You seek the orb that ought be on his tomb.

　　Each of the carved knights within the Temple Church lay on his back with his head resting on arectangular stone pillow. Sophie felt a chill. The poem's reference to an "orb" conjured images ofthe night in her grandfather's basement.

　　Hieros Gamos. The orbs.

　　Sophie wondered if the ritual had been performed in this very sanctuary. The circular room seemedcustom-built for such a pagan rite. A stone pew encircled a bare expanse of floor in the middle. Atheater in the round, as Robert had called it. She imagined this chamber at night, filled withmasked people, chanting by torchlight, all witnessing a "sacred communion" in the center of theroom.

　　Forcing the image from her mind, she advanced with Langdon and Teabing toward the first groupof knights. Despite Teabing's insistence that their investigation should be conducted meticulously,Sophie felt eager and pushed ahead of them, making a cursory walk-through of the five knights onthe left.

　　Scrutinizing these first tombs, Sophie noted the similarities and differences between them. Everyknight was on his back, but three of the knights had their legs extended straight out while two hadtheir legs crossed. The oddity seemed to have no relevance to the missing orb. Examining theirclothing, Sophie noted that two of the knights wore tunics over their armor, while the other threewore ankle-length robes. Again, utterly unhelpful. Sophie turned her attention to the only otherobvious difference—their hand positions. Two knights clutched swords, two prayed, and one hadhis arms at his side. After a long moment looking at the hands, Sophie shrugged, having seen nohint anywhere of a conspicuously absent orb.

　　Feeling the weight of the cryptex in her sweater pocket, she glanced back at Langdon and Teabing.

　　The men were moving slowly, still only at the third knight, apparently having no luck either. In nomood to wait, she turned away from them toward the second group of knights.

　　As she crossed the open space, she quietly recited the poem she had read so many times now that itwas committed to memory.

　　In London lies a knight a Pope interred.

　　His labor's fruit a Holy wrath incurred.

　　You seek the orb that ought be on his tomb.

　　It speaks of Rosy flesh and seeded womb.

　　When Sophie arrived at the second group of knights, she found that this second group was similarto the first. All lay with varied body positions, wearing armor and swords.

　　That was, all except the tenth and final tomb.

　　Hurrying over to it, she stared down.

　　No pillow. No armor. No tunic. No sword.

　　"Robert? Leigh?" she called, her voice echoing around the chamber. "There's something missingover here."Both men looked up and immediately began to cross the room toward her.

　　"An orb?" Teabing called excitedly. His crutches clicked out a rapid staccato as he hurried acrossthe room. "Are we missing an orb?""Not exactly," Sophie said, frowning at the tenth tomb. "We seem to be missing an entire knight."Arriving beside her both men gazed down in confusion at the tenth tomb. Rather than a knightlying in the open air, this tomb was a sealed stone casket. The casket was trapezoidal, tapered at thefeet, widening toward the top, with a peaked lid.

　　"Why isn't this knight shown?" Langdon asked.

　　"Fascinating," Teabing said, stroking his chin. "I had forgotten about this oddity. It's been yearssince I was here.""This coffin," Sophie said, "looks like it was carved at the same time and by the same sculptor asthe other nine tombs. So why is this knight in a casket rather than in the open?"Teabing shook his head. "One of this church's mysteries. To the best of my knowledge, nobody hasever found any explanation for it.""Hello?" the altar boy said, arriving with a perturbed look on his face. "Forgive me if this seemsrude, but you told me you wanted to spread ashes, and yet you seem to be sightseeing."Teabing scowled at the boy and turned to Langdon. "Mr. Wren, apparently your family'sphilanthropy does not buy you the time it used to, so perhaps we should take out the ashes and geton with it." Teabing turned to Sophie. "Mr............