Death Raids A Heart

Pt. III

Venice, Italy
10:30 hrs

Hopelessly, David Gardner wandered through Venice without a clue where to start his journey to find the Holy Grail. During his flight to Venice, he read over his father's journal where several pages took his interest before touching down in the city in Italy. There, he toured the illustrious city where people wandered in large crowds; tourists taking photos while others chatted in their groups as the hot sun beat down on them. While the sights were extraordinary to him, it was at a restaurant that he settled for a while to get his bearings when someone called his name. A man of seventy-four appeared before the young man in a white suit, fedora and with a red flower stowed in his outer breast pocket.

"Graham?" David muttered. 

"Hello, son. You look well for someone who's finally had a change of heart and enjoy life for once." The man replied in a sophisticated manner.

There, the two sat together, enjoying one another's company as David lead onto his purpose in Venice. It was only thirteen months ago that the two old friends met long before David was hired for the expedition on the Endurance.

"What brings you to Italy, my old friend?" David inquired before sipping on his coffee.

"I could ask you the same thing. When does British archaeologist, David Gardner spend his time within a city when he could be elsewhere exploring caves and temples, setting off traps and the such - all from the notes of his father's journal?" Graham countered.

"Fair point. I'm trying to catch up to an organisation called Trinity to search for... the Holy Grail."

Spitting out his coffee, this drew little to no attention and Graham coughed before settling.

"Dear God, boy! Have you gone mad?! This little fairy-tale is what got your father killed - he made me promise not to allow you to follow that same fate." Graham hissed, rebuking him for taking upon the mystery that resulted in the untimely demise of David Gardner's father.

David knew full well of what happened to his father, as his death gave him confidence to finish what his father could not.

"I know, Graham. But I have no other choice. Trinity want the Grail and if they get their hands on it, Mr Cruz will become unstoppable."

"Cruz? Why... that name rings a bell."

"He's one of the lieutenants in Trinity, and he hates my guts and..."

"And who?"

"N-Nobody. Look. I need to find the Grail. I know I gotta be here but I don't know where exactly. Here."

Producing his father's journal, he flipped through to a particular page of interest and revealed his only lead on finding the Holy Grail. Graham felt a slight desire to assist David, but while he refused to provide any form of clue to resuming his journey for the Grail, he couldn't help but give him help only for that one time as he assured himself that the clue would either cause David to give up on his search on his own or by being forced out by Trinity. Regardless, David had his way, with now an arrow pointed at the library of Campo San Barnaba. Now, David felt the thrill resume.

"David, ah--wait dear boy. You still haven't told me who your friend is," stammered Graham.

David sighed. "Her name is Lara Croft. And she's my girlfriend. We've been under Trinity's watch for a long time, now. Her, more so because of her father. Now, she's off in, in Mexico doing some business with a friend of ours."

"Dear boy, you don't watch a lot of the news do you?"

"Why? What's happened?" 

Reaching for a newspaper on a nearby table, he presented it to David and read aloud the latest article where a tsunami swept a small town in Mexico, which gave him the hunch that Lara was there when the tsunami occurred. David took deep breaths before leaving without a word spoken as he made his way to the library to conduct his search for clues to the location of the Grail. Inside the library, David sought a glass coloured window identical to the sketch in his father's journal. Upon locating the window, three separate Roman numerals resided, giving him a clue as two numerals were located on ancient pillars with the third, X meaning ten, unable to be seen visibly. 

Minutes later, he located the ten he was looking for. In the centre of the room, right where he discovered the window, he took a pole and smashed a tile so he could pry it open before sneaking in to find a tomb. Working his way through the passages, David used a torch from his phone and illuminated the path ahead, discovering many secrets below the library as he came across a wall with an X carved on it. Knowing the wall was unsturdy, David rammed his shoulder into it three times before making another discovery of a closed passageway filled with forty centimetres of petroleum. Cautiously, he followed a side path until he was given no choice but to walk in the petroleum towards a room of coffins. 

"The artistry of these carvings... it's extraordinary. Boy, would dad love this." David mumbled to himself. 

The coffin at the end took high interest to the archaeologist. Pushing the lid open, he found a skeleton with a sword and shield engraved with ancient texts that he copied onto a piece of paper with chalk. Then, loud incessant squealing came from the rats scrambling for an escape from a bright light coming his way. 

"Shit! Someone set this place on fire! I got it! Air pocket!" 

Pushing the coffin with the knight over, David dove under to use as an air pocket so that he could find an escape, which in turn lead to him climbing out of the sewers, disturbing people dining outdoors. A group of men began to shout, scaring David to flee from men wearing fez hats armed with assault rifles when he found a speed boat to use when he felt something heavy hit the back of the boat. Jamming the boat to drive at full speed, David threw himself at his attacker and wrestled for dominance as two more boats pursued him. David's attacker drew a Luger who fired randomly as David held onto his attacker's gun hand before headbutting the man, kicking him overboard. 

When he realised he was driving between two large vessels, his heart raced as the smaller vessel was pushed to close against the larger one when a pursuing boat exploded. The third boat fired at his, hitting the engine which caused it to splutter and choke before settling dead in the water when the third boat pulled up beside his to fight him one on one. Though the man refused to fight back, David held him firmly by his blazer and shook him slightly as he began to interrogate him as they drifted towards running boat propellers. 

"Why are you trying to kill me?!" David barked. 

"Because you're looking for the Holy Grail!" The man replied. 

"Who are you working for?! Speak, goddammit! Tell me! TELL ME!!" 

"If you don't let go, we'll both die!" 

"Then we'll die!" 

"My soul is prepared! How's yours?!" 

When he other boat sped alongside them, both men jumped aboard as they were taken to a jetty where the boat rested. 

"Who are you?" David asked more calmly. 

"My name is Kazim." The man replied also in a neutral manner. 

"You said you were trying to stop me from finding the Holy Grail." 

Undoing two top buttons, the man showed a mark on his chest resembling his insignia. "The secret of the Grail has been safe for a thousand years. And for all that time, the Brotherhood of the Cruciform Sword has been prepared to do anything to keep it safe. Ask yourself this: why do you seek the Cup of Christ? Is it for His glory, or for yours?" 

"I didn't come to find the Grail. I'm doing this to stop Trinity from taking over the world. I'm doing this so I don't have to wake up every day, fearing for my life and my girlfriend's that we don't have our throats slit in the middle of the night." 

"In that case, God be with you on your quest." 

Pulling up to the jetty, David was allowed to leave as the public disturbance aroused no attention from the authorities as he made his way to the nearest hotel to examine what he found on the parchment of paper that he kept safely in his pocket which fortunately was not damaged when he was forced to flee the fire Kazim and his men caused. There, he translated the texts, discovering a particular word that caught his interest. Alexandretta. Now, he had everything thanks to his father's work which enabled him to continue his father's dying act: to find the Holy Grail.