He swivelled in the leather chair and got to his feet. Stepping across his office he opened a small safe and pulled a metal box from it. Placing it on his desk, he then searched his pockets for a key. He opened the box and gently drew out a single piece of paper in an acid-free folder. “This is kept at room temperature at all times, and is never exposed to light.”
“What is it?”
He beamed with professional pride. “This is the other piece of the puzzle.”
Scarlet made no secret of her frustration and sighed rudely. “An explanation would be nice.”
Kloos held up the paper. “You are looking at a page from the third and final section of the Book of Gold. It’s an essential part of the manuscript, but was separated from the main text centuries ago. Without this there is no way Kruger can find the relic he’s hunting for, just as there was no way I have ever been able to locate it without the rest of the manuscript that is now in your possession.”
“Wait,” Lea said, indicating the ragged piece of paper. “That’s really part of the Gold Book?”
Kloos smiled. “Certainly. I located it in a private collection in England nearly thirty years ago, and for the intervening three decades it has mocked me by only giving part of the location of the relic. Now we can put these pages together and work out the precise place where the treasure has lain for countless centuries.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” Ryan said.
“And the best part is that Kruger and Zito have no idea they don’t have all the manuscript, right?” Lea said.
“Almost certainly,” Kloos said. “Now, let me return it to its rightful place with the rest of the manuscript and we’ll see the symbols when they’re put together with one another.”
Kloos opened the manuscript to the end and inserted his own piece of paper, carefully lining it up in various ways until finally he gasped with joy.
“What is it?” Lea said.
“I think we have something here!” Kloos said. “Something that will lead us straight to the relic.”
Kim sighed and crossed her arms. “Hey, I have a question: what sort of goddam relic are we talking about here?”
Hawke smiled. “That was my next question — professor?”
Kloos furrowed his brow. “You mean you don’t know?”
“Christ on a giraffe unicycle,” Scarlet said. “Does it sound like we know?”
“She means, please tell us,” Reaper said.
“The relic Kruger and Zito are searching for is the Sword of Fire.”
Hawke shared a knowing glance with Lea. He turned back to Kloos and fixed his eyes on him. “Tell us about this sword.”
Kloos bit his lip while he considered his next words. “Little is known about the sword; this is the first thing to understand about it. Like many ancient Celtic legends the myths surrounding it simply vanish into the mists of time. What my research has revealed is that the sword has very special properties.”
“What sort of properties?”
“In the ancient times they called them magical, but today we might not like to use that word. The sword was called Dyrnwyn, and there are many translations for this, including White Hilt, but I use the Sword of Fire. References to the sword are scarce, but most agree on two basic facts — first, its ownership by Rhydderch Hael, one of the rulers of an ancient British kingdom called Alt Clut in the far north of England and southern Scotland.”
“And the other?” Lea asked.
Kloos paused a beat. “The magical properties I mentioned a moment ago. Most of the ancient writings describe that the sword becomes enveloped in a bright, blue fire when it is loosened from its sheath. If a man of honor uses the sword he will be given great power, but if a dishonorable man tries to wield it the fire will turn on him and burn him to death.”
“Some of this sounds like the legend surrounding King Arthur,” Ryan said.
Kloos nodded vehemently. “Yes, and both legends are from the same Celtic background, of course. Some have linked the Sword of Fire to Excalibur through a North Welsh prince named Owain Ddanwyn. It’s probably because he was a King of part of Gwynedd in the Fifth Century.”
“What’s the link?” Kim asked.
“The link is that some have argued that Owain Ddanwyn may even have been King Arthur. Both were from the same region and lived during the same time, and legends state that both were murdered by their own grandsons. Both men are also linked to the ancient Roman settlement of Viroconium, or Wroxeter as it’s called today, a village in Shropshire. Once, it was the fourth largest city in Roman Britain.”
“Do you think Ddanwyn was Arthur?” Lea asked.
Kloos shrugged his shoulders. “I want to believe it, but there is no evidence to suggest that Dyrnwyn is Excalibur. In all honesty the legends surrounding the Sword of Fire describe it as much more powerful than Excalibur.”
“So if it’s so much more powerful,” Scarlet said, “why has no one ever heard of it?”
Kloos gave a cautious, knowing smile. “There are many things in this world we are not supposed to know about. Dyrnwyn is one of them; an ancient weapon from a time long forgotten.”
He paused again and looked at them with uncertainty. “Some call Dyrnwyn the Black Sword because of its terrible power. It was lost to history during the reign of Rhudda, a notorious giant who ruled over Snowdonia. Rhudda is heavily connected to Arthurian legend, so even though Rhydderch lived in the Old North, in northern England, the last the sword was seen was in Snowdonia. This is where Arthur killed Rhudda with Excalibur, after all. Arthur had the giant buried in the mountains, and today we call that burial ground Yr Wyddfa, or Mount Snowdon.”
“So that’s where we’re going?” Kim asked.
Kloose frowned and studied the manuscript again. “No, I don’t think so. If my translation is right then it looks like the sword is further to the south in the sub-kingdom of Meirionnydd, in the south of Gwynedd.” He paused again removed his glasses and then rubbed his eyes before returning to the faded symbols. “This says that the Sword of Fire slew another giant — Idris Fawr.”
Hawke sighed. “Eh?”
“Idris Fawr was another giant and he ruled Meirionnydd in the Fifth Century, exactly when Arthur, Ddanwyn and the Sword of Fire were in action.”
“So you have another location?”
Kloos nodded and pulled an old map out of his drawer. “It means the last place the sword was ever used — or seen — was on the slopes of Cadair Idris. It’s a mountain in Meirionnydd and it means Idris’s Chair in Welsh. The giant would sit on the top of the mountain and study the stars. It’s a very important and magical mountain in ancient Welsh legends. This confirms what I was thinking about its location being further south. There is no way Kruger can know this without seeing this page, no matter who is translating it.”
“And you definitely think this is where the sword is today?” Ryan said.
Kloos nodded, but reluctantly. “I think so,” he said, pointing to a specific slope on the map. “It says that particular mountain peaks can be seen from the location, and that leaves only this place here. It also seems to hint that the son of Arianrhod will reveal where the Sword of Fire is located, and also something about the heavens lighting the way.”
Ryan nodded. “I translated the piece about Arianrhod in Ireland, but it was only a partial translation because at the time Zito had the rest.”
A new wave of excitement flashed over the professor’s face. “Also of note here is a reference to the old legend about staying the night on the mountain. I think this must be done to pinpoint the final location.”
Scarlet sighed. “Christ, more ancient gods and legends…”
“What legend?” Kim asked.