揌ow is all that known??
揥e know our history. But everything else relative to Mary was recorded in a document known as The Testimony of John, the man Christ himself, from the cross, entrusted his mother抯 care to. We have that account, and so does the Vatican.?
揥hy was all this kept so secret??
揂t first, it was done simply out of respect. She was, after all, the Mother of God. The tomb was more maintained than guarded, and this region was quite isolated. But as time went on, and more people arrived, the level of persecution elevated. Christians were martyred. Churches destroyed. Relics defiled. Spies and informers loomed everywhere, and persecution found its way to the Pyr閚閑s. That抯 when secrecy was imposed. Eventually, the greatest threat to Mary抯 peace came from the church itself. Those men who found her earthly remains threatening to their own fantasies. That抯 when women began to die protecting her tomb.?
揕ike Sister Rachel.?
The abbess nodded. 揝o, to answer your original question as to why you are here? It is simple.?
The older woman抯 face broke into a maze of kindly wrinkles.
揥e want you to join us.?
Fuentes was amazed.
The room was not much larger than an oversized walk-in closet, the ceiling stained black from the smoke of countless candles. No choking miasma of ancient decay, though. Everything had been properly maintained, the layout exactly as described in The Testimony of John.
He recalled the words.
We had tools with which to enlarge the tomb, for it was here that the Blessed Virgin抯 body was to rest. The cave was not as spacious as Our Lord抯， barely high enough for a man to enter upright. The floor sank at the entrance, and then one saw the burial-place like a narrow altar with the rock-wall projecting over it. We did a good deal of work to prepare it, and also arranged a door to close the entrance. In the burial-place a hollow was chiseled in the shape of a wrapped-up body, slightly raised at the head. Beneath the resting place, into the rock we carved a symbol of how we regarded her. . In the hollow we left another message that spoke to her life and death. .
The floor sank at the entrance about a quarter meter. And, yes, the burial niche in the rock wall appeared like an altar, the rock above projecting out over it. Inside, just as John had written, was a hollow, raised slightly at one end. Musty-looking bones, disarticulated and jumbled, lay scattered, and in the hollow抯 bottom were the Greek words.
.
Itself to itself.
He shut his eyes in a bid to clear his mind. He抎 done what all of his predecessors had failed to accomplish.
He抎 found Mary.
Nick spotted the entrance to the rock church and approached with care. He抎 visited a couple of others around Europe, most notably the Ermitage Saint-Antoine and chapel at Gorges de Galamus, not all that far from here. This one was every bit as impressive, but definitely not as known. The maidens who抎 fled the motherhouse sat in the pews. Rice was toward the far end, near the altar, toting a backpack and armed. Sister Claire and Fuentes were not in sight. Past the altar he spotted a devotional with its bottom front panel open, revealing a passage.
Fuentes and Sister Claire had to be beyond.
In the Chapel of the Maiden.
With only one way in and out.
He was unarmed, so it made no sense to escalate things.
No need.
He抎 just wait for Rice and Fuentes to come to him.
Chapter 71
Vilamur kept trying to anticipate where this troubling encounter was going. He抎 tried to sympathize, hedge, and divert, all to no avail. Andre Labelle had not budged, still blocking all escape and becoming more and more agitated. His plan had been to get far away before Fuentes and the Dominicans did whatever they were going to do. He did not want to know anything about it, and he surely did not want to be judged guilty by association. Bad enough he抎 been involved to start with, but he doubted the maidens were going to lodge any official complaints. Far from that, in fact. Instead, his problem stood three meters away.
揝hould we pray some more??he asked Labelle.
揧our prayers and mine are not the same.?
揚lease, then. Use yours.?
Labelle seemed unsure, then bowed his head. 揌oly Father, just God of the good spirits, you who are never mistaken, never lie, nor err, nor doubt, for fear of suffering death in the world of the alien god, for we are not of the world and the world is not of us. Give us to know what you know and to love what you love.?
揟hat抯 a lovely prayer,?he said.
揑t is our tribute to the God of Light.?
That dualism again. It抯 what originally brought the Cathars all their misery. Two gods. But he could not allow Labelle to detect even the slightest hint of ridicule or resentment.