The Mountain Mother Cipher (The Arkana Archaeology Mystery Series Book 2)

by N. S. Wikarski

  “When did you eat last?” Griffin asked solicitously.

  “Not since I left Chicago,” she replied glumly. “I have a thing about airline food.”

  “Maybe a meal would help,” the Scrivener suggested. “I confess I’m a bit peckish myself.”

  “We might as well order room service and eat out here,” Erik said. He walked back into the room and returned with a menu. “At least if we charge it to Cassie’s room I won’t get an earful from Maddie about my expense account.”

  “Surely, she’s allowed you a per diem for meals?” Griffin asked.

  Erik gave a short bark of a laugh. “Like you said, man, elephants.”

  Chapter 10 – Flooded With Information

  Half an hour later their room service order arrived and the Arkana team hungrily dove in. Cassie’s headache evaporated once she started eating.

  Griffin looked at Erik’s plate disparagingly. “Thousands of miles from home and all you can think to order is something as prosaic as a hamburger?”

  “It’s a cheeseburger,” the Security Coordinator replied defensively taking a large bite. “I like cheeseburgers.”

  Cassie and Griffin had opted to try a sample of Turkish dishes called meze.

  “What’s that you’re eating?” Cassie scrutinized an interesting item on Griffin’s fork.

  “It’s name is patlican salatasi in Turkish. I believe it’s cold aubergine salad.”

  “What’s that in English?”

  “Oh, sorry. You Yanks would call it eggplant.”

  Cassie smiled. “I can’t pronounce any of the names but this stuff sure is good.”

  “Just don’t drink the tap water,” Erik cautioned.

  “He’s right about that,” Griffin concurred. “Bottled water only.”

  Cassie sat back in her chair taking a break between courses. She watched the aquatic taxis and commercial ships making their way up the thin blue ribbon of water separating two continents. “It’s hard to believe a place as pretty as this has seen so much death.”

  Erik looked up briefly from his burger. “You mean all the battles? That’s nothing.”

  She fixed him with a stare. “What do you mean?”

  “Some places just seem to attract disaster. And this one had a dark history long before the first Greek decided to settle here.”

  Cassie turned her attention to Griffin. “What’s he talking about?”

  Griffin hurriedly swallowed a mouthful of food. “He’s referring to the flood.”

  “The flood,” the girl repeated skeptically.

  “Yup, the flood,” Erik echoed, shifting his focus to his french fries.

  Cassie gave a huge sigh. “OK, I’ve eaten. My head’s clearing up. Tell me the rest.”

  “In the beginning…” Erik intoned pompously.

  “You’ve no doubt heard of the flood in the Bible?” Griffin dabbed his mouth with a napkin.

  “You mean Noah and two by two and the ark?”

  “The very same.”

  “Of course I have. So what?”

  “There’s a very good possibility that a flood of epic proportions really happened and that it happened not very far from where we’re sitting.”

  “Get out!” Cassie blurted, intrigued.

  “Other cultures have recorded the story of a similar catastrophe. The most well-known is the Babylonian epic of Gilgamesh. But there is also a Sumerian deluge myth and the Akkadian epic of Atrahasis. Of course by the time these stories were written down, the event itself was several thousand years old.”

  “So what did happen here?” Cassie sat forward, looking at Erik inquisitively.

  “Let him tell it, I’m still eating,” the Security Coordinator growled.

  “Very well.” Griffin cleared his throat. “You may think of global warming as a modern occurrence but it’s quite old. The catastrophe of the Black Sea flood was the result of global warming on a scale that is nearly incomprehensible. You see, until quite recently a large part of the northern hemisphere was covered in ice.”

  “You mean like glaciers?” Cassie offered helpfully.

  “Precisely. Around 10,000 BCE, the last ice age was coming to an end and those glaciers began to melt. The process took thousands of years. During that period, the Black Sea was a body of fresh water called the New Euxine Lake.”

  Cassie looked out at the Bosporus in surprise. “But how’s that possible? Doesn’t this channel connect the Black Sea with the ocean somehow?”

  Griffin smiled knowingly. “That’s quite correct but at the time of which I’m speaking, there was no strait here. Just a rocky shelf separating the Sea of Marmara to the south of us from the Euxine Lake to our north. There was a tiny rivulet called the Bosporus that let fresh water out into the sea.” He paused, looking out at a boatload of sightseers bobbing on the strait.

  “Sumeria is often credited with being the cradle of civilization but it’s far more likely that the signal honor belongs to the coastline of the Euxine. Humans had left their gatherer-hunter ways behind and become settled agriculturists all along its shores. They set up villages that traded with one another for hundreds of miles around. We assume they were peaceful matristic communities though we can’t be sure. The Arkana is in the process of collecting evidence to that effect. The pleasant life along the Euxine may, in fact, be a memory fragment that eventually found its way into the Bible as the Garden of Eden—a land which was supposedly fed by four rivers. It can’t be proven, of course, that the writers of Genesis were referring to the Black Sea basin but it is fed by four major rivers: the Dnieper, Dniester, Danube, and Don. An interesting coincidence, don’t you think?”

  “So get to the good part,” Cassie urged. “How did the lake get to be a sea?”

  Erik leaned back in his chair, propped his feet on the balcony railing and closed his eyes.

  Griffin forged ahead. “As I mentioned, the glaciers had gradually been receding and dumping an enormous quantity of melted ice into the world’s oceans. It was only a matter of time before the sea level rose higher than the fragile little outcropping of rock which separated the Sea of Marmara from the Euxine Lake. The salt water first began as a trickle through the tiny outlet of the Bosporus. The trickle grew into a stream, then the stream grew into a river, and the river finally grew into a cataract that became unstoppable.”

  Cassie jostled Erik’s arm to waken him. “Are you listening to this?”

  He yawned and resettled himself “I’ve heard it before. Wake me up when he’s done.”

  The Scrivener rolled his eyes and resumed. “Try to imagine a waterfall cascading with two hundred times the force of Niagara Falls and a velocity of over fifty miles an hour. The sound of the water crashing across the breach in the sill would have echoed one hundred and twenty miles away. The lake’s water level would have risen so rapidly that the shoreline may have expanded by as much as a mile a day, drowning everything in its path. One can only imagine the catastrophic impact this would have had on the people who lived along the shores of the lake.”

  “I’ll say,” Cassie exclaimed in shock. “They wouldn’t have known what hit them.”

  “Those living closest to the Bosporus would probably have drowned, of course, but those farther away may have had time to pack some meager belongings, collect their kin and livestock and flee.”

  “Where did they all go?”

  “It depends on which side of the lake they inhabited. The ones to the north and west were luckiest. They fled up the river valleys into the heart of Europe. Since those river valleys were incredibly fertile, the people who emigrated there were able to continue living as peaceful agriculturists. Others were not so fortunate.”

  “That sounds pretty ominous.”

  “Indeed it was. To the east and south, the Black Sea is rimmed with mountains. Anyone lucky enough to scale them would find their problems just beginning. Those who skirted the Caucasus Mountains and fled to the northeast would have ended up in the Eurasian steppes. A very inhospi
table landscape for farming.”

  “So what did they do if they couldn’t farm?”

  “They became nomads and grazed what little livestock remained. Scarcity became a way of life. There was never enough food to go around so eventually they raided nearby groups and stole their livestock. Their neighbors retaliated and raiding became a way of life for everyone on the steppes. A harsh landscape produces harsh people.”

  “Overlord cultures,” Cassie exclaimed, finally comprehending. “Now I understand what Faye was talking about.”

  “Oh there’s much more to the story of what turned them into aggressive, sky god worshippers but I think the Anatolian trove-keeper may have more insight to offer on that topic than I do.”

  “So when do we get to meet him?” Cassie asked eagerly.

  Griffin took a sip of his Turkish coffee. “If all goes as planned, tomorrow afternoon. We have to travel to the dig sight first, of course, but he did say he would have time to speak with us when we arrived.”

  Cassie gazed out over the darkening water and noticed with a start that the sun had already set. She hadn’t realized how long they’d been talking. “I think we need to get some actual sleep before we pick up and go anyplace else.” She rose, and turned to regard Erik who was snoring slightly. Pursing her lips, she said, “Guess we should wake him up and tell him to go to bed.”

  She was about to nudge Erik when Griffin stopped her. Poising his foot to deliver a well-aimed kick to the legs of Erik’s chair, he said, “Please allow me to do the honors.”

  Chapter 11 – Flight Of Angels

  Leroy Hunt looked at his wristwatch and let out a bored sigh. This flight was taking forever. He didn’t much care for flying to begin with. Airplanes always seemed like coffins with wings. “If God had wanted us to fly,” his momma always said, “He’d have made us rich enough to afford a plane ticket.” He chuckled at the memory. If momma could see him now. She’d been praying over his soul right up to the day she died. Bet she’d be proud to know that he was rubbing elbows with churchy folk these days. Hell, the Nephilim claimed they were part angel. You couldn’t get any churchier than that. According to crazy old Abraham, Leroy was actually doing the Lord’s work. That was neither here nor there as far as he was concerned. He got paid real well and sometimes got to shoot folks, which he always enjoyed. Leroy believed that unless you were aiming at a live target you were just wasting good ammo.

  He cast a glance at the man in the window seat who was literally rubbing elbows with him. He sighed again. The only part of this job he didn’t relish was babysitting the old man’s weasel of a son. Daniel was about as hangdog and gutless a piece of humanity as Leroy had ever seen. Hunt bitterly recalled the time when Daniel had interfered with his hired duty to kill those three thieves who wanted to get to the relics before the Nephilim did. Messing with God’s plan for the merchandise, as it were. Leroy never mentioned the incident to the boy’s daddy but he never forgot it. Didn’t like the kid and didn’t trust him either.

  Hunt reached up and pressed the call button for the stewardess. When she arrived, he asked, “Darlin’, think you could scare up another one of them tiny bottles of whiskey?”

  He looked ruefully at the three dead soldiers already lined up on his tray table. Even booze couldn’t seem to move this boat any faster.

  The stewardess poured him another drink. He downed it in two gulps and then turned his attention to the sad sack next to him. Daniel was staring at his computer like he was praying over the dead.

  “I see you got yourself a new toy,” Hunt observed.

  Daniel jumped and stopped mumbling to himself. “Sorry?”

  “Your shiny new computer, son,” Leroy hinted.

  “Oh, yes that.” Daniel collected his wits. “Father gave me permission to have one because I told him we could recover the artifacts much quicker if I had my own access to information on the internet.”

  Hunt registered surprise. “You mean none of you all got computers of your own?”

  Daniel shook his head. “Only father and the heads of the other compounds are permitted to have them. Father believes the internet is a corrupting influence.”

  Leroy chuckled. “He ain’t wrong about that. You stumbled across any free porn sites yet?”

  The young man peered at him earnestly. “I don’t know what that word means. Is porn an abbreviation for something?”

  His companion let out a guffaw and slapped his knee. “Hooee! I tell you what, boy. You’re greener than acorns in June! Porn is short for bare-naked ladies gettin’ up to all sorts of mischief and lettin’ us fellas watch.”

  Daniel blushed to the roots of his hair follicles. “I…I…I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

  Still grinning, Leroy replied. “No, I don’t expect you would’ve. Your daddy likes to run a tight ship. Still and all, can’t say that you’d need to watch porn much since you got all them wives. What’s the body count up to now?”

  “Four,” Daniel said in a tight voice. “I have four wives.”

  “Must keep you busy most nights,” Leroy opined.

  “I’d rather talk about something else.”

  His companion nodded affably. “OK, no harm in askin’.” He tilted his head in the direction of the computer. “Then if it ain’t porn, what are you starin’ at on that screen?”

  The young man transferred his gaze back to the monitor. “I’m trying to find as much information as I can about the Idaean Cave.”

  “The idea cave?” Leroy repeated, bemused.

  “I-D-A-E-A-N.” Daniel spelled out the word. “It’s a cave on Mount Ida where we are most likely to find the first relic.”

  Leroy studied the image on Daniel’s computer. “It looks like a big hole in the side of a hill, son. What makes it so special?”

  “The cave was sacred to the heathens of the island. The Minoans built a shrine there several thousand years ago which was then taken over by the Greeks. In the original myth, the Minoan goddess gave birth in that cave to the annual god of fertility. Actually there are two caves on the island associated with the myth, but our clue points to the one located on Mount Ida. When the Greeks conquered Crete, they changed the myth to say that their chief god Zeus was born in the cave.”

  “Oh, I heard of him. Big fella with a white beard. Liked to wrap hisself up in a bed sheet and run around smitin’ folks with lightnin’ bolts. Ain’t that the guy?”

  Daniel cast a dubious look toward the man seated beside him. “Why, yes, Mr. Hunt. Zeus was associated with lightening in many of the myths. As for the bed sheet, it’s called a toga.”

  “Don’t care what it’s called,” Leroy retorted. “It ain’t manly attire.”

  Ignoring the comment, Daniel retrieved a map on his computer. “We’re flying to Heraklion. Over here, you see?” He pointed to a dot on the northeast coast of the island.

  “Yup, I gotcha.”

  “Brother Nikos will hire a car and meet us at the airport.”

  “Oh, so it’s Brother Nick again, is it?” Leroy flashed briefly on the little rat-faced convert who sucked up to Daniel because he was the son of the Diviner. He’d be over the moon knowing the kid had been promoted to something called a Scion.

  “Yes, he will drive us to Mount Ida which is over here.” He pointed to another dot on the map, southwest of Heraklion.

  “So the two of you plan on crawlin’ over rock piles again, like you done last time?” Leroy asked bleakly.

  “Fortunately, the area we will have to cover is very small. It’s a single cave, Mr. Hunt.”

  “Still, if it’s all the same to you, I’ll wait for the pair of you at the nearest tavern.”

  “As you wish.”

  Leroy pulled his cowboy hat over his eyes and pretended to doze off. He didn’t want to shoot the breeze with the kid any more. This was shaping up to be even more dismal than the first trip. But then again, he consoled himself, somebody might turn up who needed shooting. That thought was a comfort.

  L
eroy had a couple of other comforting thoughts to keep him warm. No matter what Daniel said and no matter what his daddy said, Hunt was sure there was money in those relics. He wanted to stick close and see what shook out. Maybe if the kid turned up something valuable enough, Leroy might help the little punk to have an accident and go into business for himself.

  Hunt wasn’t the only one forming a new game plan. The cowboy’s mind drifted back to the last conversation he had with Daniel’s old man. Abraham has asked him for the name of somebody who had experience with weapons training but Metcalf wouldn’t tell him why. Leroy had put him in touch with an army buddy. Maybe it was worth hanging around just to find out what the old coot had up his sleeve. Hunt was sure he could turn it to his advantage somehow. His momma always told him, “Leroy, you’re too smart for your own good.” He didn’t think so. Not too smart. Just smart enough to make it pay.

  Chapter 12 – Consummate Deception

  Annabeth skidded to a stop in front of the heavy oak door. She took a moment to smooth her hair and straighten her apron. She waited several seconds for her breathing to slow down. It didn’t want to cooperate. Her heart was still hammering a mile a minute even though she mentally willed herself to be calm. She jammed her left hand into her apron pocket, fighting the urge to bite off a hang nail. In all her life, she never thought she would do something this bold. Request a personal interview with the Diviner. She’d almost hoped he would refuse to see her. But then, she supposed, since she was one of the wives of the new Scion that gave her some special status. She braced herself and knocked on the door.

  A deep growl from the other side of the partition told her to enter. The sound almost made her squeak in fright but she did as she was told.

  The Diviner was standing in front of a Bible lectern on the far side of the room. He didn’t turn around. “Sit down, Annabeth,” he instructed.

  She looked around nervously for a chair. She had never been inside his prayer closet before. Directly to her right she saw a small table and two chairs. She dove into the nearest seat and folded her hands in her lap to wait.