Doctor Who - Bernice Summerfield - 14 - The Sword of Forever by Jim Mortimore

Author:Jim Mortimore
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Action & Adventure, Fantasy, General, Science Fiction, Historical, Fiction, Time Travel
ISBN: 9780426205265
Publisher: London Bridge
Published: 1998-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

* * *

That the building still existed was miracle enough for

Bernice.

Inside she marvelled at the workmanship; the architecture

and imagination which had created this place; the beauty of

the stone, now crumbling; the stained glass, now blocked by

the crawling jungle. It was like being underwater; the depths

of an ocean glimmering with dim phosphorescence, with

murky shapes swirling in the rippling darkness. It smelt of

damp earth, old bones and older gods. Or one God, anyway.

They set up the only remaining portable light. The shadows

it threw were angular and harsh, the colours revealed as

drab greens and browns. Yet beyond the spiky puddle of

light, in the glimmering shadows, some of the magic

remained.

Without stopping to eat, they began to explore.

Bernice and Marillian found the reliquary chamber. It was

long, rectangular, with semicircular ends and a vaulted roof

composed of mated arches. Columns supported the roof,

and an upper gallery of crumbling stonework. The walls

were overgrown, the roof and floor missing blocks, the

gallery collapsed in some places into stacks of rubble. Light

streamed through a jagged hole in the roof, the hole knitted

by time and vines. Rain dripped steadily into the chamber,

staining the floor and adding to the feeling of being

underwater. Arches debouched from the main chamber into

rustling darkness.

The entire chamber was filled with coffers.

Bernice had to concentrate in order to stop herself leaping

up and down in delight. Marillian was wandering around the

chamber, moving carefully on the slippery floor, eyes moving

restlessly over the architecture, the tombs, the stonework,

the blocked glass of the windows at each end of the chamber.

Bernice felt a sudden flush - in the excitement she had

forgotten about Daniel. How could she have done that? She

leant her head against the damp wall for a moment, letting

his memory soak away into the cool stone. I’m sorry. I have to

get on with my life now.

She lifted her head when she became aware that Marillian

was watching her, and made her own circuit of the chamber,

stopping frequently to examine the walls or coffers, her mind

a snow-flurry of speculation and wonderment. She moved

slowly, a smile playing about her lips, her fingers touching

the stonework, lost in a dreamlike montage of images,

passages from the Templar journal mixing with scenes from

old movies; a mating of reality and romance, the

juxtaposition laying bare the truth of two cultures.

Husband and wife met beneath the hole in the roof, and

Bernice tipped her face up to the fine drizzle of rain, letting it

splash across her brow and down her neck. She closed her

eyes and tried to imagine just for a moment what the water

would feel like were it not kept from her skin by the layer of

protective bioseal. Probably horrible. Dank and slimy. She

grinned, opened her eyes and found herself face to face with

Marillian.

‗What now?‘

She reached out, took his face in hers, and kissed him

softly on the mouth.

He blinked. ‗I thought we weren‘t-‘

She waved aside his words, closing his mouth by gently

pushing her finger against his chin. ‗It was just the moment.‘

She dug into her rucksack and produced the King James

Bible given to her in London. ‗I‘ve been doing some

reading.‘

Marillian half smiled.

Bernice frowned. ‗What?‘

‗Nothing.

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