by Mike Crowson
* * *
Sunday breakfast at the dig on Hoy was quite a different affair, as can easily be imagined. When the eating was done, there was some striking of tents as the group of volunteers from the Orkneys Archaeological Society packed up to go home. They all seemed to have things to do and had already stayed a week longer than they planned, so Steve was driving them down to the ferry later. The two girls from Kirkwall decided they ought to leave as well. Six bodies less around the site made it appear less busy and, with the tents gone, the camp already looked a lot smaller.
"Lovely day for it, whatever 'it' turns out to be," Frank said to Alicia.
"Still sceptical?" she asked.
"You betcha."
"Don't you want to take part?"
"Well," said Frank, "I'll go along with it all right, but I don't know that I believe all this junk."
Manjy joined them on the steps. "I found all this 'Tree of Life' business hard to take. I think it belongs to medieval Europe and I certainly don't," she said.
"I think it may be a lot older than that," said Alicia, "Even biblical referance to 'the Tree of Knowledge' could refer to a primitive version of the same thing, though I admit it was all written down in the Middle Ages. Still I take your point. The Bible is as Western as the Tree of Life, I suppose."
"Yes," said Frank, "but Manjy has a head start." he turned his attention to her. "You already believed in the idea of reincarnation." Manjy nodded and Frank got to his feet. "Well, as I said earlier, this is a nice day for it," he said again. "I think I'll see how Steve is getting on."
"Poor Frank," said Manjy when he'd gone. "He doesn't want to believe."
"He's not the only one," said Alicia, yawning. "I was all safe inside my little scientific world when along came the ring and buggered it all up. And your beliefs didn't help."
"Don't you believe either?" asked Manjy.
"Oh something happened right enough. There's no argument about it. No argument that the professor was after the ring for some ... evil purpose. No argument that somehow or other I was that other woman who was sacrificed. I only said I didn't want to believe reincarnation was the answer."
At that moment they were interrupted by Frank, who announced that everything was ready and all six people piled into the Landrover.
Manjy noticed that Alicia was very quiet as they turned onto the Rackwick road, and shuddered a little as they passed the stone circle, but neither woman said anything.
Rackwick was just a hamlet. They turned left onto a track, paved but potholed at first, then just gravel. At the crest of a low hill Alicia said, "Okay. Stop somewhere here. There's a pleasant sea view."
Steve pulled off to the side of the track and they all piled out again. Alicia and Manjy were both still in T-shirt and jeans but Gill had dressed up for the occasion and wore a skirt and blouse. She even went so far as to indulge herself with lipstick and eye make-up and somehow, with her height and longish blonde hair and violet blue eyes a shade too close together, looked ... perhaps ancient was the word. Un-English, certainly. Manjy had tied back her long black hair and somehow contrived to look serene. The three men were all neat but casual.
Besides the picnic food there were various other things in the Landrover. The professor's briefcase for example, now containing six rings and six sacrificial knives, there was a folding table to use as an altar and sweaters for the cool of evening and a ceramic ashtray to use as an incense burner.
For the moment, though, it was warm and sunny with a pleasant view: just right for a picnic. Leaving the other things for later, they went in search of a suitable place, and found it in a little dip, sheltered from the slight breeze and from the view of any person passing on the track. There they lazed around, ate, talked, got up and went for a walk, admired the view and lazed around some more.