The granite key, p.24
The Granite Key, page 24
“Why don’t you just tell us what the line says?” Cassie urged.
Griffin sighed. “It reads: ‘You will find the first of five you seek.’”
“Five,” Erik echoed. “I guess this isn’t gonna be a slam dunk after all.”
“They could be hidden anywhere.” Cassie felt dismayed. “Scattered halfway across the planet for all we know.”
“Not to worry,” Griffin said reassuringly. “We have more code to translate. Hopefully, the next set of characters will give us the location of the first relic at least.” He ran his hand over a second line of symbols carved several inches below the first.
It took several more minutes of page-shuffling and note-scratching before Griffin glanced up, scowling slightly.
“That is not a happy face,” Erik observed.
“Admittedly this line is a bit obscure,” Griffin hedged. “It reads: ‘When the soul of the lady rises with the sun.’”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” the security coordinator challenged irritably.
Griffin shrugged. “Haven’t a clue. It may be a metaphor. It may be a reference to a point in time. In either case, this will take additional research to sort out.”
Cassie slumped forward and rubbed her forehead. “Guess we aren’t going to be able to scamper off and collect those bones tomorrow, are we?”
“Don’t give way.” Griffin tried to sound comforting. “There’s bound to be something less abstract in the next line.” His fingers traced some additional markings carved in the middle of the stone. “Oh dear,” he said in dismay.
Erik pointed his flashlight on the spot. Directly below the first two lines of code, the rock had been hollowed out. Beneath the niche were additional glyphs.
“Hmmm,” the scrivener said ponderously.
“More problems?” Erik sounded tense.
Griffin referred to his photos of the symbols and then back to the boulder again. “You see these markings just here? They don’t seem to match any of the characters we have.”
“Great!” Cassie exclaimed. “We came all this way to translate two lines that don’t tell us anything yet.”
“Oh, ye of little faith,” the scrivener intoned. “Give me a few moments to sort this out.” He sat down cross-legged on the ground in front of the stone and stared at it.
Cassie thought he’d gone into a trance because he continued to stare at it for about ten minutes without moving. She groaned. This didn’t look good. What were they missing?
“Would this help?” Erik asked laconically as he held out the granite key toward Griffin.
“What?” the scrivener looked up at him distractedly, not realizing what he was holding. Then recognition dawned. “Good grief, where did you get that?”
“You left it behind at the hotel. I thought it might be important, so I brought it with me.”
Griffin took the stone key contemplatively. “Despite my initial ideas about the key, I’ve come to the conclusion we don’t need it physically at all. In fact, I’m not quite sure what good it will do to—” He stopped short and caught his breath. “Hello, what’s this?”
Cassie shone her flashlight up at Erik. “Do you know what he’s talking about?”
The security coordinator rolled his eyes. “I hardly ever know what he’s talking about.”
Griffin was on his knees in front of the boulder again, trying to fit the granite key into the slot in the large rock.
Erik and Cassie both focused their beams on the hollow spot on the boulder.
After Griffin positioned the key, he studied it for a minute. “No, that’s not it,” he murmured half to himself. He rotated the stone cylinder and tried fitting it into the slot again. “Not quite yet.” Rotating it yet again, he leaned back on his heels to consider. “Ingenious!” he exclaimed, his voice filled with admiration.
Cassie leaned forward to peer over his shoulder. “What is?”
Erik held his flashlight steady over the key.
“You see these markings on the boulder, just here?” Griffin asked her.
“What about them?”
“They constitute half of a symbol. The other half is on the edge of the key itself.” It would be the same as if I did this.” He took one of the pages of symbol photographs and drew a line across the row of hieroglyphs, bisecting each of them through the middle.
“I get it.” Cassie nodded approvingly. “Those hash marks on each edge of the key. They’re actually the top half of a symbol.”
“Yes, but the trick is to know which side of the key to fit into the groove on the boulder. The key has five sides, hence five edges with half symbols.” Griffin observed the boulder again. “I believe I’ve aligned them properly now. Let me try to translate the next line.”
He sat back down in a cross-legged position. Cassie held a flashlight over his various note papers, so he could write unencumbered while Erik held a light over the inscription on the boulder.
It took Griffin another fifteen minutes of muttering and leafing through his notes to finish the job. “Aha!” he exclaimed. “A useful clue at last!”
His companions exchanged an eager look.
“It reads: ‘At the home of the Mountain Mother.’”
Cassie felt more than a little deflated.
Sensing her reaction, Griffin protested, “Just be glad I was able to make it sound even that intelligible. Linear B is not a language that lends itself well to poetry. I might as well be using an accounting glossary to write blank verse!”
The pythia relented. “I know you’re doing the best you can.”
“Moreover, that line isn’t as cryptic as you might think.” The scrivener smiled for the first time. “The term ‘Mountain Mother’ is a very precise epithet for the goddess. It was used specifically in connection with her place of worship on Mount Ida.”
“So that line gives us a place to look?” Cassie asked uncertainly. “There’s a mountain on Crete that’s called Ida?”
“Exactly so,” Griffin affirmed. “And a peak sanctuary where the great goddess was venerated. The home, if you will, of the Mountain Mother.”
Erik rubbed his head wearily. “Time for a recap. What does the message say when you put it all together?”
Griffin referred to his notes. “The entire text now reads: ‘You will find the first of five you seek, when the soul of the lady rises with the sun, at the home of the Mountain Mother.’”
“So, we know how many relics there are and where the first one is hidden,” the security coordinator mused out loud.
“All that remains is to solve the riddle of the second line,” Griffin added. “A task which cannot be accomplished here. Might I suggest we continue this discussion in more comfortable surroundings?”
Cassie stood up, dusting off her jeans. “It looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us.”
From out of nowhere, an arm shot out across her throat, pulling her backwards. She could feel a gun barrel pointed at her temple.
A voice with a southern accent punctuated the darkness. “I’d say your work is just about done, folks.”
Chapter 38—Rock and Roll
GRIFFIN AND ERIK SENT the beams of their flashlights in the direction of the voice. They revealed a man with one arm across Cassie’s neck and the other pointing a pistol at her head.
“Now, you boys don’t want to do anything foolish, do you? Get this young lady killed or somethin’ like that?” he drawled. “Hands up where I can see ‘em, fellers.”
“Who are you?” Griffin demanded, raising his arms above his head.
“It’s him,” Cassie said shakily. “It’s the man who killed my sister.” In all her fantasies of confronting Leroy Hunt, she had never imagined this scenario. Her visions had always included a cordon of policemen standing between her and her sister’s murderer while she hurled taunts at him.
“Hold on there, missy. I never killed your big sis,” Hunt protested in a wounded tone.
“You were chasing her, and she fell! You might as well have killed her!”
The cowboy’s voice grew wary. “Now how’d you come to know that? Were you hidin’ out in the shop someplace?”
“I had a nightmare, and you were in it. I saw everything!”
“Cass,” Erik cautioned. It was the first time he’d actually used her name. “You really don’t want to upset the nice man, do you?”
“That’s right.” Leroy nodded approvingly. “You listen to that boy. He’s talkin’ sense. You ought’nt to rile a feller who’s got a gun pointed at your head. It just ain’t smart.”
“As if that matters!” Cassie could feel tears of frustration and sadness welling up in her eyes. The man who had pointlessly ended her sister’s life was about to end hers for no better reason.
“Mr. Hunt,” a voice called out tentatively from the shadows.
“Daniel,” Hunt shouted over his shoulder. “You stay behind me and point that flashlight so’s I can see everybody.”
“But Mr. Hunt,” the voice pleaded. “The Fallen Ones have given us all the information we need. We should be leaving now.”
“Don’t tell me my business, boy!” Leroy shot back. “Your daddy give me a job to do, and I’m gonna see that it gets done proper.”
“But Mr. Hunt,” the voice was more urgent now.
“Mr. Hunt, nothin’!” Leroy bellowed. “Do like I told you and train that flashlight over here.”
Cassie could hear the sound of feet scuffling through the dirt some distance behind her. A light flicked on obediently to reveal her two companions with their hands raised over their heads. Erik looked tight-mouthed and tense while Griffin was still gaping in shock. For once in his life, he seemed to be at a loss for words.
“I believe we got some loose ends need tyin’ up,” Hunt said pleasantly. “How about you two boys walk on down that ramp and go inside that tomb you was just lookin’ at.”
“Why should they?” Cassie demanded. “You’re just going to kill us all anyway!”
“Cass!” Erik warned again.
“Maybe I will, and maybe I won’t. There’s a lot of maybes could happen in the next five minutes or so.” He paused and regarded the two men who remained motionless.
“Daniel, you keep that light steady on them boys.” The beam traveled to the men’s faces, causing them to blink. “You fellers go on and do like I told you.”
Erik and Griffin, arms still overhead and flashlights still in hand, exchanged looks and complied. Hunt followed with Cassie in lockstep slightly ahead of him. She could feel the gun scraping against her temple as they walked. Daniel followed, his flashlight pointed dutifully ahead of the strange procession.
The men paused in front of the stomion.
“Go on now,” Hunt urged once more. “Inside.”
They had to crawl through the top half of the doorway since the bottom half was filled with fallen rock and gravel.
Once they were inside, Leroy threaded his way carefully down the rock-strewn ramp, still gripping Cassie by the neck.
He stopped right in front of the doorway. “Alright, missy, it’s your turn. In the hole. And don’t try runnin’. No way you can get past me anyhow without takin’ a bullet. Might as well join your friends inside.”
Cassie had no intention of trying to make a break for it. The dromos was only three feet wide, and most of it was clogged with debris. She wouldn’t be able to move in any direction without being caught. Hunt released his grip on her neck so she could breathe freely again. She knew the gun was still pointed at her as she crawled through the stomion into the tomb. Her companions trained their flashlights on her to make sure she was alright. She gave them a tremulous smile and walked to the center of the chamber. Erik pulled her behind him in a futile gesture of protection. Griffin closed ranks next to him.
“Daniel, come on down here and hand me that light,” Hunt instructed, his voice calm and matter-of-fact—as if he were asking someone to pass the peas at the dinner table.
“Please, Mr. Hunt!” the voice whined from the darkness once more. “I’m sure Father never intended for something like this to happen.”
“The hell he didn’t,” Leroy said over his shoulder. “Why’d you think he pulled me into this mess? To babysit you? You better do like I say, or he’s gonna know what a gutless wonder his boy is. You want that? You want me goin’ back and tellin’ your daddy how you let him down?”
“No,” the voice quavered.
“Good, that’s settled then,” Hunt said emphatically. “Now hand me that goddam light!”
Daniel wordlessly complied.
The cowboy leaned across the pile of rock that filled the lower half of the stomion, a flashlight in one hand and a gun in the other.
Cassie looked around the circular burial chamber—stone and mortar, no windows, not even a dark corner to hide in. They were trapped.
“Well, ain’t this handy. More folks ought to get snuffed right inside a tomb. Saves on funeral costs.” Leroy took aim and murmured, “Easy as shootin’ fish in a barrel.”
Cassie instinctively shut her eyes and put her hands over her ears. She didn’t want to know what was coming next.
What came next was something nobody expected. Without warning, a low rumble emanated from beneath their feet. The earth began to shiver. Cassie lost her balance. It seemed as if rock was raining down from the sky. The dromos walls were collapsing.
Leroy quickly retracted his head from the stomion.
Cassie could hear him calling to his companion. “Looks like Mother Nature is gonna finish the job for us. Come on, Daniel. We best get outta here while we still can!” The sound of footsteps sliding over gravel echoed in the tomb as the men scampered over the rock pile. The noise of their hasty retreat had barely faded before rock came crashing through the doorway, filling up the stomion completely, and burying the Arkana team inside.
When the rumbling of the earth finally subsided, the silence that followed possessed the stillness of death.
Chapter 39—Exit Strategy
STUNNED AND TREMBLING, Cassie struggled to sit up. Her flashlight had rolled to the side of the chamber, the beam pointing toward the wall. She crawled on all fours to retrieve it. Swinging the light around in a wide arc, she asked, “Erik? Griffin? Are you guys all right?”
Erik sat up, coughing from the dust blown into the chamber by fallen rock. “I’m OK,” he confirmed succinctly. “Griffin?”
From another part of the tomb, the scrivener answered. “Miraculously, we all still seem to be alive.” He wiped a thick coating of dust from his face, retrieved his flashlight, and stood up. Shining his beam toward the stomion, he revealed that it was now completely filled with rock. “Alive for the moment anyway. It would appear we’re sealed in.”
Erik walked over to the doorway and tried pushing against the newly fallen boulders at the top. They rolled inward as a pile on the other side of the door rushed to take their place.
Cassie fumbled in her jacket pocket for her phone, thinking she might be able to reach Xenia. “No good,” she said. “There’s no signal down here.” She looked around the stone chamber nervously. “How long before we run out of air?”
Griffin’s eyes traveled around their enclosure, judging its size and calculating air volume. “Several hours, I’d say.”
“OK, everybody stop breathing.” The pythia laughed weakly. “Let’s try to conserve oxygen.”
“If you stopped chattering, that would be a good start,” Erik snapped. He wandered around the center of the chamber, training his flashlight on the domed ceiling of the vault as he studied it closely.
Stung by the rebuke, Cassie rounded on him. “By the way, weren’t you supposed to provide security for this field mission? Great job of letting the crazy cowboy sneak up on us. Really fine work!”
Even in the dim light, she could see Erik’s face redden. Apparently, the pythia had struck a nerve. “I might have heard him coming if you two weren’t yakking all the time!”
“So, it’s all our fault?” She leaped to her feet, ready to go toe-to-toe, but Griffin interposed himself between the combatants.
“This isn’t helping the situation,” he objected. “We need to cooperate if we’re going to get out of this dilemma.”
“Aren’t you the optimist,” Cassie muttered angrily as she retreated to the opposite wall of the chamber.
Griffin sat down beside her. “We just need to calm ourselves and assess the problem rationally.”
The two watched Erik as he stuffed his lit flashlight into his jacket pocket and raised his arms above his head. Then he began walking around the perimeter of the room, waving his hands gently from side to side.
“How very extraordinary,” Griffin remarked.
“Do you think he’s finally lost it?” the pythia whispered doubtfully. “Or maybe he just wants us to join him in a chorus of Kumbaya.”
“I can hear you,” Erik stated flatly. “You’re both using up my air.” He stopped pacing and stood before a section of wall. Standing on his toes, he reached his arms higher and waved them side to side. “Yup, that’s it,” he commented half to himself.
“What are you doing?” Griffin asked.
“Checking for air flow. You think you could give me a hand here, stretch?”
Griffin was several inches taller than Erik. He hastened to the other side of the room and mimicked the security coordinator’s movements. He waved his arms overhead and then stopped at a particular spot on the wall. “Yes, I believe you’re right. I feel it.”
Cassie stood up impatiently and walked over to join the other two. “What is it?” she demanded.
Griffin smiled at her. “A draft.”
“Meaning what exactly?”
‘It means a way out,” Erik explained laconically.
“How do you figure?” The pythia wasn’t convinced that a slight breeze was anything to cheer about.
Griffin explained. “This dromos is approximately twenty feet in diameter and about twenty feet high at the apex of the dome. Judging from what we observed on the outside, the top half of the dome has been exposed to the elements for quite some time. For centuries, possibly a millennium, moisture has worked its way into the mortar. The action of repeated freezing and melting has separated the clay from the surrounding stones.”
