Blackthorne (The Brotherhood of the Gate Book 1) by Katt Grimm Page B

searched the caves, keeping to the foolish belief of all Spaniard Explorers that every member of the indigenous tribes of the new world did nothing but dig up and play with gold. The Spaniards wandered in circles for days, in and out of the complex. Finally, they were faced with the disappointing fact the caves held nothing for their plundering hearts to gloat over. They had begun the trip back to the surface when several of their group managed to move aside a large stone toward the back of one tunnel. A great golden gate was revealed, inlaid with ebony and rubies skillfully crafted to resemble giant flames. The floor of the cave surrounding the gate had various artifacts, treasure, and human bones scattered among the rubble of what looked to be a great battle. The Spaniards went wild with joy at their discovery and were busy in the torchlight counting their plunder and brainstorming about how to pry the jewels out of the portal or remove the gates completely to carry off when a stranger approached, rising out of the darkness surrounding their campfires at the front of the cave.
    The man was a European, possibly a Scot, and dressed in the fashion of the Knights of the Crusades…a conflict that had ended 200 years before. The Spaniards strangely enough didn’t kill him on sight for the sin of being not Spaniard. Against the advice of their terrified Indian guides, they allowed the man to approach and even invited him to break his fast with them. He told a strange tale, reproduced in a more modern form here from the journal of one of the priests who had accompanied the group:
    “…As the Indians whispered among themselves about a ‘ghost walker’ that fed on the spirit of men and animals, the stranger transfixed us with his beautiful eyes and told a tale of the ruins before us. We did not think to ask how he had come by these words, although I did feel my heart becoming heavier as he spoke. The knight called himself Blackthorne. He told a terrible tale about a once mighty people, lost in the mists of time, who conquered the world by the might of not only its warriors but also its magicians and men of learning. An age of glory overtook the Earth on the heels of this conquest…the height of civilization. The citizens of their beautiful capital, Atlantis, knew no illness or poverty and lived great life spans that dwarfed the lives of those they had conquered.
    “I thought the man mad or of sinister purpose. I felt certain that he was using the tale of Plato’s Atlantis to draw us into a trap but I could not speak, my tongue cleaved to the roof of my mouth as if fastened by nails.
    “He spoke of the arrogance of this people and how in the beginning they lusted for power and godhood, searching far and wide for clues to the location of sinews of power that bound our very world together. Then came the day when some of the great minds of the kingdom discovered a means to control the very doors to Hell in order to command the demon hordes to labor for them as did Solomon in later years to build his great temple. I couldn’t help but wonder if the Hebrew king had a similar gate at his disposal. Control of the gates and the demons was accomplished by means of the great crystal skulls the people had crafted and bespelled over many decades. The Atlanteans used the fell beasts of Hell to conquer the known world. But the greed of the people of Atlantis grew. They had wealth and power but still were leveled by the specter of death. The people of Atlantis, swollen with power, sought to use the skulls to cheat death. The powers of Heaven, Earth, and Hell rose up to punish those that would destroy all by destroying the balance of life and death, good and evil. The powers of Heaven shook the earth and ripped the fabric of the sky. Then the Lord of Hell stretched forth his sword and sent forth his minions to destroy many of the survivors and knowledge of Atlantis. Their city was drowned and destroyed, the many tributary lands destroyed in