Who was he?" Roux asked.

"He was head of the monastery in 1767 when it was destroyed." A

Reluctantly, Avery joined in the search. He approached another wall of coffins tentatively.

" 'Roger' isn't exactly a French name," Roux said.

"It's English." A