TEMPLARS QUEST: LUCEM SANCTAM (THE TEMPLARS QUEST CHRONICLES: A Historical Mystery Book 3) (11 page)

Baldwin took the lead and moved forward disappearing around the bend with Pete closely behind him. They had to be careful because it was a 500-foot drop off the narrow ledge. I was next in line, and as I came around the bend, hugging close to the cliff wall, I didn’t dare look down for fear of falling. I expected to hear gunfire, but there was none. Rounding the point put me in front of the cave, which was back in the corner about 50 feet away from the edge of the cliff, which we had just climbed.

Right away I saw them, just outside the cave entrance. Four dead bodies were scattered near the entrance and they had been burned. Not just burned, but charred to the bone, similar to when the Sword of Jerusalem zapped the old Templars who had tried to steal it from Adam.

Their clothes were not burned; only the heads and bodies were charred. All that was left was a burned up skeleton. You would never be able to tell who they were. It took an intense, strange type of heat to do this kind of damage to the human body. It was the ‘Fire of God’ which burned up the flesh, but not the clothing.

I gave the all clear for everyone else to come around the bend. Adam was next to come around. Seeing the charred skeletons he said, “That looks just like the sword did it.”

“Yes, that’s exactly what I thought.”

George said, “It looks like they found God.”

I grabbed Adam’s shoulders and turned him to face the entrance of the cave. I pointed and said, “Look, the Hooked X. We made it!” The X was carved above the entrance. It was about a foot high and clearly visible.

George said, “We didn’t make it yet. Someone has to go inside and check it out.”

It was hot and I guessed the temperature was near a hundred degrees. A breeze was blowing and an occasional strong gust of wind blew up. I looked up at the sky, made the sign of the cross, and said to myself, ‘Thank you, God.’

Baldwin went to the cave entrance, shinned his flashlight inside, and said, “A wall of rocks is blocking off part of the entrance, but we can still get by them.” He slowly proceeded inside.

I noted that outside, near the entrance, was a pile of large rocks. I wondered why they where there?

Adam and I followed Baldwin, while everyone else remained behind. The entrance was just wide enough to allow us to pass. We squeezed by the stone wall blocking the entrance. This explained the big pile of rocks outside. The entrance had been sealed up. The nomads had removed just enough of the large stones to make a small passageway. It must have taken them hours to do so since the wall of stone, blocking the entrance, was eight feet thick. Each stone probably weighed fifty to a hundred pounds.

I shined my light on the walls. I said, “Look, those are Egyptian hieroglyphics.”

“Yeah, that’s amazing,” Adam said. “That proves the Egyptians were here also.”

“Yes, the Templars must have used the same cave as the Egyptians.”

Passing by the blockage, we found three more charred bodies. We shined our lights down the tunnel, which was about ten feet wide, seven feet high and thirty feet long. The tunnel appeared to make a sharp turn to the right.

The cave smelled of burned flesh, which almost made Adam vomit. The air had a faint haze of smoke still lingering. I noticed what seemed to be a faint glow coming from the far end of the tunnel, where it turned.

I said, “Turn off your lights.” Baldwin and Adam complied. “Look, the cave is glowing, down there where turns.” It was a very faint yellow light that looked like a lantern. We slowly advanced to the turn, not knowing what to expect, with our weapons at the ready.

Reaching the bend, Baldwin got down on one knee and peeked around the corner. He pulled back and glanced up at me. I whispered, “What do you see?”

He softly said, “Take a look.”

I peered around the corner. The cave opened up into a large chamber that was most likely 100 feet long and 50 feet wide. The whole room was glowing. It was basked in a faint yellow light which seemed to be radiating from the walls.

As I stepped back, Adam asked, “What’s there? What’s making that light?

I said, “You won’t believe it.” I stepped around the corner with Adam, as Baldwin followed.

Adam uttered. “Lucem Sanctam.”

I knew that was Latin, but I didn’t know the meaning. Adam was pretty fluent in Latin because he was taught by his real Grandfather, Jack de Molay. The clues etched in the Sword of Jerusalem were all written in Latin. At one time Latin was one of the main languages.

I asked him, “What does that mean?”

“Holy Light. It’s God’s Holy Light.”

The three of us stood there, dumbfounded at what we observed. Slowly, we advanced toward the light. Maybe it was more similar to that of firefly, twinkling bright and then diming. Sparkling on and off in a uniform rhythm.

The yellow light was slightly pulsating, becoming brighter then dimmer every few seconds. It reminded me of a heart beating.

As we approached the end of the cavern, Adam said, “Nothing is here. What happened to the Ark and treasure?”

Nothing was in the cavern but the glowing yellow light, and a solid stone pedestal which was about five feet high, eight feet long, and eight feet wide. There was nothing fancy about the pedestal, other than it was also glowing yellow. It appeared to be just a smooth large block of stone.

Over in the corner, behind the pedestal, we found three more charred bodies. That accounted for all the nomads that came here.

Adam commented, “I think the Ark was probably sitting on this pedestal,” as he rubbed his hand across it.

I said, “Yeah, it probably was. But nothing is here now except for these burned bodies. What the hell happened to the Ark?”

Baldwin commented, “Furthermore, what’s causing the room and pedestal to give off this weird yellow light.”

“Search around the cave for a hidden door or opening somewhere.”

We spread out and began searching, touching the walls and floor, feeling for anything unusual. After thirty minutes or so, Baldwin said, “There’s nothing.”

I examined the pedestal very carefully. I looked for seams, buttons, levers, or anything that would give an indication that it could be opened. It seemed to be one solid piece of stone with no hidden openings. Satisfied it was just a solid block of stone, I said, “How could the Ark disappear into thin air?”

“Look what I found,” Adam said. He walked over to us holding something small. It was about the size of a baseball.

“What is it?” I asked, as Baldwin and I moved closer to him.

“It’s a golden bird.”

Adam handed the bird to me and I knew right way what it was. It was heavy which indicated that it was made of solid gold. I passed it to Baldwin and he said, “Well this proves that some type of treasure was here.”

I said, “This is the falcon Horus, an ancient god of the Egyptians.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right, Grandpa,” Adam replied. “But why would this be here?” Baldwin handed the bird back to Adam who stuck it in his backpack.

“Maybe it was part of the treasure the Knights Templar brought here. Maybe it was part of an Egyptian treasure.”

“Part of what treasure? If there was one, what happened to it?” Baldwin asked.

“Maybe someone took it. Someone worthy in God’s eyes, whom he would let touch it. Maybe God took it to keep the nomads from stealing it.”

Adam said, “Then why did God tell me in a dream to come here with the Sword of Jerusalem?”

“I don’t know, Adam. I just don’t know. The only thing I do know is that God works in mysterious ways.”

Let’s look around the cave some more,” Baldwin said.

“Yeah, let’s really check this cave out,” I said.

We had the whole crew come in the cave to search, except for Eddie. After searching for another hour, we found a small golden disk with the Constellation of Orion engraved in it. It was clearly an Egyptian artifact. I stuck it in my pack for safe keeping. That was all we found.

I concluded that the yellow glow was being omitted by some type of bioluminescence in the stone. The yellow light was similar to the color of gold. It was a mystery for sure.

Disappointed, we went outside and sat on the ledge. We had some lunch and no one spoke as we refueled for the trip back down into the abyss.

My brain was racing. What happened to the Ark and treasure? We know it was here at one point in time. We found two artifacts proving that a treasure was here. How could it disappear into thin air? Maybe God did take the Ark out of the cave.

Then it occurred to me that if anyone took the treasure, it had to be after the nomads came here because of the charred bodies. So that would have happened right before we came here. If someone else was here, then why didn’t we see anyone in the canyon? Why weren’t they burned up by God’s Fire?

My brain had all kinds of questions. Is the Ark still in the cave hidden somewhere? Did some people take the Ark and treasure? Did God take the Ark and treasure to keep it from man? What really caused the cave walls to be basked in a dim yellow light? We knew that a treasure was there, at one time, because we found two artifacts. Where is the rest of the treasure? 

We may never know for sure what really happened. But I was not going to give up. We came all this way and I wasn’t going to leave the Grand Canyon without an answer to these important questions. I had to solve this mystery, even if it killed me.

I sat there thinking about this weird mystery. I thought,
why were the nomads burned by the Fire of God if the Ark was not here? I concluded that since the nomads were killed by the Fire of God, then the Ark and treasure still had to be in the cave. Yes that’s it! The Ark is still somewhere in the cave.

After racking my brain for a few minutes, I asked Adam, “What did God exactly tell you, in that dream?”

“He told me to go into the cave and bring the Sword of Jerusalem to prove that I was the Keeper of the holy sword.”

“Well, you had the sword but it was in its scabbard.” After thinking about this for a while, I asked, “To prove you are the Keeper of the sword, wouldn’t you have to show the blade to God? Wouldn’t you have to pull it out of the scabbard to release its power?”

Adam thought for a minute. “Yeah, you’re right because unless it’s out of the scabbard the sword won’t react to anything. That’s a great point. What’s your idea?”

I said, “You and I go back in the cave alone, because we’re the only ones that have survived contact with the sword.” I looked at Captain Baldwin. “George you stay here.” He nodded.

“Ok, let’s go, Grandpa.”

As we walked back into the cavern, I had a plan. “Adam, when we are in front of the glowing pedestal, draw the sword and point it in the air.”

“What do you think will happen?”

“I don’t know for sure. Maybe the Ark and treasure will be revealed to us, or maybe not. We might even meet God or he could speak to us. The worst that could happen is God kills us, like the others.”

“Why would he kill us? We believe in him.”

“Like I said before, God works in mysterious ways.”

We slowly approached the large pedestal. It was still glowing with the dim yellow light, as were the walls. Stopping in front of the large solid stone, I took hold of Adam’s left hand, and gently squeezed it.

I asked him, “Are you ready?”

“Yes Sir, I am ready.”

“Ok, draw the sword.” I watched Adam’s right hand wrap around the sword grip, as he pulled it out. He pointed it straight in the air and the sword started to give off the same yellow light. The yellow glow started changing to a white glow.

Something was happening, the yellow glowing pedestal changed to a white glowing light. Then unexpectedly, the top of the pedestal groaned. It startled us and we stepped back a little. Slowly it began to slide to one side, inch by inch, scraping along. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It stopped when it was fully opened. Suddenly a bright blinding beam of white light shot straight up from inside the pedestal.

We were frozen in place watching the Ark of the Covenant rise ever so slowly from inside the pedestal, floating on layer of air. The Ark stopped moving when it was fully revealed and hovered there, with nothing supporting it. I was speechless. It was a beautiful glowing golden relic which you knew contained God’s power. It’s appearance was almost identical to the pictures I had seen in many books. I was astonished and mesmerized by its beauty.

Adam and I dropped to our knees showing respect for God. My eyes were glued to the Ark when I heard Adam speak. “Ok, I understand.”

I glanced at him and asked, “What do you understand?” He didn’t reply to me.

I could tell by his face that Adam was in another world. He was conversing with God. But I didn’t hear God’s voice at all. All I heard was a soft buzzing noise, similar to that of an electric current humming, emanating from the Ark.

Adam, staring wide-eyed at the Ark, said, “Yes, my Lord. We will obey, and keep your secret until the time is right.” His conversation was over in a few seconds.

At a blazing speed, the Ark plunged back inside the pedestal. The large stone lid swiftly slammed back into place, with a thunderous boom, sealing the stone chamber.