The Waterstone of the Wise [9]

[scriveyner]

.:Chapter Nine:.

Despite the best of his intentions, Alphonse's hands had gone completely numb by the time the vehicle ground to a slow stop. It had been dark the entirety of the long ride. Eiselstein had watched him the entire trip but had not spoken another word to him.

He had been keeping a mental map of where they had gone. Alphonse had always been good at locations and timing because it was usually up to him to ensure that they never got too terribly lost during their travels across the European countryside. However, he was also usually under much less duress when trying to create a mental map of where he was going and what was going on.

Pernelle sat beside him silently, her hands folded in her lap. She had been watching out the windows as they drove along. It was curious that she was unrestrained. It made sense that Eiselstein kept Alphonse's hands tied, after all given half the chance he would have his father's notes in his pocket and his hands around Eiselstein's throat. Clearly Pernelle was no physical threat to him.

"Ah," Eiselstein said as the car slowed considerably. "We are here."

Alphonse did not say a word in response, watching instead as Eiselstein slid along the bench seat to the door. The car was still idling, but the a man in a servant's uniform opened the door and held it as Eiselstein exited the vehicle.

Pernelle gave Alphonse a long, resigned look as the servant offered her his hand. Pernelle took it, stepping gracefully out of the vehicle.

He was a bit too busy trying to keep his feet to pay attention to the people outside. Alphonse managed not to trip, catching himself and straightening, looking up as he did so.

It was truly a castle, there was no doubt about that. They had not pulled up to the building itself, but to a small landing strip that had been cleared of trees. A plane sat on the tarmac there, one of the smaller cargo planes that he had seen through the windows of the car earlier. And standing in front of it, with their hands held up in supplication, were Indy and ....

"Sofia!" Alphonse called, his voice strangled. Sofia actually jerked at his voice, her eyes skimming across the grounds until they lit on his figure. Her face broke into a relieved expression, but then her eyes went to the man with the gun on them both.

Alphonse shuffled in their direction, his legs aching with the restoring circulation. "Sofie! Sofie, are you all right-"

The click of rifles brought Alphonse to a halt. Eiselstein walked past him, ignoring Alphonse completely. "What happened?" He barked at one of the pilots. "Where's Ling? Where are the alchemists?"

That was a good question. Alphonse looked around in confusion. "Sofia!" he called. "Where's Ed?"

Her expression broke and she stared at the ground. Alphonse's heart was in his throat - where WAS his brother?

"He, he dove after Nicholas," Sofia called, only meters away but it could have been a sports field. "Out of the plane. I'm sorry, Al."

Alphonse's stomach seized. Edward had - out of a PLANE? Of course he had. Alphonse sighed hugely as Eiselstein exploded in anger, yelling at the pilots. "Of course he did. Don't be sorry, Sofie, Ed's like that."

Indy cocked his eyebrow quizzically. "You're awfully calm for somebody whose brother is a pancake somewhere."

The man who had a gun on them both struck Indy across the back of his head with the butt of his rifle. Indy stumbled forward, dropping to one knee, his hat falling onto the tarmac. "No talking!" the soldier intoned sharply.

Sofia had gasped and taken a step away in case the soldier had intended to shoot Indy while he was on his knees, but Indy picked his hat up slowly, placing it on his head before getting to his feet.

Alphonse watched as Indy stood up, and then met the other man's eye. "I believe in my brother, Professor Jones. And you should too."

"All right, all right," Eiselstein shouted from the other side of the plane. They all looked in his direction, and Eiselstein stormed toward them. "Those two," he pointed at Indy and Sofia. "Take them and put them with the others. Bring the alchemists to the great hall."

The soldiers saluted Eiselstein. "Sofia!" Alphonse called as the soldiers shoved her and Indy forward. "Sofia, I'll get you out of this, I promise!"

"Al!" Sofia called, before she was out of earshot. "Don’t worry about me!"

Alphonse watched that particular group make their way toward the castle, and then turned to have words with Eiselstein. To his surprise the man was no longer where he had been standing. One of the soldiers who had his rifle out nudged Alphonse in the shoulder with it.

"C'mon now," the man said in a thick accent. "Don't want to keep the boss waiting."

~ * ~

Indy rested his hands on his head, fingers interlaced as he followed Sofia into the castle. They moved single file, a guard in front leading the way and two behind him, the muzzle of a pistol occasionally jamming into his lower back to remind him that they were still there.

He had been in worse situations. Indy kept glancing around, cataloging rooms and corridors as they were led deep into the castle. It startled him, slightly, how Alphonse had not seemed nearly as perturbed that his brother had willfully leaped to an untimely death as Sofia was expecting. Alphonse had seemed upset, surely - but not perturbed. But then again, Indy should have stopped expecting the usual reactions from those men when they revealed that they were from another world entirely.

Sofia, however, was taking it hard. Her arms were trembling, slightly, her hands resting on her head as well. Indy really could not fault her, it was not the best situation to be in.

Abruptly, the German leading them stopped in front of a heavy, barred door. "You'll wait in here," he said, his English thickly accented. "You will wait until the Baron has need of you."

"And will he?" Sofia asked, her voice bitter. "Have need of us, then?"

The soldier cocked an eyebrow at her. "I am sure if your husband is ... uncooperative ... your presence shall be highly valued."

"Comforting," Indy muttered as one of the soldiers from behind unbarred the door. The one remaining, the one manning the pistol that he seemed to enjoy jamming into Indy's lower back nudged him forward. "In there, both of you."

Sofia looked back at Indy, who nodded his head, encouraging her to move forward. Sofia took a deep breath, and stepped into the room. Indy took one last look around at the men - soldiers, all of them - and then stepped into the room himself.

The door was slammed behind him almost immediately. Indy turned and put his hands on the heavy wooden door, but there was not a hint of weakness there. "DAMN it," he snarled, slamming his closed fist into the door, before glancing behind him.

The room itself was long, but the ceiling was low. Indy could reach out a hand and, on tip-toes, place it flat on the ceiling. "Where is this?" Sofia asked, peering into the dim, dark room. "Where are we?"

"Seems to be an old wine cellar," Indy said. "I didn't think that we went that far down, though. The floor is stone, not dirt."

A lamp flickered to life at the far end of the room, and Indy grabbed Sofia's arm and jerked her behind him as several more lamps were lit, or uncovered. "Who's there?"

"Someone new," a voice said nearby, their English thick and rusty-sounding. "New faces." A lamp was uncovered to show an older man, with a shock of white hair and a very dirty outfit.

"Who are you?" Sofia asked.

"Once, the head cook," the old man said. "Now, just forgotten. Like the rest of us." He nodded at the people slowly emerging from alcoves hidden along the long room.

Indy looked over the crowd of people in amazement. "You're all servants, here? You work for Eiselstein?"

"Once," a woman said from the other side. "Now he takes us, locks us away with no warning, no explanation!"

"How long have you been down here?"

"Weeks. Months. Some, longer." The old man sighed. "Days ago he came with his soldiers, made us all stand against the wall while they painted the ceiling. No one knows what is going on, just that it is the Devil's work."

"Painted the ceiling?" Sofia said, looking up at the low roof over their heads. "Painted the ceiling where?"

The old man, who seemed to speak for all of them, gestured his hand. Several of the other servants lifted their lanterns and illuminated, in dark red paint, the symbols on the ceiling.

"Oh," Sofia said quietly. "Oh my."

It was a huge transmutation circle, almost ten meters across in diameter. It looked similar to the ones in Edward's notes, and on the walls in Flamel's hideaway. Indy took several steps forward, neck craned to try to read the complex runes that lived within the circle.

"Well, I hate to break it to you," Indy said, staring at the dark, painted lines. "But I think that we're in serious trouble."

~ * ~

"Welcome, welcome," the Baron von Eiselstein shouted as Alphonse followed Pernelle into the sprawling great hall. Alphonse had seen a few castles in his day - the great hall usually was full of decorations, of tapestries hanging on the walls, long tables or other such furnishings to give the room life and substance. The particular room was different.

If it had been furnished once all traces had been removed from the room. There were no wall hangings, no large carpet leading from the door to the stairs opposite the room. Just a few tables full of glassware, and in the center of the room a large, painted transmutation circle on the floor.

The circle was huge, three times the size of the one he had once drawn in chalk on the floor of their father's study. It was also very complex, almost a hundredfold. Several binding circles, runes in many languages, and many, many symbols. Alphonse became aware that Eiselstein was watching him read the transmutation circle and he forced his head up, to stare at the man angrily.

"You know that you're crazy, right?" Alphonse said. "Completely mad. This is never going to work."

"Your existence in this world tells me volumes otherwise," Eiselstein said. He had crossed the room, walking over the transmutation circle fearlessly, toward the tables spread with paperwork and glassware. "You know what Eckhart's greatest mistake was, I hope?"

Alphonse stared at the man in sullen silence. Eiselstein shrugged, flipping over several books until he found the one he wanted. "Her greatest mistake," he said, lifting the book and walking forward, "is that she strove for too much, too quickly. Opening a Gate of that magnitude was certainly impressive, but it was completely unstable. Taking so many men through the Gate to act as her army? A bold move, and ultimately her undoing. She lacked finesse, and subtlety."

"Something that you clearly have," Alphonse muttered sarcastically.

"Quite," Eiselstein said, ignoring Alphonse's mockery. "I am starting small. A Gate for one, as it were. Then, as I reinforce its solidity, I can expand. More people through at a time, first civilians like myself, and then soldiers. Once I have harnessed the power of the Philosopher's Stone I can make myself the ruler of two worlds!"

"An ambitious one, isn't he?" Alphonse asked Pernelle, who had remained silent.

"Foolish, more likely," Pernelle murmured.

Eiselstein scowled at them both, and then spread both of his arms. "You are alchemists both," he said. "Look on this transmutation circle! Surely even you must be aware of its ability."

Alphonse laughed aloud. "Like we're going to help you, Eiselstein. You're completely mad. For all you know, there could be a handful of lines misplaced, and that margin of error is all that separates you from a puddle of steaming internal organs."

"Do you honestly think so little of me?" Eiselstein strode to the center of the circle and stood there, his hands clasped behind his back as he looked at his feet. "Beneath this circle lies another, separated only by a half meter of rock. Twin transmutation circles." He looked up at Alphonse. "As I am sure you would willfully damage this array even at the cost of your own life, I doubt very seriously that you would do so if it cost the life of innocents."

Alphonse swallowed before he spoke again. "Where's my wife, Eiselstein?"

"In the room beneath this one, same as nearly a dozen innocent men and women, trapped underneath a duplicate transmutation circle." He smiled wickedly at Alphonse. "If this circle is wrong, and you lie about it? When I activate it, it will trigger the activation of the other one. Explosion begets explosion, and everyone dies. If not, then our friends downstairs will be treated to a pretty light show while we make the real magic up here."

Pernelle put her hand on Alphonse's arm. "I will kill you," he said roughly. "If any harm comes to Sofia in the slightest I will kill you and not feel even the slightest regret."

"If you cooperate, there will be no need for killing," Eiselstein said. "Just some lost blood, which will be quickly replaced." Eiselstein spread his hands again, gesturing at Alphonse. "What do you say, alchemist? A deal for you, one so fond of equivalent trade. Your life, for that of your wife's."

~ * ~

Edward was jostled awake by a sharp jolt as the military truck hit a pothole. His head banged back into the wooden bed of the truck and stars of pain exploded in his vision. Edward whimpered, and cushioned his head with both hands.

What had happened?

He winced as a firm hand covered his mouth, but then a familiar voice murmured in his ear. "Not so loud, they are listening for us."

Everything came back in a flash - Ling, the airplane, the ecstatic adrenaline rush of transmutation that tingled all the way to his fingertips. Edward opened his eyes slowly, squinting despite the low light.

Nicholas was stretched out beside him on the wooden planks. They were in the back of a large, covered military vehicle, but the seats that ran along either side were empty. Their parachute - what was once their jackets - was balled up in the corner. Edward rubbed his forehead and managed to keep another wince off of his face. "How long was I out?"

"Not long," Nicholas said. "Several hours." He was lying on his stomach, facing the hatch. The truck was still idling, but it was no longer moving. "We're in luck, this truck is headed toward Eiselstein's castle."

"How do you know that?" Edward murmured. It felt like there was a rhinoceros trying to escape his skull, starting first with the tender area behind his eyes. He did not know if sitting up was the best idea right now, so he stayed put.

"They've been talking the entire way. The commander wanted to shoot us and leave us on the side of the road, convinced we were enemy spies, but you look sufficiently German enough that the driver convinced him to take us to the castle. They'll call the authorities from there to determine whether or not there's a reward for our heads." Nicholas was grinning by the last part. "Luck seems to be finally with us."

"Yeah. Luck." Edward closed his eyes again. "I think I'm going to throw up."

"You ingested the Stone without any diluting or mixing agents, I'm not surprised at all." Nicholas did not sound very sympathetic.

Edward rubbed his face. "I think it has more to do with a rather violent lesson in gravity instead of the effects of the Philosopher's Stone," he said.

Nicholas shook his head sharply. "No, it is definitely the Stone. You cushioned my landing, and probably broke your back and several bones. It's a wonder you weren't killed, but since the Stone was still in your system you survived, and your wounds have already healed."

Edward lifted his hand and stared at Nicholas. "Only a few hours to repair multiple broken bones? You were messed up for longer than that with a gunshot wound."

"I had lost blood, which needed to be manufactured and replaced. Your body only needed to heal itself. Trust me," Nicholas said. "I have had my share of injuries in the span of six hundred years."

"I bet," Edward muttered. "I still think I'm gonna throw up."

"Well if you must, do so quietly. They still think that we're both unconscious."

Edward was starting to pull himself into a sitting position when the engine stopped idling and cut off. He froze, and looked at Nicholas, but Nicholas was looking at the hatch of the truck. "Do you think we're here?" he whispered, now that the idling engine could no longer disguise their voices.

Instead of answering, Nicholas nodded. Edward groaned quietly and got to his knees. "I feel like shit," he muttered, crouching with his hands in front to brace him. "I really hate airplanes."

Now upright, Edward was already starting to feel a little better. The rhinoceros was no longer trying to bash its way out of his skull via his eyes, and the urge to empty his stomach all over the floorboards was fading. That was good, because he did not have the time to deal with being ill.

Edward leaned forward on his hands, keeping his voice low. "If we wait until they come to check on us, it'll be too late. They'll be armed and we'll probably be outnumbered."

Nicholas nodded. "But we don't know what it looks like out there." What little bit they could see was mostly darkness - the road was washed out from bright lights far out of the range of their vision.

"We'll have to take that chance." If they were at Eiselstein's castle, Indy and Sofia had to definitely have made it. Alphonse was probably here, too. Edward curled his hands into fists. He was going to make that bastard pay for all the shit he had put them through.

Repeatedly.

With his face.

Nicholas got up from his prone position on the floor, moving slowly so as to not make the wooden bed creak. There were voices outside the truck, they could hear them now that the engine was cut off - but they were idle chatter, not orders. Edward moved slowly, keeping an ear out for any noises out of the ordinary as they moved to the hatch on the truck.

They were almost to the hatch itself when a soldier swung around, not looking back at them but putting one hand on the hatch as he shouted something over his shoulder in German. Nicholas froze, but Edward did not.

The soldier was turning to look in the hatch, alerted to his movement by the noise of Edward's shoes on the wood but Edward was already on him. Edward blocked with his shoulder, the metal limb catching the man completely off guard. The full force of Edward's weight took the man down, and Nicholas sprang up and over the hatch.

Soldiers were shouting in German at them. Edward took the pistol from the man's belt and held it out to Nicholas, who shook his head sharply. "No. No guns."

"Fine," Edward said, transferring the pistol from his right hand to his left. He had no such compunctions - and a steadier aim with his real hand. They only had a few seconds before the gunfire would start in earnest. Edward craned his head up, looking at the sprawling manor, before glancing toward Nicholas. "Hope you're up for a quick run," he said.

"Funny, I was just going to suggest the same thing."

~ * ~

Eiselstein turned his head toward the door as the distant pop of gunfire started suddenly. Alphonse and Pernelle looked at each other. The great hall had windows - high up in the walls, far too high to see anything out of, except the reflection of the lights on the airstrip. "Fools," Eiselstein muttered. "Why must I be made to suffer fools who start shooting at the slightest drop of the hat."

"You get what you pay for," Pernelle said smartly, and Eiselstein turned a level glare on the woman. She did not seem bothered by the venom in his expression. "He hires mercenaries," she told Alphonse, not dropping Eiselstein's gaze. "They may wear uniforms, but there are no actual soldiers here."

"Makes sense," Alphonse said. "If he's planning on betraying his country, he doesn't want the military already on his grounds." Pernelle's hand was still on his arm, and that was somehow keeping Alphonse from running head-long at Eiselstein like he wanted to. Even with his hands tied he could probably at least take Eiselstein down with a well-placed shoulder.

A soldier - a mercenary, Alphonse self-corrected - appeared in the doorway. "Sir, it seems that we're under attack."

"Under attack?" Eiselstein said. "Don't be absurd." He moved from the center of the transmutation circle, walking briskly toward the man. "Under attack by WHOM?"

"We're ... not sure."

"That's ridiculous." Eiselstein followed the soldier out, and Alphonse breathed a large sigh of relief.

"What is it?" Pernelle said.

"That - that would be my brother," Alphonse said. "I would be willing to bet my life on it." He shifted his hands. "Pernelle, do you think you can help me get my hands out of these cuffs, I'm going to need them for what I'm going to do."

~ * ~

Indy paced the entire length of the room and back again. He had already walked the circumference once, one hand on the wall and muttering to himself in a low tone.

"You should tell your friend there is no use," the old man said. Sofia had sat down beside the door, her hands over her legs as she watched Indy. "We have been down here a long time. If there was a way out, one of us would have certainly found it by now."

"Yeah," she said softly. "But what harm is there in letting a fresh set of eyes take a look at things?"

"Plenty," the old man murmured. "It breeds a false hope, and that is indeed the most potent of poisons."

~ * ~

Edward slammed the large, heavy door behind him and leaned against it, breathing hard. He dropped the emptied pistol to the floor, and pulled the one he had tucked into the waistband of his trousers free. He held his right arm out, wincing slightly. "I think I caught a bullet in my automail."

"Be grateful it was not your side," Nicholas said. "I can attest to how painful those kinds of wounds can be." He had braced one hand on the wall and he too, was breathing hard.

It had been a mad sprint toward the building. Fortunately there were no direct obstacles in their way - unfortunately there were a lot of soldiers standing around with weapons full of ammunition they were apparently just dying to expend.

"So how long do you think we got before they start shooting through the door?" Edward asked, poking a finger through the tear in his sleeve but not able to locate the bullet.

"How about we do not stand around here and find out?" Nicholas suggested.

"Good plan," Edward said. He looked around for something to jam the door with, but Nicholas grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away from the door, just as several bullets popped through the thick wooden frame. "Time to go!"

~ * ~

Sofia stood by the door, her ear pressed to it. "Do you hear that?" she asked.

"Hear what?" Indy responded. He had given up on the walls and was sitting beside the door, next to where Sofia had been sitting moments earlier. The rest of the prisoners had returned to their niches, once they were certain the newest residents did not have any great plan of escape.

"Ssh, shh," she said, a look of concentration on her face. "Gunfire, I think."

Indy lifted his head. "Gunfire?"

"It's far away, I think it's getting louder, though."

As she spoke, Indy heard it. A concentrated burst of gunfire, it sounded like pistols or other hand guns. "Yeah, I DO hear that," he said, getting to his feet.

Sofia started pounding on the door with both hands. "We're in here!" she shouted. "Help us, we're locked in here! Help!"

~ * ~

Nicholas paused and Edward almost lost him. He caught himself on a door frame and stopped, half-turning to look at the ancient alchemist in frustration. "What is it, why'd you stop?"

"I hear something," Nicholas said. Edward cocked his head at Nicholas, and then shook it once.

"I don't."

"That's fine, keep going," Nicholas waved him off, not looking at Edward. "I'll catch up with you. Find your brother."

Edward hovered a moment, indecisive. Nicholas turned around and stared at him.

"GO!"

"All right, be safe." Edward started for the door. "And if you get killed, I won't forgive you!"

"I'll be fine," Nicholas murmured, but Edward was already gone.

~ * ~

The hallway ended abruptly. Edward had lost his pursuit somewhere along the line, he could only hope it was because Nicholas had not split off from him to act as a decoy. The man did not seem interested in using any sort of weapons at all, and that worried him - but he did not have the time or energy to waste on being worried about it right now. Right now, he had to find Alphonse.

Edward trotted up the stairs, eyes and ears open for signs of pursuit. He pushed a large, heavy door open with his automail hand, pistol clutched tight in his left.

Glass shattered as Alphonse straightened sharply. A woman Edward did not recognize with long red hair stood beside him - and without a doubt he knew that had to be the wife of Nicholas Flamel. "Al!" Edward called relief.

"Brother!" Alphonse looked exhausted, much the worse for wear. There was dried blood in his hair and his clothes were rumpled and torn, but he was as relieved to see Edward as Edward was to see him. "You're safe!"

The woman tugged on Alphonse's arm, indicating the table behind them. Alphonse nodded his head and then shoved the table, overturning it and shattering everything. Liquid and glass spilled across the floor, covering books and loose paper alike with chemicals.

Edward stopped at the edge of the transmutation circle, staring down at the immense size of it. He knew better than to walk onto a dormant array, lit or otherwise.

"Do you like it?" Eiselstein's voice said.

Edward jerked up, bringing his pistol up in the same motion but it was too late. The Baron stood in the doorway, a pistol of his own in his hand and pointed at Edward. "It's not entirely mine, you know. A lot of it came from your father." He gestured with his pistol. "Drop your weapon."

He hesitated, but then, reluctantly, placed the revolver on the ground and kicked it away. Eiselstein actually smiled. "Good, good."

"I can tell," Edward said, looking back over the circle.

"Can you?"

"Yes. Hohenheim was working on several different transmutation circles when I was living with him. He thought I didn't know, but." Edward's hands closed into fists. "He didn't want me to get my hopes up."

"Well, we can certainly fix that today, can't we?" Eiselstein's voice was low and almost seductive. He had moved into the room itself, walking onto the unlit transmutation circle as if it was nothing. "We can open the doors. You can go home. No more of this," Eiselstein gestured around him. "Dismal, gray world of science and industry."

Edward glanced to his brother. Alphonse had moved from the overturned tables, marching to the edge of the transmutation circle as well. He too was far wiser than Eiselstein and would not set foot on the array. "Where are they?" he demanded. "Where are our fathers' notes?"

Eiselstein patted his breast pocket. "Safe. They are as much my notes now as they are his, you need not worry. I shall take great care of them."

"This is ridiculous," Edward said. "What you want no one man can contain."

"Give me the notes," Alphonse said. "Give us the notes right here, right now and you can walk away. We'll take our friends and leave and you can continue to conduct your miniature war against Germany on your own terms."

Eiselstein laughed. "Let you leave? Alive? Oh no, no." He shook his head. "You're going to assist me. Both of you." He moved his pistol from Edward to Alphonse and then back again.

"Like hell we are," Alphonse said, taking a step forward. "You're in over your head, Eiselstein."

"Well," Eiselstein said philosophically, shrugging his shoulders. "If you're not going to help me willfully, then I shall just have to take what I need by force." He then pointed his pistol at Alphonse, and pulled the trigger.