The Tomb of the Maharal Part 4

The Templars have been hired to track down a pair of grave robbers before they meet their end. A simple job, more than likely not, nothing is ever simple for the Templars.

The room Richard had stepped in was nothing but a tiny library with most of the books missing, but that wasn’t what had made Richard stopped. One of the bookshelves had been pulled open to a secret door that leads deep down into the tunnels, but again, that wasn’t what had made Richard stopped dead in his tracks.

            “You made a mistake, mister,” The thick Texas accent softly said with the unmistakable sound of a hammer being pulled back on a Colt Frontier.

            Richard glanced sideways at the pit of the barrel pointed right at his face. He couldn’t move fast enough to get out of the way without losing his life. He lowered his weapon, cracking a smile at the gun. “Nova, my dear, do you mind?”

            It wasn’t her voice which gave her away or the fact she got the drop on Richard, but it was the gun that was her calling card. The barrel of the pistol had a golden dragon wrapping itself all the way around the steel with its mouth stopping at the end. Nova had told Richard once when they first met in Paris before she pistols whipped him, and after she kissed him that the dragon was real, and the gun was a true Dragon Slayer. Richard wasn’t sure he believed the story too much and right now, it didn’t matter too much to him either. All that seemed to matter was the first girl he had ever kissed held a pointed the gun right in his face.

            “Ms. Halo,” Augustine said from behind Richard.

            Nova’s sea-blue eyes went wide with excitement and joy, jumping into Richard’s arms then over to Augustine, but she stopped at Charlotte, who shook her head no. She wasn’t the kind of girl who hugged girls or thieves of the dead. Nova stuck her hand out for a handshake and Charlotte took it reluctantly.

            “I’m so happy to see all of you,” Nova said, shaking Charlotte’s hand roughly. Where Charlotte was a girl who studied her books and enjoyed a nice time at the playhouse, Nova was a girl who grew up in the fields of Texas hunting and fighting off Indians.

            “We are glad to have found you,” Augustine said, stepping into the room but mostly staring at the hidden door.

            “Dad said he left clues for you to find us,” Nova said not being able to let the smile fade.

            “Yeah, why was that?” Charlotte asked, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed.

            “He wasn’t sure we could do this alone,” Nova said, “and he didn’t think you would work with us because of last time.”

            “When you betrayed us,” Charlotte said, and Nova smirked a bit.

            “Yeah, that’s why,” she said.

            “Is that why your father had Mr. Trudeu hire us to find you?” Augustine asked, looking back at her.

            “Yes, sir,” Nova said with a nod.

            “And where is your father?” Augustine asked with a flat stare.

            Nova pointed at the hidden door. “Down there, he is lost, I think.”

            “You think?” Charlotte asked.

            “Well,” Nova said as she walked over to the door and glanced down into the tunnels and picked up a red rope which led down into the darkness, “he went down a few days ago, and he hasn’t come back up. I have been searching for him, but with no luck.”

            “How big is the basement?” Richard asked, rushing over to see the swirling stone stairs disappeared.

            “Huge,” Nova said, placing her hand on his back and leading down into the stairs.

            “Great,” Augustine groaned. “Why are you two here?”

            Nova stepped away from the door while Richard stayed closer to her. She started to shift her boots while looking down at it. “Dad was hired by some guy to find the golem spell.”

            “He is going to sell the golem spell,” Augustine asked, “but he knew we would stop him?”

            “Yup,” Nova said, pulling her eyes up to look at Augustine. “If you showed up to take the spell from us and hide it away in that house of yours then it wouldn’t be our fault we failed.”

            “Who hired you?” Augustine asked.

            “You know I can’t te---“

            “We are leaving then,” Augustine said, cutting her off and heading for the door. Charlotte shrugged and started out the door while Richard moved to protest his uncle.

            “The Golden Children,” Nova said, stopping Augustine. He spun on his heel and rushed over to her and planting the end of his cane into her shoulder. He shoved her against the wall with a heavy growl. He was inches from her face, “Are you mad?”

            The Golden Children was the last name Nova should have said

            (what was she thinking? She should’ve lied)

            Because they had killed many of Augustine friends from the army and rumors had spun to life that the man who saved Augustine life was the leader of the Children. A man, who name Augustine wouldn’t utter to a soul, had killed many of his brothers in arms.

            Nova tried to move out from under him, but he pushed hard with the spike at the end of his cane. “They are monsters trying to overthrow every major power in the world,” Augustine hissed, “and your father was going to sell them, magical soldiers.”

            “No,” she winced, grabbing the cane. Richard, without thinking, moved to help Nova, but the hard stare from Augustine made him step backward with his hands up. “It’s why you are here,” she cried, “to take the spell from us.”

            “I do not trust you or your father,” Augustine said, letting her go falling to her knees. “But we will take the spell and make sure the Golden Children do not get it. If �"“he pointed at her with the cane,” you two try to stop us then I will kill you both.”

            She was rubbed her shoulder and stared up at him. Richard had dropped beside with a snarl at his uncle. “Do you understand me?” Augustine asked coldly.

            “Yes.”

            “Yes, what?”

            “Yes, sir, I understand you,” Nova said, pushing Richard away with her standing up. She was still holding her shoulder, and little hints of blood were starting to flower on her dark shirt. “Now can we go save my father?”

Author's Note

I have a deep love for pulp stories which I hope comes off in this short story. If I have failed in driving home the pulp feels of the Templars than maybe my next story coming after them will do a better job. But you didn’t come here to listen to me sell you on the next story to come, you came here for the Templars. Let me tell you a little about them or better yet, how I came up with the trio. Well, it was simple if you truly want to know …

I started with their names and the title of the story. After I got those things down, everything came to life afterward. I had been for some time just gathering information on cool things in the world and history. It came about after I watched Joe Rogan talked to Graham Hancock and Randall Carlson, both men were talking about history that may or may not be true but are not in the books. All of this alternative history is fuel for any writers. After every little bit of cool info, I would tell myself “that would be a fun story,” and boom! off to the races I went. It is how this story came around.

Anyways, I will let you go so you can enjoy the story of Templars, and I hope you stay around for more to come.

- Chase