Templar's Quest

30

‘How the hell did I get roped into coming to an art museum?’ Finn grumbled. ‘If you ask me, this is just a waste of time.’

‘I didn’t ask,’ Kate promptly retorted.

Ten minutes ago they’d arrived at the Musée du Louvre, Cædmon silent as to the reason for the visit. In that short time span, they’d climbed two flights of marble steps, waded through throngs of yammering tourists and seen centuries of art and antiquities pass in a surreal blur. Like billboards on the interstate.

A general leading his war-weary troops into battle, Cædmon strode into the high-ceilinged Salle des Bronzes. A cavernous gallery, it benefitted from the abundant natural light streaming through a bank of tall windows. Glass display cases affixed to the walls and lining the centre of the salon contained exquisite pieces of metalwork from the Classical period.

Originally a sturdy but simple medieval fortress, over the centuries the Louvre had undergone numerous renovations and expansions, evolving into the palatial residence of the kings of France. Through conquest and outright theft, those same kings amassed one of the most impressive art collections in all of Europe. Confiscated during the Revolution, the royal palace officially opened its doors as a public museum on 10 August 1793. Ironically, the event coincided with the one-year anniversary of the monarchy’s downfall.

‘Jesus, this place is at least twenty times bigger than anything Saddam built.’

Exasperated, Kate shook her head. Always trust Finn to be utterly irreverent.

But also trust him to be incredibly valiant. During the standoff with the Dark Angel, he’d actually shielded her with his own body, fully prepared to take a bullet for her. Kate was still awestruck at his incredible bravery. Even at the beginning of her disastrous marriage, during the ‘happy years’, she somehow doubted that her ex-husband would have gone to such extraordinary lengths to protect her. And while Finn liked to play the foul-mouthed commando, she knew that he had true courage and conviction. In a word, he was an unsung hero.

But she wasn’t about to sing his praises or reveal her feelings. Finn was on a mission to avenge his slain comrades and did not need or want any distractions. Earlier today, he intimated that she was just that, an unwanted distraction that he was obliged to protect.

Because she so greatly admired Finn’s loyalty to his two friends, she wanted to help, not hinder him.

Having yet to explain the purpose of the excursion, Cædmon headed for the last window in the salon. ‘From this vantage point, we can see the spectacular Axe Historique de Paris,’ he said over his shoulder, motioning them to join him.

Sandwiched between her two taller companions, Kate peered through the window; directly below them was the crowded Cour Napoléon and I. M. Pei’s famous glass pyramid.

‘As you can see, the Historic Axis runs in a westward trajectory from the apex of the glass pyramid, through the middle of the Tuileries Gardens and the Place de la Concorde.’ Cædmon tilted his chin at the two famous landmarks, visible in the hazy distance. ‘The axis then continues along the Champs-Élysées, dramatically terminating at the ultra-modern Grande Arche. Without a doubt, one of the most beautiful stretches of real estate in the world. While lovely to behold, most people are unaware that this famous axis is identical to the Sacred Axis in ancient Thebes that connected the Temple of Luxor to the Temple of Karnak.’

Finn glanced out of the window. ‘Oh, yeah. I’m sure that King Tut had a glass pyramid just like the one down there on the concourse.’

‘By “identical”, I meant that both axes were constructed on an alignment twenty-six degrees north-of-west in one direction and twenty-six degrees south-of-east in the other. Fascinating, don’t you think?’

Intrigued, Kate asked the obvious: ‘Identical by design or accident?’

‘The layout of the Axe Historique is quite intentional.’ As he spoke, a lock of red hair fell on to Cædmon’s brow.

Something about those errant strands called to mind a long-forgotten memory of Cædmon, sprawled on a rumpled bed, hands wrapped, not around her, but around a leather-bound history book. Utterly enthralled. That was when Kate realized that Cædmon Aisquith loved the mysteries of history more than he loved her. Soon thereafter, she sent the infamous ‘lettre de rupture’.

Unnerved by the memory, Kate refocused her attention on the axis. ‘The Egyptian obelisk that’s located at Place de la Concorde, wasn’t that brought to Paris from the Temple of Luxor?’

‘Hauled from Egypt to France in the nineteenth century, the obelisk originally stood sentry along the Sacred Axis at Thebes. And just like its Egyptian twin, the Paris axis is orientated to the Heliacal Rising of Sirius.’

‘Sirius is that big bright star in Canis Major, right?’

Pleased that Finn was making an effort to participate, Kate enthusiastically nodded. ‘Big and bright because Sirius is twice the size of the sun and approximately twenty times more luminous.’ She’d always attributed her avid interest in astronomy to the fact that her father was an astrophysicist.

‘Sirius is also the celestial abode of Isis, the queen of the Egyptian pantheon,’ Cædmon added. ‘Marking the beginning of the Egyptian New Year, or Prt śpdt, the heliacal rising of Sirius was heralded as a sacred event.’

‘Wouldn’t the heliacal rising of Sirius happen every morning when the sun came up?’

Although Finn’s question had merit, Kate shook her head, disavowing him of the notion. ‘You’d think so. However, in the spring, Sirius drops below the horizon, vanishing from sight for a seventy-day period. During that time, it drifts approximately one degree each day as it hovers near the Pleiades. The heliacal rising refers to the star’s re-emergence after its lengthy absence.’ She thoughtfully tapped her finger against her lip. ‘Cædmon, what exactly did you mean when you said that the Axe Historique and the Sacred Axis in Thebes are both orientated to the heliacal rising?’

‘I meant that at dawn on the morning of the helical rising, if you were to stand on the Axe Historique and gaze due east –’ turning, he extended his arm towards the wall behind them – ‘Sirius would be in your direct line of sight. But, even more amazing, that evening at sunset, if you stood in the same spot and looked due west –’ he pivoted, resuming his original stance – ‘you would see the setting sun perfectly framed within the open cube of the Grande Arche.’

‘Wow. I bet that’s an awesome sight,’ Kate murmured.

‘Truly magnificent. And while we can only assume that the Egyptians contrived an equally stunning spectacle, the Sacred Axis at Thebes was designed for one specific purpose: at the heliacal rising, the temple priests would draw the astral energy emanating from Sirius along the axis that connected the two temples.’

Hearing that, Finn said, ‘All right. I’ll bite. What’s astral energy?’

‘All stars emit electromagnetically charged energy,’ Cædmon replied. ‘The Egyptians believed that at the heliacal rising of Sirius, an opening was created in the cosmos, an aperture through which the energy of Sirius could be accessed and manipulated.’

‘And what does that have to do with the Dark Angel or those bastards at the Seven Research Foundation?’

‘I would think a great deal. German scholars in the Ahnenerbe referred to Sirius as the Black Sun. That being the same Black Sun depicted on the tattoo that you earlier showed me.’

Surprised, Kate’s eyes opened wide. ‘Which suggests that there is a connection between the Ahnenerbe and the Seven Research Foundation.’

Cædmon concurred with a nod. ‘Obsessed with Egypt, the Ahnenerbe was convinced that the origins of physics, chemistry and biology were encoded in the Egyptian glyphs, texts and sacred monuments. Whole divisions within the Ahnenerbe were dedicated to recovering the lost sciences of the ancient world.’

‘And wasn’t that a waste of time,’ Finn muttered disagreeably under his breath. ‘Talk about a bogus load of malarkey.’

‘Why is it so difficult to accept that the ancients may have possessed scientific knowledge that was equal, if not superior, to our own?’ Exhibiting the unflappable calm for which the English were famous, Cædmon stood his ground. ‘One need only examine the pyramids to know that the Egyptians were brilliant engineers.’

‘In fact, modern engineers still haven’t figured out how they built those darned things,’ Kate informed her sceptical companion.

‘And let us not forget that many of those pyramids were orientated to the constellations in the night sky. A notable achievement in any century.’

‘That reminds me, Cædmon.’ Kate suddenly recalled a remark made earlier in the day. ‘When we questioned the Dark Angel, she made a passing reference to “the great star rising with the sun”.’

‘Indeed? Then we must presume that the Seven Research Foundation knows about the heliacal rising of Sirius.’

‘Which leads to my next question: what was the purpose of drawing the astral energy from Sirius along the Sacred Axis?’

‘Ah! We finally get to the marrow.’ Blue eyes glittering, the man clearly in the know about something, Cædmon stared intently out of the window. ‘The purpose of the exercise was to create the Vril force by fusing astral energy to the telluric currents deep within the earth. And, according to the foremost Freemason of the nineteenth century, Albert Pike, the man who can glean that lost science can control the world.’