Angelology(64)

“I don’t believe our defenses will fail—there is every indication that we are ready for whatever

battles lie ahead—but we must prepare for the worst. If we wait any longer, we face being

surrounded.”

“Look at the map, Professor,” said a council member named Vladimir, a young scholar sent to

Paris from the underground Angelological Academy in Leningrad, of whom I knew only by reputation.

Boyish and handsome, he had pale blue eyes and a lithe build. The quiet, certain manner with which

he conducted himself gave him the presence of an older man, although he could not have been more

than nineteen years old. “It seems we are surrounded already,” he said.

“There is a marked difference between the machinations of the Axis powers and our enemies,” Dr.

Lévi-Franche said. “Earthly danger is nothing in comparison to that of our spiritual enemies.”

“We must be ready to defy both,” said Vladimir.

“Exactly,” Dr. Seraphina said. “And to do this we must increase our efforts to find and destroy the

lyre.”

Dr. Seraphina’s assertion was met with silence. The council members were not quite certain how

to react to such a bold statement.

“You know my feelings about this,” Dr. Raphael said. “Sending a team to the mountains is our best

hope.”

The nun’s veil cast a shadow over her features as she looked about the table at the council. “The

area Dr. Raphael proposes is far too large for anyone—including our teams—to cover without exact

coordinates. The precise location of the gorge must be mapped before such an expedition takes

place.”

“With the right resources,” Dr. Seraphina said, “nothing is impossible. We have been given

generous assistance from our American benefactress.”

“And the equipment supplied by the Curie family estate will be more than adequate,” Dr. Raphael

added.

“Let’s look at the realities at hand, shall we?” said Dr. Lévi-Franche, clearly skeptical of the

project. “How large is the area we are discussing?”

“Thrace was part of the eastern Roman Empire, later to be called Byzantium, whose territory

consisted of land from present-day Turkey, Greece, and Bulgaria,” Dr. Raphael said. “The tenth

century was a time of great territorial changes for the Thracians, but from the Venerable Clematis’s

account of his expedition we can narrow our search somewhat. We know Clematis was born in the

city of Smolyan at the heart of the Rhodope mountain chain of Bulgaria. Clematis wrote that he had

traveled to the land of his birth during his expedition. Thus, we can narrow the area to northern

Thrace.”

“This, as my colleague so correctly pointed out, is an immense area,” Dr. Lévi-Franche said. “Do

you suppose that we can explore a fraction of this terrain without being detected? Even with vast

resources and a thousand agents, it would take years, perhaps decades, to scratch the surface, let

alone go underground. We do not have the funding or the manpower for such an endeavor.”

“There will be no shortage of volunteers for the mission,” Vladimir said.

“It is important to remember,” Dr. Seraphina said, “that the danger the war poses is not merely the

destruction of our texts and the physical structures of our school. We stand to lose much more if the

details of the cavern, and the treasure hidden there, are made public.”

“Perhaps,” the nun said. “But our enemies are watching the mountains at every moment.”

“It is true,” said Vladimir, whose field of study was ethereal musicology. “And that is precisely

why we must go after it now.”

“Why now?” Dr. Lévi-Franche countered, lowering his voice. “We have hunted down and

protected lesser celestial instruments while leaving the most dangerous one at large. Why not wait

until the threat of war has passed?”

Dr. Seraphina said, “The Nazis have positioned teams throughout the area. They adore antiquities

—especially those of mythological significance to their regime—and the Nephilim will use this

opportunity to gain a powerful tool.”

“The lyre’s powers are notorious,” Vladimir said. “Of all the celestial instruments, it is the one

that might be used to disastrous ends. It may be that its destructive force is more insidious than

anything the Nazis might do. But then again, the instrument is too precious to leave. You know as well

as I that the Nephilim have always coveted the lyre.”

“But it is obvious,” Dr. Lévi-Franche said, growing perturbed, “that the Nephilim will follow our