Langdon could see Sophie was still shaken from recounting her experience of Hieros Gamos. Forhis part, Langdon was amazed to have heard it. Not only had Sophie witnessed the full-blownritual, but her own grandfather had been the celebrant... the Grand Master of the Priory of Sion. Itwas heady company. Da Vinci, Botticelli, Isaac Newton, Victor Hugo, Jean Cocteau... JacquesSaunière.
"I don't know what else I can tell you," Langdon said softly.
Sophie's eyes were a deep green now, tearful. "He raised me like his own daughter."Langdon now recognized the emotion that had been growing in her eyes as they spoke. It wasremorse. Distant and deep. Sophie Neveu had shunned her grandfather and was now seeing him inan entirely different light.
Outside, the dawn was coming fast, its crimson aura gathering off the starboard. The earth was stillblack beneath them.
"Victuals, my dears?" Teabing rejoined them with a flourish, presenting several cans of Coke and abox of old crackers. He apologized profusely for the limited fare as he doled out the goods. "Ourfriend the monk isn't talking yet," he chimed, "but give him time." He bit into a cracker and eyedthe poem. "So, my lovely, any headway?" He looked at Sophie. "What is your grandfather trying totell us here? Where the devil is this headstone? This headstone praised by Templars."Sophie shook her head and remained silent.
While Teabing again dug into the verse, Langdon popped a Coke and turned to the window, histhoughts awash with images of secret rituals and unbroken codes. A headstone praised by Templarsis the key. He took a long sip from the can. A headstone praised by Templars. The cola was warm.
The dissolving veil of night seemed to evaporate quickly, and as Langdon watched thetransformation, he saw a shimmering ocean stretch out beneath them. The English Channel. Itwouldn't be long now.
Langdon willed the light of day to bring with it a second kind of illumination, but the lighter itbecame outside, the further he felt from the truth. He heard the rhythms of iambic pentameter andchanting, Hieros Gamos and sacred rites, resonating with the rumble of the jet.
A headstone praised by Templars.
The plane was over land again when a flash of enlightenment struck him. Langdon set down hisempty can of Coke hard. "You won't believe this," he said, turning to the others. "The Templarheadstone—I figured it out."Teabing's eyes turned to saucers. "You know where the headstone is?"Langdon smiled. "Not where it is. What it is."Sophie leaned in to hear.
"I think the headstone references a literal stone head," Langdon explained, savoring the familiarexcitement of academic breakthrough. "Not a grave marker.""A stone head?" Teabing demanded.
Sophie looked equally confused.
"Leigh," Langdon said, turning, "during the Inquisition, the Church accused the Knights Templarof all kinds of heresies, right?""Correct. They fabricated all kinds of charges. Sodomy, urination on the cross, devil worship, quitea list.""And on that list was the worship of false idols, right? Specifically, the Church accused theTemplars of secretly performing rituals in which they prayed to a carved stone head... the pagangod—""Baphomet!" Teabing blurted. "My heavens, Robert, you're right! A headstone praised byTemplars!"Langdon quickly explained to Sophie that Baphomet was a pagan fertility god associated with thecreative force of reproduction. Baphomet's head was represented as that of a ram or goat, acommon symbol of procreation and fecundity. The Templars honored Baphomet by encircling astone replica of his head and chanting prayers.
"Baphomet," Teabing tittered. "The ceremony honored the creative magic of sexual union, butPope Clement convinced everyone that Baphomet's head was in fact that of the devil. The Popeused the head of Baphomet as the linchpin in his case against the Templars."Langdon concurred. The modern belief in a horned devil known as Satan could be traced back toBaphomet and the Church's attempts to recast the horned fertility god as a symbol of evil. TheChurch had obviously succeeded, although not entirely. Traditional American Thanksgiving tablesstill bore pagan, horned fertility symbols. The cornucopia or "horn of plenty" was a tribute toBaphomet's fertility and dated back to Zeus being suckled by a goat whose horn broke off andmagically filled with fruit. Baphomet also appeared in group photographs when some joker raisedtwo fingers behind a friend's head in the V-symbol of horns; certainly few of the prankstersrealized their mocking gesture was in fact advertising their victim's robust sperm count.
"Yes, yes," Teabing was saying excitedly. "Baphomet must be what the poem is referring to. Aheadstone praised by Templars.""Okay," Sophie said, "but if Baphomet is the headstone praised by Templars, then we have a newdilemma." She pointed to the dials on the cryptex. "Baphomet has eight letters. We only have roomfor five."Teabing grinned broadly. "My dear, this is where the Atbash Cipher comes into play"
兰登看到，索菲还沉浸在讲述目睹"神婚"经历时颤栗的情绪里。对他而言，他听到她的讲述后大为惊奇。索菲不但亲眼看到仪式的整个过程，而且还亲眼看到她祖父自始至终是该仪式的参与者……郇山隐修会的大师。这可是很有智慧的一帮人。达。芬奇、波提切利、埃撒克。牛顿、维克多。雨果、让。考克托……还有雅克。索尼埃。
"我不知道我还能跟你说些什么。"兰登轻轻地说。
索菲双眼放出绿光，充满了恐惧。"他待我就像待自己的亲生女儿一样。"
兰登终于明白他们谈话时索菲眼里流露出的情感--是懊悔，让人觉得寥远而又深沉。此前，索菲。奈芙一直在回避她的祖父，然而现在，她总算学会以一种全新的眼光去看待他了。
舱外，黎明的脚步是越来越快了，那粉红色的氤氲，正从飞机的右舷弥漫开来。而他们下面的那个星球，依旧是漆黑的一片。
"我说伙计，要不要吃点什么？"提彬又回到他们中间，颇有几分自得。他拿来了几听可乐，还有一盒陈放了很久的饼干。他一边分东西给他们，一边为东西不多而拼命地道歉。
"我们的伙计修道士还没开口招认呢。"他唱歌似地说道："不过，还是多给他一点时间吧。
"他咬了口饼干，看着那首诗："亲爱的，有什么进展没有？"他望着索菲："你祖父到底想告诉我们什么呢？那块基石，那块被圣殿骑士歌颂过的基石究竟在哪里呢？"
索菲摇摇头，一言不发。
就在提彬再次揣摩那首诗的当儿，兰登开了一罐可乐，转身面对着窗户。他的脑海里又浮现出那些秘密仪式和尚待破译的密码。"圣殿骑士赞美的基石，就是开启此门的钥匙。
"他呷了一大口可乐。圣殿骑士赞美的基石。可乐还有点热呢。黑夜的面纱很快被曙光揭去，兰登目睹了昼夜的更换，他看到了飞机下面波光粼粼的海洋。到了英吉利海峡，就不用等上那么久了。
兰登倒是希望这黎明的曙光能够将他混沌一片的思维点亮，然而舱外越是明亮，他对真相的把握就越是迷惘。他仿佛听到了五步抑扬格的节奏以及人们反复的吟唱。"神婚"与神圣仪式上的声音，在和着飞机的轰鸣声回响。圣殿骑士赞美的基石。
飞机再次着陆了。这时，兰登的脑海里突然闪过感悟的光芒。他狠命的把喝光的可乐罐子砸了下去。"你不会相信的。"他转身对其他人说："这块圣殿骑士赞美的基石--我知道是怎么一回事了。"提彬看着着碟子："这么说你知道基石在哪里了？"
兰登笑了笑："我不知道它在哪里，可我知道它是什么。"
索菲俯身过来倾听。
"我认为headstone 就取它的字面意义，是指石头，而不是什么坟墓的基石。"兰登解释说，内心充满了某人在学术上取得突破进展时特有的那种熟悉的喜悦。
"你是说石头？"提彬紧跟着问。
索菲似乎同样感到茫然。
"雷爵士，在宗教法庭肆意镇压异教徒期间，教会不是诬蔑圣殿骑士们都是异教徒吗？"兰登转过身子说。
"对呀，他们罗列了许多罪名，什么鸡奸啦，往十字架上撒尿啦，瞎搞鬼神崇拜啦，等等等等，不一而足。""在这些罪名里不是还提到盲目崇拜神像这一项吗？具体说来，就是教会指责圣殿骑士们秘密举行向石像祈祷的仪式……而这座石像，就是异教神……""你是指鲍芙默神！"提彬失声叫了出来："天哪，罗伯特，你说得太对了！你说的就是那块被圣殿骑士赞美过的石头！"
兰登赶快给索菲解释，告诉她鲍芙默神是异教徒掌管生殖的神，是与人类的生殖能力联系在一起的。鲍芙默神的头是羊的形状，羊是具有旺盛生命力的普遍标志。圣殿骑士们围着它的头部石像，念着祈祷词，以此来表达他们对鲍芙默神的敬意。
"鲍芙默神。"提彬嗤嗤地笑道："举行这种仪式就是歌颂通过性的结合来创造生命的神奇，可是克雷芒教皇却让大家相信鲍芙默神的头其实是魔鬼的头。这位教皇利用鲍芙默神的头大做文章，把它当作反对圣殿骑士的重要突破口。"兰登对此表示赞同。现代人信仰一种长角的被称作撒旦的鬼神，其历史可追溯到对鲍芙默神的崇拜上，教会企图将这尊长角的象征生命力的神贬为邪恶的标志。教会很明显取得了成功，尽管不是全面意义上的。在美国人庆祝传统的"感恩节"的餐桌上，仍然可以看到带有异教色彩的、各种长角的具有旺盛生命力的东西。装满花果象征丰饶的羊角，是献给鲍芙默神生命力的礼赞，这在天神宙斯受到一只山羊的哺育以后就有了。这只山羊折断了角，但它的角却变戏法似的装满了水果。鲍芙默神也出现在群像里，有些爱开玩笑的人，在朋友的脑后伸出两根手指，作出V 字形的手势。当然，这些爱搞恶作剧的人，又有几人会意识到他们作出俏皮的手势，其实是在为被他们嘲弄的人的旺盛的生命力做广告呢？
"是的，是的。"提彬激动地说。"鲍芙默神一定是诗里所提到的，那块被圣殿骑士们赞美过的基石。""好啦。"索菲接过话："但如果鲍芙默神就是那块被圣殿骑士们赞美过的基石的话，那我们就又碰上了一个进退两难的难题了。"她指着密码盒上的刻度盘。"鲍芙默这个词有八个字母，但我们要找的只是五个字母的词呢。"提彬笑得更欢了。"亲爱的，这样一来，埃特巴什码就能派上用场了。"