by Peter Knyte
‘Earshot, mon ami?’ Jean suddenly enquired, ‘Did you by any chance hear them talking about anything of interest?’
‘Well there were a few unusual things, now that you come to mention it,’ Peter replied enigmatically, stringing Jean along in exactly the same way that Jean liked to do with the rest of us.
‘For example?’ Jean played along.
‘Well, it did strike me as odd the way they talked when they thought nobody else was around,’ Peter replied thoughtfully. ‘They spoke in Italian mostly, and my command of that language is perhaps not as good as it should be… but at one point I could swear one of the servants referred to one of his mistresses as Sister.’
‘Yes, you understood it correctly,’ indicated Marlow looking more serious now. ‘Miriam obviously has the hotter temper of the three, and after rebuking one of the servants over some small thing, he responded with a request for forgiveness, and used the name Soura… which she seemed none too happy about, and rebuked him further.’
‘You are sure it could not have been Sorrella?’ asked Jean carefully.
‘No my friend, he definitely referred to her as a holy sister, not as a relation,’ was Marlow’s simple reply.
I hadn’t quite followed the significance of these two words, until Marlow explained it in these terms, and even once he made the issue clear it still took me a moment or two to think through the implications of what it all meant.
‘The more we learn about these people, the less I understand,’ mused Jean, as we all made ourselves more comfortable around the fire. ‘If these young women hold some kind of religious office, then that might explain the strange deference Luke paid to Selene when we saw them together in Jerusalem. But then they have wealth, political influence, and they use firearms as though born to it.’
It was an entertaining conundrum for us to throw around while we ate and relaxed, coming up with some truly silly ideas. But really it was just a relief to know that we could no longer be pursued, and hence that we could relax for a while. It might turn out to be a bit tricky on the way back if they were still around. But once we’d got what we came for, we could make our way in any one of a dozen different directions, or even just find a village and sit it out for a week or three. We just had to get to the Singing Stones and retrieve the tablets before anyone could beat us to it.
CHAPTER 23 – ANOTHER COUNTRY
It was good to be back under the stars in Kenya, away from the towns and villages and with the earth once more beneath my head. I slept a deep and dreamless sleep for the first time in what seemed an age.
I awoke early the next morning to find Androus already up and about, and looking very much like his old self. It was cool and ever so slightly misty, which gave the verdant bush an even more enchanting feel.
‘I thought you were going to wake me to take a watch,’ Androus asked smiling, clearly understanding the motivation for my slight deception.
I apologised to him for my dishonesty, then filled him in on the conversation he’d missed while asleep, including the news that our pursuers had turned back, and the strange enigma of Miriam being referred to as a holy sister.
‘I would have to agree with Jean and the rest of you,’ he declared, ‘that just doesn’t seem to make any sense. Although if Ms Selene, Miriam and Thea are linked to the Jesuits through the chapel in Jerusalem, then anything is possible.’
‘Why is that?’ I couldn’t help but ask. ‘Have you heard something about that chapel?’
‘No, no it’s not the chapel itself, or even the modern order, it is more that the Jesuits of all the different orders of the church, have had a rather… chequered history.’ He began, before going on to tell me about the various historic intrigues in which the order had once been reputedly involved.
‘I forget the details,’ he continued, pouring and handing me a coffee as he tried to explain more about the order’s history. ‘But the order was unusual to begin with in that it was founded by a Spanish noble who before becoming a priest had been quite a successful soldier and diplomat. According to some, this is the foundation upon which the later society was developed.
‘To begin with though, the Society of Jesus, or Soldiers of Christ as they are sometimes known, developed as a response to the growing popularity of Protestantism, which it successfully opposed in a number of areas, especially Poland, Prussia and Russia. But as the order started to gain significant levels of support in India, Japan and China, it also became more secretive, and supposedly began exerting its influence against governments and monarchs in Europe. At the time, it was rumoured to employ not only the advancements in learning and science it discovered in the orient, but also some of the more exotic mystical powers that were thought to be understood in those lands to achieve their goals. Eventually, as a consequence of their political manoeuvring they came unstuck and the order as a whole was suppressed by the pope. Aside that is, from in . . .’
I could see something had just struck him, as he suddenly froze and didn’t move for well over a minute. Whatever it was, he was obviously thinking hard about it. So, tempted as I was to give him a nudge and get him to continue, I held myself in check until he was ready.
‘That could be the link,’ he eventually said, ‘they must be one of the few connections…
‘I’m sorry my friend,’ he said, obviously remembering my presence, ‘but that could be the link… You see, when the order was suppressed in I think the 18th century, it was suppressed by a papal decree. A decree which was ignored in Eastern Europe and Russia, because they had recently become aligned with the Eastern Orthodox Church and not the Church of Rome. So, whilst the Jesuits today are very much part of the Catholic Church, there will be some elements of the order that still have strong ties to the Orthodox Church that once sheltered them.
‘Ah but I know too little of such things,’ he continued, exasperated at his own lack of knowledge. ‘I know as a religious order they’d grown to be incredibly wealthy and influential before they were suppressed. And, that they were commonly considered to have infiltrated all walks of society, from the government and legal systems, to the universities and military, but they were always a strictly male order. But that was over two hundred years ago, and the modern order has nothing but the highest reputation for its learnedness and missionary work. So where these three young women could fit in would be a very great puzzle.’
I could be of no help to him in his musings, so just did my best to listen and ask the odd, hopefully intelligent, question until someone else woke up.
It was an interesting start to the day for all of us, no sooner did someone open their eyes than they were questioned upon their knowledge of the church and European history. But even Harry and Jean, who probably had the greatest knowledge and interest in such things, still couldn’t shed any further light on Androus’ speculation.
Fascinating as all of this was though, we just didn’t have the time to stand around talking, and even though we’d been able to relax for the evening we weren’t in the clear yet, not by a long chalk, so had to push on as soon as we were able.
As we moved further and further into the foothills to the west of the lodge, the terrain continued to get rougher. The rocky outcroppings, or kopjes became more and more frequent, until the ground was as much rock as it was soil, and the trees and shrubs took on a more shrunken and shrivelled appearance as the soil on which they subsisted became ever thinner and less fertile. Though as we climbed the temperature also started to reduce a little, which made the travelling that much more bearable, allowing us to actually enjoy the environment we travelled through, and once more admire the odd glimpsed view of the country below through the trees.
Nbutu lead us unerringly on, past the Maasai village we’d stopped outside the first time, or at least one that looked similar, and beyond until the terrain started to get too rough for the horses. It was a tiring day, with as much time spent leading the horses as riding them. Though with the stress of the previous day now replaced by t
he nervous anticipation of what lay ahead, it seemed nowhere near as psychologically tiring.
When we couldn’t safely move forward with the horses any further we found a sheltered spot to make our camp, packing and re-packing the equipment and supplies we’d need the following day, before settling down for the night. We hadn’t had to worry about attracting attention as we travelled, so had managed to bag some small game for a decent evening meal, and with that inside us we once again had the time to think about and discuss our situation.
The conversation and speculation continued around whether Selene and her fiends could actually be working for some offshoot of the Jesuit order. But as we still didn’t know any more we quickly exhausted the subject and instead started to consider what our pursuers might do once they got back to the lodge with their damaged truck.
‘They couldn’t hope to catch us on horseback, could they?’ Asked Peter, looking around the fire to the rest of us. ‘I mean, by the time they got back and arranged for horses and a guide, they’d have to be at least a day or two behind us, surely.’
‘If they got to the lodge just after we’d left,’ replied Harry, ‘and set off again as soon as they could without making any other arrangements. Then they might be a full day behind us by the time they got horses and equipment sorted. But…’
‘But if you were to place yourself in their shoes Harrison?’ Jean enquired knowingly.
‘Then I’d have considered a great many eventualities well before I got to the lodge, and upon finding us recently departed would’ve asked for horses and equipment to be arranged before I set off in pursuit in the truck.’ Harry replied, ‘I might even have asked for them to be sent out to meet up with the truck to save it having to come back.’
I hadn’t even considered they might have such forethought. But as soon as Harry voiced the idea I knew I should have.
‘So they’re perhaps half a day behind us?’ I asked guessing.
‘I would estimate perhaps a little more,’ replied Jean, thoughtfully. ‘Do not forget, we were ourselves fairly well prepared before we chose to begin our journey. Our guides were already at the lodge, much of our equipment was packed. We just had to prepare our personal things and some provisions. In contrast, Selene and her friends will have had much preparation to do. To call in a guide from one of the surrounding villages would alone have taken three or four hours at the least, perhaps more.’
‘And of course, they may not find a Maasai guide who would be prepared to lead them to a site like the Singing Stones,’ added Marlow. ‘It is after all a sacred place to them, at which women may not be welcome.’
It was all a good reminder about why we still couldn’t afford to relax. We had the advantage, and to keep it, we just had to continue making good time, find the artefacts we sought, and then disappear via another route before they could catch up to us.
Granted, our horses and all the heavier equipment that we’d be leaving at our current camp, would be lost if the camp were discovered. But provided the men looking after the camp didn’t do anything foolish to give away their position, the odds were against anyone finding them.
The big question for me was whether Selene and her friends would try to follow us, or whether they’d just try to catch us when we next surfaced. I put it to the others on the off chance they had some insight into this as well, but there was little anyone could add.
‘In my own opinion,’ said Jean, ‘there are not enough of them to divide their forces and still hope to over-power us. So they cannot guard the lodge or the route back to Nyrobi, and pursue us. At the same time they must realise their chance of catching us if they choose to follow is small. Equally, because we could so easily bypass the lodge, or take another route out of Kenya, the odds of catching us by sitting in wait are also small.’
I could see where Jean was going, there was no right answer or way of knowing what Selene and her friends might do, but then he surprised me.
‘Having said all that,’ he continued, ‘these young women, I do not know, but I think they are people of action. Intelligent, thoughtful, energetic and forceful, I do not think they are the kind to sit and wait. So I think they will follow us and try their very best to catch us, either on route, or while we excavate.’
We continued to talk into the night, the anticipation of what might lie ahead the following day keeping us awake until late.
The following morning saw us rise with the dawn, ready for the day ahead. We knew it was going to be a long day, especially as we had to carry the scroll and other tablets with us in addition to the digging and mining equipment we’d brought especially. But we were starting early in the day, and the air seemed cooler and a bit less dry, which made the going a little easier.
We set a good pace as we went, climbing higher into the mountains, making our way along the stream beds and gullies like we had the first time, ever steeper, and rougher under foot, leaving more and more of the tree cover behind us.
We’d have stopped and rested more if we hadn’t been pressured to keep our advantage. But we were also eager to get there, especially Androus who was keen to see another intact set of tablets in situ. So we slogged our way upward, pushing our legs and lungs as far as they could go, and always looking for those tell-tale signs that might indicate we’d come this way before.
When we did finally start to recognise some of the landmarks, we were almost on top of the place, and no sooner had we started to point things out to one another, than we were rounding a corner to reveal that towering overhang that dominated this place so sacred to the Maasai.
I was completely over-awed again, and had to really force myself not to just stop and stare at that great wave of stone that looked as though it were about to crash down upon us.
We’d arrived with a good couple of hours’ worth of daylight left, which subdued and flattened the figures and pictures painted across that rocky surface, while at the same time somehow enlarging and highlighting the sheer size and extremity of the overhang itself. I’d just managed to tear my gaze away, when everyone again stopped suddenly, and seemed to be looking up at the top of the overhang.
I don’t know if I’d just missed them the first time, but there atop the very tip of the overhang I could clearly see the three shaman that we’d met the last time we’d come here. They were too far away to see in detail, but their upright postures and slender frames, each resting lightly upon their spears were easily recognised even half silhouetted against the late afternoon sky.
Nobody said anything, we all just stopped and stared for a moment, before the three figures one by one turned and walked away from the edge and out of our sight.
It was almost unthinkable to imagine that one of the figures we’d just seen atop that overhang had somehow survived down through the ages, millennia after arriving here with a set of tablets from that ancient temple.
Once the last of the figures moved out of sight though the spell was broken, so again, after gathering our wits we moved over to the rock face where Harry had dreamed he saw the symbol indicating a set of tablets had been hidden here.
It appeared exactly as we’d left it, with dozens of exquisite paintings covering the entire rock face, from high to low. As we stood beneath that colossal weight of stone, we each looked at one another in hesitation, and then Harry dropping his pack, and removing a small metal hammer from it, walked over to one of the paintings on the wall and struck it squarely in the centre until it cracked and fell away.
Despite the fact that he was destroying a piece of art in the process, he moved without a trace of hesitation as he cleared the plaster, until he finally turned back to us and revealed the clock symbol he’d told us would be there, carved deep into the rocky surface.
There could be no more doubt or dissimulation as we stared at that deeply etched symbol, but for a moment we all just stood there looking at it, a thousand different thoughts going through each of our minds, before we again got to work.
Exposing the cover-stone, into w
hich the symbol was carved, was actually a much easier job than any of us had anticipated. An entire section of the wall turned out to be nothing more than a sham, and rather than being a solid stone wall carelessly covered in patches of mud plaster. It was actually several large pieces stone plastered into the face around the symbol, to make it look like the solid bedrock of the cliff.
As soon as we removed the mud, much of the stone also came away, until we were again looking at the perfectly flat, carved cover-stone that lay beneath.
Jean had been asked to try and sketch the arrangement and layout again, which he did with lightening speed to Androus’ satisfaction. And then it was time to remove the cover stone.
It was perfectly vertical, just like the arrangement we suspected had been used on Mount Erceyes and in the Cave outside Corinth. It was heavy, but between us we managed to gingerly remove it to expose a layer of copper, sand, and then the nine pristine lapis lazuli tablets, inset perfectly into nine carved recesses in the cliff wall.
It was a stunning moment, and for several seconds I think I forgot to breathe, so transfixed was I by the sight. And then Androus and Harry, very carefully removed each of the tablets, wrapped it in a piece of cloth and then placed them all into a leather satchel we’d brought with us.
The day was beginning to fade now, but there was enough light left for Jean and Harry to finish up their documentation of the site, and for the rest of us to return things, as much as possible, to the way we’d found them, minus the tablets.
As soon as we’d finished, Nbutu lead us away from the site to a good campsite nearby that was surrounded by a dry stone wall. It wasn’t a huge distance away from the great overhanging cliff face, but it was far enough for us to be able to make camp without any risk that we might be discovered by Selene and her friends, should they somehow manage to find their way here in the night.