Riddle Of The Diamond Dove (The Arkana Archaeology Mystery Series Book 4) Page 10

  “It wouldn’t help,” Cassie murmured.

  They all turned to look at her with blank surprise.

  She gave a half-hearted smile. “The Minoans haven’t been here.”

  “Then we should go to the next village,” Oluoma urged. “There are monoliths scattered all around this area.”

  Cassie shook her head. “No, I mean the Minoans haven’t been within a hundred miles of here. I can feel it.”

  Her listeners traded uncertain glances.

  Erik kicked irritably at the grass underfoot. “That’s just swell. I can’t wait to call Maddie and tell her. I’ll be deaf by the time she’s through with me.”

  Griffin sprang to his feet. “There’s no need to contact her just yet. Why not wait until we have some useful information to convey?”

  Erik was silent a moment, considering the possibility. “There are some stone circles in Senegal and Gambia. We should check those out next. Maybe we’ll catch a break.”

  The Scrivener frowned. “I rather think our best chance would be to have a look at the monoliths around Bouar in the Central African Republic. After all, they lie at the geographic center of the continent and were erected as part of an ancient survey done thousands of years ago. They seem the more likely prospect.”

  Both men turned questioningly to the Pythia.

  “Cass, do you get any vibe about which way we should go?” Erik asked hopefully. “What’s it gonna be? West or east?”

  The young woman rubbed her head distractedly. “I’m not picking up anything right now but a whole lot of static. I think I need to step back. Give me the night to sleep on it and maybe tomorrow morning I’ll get a feel for what we should do.”

  It was a tribute to Cassie’s hard-won credibility that no one even bothered to question her hunches anymore. Wordlessly, they all trudged back to the car for the long return trip to Calabar.

  Chapter 17—Accomplice After The Artifact

  Daniel strode up the escalator two stairs at a time. He glanced at his watch. It was already eleven in the morning. Surely, today David would be back at his post in the ancient history section of the library. Daniel’s eagerness was motivated by something more than the desire to see his friend. He had an important question to ask. He headed for the reference desk without his usual hesitation. His pulse quickened when he spied David standing behind the counter, engrossed in reading a catalog.

  Daniel’s eyes immediately gravitated to the librarian’s apparel. He had begun to pay attention to attire now that he’d spent more time in the outer world. Although the Scion was no great judge of such matters, the words that best described David’s style of clothing would have been casual elegance. Today he wore dark woolen trousers and a moss green cardigan which Daniel recognized as cashmere. Beneath it was a striped button down shirt left open at the collar to reveal a small gold necklace. Ruefully thinking of his own black suit, white shirt and black tie, Daniel recalled that Leroy Hunt referred to such garb as a “funeral suit.” He no longer felt inclined to disagree with the mercenary. He wished he knew how to dress better.

  The fashion plate looked up and smiled when he saw who was approaching. “Hey there, stranger. Long time no see.”

  Daniel shifted his attention from his friend’s clothes to his physical attributes. The librarian’s eyes were a shade of blue which Daniel had only seen when gazing out over the Aegean Sea. The young man’s hair was a mass of golden waves worn just long enough to curl around his collar. His square jawline terminated in a perfect cleft chin. He reminded Daniel of one of the seraphim pictured in his father’s holy books.

  “H...hi,” the Scion managed to mumble. “How are you feeling?”

  “Much better, thanks for asking.” The librarian flashed a brilliant smile. “That’s what I get for partying too hard over the weekend.”

  The dazzling smile made it even harder for Daniel to concentrate. “I... I’m glad you’re better, David,” he stammered.

  His friend regarded him with amusement. “How long have you been coming to the library? Almost a year now, isn’t it?”

  The Scion quailed. Perhaps he was going to be told to leave. “Uh... close to a year. That is, um, I think so.”

  The librarian leaned forward over the counter and whispered confidentially, “People who see me as often as you do get to call me ‘Chris’.”

  “Chris?” Daniel replied uncertainly. “Why would they do that?”

  “Don’t be a silly. You know ‘Christian’ is my last name.”

  “It is?” Daniel asked in puzzlement.

  “I told you that the first day we met.”

  Daniel blushed in embarrassment. “Oh, I thought you meant you were a Christian.”

  The librarian chuckled. “Well, I am a Christian. I’m a member of a family whose name happens to be ‘Christian’.”

  “But you were wearing a cross around your neck the first time I saw you,” Daniel protested in confusion.

  “And today I’m wearing an ankh—the Egyptian symbol of eternal life. See.” He held out the gold pendant around his neck so Daniel could inspect it more closely. “Cross, ankh. They’re all just accessories.”

  “My mistake.” Daniel stepped back a pace. “But why don’t you like ‘David’? I think it’s a very nice name. Regal, like King David from the Bible.”

  The librarian rolled his eyes. “It’s not regal, it’s hideous. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always hated it. So stuffy and formal. All my friends call me ‘Chris’ because it’s short and simple.”

  “Your friends?” Daniel hesitated. “You mean you consider me a friend?”

  “I’d like to,” Chris replied softly.

  Daniel felt flustered though secretly pleased. He even managed a shaky smile. “OK, then. I’ll call you ‘Chris’ from now on.” He looked around the reading room furtively. “Is there somewhere we can go and talk privately?”

  Chris gave him a sly wink. “Sure, what did you have in mind?”

  The question puzzled Daniel. He didn’t quite understand. “I... uh... There’s something confidential I need to talk to you about.”

  The librarian raised his eyebrows in mock surprise. “What a man of mystery you are! Just a minute.” Chris poked his head through the swinging doors behind the reference desk. “Libby?” he called out to someone in the back room, presumably the humorless woman who had scowled at Daniel during his last visit. “Libby, I’m going to take my break now. Would you be a lamb and cover the desk for me for a few minutes?”

  She must have said yes because Chris returned and motioned for Daniel to follow him. The librarian hesitated when they got to the elevator. “Just how confidential is this conversation?”

  “Very,” Daniel replied.

  His companion nodded and pressed the “Up” button.

  “Where are we going?” the Scion asked.

  “To the Rare Book Exhibit on the top floor,” Chris replied. “The room is used for fundraisers, receptions, that sort of thing. Strictly after-hours affairs. Nobody will be in there now and it just so happens that I know the key code.”

  The two young men took the elevator up four flights and were deposited in a hallway facing double glass doors. Chris swiped his key through the card reader next to the doors and punched in a five-digit code. After the two were inside, the doors automatically relocked with a loud click.

  Daniel had never seen anything like the contents of this room before. The walls were lined with glass cases containing row upon row of rare books. Some weren’t even books but manuscripts with illustrations painted on parchment. Many of them were medieval bibles because Daniel was able to read the Latin text. Other cases displayed objects even older—papyrus scrolls written in languages the Scion couldn’t begin to guess at. “This is amazing,” he said in awe as he wandered from case to case.

  “C’mon over here.” Chris patted a seat on a circular bench positioned in the center of the room directly under a stained glass skylight.

  Daniel eagerly obeyed. />
  The librarian turned to give him his undivided blue-eyed attention. For no particular reason, Daniel felt his pulse quicken.

  “Now what’s all this cloak-and-dagger business about?” Chris asked archly.

  “Cloak and dagger?” Daniel repeated uncertainly.

  The librarian smiled. “Oops, my bad. I forgot how pop culture-challenged you are.”

  Daniel merely stared at him in confusion.

  “One day you’ll have to tell me the sad, sad story of how you got to be such a babe in the woods.” Less mockingly, Chris added, “All kidding aside, something is really bothering you. What’s the matter?”

  Daniel took a deep breath to calm his racing heart. “I’m working on a project for my father that involves collecting certain ancient artifacts.”

  The librarian crossed his legs and clasped his hands around one knee.

  Daniel, with his newfound fashion obsession, couldn’t help giving his friend’s oxblood loafers an admiring glance.

  Chris was still speaking. “I always wondered why you needed me to help you dig up so much (you’ll forgive the expression) ‘dirt’ about ancient cultures. Mysterious ancient artifacts, eh? What a hoot. So you’re like Indiana Jones?”

  “Indiana who?”

  The librarian gave his friend a pitying sigh. “Maybe we’d get farther if I stopped asking questions you don’t understand and just let you explain.”

  Daniel nodded and continued. “No one is supposed to know what I’m doing so I hesitated to confide in you until I felt I could trust you.”

  The blinding smile returned, displaying a row of perfect white teeth.

  “Anyway, each of the artifacts I’m trying to find can only be located by solving a riddle.”

  “Get out!” Chris leaned forward eagerly. You’re not joking, are you?”

  The Scion shook his head.

  “So you want me to help you with these riddles?”

  “Yes. I thought perhaps if we went over the lines that I couldn’t decipher myself in past clues, it might help me locate the next artifact more quickly.”

  “Nobody will ever believe this!” Chris exclaimed.

  Daniel gripped him hard by the forearm. “Nobody must know! Swear it.”

  His urgency seemed to have a sobering influence on the librarian. “Daniel, it’s alright. Calm down. I promise not to tell anyone. Cross my heart.”

  Daniel released his grip. He reached into his briefcase and showed Chris a sheet of paper. “I’ve translated a few of the lines that I was never able to decipher.”

  Chris studied the paper. He read the clues out loud. “Set your course four bees from the dragon’s wing to the sea. When the bull turns the season, mark where the goat grazes the spinner’s peak.” After he was done, he stared at Daniel in disbelief. “You thought I would know what this means? It’s gibberish.”

  Daniel gave a nervous little smile. “Perhaps you just don’t know that you know. You’ve helped me so much in the past. I wouldn’t understand how to use a computer at all if not for you. Please try. These clues were made by Minoans from Crete. About three thousand years ago.”

  The librarian’s eyes sparkled with interest at the mention of the name. “Minoans! So that’s the reason for all that research on Linear B last year. You even got me hooked. I started reading up on Minoan civilization in my off hours.” He looked down at the sheet of paper and frowned in concentration. “What do you think these ancient Minoans were trying to tell you?”

  “All the riddles were used to find geographic locations.”

  For a few moments, Chris gazed off into space, lost in thought. “Geographic locations,” he murmured half to himself. “The Minoans were famous sea merchants. They had some fairly sophisticated navigation techniques.” Finally he transferred his attention back to Daniel and fixed him with a triumphant grin. “I think you were right. I just might be able to help you figure this out.”

  Chapter 18—Winging It

  Cassie tiredly switched on the light in her hotel room. It had been a long, long day. Throwing her room key on the nightstand, she fell backwards onto the bed. She found herself wondering why she felt so sleepy. After all, she’d done nothing more than sit in a car for most of the day. Faye had once told her that sometimes people with her “special gift” used sleep as a way to escape sensory overload. Dreaming allowed the subconscious to sort out the jumble of information and create a coherent pattern from it. She decided she liked that explanation better than Erik’s opinion that she was a wimp when it came to travel and that she should take some No Doze and power through it. Sighing, she closed her eyes. All she needed was forty winks.

  ***

  Cassie found herself standing in the park in Alok next to one of the strange little monoliths they had visited earlier that day. Time must have skipped forward because now it was dawn. The sun was rising just outside the park off to her right.

  She whirled around but no one else was in sight. Transferring her attention to the park entrance, she saw a figure swathed in a hooded cloak gliding across the grass. It stopped several feet away from her. The figure folded back its hood to reveal the face of a woman with long grey hair. Cassie recognized her instantly as the aged Minoan priestess she had seen in her vision on the Basque mountain. The woman reached into a pocket of her cloak and retrieved an object. With a start, Cassie recognized the lapis dove. The priestess looked her right in the eye and smiled gently. She held the dove out before her with both hands. To Cassie’s amazement, the bird came to life. No longer a stiff carving made of lapis lazuli and jewels, it ruffled its feathers and launched itself directly upward from the priestess’s hands. Cassie’s eyes followed as the bird hovered above her. Its silhouette hung suspended against the sky for a few seconds before it glided on outstretched wings in the direction of the sun.

  Cassie snapped awake immediately and scrambled out of bed. In a surreal imitation of her dream, she could see dawn breaking outside her window. She looked at the bedside clock. It was 7 am. Surprisingly, she’d slept straight through the night although it felt as if she’d been dreaming for only minutes. Her lips curved into a smile. The priestess had given her a pretty good clue as to where to find the next relic.

  ***

  Cassie entered the hotel dining room to find Erik and Griffin at a table, hunched together in bleak conversation. They both glanced up at her approach.

  Erik’s gaze narrowed. “What do you look so happy about?”

  Griffin was a trifle less surly. “Have you gotten an impression of where we should search next?” he asked anxiously.

  “Boy, have I!” Cassie exclaimed as she took a seat. Beckoning the waitress, she ordered coffee and began to peruse the menu. “So what looks good?” she asked of no one in particular.

  Both men stared at her blankly.

  “Seriously, all you can think about is breakfast?” Erik asked in disbelief.

  “I can’t work on an empty stomach,” she replied serenely.

  “Won’t you give us a hint?” Griffin wheedled.

  “You mean like the hint you refused to give me when we were in Spain?” she retorted.

  “I had no idea you were so vindictive,” the Scrivener replied. “I’m really quite appalled.”

  “Oh, relax guys,” Cassie chuckled. “I’m just rattling your cages.”

  The waitress arrived with the coffee pot.

  The Pythia added, “But seriously, I do need to eat. I’m famished.”

  The men both grumbled in exasperation and gave the waitress their breakfast orders. Nobody seemed in the mood to try anything exotic so it was scrambled eggs all around.

  When the waitress departed for the kitchen, Erik lowered his voice. “Now will you tell us what’s going on?”

  “Absolutely.” Cassie took a few sips of coffee and began. “I had a dream last night and it was a doozy. I saw the Minoan priestess. She gave me a clue.”

  Her teammates leaned over the table, hanging on her every word.

  �
��Griffin, give me the bird,” she instructed.

  “I beg your pardon?” The Brit drew himself up.

  Cassie sighed. “Where’s the dove?”

  “Why, in my room, of course. You don’t think I’d come trotting into the dining room with a priceless artifact under my arm, do you?”

  “Then I’ll improvise. Do you have a sheet of paper on you?”

  “Certainly,” he replied, reaching for a leather-bound notebook on the table beside his plate. He tore off a sheet and handed it to Cassie.

  “You’re the go-to-guy for low tech solutions,” Cassie teased. She took the sheet and folded it into the shape of an airplane. “Let’s pretend this is the dove.”

  “The Minoan priestess taught you origami?” Erik asked sarcastically.

  “Ears open, mouth shut,” Cassie advised him. “In my dream, the dove came to life and flew up in the sky.” She mimicked the bird’s motion by holding the paper plane with its nose pointed toward the ceiling. “But then it changed direction. It flew toward the sunrise.” Cassie banked the paper aircraft sideways so that one of its wings pointed to the ceiling and the other to the floor. “Get it?” She nudged Griffin with her elbow.

  The Scrivener stared back at her vacantly for several seconds until the significance of her action dawned on him. “Oh my goddess! I’ve been remarkably stupid!”

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself,” Cassie consoled. “By the look on Erik’s face I’d say you’re still miles ahead of him.”

  The Paladin scowled. “Cut to the chase. What does it mean?”

  Griffin took the paper airplane out of Cassie’s hands. He contemplated it ruefully before turning his attention to Erik. “When I calculated the latitude we were to search, I measured the distance from the bird’s beak to the end of its tail. That measurement put us in equatorial Africa.”

  “Yeah, so what’s the problem?”

  “I failed to consider the part of the clue that mentions the direction of the dove’s flight—east.” Griffin spun the airplane sideways on the table. “I should have measured the distance from wing tip to wing tip.”