It was going to be a glorious day in Westtown, it was almost ten o'clock in the morning and the Sun was already high in the sky and warming the town. It would get hotter providing a perfect day for Liz and Brian to go visit the small towns around the area and grab a romantic lunch in one of the scenic villages. Liz was pacing around their small apartment anxious that the day would go perfect. Dan looked at his Mother, she wore wedge shaped sandals and a really pretty summer dress with a small flowered pattern. Liz had gone with a gold chain and a simple cross. Her hair was freshly washed and she'd left it flowing naturally. Liz was wearing makeup, which accentuated her pretty eyes. Dan was ready to leave, "Mum."
"What," snapped Liz nervously.
"You look great, really pretty Mum."
Liz stopped in her tracks, "Awww thanks Dan, and I really needed that today. I want to look my best for Brian; I really like him."
"Mum, he's the one that has to impress you, he's the one that's getting a catch."
Liz moved towards Dan and kissed him on the top of his head, "Thanks love, and you’re a good kid."
Dan was holding his laptop and getting ready to visit Raj, "Everything will be fine today Mum, the weather's going to be great, you look awesome, so just relax, laugh, and have fun. He'll love you. I'm heading over to Raj's and yes I have my keys, see you when you get home ok?"
"Ok," said Liz watching him skip through the door heading over the hallway to Raj's place; "I look awesome," she said softly, smiling to herself.
Dan knocked on Raj's door and waited for Raj to unhook the chain and open the latch. He heard familiar noises, "Is that you Dan?"
"Yup, it's me," he said through the door.
The door opened and Dan bounded through excited about the challenge that lay before them. Raj shuffled over to his favorite chair, "I've made some inquiries and the library across town opens at 10.30am but we can catch the 45 bus and be there for 10.45am."
"Why do we need to go to a library?" said Dan resting his laptop on his thighs, as he sat in the adjacent chair, "I have access to the largest library in the world right here at my fingertips - it's called the library of Google!"
"What's Google?" echoed Raj, trying to get the pronunciation of this strange word right.
Dan shook his head, "What's Google? Geez Raj, you know all these things about different realms and strange creatures and cultures but you've never heard of Google? Seriously Raj!"
"Dan, when you moved to Westtown you'd never heard of a Ricar," replied Raj with a mischievous smile.
"Ok, I'll give you that one, I suppose we get an opportunity to learn something new every day. Let me introduce you to my friend Google - this will blow your mind." Dan double clicked on the Safari browser icon that opened his Internet session to his pre-set Google search engine homepage and angled his screen so Raj could see it better.
"Let me get my reading glasses," said Raj reaching to his side table and pushing a pair of reading glasses up the bridge of his nose, "OK - let's do this Google thing."
"Alright, here we go - let's just try a complete shot in the dark and see what's out there for Jean d'Alluye." Dan typed in the name into the Google search bar and within seconds the response started to display.
Dan's mouth opened wide as he stared at the screen, "Are you seeing this Raj, we have a hit straight away! I was expecting no results found and we have pages of hits on this guy. Wow!"
"What's this? Tomb Effigy of Jean d'Alluye | 25.120.201| Work of Art | the met museum," the link proudly displayed; Raj read the link heading of the first hit aloud again. Below were several links to web pages and images of a knight lying as described on his back, his feet resting on a sleeping lion cub, his sword visible and his shield resting upon his body. His hands positioned in the praying position with his head resting upon a pillow.
"This is incredible, let's click on this and see what we have," It was a page from the Metropolitan museum, Heilbrunn timeline of Art History. Dan read the title: "Tomb Effigy of Jean d'Alluye. Mid-Century made in Touraine, Loire Valley of French Limestone. It's in the cloisters collection at the Met museum, where's the Met museum?" Dan asked innocently.
Raj stared at the page - the image of the knight was clear, "It's the Metropolitan Museum in New York, it’s not far from here, that’s why the Dream Cane selected us. What else does it say, this Google thing is amazing."
Dan started to read the contents for Raj; after a few more reviewed web pages they'd learned more than they thought they would. Jean d'Alluye was positioned and preserved via a carved limestone effigy originally produced in 1248. This type of effigy is known as a gisant - with his hands held in prayer and wearing the full regalia of a French crusading knight. Within this sculpture are symbols of piety, loyalty and honor; the hood of his long-sleeved chain-mail shirt is draped around his neck with his mittens attached to his sleeves. His feet were resting upon a sleeping lion cub, a symbol of courage and strength, wearing spurs only worn by knights. The effigy was placed in the abbey of La Clarte-Dieu as one of the many symbols of French greatness and aristocracy.
These symbols were eventually reviled and destroyed in the French Revolution; the effigy was erased from history with the sale of the abbey in 1791 when the tomb and effigy were subsequently removed. No one knows what happened to the tomb or the poor innocent man's bones, but the stone effigy resurfaced later and was repurposed. A farmhouse was built on the original abbey site in 1850 next to a narrow but deep fast moving stream. For over fifty years the effigy was turned over with the carving facing downwards towards the water and the smooth side providing a stone bridge across the narrow stream. Jean d'Alluye had the indignity of facing the running water and listening to people walk over him for fifty Earth years. When the stream was eventually cleaned of the silt, the bridge was removed and the stone effigy was then sold to an art dealer in Paris in the early 1900's.
Through a series of transactions the stone effigy made its way to its current location where it rests in the cloisters collection of the Metropolitan Museum of New York in 1925. The articles and stories presented by Google described the history of the effigy but each excerpt had a common theme and centered upon an anomaly, a mystery that could not be solved, introducing an element of intrigue to the piece. The garments worn by the knight matched the period except for one glaring detail. The knight’s sword is clearly not European and alarmingly was not of this time period, so where did this sword come from? The style is clearly Asian, perhaps Chinese in its design and construction, but China would have been so far away from France it would have been incomprehensible for a French knight. Jean d'Alluye had fought and travelled throughout the holy land pilgrimage but no other Crusaders were shown with Chinese swords decorated with a flowering handle and Asian blade shape. No paintings, portraits, etchings or tapestries, showed a sword like this from this period - this anomaly had fascinated historians and scholars making the effigy a point of interest and intrigue.
"Well, we know the answer to this mystery don't we - we know where he got that sword from don't we?" said Raj, still astounded by the power of Google, "I have a request; I want you to look up something else for me."
Dan cleared the screen and waited for instructions, "What do you want me to find?"
"The Order of the Golden Fleece," said Raj inquisitively.
Dan typed in the words dutifully and clicked on Wikipedia, the first presented link. Wikipedia described the Order of the Golden Fleece as a Roman Catholic order of chivalry founded in Bruges, Belgium, by Philip III the Good, Duke of Burgundy in 1430. It became the most prestigious Order in Europe. Today two Orders still exist after the War of the Spanish Succession resulting in a division of the Order namely the Spanish and Austrian Fleece. Felipe VI, King of Spain and Karl von Habsburg, grandson of Emperor Charles I of Austria now run the Orders.
"Wow that's interesting did you catch that?" inquired Dan.
Raj shook his head - “No?”
"The Order of the Fleece was founded in 1430, yet our knight was frozen in 124
8 before the Order even existed."
Raj thought for a moment, "Interesting, so our knight was a time traveller, a realm traveller like us, he came from the future and was called to fight evil in the past."
Or," offered Dan, "he existed in another realm and time for him is not linear."
"Wow that's deep -you learn quickly kid - I'll give you that," said Raj smiling.
Dan tilted the laptop screen towards Raj to show him a photograph, "Look at this necklace, it's made from solid gold and displayed in the Schatzkammer, the imperial treasury at the Hofburg Palace, in Vienna, Austria. Can you see the Golden Fleece? - this symbol is everywhere. This is a list of the Spanish Order's living members: Kings and Queens of Europe, the Emperor of Japan and the King of Thailand. In the Austrian Order, the living knights are a mixture of Kings, Dukes, Archdukes, Counts, Princes, Barons, and religious leaders. Our knight did not wear the emblem of the Golden Fleece, he didn't want to draw attention to the fact that he was a knight from this Order hundreds of years before they'd been established."
Raj rubbed his head in a puzzled manner, "Tell me why this powerful Order, that still exists today, some 500 years later, was originally established? What is it meant to do? What purpose does it serve?"
Dan typed furiously until he stumbled across the answer, "Here it is, get a load of this. The Order of the Golden Fleece was defended from possible accusations of prideful pomp by the Bulgarian court poet Michault Taillevent, who asserted that it was instituted: Not for amusement or recreation, But for the purpose that praise shall be given to God, In the very first place, And to good, glory and high renown."
"What do you think that means?" said Raj, slumping back thoughtfully into his cozy chair. "What have we got ourselves mixed up with Dan?"
"I don't know. I don't like reading four sentences of its purpose and still not understanding a word they're saying. I think this Order was established with knights to fight for good against evil - like us - what do you think?"
Raj rubbed his forehead, "Yes, that sounds about right - the Order of the Golden Fleece protecting our world and other worlds from the dark forces. I'm going to go with that."
They had no clue as to the deep history and powerful influence of the Order but they felt satisfied with their conclusion, "Let's find out exactly where in New York this cloisters Met Museum is," whispered Raj anxious to find the knight.
Dan obliged typing in the words, and finding an address, "99 Margaret Corbin Drive." Dan entered the address into Google Maps; Raj was amazed. "There it is, medieval art in a rebuilt monastery situated in Fort Tryon Park on the north end of Manhattan Island off highway 9A." With a few more keystrokes Dan had established the museum was open Sunday, tomorrow, between 10am and 4.45pm. "How are we going to get there?" Dan looked despondent.
"Leave that up to me," said Raj confidently, " You'll need to figure out a way to convince your Mum."
"A supervised field trip to a museum in New York to finish off my school assignment." Dan thought about his statement, "Its not that far off the truth!"
"Will she buy it?" Raj looked skeptical.
Dan typed furiously into his laptop; he suddenly stopped and smiled at Raj. "Look at this, Exhibition at the Met. Its about Tibet and India - perfect. This is where I'll tell my Mum that we're going; this just might work. But I'm still not sure how we're going to get there - do you want me to Google the train schedules?"
"No, that's not required, leave it up to me," answered Raj with his creative brain mulling over a solution.
"You can't drive though - right?" Dan was puzzled.
"I won't be driving, but we’ll go by car - just leave it up to me," insisted Raj.
Dan typed furiously into Google maps, "Says here, it will take us about two and a half hours to reach the cloisters in Manhattan by car.”
"Be ready to leave at 8am tomorrow morning, I'll arrange for the transportation and make sure to tell your Mother that it wont be me doing the driving."
The rest of the day was spent researching the cloisters, the deeply rich history of the Order of the Golden Fleece, the Austrian Habsburg's legacy, Vienna and its many museums, cool paintings and artifacts within its treasury, and of course, Jean d'Alluye's history and linkage to the crusades.
When Liz finally returned home from her date she seemed so happy and in a buoyant mood, calm and relaxed. Dan seized upon this opportunity to pitch his field trip to the Metropolitan Museum under the guise of researching Indian life and antiquities. Once Liz had established Raj would not be driving and a car had been ordered for them, she felt a lot more comfortable with the proposition. Raj would accompany Dan the whole time. Dan told Liz that they’d visit the Met only with no detours or side trips; they’d likely eat at the Met and then return home. It was almost the truth; so he didn't feel too guilty about the deception. Raj had agreed generously to pay for the transportation and Liz would normally be working the busy afternoon shift anyway. Liz reluctantly agreed, finding it encouraging that Dan was finally taking his schoolwork so seriously. She reconciled her decision because it would give the two of them something productive to do together instead of yapping on and then falling asleep in his apartment each night.
The next morning Dan was raring to go brimming with anticipation and a sense of adventure. He found himself at Raj's apartment door at 7.59am as instructed. Dan tapped on the door, "It's me are you up yet Raj?"
The door started to open, "I've been up for hours; I can't sleep. Come in," he said sweeping his shaking hand into the apartment.
Dan was eager, irritated by the delay, "Are you ready to go yet?"
Raj heard the boy but didn't respond immediately, "I'm ready, but remember in this world, I'm an old man - I don't have the body of a strong Ricar."
"We're going to a museum, we're not fighting devlins!" Dan made a noise somewhere between a snicker and a snort; it was meant to signal his disdain.
Raj was attuned to his attitude and impatience, "Come here for a second," he said sternly, "sit, down here and listen to me boy." He pointed to one of his comfy chairs but remained standing supporting his weight by leaning upon his trusty Dream Cane. Dan knew he was going to be lectured but he certainly didn’t expect what happened next. Raj shuffled over to his chair and towered above the seated boy. "You have to start to think. I mean really think, and I'm serious. We’ve been sent on a mission to save this knight and potentially save a whole realm. While that's exciting, perhaps even fun, there are dark dangerous forces out there that don't want us to succeed. Think about that.” He paused for effect letting his words linger, “What do you think they would they do to stop us? Cast a spell, freeze us, turn us to stone or even kill us. This is not one of our adventures - this is happening right here at home, in our realm. I've been thinking about our situation overnight, and if the dark forces can enter into our realm to turn a noble knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece into a stone effigy for a few hundred years think what they could do to us if they find us? This is really dangerous. I'm coming with you but I'm old and weak, certainly in no condition to fight evil forces or protect this," he shook his Dream Cane, "an artifact that any evil force would love to have or destroy. If this Cane is destroyed then that means we have less ability to fight these dark forces across the realms. Let's face it - we're a target and that's why it's important that we do this with the minimal amount of fuss and we stay low key - you understand?"
Raj was right, Dan hadn't thought through the dangers associated with this challenge, to him it was nothing more than an exciting field trip but now he realized this could be fatal. He didn't want to leave his Mother alone, with her never knowing what happened to her son. "Sorry, I didn't think," was all that he could muster with so many thoughts streaming through his scrambled brain.
"Dan, I'm an old man and one day - I won't be around. The Dream Cane chose you to be its next guardian but with that comes a great burden, a great responsibility, and great danger. You’ll always have to look over your shoulder and live your life
with a high degree of suspicion, being careful with who you trust. The Dream Cane will expose you to adventures beyond your wildest imagination and you’ve had a small taste of that already, but that comes with a price. From now on the dark forces are your enemy; even at home, right here in Westtown they will try to find you and."
"Kill me," finished Dan looking straight into Raj's eyes.
"You can walk away from this now, if you wish, but if you come with me today - there’ll be no going back. I'm at the end of my long life Dan, but you’re just starting yours." Raj shook a little, steadying himself with the Cane.
"I know too much, if I quit now, how would I spend the rest of my life craving that type of adventure that only the Dream Cane can provide? How could I live knowing there are other worlds, other realms and other creatures out there, with no way of reaching them, or helping them? Raj, you're right - there's no turning back because I've already passed the point of no return," his words hung heavily in the air causing a deafening silence in the room and a long defiant stare between the two friends.
Raj said nothing, but he knew in that moment the burden of responsibility had been passed. Like generations before him the Dream Cane had selected its successor and it had chosen well.
Dan was thinking about his life having a higher meaning with the prospect of facing constant danger that had now seeped into his world, his realm, and here on Earth. His loved ones, his Mum, future wife and children, they would all be drawn into this and one day he’d have to face this without Raj at his side to guide him.
Raj was thinking about his life and how far he'd come on his personal journey, recognizing a warm, subtle, yet ever present tingling feeling inside his chest that meant he was in his final mile.
"Let's do this," said Raj suddenly full of energy, "the car's waiting downstairs."
"Ok," responded Dan looking serious and remaining seated, "but thanks for talking to me, I was treating this a bit like a game, and it's far more serious than that - I won’t let you down."
Raj smiled, "I know, I've known that ever since I met you! Let's go." They locked the apartment door and headed outside to the street where a large Lincoln Continental sedan was parked against the curb, it's black paint and chrome accents reflected the morning Sun. A short portly man opened his car door and leapt to attention. The driver was a stubby balding man with a large oversized head, he was dressed in dark blue ill fitting and badly creased pants, scuffed black shoes, a light blue shirt that strained to hold his oversized belly in, with a dark blue jacket and navy colored tie.
"Good Morning," he rasped with a thick accent lacing his two words greeting; he opened the rear passenger door noticing that neither of his passengers had luggage.
"Good Morning," responded Raj waving at Dan and inviting him into the open door. Dan entered the large car and scooted over the armrest into the huge rear leather bound seat on the far side. He'd never seen a car like this before; it smelled clean, fresh, with dark black leather, grey carpets on the floor and accents of bright rosewood throughout. Two small bottles of water were clasped within the armrest as Raj struggled to enter the car gracefully with his Cane. The rear leather seat comfortably cushioned Raj when the driver closed the heavy rear door making a dull clunking noise.
"Seat belts," said Raj, nodding at Dan's unused restraint.
They both attached their seat belts and settled in for the journey. The rear windows were tinted shielding them from the Sun's early light. While standing on the sidewalk the driver removed his jacket and folded it carefully. He leaned into the car and placed it upon the unoccupied passenger's seat as he had done thousands of times before. He slid into the driver’s seat, which seemed to envelope him with the leather forming a tight contour around his legs, back and rear. The driver had the body of a man who spent most of his days sitting and the car seemed to hug his stocky frame. He flicked his gaze into the mirror as he closed the driver's door and started the engine.
Raj responded to the quiet hum of the idling engine, "Driver, do you know our destination?"
Dan smiled, he thought Raj's question sounded old fashioned.
"Yeah, I have satellite navigation," he said pointing to a little square monitor affixed to his dashboard illuminating a small map and a highlighted road. His accent was very thick with some of his words lacking the correct pronunciation. English was not this man's native language; Dan amused himself by trying to figure out where the driver may have originated from; was it Russia, Serbia or perhaps the Ukraine?
"Good - Thank you," Raj sank back into his seat with one hand on the Cane and his other resting flat upon the wide leathered arm rest.
The driver was clearly not a talkative man, he was not comfortable speaking English and preferred to focus on his driving. The car wound its way through the familiar streets until it found its way onto the highway. The steady drone of the engine and the smoothness of the ride contributed to Raj falling asleep quickly. Dan took the opportunity to study his old friend looking at Raj's tired weathered face and drooping skin. He didn't look well, his hands were full of brown Sunspots and his neck was flabby. His mouth had opened and his breathing was heavy. Dan sensed that Raj would not be around to help him much longer and he decided right there to enjoy every minute he could with him. He needed to listen and learn from him while he could. Dan's eyes came to rest on the Dream Cane leaning against Raj's leg; one day he would need to protect and guard that Cane that so many people spent so much time creating. To some it would look like a fancy walking stick but Dan knew of its power and of its storied origins. Dan moved his eyes to the front of the car examining the instruments on the dashboard, his eyes moved to the mirror where he saw the driver's narrow eyes looking back at him.
"You comfortable?" the driver barked, "you need air conditioning?"
Dan responded quietly, trying not to wake Raj, "No, it's good - thanks."
"Good," said the driver using one of the few words he knew in his limited English repertoire.
The car continued to speed towards its intended destination, Dan watched shrubs, trees, houses and billboards all flash by. He studied the cars, trucks and the occasional motorbike as they passed by, their occupants proceeding with their busy day. Dan had counted every button and knob in the back seat and was starting to get bored. The constant low drone of the engine was now starting to have the same effect on him; his eyelids grew heavy and within minutes he'd slipped away and was gone, fast asleep - sinking into the vastness of the oversized rear passenger seat.
Dan felt a soft tapping on his shoulder waking him from his comfortable slumber, "Hey, wake up sleepy head we're almost there."
Dan rubbed his eyes and stared at the park like setting with trees and grass surrounding the car. "Driver how far away are we?"
The driver glanced into the rear mirror, "There," he pointed to an upcoming fork in the road, "Ten minute walk."
"Pull over here and let us out, we'll walk the rest of the way - thanks." Dan seemed agitated.
Raj looked worried, "I can't walk that far."
"Stay here," said Dan to the driver who complied by pulling over to the side of the quiet road under the shade of a mature tree.
The pair got out of the car. They could see a sandy colored building with a tower looming large upon a hill; Dan stretched his legs and tried to breathe in the clean air to awaken his unresponsive body. "Hold on, wait," said Dan pulling Raj's sleeve, "so what's the plan here? We can't just arrive together in the car, security cameras will catch that, and we can't just walk in, free the knight, and walk right out of there."
Raj looked at the young man quizzically, "Why not, you do have the ring don't you."
Dan shook his head as the two stood on the driveway to the entrance of the museum, "It's a museum, full of important and expensive things. It's going to have security cameras and security guards. As soon as we walk in and buy tickets our images, our faces, will be recorded. Let's think this through, we also don't want to be on tape as we free the knight, otherw
ise we'll have a lot of explaining to do."
"What do you suggest?" Raj was irritated, "why didn't we think about this before we travelled all this way?"
"Relax," Dan said trying to diffuse the situation, "I brought these," he said waving a small pair of wire cutters in his hand.
Raj rubbed his face, "What are you gong to do with those?"
"We'll enter the museum separately you go on up in the car, I'll walk up separately. We'll buy our tickets separately. I need you to walk through all of the museum exhibits - like you were a tourist, so as not to raise suspicion. Look at the exhibits and read the descriptions, don't head straight to the cloisters, that's too obvious. As we make our way to the cloisters I'll try to locate the security cameras. When we get very close I'm going to try to disable the camera by snipping the cord or the power. We'll only have a short window to free the knight and it's important that we monitor the people in the museum - timing will be crucial. We need to do this when no one is around and the cameras have been disabled."
Raj looked at the young man standing before him, "You figured this all out yourself?"
"Yeah, I watch a lot of movies, I saw online that the cloisters has a bunch of stone effigies and other things too heavy to steal. They're not worried about theft, they're worried about vandalism - so it's not like they’re protecting jewels or valuable paintings. That's why I think the camera system will be pretty basic, you know, just for monitoring. I went on Google last night and virtually toured the room with its stone effigies and stained glass windows."
Raj shook his head, a smile indicated his pleasure, "You're a smart kid, people will always underestimate you and you can use that to your advantage. Here take this," Raj offered him a twenty-dollar note, "You'll need that to get in. I'll go first, but with this Cane it may take me a while to get to the cloisters and you should be able to catch me up. You're right - we'll stumble through the museum separately and look at different things but try to coordinate our timing at the cloisters."
"When we free the knight, I don't know if he will disappear into the next realm? We'll be able to walk out of the museum separately and it’ll be obvious to anyone that neither you, with that Cane, or I, as a small kid, are able to steal and carry a stone effigy. If they review the security tapes we're not going to be top of their suspects list."
"A final thought," offered Raj trying to be helpful, "once we free the knight, we should separate and continue to look at things in the museum like we are oblivious to what has happened."
"Good, settled. You go first and I'm going to follow you in ten minutes." Dan watched Raj disappear into the car as it pulled away.
Dan followed on foot cutting across the grass and avoiding the car on its way out. He retrieved the twenty-dollar bill from his trouser pocket and headed to the entrance. It took about forty-five minutes for Dan and Raj to traverse through the museum and approach the cloisters section. They stopped to look at medieval artifacts and read the informative descriptions. Dan would try to observe the security set up and had seen numerous cameras pointed at guests and usually located above the entrance to various rooms and exhibits. Each camera had a solitary black cord emerging from the wall and feeding the back of the unit. Dan knew if he severed this cord the camera would be rendered useless.
Dan was a smart kid, he knew he could use the frame of the door to shimmy his way up to the height of the camera and if he got his angle right, he could cut the cord without entering into the camera's field of view. He was feeling confident and encouraged by the quietness within the museum. Dan and Raj had come perilously close to each other a couple of times but had not acknowledged each other's presence and had calmly and quietly moved away from each other feigning interest in other exhibits within the museum. An old man and a young boy seemed an unlikely pairing - Raj felt good about the plan and it seemed to be working. The only unknown was the part where they woke the knight.
Raj and Dan shuffled their way towards the entrance of the cloisters, there was a small room leading to a short corridor and the entrance to the cloisters. Stone archways with three descending slate stairs lead to an oblong shaped room - the cloisters. Dan moved to Raj's side and stared at a tapestry hanging upon the wall, he whispered, "Stay," turning his head from the camera mounted within the room.
Dan moved towards the corridor and stopped. He used the doorjamb to shield himself from the camera. He reached into his pocket and retrieved the wire cutters. He peered up the side of the wall and could see the camera pointing to the hallway with a single black cord protruding from the door surround feeding the camera. Dan placed his foot into the door's molding and launched himself upwards towards the camera's mounting. In one smooth movement he leapt forward extending his right arm and severing the black cord in one slick movement. The red LED light at the back of the camera extinguished as the cord dangled free and his weight fell back to the ground quickly. Dan stumbled, unable to land his weight gracefully upon his feet. Picking himself up he approached the door being careful to avoid his image being captured by the camera in the previous room, "Now Raj - come," he whispered. Raj obeyed and calmly walked towards the corridor.
Dan didn't wait for him, he'd moved down the corridor to the stone entrance leading into the cloisters. He poked his head through the opening without descending the slate entrance steps. As he suspected he could see the camera mounted above the entrance offering the best view of the entire room. The room was styled as a 13th century Gothic chapel with four large windows containing stained glass, royal burial effigies and a vaulted arched ceiling. The walls and floor were all made of solid slabs of stone. This camera was mounted higher and Dan knew he would only get one attempt at rendering it inoperable. He looked at the wall and found a stone that protruded more than the others; he could use it as a step to launch himself. He could hear Raj approaching when he lunged forward and wedged his right foot onto the stone ledge. Dan leapt as high as he could while straining his right arm as high above his head as he could. He could see the cord and managed to get the blades of the cutters in place. He suddenly felt his weight start to drop. Dan thrust his arm skywards with all of his might; the curved ends of the cutters blades managed to snip the cord in time before he crashed down unceremoniously onto the hard stone floor. This was their chance and they had to act now; Raj descended the stone steps and entered the large oblong shaped sunken room with tall stone covered walls and an impressive high arched stone ceiling. Placed along each side of the chapel were numerous carved stone effigies of soldiers and priests representing a bygone age. The far end of the room was a wall of stained glass panels beautifully placed under a vaulted roof with a small circular skylight allowing a shaft of light to illuminate the effigy of Jean d'Alluye.
The morning sunlight streamed in through the colored glass windows accentuating the yellow, blue and green glass arranged to show religious scenes. In the center of the room were two stone sarcophagus displays topped with unique effigies. The one closest to the windows was the effigy of Jean d'Alluye, lying on his back with his hands praying as portrayed in the pictures. In this setting he looked at peace, resting in the surroundings of the cloisters without a hint of impropriety.
Dan wasted no time in locating the knight; he didn't wait for Raj before he slipped the ring from his finger carefully and walking to the side of the knight. He quickly leaned over the effigy and slipped the ring onto a stone finger of the trapped knight. A shock wave immediately pulsed through the room knocking both Dan and Raj off of their feet and onto the floor; a searing blinding flash of light, caused them to cover their eyes with their hands. When they’d recovered, Jean d’Alluye was standing there exactly as he’d been portrayed in full battle gear. Raj remained on one knee while resting his weight on the Dream Cane. Dan stood and faced the knight, gawping at his magnificent chainmail and robes. Behind the knight remained a flat stone effigy, a simple slab of stone decorated only with a stone pillow and a carved sleeping lion cub where the knight’s feet had once rested.
&nb
sp; Jean looked at the two figures that cowered in front of him; he held onto his heavy shield and rested his other hand upon the handle of his controversial sword. Jean had a thin face, a well-defined chin with a long narrow nose, striking blue eyes and flowing blonde hair, "Merci," was all he said as he seemed to regain his faculties.
"You have to get out of here, quickly," implored Raj still kneeling.
"Take this with you, so we don't get caught," said Dan thinking quickly and thrusting the wire cutters into the knight's hand.
Confused, the knight graciously accepted the strange gift, he smiled at the two liberating figures before him deciding to seize the moment and taking advantage of his newly found freedom. Jean d'Alluye reached across to his other hand and twisted the ring around his index finger in a circular motion. Another flash of blinding light and the knight was gone, disappeared without a trace.
Raj was still kneeling when he heard Dan's panicked voice, "Let's get out of here quickly, remember to loiter around the museum a little, and don't make it too obvious."
They left the cloisters escaping into another part of the museum - frantic activity followed with attendants, staff, and guards all descending upon the cloisters and the adjoining rooms to investigate the camera failures. It was obvious the cameras had been tampered with but one particularly observant attendant noticed the effigy of Jean d'Alluye had been stolen and swapped out with a crude fake, perhaps it was a joke for it only showed a pillow and the sleeping lion cub. A group gathered quickly to try to establish a forced point of entry or breach point. How did they get in and more puzzling how did they get a very heavy carved stone slab out? Why did they replace it with an obviously poor fake - was this their attempt at humor - making it look like the knight had got up and walked away?
The museum was quickly placed upon lock down and all of the exits were sealed. Dan and Raj continued with their visit, heading in different directions and fascinated by different artifacts within the museum. One of the security guards politely asked Dan to turn out his pockets, with a perfect rendition of a puzzled and bemused face he duly obliged knowing the wire cutters were in a different realm - good luck finding those. Raj avoided the obvious suspicion as he could barely walk never mind scale a wall or carry a heavy stone tablet. They searched the museum frantically and although Dan and Raj seemed like their only leads the suspicion seemed to fall upon two men in their thirties being detained for further questioning.
The roof and skylight were still in place, the stained glass windows were still intact, and the security cameras still operating had confirmed the effigy had not left the room via the corridor. Dan and Raj could be seen walking away separately on the tape yet neither could transport the heavy stone effigy. It was an elaborate robbery, where the most experienced theft expert was left baffled - why would someone go to all of this trouble and expense to steal an artifact that quite simply wasn't that valuable? Other artifacts in the museum and even the cloisters room itself were more expensive and sought after on the antiquities market. So - why steal this one?
From the tapes, the staff members at the museum that day were highly suspicious of Raj and Dan, but they couldn't prove anything for they had no evidence, no clues, no motive and no association. Dan was passed over very quickly with a simple pocket search. Raj gave a false name and address playing up his Indian heritage, poor English verbal skills and lack of English comprehension.
When Dan and Raj regrouped far away from the museum's grounds and the prying eyes of the security cameras they fell into the back of the town car and smiled excitedly at each other. No words were exchanged in front of the driver on their ride home - none were needed.
For weeks the mystery surrounding the stolen effigy of Jean d'Alluye irritated the museum staff and they hired a private investigative team to try to figure out what had happened. The museum had cameras installed on the outside walls, roof and all entrance and exits. Something this large and this heavy would need a vehicle to transport it. The stained glass windows had not been tampered with, the roof and skylight together with the walls of the cloisters were in pristine shape showing no signs of alterations of any kind. Only one route could have been used to transport such a large effigy out of the cloisters and that was through the corridor and back into the museum itself where security cameras and museum staff would have intercepted its path. Then there was the mystery of how did this team transport the obvious fake into the room and why?
Karen Hackett was an enterprising investigator who studied all of the available security tapes from that day. She saw Raj arriving in a car and Dan arriving separately upon foot. She saw the two men arriving together in a car being driven by one of them. She studied all of the frames from both the internal and external tapes and took photographs of the crime scene both inside and outside of the cloisters. She was frankly baffled and it was eating away at her, destroying her normally restful sleep patterns. After reviewing all of the tapes for a final time her suspicion fell upon Dan and Raj, but logic dictated the other two men were the most likely perpetrators. Sloppy investigative work had allowed the boy to slip away with no name given or identification check. The older disabled Indian man had given a name and an address both of which had not checked out. The notes on the file stated his English was very poor; he had an exceptionally thick Indian accent so was this a case of deliberate deceit or a simple misinterpretation on behalf of the person taking the details?
The other two men were questioned extensively; it was discovered that they were visiting from France with an obvious connection to Jean d'Alluye. Was it coincidence that one of the men had worked as a clerk at an antiquities dealer specializing in medieval antiquities? The anecdotal evidence seemed to point to the two young men as the obvious link to this crime. There still remain insufficient hard evidence to concretely implicate anyone and it was eating away at Karen Hackett.
Karen's boss was a hard driving old school guy who didn't believe in her abilities. He was riding her hard to find the perpetrators or at least a clue. Solving the ‘how they did it’ was her top priority. Frustratingly she was drawing a blank. As she studied the obvious fake replica effigy she couldn't understand why anyone would use real stone and carve it so intricately for the pillow and the lion cub but not add the knight. One afternoon she studied photos of the original effigy and compared them to the replica - what she found left her stunned and confused.
The poor quality obvious fake effigy was either a very expensive elaborate fake or there was a deeper mystery at play here. Each line, vein, crack, chip, stain or imperfection shown in the weathered aged limestone had been meticulously duplicated to perfection. This was a masterful piece of work and a very expensive replica of the original. If it was the original how did they grind away the knight to a flat smooth surface of rock in under two minutes? That would be impossible? Why would they do that and why leave the pillow and the lion? If the knight was literally ground away the cloisters would have be covered in limestone dust residue and wet coolant; it would have been exceptionally loud in that resonating chamber and it would have taken them hours.
So this remaining effigy had to be a fake, but the effigy was so accurate in every single minute detail including patches our color through the rock, small chips and distress marks from wear, everything replicated exactly. The wear marks on the lion’s figure was matched exactly. Karen had to see this for herself. After spending an hour examining the fake effigy and stone slab she came to the only conclusion she could but she was not about to reveal her thoughts. She concluded that nobody would spend so much money creating a hoax replica to this amount of precision and leave out the knight, an obvious and noticeable omission. The knight could not have been easily removed from the original effigy as it was carved from one solid piece of medieval limestone.
This effigy now lying in the cloisters had to be the original stone effigy, of that she was certain, but she had absolutely no explanation for how the knight had simply removed himself from the stone slab; it was as if he'd s
imply woke up, risen and walked away. That was the only explanation she could viably accept but it was not a theory she wanted to advance to her boss.
Karen knew it sounded totally ridiculous and improbable, perhaps the fakers were banking upon that, but it was the only theory that fit the evidence. The stone knight had simply vanished into thin air; yet he was not caught on any security camera. She had to admit - it sounded mighty ridiculous and she'd never live it down if she decided to talk openly about her thoughts. Karen continued to examine the remaining stone slab treating it as a fake effigy. Suddenly the press became curious and a few articles made it into the press until the public lost interest in this boring story all together.
The bizarre cloisters heist mystery was never solved and to this day Karen secretly believes there was something supernatural surrounding this knight and the mystery surrounding him had now deepened. She always felt that she was missing something, a fact, a small clue and it was likely something very banal. For the sake of her promising career and reputation she kept those feelings buried and unheard.
Raj and Dan rode home that afternoon in total silence feeling proud and pleased with their days work. They’d arranged to meet that night - both were excited about returning to the fray and to help the brave Ranger Eian in his quest to stop Ryan from freeing the Witch and plunging Bardonia into evil's dark veil.
* * * * *
The Sixth Realm - Bardonia
Chapter 11: The Return of the Knight
The Kingdom of Belladonia, Bardonia
“A true knight is fuller of bravery in the midst, than in the beginning of danger.”