TOMB RAIDER: LEGEND - PC/PS2/GC/XBOX

FAQ/Walkthrough by J Woodrow  <[email protected]>

Version 1.0 - 2008/03/03
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                                 Lara Croft
                                 T  O  M  B
                            R   A   I   D   E   R
                             ------------------
                              L  E  G  E  N  D


-- Adaptation by J Woodrow ----------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________________________________________

    o  BOLIVIA - Tiwanaku

    Anaya telephoned today. She heard a
    rumour about an ancient temple in Bolivia
    that contains an ornate stone dais. It could
    be the one I'm looking for. I'm setting out
    first thing in the morning.

    "I've been looking for certain artifacts."


-- Nepal, Part 1 --------------------------------------------------------------

A light aircraft cut through the dark of a storm. Lightning flickered, rain
lashed the fuselage, propellers struggled against the wind. Its pilot peered
out to the port side, and checked his instruments. In the private cabin, a
woman sat with a child at her knee. The little girl held a notebook of drawings
and stories.

"Just because no one's ever caught one," she said, "doesn't mean they're not
real."

She rested her head on her mother's shoulder but caught something sharp. The
woman unpinned a brooch from her lapel and placed it on the seat at her side.
"That is very true," she said, "but perhaps they don't wish to be found. I've
heard they are rather fierce."

"Yeti only look fierce,' the girl explained, showing her picture of the
mythical monsters, surrounded by temples and snowy mountain peaks. "They
probably don't like being so cold all the time. I shouldn't like it either."

"You never have to be cold, my Lara, if you don't want to be." She kissed her
daughter's head. Lara caught sight of an orange glow through a cabin window.
"Look!"

At that moment the plane rocked and they were thrown to the floor. The woman
called to the pilot: "Henry! What's happened?"

"Lady Croft, please stay seated."

The co-pilot made urgent signal. "Mayday, mayday ... this is Bravo Tango Two-
Two-niner..."

Lara stared out at the engine on fire. Lady Croft grabbed her daughter's arm,
hauled her to a seat, and strapped her in. The pilots struggled to control the
aircraft.

"We've lost our portside engine ... trying to get crossfeeds open..."

"Are we going to crash?" the little girl asked.

As Lady Croft stumbled into her seat, luggage hurtled through the compartment.

"...starboard engine non-responsive..."

She tried to put a brave face on the situation but her voice betrayed anxiety.
"Not unless it's absolutely necessary."

The little girl's eyes widened.

"...stabilizer jammed ... kicking rudder ... losing altitude. We're going full
nose down!"

The two passengers were thrown around in their seats as the plane bucked
wildly. Alarms sounded and Lara's mother looked anxiously on her daughter.
"Close your eyes, darling."

Lara shook her head. "I don't want to close my eyes."

The flaming engine lit the cockpit nightmare red as the pilots wrestled at the
controls. In an instant the windows were blown through in a blinding flash of
white.

-- Meet Tiwanaku --------------------------------------------------------------

Legendary adventurer Lara Croft hung expertly off the sheer rock face of a
mountain, high above the clouds. A bird soared free as wind whistled round. She
shuffled confidently sideways off a narrow cranny. This was free-climbing: no
ropes, no tools, absolutely no safety net.

"You know, I think you forgot your climbing gear on purpose."

The voice of her right hand man and tech expert, known to all only as Zip, came
in her ear via a headset.

"What would give you that idea?" Lara hoisted up on a ledge that broke under
her fingertips. She clutched to another as she fell. "Really, Zip, it's like
going up a set of stairs, only far less boring."

"Yeah, well, I want to throw up every time you look down. Hey, Alister's back."
Zip greeted Lara's research assistant, Alister Fletcher. "Grab a headset."

"Back so soon..." Lara said, jumping for a cranny. "From Florence, wasn't it?"

"Decided on Genoa at the last minute," Alister sighed. "My dissertation will
never see daylight at this rate. But never mind that, what are you doing in
Bolivia?"

Lara launched through the air and soared for a rock ledge. Hands in fingerless
leather gloves snatched at the last moment. "Ascending," she said as she pulled
up and performed an elegant handstand onto a high plateau. "Alister, meet
Tiwanaku. She's a lovely pre-Incan civilization, currently in ruins."

Ahead was a series of ledges, caves, and waterfalls.

"Delighted."

"I've been looking for certain artifacts," Lara explained, "well, for some time
now, and an old friend working in La Paz has tipped me off about a rather
promising rumour."

"What sort of artifacts?"

"An ornate stone dais, among other things."

"A big rock," Zip confirmed. "And she won't say why."

"Ah, well," Lara said. "Where would the suspense be, otherwise?"

She presented quite a figure in this untamed environment: olive shorts and
tight cropped top for unrestricted movement, feet in rugged boots. Long brown
hair tied in a ponytail, twin pistols strapped to her thighs. Such supplies as
she needed she carried in a small backpack. Though bare legs and midriff were
exposed, there wasn't an insect in Bolivia that would dare bite her.

She hopped from one rock to another across a mountain stream. Birds flapped
skywards at her approach. Nearby a waterfall tumbled to a rocky pool. A knotted
vine dangled overhead between high ledges. Loose rocks rolled gently away at
her feet and splashed into the pool. Lara dived in and swam across. As she
climbed out of the water she sighed with pleasure. "Ah... That was lovely." She
shook herself dry a little, and mounted a low ledge.

-- PDA Check ------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hey," Zip said, on the headset. "Do me a favor and check your PDA?"

Lara carried an electronic handset with comprehensive data support. She tapped
a few keys. "It still works," she confirmed, "if that's what you're wondering."

"Cool - they said it was waterproof. You should be able to swim with it, no
problem. Unless you eat it, then you'll have to wait an hour."

Lara examined a heavy boulder that blocked her way along a rock gully. Putting
her shoulder to it, she shifted the heavy rock to the edge of the gully, where
it toppled to shatter below. She was clear for a short jump to a small grassy
outcrop where tree roots snaked from above. She climbed to jump safely onto a
rock ledge. Just ahead, a river ran to the waterfall that cascaded to the rock
pool she had swum through below. Somewhere behind the shower of water she made
out a cave in the rock, and she used the dangling vine to swing towards it.

Back at home base the guys saw what she saw through a camera on her headset.
Alister made a plea: "The video is going to make me sick if you keep on
swinging, Lara." She jumped off the vine through the waterfall, and her voice
echoed in the cave passage. "Look away from the screen, then."

The cave was pitch dark, but she wore a flashlight clipped to the shoulder
strap of her trusty backpack. Its powerful beam showed the way through cold
puddles to daylight. She looked down on her starting point, with the waterfall
and rock pool just below. A rocky platform jutted in front where she stood, and
from it she judged that a thin ledge in the rock face might lead her around to
where the frothing river spilled over.

As she moved hand over hand along the narrow ledge, Zip warned her to be
careful. "Deep breaths, Zip," she replied. "This will be a long trip,
otherwise."

"I forgot you were such an optimist."

She made it fairly effortlessly around to where the river tumbled to the fall.
Lara sprang off the ledge to its bank and splashed through the shallow rushing
waters upstream along a narrow gully that was lined with fallen rocks and
branches.

Suddenly the ground shook. Close ahead a massive boulder became dislodged by
the stream, and rolled fast towards her. At the last second she pressed herself
flat to the rock wall, and the boulder crashed past, tumbling over the fall.

"That," Zip gasped, "was too close."

With more caution now, Lara made her way upstream until she came to a sheer
waterfall. There was no way to climb up it, but she spotted a fallen branch
that spanned the gully, and splashed back a little to a flat rock to jump up to
it. She shuffled across and swung to a smaller branch sticking out from the
gully wall. It bent under her weight but did not break. She leaped
acrobatically onwards to a rock ledge beside the waterfall, and sprang sideways
across the water to another ledge on the far side. As she clung by her
fingertips she heard a voice nearby, and ducked down to listen.

-- First Contact --------------------------------------------------------------

"Copy that. I'm here but I don't see no climber."

A uniformed man splashed through the stream close above her. He carried a gun.

"Yeah, well I can't shoot on sight if I can't see nobody," he muttered through
a headset. "I got worked up thinking I'd get to put someone down today, and now
there's nothing. He owes me one."

Lara pulled up and drew her weapons. The guard had his back to her and was
still pissed at his fruitless task.

"Hell yeah, I'll tell Rutland myself, you know it - give him the radio."

He paced ankle-deep in the water. Lara stayed out of sight and listened for
information.

"It's a snipe hunt anyhow," the man grumbled on. "You saw the cliffs below the
LZ - no way someone free-climbed that. Ask Sanchez. Nobody's out here but the
idiot twins upstream, so I'm putting down anything that moves. Yeah - tell 'em
both to stay put or they're going home in a box. I'm not gonna be checking no
ID's. I'm not letting anything get past, tell him that much. Or tell that
freaky chick with him. What's her story? I sure wouldn't mind-"

Whoever was on the other end had had enough bellyaching. The guard snapped to
order.

"Copy that. Check back in twenty."

Plain that he wouldn't let Lara just walk past, and equally plain that on
somebody's orders he wanted her dead. The soldier turned suddenly and raised
his gun. Before he had time to fire a round Lara ruthlessly shot him where he
stood. The body splashed into the shallow stream.

"Any idea who he is," Zip asked, "or who he works for?"

The man's uniform bore no insignia and he carried no ID.

"I haven't the foggiest," Lara said. "He is deliberately unremarkable."

"Is that good or bad?" Alister wondered.

"It's deliberate," she replied, "which isn't good."

She reached another short waterfall, and cast about with her binoculars for a
way to climb over. A fallen tree trunk swayed in the current, caught on a rock.

"That's a mechanism," Lara realised. It could serve as a lever if suitably
weighted. She examined a rock on a ledge just above. "That's something I could
move."

She hopped onto the tree trunk, and it began to tip under her weight. She
quickly jumped to the rock ledge before it fell again. Now she sized up the
boulder. She put her shoulder to it and soon tipped it over the edge, where it
landed on the flat part of the tree trunk and raised the other end up. Lara saw
at once that a branch formed a convenient means for her to swing up to the
waterfall. She soon clambered up on a rock shelf that divided the fast-flowing
stream.

She had reached the first ruins of the ancient city of Tiwanaku. A partly
collapsed portal was blocked by a fallen plaque. This was a large metallic disc
bearing the face of a god or some such. Despite its size, the disc was already
broken and looked quite fragile. Alister reckoned it was ready to fall apart.

Lara carried a grapple: a superstrong electromagnet attached to 25ft of 300lb
test microfilament wire. Suitable for a variety of purposes. She latched on to
the plaque by casting it out, and tugged sharply. The heavy disc ground
forward, toppled into the stream and broke apart. The way ahead was now clear.

-- Second Contact -------------------------------------------------------------

Lara entered the portal and flattened herself to a wall as she heard voices
nearby. A uniformed soldier dropped down off a ledge to splash beside another
guard, midway through an anecdote. "Swear to God," he said.

"So, what - it jumped out and started swinging?"

"Nah, it sort of danced around. Screaming or yelling, whatever."

"Yeah? Well, I would have kicked the hell out of it."

Lara smiled to herself. These were the 'idiot twins' all right. She crept past
behind them, and as she made her escape listened with some fascination as the
story went on.

"Yeah, whatever, man. Came flying at me screaming monkey talk like that and I
just did the first thing that popped into my head. Just - bam! - flicked it
right between the eyes."

"And it started smoking it?"

"That's what it wanted. Monkeys get hooked on 'em, go crazy when they see you
smoking. Funniest damn thing I've ever seen."

"Yeah, I'll believe it when I see it."

"Swear to God."

"Who are these guys?" Zip wondered.

"The question is," posed Alister, "Why go to so much trouble to guard some
ruins."

Lara agreed. There was something here these men wanted, or wanted to keep
others from finding.

Unseen, she worked her way up ledges beneath a waterfall to a stone platform,
where she used a hanging vine to swing back through the water to a higher
ledge. Close by its edge, tongues of carved stone snake heads were shaped as
horizontal metal poles. Lara jumped out to the first and swung to the second.
"I see her!" came a shout from below. Too late to stop her, but it brought the
attention of another guard, running from a turn up ahead. Lara ran forward and
fired fast. The dead man slumped to the ground and slid over an edge of a wide
gap in the pathway. For good measure Lara finished off the two men down below
from relative safety. She felt no remorse; these were paid soldiers and it was
kill or be killed. This was her world, and she wasn't playing games.

Now she faced a wide gap where the ruins had crumbled. She stood on the edge of
a stone path. Overhead was another circular metallic plaque. Lara fastened her
grapple and swung off it, the rock edge crumbling behind her as she crossed.

Up steps she entered a ruined passage, open to the skies. Insects buzzed and
hummed in the stifling heat. At a corner she emerged to a wide bowl in the
rocks. On the far side a stone temple cascaded from the mountain itself to
solid walls all around.

-- Falling in Love Again ------------------------------------------------------

"Isn't she beautiful?" Lara sighed. "I'm falling in love all over again."

"You say that to all the ruins," Zip quipped.

Lara took out her binoculars. "I'm a terribly lucky girl."

A helicopter swept around the cliffs ahead. A black Jeep rolled down to the
foot of the ruins.

"And here come the bloody tourists to spoil it all."

"Your cam doesn't pick up detail that small," Zip told her. "What do you see?"

The black Jeep bumped to a halt at the temple steps. Two armed men jumped out
and ran up to enter the main buildings.

"Men with guns. Mercenaries, by the look of them."

Other men fanned out and cast around the ruins directly beneath where she
stood.

"What they are doing there?" Alister wondered.

Lara put the binoculars down. "Getting into trouble."

At her feet was a pile of loose boulders held by broken branches. With a shot
from her pistols they broke free, tumbling down a long slope to one side.
Directly towards two uniformed men waiting menacingly below.

"Rockslide!" shouted one, looking up. "Hey, it's her!"

Too late. The boulders dashed the hapless mercenaries to pieces. Cover blown,
Lara slid down the slope with pistols ready. The soldiers were dead but two
more appeared to her left.

"She's over there," shouted one. "Cut her down!"

"Bingo," the other grinned. "Draw her fire."

Lara unloaded at one after the other, killing both, then moved up a slope
behind rocks. Another mercenary rolled into sight. "Got somethin' for ya,
baby!"

She gave it back in double measure. From his body she plucked a light machine
gun to even the odds. Off a low rock ledge the dead man had guarded hung a
knotted rope. Lara jumped to grab it and shimmied up to swing to a higher ledge
opposite. She crouched down, as more voices came below.

"You see anything? Anybody there?"

"I hear something."

In among the rocky canyons surrounding the ruins they had not been able to
pinpoint the gunfire. Lara slid down a slope and ran towards them. Ducking
behind a remnant of wall, she spotted a partially crumbled stone pillar, and as
the mercenaries came towards her, she shot at the pillar, breaking it down on
their heads. She charged in on the carnage, crossing a narrow stone bridge to
cut down survivors. Two more appeared behind their vehicle at the steps to the
ruins, and she used what cover there was to get the drop on them. When all
seemed quiet she picked over the bodies and swapped the light machine gun for a
powerful assault rifle.

-- Death by Irony -------------------------------------------------------------

Lara moved cautiously up the stone steps to the temple entrance. A shot zipped
close overhead as the two missing mercenaries reappeared. She drew her pistols
but they promptly fled. From inside the passage at the head of the stairs came
cries of agony and the sound of traps being suddenly sprung.

"Ow!" Zip winced. "That sounded permanent."

"Death by irony is always painful," Lara commented dryly, shaking her head.
"Amateurs." These men had fallen foul of the very thing they were sent to
protect. She entered the temple after them and moved carefully down short steps
to a ritually decorated stone passage, dusty with cobwebs.

No sign of the two guards but they surely didn't get far. Even so, the passage
showed no sign of danger. Lara stepped carefully forward, and noticed a rock
or two on the stone floor, which appeared as smooth tiles shortly ahead. Her
experience told as she rolled one rock forward with her boot. The smooth floor
opened up on its first contact, revealing a legion of wickedly rotating spiked
traps underneath. The fleeing guards had been swallowed without trace.

Lara looked carefully about, and saw a metallic plaque identical to the one she
had grappled in the stream, set into the stone architecture above. She ran
forward and jumped over the pit, and deployed her grapple once more to latch on
and swing only just above the lethal traps. Zip called out, "Lara!" She
released to land safely the other side, much to his relief. "Glad you're on
your toes."

"It's a useful survival skill."

Up stone steps she came on a small chamber filled by a series of pulleys,
weights, and chains.

"What's all this stuff for?" Zip asked.

"Moving heavy materials deeper into the mountain, probably," Alister surmised.
"Sometimes ancient builders had to tunnel around hard rock deposits."

With no way forward apparent, Lara clambered up one weighted chain, as far as
she could, until blocked by a large round weight that hung around the chain.
She jumped off to another alongside, which began to descend under her weight,
operating pulley wheels at one side of the chamber with much clanking and
grinding. Lara scrambled as high as she could and spotted an opening off to one
side. She hopped back to her stationary chain, above the weight at its middle
that had blocked her, and jumped from it to the high opening. A rough-hewn
passage led to a second small chamber with a single chain in its centre,
stretched floor to ceiling. As Lara jumped to it the chain clanked downwards
and carried her gently to the ground.

A ruined passage ended in a deep pool of water. With no other way forward Lara
dived in, and swam through collapsed rubble, guided by light streaming from the
broken ceiling above. She emerged where the stone passage continued down a
short flight of steps. As Lara rounded a corner a wild beast confronted her,
hunting among the ruins. Zip gasped: "Is that a jaguar?" The animal bounded to
attack, and Lara retreated up the steps as she unloaded her pistols. It seemed
reluctant to follow, and bounded away as she shot at it, but returned to attack
as she ventured along the passage again. She had no choice but to finish it
quickly. The beast rolled and died with a low growl.

"Why predators attack prey larger than themselves is a mystery," Alister said.

Lara stood over the magnificent creature splayed lifeless on the ground. "And a
pity."

A timely reminder of the danger that faced her in the ancient temple buildings.
Down more steps the passage widened and seemed quiet, but as she stepped
forward the walls suddenly converged as massive blocks of stone, pounding
together and sliding apart, raising dust as they ground relentlessly back and
together. Lara gathered her wits and chose her moment to dash the short
distance between.

At the next corner she faced the same hazard, yet now two sets of wall section
crashed together one after the other, making a gauntlet twice as long. She
could never hope to sprint through before being crushed to oblivion. Yet she
had to pass somehow.

To one side stood a low cage. Ominously, a skull dangled inside.

Alister's voice trembled slightly. "Is--is that the skull of a monkey or a
person?"

"Spooky," Zip agreed.

Whatever its contents the cage appeared sturdy, and Lara dragged it to the
first set of pounding wall blocks. She slid it between the crashing jaws of the
trap, and as hoped, they were held apart. She slid the block further in and
followed close behind as she pushed, and was in this way mercifully protected.

"Ah!" Alister said, approvingly. "Cunning."

She pushed further in and timed the moment to proceed through the second set of
pounding blocks. With a last heave and a tidy jump out of harm's way, she was
through.

Up steps she saw an archway at the end of the passage. Reaching to lintels
either side were carved skulls. A clear warning. Lara tiptoed cautiously
through, and a stone door slammed down behind her.

Zip stated the obvious. "Looks like you're going forward."

An ornate stone door on a ledge to the far side of the room where she now stood
closed down simultaneously.

"Yes," Alister agreed. "But how?"

Lara looked around. "With patience and persistence."

She was in a large stone chamber. Light flooded in through slots across the
roof. Primitive sculpture studded the walls. The door ahead was on a higher
level, to which there was no ready means of access. Lara stood on a wide raised
platform with a jetty in front. The floor below appeared flooded by shallow
water.

Her platform bore three prominent pressure pads, shaped as decorative stone
tiles. She gingerly stepped on one in the middle of the jetty, and the door on
the higher ledge banged open and shut a few inches, apparently ready to open
fully but somehow held fast. Lara glanced to left and right and saw large
wheels rocking back and forth, pinned by wedges. These were evidently part of
the
mechanism that operated the door but the wheels could turn only so far as the
wedges would allow.

Lara stepped off the central pad and the door ceased its banging. She tried
first one then the other of the pads, and observed how the wedges retracted
from the stone wheel on the relevant side. Unfortunately, it appeared neither
wheel would turn unless the central pad was weighted at the same time, yet by
herself she could weight only one. Close by one of the pads was a hefty cage
such as the one she found earlier in the passage of traps.

"That's not nailed down," Zip suggested, "as far as I can tell."

She hauled it over the nearest pad and it fitted perfectly, weighing it down
sufficiently to set the stone wedges to retract. By itself this served no
useful purpose. A plan began to form, but she needed at least one more
makeshift weight to test it. Lara then spotted another cage in the water below.
Gladdened, she hopped down.

At once she was set upon by a jaguar that prowled in the shadows. The beast had
become trapped in the chamber with her, and seemed maddened by hunger. She was
left with no option but to clamber out of the water and shoot it from safe
vantage above. It gave out a low throaty growl as it died.

"Someone picked an unfortunate place to hunt."

She examined the cage. It was no use in the flooded section of the chamber
below, but was too heavy for Lara to lift. The jetty had low steps to the water
but she couldn't hope to shift the cage upwards. To the other side of the jetty
was a narrow ramp made of stone, propped at the middle like a fulcrum. Its end
was supported by a third cage, identical to the rest.

Alister reckoned, "you should be able to move that, if it's any help."

Lara grasped the third cage and pulled it from the stone ramp, which tipped and
splashed to the ground. The ramp now formed a lever, and Lara considered the
possibilities. Perhaps she could use the ramp to scoop the cage up off the
lower level to where it could be put to use? With determination, she heaved the
cage up onto the tilted end of the stone ramp. She could manage to push it only
just over its very end, but judged that sufficient. With the certainty of her
plan, she now clambered up to the central jetty, and looked down on her
handiwork. All she needed was a good weight applied to the other end of the
ramp. She gained what height she could by mounting the steps at the end of the
jetty and jumped off, landing full on the raised end of the ramp. Like a seesaw
it tilted up, and the cage was shot into the air, where it sailed down right
beside the pressure pad on the platform above.

Lara climbed up and pushed and pulled the crate over the pad. The wedges
holding the wheel on that side pulled back. She now noticed the means of
activation was a large weighted chain in one corner. Next she stood on the
central pressure pad, and to her relief the ornate door up in front slowly
opened to its fullest extent.

"Man," Zip said. "This place is weird and complicated."

"It probably wasn't so when it was fully furnished," Alister informed them.
"We're looking at the stripped-down version of what's left a thousand years
later."

Lara had the mechanism figured out, but now she faced a problem. As she stepped
off the plate the heavy door closed down again, clearly on a short weight. It
was the work of minutes to bring the third crate up in the same way as the
other, and she promptly had all plates weighted down and the door fully open.
No doubt she could manipulate the extent of its opening through certain
adjustments between the three pads, but for now she was grateful that her exit
was clear.

To the back of the chamber were ledges, and at one corner she found height to
grab to a weighted chain. Until she activated the wheel on that side it had its
bulky weight raised too high to allow this, but she now climbed up a little and
sprang to a ledge built around a pillar. She pulled up to a platform and found
a long chain strung out towards the exit door. She made her way down to the
open door, sufficiently raised to pass underneath.

She stepped confidently into a passage yet the door closed suddenly behind. At
once the seemingly solid floor parted between her feet.

"Oh, damn," Zip gasped. "Move, move!"

Scything blades descended above her. Lara ducked and rolled forwards. Other
slicing steel blades swept low. She dived over and somersaulted across the
retracting stone floor to the end of the passage, where she landed with the
breath knocked out of her. A heavy door slammed shut just behind.

Lara got to her feet and looked around.

"You still in one piece?" came an anxious Zip.

"And still breathing, yes."

She was in another ornamented passage, partly ruined. At a turn she overlooked
a dark chamber, where the floor had crumbled away. She could just barely make
out strange spiked pole devices spaced evenly on its floor. She hung from the
passage end and dropped down to examine them.

As she slid down a rock to splash through shallow waters, a jaguar appeared
from a dark corner. Weaving among the slender spiked poles she fought it off,
and soon had the eerie chamber to herself. There was no apparent exit, yet she
saw ledges higher up on the far side where the ornamented passage continued.
There seemed no way to reach them. She stood alone on the floor with the
strange pole devices.

There were five in all, each consisting of radial arms off a wooden pole in a
carved base of tribal figures, the entirety studded with vicious spike blades.
She couldn't guess their purpose but they had a decidedly sinister air.
Nevertheless, they surely held the key to advancement. At one corner of the
chamber, in a pool of light from the broken ceiling she mounted a rock platform
to jump up and catch onto the nearest. It rotated on its base under her weight,
and turned to face another device. She swung to catch hold.

"It's the centre of the evil coat rack empire," Zip said in hushed tones.

Now that he mentioned it, they did have that appearance. The second device
similarly rotated as she hung on, and Lara swung to catch a third.

"None of this appears in any of the literature," Alister remarked. "But I'd say
they were ceremonial in nature."

Lara swung off the last spiked pole to grab a ledge on one wall. "If that's the
case, it's not a ceremony I'm keen on witnessing."

Her feet crumbled dust and her hands slapped on the cold stone of ledges as she
worked carefully around the dank dripping chamber, shimmying and snatching to
higher ledges before she could leave the strange sinister devices behind. The
ruined passage continued close above, and soon Lara dropped to its floor.

The vaulted roof of a long passage was broken through at intervals where
daylight streamed in. She scrambled over fallen blocks, and at a corner emerged
to the outside air. A rope bridge stretched in front. On a platform the other
side, Lara spotted mercenary activity. She flattened herself to a pillar and
drew her binoculars.

-- Nepal, Part 2 --------------------------------------------------------------

The mercenaries surrounded a number of ancient monumental stone structures that
ringed several carved stones set into a huge disc of rock projected high in the
centre of a natural amphitheatre.

The arrangement of the stones on the platform triggered a burning memory.

Young Lara stared wide-eyed at a collection of smooth carved stones arranged in
a ceremonial circle. Each glowed with vivid green light at its tip, in various
curious designs. As she brushed one with her hand it flashed, and the design
broke apart then joined again. She gazed in wonder. The little girl and her
mother had somehow survived the plane crash, and now sought shelter in an
abandoned mountain temple. The body of an adventurer lay slumped by a central
stone. A strange handle projected from it, and the curious girl reached up with
her hand.

"Lara, have you found anything for the fire?"

The girl jumped as her mother called, then she turned back to the irresistibly
fascinating device. She tentatively touched it with her fingers, and it
instantly retracted. A mechanism was put to operation and the device at her
feet revolved in a grinding of metal and stone. She stepped back, suddenly
afraid as green light glowed at her feet.

"Lara, what are you-? No, get back!" Her mother snatched Lara away as part of
the floor rose up to form a disc of light that pulsed with energy. "Good Lord,
what is it?"

Lara pointed at the disc. "There's something in the light."

"Stay here." Her mother approached the device and seemed to see something
there. "What ... Who are you?"

A disembodied voice echoed nearly incomprehensibly. "...your daughter!"

"What...? What about my daughter?"

"...the sword..."

"You stay away from her! She meant no harm!"

The voice became multiplied, overlapping. "...take out the sword."

The girl stood rooted. "What's happening, Mother? Who's there?"

The voices grew louder, more distorted. "...the sword ... explode!"

Lara's mother shouted desperately, "Oh, God, no!" and pulled the sword from the
stone.

In a blinding flash Lady Croft was gone. The green light faded. The chamber was
ghostly quiet.

"Mother?" The little girl stepped forward. "Mother...!"

Young Lara sketched the symbols on the stones with a look of intense
concentration. Alone, the little girl walked from the chamber. She left her
childish drawings behind.

-- James Rutland Talks --------------------------------------------------------

A gunshot snapped Lara back to the present.

"Hold your fire!" a man's voice ordered.

Lara held her pistols at the ready, covering the mercenaries on the raised
platform.

"Lara Croft!" A darkly handsome young man appeared on the other side of the
rope bridge. "I've been hoping I'd get to meet you." He turned to his men. "At
ease. We're just gonna talk."

A skimpily dressed blonde perched in the open door of a helicopter and watched
with interest as the man walked out on the bridge.

Lara stepped out to confront him, pistols levelled. He strode casually across
to meet her half way. "I'm listening," she said.

He reached into his back pocket and flourished a strange pointed object. Lara's
eyes narrowed. The man grinned behind dark glasses. "Maybe you found a piece of
this?"

She recognised it as a part of the sword her mother pulled from the stone. He
waved it at her. "Is this what led you here?"

"Where did you find that?" she asked sharply.

"It doesn't matter. What's important is what it does." He looked at her
intently. "Do you know?"

"What I know is my business."

"So you don't then. And that means you don't have a piece." He turned to go
back. "Amanda said you were sloppy. You should've paid more attention in
Paraiso."

Lara lowered her weapons in surprise. "Amanda? Amanda is dead. What the hell do
you know about Paraiso?"

"We're done talking."

The men at his command cocked their weapons. He strode back to the helicopter
and the waiting blonde.

In a second the helicopter hovered nearby. Rockets blasted the bridge either
side of Lara. She gathered herself quickly and ran forward, tracer fire raking
behind. Planks fell away as she leaped over a gap without pause, and jumped to
cling to the edge of the circular platform.

Automatic fire greeted her as mercenaries scattered behind stone pillars and
sniped from cover or circled to close in. Lara moved fast, putting down first
one then another in a blaze of deadly fire. The helicopter moved away.

The battle arena was a wide stone base of rock. Water spilled from the mouths
of stone effigies carved from the cliffs that towered on all sides. Pillars,
columns, and arches were arranged in concentric circles to the outer edge of
the irregular shaped platform. Squared stone columns formed trilith gateways.
Towards the centre of the platform stood thick, mostly broken arches decorated
with carved skulls and reptile heads. In the inner circle five rounded,
polished obelisks framed a single stone set at the head of some mystical
inscribed device. Each obelisk had a scooped trough where perhaps fluid might
run to channels in the central dais.

All this Lara took in as she prowled among the stones, firing fast at the
remaining mercenaries. She helped herself to ammo as she went, and soon enough
stalked the last man running for cover between the stones. As he fell she had
the ceremonial arena to herself.

-- The Stone Dais -------------------------------------------------------------

Lara knelt beside the central stone and examined it in awe. Its design was
unmistakable. "There is more than one. Father, you were right." She ran a hand
over the stone.

"What was that?" Zip broke her reverie.

Lara got to her feet. "Keep yourselves caffeinated, lads. We've some work ahead
of us."

"Means we're still alive," Zip said. "Can't complain about that."

-- PDA ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Of the three Abbingdon estates my father left me, I consider this one to be my
home.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________________________________________

    o  ENGLAND - Croft Manor

    "I've been looking for certain artifacts..."

-- Returning Home -------------------------------------------------------------

Lara crossed the reception hall of her magnificent stately home. Bells chimed
the hour faintly on the mantelpiece beneath a portrait of her parents, the late
Earl and Lady Croft. She entered a glass partition office at one end of the
hall. "All right," she asked Zip. "Who was that?"

In natty black dreads and blue vest her right hand man was casually dressed but
razor sharp. Zip reclined his seat and showed her a file on his PC. "You've
heard of the Rutlands, right? From the States. Well, you just met the Senator's
youngest son, James Rutland. He went to West Point, and that's about all he's
done."

"Call up the footage, please."

The tech expert bent over his keyboard. Winston, Lara's faithful family butler,
greeted her. "Welcome home, Lady Croft. Will your hand luggage require emptying
or filling?"

"Winston, take a look at this." She showed him footage of the stone dais. "It's
almost identical, just configured differently."

"Identical to what?" a thickly-bespectacled Alister asked.

"Something I saw a long time ago in Nepal, miles from any pre-Incan culture."

Winston pondered a shot of Rutland holding his pointed artifact. "And you
believe this to be a fragment of the sword?"

"What sword?" Alister said, as Lara went on. "More likely another of its kind.
Zip, I want you to find out what you can about this Rutland, particularly where
he is at the moment."

"Try Peru," Zip suggested. "He talked about Paraiso."

"He did imply there's information about the artifacts there," Lara agreed.

"He said you've been to Paraiso," tried a bewildered Alister. "What happened
there? And who is Amanda?"

Lara studied Zip's computer screen. "Alister, go over these images and see what
you can work out. Zip, ring Anaya and see if she can meet me in Paraiso,
Saturday morning."

She turned decisively for the stairs. Another adventure was about to begin. The
three men watched in wonder.

-- PDA ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Father was right, the dais stones are not unique. I also saw a sword fragment.
Unfortunately, it was in the hands of an unpleasant man surrounded by
mercenaries. He mentioned Amanda Evert as if he'd spoken to her recently -- a
ghoulish thing to say.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________________________________________

    o  PERU - Return to Paraiso

    Rutland implied a connection between the
    stone dais and the ruin near Paraiso. I
    hope Anaya will meet me there despite it
    all. We may not find anything besides a
    dozen corpses, Amanda's among them,
    but I have to know for certain.

    "I think Amanda might not have died down
    there..."


-- Unwelcome in Paraiso -------------------------------------------------------

Lara's heavy boots raised dust off the paved stone of a street of shanty huts
and rough adobe houses. Peasants fled at her approach. Wooden shutters and
doors banged the length of the street. "They don't seem quite so keen on
visitors these days," she sighed.

"Well hey, you're the one with guns," Zip remarked. Lara wore her customary
pistols strapped to her thighs. "You can't blame me for knowing how to
accessorise. Any word from Anaya?"

"She said she'd meet you at the statue in the marketplace."

Birds flew off telegraph wires. The town now seemed deserted. "At least we'll
have our privacy."

Kids had left a football on the roughly paved street. A dummy keeper guarded a
makeshift goal strung with cheerful bunting. She kicked the ball idly past him.
A fruit stall stood abandoned. Flies buzzed, birds fluttered away, voices
whispered and more shutters banged as Lara strode between houses. Under a
broken clock, a wide arch led to the market square.

-- Rendezvous with Anaya ------------------------------------------------------

Her old University friend Anaya Imanu sat waiting on the rear fender of a
yellow Jeep. "Hello Lara," she called in warm Caribbean tones. "You realize
that the streets were not deserted a moment ago."

"And I've been trying so hard to blend in." Lara looked around with a little
uncertainty. "I hope I'm the one that frightens them, not something else."

"There is nothing here, just a heap of pottery shards ... littered with the
bodies of old friends." Anaya walked to one side, lost in memory. "If I knew
this was where it would lead, I would never have told you about Bolivia." She
wrapped her arms around herself.

"Yet here you are," Lara said, gently.

Anaya turned. "La Paz is not so far away."

Lara put her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Neither is the past."

Gates to the marketplace crashed open as a military truck slid to a stop in a
cloud of dust. Her friend sensed imminent danger. "Lara!"

"Go!" Lara pushed Anaya firmly away. "I'll catch up."

Anaya sped away in her Jeep. Lara drew her pistols. "Zip, get Anaya on her
cell. Tell her I'll find her once I've sorted out this lot."

"You got it."

Men sprang from the truck and opened fire. "Get around her! Angle in, keep her
spinning."

More hired guns. As Lara returned fire a gasoline can strapped to the side of
the truck exploded. The men scattered and took cover behind crates and pillars.
Lara jumped down by a market stall and rushed the closest mercenary.

"Target in range," a voice yelled. "Put her down."

Lara Croft had a few tricks for close combat; she kicked the mercenary in the
head and jumped away, giving him a taste of both pistols, then picked up his
assault weapon and shot the next one ducked behind barrels. A third moved in
from the far side of the square, round a cart stacked with drums and barrels.
Lara threw her grapple and tugged the metal drum at the back away. The cart
tipped and the heavy barrels rolled to the ground, crushing the mercenary. The
last man came from the front of the truck. She took him at distance.

Doors flew open on one side of the square and more soldiers charged in. "Look
everywhere," one ordered. "Smoke her out."

She paused to reload and looked out from behind a pillar as the men moved in.
She showed herself quickly and blew the first one away.

"I see her!"

They fanned out under colonnades to right and left, and Lara edged in. Drums of
some volatile chemical had been left stacked next to crates at one side, and
these exploded on a single shot, sending a ball of flame that toasted the
nearest men. Fast shooting did for the rest.

All appeared quiet yet now she heard banging from a balcony overhead. A wooden
door was battered off its hinges as a thug charged out, shotgun ready. "Is she
still here?" he called down. There was no one left to answer.

Lara could easily have taken him from distance but such braggadocio deserved
better reply. She shinned up a flagpole and jumped to a balcony through a
broken rail. Now on a facing balcony the thug was well within range, but still
he showed cool insolence, so she cast her grapple and dragged him off his feet,
and then jumped across to his balcony and kicked him hard until he crumpled to
the ground.

From his hand rolled a useful gift: a fragmentation grenade with a powerful
blast radius. She plundered his shotgun and entered where he kicked the door
down. At once she was confronted by his buddy hiding there - she blasted him at
close range courtesy of the borrowed shotgun. The room was sparsely furnished.
Grenades had been left on a table. Lara kicked open the only other door.

The plaza outside swarmed with mercenaries. Although useful for close work she
quickly realised the shotgun would be of limited effectiveness here. She ducked
back for her assault rifle, and then returned outside.

She picked off a sniper on a balcony just opposite then raked fire to the
ground below. She moved over a tin roof for cover as incoming came from
different directions. She decided to try out the grenades. With a soldier in
the plaza below targeted, she tossed one down. The explosion came a second
later and blew him off his feet. Grenades came her way and the fire was getting
hot.

A street lamp stuck out from a telegraph pole at the centre of surrounding
buildings. She swung over on her grapple and her boots clanked across a wide
tin roof. A mercenary appeared from an open room ahead. She heard rapid ticking
as a grenade bounced towards her. "Eat this," the man growled. Lara dodged
aside from the blast and shot him, then moved cautiously inside. A sentry
waited off the balcony through the opposite door but she got the drop on him
and ducked back in. To one side an open balcony faced a rustic mechanic's hut,
where a truck waited service with its axles on cinder blocks. All seemed quiet
below.

She jumped down and headed along the paved street. A pair of mercenaries
suddenly showed themselves from cover; Lara backed off as they poured fire in
her direction. Flames crackled behind her as the mechanic's hut was wrecked.
That truck would need more than a tune-up. She tossed a grenade at the closest
man sheltered behind a newsstand and pinned him down with a quick burst of
fire. Barrels shattered in the resulting explosion, erupting water, and she
shot the other as he reeled in the blast.

Lara advanced determinedly. With a sudden roar a flatbed truck skidded to a
halt, and mercenaries tumbled out. She backed off as yet more reinforcements
appeared around the corner, then took cover in the protection of a propped
sheet of corrugated iron as she came under heavy fire from a machine-gun
mounted on the truck. Where it stopped, on a pole overhead was an electrical
cable and fuse box. A careful shot ignited it and the gunner below was
gratifyingly electrocuted. She tossed a grenade and finished survivors.

A barricade had been set up at the end of the street around the corner. Several
soldiers poured fire from behind it. She noticed a gas canister left in front,
and another careful shot detonated that. In the chaos of the explosion she ran
forwards. A few bursts of rifle fire and a rolled grenade ended resistance.

Parked behind the barricade was a sleek black motorcycle. Tracks led away
through the dirt.

-- Any Bike Will Do -----------------------------------------------------------

"Anaya called on her cell," came Zip. "She's got mercenaries after her."

Lara looked up the road out of town. Her eyes fell on the motorcycle. "Tell her
I'm on my way."

"Right."

Lara jumped on and took off along the cracked earth of a sandy gulch. She
leaped a bank into a dried-up riverbed. The powerful machine took it in stride;
it was smooth and easy to handle on the wide dusty track. The path split left
and right but rejoined a short distance ahead where she scratched through
scrubby brush between sheer sandy banks.

Up ahead a ramp loomed. She hit it at speed and sailed through the air.

"Yeah, baby!" Zip whooped. "Do that again!"

The track narrowed significantly and she dodged past towering rocks in her
path, smashing aside crates strewn in the way.

"Anaya says they're closing in," Zip said urgently. "You've got to get moving."

She was doing her best. She guided the bike at full speed through a low tunnel
carved in the rock, and then met another ramp over a wood dam. There was no
time to think as she soared up and over, only to see another wooden barrier
ahead. No ramp over this one, but a loose drum stood in front. She coolly took
aim as she approached, and blasted the dam apart.

"Yeah, Lara, bomb your way through!"

Closing ahead she saw a trail of dust, and soon came on a motorcycle fugitive.
"There's the first one," Zip warned.

She came under fire as the rider looked over his shoulder to draw a bead. She
answered with a rapid volley, and sent him flying.

As the riverbed became rougher and more hazardous she met two more
motorcyclists, as violent as the first. "Cut her down," they yelled. "Grease
her!"

She bobbed and weaved, keeping up continuous fire but looking ahead to dodge
rocks and ledges. She managed to throw the pair off then gave full attention to
a tricky series of bumps, jumps, and solid rock barriers. As the track levelled
slightly the roar of motorcycles warned she had company again, and now three
were on her. "Open fire! Flank her! Kill her!"

"Hurry, Lara, Anaya says they're getting closer."

She had her hands full fighting off the determined assault but kept up as much
speed as she could. Just ahead she spotted a discarded gas bottle and fired on
it, directly in the path of a bandit. He flew screaming off his machine.

"Whoa!" Zip exclaimed as she brushed the flames close. "Watch out."

Another explosive cylinder stood just ahead and she repeated the trick.

"Whooo," Zip cheered. "Fireworks in Peru, I love it!"

Up ahead she saw a wooden bridge. Smoke and flame rose off. Beneath it
stretched a wide canyon. "They blew up the bridge!"

"Punch it, Lara."

The motorcycle roared across the planks. Lara ducked between scattered flames
to a shallow ramp on one side, and gunned the bike straight up. Zip yelled out,
"Whoooo-hoooo!"

She clattered down the other side, and adjusted course slightly to keep on the
more solid planks of the bridge section. Ahead lay another gap, and a second
ramp, partly obscured by smoke. She gave the throttle a blip, and hit it full
on.

"Yeah!" Zip cheered his approval as she flew through the air.

Safe down on the far side, Lara picked up the chase.

"Lara, Anaya says they're almost on her. They'll get her if you don't go
faster."

She came up on dust raised by bikes twisting through the rocks and bumps up
ahead, soon joined by others. The enemy were ever more determined to block her,
and opened rapid fire. Lara returned it and switched between targets, veering
wildly to avoid each attack and raking the rider ahead with shots as they were
forced to switch hands to keep her in sight. "Lay down some fire," they shouted
to each other, "make her stop."

Before she knew it there were no fewer than four bandits swarming around. She
used the terrain to her advantage, diverting to high ledges and swooping
overhead, aiming down as she landed.

"That's right, fly over those bastards," Zip encouraged her, watching the chase
on his screen. He urged Lara on. "Open the throttle! You won't get to Anaya in
time at this rate."

She kept up speed, carving her way between obstacles, firing constantly. Bikes
catapulted past as riders collided and fell to her gun. As many as they were,
the motorcycle thugs were no match for her skill. As she entered another low
tunnel she sensed she had finally shaken them off.

She emerged from the tunnel to a flat open run of the riverbed. Fresh tracks
were in evidence. A shadow loomed in the dust ahead and Lara cut through the
trail of a convoy of trucks. As she came up on the rearmost vehicle, its tail
dropped and crates tumbled down. Lara swerved to pass close to the riverbank,
and came through to see two other trucks side by side just ahead. One was
empty but the lead truck had its tailboard raised. In moments it dropped, and
more crates began flying. Two mercenaries opened fire from the back of the
speeding truck. Lara found her hands full trying to dodge the crates and
bullets, yet still return fire. Even so she proved the better shot, and one
guard went flying as she turned attention to the next. A few shots later his
body slid off the bed, and the tailgate dropped further to drag in the dirt.
The empty truck carried on at the same speed, and pressed Anaya hard in front.

"Now what?" Zip wondered. "How are you gonna get to her?"

Lara could see Anaya's Jeep desperately weaving ahead of the monsters bearing
down, but in the narrow riverbed she could not squeeze by to help. She would
need a more direct route.

"Punch it, Lara" Zip urged, until he saw what she was about to do. "Truck to
truck? Man, be careful."

Lara sped forward and hit the loose tailgate full on. She bounced up on the bed
of the truck and her bike slithered to the front.

-- Wrecking Crew --------------------------------------------------------------

Lara dismounted and hopped on top of the cab. Anaya glanced in her mirror and
was astonished to see Lara there. Coolly, she changed down to allow the truck
to gain a little. Lara somersaulted forward off the cab, and unloaded her
pistols into the windshield. It shattered as she landed in the back of Anaya's
Jeep. The truck skewed and rolled out of control. Lara settled into the
passenger seat with a wave of greeting as Anaya sped forward. Behind them the
trucks smashed together in a fireball of destruction.

-- Digging Up the Past --------------------------------------------------------

Safely away, Anaya pulled up and the women stepped out. They had arrived at the
dig site.

Lara looked down on the ruins. "It hasn't changed much."

"What are a few years after all," said Anaya, "When stacked atop thousands
more."

"There's something I didn't tell you before." Lara ran some sand through her
fingers. "I think Amanda might not have died down there."

"Is that what this is about?" Anaya asked. "Closure?"

Lara dusted her hands. "Isn't that what it's all about? Why we dig up the past.
To understand it."

"I am an engineer Lara, I build for the future. I don't dwell in the past."

"You will someday. Eventually, everyone does." Looking down at the boarded-up
workings her memory stirred.

From the fresh excavation a blonde imp in a cheesecloth shirt called to her
friend. "Lara! Get down here, you slacker. Jason says we're about to break
through!"

A younger Lara worked shoring up the banks of the dig. "In a minute, Amanda,"
she reminded her. "We have some structural concerns."

She looked doubtfully at a winch that had carried equipment down into the hole
where Amanda dropped eagerly. "Would you just get down here," the impulsive
girl called as she shinned down the rope.

Lara took firm hold and dropped hand over hand, keeping a tight grip. As she
neared the bottom the pulley snapped, and Lara fell hard down the shaft.

"Did the rope break?" Amanda called.

Lara landed unharmed on a wooden platform rigged at the bottom of a bell-shaped
chamber. Flies buzzed among the sparse vegetation that grew in thin light from
above. Low to the foot of the chamber were several stone lintels to doorways
silted up with the passage of time. One in front had been partly excavated, and
Lara crawled through.

"Looks like we lost the lights," came Amanda's voice. "I hope you brought
flares."

Lights had been strung on poles along the length of a dirt passage that sloped
steeply ahead. Lara tossed a flare down. It glowed red as she slid after it.

"The planks over the sinkhole broke, so you're going to have to swing across."

Amanda had already gone ahead over a shallow pit. Lara caught a pole suspended
above and swung hand over hand to the other side.

"You're lagging!" Amanda giggled from the dark tunnel ahead.

"You're such a tourist," her friend sighed.

This part of the workings uncovered a ritual burial ground. Mummified corpses
clustered in alcoves throughout the cave passages.

Lights were restored shortly after where Lara rounded a corner. She spotted
Amanda ahead, but then they heard a scream. Amanda ran off along a turn in the
passage, calling out to another of their party. "Eva!" She then gave a short
shriek as the figure of their colleague came flying past.

Before Lara could find out what had happened the roof collapsed, and heavy
rocks barred her way.

"Amanda?" Lara shouted. "What's happening - can you hear me? Amanda!"

More rocks tumbled down and the ground shook. Dust choked her; there was no way
to get through. Lara turned back to a fork in the passage, and ran through the
dark. She crawled under spikes of a broken gate to a stone chamber.

Slumped on the floor was a shocking sight. One of the party lay dead.

"Oh, Sarah! God, what's happened?"

Water dripped and echoed off the dank ceiling. There was nothing to be done.

Her friend had been examining a carved sculpture on a wall, lit with arc lamps.
As Lara approached, her feet triggered a pressure pad and spears shot from the
walls either side. Fortunately they were partly decayed and posed no danger.
Lara wondered for a moment if the trap had somehow caused Sarah's death, but
the body seemed unmarked.

At one end of the stone room was a rock slope, too steep to climb, opposite a
stone platform, too high out of reach. Looking up, Lara judged that one of the
spear poles might take her weight if she could reach it. Beside Sarah's body
was a sturdy crate, and Lara soon managed to drag it under the spear and jump
up.

The stone platform was part of a higher floor, and by jumping across to the
carved sculpture Lara was able to reach the far side above the rock slope. The
room ahead was dark and she tossed a flare for guidance. Lit up on the floor
was the body of another student. "My God!" Lara gasped.

"Lara!" came a man's voice. "Over here!"

A stocky bearded figure in leather waistcoat and baggy shorts gripped the bars
of a gate.

"Kent?" she ran to where her friend was trapped. "What's going on?"

"It killed Oscar."

"What did?"

"I don't know--I don't know, I didn't see. This gate won't budge. Get me out!"
Kent shook the solid bars and looked frantically behind.

"It's all right. What-"

"There's a hole above me, you've got to get me out! Hurry, we've got to get out
of here."

A rope hung off a winch the team had been using, yet a curtain of spear poles
that projected from the walls either side blocked her from jumping to it. A
huge rounded stone ball weighed down a pressure pad underneath. The ball must
have been laboriously hand-carved, presumably for the simple purpose of
weighing down the pad. Or trigger its trap.

"Hurry, Lara, it's gonna come back."

"Hang on, I'm coming."

She rolled the ball off the pad and the spear poles retracted. With the way
clear, Lara ran quickly to the ledge and jumped for the rope.

"It's coming! Damn it, Lara."

"I'm almost there."

She swung to a platform ledge above where Kent was trapped. Oscar had set up an
arc light to examine the roof of the chamber, hung with eerie stalactites. Here
was an identical barred doorway, but these bars were raised.

"Hey," Kent exclaimed from below, "I think I see a light."

"Stay there, Kent," Lara warned. "I'm coming down."

Lights had been strung along a rock passage. Lara dropped down.

-- Demon of the Past ----------------------------------------------------------

"Amanda?" Kent called, cupping his hands. "Amanda!"

A girl's distant voice answered, "Kent?"

He turned impulsively. "It's her!" Then he ran off down the passage towards the
voice.

"Wait," Lara said, urgently. "Kent...!"

Further up the passage he stopped, looking suddenly to one side. With a
terrified scream he was snatched and disappeared.

"Kent!"

From the shadows Lara heard a deep animal growl and caught a glimpse of fiery
tendrils reaching out. Was it some kind of creature, alive down here? She took
a step backward as the shadow turned its attention and moved towards her, its
malevolent growl echoing along the passage. She was now alone, and looked
desperately to find some way to safety. She had seen what it did to the others;
there was no option but to take flight. She rolled away as the unknown entity
reached to grab her, passing close overhead, and then ran quickly down the
passage, where she tripped and stumbled, letting out an involuntary scream. The
creature rumbled behind her and closed in, gliding through the air in a demonic
rush to her destruction.

She ran on, vaulted low rocks and fled blindly down the passage. Up ahead she
saw a hanging rope, and jumped to catch it. The rope snapped, and she fell to
the ground. Closing fast, the creature flew over her head and disappeared into
the solid stone of a wall like a shadow in the light. Mercifully it was gone.

Lara caught her breath and looked about. She was in a darkened chamber with a
platform ledge to one side. Another rope hung off wooden scaffold just in
front, too high out of reach. The chamber was decorated with skulls and
carvings, and the ceiling was studded with the small spikes of stalactites. It
gave the chamber a threatening air, perhaps once a place of sacrifice. Lara did
not intend that she should perish here. In one corner was a stone platform,
with a platform ledge close by. She could use these to jump over and catch the
rope. On climbing up, hands slippery on the cold slabs, she discovered another
smoothly rounded stone ball, as tall as she, which served no obvious purpose.
The ledge proved easily reached from the platform.

Here was a doorway, though solidly barred. Each bar bore a skull as macabre
decoration. Turning to the rope, Lara found it disappointingly just out of
reach. As she fell to the ground Lara triggered a wide pressure pad that shot
spear poles from the carvings either side. These posed no danger but gave her
the makings of an idea. They were exactly the right height to give on to the
rope off the ledge. However, as she stepped off the pressure pad the spear
poles retracted. She would need something to weigh the pad down.

Lara climbed back on the small platform and put her shoulder to the stone ball.
It gently rolled to the edge, teetered, and tumbled to the floor drawing
sparks, where it gathered momentum to roll out over the pressure pad and come
to a stop. Suitably weighted, the stone pad released the spear poles as before.
Lara jumped over to the ledge platform to try for the rope again.

"Lara," came a voice, "Jason's dead! Everybody's dead."

It was Amanda, pressed behind the bars of the door. Lara was relieved but
anxious.

"There's something, I don't--I don't know what it was," Lara stammered. "I only
saw-"

Her petrified friend ran suddenly at a noise or movement. "Argh - no!"

She disappeared up the passage, and a last surviving team member followed,
running in blind panic as he was closely pursued by the unknown entity. Lara
was powerless to help as cries echoed.

She turned quickly to the pole and the rope, and swung to the platform ledge at
the side of the chamber. Either side were a pair of barred doors to a passage
much as the one where Amanda ran off. Another ahead was wide open. With no
choice, Lara went through.

The team had been at work here as the way was strung with lanterns. Lara hopped
over loose rocks, where large boulders stopped up a branch in the passage. The
dirt floor ahead was split by a gap. In its depths an array of sharpened spears
stuck straight up: a trap for the unwary and a warning to intruders that none
must pass beyond. A pole had been rigged overhead and Lara swung quickly hand
over hand to the other side. She hurried along the tunnel passage to a large
stone chamber. Facing her from inside the chamber was an ominous block carving
set to the floor that perhaps represented some deity in figurehead, forbidding
entry. Heedless of ritual superstition, Lara moved in.

-- Amanda Falls Behind --------------------------------------------------------

"Amanda."

Her friend had found temporary refuge and was attempting to prise a gem of some
kind from a stone tablet in a wall. The girl turned anxiously. "I think this
stone unlocks the door."

"I don't like it." Lara watched her back as she moved to investigate. "Are you
sure you're reading it properly?"

"That thing is coming! You have a better idea?"

"The door might be trapped."

"We're trapped." A roar echoed down a passage. "Oh, God!"

Amanda shrank away as she saw the creature coming. She turned for the stone and
scrabbled desperately to release it. The creature growled and rushed straight
at them. Lara covered her head and braced herself for the strike, but as Amanda
finally prised the gem free the creature dissipated to thin air. The two girls
looked at each other in astonishment.

The ground shook. Dust crumbled. A cave-in was imminent.

"Amanda, run!" Lara led the way through an open arch but Amanda was hit by
falling rocks. Lara turned back. "Amanda!"

Close over her head a barred gate dropped down. She snatched under it and used
all her strength to try to force it back open, but could barely hold it up.
Amanda lay dazed among rubble on the other side. As Lara strained to hold the
gate, water rose above her ankles. The chamber was flooding rapidly.

Amanda struggled to release her foot, trapped under a heavy rock. As the water
rose up around her she straightened herself for a gulp of air and ducked under,
tugging at her foot. The water came to Lara's neck. She snatched a breath as
the flood closed over her head, and looked for Amanda, still trapped and now
crying out for her to help. Gurgling bubbles streamed from her lips. Stone
blocks fell between them, and Lara could no longer see her friend. Blood
pounded in her head as the last breath of air escaped her lungs. The gate
slipped from her grasp and slid shut. Lara tugged uselessly on the solid bars
as more stone tumbled down.

The chamber was now completely submerged. With a last helpless look, and with
lungs close to bursting, Lara kicked backwards and scrambled away.

-- Going Back In --------------------------------------------------------------

"To be perfectly honest," said Anaya, "I think this is a terrible idea." The
pair stood solemnly at the dig site. "Everyone agreed to leave things as they
were."

"I will, as much as I can," Lara said. "But from what Rutland said, I'm sure
there's a clue down there about what killed my mother. I have to go back."

"There is no use trying to enter at the same point. It's caved in."

"The river had to get in there somehow."

"I'll leave you to figure out the how." Anaya shook her head. "I can't go down
there. I am sorry."

"It's fine. Really. If there is any trouble, call Zip and he'll patch you
through." Lara indicated her earpiece. "Don't take any chances. I'm not losing
any more of my friends."

She jumped down to the excavations. Nesting birds flapped away. Rotten crates
and barrels lay strewn about, and the archaeological digs were boarded over.
Rusted signs forbade entry.

"So," Zip asked, "how you getting in?"

"The same way as the water, I hope. If you get a call from Anaya, patch her
through straight away. I'm a little concerned about leaving her by herself."

"I'll keep her company," Zip promised.

In a cave to one side of the site was a pool, a stone well at its bottom.
Although deep, the water was clear. It may not have been easy for a swimmer
less practiced than Lara, but she dived confidently in and swam down.

The well led off at one side to a funnel chamber open at the top, where Lara
surfaced for air. Diving once more she went deeper, and slipped under bent
metal bars to a second funnel, and another opportunity to grab some air. Deeper
again she swam to a third bell chamber, and though she saw her way ahead, Lara
took no chances by coming up for more air while she could. It was further to
the surface this time, and she kicked hard to make it. Now fully prepared, she
ducked down again and made for the narrow arched passage at the foot of the
funnel. With a few strokes she was through, and the passage opened out to a
large domed cavern. Atmospheric pressure kept the room only half flooded.
Fissures in the ceiling admitted daylight, and a short depth below Lara made
out bright circles of light from some unknown device. She swam down to
investigate.

The light emitted from a large gemstone held to the belly of a carved statue.
Lara thought she recalled something similar when last she saw Amanda. The light
within the stone appeared to pulse and glow alternately green and blue. There
were four such carvings in all, each with its lit gemstone. At one point
underwater a hole in the wall admitted a stream of water, too powerfully for
her to swim through. She surfaced for air.

On a hunch she chose one light at random and swam back down. Sure enough, with
a little effort she found that she could lever the gem out from its setting,
where it served as an eyeball lens to radiate a brilliant glow. A stream of
bubbles told her that on activation air had been released. She surfaced again
and considered. Within a few moments the gem appeared reset and the light
dimmed. Lara chose another and tested it, with similar results.

There didn't seem to be any relation or order between the devices, and with no
better plan than to attempt to prise each gemstone out as quickly as she could,
Lara swam down to see what the result might be.

-- Amanda Survived ------------------------------------------------------------

Lara heaved the last lens outward, and kicked for the surface as air streamed
from the stones. Each carving changed configuration.

As the stone settings rose up grates were exposed. The water in the cavern
drained out and Lara sank to the rock-strewn floor. Drips echoed as she wrung
out her hair and cast about for her next move. Something caught her eye. She
bent and prised an object from between fallen stones. It was a black rubber-
soled hightop basketball shoe.

"Is that what I think it is?" Zip asked.

"It's called an anachronism," Alister said.

It was certainly an object out of time; the ancient civilisation that built
these ruins had not left it there. Lara ran a thumb over the boot. "It was
Amanda's," she said solemnly.

"Hightops don't fall off your feet that easy," Zip pointed out.

"It's been unlaced." Lara's brow furrowed. That could only mean one thing. She
looked about the cold chamber. "I never imagined she could have survived."

"There was a lot of water," Alister reminded her. "She still might not have."

This was where she had last seen her friend. Here was the collapsed rubble. At
several points were slender portals to barred exits. She recognised one faced
by a ceremonial stone figurehead where she had entered, and another where the
deadly demon tracked them down. Up shallow steps, as the focus of the chamber,
was the tablet from which Amanda had prised the curious gemstone. The tablet
was now broken, and Lara saw a chamber behind. She climbed through.

-- The Queen's Story ----------------------------------------------------------

A larger tablet faced her, covered with an inscription carved onto the stone.
Lara read what she could interpret.

"It tells the story of the last Queen of Tiwanaku. Her father was king, but she
was lost and raised by a warrior. She became queen after a shaman named Tunupa
discovered her royal heritage."

Alister knew something about that. "Tunupa is another name for Viracocha, their
god of creation."

Lara read on. "The shaman brought her to Lake Titicaca, where she borrowed his
staff, an object of great power."

"According to myth," Alister said, "Viracocha originally lived in the lake."

"The god of indoor plumbing," Zip joked.

Lara continued her translation. "She led her people into an era of peace. After
many years of wise and just rule, there was some sort of power struggle. She
died shortly thereafter, and she was carried off in a boat to Paradise."

"Remind you of something?" prompted Alister.

"The King Arthur myth. Yes, the similarities are striking."

"King Arthur?" Zip wondered. "A little help here."

"It's the same story," Lara informed him. "A youth, unaware of his royal blood,
rises from obscurity to become a wise king, with the help of a friendly wizard
and his magical staff or sword, and afterwards he is transported to paradise."

"Many cultures share similar legends," Alister explained. "The Great Flood for
example, everyone has got that one too."

Behind the stone was a passage and steps to a slope too steep to climb. Beside
it some ledges that she climbed to a short platform. Using her grapple she
swung from a rafter above the slope to a higher section of the passage ahead.
Water ran down the walls and she soon faced another slippery slope. She climbed
to a recess in one wall and used her grapple as before.

She emerged to a wider passage and steps. Light streamed through the open
ceiling and leaves drifted where vegetation had broken through. A rank of huge
stone carvings faced another across the passage, like heads of sentries
forbidding entrance. The floor between was of hefty flagstones, in parts broken
through. A bottomless pit yawned beneath. Lara thought she saw a path across
the remaining tiles, and gingerly picked her way across, but as she paused for
direction the ground trembled. All at once what was left of the flooring
dislodged, and fell to the depths. One flagstone after another disappeared
until she stood on the sole remaining stone tile. It was as likely to fall as
the rest. Alister yelled, "Lara, get out of there!"

As the tile crumbled under her feet, Lara shot off to a thick pillar, already
collapsing. She scrambled up and jumped off as it toppled, landing on a tile at
the edge of the pit. It gave way immediately but she clutched at an edge of the
floor in front. She hung by the fingers of one hand and gazed to the bottomless
depths before hauling herself out.

"Phew!" Alister gasped. "Nice footwork."

"Why, thank you."

She had reached her goal. A vast chamber stretched before her. The room was
dominated by a huge stone structure mounted to the far wall.

"Wow," came Zip, "this place is amazing. Might be a good place to use the RAD
mode of your binoculars?"

"You could be right."

Lara carried with her a pair of state-of-the-art binoculars that featured
'Remote Analysis and Display' of object characteristics. This system proved
invaluable in suggesting uses for certain elements of a particular environment.

To one side was a solid column, carved to a representation of a figure standing
guard. A matching column on the facing wall had partly crumbled. The figure was
topped by a huge stone ball such as she had seen in the excavation site those
many years ago. "That's something I could move."

She descended half a dozen steps and crossed a floor of stone slabs to a
curious sculpture set into the centre of the chamber. It was a statue of a
creature very like a jackal, waiting obediently at the foot of the huge figure
carved to the back wall. Its eyes were violet gemstones with a larger one
studded to its decorative headdress. "That's a mechanism," she judged. Nested
in a niche under the central structure, facing the statue, a primitive likeness
of a human face was set with mouth agape and eyes of identical violet gems.

A second stone ball lay on the ground nearby. By the shattered flagstones
around it she guessed it had toppled from another high structure alongside. A
fragment of ladder could be seen in its design but it appeared to lead nowhere,
and in any case could not be reached from the ground. She noticed an identical
but unbroken structure on the opposite side of the chamber.

That one was plainly too high to climb but a light at its summit drew her eye.
A third stone ball was illuminated there. "Perhaps moving this would get me
somewhere," she mused.

Surrounding the jackal sculpture were three decorative stone tiles hollowed in
the middle. As she stepped on them each depressed as a pressure plate, but her
body weight was not enough to trigger any mechanism. She needed something
heavier. She put her shoulder to the ball on the ground and heaved it onto the
nearest tile.

The ground trembled as the structure next to the plate on that side began to
change configuration. Air was released in a stream of pressure that became
magnified as it echoed through the chamber like a human sigh. Stone columns
ground out and could be seen as arms of the primitive being that the structure
now represented. Its face was exposed, and the eyes gave forth dazzling twin
streams of violet light.

"Wow!" breathed Zip. "That must have impressed the villagers back then."

"I know it impresses me," Lara agreed.

The fragment of ladder she had discerned on the structure could be seen now as
part of long sections opened out, leading to the top of the structure itself.
The stone was partly damaged, and was still out of reach from the ground. It
gave her an idea. Perhaps the structure on the other side might open in the
same way, and if so its ladder would certainly lead to something useful.

She decided to test each pressure plate, and hauled the stone ball off the
hollowed tile. With the mechanism released the structure closed up again, and
its light was shut off. Lara rolled the ball onto the middle plate.

The jackal sculpture rose on its plinth.

-- Viracocha's Staff ----------------------------------------------------------

As rumbles subsided Lara stepped up to the base of the statue and deciphered an
inscribed symbol.

"The queen's shaman. A dais with a sword set into it, or in this case
Viracocha's staff." She gazed upwards. "This is it."

"Do you believe it's the same one we saw in Tiwanaku?" Alister wondered.

"There is more than just one dais," Lara reminded him. "But possibly."

Zip seemed unconvinced. "So the shaman would be Merlin and the staff would be
whatever the hell King Arthur's sword was called?"

Alister was crushing. "It's called 'coincidence'."

"Tuh!" Zip muttered. "Funny name for a sword."

The central carved figure was flanked by a pair of stone ladders, easily
ascended. Lara scrambled up to a narrow platform above. Here were gigantic
carved statues of serpent heads, mouths interlocked. She could barely make out
a passageway of some kind through a niche between, but this was far too small
to allow her to squeeze through. There seemed to be an intense blue light
shining deep within. She returned to the floor.

The third carved stone structure bore the rounded boulder at its height, but
was quite impossible to climb in its present configuration. She put her weight
to the boulder at the middle tile. The jackal sculpture sank back to the
ground. She rolled the heavy stone to the third plate, and as hoped it ground
to operation in the manner of the first. Now light shone from the eyes of the
figure on that side, arms wide and ladders exposed ready to be climbed.

With three large round balls in the room and three pressure plates on the
ground it seemed fairly obvious what action was required for the central device
to activate but it would take some effort and ingenuity to achieve.

To begin with she needed a second ball, and knew just where to find one. She
returned to the guard figure she first noticed with a ball balanced on top. A
metal fixing on its helmet gave on to her grapple and she heaved as hard as she
could. The upper section broke away, and crumbled to the floor.

"Aww," Zip said. "I liked that one."

"It was nice, but it was in the way."

The stone ball rolled across the floor, coming to rest against a wall. Lara
pushed and manoeuvred it towards the pressure plate where the light from the
opposite structure struck down.

The structure opened once again with an awe-inspiring rumble and shower of
stones. Now two sets of light beams shone down to cross over the head of the
jackal sculpture. She needed only to raise it by depressing the middle plate
and surely the purpose of the mechanism would become known. For that she would
require a third ball and she had already seen where it was lodged. Lara turned
to the ladders either side of the third structure, and climbed up.

The ladder section was divided halfway up, perhaps to prevent easy access. Lara
found it little trouble to leap sideways to a ledge under the head of the
statue, and up to its mouth, and its head, and from there return to the upper
ladder section. In no time she scrambled to the top of the towering structure.
Here was the third ball, and here too a beam of light from a lens in the stone
ceiling to a hole in the structure. Lara could not imagine what ingenious mind
had devised the wondrous mechanism. She heaved the ball off the structure, and
it crashed to the floor, where it rolled to the nearest pressure plate, and
nestled.

Lara descended the ladders and eagerly manhandled the ball to the empty plate
behind the jackal sculpture. Knowing it would rise up she could anticipate its
effect but was curious to discover the means of operation on the central
structure, if such was its purpose.

The jackal sculpture duly rose on its plinth. Its decorative headdress cut
through the beams of light from either side, focusing and directing it through
the violet gemstone to emerge from its eyes. Intense beams shone to the eyes of
the figurehead beneath the central device, and as the others before, with a
rumble that shook the foundations of the immense chamber, the structure changed
configuration and sculpted arms opened.

"I must say, I'm impressed, Lara," Alister said. "This is magnificent."

"It's quite the display, isn't it?"

She could see that the passage she noticed behind interlocked serpent heads was
now revealed. She hurried up the stone ladder to investigate.

-- The Queen's Sword ----------------------------------------------------------

Lara stepped slowly up a narrow stone passage draped in cobwebs. At its end was
a strange glowing orb that Lara had glimpsed from the passage entrance. Its
surface shimmered and glinted with iridescent blue light. It housed what
appeared to be a golden sculpture with ornamental headdress, but Lara realised
it was the perfectly preserved remains of the last Queen of Tiwanaku.

"Look at her, she's beautiful. We were so close before. So close."

"Wonderful, Lara," breathed Alister in awe.

In front of the orb was a weapon mounted on a stand. "Do you notice anything
familiar about her sword?"

"That's what Rutland was holding," Zip confirmed.

"Except this is just a ceremonial copy. And what do we have here?" She picked
up a heavy curved shard of greenish metal. "The tip has broken off. My God, I
had no idea it looked like this. I've seen this before, at Waseda University in
Japan, but I didn't know it had anything to do with these artifacts."

"Hell, I'll get a hold of them right now," Zip suggested.

"It's not there anymore. It was stolen by Shogo Takamoto."

"Takamoto? Yakuza is nothing to mess with, Lara."

She put the sword fragment in her backpack. "I don't care, Zip, I want that
piece. Arrange a meeting."

"Okay, but-" he broke off. "Hang on, I got Anaya calling on her cell. I'm
patching her through."

Still up at the excavation site, Anaya came through, her voice low and urgent.
"Lara, Lara can you hear me? Those bastards from town are here, and they are
coming down after you."

"Well, this is a tomb. I'll make them feel at home."

Zip took over the line again. "Sorry, I wasn't keeping track of Anaya. I got
distracted, but she seems safe for now."

"It's all right. Just let me know if our mercenary friends get any closer to
her."

"Got it."

Lara had what she came for. It was time to get out. Alister posed a practical
question. "How will you make it back with the floor missing?"

She looked to the temple entrance the other side of the gap and began to work
out a route using ledges high off the ground. "I suppose I'll have to take the
high road back."

She jumped to a ledge at one side and climbed to a platform created by one open
arm of the structure. From it a bold leap carried her over to the ladder
section on the first structure. She climbed easily on top, and made her way
across it to a column top off the wall on the far side. A ledge ran around the
wall, and though broken in parts was not a great test of her athletic ability.
She dropped easily to another flat column top.

A creeping vine hung down across the middle of the chamber, and Lara jumped to
grab hold. She shuffled about to face the direction that seemed most likely to
advance her. She dropped to the flat head of the nearest carved sentry
sculpture.

The mercenaries Anaya warned of prowled below. They had tracked her this far
now that she had cleared the way, but were halted by the collapsed section of
floor. Lara crept overhead.

"I don't see anything," one mercenary said. "You?"

"Think she fell down there? Maybe we got lucky."

"I haven't had any luck today."

"How's the knee?"

"How's my ass!"

"I wasn't the one who tripped."

"And I wasn't the one who couldn't hold on to the damn rope."

"It was wet. I don't know how in the hell she got down here without a rope over
all those slippery rocks and-" He broke off suddenly and snapped the chamber of
his gun. "There she is!"

Lara pulled the pin from a grenade and tossed it down. The pair stood no
chance; by the time she slid down a slope off the sculpture they were bodies to
plunder. Shots came from the passage inside and with a lobbed grenade a lone
mercenary met the same fate. Lara slid down the slippery slope and moved
cautiously around the stone where she read the story of the last Queen of
Tiwanaku. Through the smashed gap in the tomb door she heard voices.

"I'm getting nothing from either of them."

"Maybe their radios are off."

"Maybe they're sleeping. Maybe they're taking a dirt nap. Go find out!"

"What about you?"

"Just do it, Miller, and stop whining for once."

Before they came looking, Lara leaped through the broken gap and surprised
them. She tossed a grenade to keep two busy and ran at a third. A few shots
later and she turned to finish the survivors. They had left a stout rope
dangling to the bell chambers now high above. Lara made her way swiftly up and
over rocky debris and ledges to a ladder. Through broken bars where she had
once swum down Lara mounted a series of ledges. A sentry lay in wait but she
had the drop on him. She rushed up, dodging side-to-side, and his panicky
shooting was for nothing. Close behind him a tethered rope had been strung, and
she began a strenuous ascent. As she reached the excavation site at the top she
heard voices.

"I seen a panther, I think. It's hard to tell."

"Jaguar. They don't have panthers down here."

"Jaguar, then, whatever. I saw a damned spider big as your hand, too."

"Tarantula. You grow up in a cardboard box or something?"

"Excuse me for not knowing all those scientific names, all right? I know what
matters."

"Just watch for any bad news, all right, Einstein? If that Croft woman somehow
makes it up here, that big brain of yours is going to end up soaking into the
ground."

"Like hell."

Like this. Lara sprang to the excavation site. Taking cover behind a plank
partition she sized up the opposition.

At least half a dozen men prowled the area. One sentry came close and there was
nowhere to hide. "Found her!" Lara opened up with her automatic rifle and moved
fast. She circled among the site debris, and ducked, rolled, and fired on each
man as he came running. Grenades tumbled and she dived and moved, returning her
own. Explosions and screams ripped the air as gunfire chattered. She ran onto a
low wooden platform, cutting down one mercenary there, replenished her ammo
from the body and turned to pick off the last survivors. More men jumped from
the higher ground but she had a good vantage point to see them coming and drop
them as fast as they came. At last things quietened down.

"Zip, have you still got Anaya on the other line?"

"Yeah."

"Tell her to get under the jeep - someone's coming."

Up on the ridge a mercenary appeared and fired on Anaya's vehicle. Lara picked
him off with a burst of fire from below, and ran forward to see if her friend
was still safe.

-- Artifacts Recovered --------------------------------------------------------

"I hope you found what you were looking for," Anaya said firmly, "because I am
never coming here again."

"I was right. This is all she left behind." Lara held up Amanda's boot.

"She got out and didn't tell us? Why has she been hiding all these years?"

"Maybe not hiding, exactly - just not keeping in touch with old friends.
Perhaps she found or learned something down there that she wanted to keep to
herself."

The two women returned to the Jeep. Anaya stowed the gear, Lara got in front.

"Zip, did you speak to Takamoto?"

"Eventually. He didn't want to see you, so I reminded him how much you hate the
word 'no'."

Lara slammed the door shut. "I'm a horrible conversationalist." She adjusted
her boot on the dash. "I trust he wants to get together on neutral ground?"

"You'll love this. He wants to meet at Toru Nishimura's offices, across the
street from his penthouse."

Lara checked her pistols. "Nishimura? Takamoto doesn't know we are friends?"

"Nope. All he knows is Nishimura is hosting a corporate party tomorrow night
and you'll meet him there."

"Better and better."

Anaya hopped into the driver's seat.

"All right, then," Lara declared. "I'm heading there straight away." Anaya
backed the Jeep, and raised an eyebrow as her friend murmured, "I'll need to
find something to wear, though."

-- PDA ------------------------------------------------------------------------
I've been looking in the wrong direction from the beginning. The artifact's tip
looks nothing like that of a traditional sword, and now I know where to find
one. And somehow Amanda did survive, but I can't imagine how she escaped
without help.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________________________________________

    o  JAPAN - Meeting with Takamoto

    I haven't seen Takamoto in a long time. I
    doubt he misses me after our last
    meeting. If he still has the artifact,
    however, he'll lose more than face Sunday
    night.

    "Conventional reason doesn't work with
    yakuza."


-- Fashionably Late in Tokyo --------------------------------------------------

Elevator doors pinged. A slender pair of legs stepped in.

"What exactly happened last time you and Takamoto got together?"

An elegant painted nail pressed a floor button, and Lara answered Zip. "He was
trying to pass off forged relics from the Asuka period, and conventional reason
doesn't work with yakuza."

The doors opened. In her little black dress and heels, with backpack strung off
her shoulder as a purse, an immaculate Lara stepped out.

"But you let him go," Zip continued.

"And now we're going to have a useful conversation. It's turned out quite
nicely."

She had reached media magnate Toru Nishimura's tastefully decorated offices in
good time for the party. She walked down a hall and stood for a moment looking
down on the room. The party was in full swing though there was a relaxed
atmosphere. There were perhaps thirty guests, chic young Japanese in cocktail
dresses, suits and tails, dancing or chatting in twos and threes. To one side
of the room a bald-headed bartender in a white jacket stood alone behind a wide
counter, polishing glasses.

"Lara, got a call from Nishimura," Zip said. "He's in his office, so he won't
be mingling. The bartender will hook you up with him, though."

"Ever predictable," Lara sighed.

Curved stairs led down either side of the balcony. The circular motif was
carried from the floor, where a colourful modern art water feature stood in the
centre of glass concentric rings, a pool flowing beneath. The light sound of
laughter and chat carried across the room as Lara slipped unnoticed down a
quiet corridor. It led to a single marquetry door at the end, with an
electronic keypad and camera mounted above. Lara tried the door. "It's locked."

"Office doors usually are," Zip pointed out. "He said to see the bartender when
you got there."

She returned to the party and approached the man in the white jacket polishing
glasses at the bar. "Good evening, I believe Nishimura-san is expecting me."

"Ah, Lady Croft. He is in his office, down the hall behind you. I will let him
know you are coming."

"Thank you."

She went back along the corridor and noticed the keypad had changed from red to
green. She entered Nishimura's office.

-- Nishimura's Warning --------------------------------------------------------

It was a spacious, richly decorated room with polished marble floors.

"Welcome, Lara. You have been enjoying my little party?"

Nishimura stood by a window. He was a portly man in a white linen suit with
dapper wing-tip collar.

"I'm enjoying it very much, Nishimura-san," Lara replied in perfect Japanese.
"When Takamoto arrives, however, it may cause you some inconvenience."

Nishimura came forward to greet her. "Take care, he is a very dangerous man
when his interests differ from yours."

"You'd be amazed how persuasive I can be, even with dangerous men."

"I am convinced. I am dangerous too, you remember. But please, enjoy the party
while you can, and good luck."

Lara exchanged bows, then left.

-- Meeting with Takamoto ------------------------------------------------------

The party seemed to have broken up. Guests hurried away up the stairs and in
their place a gang of men lounged in open-neck suits, cradling guns.
Undoubtedly yakuza. A man stepped forward. Liver spots pocked his bald head.
Lara remembered Shogo Takamoto, changed little since their last encounter.

"Be brief, Ms Croft. I have many demands on my time, you understand."

"Of course, Takamoto-san. I am looking for a piece - a sword fragment - in the
care of Waseda University. Or it was, until you stole it."

Takamoto laughed and turned to his men. "I am not a thief, and you would be
wise to avoid such accusations."

"Then I suggest we skip to the negotiations."

"I don't have any idea what you are talking about."

"Of course you do. Just name a price."

"Ms Croft! Are you deaf?"

"I don't know; let's see. Try begging for your life, like you did the last time
we spoke."

The insult was too much. They levelled eyes at each other then Takamoto shouted
to his men in harsh Japanese, "Kuruse - kill her. Kill her now!"

Bullets splintered the heavy wooden bar as Lara dived behind it. She kicked off
her pumps and ripped her dress to the thigh, revealing pistols strapped in
holsters.

Yakuza advanced. One approached with gun ready but a little too casually,
expecting a helpless woman to be cowering behind the bar. He poked his dyed-
blond head around. Bullets blasted him backwards. The other men stood in
stunned surprise as Lara jumped up with pistols drawn.

They recovered quickly. A hail of fire swept the room as Lara sent another thug
spinning, and then ran forward to snatch up his automatic rifle. She turned it
on the next and a third closing in behind her, moving rapidly and looting fresh
corpses. Takamoto seemed to have fled, sending more of his gang from the
direction of a corridor at one side. Lara had acquired a hand grenade or two,
and tossed these down the corridor as she kept new arrivals pinned back with
the rifle. A few explosions later and the gang were no more.

-- Heading for the Roof -------------------------------------------------------

When the shooting died down, Nishimura poked his head from the other corridor.
A monitor on the wall fizzed and cracked to the floor. Lara holstered her
pistols.

"Where did you get those?" Zip marvelled.

"Basic etiquette. Never arrive at a party empty-handed."

Nishimura was impressed too, but showed concern as he glanced at the
devastation caused to his offices. "Takamoto has no doubt returned to his
penthouse. Do not follow him, Lara, his men will be waiting."

"His lobby is a death trap," Zip confirmed. "I know you're into those, but it's
not really a winning option.

"If I can't go down, I'll go up." She turned to Nishimura. "How do I get to the
roof?"

"The roof? There is an elevator." Nishimura handed her an electronic key, with
a small bow and a word of warning. "Be cautious. There is construction above."

Lara gathered weaponry from the dead yakuza. Zip was worried. "I don't know
about this, Lara."

"That's why we have to view the problem from a different angle. Namely, the
roof. Nishimura gave me the pass to the lift, and I'm on my way."

Along the corridor opposite to Nishimura's lay a private door. Lara used the
key, and moments later glided up the outside of the building in a sleek glass
elevator.

As Lara came out, she faced a bare room behind plate glass. A gallery or
showroom of some kind. Its door would not open, but Lara saw a few crates
inside and a motorcycle partly unpacked.

"Odd place for a bike," she mused. "And a nice one, too."

"Huh," Zip agreed. "Well, it's a crime to keep a bike like that locked up on a
roof."

The corridor was otherwise empty, and as Lara approached a glass door at its
end, it slid open automatically. She emerged to the roof. This had space for a
helicopter landing pad. The lights and buildings of Tokyo glittered all around.
Sounds of traffic carried up. One tower block stood out nearby.

"All right," Zip said. "That building across the street? That's Takamoto's."

"He is likely to be on the top floor," thought Lara. "This is going to require
some creativity."

To one side of the roof was a low ramp for a sheer drop to the street hundreds
of feet below. "I don't think this walkway gets much foot traffic." Far below,
evening traffic crawled through Tokyo. "Terribly inconvenient, but I may be
able to make use of it."

She looked to a building opposite, where the walkway continued and various
scaffold platforms stretched in the direction of Takamoto's offices.

There was nothing on the roof but for a single ornamental tree in a stand; air
conditioner vents; and an oil drum inside a chain-link cage. Lara made out a
likely drainpipe on the wall behind, which reached to a higher roof section.
She hopped on the ventilation duct close beside, but barbed wire coiled on top
of the cage meant she could not climb over. The hazardous-looking oil drum gave
her an idea.

She stepped back beyond the helicopter pad and took careful aim with her
pistol. One shot, and the drum exploded, blasting apart the surrounded cage.
The drainpipe was exposed.

"Nishimura's gonna bill you for that," Zip chided.

"It's not a party until something gets broken," Lara replied, innocently.

With her bare feet, Lara shinned effortlessly up the pipe and hopped onto the
flat roof of the showroom. Its glass skylight slid back under her grapple, and
Lara dropped through.

She was in an office space with unpacked crates all around. Down some stairs
waited the bike. She hopped on and fired it up. Alister was doubtful. "Lara,
what exactly are you doing?"

"Mmmm. Listen to that, 0-60 in under three seconds."

The powerful motorcycle purred as she eased it out onto the roof.

"Be careful out there," Alister advised. "There's more road far below than
there is up top."

Lara gave it just a little gas, as she turned hard for the unfinished walkway.
With a throaty roar the bike launched up the ramp. Overhead was a strut between
cantilevered arches. Lara fired her grapple and sprang off the bike as it piled
into a shuttered wall. "Lara," Zip gasped, "this is crazy-people stuff!"

In the crash debris a cluster of gas canisters boiled in flames. Alister cried
out a warning. "Lara!" She dived sideways just as they exploded. Shrapnel flew
over her head. A fiery orange ball rocked the night as she clutched safely to a
ledge.

"Don't ever do that again," Alister exhaled.

"Not on that bike, I won't."

She dusted herself down. Directly ahead was a network of scaffolding. She
hopped and caught a metal pole wrapped in striped yellow and black tape. It
didn't appear a particularly safe site; various oddments were scattered on the
plank sections, and as she stepped gingerly over, one section began to tilt
dangerously. Lara sprang across a short gap to safety.

"At least when she's leaping about on cliffs, they stay put!" Alister
exclaimed.

"Man, I don't know what she's thinking," Zip agreed. "She's crazy."

"I can hear you, you know. And it's a tad distracting."

"Sorry, Lara," Alister said, sheepishly.

"Shutting up now," Zip offered.

A glass window section hung from a rope obstructed her. A well-aimed shot from
her pistol sent it crashing to the ground, far below. Using the rope, she swung
across another gap, and ran to the end of the scaffold. A wire cable had been
strung between this building to Takamoto's opposite. She jumped to grab it and
slid swiftly across, traffic crawling through the Tokyo streets twenty stories
beneath.

She landed on a flat metal platform that shielded aircon units. Suspended to
one side was a hanging cradle, probably used by cleaners. She hooked it with
her grapple and jumped on. As it swung back she jumped boldly, launching her
grapple once again to hang off a set of spotlights at the corner of the
building. Suspended perilously, she shuffled about and gathered momentum for a
leap to another flat metal aircon platform. From that she negotiated two more
hanging lifts and fired her grapple to another spotlight fixture. Adjacent to
this was Takamoto's roof garden, where a section of rail appeared conveniently
twisted away. She dropped through.

A raised terrace bore cherry trees in full blossom and decorative stone
lanterns. The air of tranquillity was broken by the arrival of three yakuza in
company of dogs. They spotted her at once and released the dogs to attack. Lara
hopped up on the terrace where they seemed reluctant to jump. As automatic fire
chattered about she turned and picked off the first of the thugs. A stray
bullet caught one of the lanterns, which exploded and wiped out another. Lara
kept moving and soon finished the third, and then put the dogs down in
comparative safety.

"Okay," Zip warned her, "it gets worse from here. This is like a yakuza
factory."

Lara headed for the door where the gangsters came out. "Then let's see about
shutting it down."

She seemed to be in the service entrance. A quick look down a flight of stairs
showed nothing more than a few packing cases and a locked exit. A sign on the
stairs indicated Takamoto Securities had their offices above. Lara padded up
the stairs and along an empty corridor.

"Where are they?" Zip wondered. "It's not like they don't know you're there."

"You'll see them when I do," Lara assured him.

At the end of the corridor was the service entrance to Takamoto Securities.
Lara opened the door and slipped in.

The trading floor was a high-ceilinged room of partitioned cubicles and side
offices with a raised conference area at one side. A large electronic screen
showing a jumble of stock market figures dominated the room. Modern art lined
the walls. Lara had little time to take it in, as several men patrolled the
room beyond the partitions. She quickly ducked out of sight and prepared her
weapons.

She moved out to the centre of the room and caught three together. She lobbed a
grenade and sprayed fire to keep them busy. Then she ducked back towards the
raised area behind her, where two more opened fire. One came down a short
flight of steps. She threw a grenade, and closed in on the other. Another
guard came from his office hiding place, so she scooped up a dropped weapon to
finish him at close quarters. The last stragglers were picked off from cover.
After the intense action the trading floor seemed quiet. Lara explored the area
but found only closed doors, with no exit even from the conference room.

"Looks like there's no way out," her indispensable advisor fretted.

"There's always a way, Zip."

The large electronic screen drew her attention. It was suspended either end at
the top by wires. She took careful aim and shot away the supports. Using her
grapple she then caught on to the screen, and pulled. It tipped forwards and
crashed down flat off the floor, revealing a raised room behind.

"She's never cared for TV, much," Zip remarked.

"She did them a favour," Alister agreed. "Maybe now they'll read a book for a
change."

From behind the screen two more yakuza appeared. One barked harsh instructions
in Japanese as they opened fire on the intruder. Lara had her weapon ready and
killed them both from the floor. Then she hopped up on the flat screen and
moved through to a closed door marked as an exit.

"There could be more out there, Lara," Alister warned. "Do be careful."

She cautiously opened the door and stepped out to another roof garden. This was
a higher terrace, overlooking the first at one side. There was no other person
in sight. She looked out over the Tokyo skyline with the moon full overhead. A
dark crane loomed to the opposite side, and neon advertising signs buzzed
against a metal tower stretching up to the building's penthouse. Lara sized it
up. "What a lovely evening to be outside."

"Uh-oh," Zip groaned. "You know what that means." Motion sickness ahead. "I'll
get the dimenhydrinate," Alister sighed.

Lara first clambered up a short pole that supported the frame of an aircon
unit. She shuffled around it and climbed on top. Judging it too far to jump
across to, she used her grapple to snag part of the metal structure off which
the lowest neon sign hung. A good tug brought it swinging through ninety
degrees. It then formed a flat platform that she ran swiftly across. She jumped
to a service platform with a short ladder to a higher section.

From it she repeated the trick in hauling down a higher section of neon sign,
and shinned up a pole built into it to jump up to a higher metal plate. Off
that she grabbed a slender pole, and shinned upwards as far as she could.

"Please don't look down," a queasy member of her support team begged.

"Heights don't bother me, Alister."

"They make me positively nauseous."

"Like I told her in Bolivia," Zip agreed.

"I'll try my best to keep my chin up, but I do need to concentrate. If you
don't mind."

She angled for a jump backwards to grab a bar off the neon sign structure. Her
weight caused it to tilt back down, and she returned to the pole with an
acrobatic leap. Now she could shin up again, and this time land on a long metal
platform formed by the structure in its new orientation. She saw the way
forward from a much smaller platform a short but dizzying jump ahead. She
needed to be quick, as the sign began to tip back into place as she ran.

The platform was the cover of an air conditioner a long way above the first. A
thin metal rod was fixed to the wall directly ahead, presumably a lightning
conductor. She jumped to it and shinned to the top. It creaked ominously. Zip
warned her, "hurry up, Lara, it's not gonna hold!"

She noticed a series of horizontal poles projecting from the wall behind,
perhaps for banners or flags. Just as the lightning rod broke away she leaped
to grab the nearest. This new perch was no better; the pole creaked and bent
under the sudden weight. She swiftly swung off to the next, alarmingly weak as
the first.

"Hurry, Lara," Alister urged, "they'll snap at any second."

Like an acrobat she swung off and grabbed to the next, then straight to the
last. Each pole snapped the moment she flew off. She landed on a private
balcony to the penthouse apartment where she caught her breath.

She stood high above the neighbouring buildings, looking out across the
sparkling city. The new moon hung over dark clouds. Neon glittered to the far
distance. No sound carried from the traffic below. Through a glass double door,
trouble waited.

Stealthily Lara opened the doors to Takamoto's apartment. Down a short flight
of stairs was an open-plan gallery space, where yakuza stood in conference
under a fabulous crystal chandelier. No doubt they waited her arrival but could
not anticipate her daring means of entry. She took careful aim at the
chandelier and decided to wake them.

With a single shot the heavy glass decoration crashed to the floor. Urgent
shouts erupted and Lara backed away to a reception area, leaving the carnage
below. Here another thug ran swiftly down stairs and she shot him as he came.
Another stood shocked in a lounge at the top and she made him pay for inaction.
Gunfire raked up from the gallery below and glass balcony screens shattered.
Lara took advantage of the improved view to toss grenades down on the last of
the survivors. Double doors opened at the far end of the room and another thug
burst in. Lara jumped down to finish him among the glass display cases.

A side storage room appeared empty so Lara moved out through the double doors.
It seemed quiet enough. She turned to a corridor along the polished wooden
floor.

"Whoa!" Zip shouted. "Hang on. You see that turret down the hall?"

On the far wall facing Lara was a small but sinister mechanism. "Yes. You smell
a trap?"

"I do. Be careful."

The turret was a hi-tech gun pointed straight at her. Now that she looked,
lining the hall either side were metal panels housing vertical holes. It all
looked innocent at first glance but Zip had a nose for these things. Lara took
his advice. Behind her was a guardroom that she decided to check out.

The room contained a few desks and computers. Corkboards were filled with notes
and paperwork. Along one side a control panel held a number of monitors, on
which closed circuit TV showed various spots in the apartment. There was the
gallery where she infiltrated, and here was a private room with guns laid on a
table, owners not in evidence. Another room held a large dragon sculpture
suspended over a conference table. No doubt the centre of operations for
Takamoto's criminal gang. On the far wall of the guardroom was a fire point. An
extinguisher stood ready, and as Lara tested a button sprinklers came on in the
corridor outside. "Good thinking," Zip said. He had been right - in the fine
spray laser lights were revealed crossing between the holes in the metal
panels. No doubt when the beams were broken by the unwary the turret gun would
kick into action.

Despite the deadly obstacle Lara needed to pass down the corridor. She returned
and studied the lights, flashing on and off in sequence. It would be difficult
if not impossible to pass safely among them. She would need some assistance.

To one side was a large, beautifully decorated metallic ball, mounted on a
stand. "What's that?" Zip asked.

"It's more modern art than archaeology," Alister said. "In this context, at
least."

Decorative or not, the ball looked immensely sturdy, and was conveniently
sized. Lara had an idea. She put her shoulder to it and pulled it from its
stand.

"As lovely as that is," Alister commented dryly, "don't you think it's a little
big to bring home by yourself?"

Zip was intrigued. "Just let the lady work, buddy."

Lara heaved the heavy ball towards the corridor. As the first beam was broken
the turret gun opened up, spitting bullets straight at her. They flashed
harmlessly off the metal ball's surface as she kept her head down and continued
to push.

"Now that's art with form and function!" Alister declared.

In no time she was under the very nose of the gun, and it ceased.

"Made it," Zip sighed with relief. "How bad you hit?"

"I've been better. Let's not do that again."

Someone was bound to have heard the gun. Lara passed empty leather seats of the
reception and made haste along the hall. Here was a section of Takamoto's
offices done out in more traditional style. Along a corridor of dark wood
flooring and tatami mat she noticed through a bamboo screen window a
conference room containing the hanging dragon sculpture she saw on the guard
monitor. The room appeared to be deserted as she stealthily slipped in.

-- Takamoto Found -------------------------------------------------------------

"You should not have come here," a voice boomed. Takamoto appeared behind a
full-length window looking down on the room. "This is my province, not one of
your rotten little tombs."

"Tell me about the sword, Takamoto."

"What about it? What is it that fascinates you, Ms Croft?"

"Let me have a look at it and I'll tell you."

"Your persistence will be the death of you."

He turned and left. Before she could pursue, screens slid back in the space
underneath his office and three yakuza burst in, shooting.

Lara moved quickly and blew the first thug away. Her superior fighting skills
served her well at close quarters and she vaulted over the next nearest,
pouring fire as she descended. The third was caught in the act of reloading his
shotgun and she finished him with a concentrated burst.

"Okay, Takamoto's split," Zip said. "What next?"

"Catching him."

Lara could not reach up to Takamoto's office. The area beneath it that
harboured gangsters had no exit. Looking round, she considered a large window
overlooking the boardroom. Bulletproof glass for protection, naturally. The
enormous dragon sculpture swung lazily over the conference table, figurehead
perhaps of this particular yakuza clan. It faced directly to the thick glass
window.

With a deft jump, Lara stood on the polished wood of the table and looked over
the dragon. It carried between its front claws a metallic pole, which proved
ideal for her to latch onto with her grapple. A hefty tug and the sculpture
began to rock back and forth on its mountings. Its wide arc brought the
dragon's snout in contact with the glass.

With a crash the window gave way. As she mounted a wooden chest to climb up to
it, two yakuza appeared from the corridor beyond. These gangsters had shotguns,
which while effective at close range cost vital seconds to reload. Lara took
advantage of this disadvantage.

"I admire your straightforward approach," Alister said.

An elevator stood ready with its 'up' light illuminated. Takamoto's office
further along was deserted, but here at least were the weapons she saw on the
closed circuit TV. She fully replenished her stock of ammo and set off in
relentless pursuit of the miscreant.

-- Artifact Revealed ----------------------------------------------------------

Lara stepped out of the elevator into a large circular room of polished dark
blue marble, topped with a wide glass dome. Huge statues of serene Oriental
figures gazed down from points around the room, yet she felt the presence of
evil.

"You have disrespected me. You have broken into my house, you have killed my
men." Takamoto stood on a raised tier overhead, stripped to the waist ready for
combat. He bore the full-body tattoos of the true yakuza.

"I've simplified your payroll," Lara returned. "And now, if you don't mind I'll
streamline your inventory."

"You speak of this?" Takamoto held a staff tipped with a curious blade. "It is
the most prized of my collection."

Lara folded her arms. "And why is that?"

"I am fond of recovering objects from dead Englishmen - in this case one of
your Crusaders. Some have even said the warmonger was one of your King Arthur's
knights. I do not know how the fool came by it, for it is clearly far older
than the 11th Century, when your people lived in huts of mud."

"And for this reason you would rather die than hand it over?"

"No." Takamoto whirled the weapon around him. "For this one."

From the tip of the staff he unleashed a burst of energy towards Lara, an
iridescent stream of green light. Though startled she acrobatically leaped
aside, certain that its touch would mean harm. As the bolt of light dissipated
she sprang up quickly to try to stop Takamoto using it again.

The floor was a dangerous place. Not only was there nowhere to shield herself
from the bolts of energy Takamoto released, but turret guns opened up and
tracked her as she ran. Behind each statue she noticed a vertical pole that led
up past Takamoto's tier. She judged she ought best face him directly.

"You were a fool to come here," he taunted. "Beg for your life."

She climbed up, and quickly took stock of the arena, ignoring his mockery.

"Your fate approaches," he intoned coldly. "Where is your clever tongue now?"

The tier was a wide platform of glass sections that circled the entire room.
The heads of the four huge statues protruded above, affording some cover at
least. Takamoto lurked behind one such, across the room from her. He swept the
staff in front of him and a wave of energy coursed towards his victim.

"Here is what you wish for. Do you understand, Ms Croft? The artifact is mine."

He seemed most comfortable utilising the staff in one of two heights: either
low to the ground or waist high. As each successive wave shimmered towards
her, Lara had to make a fast decision whether to jump or roll.

"Your movements betray your confusion," Takamoto sneered, as he unleashed
another wave in her direction. "You will not be so lucky this time."

She took refuge behind one of the statues and tried to anticipate the next wave
as it came. Though powerful, and its slightest touch harmful to her, it seemed
not to be able to penetrate thick stone. Still she could not hide forever and
stepped from behind to draw a bead on the furious gangster as he continued to
taunt her.

"Have I satisfied your curiosity now? It is time to die!"

Time perhaps that he himself should die. Lara unloaded one clip after another
as Takamoto showed himself, and stayed ready to duck for shelter if she
misjudged his actions. The power of the staff seemed to protect him from the
full force of the gun, but she laid down relentless fire. Wounded, her target
took sudden flight around the perimeter.

"Now you will see your foolishness," he shouted. "Try to take what you came
for."

Lara pursued him, keeping up concentrated automatic fire until ammo was gone.
She switched to pistols and blazed away. As a wave of energy sliced out from
the staff she jumped if it came high or ducked under if low. At a moment she
lost sight of him another stream shimmered towards her; she was caught in the
open, and dropped swiftly from the side of the tier to hang safe underneath
before springing back up to resume the attack. Soon enough the crazed Takamoto
sank to his knees.

"Hitoko de!" he cursed. "Assassin! Hell swallow you."

-- Recovery and Exit ----------------------------------------------------------

Lara picked up the staff from its usurper's lifeless hand, and broke the
ungodly weapon over her thigh. She snapped the haft off and examined its carved
head. "This is it, all right."

"Did you see what it can do!"

"Yes, Alister. I did."

A helicopter hovered above the glass dome. Lara looked up as Zip told her the
good news. "Nishimura's got a chopper waiting for you."

"Excellent. Tell him he's my new favourite person."

The rotund Nishimura appeared inside the helicopter cabin with a wave of
greeting. He tossed a rope ladder through the open skylight at the centre of
the dome, and Lara climbed nimbly up. The pilot pulled clear as she was lifted
high above the dazzling spectacle of Tokyo by night. Nishimura extended a hand
to help her inside.

"Thank you, Nishimura-san," she said loudly, over the noise of the rotors. "I
am very relieved to find you here."

Taking his seat, Nishimura mopped his brow. "I am relieving myself too. What
about Takamoto? Where is he?"

Lara sat back in her seat. "It depends on whether he was naughty or nice."

Zip broke in on the headset. "I've got a line on James Rutland, by the way.
Want to go to Ghana?"

"Absolutely," Lara eased her legs and settled back. "Africa is among my
favourite continents."

-- PDA ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Takamoto's artifact proves there is more than one sword of this kind, as with
the stone dais. Now I need the piece Rutland showed me, to see whether they are
fragments of the same relic.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________________________________________

    o  GHANA - Pursuing James Rutland

    The coordinates Zip provided are deep in
    the Ghana rainforest. I don't know what
    Rutland is after, but I'm sure he keeps that
    artifact close to him. I'll have to convince
    him to part with it.

    "Long-distance relationships inevitably come to
     an end."


-- Hunting Rutland in Ghana ---------------------------------------------------

Lara left her Ducati and slid down a grassy slope to a small cave in the
undergrowth. She was back in her familiar adventurers kit, with a few
additional items hooked to her belt. She snapped on a light attached to her
shoulder strap and looked around. "No sign of Rutland so far," she told Zip.
"Have we worked out what he is doing here?"

"No. But there's something else. When I was going over the map, Winston said
your parents have been there - your Dad worked this site before you were born."

"That's not so peculiar. It happens occasionally."

The shallow cave was hewn from rock. Stone steps led down a ravine into bright
sunlight. Lara brushed aside thick fronds of foliage. A few scattered birds
rose from cover on her approach. At the foot of the steps the ravine opened to
a magnificent vista.

-- The Postcard Business ------------------------------------------------------

From distant mountains, a wide river tumbled to an expansive waterfall. White
water crashed to mist at the edge of a crystal blue lake.

"If all else fails, I can get into the postcard business."

Lara stood on a cliff edge. Far below she made out a stone construction on an
island at the foot of the falls. Beyond the edge of the waterfall she spotted a
vehicle, and uniformed men tossing rubbish into the stream.

"Oh, now look at the little termites mucking it all up," she frowned. "That
won't do at all."

"Looks like they didn't get in from this side. Any ideas?"

"We'll see." She looked around, then down. "I do my best thinking plunging off
cliffs."

Lara took a few steps back and then ran straight off the side of the cliff,
arcing through the air to snap her arms into a graceful swan dive. She cleaved
the clear waters of the lake far below, and rose to swim a few strokes to the
shore.

"The water is absolutely perfect," Lara sighed, shaking herself dry. "I've
missed Ghana."

She was on the little island with the stone construction. This was a wide
archway fronted by pulleys and chains, which appeared to be a drawbridge of
some kind against the streaming waterfall. A carved skull at its centre gave
warning to those who might seek to pass through. A diamond-shaped bronze plaque
bearing a woman's serene likeness shone at its top, but although she was able
to hook it with her grapple, Lara found it would not budge, since the
drawbridge was held fast by a stone pin on a rope. The other end dangled free
overhead, and in moments she hopped up on flat rock ledges alongside to jump
and hang off it. A stone lever groaned and the pin was removed. Dropping
quickly, Lara hooked the plaque, and this time the stone gate swung free.

-- Grand Entrance -------------------------------------------------------------

The pulleys rotated and hidden machinery ground into life. Lara stood open-
mouthed as the waters of the vast tumbling waterfall parted like curtains in a
theatre as the flow was diverted. An enormous ancient building was revealed
behind.

"Oh," nodded Zip, "so that's where we put the temple."

"Grand entrances are always impractical," Lara said. "It's what makes them
grand."

At that moment a handsome figure appeared on a high ledge of the building.
"Lara! You're a busy beaver, aren't you?"

"Oh, look," Lara jeered. "It's Rutland." She waved a hand to her side. "Fancy
dropping down for a chat, then?"

"Only if you can shoot this far."

Lara shook her head. "You know long-distance relationships inevitably come to
an end."

"I'd wish you luck with that," Rutland replied. "But uh... you know."

He shrugged and walked off into the temple. Lara prepared to go after.

"Alister should really have a look at this," she told Zip.

"He's still trying to figure out where these sword pieces originally came from.
Just you and me for now."

Ancient African carvings flanked a doorway. Lara entered and descended steps,
where she left the roar of the waterfall behind. Dust swirled faintly in the
cold clammy air. Vegetation had begun to break through and green lichen stained
the passage floor.

At a turn, Lara came to a pool of fast-flowing water. It looked safe so she
jumped in and attempted to cross, but the current was too strong. At the far
end of the pool she could barely make out what appeared to be a raft. Her
grapple and the current soon brought it to her side. It was made of metal grid
floated on plastic barrels.

"So what kind of ancient artifact you got there?" Zip joked.

"The modern kind. Rutland's men must have been using it to move about."

She jumped on, then ran across to grab a rope hanging down across the middle of
the pool, and from that swung to a second rope, and away to the far side of the
pool. She noticed how the swift current on this side had held the raft in
place. She wouldn't need it again, so didn't bring it back, but it having been
there meant that Rutland's men were on this side.

At a corner, a giant relief depicting a scorpion was set into the wall.

"I've seen this before," Lara said. "In my father's sketchbook. He has been
here."

She moved cautiously up stone steps, and ran into the first of Rutland's men.
He came forward, shotgun ready. "Say goodbye, darlin'," he taunted.

Gladly. Lara tossed a grenade and the thug was gone in a flash. She ran past
the broken body.

"Darn," Zip cursed. "It wasn't Rutland."

"He's still about somewhere," Lara remarked grimly.

At the next corner, she found a pair of savage spear poles interlocked across
the passage. Bones lay scattered about, and she noticed other spearheads
protruding at various heights along the passage. Each bore a skull, symbolic no
doubt of their lethal purpose. They did not seem set to be triggered as she
jumped the interlocked poles and moved on.

"Huh," Zip grunted. "Not very effective for a trap."

"Not these days," Lara agreed. "Something must be jamming the works."

The passage was lit at intervals by flaming brands, and at the next corner she
could see up ahead that the end of the passage was blocked by a closed iron
gate. More stalled spear traps were strung along the passage between. At her
feet Lara found a wide flat pressure plate of raised stone, that when depressed
raised up the closed gate. The instant she stepped off it the gate began
closing again, so she set off at a run, and vaulted and ducked under the stuck
spear poles before rolling under the last closing gap of the gate, which then
thumped down solidly behind her.

She was in a cavernous room, and saw straight away that Rutland's armed men
were busy at work on a platform to the back. She ducked behind a stack of
crates and took stock. There appeared to be about five men in all. The nearest
stood together across a metal bridge section. With the element of surprise,
Lara charged out into the open and over the bridge, guns blazing. She cut one
down, tossed a grenade to another, and turned to finish a third mercenary as
she reached the far side. The grenade blew out a thick column that supported
the flat stone platform where other men worked overhead. It crashed down as she
clambered up broken steps and hopped on a ledge to one side. A soldier ran to a
heavy machine gun mounted on a stand. Lara hauled quickly to her feet and threw
a grenade. He failed to traverse the heavy gun in time to stop her and the
explosion took him out. For a moment she had the chamber to herself, but then
came a shout, and more mercenaries spilled from a doorway across the room where
she had entered. The heavy machine gun was to hand, and she wasted no time in
spraying fire among them as they spread out to attack. A stray bullet caught a
drum at one side, and a fiery explosion rocked the room. Suddenly a grenade
tinkled across where she stood, so Lara abandoned the mounted machine gun to
drop down where she could deal with the lone survivor.

With peace at last, Lara considered the room and what the men had been up to.
To either side was a large circular stone device. Water cascaded behind one,
that she surmised was a waterwheel, its use not immediately apparent. It
struggled to turn against the weight of an ornately carved pillar that lay
tilted against it. "This waterwheel appears to be jammed," she observed.

"We may never know what it does," Zip agreed. "That pillar looks too heavy to
move."

"There's more than one way to get a wheel spinning."

A heavy obstacle would need a heavy lever to move it. Lara climbed back on top
of the rock ledge and checked over the mounted gun. The magazine was still
loaded, and with a heave she lined up the sights and gave the stone pillar a
good dose of large calibre lead. It split and cracked apart, tumbling down.
With a groan, the waterwheel spun free. A hidden mechanism triggered.

"Waterwheel's got things running again," Zip remarked.

The passage of dormant traps where she entered sprang to life. She took note of
an identical series of traps in a passage above.

"Congratulations, you got your wish," Zip said. "The place is a deathtrap."

Lara shrugged. "It needed a woman's touch."

The wheel that had been released bore a number of poles sticking out. Lara
jumped from her platform to a hanging rope, and swung off to grab onto one. It
carried her slowly around, and up to a height where she could jump off to a
second rope on the far side. From that she swung to a platform ledge. At the
opposite side of the room was a similar ledge. Between the two hung a metal
lift on a pulley that Rutland's men had evidently been using for access between
ledges. Lara latched onto it with her grapple and pulled it towards her. She
hopped on and looked over to the other platform ledge. The stump of a broken
column shone with a metallic band, and she used that to draw the lift back. The
clashing sound of traps now rang out beneath. She jumped onto the second ledge
to examine the higher passage. Stationary poles barred access. Smashed bones
cluttered the passage floor.

"I'll have to get these traps moving again to pass through," she informed Zip.

"Only you would think of it that way. I don't like it."

"You're not living if you don't live a little dangerously."

A rope dangled close by, and Lara soon swung from it to grab a pole on the
second waterwheel. The wheel rocked a little as she swung to another pole on
it, but plainly would not work without power of some sort. Lara jumped forward
to a ladder carved in the rock face, and climbed to its top to investigate.

In a small rock chamber lit by flaming lanterns, another ladder section led up.
Flames cast jagged shadows as she scaled the green-tinged walls. Using narrow
crevices in the damp slippery rock Lara made her way across to what appeared to
be a sluice.

"This channel runs directly down to the wheel," she observed.

"Can't have a wheel without a couple thousand gallons of water," Zip said.

"No," Lara agreed. "It's simply not done."

Bars across the channel formed another ladder, and a low cave at the top
brought her to overlook a huge cavern the other side. On its floor at her feet
were a few scattered crates and another of Rutland's rafts. A jaguar stalked
the otherwise empty space. She dispatched it with a few shots from safety, and
then jumped down.

Water sloshed somewhere close by, and the other side of a high wall she saw
gushing waterfalls. Her side appeared dry, yet Rutland's beached raft gave the
clue that it was not habitually so. One section of the wall appeared to be a
lock gate lowered on chains.

Stone steps at one side led her around to a ledge, where she clambered up and
jumped onto a hanging stone block device. This descended under her weight and
raised up a counterbalanced block just beside. She quickly ran to it and off to
a short section of ladder. From a platform on top, she looked down on the full
extent of the cavern.

One side was flooded by water streaming from holes in the cave roof. The lock
gate held back the water. Giant stone pulleys were rigged to a device above
where she entered, and she saw very clearly that if she could somehow put it to
operation, the central lock gate could be raised and water would flow through
and down to the stalled waterwheel in the other room.

There was no way down from her platform other than a plunge into the flooded
section. She emerged close to another of Rutland's rafts. Though she could
climb out at more than one spot there was no useful purpose and nothing to aid
further progress. Somehow she needed to raise the lock gate. To one side she
spotted a rock ladder, but could not manage to climb on the low ledge beside
it. She swam to the raft and looked about. A broken column nearby showed a
decorative metallic band. Lara hooked her grapple to it and tugged the raft
towards the column. It soon caught a gentle current and drifted to a wider pool
section where the ladder waited. As luck would have it, another column with
metallic banding stood close by, and Lara managed to heave the raft over to it,
banging and clanging off edges. She hopped onto the ledge and ran to the
ladder. It went nowhere in particular but from its height she jumped backwards
to a counterbalanced block similar to the last, and as this fell under her
weight a second block rose alongside. The gap here was greater but she chose
the right moment to leap and grab on, and before it fell too far managed to
jump off to a stone ledge beyond.

Water cascaded from above, and looking up she spotted a diamond-shaped plaque
for her grapple device to latch onto. She swung through a shower of water to
land on another platform ledge. With her rock climbing athleticism she soon
made it past pillars and crevices to a platform in the corner of the cavernous
room.

Here was a pressure pad, that when activated set in rotation a short platform
just in front. A large stone block on it was toppled to the ground, which might
at least make the journey back to this spot less arduous should Lara fall. The
pressure pad did something else too: on a central platform alongside was a
large statue of a woman in chains, arms upraised, and as the short platform
revolved about, it set into operation a shaped stone that served as a manacle.
One raised arm of the statue was released as the stone swung away.

Lara moved to take a look, but as she stepped off the pressure pad the short
platform unwound, and seemed likely to tip her off if she tried to cross too
soon, so she paused until it seemed settled. The manacle returned to its former
position.

At the central stone platform she examined the statue. It bore on its head an
urn, symbolic no doubt as the bringer of water. The chains from each arm led to
pulleys that surely operated the lock gate in the room underneath. A bronze
mechanism shone between pointed breasts. Lara attempted to put it to action,
and it moved the arms, but these were held fast by the manacles. Each would
need to be released before the mechanism would work.

To the other side of the platform was a second lever device, and beyond that
another platform. On it was a pressure pad and a thick stone block. Lara jumped
across and hauled the block over the pad. It operated the platform lever and
released the second manacle. Lara assessed the situation. The stone block on
this platform would keep the lever platform wound and the manacle open, but the
other platform had no such helpful device. She hopped back to size it up.

Taking a deep breath Lara stepped on the pad to revolve the lever platform and
open its manacle fully. As she stepped off, the platform unwound and she waited
for the right moment to hop on and jump off to the central platform. The
manacle was already closing, but she quickly cast her grapple to the shimmering
breastplate and tugged. The arms of the maiden lowered down and the lock gate
on its chains rose up. This released a couple thousand gallons of water to flow
through the channel that led to the waterwheel below.

"Looks good," Zip said. "Think the wheel's turning yet?"

"Let's have a look."

She dived off the platform to the now flooded part of the room below. Wooden
crates bobbed in the fast-flowing water at the entrance to the channel. Lara
soon dropped down the cave ladders to return to the waterwheel. To her
satisfaction, the torrent moved the stone wheel and the traps in the upper
passage were now fully operational. And potentially lethal.

"Much better," Lara said.

'You know," Zip responded, "you scare me."

"You may want to close your eyes then."

She used the horizontal poles off the slowly turning wheel to take her up to
the rope from which she could reach the platform again, and stepped forward to
assess the passage of traps.

Now that the spear poles were moving she might at least pass, but it was a
route into deadly danger. Lara watched as opposing sets of spiked poles clashed
together, held briefly, then retracted. They swept back again at vicious speed.
Screwing up courage she judged the moment carefully - as they first seemed to
part - and leaped through. The spears clashed shut just behind. She was faced
now by the identical hazard, and for better or worse was imprisoned between.
It was as risky to turn back as go on, so she judged the proper moment again
and jumped through, to find yet another set barring the way. Timing her moment
she passed safely.

Now she faced a daunting dash along the passage in the teeth of scything blades
that slid back and forth along grooved channels either side.

"There's no avoiding these," she realised.

"This isn't gonna fly, Lara," Zip warned. "If one of those things even touches
you..."

"I know," she replied, grimly. "Which means I'll have to stop them somehow."

A stone block had become dislodged from a recess that it appeared shaped to
fit. She had used a cage to a similar purpose, and here judged the stone might
be sufficient to guard against the deadly blades. She hauled it round, stood
behind and pushed. The blades clanged against the solid stone and as she
cautiously pushed the block, became forced back. The ruse was precarious, as
the blades seemed ready to glide past if she moved too hurriedly. As Zip
pointed out, the slightest touch from the wickedly sharpened steel could be
fatal, and they could slice her from behind all too easily if they broke free.
She slowly slid the stone forward and the blades were carried back in their
grooves and then ceased their endless motion. Lara clambered carefully on top
of the block and jumped clear.

"They don't build them like that anymore," she sighed with relief.

Yet they built them like that then, and in this case only just up some steps
around the next corner. Though she could risk a dash with acrobatic leap and
roll, heaped bones were proof that where others had found their way this far,
luck alone did not carry them further.

There didn't appear to be a block handy this time. However, looking around she
noticed a darker patch on one wall behind her. It seemed to be a recess stopped
up with a square block of stone, presumably for the secret use of whoever set
the fiendish trap. Behind protection of the block as before, with some effort
she made her way slowly past the blades. She had just to be careful that one or
other did not slide past to continue its movement behind, cruelly slashing the
back of her legs.

Safely through, Lara ran gratefully along the passage. "I must install some of
these in the gym."

Zip was unimpressed. "Remind me later to cancel my membership."

Lara jogged through a low archway and along a silent corridor, up and down a
short flight of steps. A spear trap ahead blocked the way, though it was partly
broken and thankfully stationary. Yet something was wrong. She paused on
approach.

"What is it?" Zip asked. "You hear something?"

"I feel something."

The stone beneath her feet trembled as a low rumble came from behind. A giant
stone ball rolled towards her, broad as the corridor was wide. It tumbled down
the steps, gaining momentum.

"Oh, Hell, no!" Zip yelled.

The moment her legs found motion Lara ran forwards and jumped over the lowest
spear in the trap. She dare not try to stand clear of the ball; there was
simply no room to avoid it. A second set of horizontal poles stuck out of the
wall, with the lowest spear broken, leaving a gap that she rolled under as the
ball crashed through each flimsy trap and gained relentlessly on her. Close in
front she saw an open doorway, and ran as hard as she could for it, jumping as
she went across a narrow pit of spikes. With inches to spare she dodged wide at
the doorway, and the rolling ball behind her crashed through, to pitch
harmlessly over the side of the ledge where she stood. It smashed a rock
boulder from a lower cliff section and splashed into a deep crystal-blue lake.

"Oh, I've missed Ghana!"

A sardonic voice came over her headset. "Narrowly escaping death again, I see."

"There you are Alister. You've found something about the sword fragment, then?"

"A few things, actually. I extrapolated the markings on the artifact to get a
sense of what the entire pattern would look like, and then I found what-" His
voice cut abruptly.

"Whoops," Zip explained, "we have a prob-" His voice also was suddenly cut off.

"Alister? Zip?"

The line was dead.

"That's odd..."

Alone for the moment, Lara looked around. A few scattered birds flew in the
clear skies overhead. In front of her and curved around was a mighty waterfall,
and looking down, she recognised the little island where she first lowered the
drawbridge to enter the temple. Somewhere at this higher level Rutland had
called down to her before disappearing inside. She was on his trail now close
behind.

A metal pole stuck out from one wall. Roosting birds fluttered off as Lara
jumped to it. She soon swung to a rock pillar, and clung to a crack to climb
around. She jumped to another section, which crumbled on contact. A large
section was dislodged overhead, and fell solidly behind her as she quickly
swung off to higher wall poles, and on to a wider ledge. Relieved to find
safety, Lara tried to restore contact over her headset.

"Zip? Alister? Do you read me?"

They didn't.

"I don't like this at all."

She had reached the highest ledge, and alongside was a metal lift. Rutland had
been up here all right. She used it to drop down a stage, where she leaped to
land on a man-made platform at the middle of the rock temple. A second lift
served as a bridge for the intrepid explorer to jump over to a far platform,
where she tried once again to make contact.

"Zip, are you there? Alister?"

She gave up in disgust.

"All those satellites and computers just to perfect the science of talking to
oneself."

Water poured down in a sheet over part of the temple wall. A long jump saw her
swing off a pole just beside, and on to a broken stone jetty. As Lara shuffled
to one side and grabbed for a higher ledge, loose masonry crumbled overhead,
and another section gave way. She sprang off to one side just in time.

She swung from more horizontal poles, turning about to a higher section of
pillar, that likewise began crumbling at her touch. She was ready this time,
and scrambled to safety around the corner of the pillar.

"Hello?" Lara tried. "Are you chaps getting any of this?"

Still no signal. She pulled up on a higher edge of the pillar.

"What the devil are they doing?"

She had reached a high doorway, and with a last look at the tumbling waterfall
behind her, Lara headed back inside the darkness of the temple.

She entered a dank stone passage. Lit brands guttered at intervals. On a corner
something caught her eye.

-- Dearest Amelia -------------------------------------------------------------

Lara bent to find a small object on the floor. "This shouldn't be here... Oh."

It was a piece of jewellery. Something about it looked very familiar. She
turned it in her hand and read an inscription.

"'Dearest Amelia - Yours always - Richard'."

Lara clasped the brooch in her hand. "It was Mother's." Her parents had been
here, in this very passage, where her mother somehow lost the precious
keepsake.

She stood and spoke urgently. "Zip, can you hear me?" Still nothing. "Where are
you?" she sighed.

Down stone steps the passage grew pitch dark. Lara switched on her flashlight
just in time to see a spiked pit that stretched before her. Close to the
ceiling, midway across, she noticed a metallic embellishment shimmer. She
jumped forward over the pit and deployed her grapple to latch on to it, and
swung to the other side. A short way forward she met an identical hazard, but
took it as easily. Further ahead, the passage was lit again. She stepped
through a doorway and pressed flat to a wall as she heard voices around a
corner.

"I thought I heard something," said one.

"She's here somewhere," said another. "Track her down."

Lara showed herself in a blaze of gunfire. A mercenary ran across a rope bridge
to face her, others appeared firing behind. Looking up quickly, Lara spotted a
precarious stone section under the ceiling. A burst of fire brought it down,
smashing through the flimsy bridge and the mercenary on it. With a few shots
she finished his comrades on the other side. Another plaque glimmered overhead
where the stone was dislodged, and she soon swung across to replenish supplies
from the dead bodies.

Through an open doorway was a high room hewn out of the rock by thunderous
waterfalls. Rutland's men had been at work here too, with arc lights mounted on
stands placed strategically around. To one side were metal wall bars, and Lara
swung out and splashed through a torrent of water to reach a pillar
fortuitously cleft with cracks that served as handholds. She clung on with wet
hands. At a higher level were more poles to reach a high platform, where a
fast-flowing stream ran from under a barred gate. Drums of some dangerous
chemical stood about. Here was the limit of Rutland's expedition, and his men
were in evidence.

A metal bridge section had been laid across the stream and as Lara made her way
over she spied guards at the foot of steps the other side. Stealthily she
hauled first one then another of the drums of chemical to the top of the steps.
A good kick sent them down.

"Found her!" a guard yelled as she showed herself.

The drums exploded, sending balls of flame that engulfed the men at the foot of
the steps. Lara charged down and picked off another mercenary firing from a
rock platform ahead. To one side was a rickety bridge of wooden planks. She
came under fire from the far side and dashed across. The planks bucked and
swayed, and as she reached the far side one guard threw a grenade that blew the
bridge apart. Lara clung to the platform at the far side and sprang to her
feet, blasting the two uniformed soldiers there. She took temporary refuge
behind steel containers as the last two mercenaries tried to pin her down. One
held a grenade launcher. She jumped up and charged for their platform across a
convenient section of bridge. They were no match for such aggression and one
crumpled as the last body slipped off the platform to the raging torrent below.

Stern carvings adorned the entrance to an adjacent chamber hewn from a rock
cave. Water poured in at fissures and light streamed from above. Temporarily
distracted Lara did not see a jaguar leap from a corner. She knew well enough
that she must always keep her wits about her, and stepped backwards, firing
both pistols. The jaguar backed off and she tossed a grenade to finish the
beast quickly. She holstered her guns and assessed her next move.

Broken steps led up on the left and right. A rope dangled between them. The
right stairway was too high out of reach, but she clambered up the left side. A
sheet of water trickled down across the flight, which crumbled to a slippery
slope after only a dozen steps. As she stood halfway and looked up, the stairs
trembled and a huge rounded boulder came tumbling down towards her. With a
moment to spare, Lara jumped off to the rope at the side. As she hung there
recovering composure, a second boulder thundered slowly down behind the first,
and crashed to dust on the floor of the chamber. Lara swung forward to the
opposite flight and stepped cautiously up. Sure enough, a third boulder dropped
heavily down and rumbled towards her. She stepped coolly into an alcove at the
base of the steps, and the stone ball thundered safely past. That seemed to be
the extent of traps for the unwary, though they might have guarded great
secrets. At the top of the steps she found an ornate metal door and a pressure
pad that opened it.

More intimidating statuary graced the entrance to the chamber beyond. Rutland
was here somewhere; she could feel it. As she went in, the door closed slowly
down behind.

-- The Ghalali Key ------------------------------------------------------------

"Lara," a familiar figure greeted her. "You came for the Ghalali Key too, then.
Perfect."

Rutland stood in the centre of the small circular chamber of dark stone.

"Pretend I don't know what you're talking about." Lara folded her arms.

The suddenly sinister young man paced slowly towards her. "Oh, you know, it's
what puts the sword back together. It's the size of a fist, and according to
Amanda's research..." Rutland looked around as he spoke intently. "It's here."

"What do you know about Amanda?" Lara demanded. "Where is she?"

Rutland looked surprised at the question, but offered no answer. "So, your
father did some digging here, didn't he? You know, Amanda thought maybe he
found the Key."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Lara narrowed her eyes and nodded to
the object in Rutland's hand. "Tell me about that sword segment you're so fond
of waving about."

"Ha! Well, I have been spending some time with it, and I've learned a couple of
things. Let me show you."

Lifted by some mysterious force, he jumped easily to a sculpted ledge overhead.
The fragment gave off faint traces of green light, such as she had seen from
Takamoto's staff. "Ready for this?" Rutland called down. "Watch."

He jumped off the ledge and ran at her, the dagger-like shard in his hand
trailing green light. Lara knew what it meant, and rolled aside from the
charge. She drew her pistols to hold the crazed attacker off.

"Damn you, Lara. I can see why you've spent your life searching for these
artifacts - too bad this time Amanda and I beat you to it. Amanda said you'd
try and steal this from us. You're nothing but a thief in cargo shorts."

He stabbed with the shard, giving out a flash of green light.

"Bet you wish you could do that, huh?" he sneered. "That hurt, didn't it?
C'mon, admit it."

Lara backed away rapidly and tried to keep distance. Rutland made little
darting runs to cut her off.

As she kept up pinpoint fire Rutland began to lose strength. In a moment he
rose to one of the four surrounding statues, a sculpture of a bird of some kind
with its outstretched wings forming a platform too high for her to reach. In
some unholy manner he charged up the shard, and in doing so recovered strength
fully. With a cry of triumph he jumped down to resume the attack.

Now he threw grenades, which bounced menacingly towards her.

"Magic artifacts are great and all," he taunted, "but there's nothing like good
old-fashioned frag grenades, don't you think?"

She dodged away, and threw one of her own.

"Hey, you have some too! Mine are bigger." He threw another to prove it. She
returned the compliment, as she ran to one side to avoid the blast. "Don't
waste those Lara," his voice became a singsong taunt: "you don't have very
many."

The series of explosions caught him off guard, and blew him off his feet. Even
so, the curious power he possessed by wielding the shard prevented telling
injury. "Fine," he spat, "we'll do it your way."

He rose up to a platform to recover again. No matter how accurate her fire, all
efforts so far were for nothing. Since he drew power from the sculpture it
seemed clear it should be her priority to block the source of his strength.

She cast an eye over one structure. It loomed tall, head poised as if to
strike, wings outstretched. A stone of markedly different tone stood prominent
at the breast. Lara saw it glimmer, and noticed fissures on its surface.
Keeping a watch on Rutland, Lara tested it with her guns. The husk broke away
showing red underneath, and she poured fire on. The red shell shattered, and
under it a metal plate was revealed, bearing the likeness of a human face. She
quickly put away her pistols to use the grapple on it.

"That's not gonna work, you know," said Rutland, angrily. "You're just speeding
things up."

A swift tug and something was dislodged. The platform sculpture toppled to the
ground and crumbled away.

"Whoa, what are you doing?" Rutland shouted. "I thought archaeologists were a
little more careful than this."

He hadn't grasped her plan yet, so focused was the madman on tearing her apart.
As he rushed towards her Lara backed away, and directed fire at the next
nearest sculpture. She held her attacker at bay with a few shots and a
judicious grenade, and his weapon seemed to lose power. He leaped up to one of
the sculptures, which gave off a yellow glow as he recharged the sword
fragment.

Lara took her chance to blast away another stone breast. She had only a few
moments to grapple the exposed metal plate before Rutland descended to renew
the attack.

"Yow!" he said as another platform crumbled. "That toy of yours is pretty handy
after all. I still bet you'd trade it for mine, though."

He swiped the fragment viciously in her direction, and then lobbed a grenade as
she backed off. His triumphant gloating was undiminished. "That was a big one,
wasn't it? Did you like that? Here's another." His nimble victim saw it coming
and ran to one side. Rutland laughed callously. "You know why I like grenades?
You don't have to see who you're throwing them at."

Lara stuck grimly to her task. One more stone was shot out, and as she hauled
another structure down, Rutland hadn't noticed that three of the sculptures
were now destroyed and only one remained.

"I bet you'd do anything for this kind of power, wouldn't you?" he continued.
"Like betraying your friends, for instance. Too bad you're so unfriendly, Lara.
You, me, and Amanda would make a great threesome. You wouldn't believe what
Amanda has uncovered. You'd know if you hadn't left her for dead in Paraiso."

She ignored his constant taunts, and even as he rose to charge his weapon
again, she stood firm underneath and shot away the support. As this last
structure toppled to dust she switched to her strongest weapon. Now they were
alone to face each other, and she would make him pay.

-- Two Shards -----------------------------------------------------------------

Rutland fell to his knees, clutching his wounds. The sword fragment spilled
from his grasp. Lara picked it up.

"I'm really not your enemy, Rutland."

She examined the fragment next to her own.

"These pieces weren't broken apart," she realised. "They were designed to
separate and reattach. The Ghalali Key does that?"

Still on his knees, Rutland groaned for answer.

"I don't suppose you'd tell me where this came from. The Crusades? King
Arthur?"

"History doesn't interest me," he rasped.

"Well then, why don't you stay here and consider the future. Make sure I'm not
in it, however. You won't enjoy seeing me again."

Lara left him bent on the ground.

"Your father might not have found the Ghalali Key," Rutland grunted, "but
Amanda doesn't know that, and she's at your mansion right now." Lara turned
sharply. Rutland forced a grin. "You'd better have good insurance."

-- Hasty Departure ------------------------------------------------------------

A motorcycle ripped through a narrow gully. Lara held the throttle wide open.

"Lara?" came a voice in her headset.

"God, finally." She raced down a rocky passage. "I've been trying to get
through for ages. What happened?"

"This woman just tore her way through the front door," Zip said, breathless.
"She had some sort of ... I don't know what the hell it was."

"It was like black smoke," Alister volunteered.

"I'll be there straight away."

"No," he quickly assured her, "we're fine. Look, you've got to follow Amanda,
she's going for another piece of the sword."

"What! Where?"

"In Kazakhstan. I found a photo that matches the pieces you have."

"All right. Do an inventory and try to locate something called the Ghalali
Key." The bike roared between narrow rock walls. "Meanwhile, it looks as if I'm
bound for colder climes."

"Pack warm!" Zip offered.

"I mean to be cold," she replied, then revved the bike hard.

-- PDA ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alister found records of a third shard in Kazakhstan, but Amanda broke into the
manor and learned its whereabouts from him. I need to hurry to beat her to the
site. I wish I knew what she and Rutland are up to.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________________________________________

    o  KAZAKHSTAN - Project Carbonek

    The sword fragment was taken to a secret
    Soviet laboratory decades ago, a facility
    rumoured to study the paranormal. Alister
    is going to try to confirm the facts of the
    story while I'm en route.

    "There seems to be trouble below..."


-- Trouble in Kazakhstan ------------------------------------------------------

Lara slid down an icy slope, tightly wrapped in a short sheepskin jacket,
thermal pants and lined boots. Snowflakes drifted from a leaden sky.

"Alister, I'm at the base. Go ahead."

"I was right. It was a secret Soviet project from the Fifties called'Carbonek'.
The laboratory was studying an ancient sword fragment, but some mysterious
disaster brought the KGB down and they erased it all from history ... almost."

Her feet crunched in the snow as she walked to a cliff edge. She raised her
binoculars and looked down on a complex of military buildings. "There seems to
be trouble below." Soldiers stormed the base.

Zip spoke grimly. "You got there right on time."

"Or a little late." Bodies crumpled in the snow as muzzles flashed and
automatic fire crackled. "Those are Rutland's men attacking the Kazakhs."

"Or Amanda's," Alister suggested. "Most likely she is the one behind this."

Lara readjusted her sights and scanned over the complex.

"The lab is somehow connected to that military base," Zip said, "but we don't
know how. If you could find the command center, we might get a better idea.
Now, after the firefight dies down, you should try-"

"Oh, come on now, Zip. Waiting is for the patient." Lara was on the very edge
of the sheer cliff. "Or those without parachutes."

"Well, I'd look around more," Zip muttered. "But... go ahead and jump when
you're ready."

Lara stood by a chain-link fence topped with razor wire. One section was broken
through, perhaps by a heavy snowfall. With a deft leap she sailed out over the
sheer drop.

The ground zoomed towards her. A rail track and low platforms led to a concrete
tunnel under the cliff. A flat-roofed building stood directly ahead, and she
was falling, limbs splayed, straight towards it.

"Now, Lara!" Alister shouted.

A quick tug deployed a mini-parachute, breaking her fall at the last moment to
complete the typically daring infiltration. She landed gently on a corrugated
roof and discarded the 'chute.

"Very nice, Lara, but you've just leapt from the frying pan into a nest of
hornets."

Floodlights dotted the compound. A limp flag hung off a pole. Up ahead she saw
the soldiers who had just stormed the base securing their positions. Without an
assault weapon stealth alone would never get her past all that opposition; she
needed to reduce the odds fast. On the roof where she stood was a machine-gun
nest with its abandoned weapon, ready aligned. Her opening move seemed obvious.

Quickly checking the sights, Lara opened up on the first unsuspecting guard,
and another behind. Moving around, she sprayed fire across the entrance of a
building directly ahead as more came running, and tracked left and right to
pick off stragglers. Barrels of fuel exploded, and wiped out men rushing to fan
out. She picked off one sniping from the side, and returned swiftly to drop
others sheltered behind a truck. Still more fired from windows, and she raked
each fresh target, dropping bodies one by one until all appeared quiet.

Lara scooped up a discarded weapon from the abandoned nest, and jumped down off
the roof. She moved towards the hut, designated an armoury. More mercenaries
emerged from cover, and Lara dodged behind the truck. Grenades tumbled around.
She dived forwards, and fired fast. Quick as they appeared she took them down,
and with a few tossed grenades and the last standing drums to explode, her
brutal attack wiped out resistance.

That seemed to be that. A dozen men in two minutes, but they must have known
what to expect and she didn't like to disappoint. Inside the armoury a steel
ladder led straight up to an open skylight.

Lara stepped cautiously out on the roof. A guard in a tower opposite opened up.
Quickly she returned fire, and he threw himself to the floor. As he popped up
for another try she jumped to grab the side of his tower and finished him at
close quarters. More guards were in evidence below. She forsook a zip line
direct to the ground and slid down a ramp to a rooftop overlooking the
compound.

At once she was spotted. A voice shouted, "Grease her!" as gunfire rang out and
grenades bounced close to the ground underneath. The blast could still hurt
her, but from the relatively safe vantage point she threw grenades of her own
and poured fire. One guard manned a heavy machine-gun, bedded in behind
sandbags. She scrambled off the roof to try at close range. He was not able to
traverse the gun quickly enough to stop her, and soon the compound was
silenced.

Most areas were fenced off but a muddy track led through the snow to a steel
gate. That seemed most likely to lead to the command centre. Lara examined an
electronic switch by the gate. "There's a keypad here, Zip. Do you know any
good Kazahk codes, offhand?"

"No. But I can hum along if you do the singing."

There was no way through the gate or over. A light shone above the door of one
hut marked with a green cross. There might be someone around who could open the
gate.

-- Allies Under Fire ----------------------------------------------------------

Lara kicked the door open. It seemed to be a medical hut. Inside, a mercenary
held two Kazakh prisoners at gunpoint. As Lara burst in he took a panicky shot
but she ducked and rolled. "Get down!" she shouted to the captives. A fusillade
of pistol fire blew the mercenary to the wall. He slumped lifeless and Lara
holstered her guns. The shocked prisoners barely moved, and lowered their hands
as the body of the mercenary slid from a gurney to the floor. They looked
incredulous from the dead man to the new arrival. "You are American?"

"British. And it looks like we share an enemy."

Bullets shattered the windows as reinforcements arrived outside. Lara ducked
down and spoke urgently. "Where is your command centre?"

The two men cowered on the floor and argued in Russian. "Don't tell her," said
one. "What's she doing here?"

"Well, if she uses the code without the key, the alarm will trigger and Central
will send us help."

"What are you saying?"

"We're guarding snow and wolf piss here! You want to go yourself?"

The gunfire intensified. The man turned to Lara and spoke in English. "Through
the gate. The code is K1879."

Lara replied in crisp Russian. "Spasibo - thanks. Wish me luck."

The two men stared open-mouthed as she lifted the gun from the dead mercenary,
and left the hut.

Zip came on the headset. "I don't know what the hell you guys were talking
about, but I think the gate they mentioned is up ahead."

"Lovely. That keeps things simple, doesn't it?"

Attackers lay in wait outside. Lara shot the nearest and ran to the heavy
mounted gun. Protected by sandbags, incoming grenades detonated uselessly as
she swiftly traversed the gun. When the last mercenary fell she returned to the
gate and input the code to the keypad. The metal doors clanked open.

As Lara advanced up the muddy slope on the other side, barrels rolled down and
exploded as mercenaries opened up. Lara jumped to one side and returned fire.
At the command centre entrance stood more barrels, and she aimed for one beside
the two men. Live by the sword... A fiery explosion engulfed them.

-- Command Centre -------------------------------------------------------------

The Command Centre was deserted, but filled with electronic equipment. Computer
terminals lined the walls and the far end was stacked with banks of dials and
switches. Blueprints were pinned to a board. A central console faced a darkened
monitor.

Lara checked over the main console, and tapped a few keys. An aerial photograph
came up on a computer screen.

"Satellite photos?" Zip shrugged. "We've got our own, there's nothing there."

"The lab wouldn't be visible from above," Lara reasoned. "We need maps."

She called up the photo on the big screen. "There it is," she said with
satisfaction. The featureless landscape became overlaid with a plan of the
route to the secret laboratory, many miles distant.

"Oof," Zip exclaimed. "That's a hike."

"I'm not walking." Lara noticed a closed circuit TV screen. "There's a military
transport train that runs past the lab. It looks like Amanda's boys are ahead
of me - I'd better run."

She glanced to a ladder at one side of the room.

"Whoops," Zip chimed. "Satellite feed's showing your train is about to roll.
You better run fast."

Lara climbed up the ladder and emerged through an open skylight to the roof. A
radio mast stood opposite with a ladder at its foot. Red lights flashed at
intervals to its height. Pylons led back to the compound. From a platform on
the radio mast a cable was strung all the way down. She jumped over and sized
it up, breath steaming in the chill of dawn. The mast hummed faintly. She
hopped up and grabbed hold of the cable, and sailed down at speed.

The compound was deserted and she dropped off at a sentry post high above. She
looked over to where she infiltrated the base. Snowflakes tumbled. She noticed
guards searching the outer compound. There was no other way down off her
platform, so she hopped up for another cable and took off over their heads.
"Hear that?" said one. A shot zipped out as another voice shouted: "found her!"

Lara dropped to the corrugated roof where she first landed. She turned to the
huge doors of the train tunnel, now open and heavily guarded.

"Keep her spinning," a mercenary shouted. "Flank her!"

One man stood out in the open on a platform running alongside the rails. From
her higher position Lara dropped him easily then turned attention to others
moving in at the foot of her building. Unable to draw a bead due to stacked
crates, a dropped grenade dealt most easily with them.

"Train's leaving," Zip reminded her.

The loading bay doors parted and through the tunnel behind it the rear cars of
the train could be seen pulling away.

"Better get moving then, or you'll miss your train."

"Hurry, Lara," piped Alister. "Don't let that Amanda woman get there first."

At the tunnel doors two guards appeared, shooting. Between them stood a sturdy
motorcycle.

"Forget the train," Lara said. "I have a better idea."

She took out the guards in a blaze of fire and hopped on the motorcycle. Two
seconds later she roared up the tunnel in pursuit of the train.

The bike ran down off the end of the tunnel platform and hissed through wet
slush as she ran alongside the escaping train. Tyres skidded on crusty ice, and
she fought to steer straight. As she passed the rear carriages the front of the
train broke away, and began to disappear up the track.

"What's that?" Zip asked. "What's going on?"

"They're decoupling the cars."

She gunned the bike to catch up. The path ahead was treacherous, with rocks and
trees partly obscured in low visibility. She threaded carefully along a winding
path, trying to keep the train in sight.

"You're falling behind, Lara. You're losing time."

Just as when she had last taken to a bike, mercenaries soon appeared. They were
determined as ever to stop her, closing fast on their motorcycles and veering
in her path. "Close her down, shoot her!"

Lara weaved between trees, trying to shake them. They overtook, and moved to
block her, firing from all directions. A few hits would be fatal, so she moved
side-to-side. This forced them to switch guns from hand to hand looking back,
giving her the advantage of continuous fire. In a half dozen shots each rider
tumbled from his machine. More joined the chase. Up ahead she spotted a stray
barrel of oil or chemical, and as riders closed in she detonated it in their
path, immolating would-be assassins.

She sped on and fired constantly, keeping her eye on the path ahead, weaving
steadily between rocks and trees. The mercenaries were no match, hampered by
having to look over their shoulder. As many as there were she took them down
one by one.

All at once the clanking train seemed to slow down. The rear cars were left
behind and came to a stop as they entered a tunnel.

"Damn, I can't see well enough," Zip cursed. "What happened?"

"They let loose a few cars and they're blocking the tunnel, but I think I saw a
path off to the right up ahead."

Without losing speed she rode off to the side of the tunnel. Here was an icy
track that soon narrowed considerably. It branched to a high and a low path
around the mountain, and she fought to keep the bike steady.

"You're awfully close to a long fall there, Lara."

She didn't need reminding, but couldn't lose time. She kept as much speed as
she dared, carving left and right as the path twisted. She glanced off rocky
walls and bounced over bumps but kept up the chase, the train thundering
through the mountain tunnel alongside. The upper path looked the safer bet,
since she could land on the path underneath if she slipped on a turn. The lower
path had a risky looking snowy ramp to a jump, and all of a sudden Lara found
herself balancing across a decrepit wooden bridge. Her wheels caught a bump and
launched the bike high.

"All right!" Zip cheered. "Catch some air."

She was pleased someone was enjoying it, as she wrestled to keep the speeding
bike under control. It launched off the end of a short rock section and bounced
off another.

"Yeah, baby, do that again!" Zip yelled in delight. He gasped as she did just
that. "Whoo! Okay. Now you're just showing off."

"Zip, I never 'show off'."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

Around a narrow mountain pass the road levelled out and she caught up with the
train. Even with the rear cars missing it seemed very long. She sped alongside,
weaving a path as before between rocks and trees. Soon enough motorcycle
bandits made reappearance.

"Take a shot," a rider yelled. "Cut her down."

She dodged and dived as before, since they seemed just as determined. Her bike
had brakes too, though if she used them Zip was quick to remind her, "You're
falling behind, Lara, you're not going to make it if you don't speed up." She
had more pressing problems. As two or three crowded her she kept one eye on the
path ahead and looked for loose barrels that lay strewn with other debris along
the route to the base. Whatever chemical they contained detonated on a shot,
and helped thin her attackers.

The bikers were trouble enough, yet looming from the cold mist ahead came the
shape of a speeding RV. A hostile mercenary emerged through the sunroof and
opened fire as the sinister black vehicle closed in. She angled to one side for
a clear shot and kept up the fire until it collided with a tree and crashed out
of control. No sooner had it fallen behind than another appeared and gave
chase, soon joined by a third.

Lara bobbed and weaved as best she could among the rocks and trees rushing by.
She was still harassed by motorcycle bandits, and cut them between trees,
keeping up constant fire to pick them off one at a time.

The RVs were more problematic; for all that they soon crashed or fell back
there were many of them. Eventually no fewer than three vehicles closed in. The
drivers veered across and jostled her trying to throw her off course. As one
lost control it collided with another and she fired rapidly at the third. A
stray shot hit a barrel and its windshield exploded in flames. All the while
she faced sudden death from a rock or a tree, but with tremendous relief she
saw at last a break in the path up ahead.

Once again the train shed rear cars that stopped up a tunnel so she could not
follow directly. Just as before she cut around to the side along an icy rock
path. It seemed near identical to the one she negotiated shortly before. Here
was another rickety log bridge and more twisting turns. As the road narrowed
she saw a log ramp built up ahead, and hit it full on.

The train passed below on the other side and she soared over, landing on a
muddy path between pylons and trees. She kept control and took off up a second
log ramp.

Zip was thrilled. "Whooo-hooo! I'm glad we got that one on tape."

Lara skidded through slush along a narrow path under a rocky overhang and drew
parallel to the train. The passing section of carriages happened to be flatbed
cars. She raced alongside and saw her chance: just short of a girder bridge,
she jumped the bike off the path and thudded onto the train. She got the bike
under control and cruised towards the front.

"Damn," Zip gasped. "So now you're gonna tell me you planned to do that?"

"Of course I did."

"Of course you did."

-- Runaway Train --------------------------------------------------------------

Lara dismounted and moved towards the engine. The train was now passing over a
long bridge of iron girders. Snowy mountain wastes stretched far beyond. She
balanced precariously over the roof and crept up to the cab. The mercenary at
the controls stuck his head out and began firing. Lara whipped her head back
and ducked down. The driver thought he had her at his mercy but she had spotted
a gas canister strung across the line ahead. Too late he saw it too. Lara threw
herself flat and covered her head. The driver screamed as an explosion engulfed
the cab. Lara recovered and beat flames off her jacket. Too hot, she ripped it
off and flung it aside.

With the driver dead she was trapped on the roof of a runaway train. She
crawled towards the front as it sped into a tunnel.

She saw up ahead a low stanchion, and ducked just in time. Her eyes narrowed as
she spotted a concrete pipe hanging over the track up ahead. With a few rapid
shots she shattered the hook on its chain, and the pipe crashed to the rails,
sending the engine screaming along the track as it collided. It was headed for
a solid door and there were no buffers. Lara searched about and spotted a
metallic hoist to one side. She cast her grapple and swung off, momentum
spinning her through the air on the end of the high tensile cord as the engine
piled into the dead end wall, metal screeching as it smashed to a halt in a
blazing collision of concrete and steel.

Lara dropped safely to a metal platform. She was in a cargo terminal. Crates,
winches, and debris lay scattered about. The train blazed in the middle of the
room.

"Phew!" Zip gasped. "I feel like I just lived through a train wreck - how about
you?"

"Undoubtedly," Alister answered.

Lara got to business. "Amanda's already inside, and the door's sealed."

"So now what?" Zip asked.

"There's a vent on the wall to the right of the cargo door. The fan's running;
she's got the power on."

"How will you get in?" Alister wondered.

"One way or another."

A rope dangled ahead, too far out of reach. Lara kicked a loose crate aside to
give herself room on the platform. Using her grapple, she swung the heavy metal
beam off which the rope hung towards her, and jumped out to it before the beam
swung back. It carried her across the loading bay to a dock, where a ladder led
her to a jump for a large metal sign on one wall. Hanging off it, she made
acrobatic leaps across pipes to another, the other side of the burning wreckage
below, and dropped to a second loading dock. Here again she caught on to a
metallic crane arm, and jumped for its dangling rope. As the crane arm swung
back, she scrambled up the rope a little, to escape the intense heat of flames
crackling just underneath. She dropped safely to a suspended metal platform.

A large ventilation fan clanked noisily high on a wall directly in front. She
judged the shaft behind big enough to climb through, and duly shot out the fan
blades. With a jump to a ledge underneath she was soon inside.

Behind was a service tunnel, lined with piping and vents, its metal surfaces
lit icy blue. Without her jacket Lara wore only a ribbed jersey top.

"It's getting colder," she said as she moved further in.

She slid down a short slope and stopped as she assessed the route ahead. Broken
power cables snaked across the floor, sparking blue flashes.

"It's live!" Zip warned, rather needlessly.

She jumped over one set and ducked under another, and came suddenly on a grisly
sight: a blue-faced corpse trapped behind bars.

"It looks like you've wandered into another tomb after all," Alister remarked.
"I wonder what he's doing here?"

"He's been trying to get out since the Fifties. He's frozen to death, the poor
fellow." Lara shook her head. "Hardly a proper end for a scientist."

Icy cold air wafted from a shaft across the tunnel. Beside the body lay a scrap
of paper.

"'The experiment has gone wrong," Lara read. "The KGB has sealed the facility.'
He tried to escape through the vents but got trapped."

"My God," breathed Alister.

There was no way past the bars for her, either. Turning to a tunnel at the
side, Lara reasoned that the cold air must be escaping somewhere. There was no
other way forward but a jump to a metal bar, off which Lara swung to a ledge
with the aid of her grapple. She slid down another steep slope, with a well-
judged hop at its middle to clear more arcing cable. She was lower down and
further inside the facility.

"It is much colder in here than it was outside."

Icy blasts of air hissed through meshed fans. Emergency lighting glinted along
the steely blue surface of the service duct. The way was barred at one side,
and the other temporarily blocked by a fast-spinning fan blade. More loose
cable sparked and flashed in front of it. She first shot the blade to pieces,
and then rolled close underneath.

Alister shouted, "Watch out!"

Lara followed the duct to another short slope and more cables. Some dreadful
calamity had evidently befallen the place to leave it in such disrepair. More
spinning blades blocked her for a moment before she broke through, running and
ducking beneath yet more electrified cable. Down another slope with a jump over
another such hazard, Alister spoke up.

"Um... I'm not sure turning on the power was a good idea."

"Looks like a few things in there won't be getting the juice they need," Zip
pointed out.

"The heater must be one of them," Lara said, flatly.

She swung across another deep space with the help of her grapple, but could not
gain enough distance to carry off to its end. She dropped to the floor and
climbed on a crate, turning about to try again from a spot closer to the edge.
Eventually she stood at the top of another short slope with a fan blade at its
foot. She quickly broke through and dropped out of the duct at last.

She was in a large room, dimly lit.

"Look at the lights, she's only found the emergency power."

"She came in through the main doors," Zip said. "I don't think she's been here.
Looks like there's a generator at the other side of the room - she would have
started it."

If she would, then Lara will. First she made exploration. Directly opposite was
a door, which showed a red light. It stayed firmly shut as she approached.

"I think there's some sort of mechanism that opens the door," she surmised. "It
would need power to work."

On the back wall was a large glass panel marked with a diagram of some kind.
Lara examined its dim surface. "It's a map of the facility."

"Very retro," Zip remarked. "It probably looks like a carnival sideshow when
the power is on."

To that end, Lara turned next to the contraption Zip had noticed at the other
side of the room. It was a sizeable machine with a motor and dials. She tried
to hook up the generator by pulling a rounded lever at its front. The motor
whirred and spluttered, but did not catch. She gave up. "It sounds as if it's
out of fuel."

A tank on stilts stood close beside, with a spout attached. Probably the fuel
came from that. A rope dangled off it, out of reach.

Lara climbed on a rusted metal control box and jumped to an equally rusted air
conditioner hood hung off an adjacent wall. From this she barely grabbed to a
section of metal grid that formed a platform walkway. There was a short gap to
the far end of the room, corners lit with intense glow of red light. From one
edge of the walkway she was able to jump out to grab the dangling rope. Her
sudden weight lowered the pipe it was attached to, and fuel of some kind spewed
to a funnel on the generator.

"That should do it," Lara said with satisfaction.

She stood in front once again, a few steps back for leverage, and used her
grapple on the rounded starting lever. This time the generator kicked into
life. The large map on the wall lit up, and the electronic door was released.
Overhead lights came on.

"There you go," Zip said.

Lara checked her bearings on the large diagram on the wall, now brightly
illuminated. "You have to admire this map's simplicity."

"And what do you know," Zip observed. "It looks just like a carnival sideshow."

The map was studded with light bulbs, some lit, others flashing. She guessed
these represented the main features of each room, and that they were linked in
some way, under differing requirement of power. The room she was in had its
generator active, and its bulb was one that was lit steady. The facility
appeared to consist of three rooms leading off a central area. Each room bore a
legend in faded print. Through the now released door Lara entered a corridor
that the map suggested should lead her to the central area.

She stopped dead, eyeing with suspicion a cloud of lurid green vapour streaming
from a duct across the width of the corridor.

"I wonder if that's toxic," Alister said, rather unnecessarily.

"I'd guess it's coolant," Zip suggested. "But who knows what sort of lethal
crap the Soviets were using."

"I'd rather not find out firsthand," Lara muttered.

Glancing up, she saw an elevated section of metal grille above head height,
forming a short platform. From it she swung off a pipe to a higher section,
safely above the streaming green vapour. She saw now that a fence in any case
blocked the route below. Across further grille sections and a convenient
dangling rope, she passed along the corridor to a corner. She jumped
confidently to a short section of grille, but stumbled and fell to the floor.
The green coolant choked her.

"Get up above it," Zip advised, urgently.

"God!" she gasped, "It burns."

Coughing and spluttering, Lara jumped up to safety. She would be sure not to
make that mistake again.

She had a longer section of the corridor to negotiate, and the floor below was
thick with clouds of escaping coolant. Against the wall just above her head was
a stout pipe that looked as if it would take her weight, and she was about to
reach for it when Zip yelled out, "Stay back!"

Alister exclaimed, "It's charged."

Violet-blue static fizzed and cracked in a burst of energy, passing steadily
along the metal pipe.

"That's live!" Zip confirmed.

The charge seemed to be local, and pulsed at regular intervals from one end of
the pipe to the other. Lara judged a moment to jump up in its wake, shifting
along the pipe steadily, hand over hand as it sparked out just ahead. In
seconds she had shimmied to the corner of the corridor, but saw no way to drop
down or move on. The static charge on its next cycle crackled towards her along
the pipe, and with no other alternative she leaped backwards and clung to a
ventilation hood on the opposite wall. Fortunately it held her weight, and she
manoeuvred around the corner and dropped to a metal strap and back again to
another, off which she dropped to a sturdy grille platform.

Fluorescent lights flickered along the last length of the corridor, thick as
ever with poisonous vapour below. A metal pipe overhead seemed the only means
of negotiation, yet this too pulsed with a lethal burst of static energy. As
before, she judged the moment to jump up to grab on to the pipe, and swung
along in the wake of the violent discharge. "Careful!" Zip warned.

Spumes of vivid green coolant streamed from the walls beneath her as Lara
shimmied quickly hand over hand along the pipe length. She made it to safety at
the corridor end and dropped gratefully to a last grille platform section as
the fizzing sparks of electrical energy pulsed through their next cycle behind
her. The exit ahead showed a green light, and as she hopped down to face it,
metal doors slid open automatically.

-- Reunion with Amanda --------------------------------------------------------

Lara stepped cautiously through, and glanced about.

This was the large central room from the map. On a low metal platform ahead, a
woman in black with platinum hair worked intently on some kind of machine. Zip
recognised the intruder at the manor, and exclaimed, "Hey, that's her!"
Incredulous, Lara recognized her too.

"Amanda?"

The woman looked up without surprise or enthusiasm. "Dammit, Lara, I'm busy."

Lara approached warily. "I see you've changed your look. That was you in
Bolivia, then? With Rutland."

"I've been all over, and I'm going to places you can't conceive of," said
Amanda wearily. "You're the one being left behind this time. Sorry."

She walked away across a flat metal bridge. Lara followed after.

"I'm sorry, Amanda. If I'd known that you were alive, I swear I would have done
everything I could to save you."

Amanda stopped and turned on her heel. "Please. I got over that a long time
ago." She stood with hands on hips and gestured expressively. "You know what
really used to bug me, though? When I got out and saw that you left without
even trying to... oh, what is it archaeologists do? Oh, right. Dig."

"We'd thought of it as a memorial."

"Whatever." Amanda left through a door, muttering to a guard. "Don't let her
follow me."

Lara started after Amanda but the guard unclipped a grenade and rolled it
across the bridge towards her. Lara flung herself back to safety as it
detonated, sending one end of the metal bridge to the ground. The guard left
after Amanda.

The contraption Amanda had been attending caught Zip's eye. It seemed to be a
weapon of some kind. "Check out the big gun thing! How spaced out is that?
Maybe it'll help you."

Lara hopped up on the low metal platform and took a seat behind the gun. Faint
pulses of blue light enveloped the machine, which gave off the chattering sound
of an electrical generator. Using its controls, Lara rotated the gun on its
platform and faced about the room. Some loose crates were stacked behind her,
and as she depressed a trigger, energy was given off. A crate moved with the
unseen force. Lara was awed. "Did you see that?"

"Yeah," Zip said. "Getting crazy interference on the video too. I'd say what we
have here is one of Nikola Tesla's toroidal coil guns, except... that would
be... impossible." His voice trailed off in wonder.

"You may be right," Lara said. "It doesn't seem to work very well."

She stepped off the gun platform.

"Well, they'd theoretically need a lot of power," Zip said. "Like from that
Tesla tower across the way. If you could get that Tesla tower fired up... Wow.
I never thought I'd get to say that!"

The Tesla tower was a system of pipes, ducts, and glowing orbs that pulsed with
traces of electrical energy, out of reach from where Lara stood. "Mmm. We might
be able to bridge the gap somehow."

The metal bridge had collapsed at one end to form a steep ramp down to the
floor. Three guards patrolled the area below.

Lara slid down and drew her pistols. The first guard was ready but she dropped
off the twisted end of the bridge and finished him fast, scooping up a grenade
from the body. At once she came under fire from the far end of the room. The
second guard carried a bulletproof shield, and stood impervious to her gunfire.
She rolled a grenade and blew him off his feet. The third guard broke from
cover, and she loosed off a few shots as she closed in. She tossed another
grenade, but to her consternation he picked it up and threw it back. She dived
aside and tried again, this time with a burst of gunfire forcing him to cover.
The grenade did its job and she had the room to herself.

It was a vast laboratory housing the huge mechanical device that Zip believed
to be a Tesla tower. A faded Soviet flag was emblazoned on one of its tanks.
Arcs of electrical energy pulsed and fizzed up vertical pipes bearing
illuminated orbs. A panelled glass floor covered thicker pipes and valves. Lara
examined one of the vertical pipes.

"Wow," Zip exclaimed. "Don't get hit by any of those electrical arcs."

"I thought you said it wasn't running."

"That's just ambient discharge. If the tower was on, you'd know it."

"And if I were the energy source, where would I be?"

"Up top."

She waited until one cluster of discharge passed up along the pipe, and then
took a deep breath and grabbed on. It was safe to touch the pipe so long as the
static was not too close. Quickly she shinned up, and sprang off to grab a
ledge at the base of the machine. From that she climbed to a higher one, where
a pair of horizontal poles led her out to a trailing rope. She dangled high
above the laboratory floor. Lara shuffled about and swung to another of the
vertical pipes, thankfully without ambient discharge. She caught her breath and
decided the only way forward was via two other pipes, each bearing a
potentially lethal charge. She aligned herself carefully and jumped at the very
moment the static passed upward along one pipe, holding for just a moment to be
sure of her direction then off to the next, shinning upwards and leaping off to
land safe on the roof of a solid mesh cage. She dropped to a floor.

Slumped against a wall nearby was a corpse. "Another scientist. No warmth for
him up here either." Fallen from his frozen hand was a piece of paper. Lara
uncovered a little more of events at the base before it was shut down. "They
funnelled Tesla energy into the artifact, and there was an enormous discharge
of some sort. The KGB shut down the operation, removed the core, sealed off the
lab in sections, and left behind those scientists who weren't forcibly
removed."

"A peculiar turn of events," Alister remarked.

The tower activator was in a heavy cage closed off by a large solid door panel.
This was marked in Cyrillic script as an electrical hazard. Lara judged she
could slide the door open but could see no immediate benefit. She certainly
wasn't about to step into the potentially lethal device, even though a control
dial next to the door showed there was no power.

"Can the tower be powered up from here?"

"Not without the core," Zip replied. "Looks like it's not here. I'd guess
that's what those tracks in the floor are for."

Rails led back in a direct line to an electronically operated door. It opened
automatically on her approach, and somewhere in the distance a buzzer sounded
as she went through.

The rails led along a corridor lined with thick pipes. Sockets were suspended
from long cords at intervals just above head height. "What are those hanging
cords and sockets?" Lara wondered.

"Decoupled high-current cables," Zip replied. "You're lucky they're off, or
you'd be standing in the middle of a painful light parade."

The corridor was otherwise empty, but at a turn she saw clouds of noxious green
coolant escaping from the pipes. Fortunately, just as before, there were low
grille sections and metal bars to assist onward passage. In a moment she
overlooked a large room.

"Okay," Zip said. "There's the core up ahead."

Some kind of device rested at the rail terminus across the room. Zip was
excited at the discovery but Lara had work to do before she could examine it.
She dropped into the room and came under attack from a number of guards. She
ducked and dived and returned their fire. One threw a grenade, and warned his
comrades, "Pineapple coming - get down!"

Lara rolled aside, and shot him for the insolence. A barrel near one soldier
caught a stray bullet and exploded in flames, cutting him down. A last shot
from her pistols, and the room became silent.

It was in a state of devastation. Some kind of accident had occurred here.
Broken metal sections lay scattered about the floor, and the rail tracks that
led from the door sparked intermittently where debris made contact. At the
track end sat a squat cubed metallic device that was evidently the battery core
for the Tesla tower at the other end.

"It doesn't look like it has a charge," Zip observed, "but you might be able to
juice it from the control room above you."

Behind a huge sheet of plate glass high over the room, fluorescent light glowed
in a tower. To one side a ladder led up, but was broken away too far out of
reach. Steam rose at vents in the floor. A large illuminated diagram on the
wall matched one Lara had seen where she first restored power to the facility.
The lamp for that section was here lit up, and a similar one for the room she
was in glowed at intervals. That meant this section had power but it was
intermittent. Three pulsing lights on the map representation most likely
matched three faintly glowing blue orbs suspended from the rafters. They needed
more power.

Lara put her shoulder to the core, and was able to get it underway a short
distance. "There's heavy debris on the track. I don't see how I can move it..."

"It doesn't matter if the core doesn't have power," Zip told her. "Get it
charged, and then we can deal with that."

She would have to find a way up to the control room. Looking around, she saw a
network of platforms, ropes, ladders, and walkways raised off the floor, which
though precarious might be linked (with a little athleticism) to fashion
access. One ladder against a wall nearby looked easily reached off the top of
the core device, now that she had moved it. In moments she was up, and sprang
off it to a ledge.

-- Headset Hijack -------------------------------------------------------------

Amanda's voice came in her ear. "Hello Lara."

"What the-" Zip exclaimed. "How the hell did you get on this channel?"

"Hush, Zip," Lara said. "She must have taken a headset while she was
rearranging your office."

"You're so smart, Lara. Do you know why the Soviets called their project
'Carbonek'?"

"It's the castle where Lancelot sought the Holy Grail," Lara shrugged. "Not the
first connection to Arthurian myth I've come across."

"'Myth', she calls it. A limited word for a limited perspective. You were
always such the scientist, you're probably right at home with all these Tesla
contraptions, aren't you?"

"As much as anyone, I suppose."

"The Russians activated a power in the artifact that literal minds can't
handle, and it destroyed them, so don't push the wrong buttons."

"You'd better not either."

"But I know which ones are the right ones."

"You've learned to read Russian since I last saw you? Amanda?"

"She hung up," came Zip. "What the hell was that about?"

"She's having difficulty obtaining the sword fragment and she doesn't want to
blow everything up in the process."

Blow everything up!? "Uh... maybe you should have told her what she wanted to
know."

Lara pressed on with her task. Through a series of nimble jumps to poles and
broken mesh ledges, she clambered around the ceramic mount of one hanging orb
to spring to a platform where another short jump had her grab to a ladder. A
section rolled down to the floor that at least offered an easy way back, should
she fall. Yet she was nearly there. Taking careful aim, from the walkway nearby
she shot a barrel visible through the plate glass of the control room. The
resultant explosion shattered the window, and a convenient hanging rope had her
swinging through it a moment after.

She landed at the feet of a long-dead body. "Another unlucky scientist."

He also had kept a log. Lara learned more of the tragedy.

"He writes that at least a dozen of his colleagues were killed in the
experiment. The artifact converted the Tesla voltage into something else... a
wave of concussive force of some kind."

"That's familiar enough," Alister said. "So why were they shut down?"

Lara read on. "Mmmm. They refused to repeat the experiment and when the KGB
tried to persuade them otherwise, it got nasty."

At the rear of the control room bleachers had been set overlooking the lab
floor. No doubt the experiments conducted here had a privileged audience. In
front was a long lever. Lara put both hands to its handle and pulled down.

Flashes of energy in waves of brilliant blue sparks jolted down from the orb
nearest the core. The cage that surrounded the helix on top was depressed and a
charge released that sent the heavy metal debris in contact with it flying
aside as if made of cardboard.

"Oh, man!" Zip laughed. "Now, that's how you do it."

Lara looked dubiously at the waves of no doubt deadly energy that pulsed to the
core. "Is that supposed to stop at some point?"

"It's not charged all the way. I don't know what's wrong."

"How am I supposed to move it if I can't touch it?"

"The cable on your grapple is insulated."

"Right..." Lara said, sceptically.

She left through a door to a remnant of metal walkway, and dropped down to the
lab floor. On the wall the illuminated diagram of the facility now showed power
restored to the room she was in. Lights pulsed along the track leading back to
the Tesla tower. All she had to do was move the core out there.

Lara skirted the core carefully, staying away from the powerful electrical
force that surrounded it. She retired a safe distance and cast her grapple to
its metallic surface. To her relief the cable was indeed sufficiently
insulated. With one hefty tug the core rolled along the track. The first heavy
debris blocking its passage was blown away, and sent tumbling through the air
in a shower of sparks.

"Okay," noted Zip with approval. "That's how it works."

The core had rolled closer to a second orb, and received a dazzling blue stream
of electricity in addition to that from the first. Lara tried her grapple
again, with a similar spectacular result. As it rolled on up the track, the
core attracted a stream of electricity from the third overhead orb.

"Yeah, there we go!" a jubilant Zip announced. "Full power, baby."

Lara placed herself close to the door. With the track fully cleared and the
core fully charged, it took just one more tug on her grapple to send the device
trundling straight at the door, which burst open in the face of the
irresistible force.

"Now that's how you open a door," Zip said. "Man, they should've worked on
mass-marketing this tech. Tesla was a genius."

"I prefer doorknobs," Lara remarked.

Illuminated chevrons in the flooring pointed the way to the Tesla tower.

The passage was still polluted by coolant, so Lara hauled up on the grating to
swing safely above as before. The flashing chevrons indicated transit of the
core. She hurried around the corner to catch up. The overhead cables now gave
off power and the thick pipes alongside crackled with energy. She could not
pass. "What's happened here?"

"Weird," Zip remarked. "The core must have powered these cables somehow and
those rails in the wall are the most convenient conductors around."

Lara used her grapple to hook one of the hanging sockets. She tugged, and as it
swung it broke the energy field closest to her. As it swung back the field was
restored, then broken again. She chose her moment to dash through.

"Watch yourself!" Zip shouted.

She tried the next socket and ran through again. The series at the last
corridor section had acquired more power, and needed a pair of sockets swinging
together to break the energy field. With patience and daring Lara made it back
out to the laboratory housing the Tesla tower. The core had arrived at the end
of the rails. Its illuminated orb spun busily, giving off waves of brilliant
blue light.

"Cool," Zip said. "Now, all you have to do is get the panel out of the way, and
we're in business."

Lara positioned herself to the side of the heavy door bearing Cyrillic script.
All or nothing. She cast her grapple and heaved it open.

The core trundled forwards into the tower and the heavy door slid shut. The
room darkened as power built. There was a sudden burst of energy and ventilator
hoods on the tower flashed with sparks and exploded across the room. In the
laboratory below the three orbs on pipes glowed blue, fizzling and crackling
with energy. The tower control dial had flipped to maximum.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Zip cried with glee. "That's like a Christmas
tree in Hell!"

Power was restored across the lab, and a nearby door to a control room became
unlocked, although clearly malfunctioning. It opened and slammed
intermittently, and Lara realised she could not easily pass. Nevertheless she
chose her moment and dived through.

"Careful," Alister warned. "It's charged."

-- Shields and Maps -----------------------------------------------------------

On a bench at the centre of the control room lay a curious object.

"It's a shield," Lara described it, "10th or 11th Century. Probably recovered
with the piece we are looking for. It resembles Lancelot's crest, doesn't it?"

"It would if the bugger had existed," Alister sighed.

Lara picked up the artifact and turned it over. The inside bore markings of
some kind. "Ah, what's this, now? It looks like a map. Have a good look and see
what you can make of it."

"What do you think it's for?" Zip wondered.

"Maybe our knight needed help finding his way home," Lara joked. She placed it
down again. "Or perhaps this piece wasn't all he had."

"You think he stashed more of the sword somewhere?"

"Possibly. But the map is useless without a reference point."

"I'll work on it," Alister said. "Going offline."

"Splendid."

By a second malfunctioning door across the control room lay the body of yet
another scientist. "Frozen to death," Lara said, "like the others."

He had time before he died to update his log.

"A number of minor relics were recovered along with the artifact," read Lara,
"but the poor fellow couldn't find anyone to help him study them."

"I empathize," Zip muttered.

"Why their lack of interest?" Alister wondered.

"They were too contemporary for serious study," Lara said. "It seems they date
from as recently as the first millennium."

"I'm sorry, but am I missing something? How old exactly is this artifact we're
looking for?"

"Older than you'd think."

Alister went off to do more research, and Lara sized up the second
malfunctioning door. Zip was quick to remind her, "It's hot!" Once again she
judged the moment and dived between.

She was back beside the coil gun. Through a door to the walkway on the opposite
side three guards came running, and took up position. Each carried a
bulletproof shield, and the walkway was too far for a grenade. She had to reach
the door they emerged from, where last she had seen Amanda. Lara stood ready
beside the gun, now with full power. As the guards opened fire she mounted its
seat.

The device pulsed with energy. Zip could barely contain himself. "I don't think
I've ever been happier! Show me what it can do."

She knew the gun harnessed electrical energy to influence metallic objects, but
it was useless as a weapon directly against the guards on the far walkway. She
operated the gun and turned it about, where she spotted metal drums on the
floor close beside. She manipulated one into the air and bore it round, to face
the guards across the room. With depression on a trigger the drum shot forward,
slamming into the railing where it exploded in a ball of fire, incinerating the
hapless mercenary behind it. She turned the gun again and picked up another
drum, launching it full on into the next helpless target. With no shortage of
drums to fire across, in minutes the last mercenary was blasted off the walkway
and fell screaming to the floor.

Now she had to get across to the walkway. On Amanda's order a mercenary had
blown out the bridge between. To one side a metal platform was suspended on
thick cables. It appeared to hang on a rail close to the ceiling, along which
it might travel.

Lara turned the gun as high as she was able and switched the power to attract
the hook from which the cables were strung. The platform creaked and groaned,
tilting under electromagnetic attraction, until its weight slid down the rail
towards the centre of the room. Lara guided it as far as it would easily go.
Now she had a temporary bridge to the other side. She hopped off the gun seat
and jumped over.

An automatic door opened to a corridor. As ever, coolant streamed in foul
spumes. She hopped up onto a low metal grille safely above. This section
appeared able to slide along the corridor but broken pipes barred the way. She
took steady aim with her pistols and shot them away. Now clear, she connected
to a wall bracket with her grapple and hauled to a turn in the corridor.
Another section of metal grille seemed as easily moved, yet halfway along the
corridor was an electrified pipe strung across. Lara set the section in motion
and as the grille glided towards it, she ducked safely under. The next section
was similarly blocked by a fallen pipe, and an electrified hurdle required that
she jump up over this time as she passed.

The corridor branched left and right. One side was impassable, but at the other
an electronic door opened on approach.

-- Amanda's Pet ---------------------------------------------------------------

Lara stepped into a circular room with a metal floor and what appeared to be
another coil gun at its centre. Around the walls strange glass orbs similar to
the ones she had used to power the Tesla core glowed with arcs of electricity.
Other orbs, here dormant, were suspended from the ceiling. In a tower room
high overhead, Amanda's black-gloved fingers tapped busily at a control panel.

"Amanda," Lara called up. "I'm sorry for what happened, but we can still work
together."

"There is no 'we', Lara, there never was. It was just me down there. Me and
this." Amanda fingered a curious violet pendant on a choker at her neck. "Do
you remember it? I touched it, and it touched me back."

Lara was dubious. "I don't think that was a good thing."

"I tamed it then. And made it my own."

Amanda closed her eyes. A strange dark cloud seemed to form about her, emitting
from the pendant. What Alister described as 'black smoke'. In a fiery glow the
smoke drifted down, taking the form of the unknown entity that stalked the
excavation site where Lara's friends had been killed those many years ago.

"My God ... Amanda!"

"A little friendlier than it was in Paraiso, isn't it?" The creature uttered a
low growl and bounded across the laboratory floor, trailing spidery black
tendrils, and with eyes glowing fire. "I taught it how to fetch."

"You're mad! It killed our friends, Amanda, and it almost killed us!"

"And it saved my life, once I'd mastered it." Her pendant now glowed fiery red.
"It's all about a broader perception. I'd stay away from it if I were you,
though. It can still be a little touchy."

The creature sailed into the air and coiled ready to strike.

Lara took to her heels. She knew from experience her weapons were useless.
Amanda revelled in her predicament. "Stay out of its way, Lara, I don't control
it, I only unleash it. It'll kill anything in its way."

The automatic doors had locked. There was no escape from the chamber. As Lara
ran desperately around the room the entity stalked her, swooping down for
sudden vicious attacks. It seemed to anticipate her direction, setting out
balls of fiery energy that detonated as she approached, sapping life as they
knocked her off her feet. "That looked painful," Amanda mocked. Lara set a
zigzag path and looked ahead, ready to jump aside as each orange glow formed.

Around the room were set pairs of flickering Tesla orbs. Between each pair,
under a shallow lamp against the walls, stood a switch to a fuse box that
showed a red light. On a hunch, Lara grabbed the nearest switch and threw it.
The light turned green, and at the centre of the room a lever arm reached down.
A quick assessment suggested there were four fuse switches and four such arms.
Somehow she must activate the device at the middle of the room, and then
perhaps power the gun there. Nothing else had a hope of deflecting the entity.

She ran ahead of its swooping attacks, and jumped aside as a fireball spawned
at her feet. The next rusted fuse box was to hand and she drew down its lever,
releasing a second arm at the centre of the room. She ran for the next, pursued
every step by the wrathful creature.

As the fourth lever was depressed, large orbs were released on swinging arms. A
cylinder lowered at the centre of the device. Something was suspended inside.

"There it is," Alister exclaimed. "The sword fragment! Clamped overhead."

"Zip, what do I need to do to get it out of there?"

"I--I haven't got a clue. I know a little bit about Tesla technology, but this
place is a mystery."

Lara made a break for the gun. She jumped swiftly aboard and rotated it, trying
to get the entity in her sights. It swooped suddenly and knocked her clear out
of the seat. Lara dusted herself down and jumped back in. As the entity soared
close she gave it a burst of Tesla energy, and the creature howled as it was
thrown back. Once she had it in her sights she was not going to let go, and
gave it a full blast.

"I wouldn't make it mad if I were you," Amanda cautioned. "It's really not
going to like that."

To her consternation Lara found the creature resistant to the full effect of
the force field. The best she could do was draw it to one side, and fire it
straight at one or other pairs of Tesla coils mounted to the wall. In a fiery
glow of deep red the entity evaporated.

"It'll be back, Lara," said Amanda, coldly. "Get out of there while you can."

After just a few moments the entity reappeared through an opposite wall, and
gathered itself to attack, strong as ever.

"Oh good," Amanda gloated. "No harm done. Now really, Lara, get out of the
way."

Now more adept at handling the fabulous contraption, Lara swivelled the gun to
face the creature again. It scuttled aside but she caught it in the
electromagnetic force, and drew it around to a Tesla coil as before. With some
satisfaction she shot it against the device, and it duly dematerialised. Though
temporarily safe, Lara knew she could not keep up the tactic indefinitely.

"Lara!" Zip called. "Knock back those Tesla nodes - the big metal spheres.
That'll complete the circuit."

Taking the hint, Lara angled the gun upward and fired a burst at one of the
large nodes. It rocked back, close to a set of Tesla coils, from which it
received a charge that emitted dazzling blue waves of electricity to each side.

"Stop it, Lara," Amanda warned. "Stop interfering. There's no other way to
retrieve the artifact."

Determinedly, Lara angled to the next dangling orb, and fired again, sufficient
to set it swinging away. Its waves linked with the orb already repulsed.

The entity reappeared, and swooped to attack, but was held back by the energy
field. Doubly sure of her plan, Lara turned swiftly to the next nearest orb and
kept up a charge.

"Stop!" Amanda continued to rant. "What are you doing?"

By now the charge in the first orb had diminished, and the field became broken.
Lara turned quickly to the entity as it broke through, and shot it against a
far coil as before.

"Oh! What have you done?" Amanda raged, powerless to stop her former friend.

Now Lara operated the gun as swiftly as she could, building a charge that
rocked first one orb, then another back, and the third, and the last, linking
them together until she was contained in an impenetrable wall of electric
energy.

"What did you do?" wailed Amanda. "You're going to kill us both!"

"This must be the experiment that blasted those scientists fifty years ago,"
Zip exclaimed. "You've got to pull out the artifact from the focal point,
before it happens again!"

Lara sprang from the seat of the coil gun. With the power diverted between the
orbs, the central core was released. She had bare moments in which to cast her
grapple to the metallic ring that held the fragment.

-- Prize Obtained -------------------------------------------------------------

The artifact - the handle of a sword - came free, and Lara snatched it in
triumph.

Blue flashes sparked from the nodes. Lara shielded her eyes as a ring of energy
burst out. A bolt of electricity shafted to the ground, shattering the glass
floor at her feet. She looked up to the control room, and saw Amanda flee. The
unknown entity seemed to have vanished. The structure was now dangerously
unstable; Lara had to get out fast. She dropped into the hole and found her way
ahead through a broken duct.

"Damn, you're lucky," Zip said. "You know that, right?"

"I'd like to think some skill was involved."

The energy field overhead crackled and fizzed. A charge was building up and an
explosion seemed imminent. Lara nimbly jumped into the duct and crawled up.
"Did Alister have any luck with the map I sent?"

"I'm back," came Alister, with new information. "You're not going to believe
where this leads."

Lara shook her head. "Oh, you're going to find me extremely credulous today."

"Cornwall."

Lara stopped, surprised. Behind her the laboratory rocked in an explosion. "As
in, take the M5 to the A30 Cornwall?"

"As the crow drives."

"Well then," Lara said, scaling the duct, "let's see who can get there first."

-- PDA ------------------------------------------------------------------------
I found a third sword fragment, and a map scratched into a knight's shield. I
also found Amanda, alive and unwell. Something pushed her over the edge --
she's not the girl I used to know. And she's in control of the entity that
attacked us in Peru. I don't know if she escaped the Soviet lab alive, but I'll
never assume her death again.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________________________________________

    o  ENGLAND - King Arthur's Tomb?

    The map on the knight's shield leads to a
    site that claims to have unearthed King
    Arthur's grave, a distinction also claimed
    by countless others. But this particular
    site meant something to a knight one
    thousand years ago, so it may mean
    something to me.

    "Swords in stones... they're part of
    the monomyth."


-- Destination Cornwall -------------------------------------------------------

Teeming rain. A sleek black motorcycle splashed to a halt beside a waiting van.
Zip sat with his arms crossed on the wheel. He leaned out of the driver's
window as Lara dismounted and unzipped her wet leathers.

"There seems to be a fine line between coincidence and irony." She referred to
a gaudy painted sign: Professor Worth's King Arthur Museum.

Zip turned as Alister appeared from inside the van. "You sure about that map?"

"Unfortunately," Alister replied, clambering to the front seat. "There was some
nonsense about the discovery of the real King Arthur's tomb here years ago,
soon discredited." He looked scornfully at the painted sign. "And yet another
roadside attraction was born."

Lara eyed the museum dubiously. "Well, let's see what we can see, shall we? At
least it should be educational."

The van was parked beside solid steel shutters. An owl hooted. The rain didn't
look about to ease off. Lara grasped a drainpipe and shinned up the side of the
building.

She dropped through a roof open to the skies and thudded to a dusty floor. The
museum had the look of a theme park, or might have done once; rubble and debris
lay propped against walls done up to look like a medieval castle. Lara stood by
an empty ticket office, metal barriers scattered about. "Either housekeeping
should be fired, or no one's been inside for months." Through an archway she
found a model representation of a sword in a stone. "Now, this is familiar
enough."

"Go for it, Lara," Zip suggested. "Test your royalty."

She put a foot to the stone and tugged hard, but the sword did not budge. "No
'King of England' jokes, Alister, I probably have to turn on the power first."

The only light came from the moon breaking through boarded windows, and the
occasional flash of lightning. Rain dripped from the broken ceiling. Near the
ticket office stood the remains of a gift shop. A few tired displays housed
King Arthur figurines, models of Camelot, and rather incongruous toy serpents.
Exit doors through the back would not open. "They must be electric. I'll have
to find the power main."

"The place is locked up pretty tight on the ground floor," Zip pointed out.
"Probably have to try up higher."

A hefty crate lay under the shop entrance. Just above it, Lara spotted a
metallic ventilation grille. She brought it down with her grapple, then hauled
the crate out and used it to climb up.

Through the small ventilation hole was a box room of rough boards. It was
nearly empty. "This place has seen better days."

"Mmm," Alister murmured dismissively. "It's been condemned since the death of
the owner, one Professor Worth. I shudder to think that at one time he had
students."

Low to the floor between empty shelving, another ventilation cover glinted.
Lara yanked it away and slid through.

She landed in a small courtyard. Rain tipped down and there was the odd clap of
thunder. Bare branches poked over a wall topped with coils of barbed wire. To
one side was the emergency exit she tried from inside, still without power.
Along an alley she spotted an electrical fuse box, under shelter but behind
iron railings. A thin ledge built out from one wall led over, and looked as if
it could be reached from the sill of a barred window underneath. With a little
athleticism, Lara was soon over.

Out of the rain at least, she dropped beside the fuse box and drew down its
reset switch. A light changed from red to green. "And we have power," she
announced.

Flashes of light illuminated the outside passage. A trailing cable arced
directly into a wide puddle of rainwater. It looked dangerous. Lara shinned up
a drainpipe in the corner of the alley beside her, and edged back over the
railings along the thin ledge. The bright spitting cable cast vivid shadows on
the wall. Now she had to be careful, only too well aware of the likely effect
of splashing through the electrified puddle. With a few nimble jumps she landed
safely over to one side. The emergency door was now operational.

"Hey, now that the power's on," Zip suggested, "maybe you can go back and pull
out Excalibur."

"It's not Excalibur!" Alister cried. "The Sword in the Stone and Excalibur were
two different bloody swords. Arthur got Excalibur after the Sword in the Stone
broke in his battle with Pelinore. Oh, good grief, nobody gets it straight."

"That's because nobody cares."

"Boys..."

"Sorry."

Lara tried the handle of the emergency exit from the gift shop and regained
entry to the museum. As she passed the ticket office, a recorded announcement
boomed out.

"Come ye hither and hearken to the tale of KING ARTHUR! How he was reared by
Sir Ector, but born - yea verily - of ye loins of King Uther Pendragon,
unbeknownst to all save MERLIN. How ye wondrous wizard MERLIN didst bringeth ye
boy Arthur to ye Sword in ye Stone, which no man hadst been able to lifteth.
How Arthur didst then taketh ye sword, thusly becoming KING OF ENGLAND! Thou
too may attempteth to pull yon sword from yon stone, but wilt Merlin find thee
kingly enough to enter... THE TRUE KING ARTHUR MUSEUM?!"

Now it had power, Lara was confident the sword in the stone device would
operate the sturdy wooden door alongside. She put her foot to the stone and
tugged again on the sword. With a tinny fanfare, the wooden door drew upwards.

"Enter, Once and Future King! Merlin deems you worthy!"

"Pfft," Alister scoffed. "The real Merlin would roll around in the mud and bark
at you. And I'm being generous by calling it 'mud'."

"There's no difference between stupid and charming with you, is there?" Lara
declared.

"Hmph."

The museum took the form of a mocked-up medieval castle housing various life-
size model dioramas. The room was much decayed, strewn with rubble and
collapsed scenery. Water splashed in drops across the rotten wooden floor. Lara
took in what was left of the exhibits. The animatronic displays seemed still
partly functional. The first showed a young man in princely dress and an older
man in wizard's garb studying a plan on a library wall. A button on a recording
device triggered a booming commentary.

"So that there wouldst be no squabbling betwixt ye knights, Merlin bequeathed
upon Arthur yon ROUND TABLE, which wast a table neither square nor buttressed,
but circular in form. 'Twas a symbol of unity and equality, and 'twas from
whither Arthur's knights took'st their name, The KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE."

"I'm assuming you're taking notes," Lara remarked.

"Yea," Zip replied. "Verily."

Lara activated another display.

"BEHOLD ye HOLY GRAIL! Such a vision of yon CUP OF CHRIST didst verily
appeareth to Arthur and his knights, whereupon several amongst them didst quest
for to find it anon. And they 'twere four: Lancelot, Galahad, Percival, and
Bors, and yonder they journeyed, none e'er returning, though Galahad didst see
the Grail and yea, his heart 'twas gladdened muchly."

Zip voiced his scepticism. "How did they know he found it, if he didn't
return?"

"Exactly," Alister exclaimed.

The story was certainly intriguing. In a far corner stood representations of
three knights. She tried the recording alongside.

"Thus didst King Arthur gather 'round his person ye greatest knights of ye
realm that they mightst be paragons of chivalry and virtue. Gaily they came'st,
yea and 'twas an assembly as hadst nought before been seeneth, and verily,
there wast much rejoicing."

"Hey, push the button again. It's like electro-shock therapy for Alister here."

Lara smiled. "I like to think it keeps him sharp."

There seemed no obvious exit from the room, yet a series of horizontal poles
suggested a way to cross the wide broken section of floor. She swung from one
to catch the second, which rather alarmingly swung back under her weight.
However, when flush to the wall this proved suitable to allow a jump to a last
pole. Lara could see a second room ahead, but it was partly blocked by a solid
wooden wall. She swung to it to see if she might somehow squeeze through. She
panted a little as she struggled for grip, when to her surprise the wooden wall
began to drop down. Quickly, she sprang back to the safety of the horizontal
wall pole. She saw now that the wall was in fact a drawbridge on a chain, and
as it rattled down it left the entrance clear. She quickly swung back and
dropped through, as behind her the drawbridge clanked shut.

The room beyond was even more ruined than the last. Broken boards were piled by
the door, leaving a wide open space across the floor. The painted partitions
for the exhibits leaned at odd angles. For fun, and perhaps to learn something,
Lara continued the animatronic tour. As she pressed another recording button, a
nearby display came alive. Under the eye of Merlin and a young Arthur, a sword
appeared to rise from the waves.

"And what of EXCALIBUR, ye mighty sword of legend? 'Twas MERLIN who didst
bringeth Arthur to yon magical lake wherein didst dwell ye LADY OF THE LAKE,
and from her hand didst Arthur take Excalibur, and yea, ye sword couldst ne'er
be broken for 'twas its magic."

"I'm confused," Zip said mischievously. "Weren't Excalibur and the Sword in the
Stone the same thing?"

"THEY WERE TWO BLOODY DIFFERENT SWORDS!"

"Now, Zip," Lara tutted. "That was too easy."

She surveyed the room and the hole in its floor. Though it looked easy enough
to climb up if she fell, there was no way past the collapsed gap to the
opposite edge, where there were more displays and an arched doorway. Midway
across the gap, a statue of King Arthur himself, housed in a wooden surround,
hung off the wall. The cable that secured it looked fragile. Taking her pistol,
Lara shot the pin from its hasp and the wooden housing swung flat, forming a
convenient stage to the other side.

Soon across, Lara found a continuation of the animatronic saga irresistible.
She tried the nearest display.

"Then didst MERLIN fall in love with Nimue, to whom he didst teacheth his
magicks. But ere long, she didst use her magicks against her lover, imprisoning
him. Wherefore it wast that when Arthur didst do battle with Mordred, Merlin
couldst not protecteth him. It seemeth that oftimes ye wisest of men canst
maketh mistakes."

"It was his own fault, really," Lara remarked.

"Never trust a woman?" tried Zip.

"Don't believe in magic."

The final display featured two knights in hand-to-hand combat.

"For hours didst Arthur and Mordred hackle upon Salisbury Plain, Arthur with
Excalibur, Mordred with its scabbard. Then it wast that both were disarmed, and
Arthur didst strike Mordred a fatal blow with ye spear of Sir Bedivere. Anon
came'st more tragedy, for Arthur wast himself mortally wounded in ye battle,
and yea, yon sky didst darken."

"There's a logical explanation for that," Alister volunteered. "It's called
'evening'."

"You're so literal, Alister," Lara chided. "Archaeology is half metaphor, you
know."

She had lifted one sword from a stone to gain entrance, and was drawn to an
identical feature beside another wooden door. As she raised up this sword,
planks fell from a wall close by and a pendulum weight was exposed. This was
the mechanism that released the door, and though in too poor repair to be
operational, soon gave to her grapple. The commentary rumbled on as she drew up
the heavy wooden door.

"Before he didst die, Arthur bade'st his knight Bedivere to returneth Excalibur
to yon Lady of ye Lake. And lo, didst Arthur's body then slumber, and yea, it
wast borne away to Avalon, where it is said that from thither shalt he some day
returneth to claimeth again his crown!"

As Lara released her grapple the door drew rapidly down. She rolled underneath
just before it closed.

"Well, if he went to Avalon," Zip wondered, "then whose tomb is supposed to be
here?"

"Maybe the grunting Saxon," Lara ventured, "or the Roman fascist that Alister
believes the whole legend was built around."

She had emerged from King Arthur's castle to a large room in much better repair
than the museum. Scenery lay stacked against a wall, and crates and barrels
were piled at one side. "Hmmm. This is where the "truth behind the myth" is
supposed to be explained, but it's been turned into a warehouse."

"Fitting," sniffed Alister. "There's been so little truth everywhere else, why
start here? The only factual basis behind the King Arthur myths died centuries
before this place was built."

"Give Professor Worth some credit," Lara countered. "If he had to close an
exhibit for renovations, at least he picked the most boring one."

Now that she looked, one wall appeared to have been mocked up as a very
credible facsimile of an ancient building. Or was it possible that the museum
had incorporated the remains of an actual medieval site? High in one corner a
ventilation cover glinted. She always had good reason to investigate when the
opportunity arose.

She soon brought down the cover, but the exposed gap was too high out of reach.
The stack of crates and a handy forklift gave her an idea. The controls
appeared simple enough, and with a bit of trundling about she soon had a
makeshift platform rigged up below the ventilation hole.

Inside was a low room of dusty cobwebs and empty shelves. Papers lay strewn on
a desk and the wall above was hung with various maps. "This must be our kindly
professor's office space."

"Done up as spottily as his reputation," Alister remarked dryly.

"Said the pot to the kettle." Lara leafed through some papers on a desk. "Hmmm.
Professor Worth says here that the tomb of King Arthur - the one his museum is
built over - is a fake."

"No surprise there. At least he knows his 'museum' is for tourists."

"But Professor Worth believed the sarcophagus was placed here by Arthur's
contemporaries to lure thieves from the gravesite of the actual King Arthur."

"Who doesn't exist," Alister asserted.

"That's where you and the professor differ." She dropped back down through the
ventilation hole and looked around the warehouse. Behind the remaining crates
there appeared to be a passage. She saw cobwebs and rough wooden pilings.

The forklift made short work of clearing the crates and she descended shallow
wooden stairs. A tattered carpet led along the stone passage at their foot. It
opened out into a rotunda of walled arches. The carpet ended short of a four-
pillared portico housing what looked like a large stone coffin.

"This definitely isn't Arthur's tomb."

"We knew that already," Alister agreed.

"What's wrong with it?" Zip wondered.

"I've seen enough tombs in my life to know when I'm looking at a cenotaph."

"Say who?"

"A diversion. This place is trying too hard. It's hiding something."

"A body?" Alister sighed wearily.

"No, that's the problem." Lara examined the stone coffin. "It's authentic
enough for its age. But its age isn't entirely authentic."

Zip was still struggling. "And what does that mean?"

"She's saying that the sarcophagus is from around the 11th Century, which is
when the Arthurian myths were invented. The real Arthur came five centuries
before, so it's old but well, not old enough."

"It could be anyone in here. If there's anyone at all. No, there has to be
something else here..." She looked carefully about, and noticed one wall,
behind loose crates, a little different to the others. "Hmm," she thought.
"This looks relatively fragile." She would need the forklift to shift the heavy
crates before she could find out.

She jogged back up the wooden stairs and started the forklift. It trundled
easily down the stairs and picked up speed along the stone passage. To test a
theory Lara ran straight ahead and rammed the stone sarcophagus. It cracked
apart, and as expected did not contain any human remains. Curiosity satisfied
she backed the forklift up and drove hard against the crates by the fragile
wall. The seemingly solid stone gave way, and a passage was revealed.

"Now, this is better."

"Nice," agreed Zip.

"Be careful," Alister advised. "You don't want to demolish anything important."

"Really, Alister. I have a velveteen touch," Lara said, as her forklift crashed
through the rubble, "but I'm glad to see you now think there may be something
important here."

Up ahead along the dark stone passage a rank of savage metal pikes shot back
and forth the full passage width, too fast for her to attempt a dash past on
foot. She stayed safely in the forklift and moved forward, splintering the
pikes and smashing the trap to pieces. An identical hazard lay around the next
corner, and while any medieval interloper would have met an impenetrable
barrier, Lara simply crashed through on her mechanical steed. Just beyond, a
sturdy portcullis blocked the passage. Lara sized it up. It was much too solid
for her to drive through with the forklift. "There has to be a way to raise
this door."

She moved forward and engaged the forks under the iron bars. With a simple
switch the forks raised up, levering open the portcullis. Lara trundled
through. Up ahead was another fast moving pike trap and she gave little pause
for it, but now the passage came to a dead end. Just as one end of the passage
had been crudely stopped up, this too looked a rather impermanent wall. The
forklift had already proved invaluable in such a circumstance; she backed up
and rammed forward.

The stone blocks of the wall cracked and crumbled and she burst through, but
the other side was a sheer drop. Momentum carried the forklift onwards, and for
a moment it teetered on the edge. Lara acted fast to dive off and cling to the
broken stone of a walkway as the stricken machine toppled over and crashed to
the floor far below in a burst of flames.

"Are you all right?" Alister enquired anxiously.

Lara clambered to her feet. "I decided to take the slow way down instead."

"Shoulda told that to the forklift," Zip remarked.

She was in a very high room, dimly lit. The walls were studded with tiny
alcoves and barred niches that looked as if they held many ancient secrets. A
stairway led down around the walls, yet was broken in sections. She descended a
few steps to the edge of one section and sized up a jump forwards to the next.
It looked just a little too far, but a ledge close to the side proved enough
for her to shuffle to it. As she flung herself across a broken gap, the ledge
cracked and crumbled. She dropped just in time to the section of the stairs,
but this too trembled and shook and seemed set to fall. It had evidently been
some many years before others passed this way, and none would pass the same way
after. She ran on down and leaped off before the section dropped to the ground.

"Be careful, Lara!"

"Please, Alister. This will take some concentration."

"Yeah, pipe down, Alister, or I won't let you sit up front with me anymore."

Lara continued downwards and jumped to a wall bar to swing forwards to an
alcove. She dropped down further short sections of steps, crossed at one point
by a hanging rope, and along more crumbling ledges until she slid off the last
of the collapsed stairs and reached the ground.

"I'm glad you made it down safely," Alister said.

"So am I."

"But it doesn't mean you don't have to be quiet anymore," Zip reminded him.

There was nothing of interest at the foot of the room, but a flight of steps
led away through a high arch to a stone passage. At a turn was a broken bridge
over a slow-moving slick of oily water. Flames glowed at intervals on the
shimmering surface.

"Looks like there's oil seeping into the water table," Zip said. "Who knows how
long it's been burning?"

"I wonder if the architect's design deliberately took this into account,"
pondered Alister.

For him it was a curiosity, for Lara a potentially lethal trap. She jumped over
and continued up low steps. Around a corner a sheet of flame licked through a
series of metal grilles over the width of the passage. "There's your answer,
Alister." Here was an obstacle no man could easily pass.

"Wow," Zip exclaimed. "You know you're going to ruin your boots..."

Lara had no such intention. "Not on the path I'll need to take."

It looked too much of a risk to attempt to run blindly over the flames, which
ignited at intervals in sections. Their coming and going was a touch
unpredictable. Part way along the fiery passage a squared metal cage offered a
possible solution. She cast her grapple to haul it closer. Large enough to
contain a man it bore locks on each side and was perhaps some medieval torture
device. It might prove invaluable to her here. Lara positioned the cage over
the first grille as far forward as she dared, and climbed on top. From it she
observed the pattern of the flames. One section came alight every few seconds
then extinguished briefly. In front and beyond were flaming strips of fire.
Lara timed a jump to land exactly on the centre section at a moment the flames
receded, then a quick step and a hop over the last section found her safe at
the far side. She seemed little injured. To her annoyance, at a turn in the
passage alongside she faced an identical hazard.

Lara used her grapple to drag the metal cage back across the first passage of
flames. Mercifully it did not seem to conduct the fierce heat. She positioned
it over the first fiery section of the next passage and performed nimble jumps
to get through. The way ahead was now completely blocked by a heavy stone door
on chains. There did not seem to be any means to raise it. "Maybe there's a way
up and over," thought Lara.

Relying once more on her trusty grapple, she hauled the metal cage forward
again, and pushed it flat against the stone door. In moments she stood on top
and looked down to a chamber beyond. There appeared to be more than one exit,
and other rooms beyond, but every doorway was rendered impassable by sinister
ranks of revolving steel blades. She hopped down and approached one of the
vicious traps.

Each of the three doorways around the room was barred by these windmill blades
rotating in pairs at variable rate. They were surely designed to make mincemeat
of anyone trying to dive through.

"This looks like my garbage disposal," Zip remarked.

"I hope you're not leaping through there, Lara," Alister fretted. "There must
be a way to stop them up."

"I certainly hope so."

Beside the door where she dropped down stood a lever. It opened up the door,
and Lara dragged her trusty metal cage through. An alcove to one side housed an
identical cage but there seemed not much else of interest. She pushed her cage
determinedly towards the chopping blades that hindered progress to a room
straight ahead. As the cage slid under the blades they clattered to a halt. The
sturdy device seemed perfect for holding the lethal trap open. Leaving the cage
wedged, Lara slipped through the gap underneath the stopped blades.

Now she was in a similar room to the last, chopping blades at each end. High
alcoves at either side could not easily be reached. Beyond the chopping blades
across the exit she saw another corridor of fire. She would need her metal cage
to cross. Gingerly she tugged it from the jaws of the trap and hauled it across
the room to stop up the exit blades. She passed underneath and considered the
fiery floor of the passage beyond. The flames here burned constant, with no
chance to dash across.

"No way you're long-jumping that," Zip warned.

"No, I'll have to make a path," Lara conceded. "But it might have been worth
trying just to hear you lads squeal about it."

It was too far to jump even with the help of her cage. She remembered the one
housed in the alcove off the first chamber. Two might do it.

With patience and care Lara pushed and pulled her cage back through the steel
jaws of the traps to recover the second metal cage. Using each to stop up the
traps as she pulled the other through she soon accomplished her goal. She
pushed first one then the other out above the burning fires, and hopped up and
easily across with little damage.

The passage ended at a heavy door. Beside was a lever to open it. Water dripped
and echoed as a low wind moaned. Saintly carved figures gazed down from niches.
Lara pulled the lever and ran through the briefly open stone door to leave the
infernal place behind.

The passage was rougher here. Her boots kicked up the dust of many centuries.
Stone steps led a twisting path to a low doorway; bars fell behind her as Lara
stepped through. The passage beyond opened at one side to a wide flooded room.
She stood on a pressure plate and a barred gate in the passage ahead drew
upwards. As she stepped off it crashed shut, too swiftly for her to reach and
pass through.

"Hey, Alister, why don't you head on down there and stand on that plate for
her?"

"Why don't you go down and hold that door open?"

Whatever she did she would have to do alone. With each exit barred there was
nothing for it but to dive into the pool of water in the flooded room to try to
find another way out.

She swam to the far side and hauled out on a low stone ledge. Lit torches shone
through bars in alcoves. Other niches were dark. Something glimmered in one
alcove across the water.

"You see that crate up on the shelf over there?" Zip suggested. "You could use
that on the pressure plate."

"It's not a crate," Alister protested, "it's a coffin. Someone's revered
ancestor is in there."

"Hmmm," Lara murmured thoughtfully. A body weight was just what she needed.

A heavy metal chandelier hung low over the water between her and the barred
alcove. She used her grapple to set the chandelier swinging. It crashed against
the bars and dragged them into the water. The coffin was revealed. Lara hauled
it from the alcove, where it splashed into the pool and bobbed to the surface.
She dived in and climbed on top.

Using the coffin as a raft she hooked on to a metal torch holder near the
entrance to the pool and dragged her craft as far as she could. She nimbly
jumped to the pressure plate once again, where she latched onto the coffin to
drag it from the pool. As hoped, though it was not too heavy for her to haul
from the water, it had sufficient weight to hold the plate down.

"And here's your final final resting place, sir," Zip announced.

Lara ran down through the now open door. "If we're through having fun, it's
time to get back to business."

The passage here was even older and more decayed. Crusted stalactites hung from
the rock ceiling. Water lapped in a flooded passage beyond. It was not too
deep, and there were no signs of danger. Lara jumped in and swam to an
underwater lever just opposite. A strong current flowed through bars at either
end of the passage section. The lever raised one set and she was carried
through. Another coffin had become lodged against the bars here, and she took
the opportunity to clamber aboard. She squeezed out her ponytail and considered
her options.

"I'll take this time to adjust some travel arrangements I've made," Alister
said. "It shouldn't take too long."

"Coward," Zip tutted. "Don't worry, Lara, I've still got an eye on you.
Probably won't be able to hear each other too well when you're under water,
though."

"There is a god," Lara muttered.

Alister laughed.

"Hey," Zip said, "I heard that."

She was in a network of subterranean passages. Raised alcoves to either side
bore little of interest. The coffin drifted in the firm current and came to
rest against yet more bars. There was no lever in the water or anywhere else
that might open them. She cast her grapple to a metal torch holder and backed
the coffin raft up the flooded passage. Halfway along she noticed a low arch
that had no bars. She deftly hopped through.

Here were more flooded passages faced with bars. There was one other alcove she
might have used to get through, but she could not reach it from the water.
Close by she found another underwater lever. On the other side of bars next to
it waited her raft. She opened the bars to allow it to drift through, and once
again clambered on top. As it passed the open alcove she jumped off.

From some indistinct direction came a long low moaning sound that echoed
faintly about the dank passage. It was impossible to tell if it were the wind
or some living creature. The water streamed though the passage under her feet,
and with no other option she jumped in.

The swift current carried her forward and spilled from an opening into an
underground lake of murky green water. It was heavily polluted and she could
not have dived down had she wanted. Lara coughed and spluttered, and splashed
towards the rocky shore. Again she heard the eerie cry of some unknown
creature. Or perhaps she imagined it, and it was simply the wind.

The lake was in a vast underground cavern. Built into the rock at one side an
immense gothic facade towered over her. It had the appearance of a magnificent
temple. "Will you look at that," Lara breathed in awe. "Oh, this is brilliant."

"Hmmm," Alister conceded. "That is interesting."

Long low steps led to a darkened entrance. Lara tried the massive door.
"Locked," she muttered.

"What?" Zip said. "Whoever built this place didn't think the lake of fire and
the blades of death were enough?"

There was no other entrance, or any way she could see to pass out of the
cavern. A jetty in front led towards curious monuments on rock platforms either
side out over the foul water. There were in all four large metal cylinders
fastened on chains, each bearing a ghastly visage. Beside each was a cogged
lever attached to a rope. Lara used her grapple to test one. It lowered a
vicious-looking cage towards the water, but served no immediate purpose. She
returned to the temple.

It seemed she might work her way within via high ledges lit by flaming bowls
hung on pole stands either side of the entrance. However, where she was able to
climb up at one side a steep ramp slid her back to the ground.

She examined the metal pole stands, and noticed that they rotated easily about.
She calculated that if she pulled each one a quarter turn she might use them to
swing along the face of the building. Returning to the low ledges again she set
her plan into practice.

This time as she slid down the ramp she leaped out to grab hold of the pole
stand. Her weight caused the arm to swing back, and she now faced the second
much further away. A higher bowl guttered overhead between them, and she used
her grapple on this to swing across. As with the first, as she landed on the
second pole arm it swung about, allowing her to swing onwards to more ledges
around the temple walls. From thin window ledges she jumped to a chain, and
ascended.

She was now on the roof of the building, high against the cave ceiling. The
roof was almost bare but light shone from a cupola open at the base. A rope
hung from its centre and she wasted no time slipping down.

-- Myth Becomes Fact ----------------------------------------------------------

On the end of the rope was a large bell. Lara dropped off to the floor of a
darkened crypt. Around its circular floor were ranks of stone coffins, a dozen
in all. At one side was an alcove where a strange translucent orb glowed with
golden light.

"Signal's poor, Lara. What are we looking at?" Zip asked.

"We're looking at myth, except it's real." Each sarcophagus bore a
transliteration in Old English. She read the names: Llenlleawc, Trystan,
Bealan. "They're all here," she said. "The court of Camelot."

"You're sure about this?" Alister asked. "King Arthur who wast verily of ye
loins of Uther Pendragon. Hmm?"

"I've no doubt about the authenticity of this tomb, Alister. Arthur was the
11th Century figure that became legend. The Once and Future King was as real
then as the air I'm breathing now."

The orb housed a figure in much the same manner as the remains of the last
Queen of Tiwanaku the intrepid adventurer had found in Peru. She touched a hand
to the surface.

"I don't know, Lara."

"Excalibur. The Sword in the Stone." Lara sounded distant. "That's how it
always goes, doesn't it?"

"Pardon?"

"Swords in stones, Alister. They're part of the monomyth." She considered the
stone standing in front of the golden orb. "There wasn't just one Excalibur or
one Merlin. We keep seeing swords and daises all over the world because they
were everywhere."

"So, you're saying that everywhere they went they raised up kings..."

Lara looked once again at the figure in the orb.

"...shaping the course of human destiny?"

"Well," she replied, "it's a possibility."

"Who?" Zip asked. "And what happened to them and their swords?"

"Perhaps they're in Avalon - it's as good a place as any." She looked to the
effigy on top of the sarcophagus bearing the inscription Myrrdin. "Except, our
Merlin was killed, and our Excalibur was left in pieces in the hands of the
locals."

"So where is Avalon?"

"I don't know," Lara mused. "On the other side of the looking glass, perhaps."

The glowing orb was housed in an arched recess facing the only door. Directly
in front was the stone, bathed in the golden glow, at the head of a distinctive
circular motif bearing symbols and ancient carved writing. She had seen
something of the kind on the dais in Bolivia, and elsewhere. A Maltese cross
was etched onto the stone floor in the centre of the crypt. The mournful echo
she heard by the lake rang faintly. There was no way out other than the heavy
door, as firmly shut on this side. The hole through the cupola with its hanging
rope could no longer be reached, and would lead her nowhere if it could.

She considered the bell on the floor. Its rope disappeared into the cupola and
reappeared through the crypt ceiling to one side. A stone weight was suspended
from it as a counterbalance. As the weight swayed gently on its rope the bell
rose a little and fell.

"Looks like you could move that if you wanted to," Zip suggested.

A broken column nearby looked about the right height to jump to the weight, but
was a little too high out of reach. Lara used her binoculars to cast about for
some means of assistance. Her eye fell on one shattered sarcophagus. "It may be
time to rearrange the furniture."

-- Bedivere's Legacy ----------------------------------------------------------

Lara squatted down by the empty tomb marked 'Bedwyr' and read an inscription.
She dusted it with her hand. "It says Bedivere returned a fragment of Excalibur
to Arthur after the other pieces were carried off by the knights."

"Where'd they go?" Zip asked.

"To find Avalon, perhaps," Alister put in, airily. "The quest for the Holy
Grail: Lancelot, Galahad, Percival, and Bors. Their tombs are empty..."

"It says this fragment was left with Arthur to help him leave this mausoleum
when the time came. Perhaps it will help me instead."

With effort she dragged one heavy section of sarcophagus away and slid it
across the stone floor, where she pushed it up against the broken column. Now
she was able to clamber on top and jump out to grab the rope.

Her weight lowered the stone counterbalance and raised the bell off the floor.
It had no clapper and sounded a dull note as the weight hit the ground;
hoisting the bell off the crypt floor served no obvious purpose. She had hope,
however. A hanging metal chandelier alongside it gave her an idea.

Lara hopped down and looked for a good spot to gain maximum leverage. The
rounded motif on the floor facing the strange glowing orb seemed about right.
She cast out her grapple to the chandelier and pulled hard. As it swung on a
wide arc, she jumped back up on the broken section of Bedivere's sarcophagus,
and off the low column to the counterweight once again. This time, as she
pulled hand over hand, the bell was raised to a height where it met the
swinging chandelier. A resonant clanging tone echoed out.

-- The Final Piece ------------------------------------------------------------

Magnified by the acoustics in the tomb, the bell tone was at such a frequency
that as it resonated the golden orb shook and cracked, then radiated light as
it shattered.

Lara hopped down as the bell clanged to the ground. She approached the still
glowing orb, which now revealed human remains. A knight in full armour bearing
the large fragment of a mighty sword.

"Arthur Pendragon, king of the Britons," Lara said reverentially. She drew from
his hand the sword, and spoke quietly. "I wouldn't take Excalibur if I didn't
need it so. I hope you can forgive me."

She turned to go. An urgent voice came in her ear. "Lara, there's something
going on up here... Alister, you see that?

"See what?"

"Ah, hell! Get your hands--! Get off-"

"Zip? Alister?"

"Hey! Let go!" Alister shouted, amid sounds of a struggle. "Lara!"

"Zip! What's happening?"

Communication was lost. She had to get back to the museum, fast.

Directly ahead, the huge door stood open. Hurrying through, Lara found herself
once more at the tomb entrance beside the polluted subterranean lake. There had
to be a way out somehow. Her eye was drawn to the four statues. Perhaps now she
could discover their purpose. As she approached, the lake boiled and a
terrifying creature emerged.

Towering above her a sea serpent with glowing eyes shrieked and fanned its
spiny gills wide. In a second it spat foul acidic bile in her direction and its
massive head struck down. Lara jumped aside, drew her pistols and began a
determined attack. Her puny weapons had not the slightest effect, and she
risked devastating retaliation.

Lara retreated to the safety of the tomb doorway and considered her options.
There was no way to swim past the sea creature, and nowhere to swim to if she
could. The four statues drew her. She had just seen how a ringing bell could
open a door to solve one dilemma. Here perhaps four bells might light the way.

Boldly she ran out on the jetty. The creature briefly submerged giving her the
opportunity to turn and start shooting one statue. A resonant tone sounded,
building in the acoustics of the cavern to a loud booming peal. The creature
emerged and at once seemed attracted to the sound. It held its head close,
peering at the cage suspended beside. Here was her chance. Lara holstered her
guns and deployed her grapple, hooking to the metallic lever beside the bell
statue. She already knew that the lever dropped the suspended cage, and since
the beast held its head close underneath the result was that it struck down
with wounding force. The cage smashed apart. The enraged creature shook itself,
shrieking and screeching, and knocked the bell statue down in a fury of
retribution.

Lara turned to the statue on the opposite side and shot that with her guns. As
before, the creature briefly submerged and came up close on her side. For as
long as she kept the statue ringing the note held the creature's attention, and
she repeated the trick with the lever and the suspended cage. Again the
battered beast struck out to destroy the statue that seemed to attack it.

Now Lara ran off the jetty and had plenty of space to manoeuvre as she went to
the far side of the cavern to fire on the statue over there. The best she could
figure, the cages might have been used to feed the beast and thereby appease
it. When it was dinnertime the statues would have been sounded to summon it
from the depths. Now the beast rose from the water, and for an uncomfortable
moment moved to attack her, screeching its din, but as the ringing resonated it
turned expectantly and received another cage to the head for its trouble. Four
cages, four missing bodies in the crypt...? It was too unlikely.

The beast was far from done for, yet Lara felt confident that she had the
correct strategy, though she did not know what the outcome would be. If she
just kept her wits about her and stayed ready to dodge when the creature
attacked, then she had only the last statue to fire on to draw its attention.
Her plan worked perfectly, and the last cage dropped on its target.

This proved too much. The beast writhed, stunned from the blow, and collapsed
with a dying roar into the fetid waters of the lake.

Lara saw now a high cave passage, surely her escape. The creature's body rose
from the water with its head close beside it. She ran out across the jetty and
plunged into the lake, and then swam quickly to where she could clamber out by
the nearest cage lever. She emerged coughing and spluttering. Fortuitously, the
greenish grey hulk of the serpent's prone body served as the perfect path to
reach a rock ledge leading into the cave.

The cave met a stone passage where a yawning chasm barred progress. She had her
grapple, and so latched onto a hanging brazier suspended over the gap, and
nimbly swung across. Here was a pole over another gap, and when she landed the
far side Lara was tilted down a long slope into a rock passage dripping with
stalactites. She vaulted a gap with a pant of effort and continued her slide.

Suddenly the head of the beast rose from deep waters in her path. Not dead,
merely stunned, the sea creature had stalked her through underground caverns
and now bared its fangs ready to strike.

Lara leaped over as its head crashed down. She sailed towards an iron
portcullis strung over the path. With lightning reaction she latched on with
her grapple. Jaws snapped at her back as she swung through the air. Turning
back she pulled out her pistols and shot off the hasp, dropping the portcullis
behind her. It slammed hard against the head of the furious beast, trapping it
beyond. It screeched and banged against the solid metal. Lara held out her
pistols and fixed the demon with a stare. They seemed to reach an
accommodation. The sea creature slid silently back to the depths.

Lara holstered her guns and looked about. She was now stuck in the rock passage
between two portcullis gates. The near presence of rasped breath reminded her
that the monster remained close behind one, so she turned attention to the
other. It protected a stone-built chamber with what seemed to be a blocked
doorway ahead. First she needed to get over the gate.

Twin heraldic shields were mounted on the gate. From either she could jump up
to the top of the gate, and from it catch onto the chain that raised and
lowered it. She could see very well that there was nothing of interest the
other side of the gate, nor any way beyond, but noticed a ledge with a lever on
it close above. She rarely met a lever that let her down, and worked out how
best to get to this one. The hasp on the end of the chain glinted invitingly,
and after dropping swiftly to the floor a volley of bullets shot it clean off.
Now she had a hanging chain. In moments she was back up and swinging resolutely
towards the lever on the ledge. The chain clinked and rattled as she built
momentum then flew off and landed safe.

The lever operated a small iron bar gate. It cranked open and Lara ran through
and slid down a slope in a dark rocky passage. She landed on a ledge and
recognised at once saintly statues of knights in alcoves. Here was where she
operated a lever to raise the door that released her from the infernal network
of firetraps and blades. The fires appeared extinguished however, and as she
jumped down a rough voice startled her. "Somebody out there?"

Lara flattened herself to a wall as a pair of armed men came up the fire
passage. There was nowhere for her to hide.

"Found her!" the second man yelled out. "Take cover."

With no other option Lara came out with guns blazing. The first man fired off a
shotgun and before he could reload she cut him down. The second fled back along
the passage but she dropped him too. There were bound to be others nearby and
she gratefully plundered their weapons.

Though they had put out the fires in the passage, the mercenaries had not
figured out how to halt the scything blades. One metal cage was wedged under
the first set with the other cage out in the open of the room beyond. As Lara
moved towards it a voice came from above.

"I see her," yelled a guard as he jumped down off a ledge.

With her new weapon Lara blasted him close and he skidded to a stop. Another
guard opened up automatic fire from the ledge. Lara ran for cover under the
balcony beneath. She used her grapple to bring the cage near, and then hopped
swiftly on top and from it joined the shooter on the ledge. He got the full
effect of the shotgun up close and fell with a groan. Rather than return it
seemed more convenient to drop off the side of the balcony ledge to the next
alcove, where the scything blades had been stopped up with a third cage.

The main door was still raised and Lara dashed out to the corridor of flames. A
mercenary ran to block her the other side of iron bars and she shot him
quickly. Though partly extinguished, fires here still burned, and while she
might have returned for her metal cage to ensure safe passage, Lara knew time
was tight. She had to get back to Alister and Zip. She risked injury or worse
with a rapid dash and jump to the passage turn. Another mercenary advanced
shooting, but she rapidly replied. She decided that perhaps if there were many
more it might make sense to carry an assault rifle, and plundered his weapon.
Once again she risked injury by nimble leaps over flames.

Yet another sentry waited the other side of the river of fire. His body gave up
ammo and grenades. Lara moved stealthily down the dark passage to the stair
chamber. Getting up might prove tricky but get up she must.

A mercenary came out of the shadows bearing a grenade launcher. She dodged
about and unloaded a clip as she tossed grenades of her own that finished him.
To her good fortune the mercenaries had rigged up an electric hoist, fully
powered. She hopped up and operated the controls.

As the lift neared the top of the chamber a guard emerged to find out who was
on it. Left out in the open Lara fired fast to put him down. The hoist had
reached the limit of its travel. Now she had to get off but it was suspended
high out over the room. To one side she caught the glimmer of a metal plate on
a coffin in one of the barred niches. She hooked on with the grapple and set
the hoist swinging. As it neared the last fragment of stairs she jumped off,
and ran towards the passage that led back to the warehouse.

"There she is! Grease her!"

Guards moved behind crates up the passage. One set loose a dog that bounded
viciously towards her. Pistols were enough to put it down, and then she
levelled
her assault rifle and charged around the bend. A lobbed grenade took care of
the crate and the guard behind it, then another guard opened up as a second dog
bounded forwards. Her rifle finished it before it came close. The whimper had
not died before its handler died too.

She moved to the next corner, a little more cautiously. Sure enough, another
guard was in evidence ducked behind a crate. She rolled a grenade and retreated
safely out of the blast radius. He died with a agonized groan.

Now she had reached the cenotaph. Loose crates lay about, and as she emerged
two guards moved in. Safe behind a bulletproof shield the nearest forced her to
take cover.

"Get back!"

Nearly out of grenades, Lara moved in between crates and kicked hard. Off
balance, the guard stumbled, and she finished him easily. She used his grenade
to take out the other. She ran on up the strip of carpet that led to the wooden
stairs to the warehouse, praying she was in time to save her friends just
outside.

As she came up the stairs yet more mercenaries appeared. Again they had the
protection of a shield, and again this was not protection enough. In a few
short explosions Lara had the empty warehouse to herself.

-- Team Reunited --------------------------------------------------------------

"Jake? Morgan?"

The other side of the shutter, a guard held Zip and Alister arms raised at
gunpoint. He glanced nervously over his shoulder, and called out again. "What's
going on?"

Zip and Alister exchanged glances. The guard edged backwards and jabbed a
button to raise the shutter. He fingered his trigger and peered cautiously
under. Nothing.

Zip shrugged. The pair ducked aside as the guard flew through the air and
clattered the van between them and fell to the ground. That's got to be Lara.

"Hello, lads."

"Hey Lara," Zip said. "What's up?"

It was a relief to share a joke. "They didn't make off with your credit cards,
did they?" she asked. Then, seriously, "Is everything all right? Alister?"

The mild-mannered researcher rubbed the back of his head. "I'm...fine. I'm
fine." His voice was shaky but he smiled a little. "Just not my usual evening
routine."

Lara nodded. "Then let's go home."

-- PDA ------------------------------------------------------------------------
I never would have predicted that my search for an ancient sword would prove
the existence of he 11th century King Arthur and the court at Camelot. Now the
pieces of his legendary sword Excalibur are in my hands, and yet my quest is
far from over.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

______________________________________________________________________________

    o  ENGLAND - Croft Manor

-- Home Again -----------------------------------------------------------------

A log fire crackled. Lara, Winston, Zip and Alister gathered round the shards
laid out on a table.

"Brilliant," Alister gasped. "This is brilliant. King Arthur was real, the
Knights of the Round Table were real, and now we have Excalibur right here in
front of us. Those stodgy bastards at Oxford will have kittens when they hear
of this."

"It's even bigger than that, Alister," Lara said. "What Arthur called Excalibur
is a powerful artifact that predates him by millennia."

Zip flopped onto a couch and brought them to earth. "Well, it's still in
pieces. Who brought the superglue?"

"While I was in Ghana, I asked you to look around for the Ghalali Key. No luck,
I take it."

Winston shook his head. "It was not among your father's collection."

"Or his records," Zip added.

"It wasn't in Ghana either, or Rutland was... Hello, what's this?" As Lara put
two pieces together the hilt formed a shape that seemed familiar. "I've seen
you before, haven't I?" She turned to the portrait over the fireplace. "Hang
on."

Lara's parents looked down from the painting, her mother seated in front. She
wore on her lapel a green-jewelled pendant brooch. Lara held the sword up to
show the shape on the hilt matched the design of the brooch.

"A striking resemblance, don't you think?"

"The pendant was a gift from your father," Winston came respectfully forward.
"I never knew from where he had obtained it, until now."

"Where is it now?" Alister asked.

"It's in the Himalayas. My mother had it with her when..." Lara's voice trailed
off. She made a firm decision. "Zip, Alister, I'm going to Nepal. Please make
the usual arrangements."

"We'll take care of it," Zip assured her. He moved ahead of Alister. "C'mon,
man."

Lara turned up the staircase. Winston spoke after her.

"Not to presume, Lady Croft, but I'd hoped you wouldn't try to use the sword
yourself after what happened to your mother."

"She removed the sword - that's what killed her. I don't intend to do the same.
If my father had known any of this..." She looked again at the portrait. "He
tried so hard. And they hated him for it."

"No one hated him, Lara."

She turned savagely. "It bloody well wasn't love, was it? His reputation was
destroyed." She continued up the stairs. "Now there's more than one thing to be
salvaged from that mountain top."

-- PDA ------------------------------------------------------------------------
The effect of putting the restored Excalibur into the stone dais was feeble and
incomplete, but it proved that these were no mere bits of carved stone and
forged iron. They are powerful tools of a forgotten age, and they are still
capable of great and terrible things.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________________________________________

    o  NEPAL - The Ghalali Key

    The key to restoring Excalibur is also the
    relic my mother prized most, innocently
    given to her by my father in Ghana to
    replace the pendant she lost there. Once
    again I am compelled to go into my own
    past.

    "This has always been what it's about..."


-- Return to Nepal ------------------------------------------------------------

Lara landed heavily on a stone platform high above a steep precipice. She faced
a jagged peak, clouded in snow flurries caught by an icy wind. "The wreckage
should be just on the other side."

"I can't see anything," Zip answered. "You sure you're in the right spot?"

"I never forget a face."

Even a rock face. Lara stood on a ledge built hundreds of feet in the air on a
cliff of black rock. Cloud swirled below, white peaks stretched to the
distance. A monastery tower was built against the craggy mountainside in front.
Snowflakes drifted from a crisp blue sky. She hopped to grab a decorative stone
ledge and began to work her way around.

Zip spoke out wryly. "Once again, we find ourselves on a mountain without
climbing gear."

"And I doubt any of that snow and ice is stable," Alister added. "You should
keep moving before it breaks on you."

Lara shuffled nimbly along the ledge. "I have done this before, you know."

The stone crumbled behind her the very moment she shimmied to a narrow
platform. Taking a breather, she assessed other ledges ahead. Fearlessly she
slid down a steep narrow slope to spring forward at its edge to a second tiny
platform. She jumped forwards to the edge of another, topped with fallen rock,
and dropped to a decorative ledge to work her way around it. She faced a sheer
drop of hundreds of feet, but took a bold leap backwards to the monastery
remnants on the facing mountainside.

A ledge began to give way under her, and crumbled to the abyss as she scrambled
aside. Quickly she hauled up to another platform edge and looked about. To one
side were the last fragments of a sloped walkway. With no other option, she
hopped a short gap to run up. Her fears were realised as the walkway collapsed,
and she ran on ahead of each crumbling brick before a desperate leap to a
horizontal wall pole. The metal groaned as she swung quickly to a stone tower,
and the brittle pole snapped a moment after. She pulled up to the flat surface
of the tower and glanced around, searching the way ahead again.

Thick icicles jutted down from frozen overhangs on the sheer cliffs either
side. Directly in front she saw a hanging bell of bronze or some such metal
that looked as if it might bear her weight, at least for a second or two. With
her grapple ready she launched herself towards it and swung out and beyond,
releasing to grasp onto the nearest vertical shard of ice. It trembled and
creaked as she turned to the next, and shattered like a whip as she jumped off,
to the next and the next. Each exploded in a shower of ice as she released and
leaped away.

Thin ledges of ice led her around a rocky outcrop, where she pulled up into a
flat depression in the rock close to the summit. There was no way to climb
upwards and nowhere to continue around.

"Now what?" Zip wondered. "Back down, and up somewhere else?"

"Mmmm," Lara sighed, "I'm not ready to give up yet. I might have to make my own
path."

To one side was a shallow recess, the makings of a cave nearly filled with snow
and ice. Though at first sight impenetrable, Lara judged that the ice was not
too thick, and tested it with her pistols. The sheet of ice shattered, and a
cave passage was revealed. She followed a tunnel formed in the ice through the
rock.

She emerged the other side to a vista of snowy peaks and undulations stretching
from foothills far below. On the side of the rocks directly beneath was the
torn carcass of an aircraft.

"There it is," Lara announced, solemnly.

"Man, that's a wreck," Zip murmured. "How old were you, eight, nine?"

"Something like that."

The monastery buildings continued around the mountain peak. Broken passages
clung to rocky outcrops. With a few leaps and jumps she slid down across flat
stone walkways to a shattered remnant, and off to another, which tilted the
moment she landed. In an instant Lara jumped forward and hung from a metal
strut torn from the aircraft. Ironic that this should now save her from certain
death.

Twisted into the stone walkway ahead was a larger section of fuselage, and she
deployed her grapple to latch onto its metal frame to swing to safety. She came
through a narrow passage, and emerged to a sudden burst of noise as a
helicopter swept overhead.

"Look," Alister remarked. "Now that's proper gear for getting to the top of a
mountain."

"That's one of Rutland's. I told him to mind his own business, and here he is
following me to the ends of the Earth."

"Maybe he heard you wrong," Zip joked. But the chopper meant trouble. "You
think he's in there?"

"I doubt it. Not when he could be at home with his feet up."

Now that she knew she faced competition, Lara hurried to her task. She jumped
to the steel remnant of an upright wing section, and clambered down.

"This is all quite surreal, actually."

"I'd imagine it would be," Alister said, with sympathy.

One propeller hung grotesquely off the end of the wing. An engine had come to
rest beside. Further down were landing gear and seats. The main body of the
aircraft lay just below. About to jump down, she heard a low animal growl, and
spotted a snow leopard prowling among the wreckage. Her sad memories did not
cloud the threat of immediate danger. She finished the beast quickly, and
jumped down.

"Okay," Zip started, "be careful. You know this thing could go over the cliff
any second."

"I knew it then, and I know it now. I'll be fine, Zip. Don't worry."

She glanced into the gutted hulk of the fuselage. It rocked precariously in the
wind.

"Whoa - hold up!" Zip yelled. "You walk in there without weighing down this
end, you'll go right over the edge."

"Good advice, Zip. You do look after me."

"You and Winston. He signs the checks."

Close by, Lara noticed the other engine, which had caused the calamity. Perhaps
now it could be used to rescue the situation. She grappled it towards the
fuselage. It slipped easily across the sheer ice, and she manoeuvred it
carefully so that it slid inside the edge of the wreck. Metal creaked and
groaned but eventually she had it safely weighted down.

She stepped gently into the cabin section, now torn and tattered, and moved
carefully to the front. The ghosts of memory troubled her. Wind whistled
through the broken fuselage, which creaked and rocked as Lara stepped
cautiously towards the cockpit. On the shell of the control panel a small
object glinted.

"Is that it?" Alister asked.

"Yes," Lara said quietly. "It is."

As she reached for it, her weight finally tipped the nose down. The object slid
forward but Lara snatched it up. The plane began to slide over the edge. She
dived for the open tail and ducked as a loose seat came tumbling towards her.
With a roll and a leap, she launched out as the wreckage shot over the edge.
She landed safely, glancing over her shoulder as the fuselage plunged to the
ice far below.

-- The Key Obtained -----------------------------------------------------------

She took the object from her jacket. It was the brooch her mother had removed
from her lapel as her daughter snuggled beside her.

"Lara?" Zip said. "You okay?"

Lara snapped back to the present. She put the object away. "Of course."

"Just checking. It's usually someone else's past you're digging into."

Lara used her binoculars to scout ahead. "That's where you're wrong, Zip - this
has always been what it's about." A snow-covered temple roof stood out in the
distance. "Now, there's one more place I'd like to visit. It shouldn't take too
long."

The wind whistled about the desolate peak. Somewhere in the distance a wolf
howled. Lara had a few ghosts to lay yet.

From the indentation left in the ice by the fuselage she jumped out over the
cliff edge, and landed on an icy slope that carried her towards a second. She
had to time her moment to jump forward before reaching the end of the slope,
where she grabbed to a metal bar. It creaked, ready to snap, so she immediately
flung herself off to a second slope. As she neared its end she jumped again, to
land on another. A slide and a jump brought her to yet another slope. Halfway
down it, a wall of ice had to be shattered by pistols in time to crash through,
where she kept the presence of mind to jump off again to yet another icy slope
just beyond. From the end of that one she clutched to a metal bar, which as
ever seemed ready to break - it creaked as she swung, and snapped as she flew
off. She landed safe on an ice shelf in front, where she gratefully caught her
breath.

At this lower level, the monastery formed a network of tunnels and alcoves,
frozen over. To one side a passage had formed through the ice, and she made her
way through to glimpse decorative arches studded around a cave. Set in ice, the
holy structure of relics in niches was impossible to date.

"My God, Lara," Alister gasped, excitedly, "this is fantastic! Look at them
all. This is a find in itself."

She made her way cautiously across ledges that crumbled at her touch.

"I do not like this place at all," Zip said, emphatically.

Lara jumped to grab a wall bar behind her, and swung to grab onto a long thin
stalactite. It creaked under her weight, but seemed to hold.

"Don't slip," Zip advised.

"I've got it."

She shuffled about to align with a flat platform of ice, but her luck seemed to
run out as she landed on it. The sudden weight toppled it to one side, but she
quickly caught her balance and ran on, to snatch an icy ledge on a wall, just
as the platform collapsed. Her feet kicked powdery snow, and frosted breath
came in short pants as she moved sideways along the icy ledge. She pulled up on
a flat spot, deep inside the blue-lit cave of ice.

"This must be where Santa's evil brother lives," Zip remarked.

Somewhere through the caves of ice came the distant sound of a helicopter
outside. The way ahead became even more precarious, over thin ledges of ice
that looked ready to crack any moment.

"Bloody hell," Alister exclaimed. "It's too bleeding chancy, Lara."

"I'll be fine," she assured him.

The sound of the helicopter drew nearer as she worked her way further around
ice ledges, which splintered and cracked as she jumped one to another.

"Good grief," Alister moaned. "I can't look any more."

"You always say that," Zip countered, "but you keep on looking."

Daylight came from a passage above. Lara pulled up and stepped cautiously
through. The helicopter chattered loud overhead. Mercenaries spilled out and it
lifted away.

"Rutland's men. I've been wondering where you chaps were."

She came under attack at once. Half a dozen men moved around the monastery
outbuildings, and crowded in with automatic fire and grenades. Lara moved
swiftly around thick blocks of ice, shooting and running. Scattered about were
gas canisters that exploded to her advantage if a mercenary stood close, and in
a few frantic moments she had the ground to herself. From somewhere above a
thug lobbed grenades with a launcher but she had time to roll aside, and
mounted a low block to zero him. She jumped closer and finished the impudent
assailant. Behind her a last determined mercenary threw a hail of bullets from
an adjacent structure. Using her grapple, Lara swung off a hanging temple bell
to the low building where he sheltered, and shot him at close range.

A zip line was ready rigged. She jumped to grab hold, and sailed down.

She landed at the top of a short icy slope into a dark cavern. Icicles hung
about, and decorative pillars were frozen into the thick ice. She crunched
across puddles that were frozen solid, and came to a deep pool. Wind moaned and
tiny waves lapped. Small floes of ice bobbed in the freezing water, forming a
bridge of sorts part way across. There was no other way forward but to trust
these would hold her. She jumped over the first.

"You're not gonna make it across," Zip warned. "And you'll end up a Popsicle if
you try to swim it."

He was right. In the sub-zero temperatures Lara knew she wouldn't survive long
if she fell in. She faced a bigger gap to the next floe. "Hmmm. If only I could
walk on water."

Looking up, she noticed a large chunk of ice suspended from the cave roof that
looked ready to break away. A shot from her pistols brought it down, and as it
splashed to the water she hopped over and on to another floe, and saw to her
relief a cave opening where there was a stone ledge.

"Not to rub it in," Zip volunteered, "but I'm glad I'm at home."

"Lovely, Zip. That's quite enough of that."

"Sorry."

She faced an underground river, moving swiftly to what looked a dark fall.
Upstream she saw other buildings and light in the cave ahead. The river was
undoubtedly too cold to risk trying to swim. As she pondered how best to get
across, ice floes came drifting down river. She took her chance and ran out,
leaping from one to another. Her luck ran out as she missed her footing and
fell into the icy river. She scrambled to climb out and ran across another floe
to the lighted cave.

"God, Lara," Alister exclaimed, "you must be absolutely freezing. Are you going
to be all right?"

Lara shivered. "My bones ... have gone numb. Oh my God, it is so very cold...
But I'll be fine." Those few seconds had nearly been too much.

The cave was a stone passage thick with ice. Open doors at the end revealed
steps leading up.

She ascended to an awe-inspiring sight. The face of Buddha gazed serenely
across a huge temple building. Caught off guard by its magnificence, Lara came
under sudden attack from a snow leopard leaping from stairs to her right. Lara
dodged around pillars on the balcony where she stood, and retreated back down
the steps as the hungry beast bounded after her. Tough and tenacious, but no
match for her guns.

"Good thing these weren't here last time I came."

She knew this as the place where she sought refuge with her mother after the
crash, and they had last been together. The place where she stumbled on the
dais, and witnessed its terrible power.

Now quite deserted, the roof had broken through and the floor below mostly
crumbled away. All that remained were foundation pillars and a few stone flags.
Ice cracked and groaned, and snow drifted in. Stairs at left and right twisted
down to the broken floor. Though she might make a path across what was left of
the floor, she saw only a pair of very solid doors at the far side, on a level
below the giant statue. Something moved up there.

She decided to make her way at this upper level, and spotted a ceremonial bell
hanging from the ceiling. She jumped out and cast her grapple, and as others
had before, this bell held her weight as she swung on a long length of cord.
She climbed up enough to see another bell a short distance ahead. She set
herself swinging back and forth, then released the magnetic grapple at the
height of the swing to latch on to it. She saw now that the movement on the far
balcony was a second snow leopard, hunting with its mate. She swung quickly to
a third bell, and then off to join the predator on the balcony. She had come
too far to let it stand in her way.

Soon enough she stood alone beneath the serene statue. A small squared chamber
in front bore a pair of golden doors, ornate and very solid.

"That's strange, these doors weren't closed before. Suppose I'll have to work
out how to get them open again."

A golden square was set into the platform that was the chamber roof. It had
every appearance of a pressure plate, which she guessed might operate the
doors, but her own weight was insufficient to trigger it. The hands of the
statue held scales balanced either side of the central platform.

Alister was impressed. "What a remarkable contraption."

If Lara stood on either one, each scale tipped gently to the ground. Two crates
stood to one side, one large and one small, and a golden crate the other. All
were easily moved with her grapple, and Lara judged these might be used to
weigh down the scales. The golden crate bore markings that matched the square
plate on the platform, so she decided her effort should be directed to raising
it there. She needed only to figure out how.

She first hauled the smallest crate onto the scale pan on one side. This held
the pan down and brought the opposite side level with the top of the platform.
Lara hopped up there and stood on the raised pan. Her own weight was greater
than the small crate, so she was borne gently down. Now she grappled the golden
crate onto that side. As she guessed, the golden crate was much heavier than
the small crate, so that side remained raised. Lara jumped up on the platform
and stood with the smaller crate on its side of the scales. Together they
weighed more than the golden crate, so now her side tipped down until she was
flush to the ground. Without stepping off, Lara now hauled the larger crate
onto the pan, and as hoped, the pair of crates weighed more than the golden
crate alone. It stayed raised at the level of the platform above. With some
satisfaction she jumped up and grappled it off.

Lara manoeuvred the crate onto the square plate, which it fitted perfectly. Its
weight caused the plate to depress slightly, and underneath Lara heard the
heavy doors grind open. A remarkable contraption indeed.

"Every object here has a symbolic function," she mused. "If only the outside
world were the same."

She dropped down off the platform and went through the doors. They now closed
behind her.

"Oh, bother. Well, one thing at a time."

A short flight of steps led down. A familiar arrangement of stones was laid out
below.

-- Excalibur Reforged ---------------------------------------------------------

Lara approached the centre stone of the ancient dais.

"How did you know that would be there?" Zip wondered.

Lara kneeled and spoke solemnly. "Give me a moment, please."

With a look of concentration she tipped the pieces of the sword out onto the
floor, and roughly assembled them. From her jacket she took her mother's
brooch, which she now knew to be the Ghalali Key. The sword flashed briefly as
she brought the key close, startling her. It gave off sparkles of light and
then floated in the air, rattling and trembling. Lara released the Ghalali Key,
and it hovered over the hilt. She shielded her eyes from a blinding flash of
green light as the sword became whole, and floated back to the ground. The
Ghalali Key remained suspended in a fading glow, and Lara took it back.

She gazed at the legendary sword of King Arthur. "Excalibur reforged."

"Well done, Lara," breathed Alister.

Lara took up the sword and held it in wonder. She looked to the stone. "It's
broken," she murmured, "but perhaps..."

With both hands she plunged Excalibur into the centre of the stone. It cracked
and crumbled apart. It would not be used again. Lara sheathed the sword to her
back.

"Well, if that's all it does," Zip said, "this has been a big waste of time."

Lara looked about. "Now I suppose it's time to work out how to leave this
monastery."

"How about swinging Excalibur once, just for fun."

"It's a priceless artifact," Alister protested, "not a toy!"

"I'm just saying."

Yet it was a sound idea. The heavy doors had closed behind Lara and there
seemed no way to operate them from inside. Beneath the steps was a passage to a
similar door, also shut. This door appeared veined with cracks. There was no
other way out from the chamber, but it had been built to house the stone for
Excalibur's purpose, and the magical sword could surely command its power to
any obstacle. Lara stood back and swept the sword in the direction of the
cracked door. A green light streaked out, that smashed the door to pieces.

Zip approved. "Hell, yeah!"

"And now we know how young Arthur became king." Lara stepped through the
doorway to the lower level of the temple.

Dislodged chunks of ice broke down on the remains of the floor, which shook and
began to fall away under her feet. Alister shouted: "Run, Lara!"

She dived to a section of floor supported by a foundation pillar, yet it too
began to topple. She ran forward to another, clung on and pulled up, and then
ran to one side for a longer slab section as it swayed and began to fall. No
sooner had she touched on it than the section keeled forwards, pitching her to
grab a shorter slab ahead. She was close to the balcony edge where she first
ran into a snow leopard, and as the last section of floor fell away, she leaped
for it, and barely caught the edge with her fingers.

She hauled up to safety.

-- Chapter Closed -------------------------------------------------------------

"So," a very relieved Alister sighed. "Any more sightseeing, Lara, or are you
finished?"

"We're going back to Bolivia. Then we'll see."

-- PDA ------------------------------------------------------------------------
The dais functioned only briefly, and in that time I found one answer and a
dozen more questions. Most maddening of all is Amanda. It's impossible to
separate the truth she knows from the nonsense she believes. Only time will
tell.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________________________________________

    o  BOLIVIA - The Looking Glass

    It's time to return to Bolivia and finally
    learn what these ancient artifacts can do.
    Amanda must want to activate the stone
    dais as well. Perhaps she knows its
    purpose, or only thinks she does.

    "There's something in the light..."


-- Bolivia Redux --------------------------------------------------------------

"There she is, I see her!"

Lara stepped out though the Tiwanaku temple passage where she found the dais
before. Though the rope bridge was gone, mercenaries had rigged up a zip line.
Rutland, Amanda, and their guards were at work on the dais. Rutland looked up
on the shout and saw Lara. He gave a little wave.

Lara put a finger to her headset. "I'm going to need a clear head for this,
lads. No distractions, please."

"Good luck," Zip urged.

Lara took a deep breath, grabbed the zip line to the dais, and slid swiftly
across. She drew her sword from her back and advanced.

"Anyone between me and that stone dies."

"Stop!" Amanda held up a hand. She was dressed in a skimpy top and tight jeans,
her pale body laced with tattoos. "I don't want anything bad to happen, but it
will if you come any closer."

Amanda fingered a pendant at her neck. Before she could act Lara swept her
sword and cast them all to the ground. Amanda lay stunned. Rutland lifted his
head and croaked an order to his men. "Kill her."

Rutland's men had been busy. Power lines were strung out across the drop to the
surrounding mountains. Arc lamps had been rigged among stacks of crates bearing
the mark of NATLA Industries. Two heavy machine guns were mounted on stands. If
the mercenaries expected opposition they had it now.

The awesome power of Excalibur was unleashed as Lara strode among the stones on
the dais, sending men to oblivion with each lash of her blade. The energy
carried through rock, so that it had only to sweep in their direction to blast
each as they came. Those behind bulletproof shields fell as easily as the rest.
Men ran to the heavy guns but the vengeful Lara was too quick. Grenades boomed
through the air but she kept moving, slashing and striking until only the last
one remained.

"It's over now," the thug grunted. "Nowhere to hide."

-- Amanda Rises ---------------------------------------------------------------

Rutland staggered to his feet, mortally wounded. Amanda went quickly to him.
"James!"

"Amanda..." he groaned, "see you... you..."

If they were to meet again it would not be in this life. Rutland collapsed to
the ground.

"Oh, God... James!" Amanda fell weeping over his body.

"I'm sorry, Amanda," Lara said. "Truly."

Lara walked to the stone at the centre of the dais, Excalibur at the ready.
"What are you doing?" Amanda demanded. "Stay away from there!"

Lara turned. "It's what I came for."

Amanda rose up and tore the pendant from the choker at her neck.

"You don't need that," Lara insisted. "We can both do this."

"It only works once," Amanda hissed. "And I'm going to be the one."

Lara brought her sword to her side, flexed her fingers, and stood ready.

Amanda closed her eyes and drew her hands together. The pendant whirled between
her open palms, spinning in the vortex of a violet glow that increased in
flickering arcs to a burst of brilliant light. The unknown entity materialised,
this time in the form of a tall hideous demon. Amanda was gone.

The beast hovered in the air, bony talons outstretched, and emitted a guttural
roar. Suddenly, a burst of glowing red energy shot out towards Lara, and
blasted a rock as she rolled aside. Another seemed certain to follow. She
searched for cover until she was able to strike back. Ordinary weapons would be
useless against this unnatural apparition - Excalibur was made for the job.

The entity sailed overhead, sending out waves of energy that threatened to
knock her from the platform. Lara took what shelter she could, though even the
monumental stones could not shield her from the force of each blast. She ducked
behind columns that crashed around her as the beast lashed bolts of energy
down.

Lara swept Excalibur in the monster's direction, and seemed to catch it wide
open. It roared and flew up, abilities dulled temporarily. Lara took her chance
and kept up the pursuit, slashing as close as she could get. The entity dived
and swooped around the stones, and she did not waste a stroke aiming in the
wrong direction but waited until it became still, ready to attack. As the
infernal beast felt the force of the mystical weapon it seemed paralysed,
hooked arms held wide. Lara stood directly underneath and timed stroke after
stroke as fast as she could, knocking it back as its arms came together, and in
this manner preventing its counter strike.

Now it sank to the ground and stayed dormant. A figure stood in the centre of
the ghastly blur of light. To her horror Lara realised that the figure was
Amanda, and that her former friend had become subsumed by the unknown entity
and in this state become a part of it. She seemed to be waving her arms to the
sky, whether summoning strength or struggling for release, Lara could not say.

Putting her feelings aside Lara ran in and slashed at the entity on the ground.
Excalibur drew off most of its power, yet the beast revived and took to the air
to resume the attack.

Lara took cover and sustained a heavy blow or two, but kept her feet and
pressed hard, sweeping bursts from her sword to knock the entity down if she
could. At any chance she ducked behind solid stones to protect from the full
force of each wave, even though these seemed to penetrate the very ground to
knock her down again. A timely roll seemed good defence. She kept mostly to the
centre of the arena, as on any strike she might be sent skittering over the
edge.

There was danger as well in drawing too close. A wicked black claw struck down
as she attempted another sweep of the sword. With a determined effort she
landed several telling strikes and the beast crashed down. Lara threaded
eagerly between stones to get close and slash it on the ground. It recovered as
before, but from the moment it arose she kept up the attack, turning to keep
her furious prey in sight as it soared about the arena. It collapsed for a
third time, and with the last of her strength Lara dashed in and plunged
Excalibur to the hilt. This time was surely enough.

Blue flashes and red clouds boiled and whirled around it as the creature
twisted and writhed. The red disappeared and the demon was gone, and in a flash
crackling waves of blue light fell to the ground where they faded to nothing.

-- Answers Breed Questions ----------------------------------------------------

Amanda's body lay on the cold stone of the arena, the pendant spilled from her
hand. Lara kneeled to pick it up, and saw the death head on it. She shook her
head sadly.

Battered and weary, she went to the stone at the centre of the dais, drawing
Excalibur. She stood for a moment then plunged the sword into a slot in the
stone. Strange green glowing liquid oozed out and flowed to the device on the
ground. Channels filled and spread out to the polished stone obelisks that
surrounded the device. The motifs and decoration on each glowed with the same
intense green light of energy. She had seen this before.

Lara drew from her pack the sketches she made as a child in the monastery in
Nepal. Here were the same symbols and motifs. She touched a hand to one glowing
stone and it opened up briefly, radiating light, then closed again. She
consulted her book, and then approached the next obelisk. She continued
methodically until each stone had revealed itself.

There was one final act to the ritual. Lara went to Excalibur and raised a hand
to it, just as she had done inadvertently as a child when all had been
prepared. She drew her hand away, suddenly unsure, then lightly pressed the
hilt of the sword.

It retracted, and the stone device ground into operation. The outer disc
rotated and rose up, forming a portal of light that reached across time.

Ghostly voices echoed. "No, get back! What is it?" "There's something in the
light..." "Stay here."

Lady Croft appeared through the portal. "What ... who are you?"

"Mother! It's Lara. Your daughter!"

At the mention of her daughter, Lady Croft turned instinctively to the little
girl. "What about my daughter?"

Lara saw in an instant the terrible consequences about to unfold. She yelled
out: "Don't touch the sword."

Her mother couldn't understand the distorted warning. She wrung her hands and
implored, "She meant no harm."

Words echoed across the void within the portal. Amanda came to and wickedly
grasped the situation. "Take out the sword," she ordered.

"What!" exclaimed Lara. "No! Mother! Mother, listen to me..."

Amanda shouted out: "It will explode unless you pull out the sword!"

"Oh, God, no!" cried Lady Croft as she disappeared from view.

Lara screamed "No!" as brilliant green light burst from the portal. She tried
to reach out but knew all too well the power unleashed could not now be
stilled. She turned her back quickly and leaped away from the circle. A
dazzling explosion ripped it apart. The broken Excalibur clanged down in front
of her.

"You idiot," Amanda screamed. "You ruined everything."

Lara got to her feet, wrathful anger rising. "All these years I blamed myself,
and it was you. You killed her!" She levelled her gun at Amanda.

"Killed her!" Amanda was scornful. "She's not dead. She went where I was
supposed to go, where you could have gone."

"Make sense right this second or I swear I'll execute you where you stand."
Lara jammed her gun between the shocked Amanda's eyes.

"I told you to pull out the sword," Amanda insisted. "I TOLD YOU!"

Lara stood over Amanda and punctuated each word with a close shot: "Where -- is
-- my -- MOTHER!"

"AVALON! It's not a myth. Don't you get it?" Amanda panted. "You'll never
understand. I'm wasting my breath."

Whether or not Amanda had intended that Lara should pull her sword from her
side of the portal, Lady Croft had heard the words that triggered her fateful
action. It was done. Lara turned away. With a sudden burst she spun round and
pistol-whipped Amanda senseless. "From this moment," she uttered viciously,
"your every breath is a gift from me."

"Lara?" came Zip, quietly.

She was lost in her emotions. "For years my father believed Mother was alive.
It was what kept him going. I pitied him for thinking that way." She picked up
Excalibur and spoke briskly. "Alister, go to the British Museum immediately.
Ring me when you get there. Dress in layers - you'll be there a while."

"Right. I'm off."

"Zip, call Professor Eddington at the Cavendish Laboratory. Arrange a meeting."

"Will do," he replied, but wondered: "What should I tell him?"

"Tell him..." Lara considered. "Tell him my father was right about everything,
and there may still be time to do something about it."

Lara Croft, tomb raider adventurer, grabbed the rope line and swung away hand
over hand, leaving the temple, the dais, and Amanda behind.


-- THE END --------------------------------------------------------------------


                                 Lara Croft
                                 T  O  M  B
                            R   A   I   D   E   R
                             ------------------
                              L  E  G  E  N  D


                     Story designer .... Eric Lindstrom
                     Dialogue writer ... Aaron Vanian

_______________________________________________________________________________


_______________________________________________________________________________

(c) 2008 J Woodrow

This document includes an unofficial transcript and storyline from Lara Croft
Tomb Raider: Legend (c) 2006 Core Design Ltd. Copyright is claimed for original
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