Apocalypsis 1.03 Thoth by Giordano Mario

Author:Giordano, Mario [Giordano, Mario]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Bastei Luebbe
Published: 2012-06-21T22:00:00+00:00

XXVIII

May 12, 2011, Santa Croce in Gerusalemme, Rome

As Maria entered the old pilgrim church from the 12th century, the nave was almost in darkness, only lit by the glow of the votive candles by the entrance and a few candles in the sanctuary.

Maria knew the church. Santa Croce in Gerusalemme was one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome, famous for its passion relics, among them the panel with the inscription »INRI,« which had hung on Christ's Cross. It was said that Saint Helena, the mother of the Emperor Constantine, had brought it from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 326 AD, together with small wooden pieces and nails from the True Cross. During the Late Middle Ages, the place was considered so holy that women were forbidden access to the church.

Maria entered the Chapel of St. Helena, to which the church owed its name, since it was said that the floor of this chapel had once been covered with soil from Jerusalem.

She seemed to be alone. Maria heard neither footsteps nor voices. Slowly and carefully, as if she were walking on thin ice, she crossed the nave, praying a silent Hail Mary to calm her nerves.

»You are late, Sister Maria.«

Maria was startled to death and spun around. In the shadow of one of the pillars, she perceived a figure clad like a Capuchin Monk, with the hood pulled low down over his face.

»I was delayed,« she said in a firm voice and took a step back. »Father Nikolas?«

»Do you have the relic?«

The man didn’t move, not even an inch. And yet he frightened her. Maria cursed herself for having been so stupid as to come here.

»No,« she answered, and cast a glance towards the exit.

»Where is it?«

»Give me proof that it was really Don Luigi who sent you and I will take you there.«

Before she could react, the man with the hood was standing next to her. It almost seemed as if he had flown out of the shadow behind the pillar. Maria didn’t get a chance to see his face. He grabbed her, spun her around, and began to choke her from behind with fingers that felt like steel.

»Where is it?«

His voice sounded sharp even though he was whispering. Maria tried to struggle out of his grasp and lash out at him. She tried to scream. But the man who called himself Father Nikolas held her in an iron grip and began to choke the last breath out of her.

»Where is it? If you scream, I will kill you here and now.«

He loosened his grip around her throat and Maria gasped for air. She was desperately trying to come up with something that she could tell the man.

»In my cell in the monastery.«

The man choked her again. Maria was panicking.

»You shall not lie. Do not lie to me, Sister. I can smell if someone lies.«

Maria was desperately trying to come up with something that she could do, with something that she could tell the man. She didn’t want to surrender the amulet to him.

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