The Atlantis Papyrus

by Jay Penner

  “I know you’ve resisted asking me what I was hiding from you.”

  No response.

  “I am going to tell you. Now.”

  No response.

  “My wife ran away with my neighbor, and he’s threatening to return her to me.”

  Punch on my shoulder.

  “My neighbors wrote to me when I was on the way from Babylon. They said my son was growing to be the most handsome boy.”

  Smile. Knowing what would come next.

  “He couldn’t be my boy then. So, I’m trying to find the scoundrel who—”

  “Enough,” she said, with mock anger.

  I sighed. It was time.

  “Part of our job was to deliver Eumenes’ message to Perdiccas. And your job was to keep an eye for deceptions on the way.”

  She nodded.

  “And you did that. But those trips to the village councils, listening to ancient folklore and bawdy songs? Nothing to do with Perdiccas.”

  “I thought as much, sir.”

  “Call me Deon. You were never in my command, and this formality brings risk.”

  No response.

  “My real quest is to a find a lost city. It is deep in the mountains somewhere and is full of treasure and the most advanced weaponry.”

  Silence. I was surprised she said nothing. And then she spoke. “When will you be serious? At some point, you should—"

  “That was no joke.”

  She looked at me incredulously. “You are looking for a mythical lost city?”

  “Well, I call it the second Atlantis, built by the Atlanteans.”

  “Who?”

  “By the people of a long last empire that was called Atlantis—”

  She cut me off. “Indeed, and you believe it exists?”

  “That is what we are to find out.”

  “How did you learn of it? How do you know it is true? Why do you need to find it?”

  At a distance, dogs began to howl.

  “That is a long story. One of King Alexander’s court ministers gave a clue to Eumenes. I found ancient papers that supported that account when I was in Damascus.”

  “And those documents are reliable?” she asked, inching closer.

  “They look real. And they portray a story a great Greek philosopher later masked into something else.”

  “What if it was all made up?”

  “It could be. We will never know unless we find out. And if it was a fake, at least we went on an adventure,” I said, mimicking a galloping horse with my hands.

  “One that almost led to torture and death. And might end up leading to your family sold to slavery,” she said, putting an end to the levity.

  I rubbed my hand on the soft dusty floor and then clapped my hands gently. Her shoulder touched mine. It sent a warm flood of arousal through my very being, and I had to control the sensation between my legs.

  “But it didn’t. And I will free my family, whatever it takes. We live in a harsh, unforgiving world. Would it not be a departure to go on a quest for finding something rather than killing someone?”

  “But if what you said is true, the discovery would unleash more fighting and killing.”

  I had no response to that.

  “There really is a grand hidden city in the mountains?” She asked, her voice hushed, as if speaking aloud would magically cause Ptolemy to appear in front of us.

  I grinned. The curiosity had gotten the better of Eurydice. “The legend says it is literally inside the mountains. They carved a city inside and sealed it!”

  “And it is full of treasure?”

  “Immense. And it has weapons of great power.”

  “And that is why Governor Eumenes wants you to find it?” she asked, and her warm breath teased my cheeks.

  “Our world is far better with Governor Eumenes in charge. You saw what Perdiccas did. You know what Ptolemy can do. I know that the other generals are as bloodthirsty as the next.”

  “I am indebted to Eumenes,” she said firmly.

  “He may be the best King we will ever have.”

  Assuming he does not kill my family.

  “And he needs the money and weapons to build his armies and fight the others,” she said.

  Very smart.

  “And we are his only hope. Now that Perdiccas is dead, the other treacherous bastards circle him like crocodiles.”

  “What will you do after you deliver the secret to him?” She asked, slyly.

  “I will first return to free my family. Then I will kill the lender and his sons for what they put my wife through. And finally, I will retire in luxury,” I said, stretching my back and placing my hands behind my head.

  Only if it were that simple.

  She nodded.

  “And you will be amply rewarded as well,” I said, looking at her.

  “Assuming we are still alive.”

  “That is a minor detail,” I remarked, and we both snorted like pigs.

  Her voice dropped to a whisper, “How do I know you will not dispose of me once you find this place?”

  I turned to her. It was a fair question. I cupped her face in my palms, and she did not resist. “I swear on the gods that I will protect you as I know you will protect me.” Just when my loins decided to turn this moment into something more, an old voice boomed from somewhere behind us.

  “Who are you?”

  She pulled away from me, and I rose quickly. It was time to keep moving. It was time to navigate the marshes and get to Alexandria.

  I grabbed the terrified man by his throat and pushed him against the cracked wall. He understood simple Greek, but he understood my gestures even better. Onlookers stayed away, not wanting to be involved in the dispute.

  “Where is your father?”

  “Not live here! Not here!” croaked the young man, just out of his teens. Gangly and taller than me, but no match for my strength. His light brown skin glistened with oil, and the eyeliner made him effeminate.

  I slapped him on his head hard and twisted an ear, causing him to howl. “He owes Tharbazus money.”

  “Ow! No! Ow!”

  “Father?”

  More pressure on the ear. And I pulled my curved knife out and brought it to his groin—and he finally saw the light of the divine sun god, Ra.

  “Yehudi quarters! Mistress’ house!”

  “Where in Yehudi quarters?”

  “Behind blue roofed grain shop! All know blue roofed grain shop!”

  “You lie,” I said and gestured with my knife making him wince and instinctively push his thighs together in protection.

  “No, no, real!”

  I sheathed my knife, much to the young man’s relief. I let him go and hurried back to my employer, a colorful man named Tharbazus—a local lender of a very unsavory reputation. This was no time to go the Yehudi quarters—I would need Eurydice’s help. I walked along the narrow streets and arrived at Tharbazus’ house.

  Tharbazus’ angry, lazy eye turned towards me. His tugged on his long gray beard and admonished me again, as he did every day since he employed me as a collector. “You did not find him because you forgot the directions,” Tharbazus growled at me, his bony finger targeted my forehead.

  “No, I did not forget the directions Tharbazus, he no longer lives there.”

  “Eh?”

  “THAT MAN NO LONGER LIVES THERE.”

  “That rascal owes me four copper coins.”

  “I will find him. It seems he is hiding—"

  “Eh?”

  “HE IS HIDING IN THE YEHUDI QUARTERS.”

  “Find him. You can keep a coin. Where is your wife today?”

  “I told you she is not my—SHE IS FINE. COOKING.”

  My daily job of collecting monies owed to Tharbazus helped me build savings. Collection was a lucrative business in a rapidly growing city, and my odd contracts for other disreputable characters helped me make coin quickly. But it was a dangerous job, and the odds of Ptolemy’s men finding me increased by the day
. Living in a mostly foreign area helped me stay hidden from the nearby Egyptian garrison. And no one was conducting door-to-door searches.

  Not yet.

  We sat for our dinner. Eurydice was a good cook, and she made delicious meals with the dry meat, olive oil, salt, and some strange peppers she found at the local market. But she did not enjoy cooking for the entire household which consisted of the ornery man’s wife, four daughters who still lived with them, and an invalid son whose eyes never left Eurydice.

  We had little time to plan. Eurydice was busy during the day in the house, and I was out threatening and cajoling the indebted. At night, she slept in a large hall with the rest of the women of the household, while I put up with the snoring of the old man.

  But today the family was out on a courtesy visit, and apart from a daughter and the invalid son, the house was empty. We sat together as she washed the grain for the next day. It had been a month since we had a meaningful conversation. I stared at the son until he retreated to another part of the house.

  “Busy days?”

  She wrinkled her nose. “I will poison the food if that cackling sorceress yells at me one more time.”

  “Just a few more days. Patience.”

  “You’ve told that thrice already.”

  “Well, plans change. I think we have enough tender for the next journey.”

  “You have not yet told me what was in those papers, and you were supposed to!” She complained in a rushed whisper.

  “I will. And then let us talk about the plan.”

  As the lamp flickered and the milky white orb rose in the sky, I recounted the story starting with how I met Eumenes. It felt wonderful to unburden myself, share it with the woman who deserved to know it more than anyone else.

  She listened with rapt attention, utterly captivated, and interrupted me only once a while. I left out the ignominious part of having tortured Ptolemy’s henchman. And then, as the cold moonlight bathed the kitchen through the oblique window, I repeated the page that spoke of the location, using a tune I had made up in my head. A soft, lilting lullaby.

  With glorious seas all around, and the great eye beneath his feet, the Lord he towered over the adoring masses, and as the rays of the rising sun shone upon his regal visage, he lay his feet on the spines of the fist that fought the disquiet water below…

  She held her breath as I finished. Her face took a dreamy expression. Away from the hardship, fear, running, there was something to look forward to. Now that she had context, Eurydice could share her views and recounted fables influenced by events of a distant past. We sat late into the night theorizing, challenging each other, and formulating a plan for what would come next.

  It felt exhilarating.

  Finally, at some point later into the night, with the oil wick slowly dimming as the fat ran out, I gently held Eurydice’s waist and pulled her towards me. She did not resist, and as my heart hammered in my chest, I put my lips against hers.

  She did not react at first. And then her soft lips pressed hard against mine.

  It was an exhausting conversation, but Tharbazus had information and connections in the quarters few could match. I had to get him to introduce someone to me. The old man lazed in the afternoon sun when I approached him, and he chewed on a nut with his remaining teeth. He swatted at a Seagull that tried to steal from the bread basket placed next to him.

  “I need to speak to an experienced sea captain,” I said.

  “Eh?”

  “I NEED TO SPEAK TO AN EXPERIENCED SEA CAPTAIN.”

  “Why?”

  “I MUST VISIT Athens.”

  “What? You have friends here?”

  “NOT FRIENDS, ATHENS.”

  “Why sea?”

  “TOO FAR AND DANGEROUS BY LAND.”

  “Ptolemy and others going at it like mad dogs?” He grinned as he made a lewd gesture with his fingers. War was good business.

  I nodded. His lazy eye drifted to the lands far away, and the good eye bore into mine.

  “It is an expensive voyage over the sea.”

  “I have the—I HAVE THE COIN.”

  And then he peered at me suspiciously.

  “Have you been stealing from me?” he said, waggling his bony finger.

  “I AM NOT A FOOL TO STEAL FROM THE GREAT THARBAZUS. I JUST NEED HIS HELP.”

  Tharbazus grinned.

  “I need you for my business. You are very good.”

  “I will steal your daughter.”

  “Eh?”

  “I WILL BE BACK.”

  He made a dismissive cluck on his tongue. We both knew I would not be returning.

  “I will introduce you to Thefeni. He has contacts among the naval traders. But keep your coin ready.”

  I had no doubt Thefeni had an arrangement with Tharbazus.

  Eurydice and I paid a visit to the man.

  I thought Thefeni would be a fit, tall, seafaring warrior, and he was anything but. He was a huge man, my age, grave and full of self-importance. Beady, suspicious eyes and thick colored lips adorned his swarthy face. He had trimmed his dark mustache and short beard with care.

  He greeted me warmly, his eyes searched my face, and his mouth opened wide. His belly shook as he exerted himself to stand up from his comfortable dewan. “Welcome. I am always at Tharbazus’ service. He has told me that I must take good care of your needs.”

  “Thank you. And this is my wife.”

  He eyed her greedily—his gaze lingering on her midriff for too long and she stared back.

  “Yes, yes, please sit down. Please. What can I do for you?”

  We sat on the colorful cushions in his open tent, overseeing the beautiful green waters of The Great Sea. The port of Alexandria was busy with many vessels going about their business. The air was pungent with the smell of dry fish and seaweed. There were hundreds of people engaged in maritime trade all along the port. There were several triremes whose flags fluttered in the breeze. Ptolemy was reinforcing the regional garrison to prevent invasion from the sea.

  “We must go to Athens, but not by land due to the current political situation,” I said.

  His large head bobbed, and his wide nose moved up and down. “Very true. Very true. No place is safe these days.”

  “How long does it take for the direct route to Athens?”

  Thefeni rubbed his ample cheeks and shifted his large bottom. He turned towards an assistant who stood nearby and spoke something in Egyptian.

  Eurydice’s face turned red. “I am not his whore, and if you talk like that about me again, I will cut off your penis.”

  Color drained from Thefeni’s face. He mumbled and then crumbled under our steady gaze. “Just a compliment. My sincere apologies. Your wife is divine, very divine indeed!”

  “Let us talk in a common language.”

  “Of course. Of course. There will be no more mistakes. Ah, what were you asking about? The direct route from here to Athens?”

  “Yes.”

  “You see. That will be problematic. Very problematic. Athens is in trouble, and there is no longer an active trade route between here and Greece.”

  “Surely there must be some traffic? I have not heard that Egypt has cut off the grain routes.”

  He nodded. “That is true. That is true. But the captains are very wary of taking on anyone not known to both Greek and Egyptian authorities.”

  “But an important man such as yourself can make arrangements.”

  He grinned. His eyes went to Eurydice but averted under her glare. “Of course. Of course. But such exceptions need the satisfaction of many people.” He rubbed his palms gleefully and the gold rings on his chubby fingers jiggled. Here came the haggling. His eyes sparkled.

  “You have not yet told me the arrangements,” I asked.

  “Oh yes, arrangements, yes, of course, arrangements. Your timing is most fortuitous. There is a grain ship due to leave tomorrow night. It will dock briefly in Crete in four days, and reach Athens three or four days later,
depending on the wind on its sails.”

  I did not tell him that our ultimate destination was not Athens. We only wanted to see the islands on the way. He offered us honey-dipped dates, salted fish with pomegranate, cloyingly sweet wine. I nibbled on the dates and sipped on the drink.

  Thefeni's assistant returned to whisper in his ears, and the fat man looked at us through the corner of his eyes. He eyes darted away when I caught him looking us. “I apologize, something came up. Please stay here, and I will be back. Shortly, very shortly.” He bowed and vanished.

  I stood up walked outside the tent to watch the people. Workers were busy clearing the path for a wide road. I could imagine how magnificent it would look once ready. Dinocrates of Rhodes, Alexander’s architect, had laid out plans for its construction. One of the significant features, I had learned, was a magnificent royal way. The project was slow in its execution but was finally beginning to take shape under Ptolemy. There was also news that Ptolemy would make Alexandria his capital.

  But before I ran out of patience, Thefeni returned, looking gleeful. “Many apologies, great apologies, where were we? Ah, the next Ship. Tomorrow. Tomorrow night.”

  “They leave at night?”

  “Not night, not at night. But all loading ends at night. They sail at the first light of dawn.”

  “What of food and shelter?”

  “Small space in the cabin. Small but enough. Food from the galley kitchen, all included in the price of course. It is a luxury indeed. Luxury.” His head bobbed with enthusiasm as if he were sending us on a royal tour of the Great River.

  “Very good. I thank you for making the arrangements. What do we do next?”

  “Of course, Of course. Any friend of Tharbazus is a friend of mine. But we must settle the price,” he said, looking apologetic.

  “What will this cost us?”

  Thefeni went back to rubbing his ample jowls. He put on a great show as he tensed his eyebrows and tapped the table. “For you, Forty copper coins, royal standard.”

  The swine.

  “Fifteen,” I said.

  Thefeni’s generous body shook with mirth as if I had made a great joke.

  “I will be laughed out of the harbor, laughed,” he protested, looking very anguished at my counter, “it is a fair price, much lower, much lower than my standard!”