Tomb Raider: The Golden Seal

Chapter 8: Loanna Von Skopf

Lara stood still for a moment, considering her odds. Then she quickly turned, drew her weapons and fired at close range. Gunderson threw himself down and five of his men dodged the gunfire, then pounced to catch her. Seeing herself cornered, she jumped over them, flipped in the air, landed at the other side and darted towards the door.

"Follow her!" Yelled Gunderson, then talking into the walkie-talkie: "You on the other side: the woman runs in your direction!"

Lara sprinted down the hall as bullets passed next to her, hitting furniture, vases and mirrors. When she reached the spiral stairs, she stopped, panting, and heard another group of mercenaries pounding downstairs quickly, nearing her. Trapped again, but yet not defeated.

She went back and grabbed her machine gun, faced the group that pursued her, and fired. This time two fell. Taking advantage of their confusion, she jumped over the bodies and disappeared through another corridor.

"Sir!" Shouted one of the mercenaries, grasping an injured leg. "This is madness! She'll have us all killed!"

"Use the bloody gas grenades!" Gunderson ordered in reply.

Lara arrived, exhausted, in another room. She quickly closed the door, locked it and she broke the lock with a kick, leaving half a piece of the key still inside. "This will hold them for a while," she gasped, and pulled out the map to locate herself.

She needed to return to the tapestry room. She wasn't stupid and had noticed the mercenaries shot around her to avoid hitting her. They were just annoying her. Karel wants me alive.

Lara dismissed the thought and focused on the map. It would take a good bit of running around to return to the tapestry. And surely someone of them would be waiting for her.

Suddenly, she noticed she couldn't breathe and started coughing. Looking around, she saw the green light of a gas grenade flashing, having been slipped under the door. Damn. And this wasn't the Louvre; there was no gas masks waiting in a closet for her somewhere. She turned away from the gas plume and entered the next room. The damn castle was a maze of interconnected chambers.

"Not a maze," she whispered as she went downstairs, "more like a trap!"

(...)

Kurtis' mind drifted over time until he stopped and focused on a scene.

Prince Vlad Tepes was entering a luxurious room of the castle. In the corner a beautiful woman wove a tapestry with trembling fingers. The very same tapestry.

Kurtis recognized the woman; she was the one depicted as the Amazon and was visibly pregnant. Her face was contorted as she wept - not in sadness, but in rage, anger, and helplessness.

Drakul came next to her and stroked her silky blonde hair. She shuddered.

"Loanna..." he muttered, "my Amazon..."

She abruptly turned away, disgusted, and stabbed a long needle into his arm. He angrily slapped her, but Loanna stood with dignity and challenged him. "You're a monster. You know what your own people call you? The Devil!"

The Impaler shrugged as he pulled the needle out. "And they're right. They fear and revere me. You, however, dare to challenge me. After childbirth I'll be done with you."

"You won't have your cursed offspring." She swore. "I'll kill myself before that happens."

Drakul laughed. His henchmen watched over her day and night. It was impossible for her to escape from her doomed fate.