Jewel of Hiram (The Chronicles of Crash Carter Book 1)

by Frank Felton

  The war in Europe was at its end. I spent the rest of the summer of 1945 exploring the Australian Alps as I awaited my trip home. I never let the Jewel out of my sight. I managed to take the parchment from the chest as well, and I spent my downtime reading through those sacred texts. They were indeed ancient. It confirmed what I already knew. The Jewel had a marvelous history. I was giddy as a school kid to learn more. This was all completely unpublished and unknown history, and I was likely one of the few on Earth to have ever read them - possibly the only one.

  Twenty-mile ruck marches turned into pleasant hikes in the most beautiful land in the world. There was peace in the land, and the overwhelming feeling that evil had been crushed pervaded the collective psyche of the countryside. It was surreal.

  Yet war in the Pacific raged on. My services would not be called upon for that theater. The Axis powers would soon crumble. In August, from a small airfield on the island of Tinian, a B-29 Super fortress called the Enola Gay would deploy the first atomic weapon on the town of Hiroshima. It would kill seventy thousand people in one day.

  Japan surrendered on September 2nd, and the Second World War was over. It would bring a swift end to this conflict, yet usher in a new war all of its own. This would be a cold war; a war in the shadows. Mankind now had a powerful weapon which has only one use; total destruction.

  As the Cold War lingered on the horizon, more than 50 million people would die during World War II. Winston Churchill described it as the most avoidable war in human history. At some level, perhaps all war is avoidable. If one is truthful with himself, he knows ultimately war can only be avoided in the near term, and will never be eradicated. It will always exist for two reasons; the fallibility of man, and the existence of good and evil. The best advice ever given to address this subject is to speak softly, and carry a big stick.

  Four months later my unit would be sent home. Despite the voyage already behind me, my new mission was just beginning. I was able to smuggle the Jewel home with me, though I kept the Jewel separate from the documents just in case I came under inspection. The Jewel itself, while mangled, was easily identifiable even to the most amateur examiner as an historic artifact. There were a plethora of documents. I safeguarded them amongst my personal journals and paperwork to conceal their existence. If worse came to worse, I might be forced to lie, and use my credentials as a Monuments Men agent to cover up my crime.

  Weeks later, I would realize I was wrong about something else. I believed that in finding the Jewel, I was keeping it out of Nazi hands. It dawned on me, by the time I found it, the war was essentially over. I was at a loss. Why would I be sent to recover a Jewel of such power, if there was no chance the Nazis could have used it? Certainly Hitler had no knowledge of the authority he wielded by possessing such a powerful artifact. If he did, why didn’t he use it? His war was now lost. He was dead of suicide in a bunker in Berlin.

  Out of the clear blue sky, bright as the shining sun, came my epiphany.

  As Stalin’s army moved in from the East, there was a desperate scramble to seize as much of Europe as possible by the opposing Western Allies and Soviet forces. The result of that war saw the Soviet Bloc add extensively to its list of client states, which would all eventually fall to Communism. Berlin and Germany would be split into pieces, and the stage for the next half century of struggle would be set.

  At that point, America had yet to drop the atomic bomb on Japan, but espionage efforts were well underway. Soviet agents and sympathetic American communists had penetrated the Manhattan Project and the Los Alamos laboratories, stealing secrets of a nuclear weapon. The Soviets soon engaged in uranium production.

  In just a few short years, in the fall of 1949, the U.S. Air Force would detect a distinct pocket of radioactive material floating innocently through the atmosphere. The die had been cast, and President Truman declared; “We have evidence that within recent weeks an atomic explosion occurred in the U.S.S.R.”

  The Cold War was upon us.

  My mission was never to protect the Jewel from the Nazis. It was to safeguard it from the coming landscape of a world in which nuclear weapons could destroy all mankind. I would believe for many years that this enemy was the Soviets, but I will not be so cavalier in my assumptions this time.

  Perhaps I was wrong again.

  8. Queen Elissa

  Kingdom of Tyre, present-day Lebanon, 825 BC

  Queen Elissa turned her head to steal one last glimpse of her homeland. Her eyes watered, her lips were pursed and quivering. Tears streamed down her cheeks as the ship sailed quietly into the Mediterranean night. She would never return to face the wrath of her brother, King Pygmalion; neither would she ever see her family again. In her hands, she clutched her fallen husband’s most revered possession – a jewel passed on to Hiram, King of Tyre, from King Solomon himself hundreds of years ago. It was given in recognition of King Hiram’s assistance in building the first Temple of Jerusalem.

  The cruel and heartless Pygmalion was a man who lusted for gold and power. He desired the fortune, and authority, of Elissa’s husband Acerbas, the High Priest. Days earlier, Pygmalion grew impatient in his endeavors and murdered Acerbas in the Temple of Tyre. He kept this a secret from Queen Elissa, but she came to know the truth. She was a woman of exceeding beauty, and rightfully shared the throne with Pygmalion after the death of their father, King Matten.

  King Pygmalion was a compulsive liar who fabricated grand stories of Acerbas’ death and sought to console his sister in mourning. The spirit of Acerbas visited Queen Elissa one night, in a dream. He told her the truth of his murder. He warned her to leave Tyre, else she too would meet the same fate at the tyrannical Pygmalion’s hand.

  The spirit of Acerbas also told her where to find his gold and treasure, and the most sacred of his possessions, the Jewel of Hiram. He told her this Jewel would ensure her safe passage away from Tyre and guide her journey to a new home. The Jewel of Hiram, when crafted by Bezalel, was envisioned to become a headpiece for the Rod of Aaron. This never came to fruition, and the jewel was presented to King Solomon when he assumed the throne.

  With the assistance of the ghost of Acerbas, Elissa outwitted her brother. During the night, she fled Tyre and left her homeland forever. In the vast darkness of the sea, Elissa wept, and prayed for her husband’s soul, for safe passage, and for a new beginning. In the darkness, the Jewel began to glow.

  She sought refuge on the shores of Africa and founded a new empire. Her dynasty would become prosperous. It pre-dated the Romans, and would soon become their greatest foe. Taking the message from the ghost of her husband, she buried his treasure within the Earth. The empire she founded was called Carthage.

  Carthage prospered for many years after the establishment by Queen Elissa. The Jewel of Hiram was buried, dormant, and hidden safely beneath the earth for more than 600 years until a young Carthaginian boy found the relic in 240 B.C. The young man was hunting at night when he saw an eerie glow. As he investigated and drew near the strange light, he found that it moved away from him.

  Eventually, the light descended into the ground at the base an olive tree. The earth itself became illuminated at the spot. The boy made camp for the night. While he was asleep, he felt the Earth shake. The piercing sound of crackling lumber filled the air. The tree fractured into pieces and fell to the ground. The next morning, amidst the rubble, he discovered the Jewel.

  His name was Hannibal Barca. Hannibal became perhaps the greatest strategic mind of Antiquity. He desired to one day lead his country to victory over the rival Roman Republic. His vengeance toward Rome would reside with him until his death many years later.

  When he came of age, Hannibal invaded Rome with his army. He famously crossed the Pyrenees, the Alps, and fought off the Gauls as he traversed their homeland. Hannibal led his forces on an arduous journey in what, at the time, was a world war. Through brilliant tactics, he fought the Romans to a stalemate, winning victories with inferior forces. His ability to outwit opponents on
the battlefield struck fear into the hearts of the Romans.

  At Cannae, Hannibal left one of the finest examples of his military mind. By shrinking the combat area to shape the battlefield, he then utilized his cavalry to envelope and annihilate his opponent. He capitalized on the opposing commander’s hubris. The Carthaginians slaughtered more men in one day at Cannae than almost any battle in human history. Even today, the battle is revered as a masterpiece of military tactics.

  Only through protracted attrition did the Romans eventually repel the invading force of Hannibal, but they did not defeat him. Rome simply refused to meet him on the battlefield ever again. His failure to fully conquer Rome was primarily from lack of national will on behalf of Carthage to continue sending money and supplies. Hannibal returned home, but the mark he left on Rome, and history, would never vanish.

  The Romans eventually conquered Carthage in the Third Punic War. Following his country’s defeat at the Battle of Zama, a bounty on Hannibal sent him into voluntary exile. He left his homeland for Tyre, ironically, the motherland of his country’s founder Queen Elissa. From Tyre he travelled to Ephesus, where he was received by King Antiochus. The ambitious King wished Hannibal to view his assembled forces with which he planned to attack the Romans. Antiochus desired to be the greatest power in the Hellenic world. He pushed the expansion of his kingdom across the Hellespont and directly into the face of the Roman Republic.

  In 190 B.C., the legionnaires of Scipio marched out to meet the encroaching threat, and defeated Antiochus at the Battles of Thermopylae and Magnesia, the latter on the plains of Anatolia in modern day Turkey. Even in exile, Hannibal fought for the Seleucid Empire of Antiochus to defeat his Roman nemesis, but to no avail. The Romans once again emerged victorious. As a result of the defeat, Antiochus was forced to give 15,000 talents of silver to the Romans. He planned to hand over Hannibal to appease the Romans and limit his reparation, as Hannibal was the most notorious enemy of the Republic.

  One step ahead, Hannibal slipped away to Crete, but not before part of this restitution was divested from his belongings. To his dismay, he was deprived of the Jewel of Hiram. Soon thereafter, Hannibal died, having never completed his life’s ambition to conquer the Romans. The only thing which would bring the great society’s downfall was the Romans themselves. Their gradual decline had now been set in motion and in due time it would soon no longer be a Republic. All great societies come to an end.

  The Jewel found its way to the city of Rome with the rest of the seized Anatolian wealth. It was here placed into the Roman treasury, where it was among countless riches from the many people conquered by the great Republic. Here it would sit for 200 years. It would not be dredged up until a celebration for a new leader was underway, but it would not be for a consul, rather an emperor, as the Republic was no more. Rome was now an empire.

  The Jewel was re-fashioned into one fit for a king and given to Emperor Nerva as he ascended to the head of the Empire. Nerva found the Jewel striking and carried it with him as a personal adornment. In a slight adjustment to the course of history, he became the first of the Five Good Emperors.

  The Jewel would remain a favorite of the emperors, including Hadrian. Upon his death, Hadrian left the Jewel in a museum at his Villa outside Rome, near Tivoli. His reign was marked with relative peace, replete with constructing a defensive wall across the entire landmass of Britain to mark the northern edge of the Empire. The Jewel was unwittingly removed from Hadrian’s Villa by priests following his death in 138 A.D., who were raiding his Villa to carry granite statues back to Rome for their own use. Hadrian was followed by his appointed successor, Antoninus.

  The Jewel would find its end with the Roman Empire during the reign of Marcus Aurelius, the last of the Five Good Emperors. Marcus Aurelius was a philosopher king. He was a student of Stoic doctrine. He believed that knowledge was attained through reason, and truth was distinguishable from fallacy. Pulsations from objects can be received by the senses of the mind, leaving an impression on the imagination. This would lead one to knowledge. He was the only one of the emperors to hold the Jewel who understood what he had in his possession.

  Make for yourself a definition or description of the thing which is presented to you, so as to see distinctly what kind of a thing it is in its substance, in its nudity, in its complete entirety, and tell yourself its proper name, and the names of the things of which it has been compounded, and into which it will be resolved. - Marcus Aurelius

  Marcus Aurelius died in 180 A.D. in Vienna while finishing his conquest of Germania. He recognized and came to respect, and even fear, the power of the Jewel. He saw in it the duality of man, of good and evil, and the awesome power of a supernatural force. Despite its power, the Jewel did not alter one’s nature, but amplified it. His greatest concern was the possibility it could amplify the corrupted soul of an evil man should it fall to the wrong hands.

  In his latter days Marcus Aurelius longed for peace. He postulated that, by destroying the Jewel, he would extinguish its power. The authority vested within could no longer be wielded, and peace might prevail. He envisioned a fate of cataclysm for Rome, not the least of which due its persecution of so many peoples. It began with Nero’s oppression of the Christians, as he fiddled, while Rome burned. Rome would soon begin its descent into a 400 year decline marking the end of the Western Empire. Shortly before his death, Marcus Aurelius had the Jewel cut in two pieces, piercing it down the middle; accomplishing a seeming fatal blow.

  The Emperor sent the two fragments of the Jewel to opposite ends of the known Roman world. The first he sent to modern-day Spain and the other to his friend Theophilus of Antioch in southern Turkey. Theophilus wrote From the Foundation of the World, which he sent to the Emperor, describing human history from Adam up to the reign of Marcus Aurelius himself.

  This latter piece of the Jewel was hidden away by Theophilus inside a cave on the side of a mountain. The cave had been used by early Christians, including Peter and Paul, for worship. It was one of the earliest Churches, and today is known as St. Peter’s Grotto. The Jewel would be safe here for nearly a thousand years. Its protégé in Spain would remain tucked away as well.

  Yet the Jewel itself had been divested of certain powers well before it ever entered Rome, and long before it was severed by Marcus Aurelius. On the fields of the Anatolian plain, after the battle between Scipio and Antiochus, a heavenly spirit, an angel, had left the Jewel and was now free to roam the Earth. It would remain as a guardian of the Jewel, though now would be separate.

  When a piece of the Jewel retired to Antioch, it would again become companioned with this angel, who had stayed behind in Cappadocia. The angel and the Jewel would be present during the infamous Crusades for the Holy City of Jerusalem. In 634 A.D., two years after the death of the Muslim prophet Muhammad, a legacy of caliphates would gain hold of the Middle East. This would eventually spark the greatest Holy War of the ages; the Crusades in the Middle East, and the Reconquista in Iberia.

  In 1098, Muslim forces besieged the city of Antioch. A mystic named Bartholomew claimed he knew the location of the Holy Lance, which had pierced Christ’s side, within the city. An excavation was undertaken to find it, and the Crusaders believed they had found the lance. Alas, they did not find the lance, but rather the severed piece of the Jewel of Hiram buried by Theophilus.

  Nevertheless, the relic was carried at the head of the armies. It bolstered the morale of the Crusaders. They marched out to miraculously defeat the Muslim forces. Some Crusaders claim an army of angels and saints appeared on the battlefield to win the day. The piece of the Jewel stayed at the head of the army, and would go with the Crusaders into the Kingdom of Jerusalem. This is the location where it was bestowed its supernatural powers at the hands of King Solomon two thousand years before.

  Forty years later, one of the greatest military leaders in Muslim history was born. Saladin would conquer Jerusalem in 1187, and his legacy as one of the most important figures in Islam would be establis
hed when he conquered the Holy city. Saladin died a poor man, having given away his wealth. Before his death, he returned the piece of the Jewel to his home, to the Grand Mosque of Damascus, and died there in 1193.

  Here again, in Damascus, the piece of the Jewel was safe for hundreds of years. In 1799, an aspiring young Italian, turned Frenchmen, named Napoleon Bonaparte moved his Army to the province of Damascus. He led 13,000 French soldiers in conquest of the region. In a brutal attack on Jaffa, 1,400 prisoners were summarily executed by bayonet in order to save bullets.

  The spoils of war returned with Napoleon to France a year later. The Jewel was with him when he led a coup to seize power in the country. Napoleon would not carry the piece of the Jewel into battle, but had it locked up at the Palace of Versailles where he resided while Emperor.

  It was at Versailles, the estate of the French Monarchy, that Hitler’s forces, while raiding Europe of its historic treasures, came into possession of the sacred object in late 1942. Once seized, it eventually found its way to Hitler’s home in Bavaria, one of millions of treasures seized during the war. The date of the Nazi pillage of Versailles was coincidentally the exact date that I was drafted into the U.S. Army.

  9. Return to Texas

  The Lord said to Raphael: “Bind Azazel hand and foot, and cast him into the darkness. And on the day of the great judgment he shall be cast into the fire”. - Book of Enoch

  My time in Europe came to an end. I made my way back to the small town of Brady. It was only then that I learned of my father’s death. As I said previously, we were not close. I had no siblings. My mother had passed away in childbirth. There were aunts and uncles, and cousins; none of whom I had more than a distant relationship with. Dad left me a few things, and as it turned out, it would be enough to go back to school. I made a pilgrimage from Brady back to my hometown, but only to pay my respects. I had always been a loner, out of place in that small, dusty cow town on the plains of west Texas.