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Chapter Quick-Browse For Graven's Grotesque: A Gothic Epic

Chapter 4 Excerpt Teaser
Description: Cardinal Lean Inspects the Apocrypha Archives ~ 6 Paragraphs

The fourth and final of the texts Cardinal Lean sought was the Naramsin Translations—also referred to by the Upper Council as, the Gatestone Transdivinations. These frail bound pages dated back three centuries and were collectively named, after an Abbey scribe, Naramsin, a late Gardiens cleric who, through his dedicated service and devotion, had managed single-handedly to decipher the French monolith inscriptions. These translations represented a Latin rendering of the strange language carved upon the faces of the French stone. And since the etchings on the Italian stone were identical, the Naramsin pages served as translation for both Gatestones, located in France and Italy.

Lean knew that any of the four texts might serve to awaken the unwitting Pontiff to the true danger at hand, yet it would take all four to bring the man under Lean’s—thus under the Apocrypha’s—control. He must be made to see, if the Council is to survive. Lean’s carriage came to a halt and he peered out of its portal to see silhouettes in a driving rain as they gathered in two ranks to flank a pair of massive iron-strapped doors—the entrance to the Apocrypha.

Within the Apocrypha and beyond its great doors, wall torches illuminated a score of resolute guards that lined the corridor entrance. On the other side of it, spear butts pounded against the door, followed by a muffled command, “Open, by command of His Eminence, Cardinal Lean of the Apocrypha Council!”

Two guards removed iron bars and strained themselves to open the doors. Cardinal Lean and his Captain bustled through, drenched completely from the heavy rain. The guards bowed as the two passed. The doors closed with a resounding thud. Never breaking stride, Lean and the Captain disappeared into the dim hall, leaving a trail of water that dripped from their garments upon paved stones, which mirrored quivering reflections of the torch flames of the corridor.

As Lean stepped a corner and neared the last of a hallway, six guards abruptly made their presence known. They stood before a tall richly ornate door covered with intricate carvings, embossed with shimmering metal plating, and studded with precious stones. In Greek letters, the word, APOCRYPHOS, lay inscribed above its keystone. The door sergeant stepped forth, hand raised and with his palm outward. “Halt!” The guards behind him raised weapons in kind, and a clattering of heavy iron armour travelled through the hall. Lean halted before the Sergeant, who continued thus: “State the nature of—”
Lean swiped his hand aside briskly. “I have no time!” He leaned forth, cupped his hand, and whispered the words of passage into the ear of the sergeant.
The soldier spun, clicked his heels, and addressed his door guards, “Give way to His Eminence, Cardinal Lean of the Council!”

The guards hastily parted and the sergeant slipped a large brass key into the lock. They pressed their shoulders deeply into the towering door's pristine timber planks as the door groaned and eased open. Lean took a torch handed by one of the guards before ducking through the new-made space in the doorway. Behind him, the massive door closed with resounding reverberation. The echo faded and a silence enveloped him there—in the still darkness—only disturbed by his own breath and a steady blowing sound of the torch flame...

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