Izzy smiled with glee. Charles was right of course. She loved chasing after ancient relics. The sheer danger and excitement were enough to make a cat laugh. She missed it most during those days when she finally fell pregnant with Alexandra and couldn’t travel much. It was a void she battled to fill with only researching and watching from the sidelines. Not that she would ever give up falling pregnant with Alexandra; not for anything in the world! She was a miracle child after all.
They battled for many years to fall pregnant; all those doctors’ visits and pills and potions in the hope that she would one day fall pregnant. Then, Africa became their solace. Their way of escaping London and the sadness and pressure of wanting a child so desperately. Working hours and hours in complete silence, side by side. Busying themselves with their ongoing quest to find Rhapta. Somehow their Swahili tribe became their family and gave them the much-needed encouragement. Perhaps the fact that Izzy couldn't speak much Swahili was a blessing in disguise. Back home it was a constant, 'I'm so sorry Izzy' and 'why don't you just get a puppy or two.' As if!
She found herself looking across their campsite to where an all grown up Alexandra sat working at her laptop. She was fervently at it; eager to acquire as much information as possible on their new discovery. She was nothing but a beautiful blessing to them. A delightful young woman with the same burning fire in her heart. She was worth the wait, that's for sure and in hindsight; Izzy would drink the Sangoma's disgusting fertility potion ten times over.
As far as she was concerned time had flown by far too quickly. She remembered so vividly how they found the first pieces of pottery by the river. They all went out to celebrate, and before she knew it, she was sitting in front of the crazy looking African healer and knocking back her concoction; drunken state and all.
Izzy strolled over to Alexandra and leaned in over her shoulder.
"Find anything yet sweets?"
"Nah, nothing much. At least nothing more than we know already. The first batch of tests should be finished soon, then we should at least know for sure if it is ivory or not. Once that's established, it's fair to say it could very well be a Rhapta relic."
"Oh, Alexandra! A relic such as this one is a great find. We are so close I can feel it!"
"Izzy! Come quick. They found something else. Tell Alexandra to bring her computer. We're going to need those fancy programs of hers on this one."
Charles and Eric were hunched over something in the ground when Izzy and Alex joined them.
"What is it?" Izzy asked.
"Not sure my love. In all my years I haven't quite seen anything like it. It is a wooden box of some sort, but there is no opening to a lid or keyhole or latch; nothing, just a piece of wood."
"Hang on. Let me clean it up a bit more. Hand me that small brush, please?"
With a steady hand, Izzy brushed off all the debris and sand while they all watched with bated breath. It didn't take long to get it out of the ground, and a small, rectangular wooden box revealed itself. It was so quiet they could hear cells dividing.
"Hand-carved for certain."
"It would have been ebony wood. They carved anything and everything from ebony and then polished it till it shone. Masks, household items, animals... pretty much anything frankly." Alexandra volunteered just beaming with enthusiasm. "See if you can open it though. They used to hide things of value in boxes like these and then buried them."
Talk about an encyclopedia. Alexandra was a born historian. Where she stored all that information only she knew.
"Hmm, this box is a strange one though Alexandra. Look here. I can't seem to find an opening anywhere. I've never seen anything like it. It's solidly closed off on all the sides but there’s definitely something loose inside.”
"Here, let me see."
Izzy watched as her daughter meticulously inspected the wooden box and minutes later jumped up in elation.
“Do you realize what this is?" She shouted out to Charles like she was opening her presents on Christmas morning.
"It's an ancient puzzle box! Do you know what this MEANS? They only ever put items of significant value in these! Trade secrets, family heirlooms or keys to hidden treasures. I've only read about these and seen pictures of one found in Egypt, but to hold it! I can't wait to tell Jelani. He's going to freak out."
"Well, can you open it dear? We'd all like to see how this gadget works and if there is, in fact, anything hidden inside."
"It's not that easy Dad. It's most often crafted with extreme precision and has hidden sliders and drawers and latches. It's like a combination to a safe. I have to follow a perfectly executed sequence, or it goes nowhere. Like those Rubix cubes. It can take hours. Days even. Not to mention that it has been buried in the ground for centuries. There's just no way of knowing how long it will take. It might take me a bit, but I'll figure it out."
"I don't doubt that for a minute sweetheart. You're not our daughter for nothing." Charles flashed her a smile.
Over the next couple of hours, they worked the site inch by inch in the hope of finding more relics. Alexandra, on the other hand, ferociously continued at it with the box. A successful day indeed! Two remarkable relics in one day was a spectacular find. Archaeologists can go at it for weeks, months or even years and not find a single artifact.
Izzy looked up at Charles who was grinning from ear to ear.
"You know what's happening here don't you Charles.”
"Oh, I know love. Once Alexandra opens that box we're going to have to start the chase. If it is an old safe as she claims it to be, then chances are there would be a clue in there. Hopefully, one more clue leading us to Rhapta. Let's push another hour before we finish off today, just in case we find one more. It always happens in three's remember? Tomorrow the crew can carry on with the dig, and we can plan whereto from here."
He looked at his wife with a slanted smile while he dusted between the pegs.
"You just can't wait can you?" Packing a laugh. He knew his wife and he was right. Izzy loved strapping on her boots and crawling through caves.
"You know me too well Charles Benjamin Hunt. I'm running on pure adrenaline right now. How I'm even going to sleep tonight is left to be seen. What's more is that all three of us are together this time. If you think I have ants in my pants, wait until that daughter of ours figures out that box and opens it. She has not put it down once since we found it. It's a matter of time before she cracks it."
"Yes, that daughter of ours is bitten all right and may I just add a walking Wiki-thing."
"You mean Wikipedia."
Charles was old-fashioned and still trying to get acquainted with all the online terminology.
"Exactly. Wikipedia. I have a sneaky feeling we might need to decipher more than just a box though. I can feel it in my bones."
Izzy couldn’t help but giggle at his coin phrase again. Somehow, through all the years though, his bones have never lied.
"That's it! I got it! Dad I think I actually got it!" Alex shouted from the tent.
"Blistering fiddlesticks my girlie! Are you sure? Open it! Your mother can't bear the suspense.” Charles winked at his wife.
Alex slowly pulled back a wedge and flicked up a matchbox-sized pillar that set off a click and subsequently released the bottom of the box.
The air, thick with anticipation had them all silent as they poised over the box and watched as something dropped out from the drawer onto the table.
"What's that?” Eric spoke for the first time after having been silently hovering in the background with his camera for days.
"A sort of papyrus scroll I think,” Charles answered. “We're going to have to be very careful with this one Alexandra. The paper is quite brittle. Look. There seems to be a seal of some kind on the box."
The question lay heavily on all their minds as they simultaneously looked up at each other. Charles spoke first.
"Bugger that. I say we do it."
"Charles! Have you lost your marbles? We can’t. It will de
stroy any value it might hold."
"Where's your sense of adventure Izzy? Come on my love. How long haven't we been at this? Whatever is written on that scroll could lead us straight to Rhapta."
"Or not! We should only open it in the lab Charles. We don't know if the writing is well preserved or not."
"I agree. Open it." Once again, completely out of character, Eric spoke which piqued Charles’ suspicions that the guy was acting a little stranger than usual.
”Just saying Boss." Eric excused his behavior and snapped a couple more photos.
"Izzy, think about it. If we go at it with care, it should be just fine. We can't leave it now. That makes no sense.”
Charles had a point. They have come too far and risked too much.
"Fine. I guess you're right, I suppose. I mean this is what we've been after isn't it? A solid clue or trail to follow,” Izzy agreed.
"Open it, Alexandra! Just be careful with the seal. Try slicing it off rather,” Charles said eagerly.
With the precision of a brain surgeon, Alex used the scalpel and separated the seal from the paper. It came off with ease and remained intact. She unrolled the yellowed paper scroll and stretched it open.
"Blimey, it’s another bloody riddle. Go on, my girl. Read it."
What has a head but never weeps, has a bed but never sleeps, Can run but never walks and has a bank but no money?
"Bloody hell! What uncanny twister is this one?" Charles exclaimed in annoyance before having a stab at it. “Has a bed but never sleeps. Perhaps a kind of animal?" he guessed.
"No, that doesn't sound right Charles. Let's just think about this for a second. Running down a mountain... running thin…run short...run fast. Perhaps it is an animal. Like a cheetah or something. They run fast, don’t they?“
"Nah, Mum. Any animal can walk. See it says 'can run but never walk.' Can't be anything with visible legs. Besides, they all have beds too. We're looking at something figuratively. Like running for cover. But then it also says it has a head. Very confusing."
"I think you're on the right track Alexandra. It could be parables. Nothing literal. We need to think beyond the physical here. No actual objects. ‘…has a bank but no money...' "
"It's on the tip of my tongue I tell you. I can feel it in my bones."
"Dad!" and they all bellowed with laughter.
Another hour of deciphering went by before Izzy yelled out. "It's a RIVER!"
"Look! It has a river head, a river bed, a river runs and it has river banks. It's a RIVER!"
"Izzy my old darling! See this is why I married you!" Hugging his wife for cracking the riddle.
"Blistering blazers, you're right. It's a bloody river. Okay great. So we know it's by a river or perhaps in a river but which one though? There are gazillion rivers in Tanzania. We're missing something here. Alex, my pet. Look for another hidden drawer or something."
"There's nothing Dad. I've looked."
"Where is that seal, Alexandra? Let me have another look at it,” said Izzy.
Izzy took the seal from her daughter’s gloved hand and inspected it with a magnifying glass.
"It looks like a strange kind of cipher or something. Written in Greek, I think."
11525
"A combination perhaps to a lock?" Eric chirped again.
Izzy found herself wondering how Charles found Eric valuable to the team. The Uni insisted they take a photographer for the project for 'publicity sake,’ but Eric had been deathly quiet for weeks, never saying a single word. Now all of a sudden he was bubbling with interest. Izzy smelled a rat if ever there was one. She always had a sharp gut instinct. Charles felt it in his bones but Izzy, on the other hand, perpetually sensed when something was wrong in the very pit of her stomach.
"They didn't have combination locks back then, silly. Certainly not like we have them at least." Alexandra spat at him.
“But one thing’s for certain,” Charles added. “I am convinced we need a key of some sorts. A key that will open up a whole other existence."
Chapter Seven
Alex
"We are going to have to find some water soon Quinn. This bottle is our last one.”
"How far do you reckon till we get to the river?"
"Not sure, we’ve been walking for hours, and we're in the heat of the day, which means, what, six hours or so of walking. It could be just on the other side of this tree for all we know, or we could have been walking in circles." Frustrated, Alex shook the compass and whacked it hard against her palm. She wasn’t entirely convinced it even worked. “I’ve been following some animal tracks. If we're lucky, it will lead us to the watering hole, and then we can follow that to the river. The problem is, it could be quite dangerous. Lions aren't the only animals out here you know. We'd be facing hippos and crocs, and in the muddy banks, the crocs camouflage themselves completely. We won't necessarily see them until it is too late. That's how they catch their prey."
As she heard her own voice fear gripped her insides and the thought that nighttime was near brought her even less solace. Most African crocs were nocturnal, so they were even more alert than during the day. And if the pack of lions from the previous night were out on the prowl again, they were as good as dinner.
"It's all a bloody gamble then isn't it?” Sam commented. “But for now, we're going to have to rest for a bit Alex. I need to get Jelani in the shade. This heat isn't good for him."
They slumped down under a nearby tree to rest. The African bushveld was not a place to hang around for too long. Usually, the animals spotted someone long before they even knew of their existence. For all they knew they were following them already, so sitting still meant they were open targets.
Jelani's breathing was extremely shallow. Alex used most of their last bottle of water to wet her hanky in an attempt to cool his face down a bit. It wasn't any use though. His fever was out of control. Sam examined his abdomen with great focus and Alex found herself admiring how he had so much empathy for someone he barely knew and how his glass was always half full. Sam Quinn was the perfect blueprint. But seeing him there, in the middle of the African Savannah in his black T-shirt and matching combat pants, he at least somewhat resembled someone who would have the makings of a great explorer.
"What are you doing?" Observing him cutting open his previously worn jeans and shirt with his knife.
"I need to try make a canopy to keep him in the shade. His fever is dangerously high and this sweltering sun is bound to make it worse."
"So you're cutting up your clothes. How is that going to help?"
He looked over at Alex with a humorous smirk and winked at her.
"Just you wait and see Miss Hunt. I told you. I'm a Bear Grylls fan. Watch and learn."
Alex couldn’t help but laugh at him as she waited and observed his invention come to life.
"You know, Alex. You should tune your telly to an episode or three when we get back. You might learn a thing or two,” he joked.
"Yeah, thanks. I cannot sit through even one episode of this man chewing live worms and scorpions with their guts splashing all over the place. Not quite my idea of exhilarating. I'll leave this stuff up to you. Speaking of, what's for dinner?"
He doubled over with laughter. She had him in stitches.
"Good one Alex. Even here in the middle of the bush you still have some laughing left in you somewhere."
As for Sam, savvy might just be his middle name, she thought.
"Okay fine. I'll satisfy your craving for commendation. This invention has me a little bit intrigued!"
He had plaited his shards of clothing in a crisscross sheet and perched a roof over four sticks to form a square umbrella over Jelani. It was unbelievable she had to admit.
"Intrigued? I'm a bloody genius!"
"Well, I won't go that far, Quinn. But the crisscross reminds me a little of my mum's famous caramel apple pie though.”
Alex sorely missed her mum’s baked goods and, caught up in the moment, decided to shar
e her memories with Sam. "She wasn't much of a cook and all be told, couldn't care much for preparing meals either, but her baked goods, quite the treat I assure you. The Uni faculty went crazy for her pies. Practically fist-fought each other over a slice during the monthly staff meetings." Alex stared out across the vast grasslands as her heart ached for her mother. Everywhere she looked was a reminder of her. "One thing is for sure though. Africa is a beautiful continent and my mother wouldn't have wanted to die anywhere else than here,” Alex added with a slight giggle as she remembered her dad joking that she had some ancestral roots in Africa because of her frizzy hair.
"What's so funny? This contraption will work I assure you." Sam assumed she was laughing at him.
"Oh, I don't doubt that for a second Mr. Quinn. You're quite something all right."
Their eyes met in that one phrase, and Alex felt warmth turn her stomach inside out before she quickly looked away and blurted out.
"What I mean is that you've got great survival skills. Bear Grylls would be proud."
Alex nervously started pacing around the tree before she made an even bigger fool of herself but Sam luckily didn't comment. He just kept braiding his clothes and before long, pinned a perfect waffled sheet over Jelani. This man somehow surprised Alex again. Jelani was perfectly shaded on a Jeep gurney.
"Do we have any more water?" Sam broke through Alex’s thoughts.
"Half a bottle. Here, you can have it. We should last until we reach the river,” handing him the last of their water.
The Alex Hunt Series Page 7