Wait, Aubrey motioned to von Stralick and George. Muller and Schnagel climbed down the ladder.
Now, it was simply a matter of getting down without being detected. He looked to the windows and again rehearsed the spell for solidifying sunlight, but his thoughts were interrupted.
A cry came from the depths of the temple, then a gun shot. The whole world rippled, and Aubrey gasped, stunned by the immensity of the magic rolling from beneath the temple. He felt, for an instant, as if he were being crumpled like a sheet of paper. The sensation took all the breath from him, then it was gone and it was replaced by one more familiar, but equally upsetting.
He was falling.
He flailed, trying to catch hold of something – anything! In a frozen instant, he saw that he was going to miss his lunge at the ledge, and that George and von Stralick had been thrown off as well.
He also saw the bewildering sight of the dome and the walls of the temple being stretched upward like soft toffee that had been left in the sun.
Then time resumed its march and the floor rushed up to meet him. He struck – and bounced upward a full six feet.
While grateful, it wasn't exactly what he'd been bracing for – marble, in his experience, being notoriously inflexible. He struck the floor again and rebounded in a state of complete bafflement.
By the time he'd managed to control his up and down motion, he'd come to the conclusion that whatever magic had twisted the substance of the temple had changed the floor too. Shakily, he stood and kicked at its soft sponginess.
George staggered over, wobbling and rubbing his elbow. 'I thought we were doomed.'
Von Stralick limped over. 'Have you seen my cane?'
'We have more important things to –'
A roar came from beneath the temple. Aubrey, George and von Stralick whirled. A scream was followed by two more shots then another roar. A part of Aubrey's brain – a part that remembered that his ancestors were simians who spent their entire existence terrified and trying not to be eaten – made the hair on the back of his neck stir and rise at the sound of that roar.
Suddenly, a lion bounded out of the depths and stood facing them. It shook its mane and roared again, a sound full of blood and teeth, its echoes shaking the walls of the temple.
A lion, Aubrey managed to think, which was better than the gibbering he was on the verge of. A real, live, angry lion.
The brute was enormous, and Aubrey, frozen to the spot, thought it had a presence that made it seem even larger. His heart hammered, his hands curled into puny fists. The lion's vast animal solidity emphasised – in a very real and threatening way – how vulnerable, how weak humans were. The lion was a hunter, unchallenged and mighty, while Aubrey felt that he was definitely in the category of 'food'.
George stared, his eyes wide, his mouth open. 'Good Lord,' he eventually managed to say, almost reverentially.
Without taking his eyes off the lion, von Stralick bent and groped around on the floor. When he straightened he had his cane. Slowly, he drew back his right hand and pulled out the sword that had been hidden inside.
The lion was unsettled by the spongy floor. It lifted and dropped its paws, snarling and twitching its tail.
As if it's not enough to be facing a lion, Aubrey thought, we have to have one that's in a bad mood.
The lion finally settled its attention on Aubrey, George and von Stralick. Rumbling deep in its chest, it began to stalk toward them.
Aubrey's stomach did its best to turn to ice. He backed away across the bouncy floor, his magical senses itching. This lion had something magical about it, but its undeniable physical presence was overwhelming such considerations. Aubrey couldn't take his eyes from the enormous canine teeth – ivory daggers that looked extremely functional.
Shouts and noise from beneath the floor of the temple made it stop and swing its head around. Aubrey, George and von Stralick took the opportunity to sidle around the hole, keeping it between them and the lion. Aubrey was glad to see that the entrance was not far away.
The lion stared down into the darkness, then it roared again. It lowered its forequarters and, with one great paw, swatted at something below. It looked, for all the world, like a cat trying to catch goldfish in a pond.
A gunshot made the lion pull back, snarling, but then it slashed again, drawing a Holmlander oath.
'Easy,' Aubrey murmured. 'Move slowly and we can get out of here.'
'I support that,' von Stralick said fervently.
'I'm all in favour of the plan,' George said. 'Let's end discussion right now.'
They eased out of the temple. Behind them, roaring, shouting and gunshots indicated that the lion and the Holmlanders were coming to closer quarters. Aubrey eyed the trees in the distance. 'Do you think we can get to them before the lion does?'
'There's one way to find out,' George said.
Von Stralick didn't say anything. He sheathed his sword stick and started sprinting.
PERCHED ON THE ACCOMMODATING BOUGH OF AN OAK, Aubrey watched as two Holmlanders scrambled out of the temple. They scattered.
A few seconds later, the lion burst out, roaring challenges to all. Then it bounded across the grass and crashed into the thicket, disappearing in seconds.
'Muller and Schnagel haven't come out,' Aubrey noted.
'Alive or dead?' von Stralick wondered. The Holmlander shared a branch with George. 'And is the Heart of Gold still there?'
Aubrey reached for his pocket. The fragments were less urgent but seemed to be pointing away from the temple. 'I don't think so.'
'Let's make sure,' George said. He dropped to the ground and started toward the temple. Aubrey approved of his knees-bent, arms-spread gait. It was the model of caution.
'Any sign of the lion?' von Stralick called.
George shook his head.
Aubrey slid, gripped the bough, then eased himself to the leaf-covered earth. Von Stralick grumbled as he climbed down. 'A lion? What on earth is a lion doing in Lutetia? I thought they lived in Sahelia.'
Aubrey brushed himself off. 'Lions once lived right across the Continent. Probably they roamed around right here, like bears used to.'
Bears. Aubrey stopped dead. Bears, elk, aurochs and now lions. All of them former denizens of these parts, now hunted into oblivion. They would have been commonplace to the original settlers in these parts. In the Gallian past.
He hummed a little. He knew he had a significant point on his hands, but no matter how he turned it, he couldn't quite see its entire shape. It was frustrating, but he had to be content that he'd made some progress in sorting out the many mysteries that had fallen on Lutetia.
He joined George, who was crouching and scanning the area. 'All quiet,' he reported.
'No sign of the lion?'
'No. Nor of anyone else coming from the temple.'
'Look at the dome,' Aubrey said.