C. Palov - Ark of Fire

Undeterred, he walked around to the backside of the cross. As he did, he detected a rigid, nonpliable surface beneath his right wellie. Curious, he sank to his knees, shoving aside the overgrown grass.

“What are you doing?” MacFarlane hissed, hunkering beside him.

“There’s something embedded in the ground. I think it’s a. . . . yes, a plaque of some sort. Do you have a handkerchief or a piece of cloth? I need to wipe clean the surface.”

MacFarlane gestured to the behemoth, wordlessly ordering him to remove the black knit cap that he wore on his head.

Cap in hand, Caedmon began to vigorously rub at what looked to be a bronze plaque some ten inches square, with years of dirt accumulated on the incised surface. As he worked, a shadow fell over him. Glancing up, he saw Edie hovering over his right shoulder, an anxious look on her face. She knew, as did he, that her life still hung in the balance. That the decision as to whether she lived or died could very well hinge on the strangely placed bronze plaque. Fear being a powerful motivator, Caedmon rubbed that much harder.

It took several minutes of determined polishing to reveal a single line of Latin script.

As he stared at the plaque, Caedmon’s heart thudded against his breastbone, utterly staggered by that solitary line of Latin. Like a man who’d just seen a ghost flit past.

“Hic amicitur archa cederis,” he murmured, as though it were a magical incantation.

“What does it mean?” MacFarlane demanded, shouldering him out of the way so that he could examine the plaque.

Caedmon took several deep breaths, collecting himself. “It reads, ‘Here is hidden the Ark of the Covenant.’”

CHAPTER 68

“The corpus delicti is about to be uncovered. But not by me,” Caedmon murmured, standing close enough to Edie that she could feel his body heat. That and his complete and utter anguish at not being the one to uncover the Ark of the Covenant.

She sidled closer to him, a cold breeze setting her teeth to clattering.

Standing a few feet from where Braxton and Sanchez swung and shoveled in unison, they could see that the excavation was already well under way, the stone cross upended in the frenzy that ensued after Caedmon translated the bronze plaque. Believing the inscribed plaque to be no different from a giant X inscribed on a treasure map, MacFarlane’s men hadn’t bothered with running a ground scan, clearly of the consensus that the Ark of the Covenant was buried beneath the cross.

“Incredible to think that it’s been nearly seven hundred years since someone last set eyes on the Ark of the Covenant,” she remarked, if for no other reason than to keep her terror at bay. According to her watch, there were six minutes left to find the Ark. “I now know how Galen of Godmersham felt when he found the Ark on the Plain of Esdraelon.”

“If you’ll recall, he had to fight two other knights to the death for possession of the relic.” Like her, Caedmon intently stared at the deepening hole. “However, if it means coming away with our lives, I will gladly forfeit all claim to the prize.”

“Somehow, I don’t think you have much say in it. Which still leaves the matter of battling the terrible trio.” Having had to endure several minutes of fear-inducing threats when Braxton rowed her over to the isle, the man a blunt instrument in search of a victim, she was acutely aware of the fact that they were outgunned and outnumbered. “I’m not much of a military tactician, but I’m guessing that being out here literally in the middle of nowhere is not to our advantage. Even if we could sneak over and untie a boat, there’s no way we can row to shore fast enough.” At least not fast enough to elude the bullets that would fly from multiple weapons all being fired simultaneously.

“Like you, I fear that Philippa’s fish pond will become a watery grave should we attempt to escape.”

“So, where does that leave us?”

“In a very dire strait,” Caedmon quietly replied, not one for sugarcoating the truth.

Out of the corner of her eye, Edie noticed that MacFarlane had carefully removed several items from the canvas equipment bag that Sanchez had hauled to the isle. Unzipping what appeared to be a waterproof garment bag, he took out a long, flowing white robe and some sort of striped apron. Unconcerned that he had two avid onlookers, he unbuttoned and removed his rain slicker. Raising his arms, he pulled the robe over the top of his cargo pants and military-style sweater. Over that, he donned the apron, belting it at the waist.

Attired in the strange-looking garb, he next opened a padded container from which he removed a gem-studded item that Edie instantly recognized.

She nudged Caedmon in the ribs. “Look, it’s the Stones of Fire.”

With an air of rehearsed solemnity, Stanford MacFarlane donned the gold breastplate.

“What in the world is he doing?” she whispered out of the corner of her mouth, suddenly wondering if, in addition to being dangerous, their adversary might well be deranged.

“Unless I am greatly mistaken, he’s preparing to view the Ark of the Covenant. Which is why he’s attired in the garb traditionally worn by a Hebrew high priest.”

Edie squinted her eyes, the breastplate not quite as she remembered it. “It looks as though MacFarlane had the twelve stones reset in a new gold setting. Maybe it won’t work and he’ll get blasted to the fire pits of hell. Just like the Nazis in Raiders of the Lost Ark .”

“According to the Bible, it was the twelve stones, not the gold breastplate, that afforded the high priest the necessary protection to interact with the Ark.”

MacFarlane, wearing what could only be called a patronizing sneer, approached them.

“Steadfast faith and the Stones of Fire will ensure my safety,” he announced, evidently having overheard Caedmon’s last remark. “For just as the Ark was constructed per God’s specific instructions to Moses, so, too, the Stones of Fire. As you undoubtedly know, the twelve stones of the holy breastplate were God’s gift to Moses, the first guardian of the Ark.”

“Implying that you have appointed yourself as the new guardian of the Ark,” Caedmon replied.

“I am the ordained guardian of the Ark.”

“Mmmm . . . how very interesting.” Folding his arms over his chest, Caedmon mirthlessly smiled; Edie sensed that he was about to hurl the only weapon left to him—his superior intellect. “Were you aware of the fact that the Stones of Fire once belonged to Lucifer?”

MacFarlane’s eyes narrowed, his angry expression nearly comical.

“Ah! I can see that you are familiar with the tale,” Caedmon blithely continued. “Then you undoubtedly know that contained within the pages of the Apocrypha, those being the twelve books omitted from the Protestant Bible, the story is recounted of how God presented to his favorite, the beautiful and arrogant Lucifer, the Stones of Fire. Proudly Lucifer did wear the breastplate as a symbol of his esteemed status amongst the heavenly host.” Tilting his head to one side, Caedmon examined the gem-studded relic. “Curious to think the same breastplate that you now wear once adorned the Prince of Darkness.”

In unison, MacFarlane’s three subordinates glanced at the Stones of Fire. Edie could see that Caedmon’s remarks unnerved more than one man among them.

If they could flip one of them, they might have a shot at escaping with their lives.

Although Braxton was loyal to a fault, she thought Harliss or Sanchez might be persuaded to change team colors. Assuming she and Caedmon could push the right buttons.