“Cup of tea, Miss Croft?“

“Give it here.“

There was a noisy storm above the roofs of Lara’s home. Although the summer just began it was cold outside so Winston lit a fire in a fireplace in the library. Lara was sitting near, actually on the floor, surrounded by books. What else can a tomb raider do on a rainy day such as this than prepare for the next adventure? Notably the gym was broken after the little accident with thieves who had nothing between their ears. Now literally.

“I think they found it, Winston. Not exactly that thing but they found the right place.“ Lara got up and started to plait her hair. “I got an echo just hour ago. I have to go and find it.“ She was bursting to raid.

“You’re in love again, aren’t you?“

“Maybe, Winston, the goal we all have is Aphrodite’s heart…“

“Who are they?“

“Real archeologists.“ Winston was sure he saw a gleam in her eyes. And it wasn’t caused by the flames.
…

Another time, another land. There were stars hung on the dark blue arc of the sky. Lara felt her guns. How perfectly they fit in these old holsters! Boredom was definitely out of her mind.

Lara was looking on the digsite. This part was uninhabited, there was just an old olive grove and many stones aside the rock. Too many stones to cultivate the ground. The rock looked exactly how she expected. Sacred.

She left her motorbike behind the hill because she needed to be quiet in case somebody was looking over this place. It’s always risky to raid places where digs are concurrently done but the heart of this lady was possessed by danger since the year dot. And a chance like this comes once in a blue moon. Her senses covered the digsite. Nobody’s here, just cicadas on the trees. Fine.

“Time to look what we have here,“ said she quietly.

Where is the line between an archeologist and a raider? Don’t you feel that? Not only that these words sound differently, there are also different methods and ways on which people described by these names go. The first one goes slowly and carefully with a brush whereas the second flies through as a rocket and takes everything what wants.

There was a temple here in ancient time, it was obvious by the closer look at the stones. Broken columns and a forgotten altar. Archeologist had just finished the first excavating and uncovered the ground plan of the temple. Lara felt the age of this place. It was written in the stone, whispered by the breeze. She looked around herself to explore the place. The altar looked promising. It was placed by the rock, there was no gap…

That’s exactly like a big X on an old map. An X which marks the spot – the treasure, Lara thought. Just few symbols were forgotten by years. Researchers just removed the dust and dry grass from the stone surface. But they probably didn’t try anything else because of their fear of damaging the relic. Lara knocked on the stone.

Great entrances to tombs and hidden temples are beautiful . But rare. That’s because builders mostly didn’t want these sacred place to be revealed by thieves. So thieves learned to look for every crevice. For example the one which Lara recognized in the stone desk. So she took a bigger stone and used it to break the desk. It cracked almost as easily as an eggshell.

Lara took a flare from her backpack. Inside the rock was a darkness that waited for the light nearly three thousand years.

Lara was wrong. She wasn’t there alone. She didn’t notice there was a campfire behind one of the projections of the rock. The smell of baked beans was in the air and there were several opened cans on the ground.

When Lara entered the cave, a sleeping man opened his eyes.


…

Meanwhile at Lara’s Surrey mansion Winston was cleaning up the library. He found Lara’s blue cup half-full of tea on the ground. There were also many books lying around. He took one up and looked at the title. It was called The Croft Chronicles. Winston knew about this book, it was Lara’s favorite one. Once on the beginning lived one member of the Croft family of the 18th century who was obsessed with family history, especially about the family members who seemed strange to the others, those who were black sheep of the family. He was one of them. Old good crazy uncle Arthur.


…

The tunnel went through the rock down to the underground and was very narrow and low. The light from Lara’s flare was poor. It lighted place well when Lara was going through the tunnel but when she entered the main cave, she needed something better. Because one of the best tomb raider’s friends is fire. Lara looked into her backpack for matches. And she found… none.

“Damned!“

Some people think that it’s possible to make fire with a gunshot into wood but that doesn’t go well. The most effective way is to rub two pieces of quartz together or trying to make fire only with wooden poles. But who would leave these things in an ancient temple?

“It seems you have a problem, Miss Croft. And not only with the light.“


…

This book summarized the full history of the known members of the Croft family and Arthur also wrote many things about unknown and maybe just in-his-fantasy-made forefathers - and foremothers, to be accurate. Women played a big role in the family history, especially extraordinary women. Lara always loved stories about them.

For example the story of the Hunnish princess Xara who lived in the 3rd century. She was known for her cruelty. Once she killed two hundred men just because she found someone’s hair in her beans.

Blood knows many ways.


…

Lara didn’t look back. She recognized the voice and the accent without seeing the face.

And she also heard the little “click“ noise made by his gun.

Pierre. That French bastard. She had known that it wouldn’t be so easy that night.

“I’m afraid it’s a waste of my breath to tell you looked very, very dead last time we met.“

“You mean the Rome accident, don’t you? It wasn’t nice from you. It was hard to climb up with my arm, leg and few ribs broken. As a bonus you left one of the lions alive. I helped you before. And we had a deal.“

“Yes. And I followed its rules. Remember?“

“Your little trick is carved into my memory very well, Miss Croft.“


…

The Croft Chronicles also included the story of Lady Agnes Croft, who was one of the children of the first Lord Croft. She lived in the 16th century and she was one of the most beautiful women of that era. She was known for her extraordinary relationships with men – she had twelve husbands in seven years. They all died by strange accidents in which the butler of Lady Agnes and tea played some mysterious part. She was later accused of being a witch so she ran away. Because it was the age of voyages and revelations she set out to the sea. In sailors circles she was soon known as Agnes the Siren. Beautiful but evil…

Lara was always fascinated by her destiny.
…

The good thing about Pierre’s arrival was that he brought light into the temple. His lantern finally showed the beauty of that place. It was older, much older than the temple above. Lara looked around herself. It was a cave, dry cave, and the air smelled of ages. That was exactly the kind of air which Lara loved. The kind in which she felt stronger, in which she felt as home.

“Do you like stories, Pierre?“

“What?“

Lara smiled a bit. It was the deadly kind of smile.

“Do you at least know what does this place mean?“

“What should it mean? I know everything I need. There is something hidden and I want it.“

“I thought that you are the more clever one… anyway, what happened to your blonde friend?“

“I wanted to be here alone today.“

“Me too.“ Lara folded her arms.

“We aren’t very lucky today, are we?“

“This day isn’t over yet, Pierre.“

“Do you know where the treasure is?“

“Something better. I can tell you a story.“ Lara took a breath. “Once upon a time…“

“I hope it’s not a fairy-tale.“

“You I’ll hope it was.“


…

In the old times, when gods and goddesses used to walk the world, lived the Amazonians. They were women of incredible strength and they ruled the men, at least the men in their nation. That meant that they had queens instead of kings.

And once lived a queen of the Amazonians, an amazing warrior, woman of pure beauty. Was she perfect? No. She was cruel. So cruel that every man who should be her husband ran away or killed himself. She couldn’t find a man brave enough to live with her.

So she went and asked the gods.
…

“Are you kidding me?“

“No. What’s the time?“

“Why?“

“Don’t ask, just tell me.“

“Five minutes to midnight.“

“I thought it would be earlier. Let’s continue…“


…

But her gods hadn’t answer to her.

And she went and asked other gods – gods of her enemies, the Greek gods. And between them she found one goddess who answered her questions. It was Aphrodite.

She gave the queen a strange flower in which a little piece of her heart was. That’s why it was known as Aphrodite’s heart. And she told her how to use it. She should go and choose a man and then touch him with the flower. In that moment he was lost – he was hers forever.

More women from her nation wanted to use the flower but it was forbidden by the goddess. “It’s only for you and your daughters,“ told she the queen.


…

“This temple was built by the Amazonians – or to be correct, by their men - to hide the Heart of Aphrodite.“

“I don’t see it here. There is nothing, actually. Just stones and an empty cave.“

“How impatient you are, Pierre…“ Lara smiled.

“What’s the time now?“ She asked.

“We have midnight.“

“I thought so. Look…“ She showed him to the middle of the cave.

Something was going to happen, it was in the air… and suddenly there was mist inside the cave. It came from the walls, from the ground, from nowhere. It was white and blue and purple at the same time and it rotated about the middle, where some objects started to materialize. After few second the mist disappeared and left in the middle of the cave pedestal which looked as if it was made of glass with the fog inside. It had the shape of two hands and the hands were holding something.

“Aphrodite’s heart,“ Lara breathed out. “It’s beautiful.“

“And mine,“ said Pierre and came closer to the pedestal. “It seems you have known this little trick, Miss Croft.“

“It’s midnight of the Midsummer’s night, Pierre. The most magical night in the year. Of course I have known that. Almost every old nation believed this time is magical.“ She made few steps to him.

“Stay where you are, Lara. Don’t try anything. You won’t get this wonder today.“ He pointed his gun to Lara again.

“We will see.“ Lara was calm. She just observed what he will do.

He went to the pedestal, still checking if Lara isn’t doing anything.

“Are you scared, Pierre?“

“Don’t make fun of me, Miss Croft. Is there any trap?“

“I don’t see any.“

“All right then.“

The Heart looked as the rose blossom. It gave the impression that it was made of pure crystal at first look but there was something different inside. Blue and purple ripples sparkled inside. And right in the middle something was shining around itself…

It was really beautiful.

Until Pierre’s hands touched it.

The ground began to shake. Some noise was heard, it was like a scream of the universe. Pierre had true fear in his eyes. And then the mist shot out of the Heart and surrounded him. It took just few seconds and he was lying on the floor, wide-eyed, with arms and leg tied up by some ancient thing. His gun lied on the ground, definitely destroyed.

Lara smiled again, this time it was a smile that came from her heart.

“I told you I don’t see any. But I forgot to mention I knew about one!“ Lara went closer to him. “I really thought you’re the cleverer one. Maybe Larson would done this job better, my French friend,“ said she sarcastically. “I think he still believe in fairy-tales. In meaning of stories… And trust me, the story I told you was pure truth, darling.“

Lara was looking at the Heart and there was a gleam in her eyes. This time it came from the base of her bones. “I think I forgot to tell you the name of the queen I was talking about, Pierre.“

“Yes… you d-did.“ His mouth was turned into stone by fear.


…

Winston finished reading the story of Lara, the Amazonian queen. He remembered Lara was obsessed with this story when she was young. She believed she was named after her.

And who knows, maybe she really was the grand-grand-grand… grandmother of Lara Croft. Not everything what Arthur wrote into book was false.


…

“Your tea, Lara. And newspaper.“

“Is there something interesting?“

“I think this article would interest you. It’s about the place you recently visited. They said that an old cave was found under the ancient temple, older than the temple, and the most strange thing is that there was a living man with brown hair and a violet jacket lying on the ground. His arms and legs were tied up with stone shackles and he was mumbling nonsenses. When they broke his shackles, he ran away. Do you know something about it?“

Lara smiled.

She was again sitting in the library in her mansion. It was a beautiful day outside. The Heart of Aphrodite was lying on her desk and Lara was lost in thoughts.

“You were right, old man. I’m in love,“ she said.

“Really?“

“Yes. I’m in love with all beautiful things which are lost and need to be found again.“ She took a swallow of her tea. “What do you think about the Ark of the Covenant, Winston?“


THE END


NOTICE: This story is a work of fiction. Lara Croft, her likeness, and the Tomb Raider games are all copyright of EIDOS Interactive. There is no challenge to these copyrights intended by this story, as it is a non-sanctioned, unofficial work of the author's own. Entry for the 7th Village of Tokakeriby Tomb Raider Story Competition, 2012.