Excerpt: The Brotherhood of the Lion

Bernard Robinoeau stood back and looked at the Abbey that had been begun by his father. Of course, his father never lived to see its completion. The building of the Abbey, had taken more than 30 years to complete. Bernard knew his father would have been proud of the final outcome. He also would have been proud of his son’s workmanship.
Bernard felt his wife’s arm move around his waist as she drew him to her. She, also, was very proud of her husband and the amazing work he had done in constructing this magnificent Abbey.
“Bernard,” she whispered, “your work is fabulous. You leave a legacy to the world. Take me inside so that I may leave my own legacy.”
“What do you mean Agnes?” he asked. “What legacy? What do you want to do?”
“Just take me in so that I may impart my power on this magnificent place.”
Bernard, unsure of what she meant, led her into the Abbey.
“Just walk me through the halls. I will know when we find the right place,” said Agnes.
For the next 20 minutes they walked through the halls and passageways of the Abbey. Occasionally, Agnes would stop and slide her hand along the cold stone wall, mutter something under her breath and then eventually walk away.
Finally, after rubbing her hand along the wall in a spot near a storage room in the lowest level of the Abbey, she raised her hand and simply said, “Here.”
Bernard just watched as Agnes traced her finger along the wall in a large arch pattern, again muttering something unintelligible. She then reached up and, again using her finger, traced what appeared to be words above the place she had previous traced the arch.
“Creaţi-pentru-mi un portal de viata. Stăpâneşte-a magic spiritul şi bea-l cu puteri secrete,” chanted Agnes, each word becoming louder and louder.
Bernard stepped back gazing at his wife as if he had never seen her before. What was she doing? Had she truly lost her mind?
Bernard shivered as a cold and powerful wind gusted down the passageway. He then rushed to Agnes as the wind spun her around and she dropped to the stone floor trembling.
As he lifted his unconscious wife, he froze as he saw upon the wall were she had traced her fingers were the words, Crede, şi Introduceţi transforma. He stared at them incredulously. The words had been etched into the stone as if he himself, a stone mason, had carved them. He knew they hadn’t been there a few moments ago. Holding has wife against him with one arm, he traced his fingers over the words as if to prove to himself that they actually did exist.
Agnes moaned beside him and began to slide down his body. Using both hands he scooped her up and carried her out of the Abbey and back to their home, a small stone building not too far from the Abbey itself.
Agnes was weak, very weak. It was as if life itself was being drained from her. Where she had once had raven black hair enveloping an oval face with fierce green eyes, now Bernard looked upon her and saw so many streaks of grey throughout her hair, her green eyes were glassy and looked more brown than green, her face shockingly white, all color drained from it.
Occasionally, she would speak softly and Bernard would run to her, but he was never able to understand what she was saying. She appeared to be babbling incoherently.
Finally after two weeks of lying in bed in this fashion, she succumbed to death. Bernard’s love had left him. He was alone.
During this time the Abbey became inhabited by the Benedictine monks under Abbott Berno and ultimately under the authority of Pope Sergius III.
Bernard never fully recovered from his beloved Agnes’ death. He continued to work on the Abbey adding sculpted ornate designs into the stone. In the lowest passageway where his wife had collapsed he sculpted a recessed figure of his beautiful wife in the smooth stone of the wall.
The Abbott had been furious with Bernard when he saw the words etched in the wall and he had demanded that they be chiseled out at once. The Abbott had not understood what they said, but surely a strange tongue like that must be pagan and therefore had no place in his Abbey.
Bernard of course had refused. He could not bring himself to remove the words he was so sure his wife had traced into the stone with her finger. He watched with tears rolling down his face as one of the monks took a hammer and chisel to the words. All stood in amazement as the words and the stone itself appeared impervious to the effects of the hammer and chisel.
Abbott Berno would try holy water, prayers and chants and still the words remained. Then he had a tapestry hung over the words only to find it reduced to ashes the next day. Ultimately, he would give up and just avoided that passageway.
Bernard made a regular habit of visiting that passageway as it made him feel closer to Agnes. One day as he stood in the hallway he felt a cool breeze flow done the hall. He dropped to his knees as he saw an archway appear before him. He opened the large wooden door and entered the room. As the door closed behind him the archway vanished.