“We’ve already figured out the first part about Eurus and Eberos,” Cassie said. “That’s what got us here.”
“Quite,” Griffin concurred. “However, we were hoping you might shed some light on the business about the dragon’s wing, the goat, and the spinner’s peak.”
Ochanda sat in silence for several moments. She patted the table top rhythmically as she considered the question. Finally, the ghost of a smile flitted across her lips. “Yes, I understand part of your riddle. The place you seek is nearer than you know.”
The Arkana team looked at one another in relief.
The etxekoandre rose from her seat and walked over to a kitchen window which had been thrown open to catch an autumn breeze. “It is here,” she said mysteriously.
The trio rose and followed her.
“You seek the dwelling of Andre Mari.”
They gazed out the window where she pointed to a sharp mountain peak jutting up in the distance.
“You must go to the cave where the lady of the mountain lives.”
“We have to climb up there?” Cassie asked in disbelief. “It looks awfully high.”
“If you wish to find your Bones of the Mother, that is where you must go. To the cave of Anbotoko Sorgina—the witch of Anboto.”
“So, she’s a witch too?” The pythia asked warily.
Ochanda laughed. “Come and sit down. I will tell you all about her.”
They obediently followed her back to the table.
Ortzi refilled their glasses.
Erik placed a hand over Cassie’s glass, but she objected. “Give me a break. I only drank half!” As an aside, she whispered, “You don’t want to offend them, do you?”
“It’s a little late for you to start worrying about offending people,” he retorted but withdrew his hand and allowed Ortzi to pour.
The etxekoandre closed her eyes a moment and gathered her thoughts. “A long time ago, goddesses walked among the people of the earth. But in many places, they were chased away by greedy men who wanted to steal their power. They disappeared everywhere else but not here. Mari still lives in the mountains and in the hearts of the Euskaldunak. Her favorite places are in caves on the tops of the mountains. We know where she is because the weather will change. When she is staying on the peak of Anboto, the weather is wet. When she moves to Aizkorri or Aralar, then we have drought.”
“She is very similar to the goddess of the Minoans in her liking for high places,” Griffin interjected.
Ochanda nodded in agreement. “All goddesses like the high places so they can watch what is going on with the people. Mari often sits outside the entrance to her cave on Anboto, dressed all in red and combing her long blond hair. Many have seen her, and some have coveted her wealth. Once a dishonest woman went to the cave and stole Mari’s golden comb.”
“The goddess couldn’t have liked that very much,” Cassie commented.
“No. This woman who stole the comb owned a valuable piece of farmland. When she got back home, she found the field covered in stones, so it could not be tilled. Thieves do not please Mari. It is said there are many golden things to be found in her caves, but when robbers take these objects outside, they turn into worthless pieces of rotten wood. Mari will not stand for injustice. She does not like arrogance or pride or broken promises. When she sees someone who does not respect others and does not help others, she will find a way to punish that person.”
Ochanda paused in her narrative and pensively regarded the peak of Anboto. With a sly glance toward Griffin, she added, “Mari can sometimes be seen on a sunny day outside her cave spinning golden thread.”
The scrivener sat bolt upright. “The spinner’s peak! That’s what the riddle means. The mountain peak where Mari spins gold thread.”
Ortzi and Ochanda both chuckled at his excitement.
Cassie and Erik shared his elation.
“Finally, we’ve got a lead,” Erik said.
Griffin knit his brows. “Yes, but we still don’t understand what Anboto has to do with grazing goats or dragon’s wings.”
“Mari is sometimes said to have the legs of a goat,” Ortzi offered hopefully.
“I rather think it may be some kind of astronomical reference,” the scrivener countered. “The bit about the goat comes directly after the mention of the bull turning the season. I take that to mean the spring equinox.”
“Ahh.” Ochanda nodded sagely. “Then I know what it is.”
“You do?” Griffin peered at her.
“We country people watch the skies at night. You are speaking of a bright star that hovers around the mountain peak. It can be seen clearly just at dawn in the springtime. The Latin name for the star is Capella.”
“Of course,” Griffin agreed. “It makes perfect sense. When we were in Turkey, one of our clues had to do with the heliacal rising of Sirius. The Minoans are using a similar clue here. Only the star in question is different. Capella means ‘goat’ in Latin. Moreover, it isn’t just any goat. The star is a symbol of Amalthea, the she-goat who supposedly nursed Zeus during his infancy on Crete. The Minoans would have been quite familiar with the mythology of that particular star.”
“Wait, aren’t you forgetting something?” Cassie interrupted his explanation. “What about all the hocus pocus you had to do last time to figure out the exact day when Sirius rose three thousand years ago. I mean the same rule should apply here. Capella wouldn’t be in exactly the same spot as it was then.”
Griffin considered her comment a moment. “Given the context this time, I don’t believe we need to be quite as precise. We already know which mountain and which cave, thanks to our Basque friends. When the Minoans first penned the riddle, they had no idea we would be fortunate enough to have so much information provided to us.”
“That still doesn’t answer the part about the dragon’s wing,” Erik interjected.
Griffin looked hopefully toward Ochanda, but she shook her head.
“Ah well, one can’t have everything. I suppose that particular part of the riddle will reveal itself in time.”
“Bottom line is we’ve got some mountain climbing to do,” Cassie said worriedly.
“It is no problem. I will take you,” Ortzi volunteered. “Tourists go to the top of Anboto all the time. There are many paths up the mountain.”
“Do not take them across Paso del Diablo,” Ochanda cautioned her nephew.
“Whoa, even I know enough Spanish to figure that one out!” Cassie exclaimed. “No way am I climbing something called ‘the devil’s pass.’”
Ortzi laughed. “We do not have to go that way. We will follow the trail from Arrazola. It will take three hours to climb to the top.”
“Perhaps we should move our base of operations a bit closer than Bilbao,” Griffin suggested.
“You are welcome to stay here,” Ochanda offered.
Before the others could speak, Griffin interposed. “We wouldn’t think of inconveniencing you. There must be a nearby hotel where we could stay.”
“In Durango,” Ortzi said. “There are several, and it is not far from here.”
“Very well then. If Ortzi wouldn’t mind driving us back to Bilbao, we can sort out our accommodations,” Griffin concluded.
“We should probably rent a car too, so nobody has to come get us,” Erik added.
Cassie scarcely registered the plans the others were making. Her head was filled with images of witch goddesses with goat’s feet and mountain ridges so steep that only the devil would cross them. She glanced anxiously out the window at the peak of Anboto one more time.
As if sensing her foreboding, Ochanda had walked up behind her and slipped something onto her wrist.
It was a bangle bracelet with a repeating design. The symbol was a four-armed cross, something like a swastika but without the sharp edges. Each arm of the cross looked like a curved teardrop instead.
“What’s this?” the pythia asked.
&n
bsp; “It is a very ancient sign. We call it the lauburu. It will protect you from harm and bring you luck.”
“I can’t accept this,’ Cassie said. “It must be a family heirloom.”
The etxekoandre squeezed her wrist reassuringly. “Then I will lend it to you. You must wear it while you are here, and you can give it back to me after you find what you seek.”
“For luck then,” Cassie agreed and gave the matriarch a grateful smile. She gazed out at the mountain peak again and thought to herself, “Something tells me we’re really gonna need it!”
Chapter 29 – Doubtful Beliefs
Faye was in the kitchen kneading bread dough when her cell phone rang—the special phone she kept in the cutlery drawer which was meant to be used for Arkana communication only. Wiping her flour-coated hands on her apron, she bustled over to answer it.
“Faye,” the voice on the other end said flatly. It was Maddie.
“Yes, dear.” The old woman gave a furtive look toward the dining room. “What is it?”
“Can you talk?”
“Just a moment.” Faye shuffled to the doorway and listened intently for any sounds from overhead then walked back to the kitchen table and sat down. “Hannah is upstairs taking a nap. We’ve had a busy morning of lessons, and the poor child looked a bit under the weather, so I told her to lie down for a while. Do you have news from our intrepid relic hunters?”
There was a pause on the other end of the line. Faye could visualize Maddie taking a long drag on her cigarette before replying. “That’s what I called about. It seems like they finally caught a break. The Basque trove keeper has an aunt who knows a lot of local history. She was able to crack a few more lines of the riddle. Turns out the artifact might be hidden in a mountain cave in northern Spain. They’re going to check it out tomorrow.”
“That’s wonderful news!” Faye enthused. “I know they were becoming a bit demoralized when—”
Her words were cut short at the sound of a crash coming from the other room.
“Hold on, dear. Something’s happened.” She laid the phone down on the counter and scurried toward the living room. There at the bottom of the stairs lay Hannah.
“Oh, my goodness!” Faye bent down beside her. The girl’s face was ashen. When the old woman felt her forehead, it was cold and clammy.
Hannah’s eyes fluttered open. “I... I got dizzy and fell.” She clutched her abdomen. “My stomach hurts.”
Faye rose as quickly as her aged limbs allowed and hastened back to the kitchen. Clutching the phone, she said, “Maddie, I need you to send a medical team to my house immediately. There’s something wrong with Hannah!”
***
Several hours later, Faye sat quietly in a hospital room reading a magazine.
Her young charge was asleep in the bed beside her chair. “Asleep” might be the wrong word. Considering what had just occurred, “sedated” might be a better description.
“Where am I?” a drowsy voice inquired.
Faye looked up from her magazine. She rose to stand beside the bed and placed her hand reassuringly on the girl’s arm. “You got very sick, so we had to bring you to a hospital.”
“Hospital?” the girl murmured, still under the effects of medication.
“Yes, you remember. I told you that when people get sick, we have to take them to places where doctors can help them. That’s where you are now.”
Hannah struggled to sit up. Faye readjusted her pillows and helped her lean back on them.
“What happened to me?”
“Oh, my dear.” Faye’s voice held a sad note. “I’m so sorry to tell you this, but you’ve lost the baby.”
“Lost?” The girl was still having difficulty focusing. “Where did it go?”
“It’s an unfortunate euphemism we use in the outside world to describe something that’s very painful to put into words. To be brutally blunt, you had a miscarriage, and your baby died.”
For a moment, Hannah said nothing. She simply stared off into space. “Could the doctor tell whether it was a boy or a girl?”
“It was a baby boy.”
Hannah wrapped her arms around her body and made a quick rocking motion. Then she began to laugh—a high-pitched hysterical sound.
Faye grew alarmed. She tried to stop the girl from rocking. “Hannah, Hannah! Listen to me.”
“It’s the judgment of God,” the girl murmured softly. “The diviner was right. It’s the judgment of God. I’ve been damned after all. I kept telling myself that God would be merciful but I was fooling myself. This is the proof. He punished the baby because of me!”
The old woman gripped the girl firmly by the arms to still her. “Hannah, look at me!” she commanded in a firm but gentle voice.
This seemed to subdue the patient. Hannah obeyed and gazed at Faye blankly.
“This has nothing whatever to do with the judgment of the diviner’s god.”
Hannah stared through Faye, not really seeing her. “The Nephilim believe that when a woman miscarries a baby, it’s because God is displeased with her. It’s a sure sign that she’ll go to hell—she and the baby both. The only way to make God forgive her is if she can produce another baby.”
“What utter nonsense!” Faye said, a trifle angrily. “Miscarriages happen all the time. In fact, they happen much more frequently when the father is over the age of thirty-five!”
For the first time, Hannah looked her straight in the eye. “They do?” she asked weakly.
“Indeed, they do. If you’re looking for a place to lay the blame, perhaps you should consider your elderly husband as the cause.”
Faye gave the girl’s arms a comforting squeeze. “My dear, you’re still light-headed from the medication and the surgery you’ve just undergone. Here, drink some of this.”
Faye poured a glass of orange juice from a pitcher and handed it to Hannah.
The girl obediently sipped the beverage and then handed the empty glass back to Faye.
The old woman drew her chair closer to the bed and sat down. She fixed the girl with an intent look before beginning to speak. “I want you to think back to the time when you first left the compound.”
The girl nodded. “Alright.”
“What did your diviner tell you the outside world would be like?”
“He said it was a terrible place. He said that if a consecrated bride ever went into the Fallen Lands, she would be forced to wear make-up and have sex with men she didn’t know.”
Faye suppressed a smile at the ridiculous notion. “And did that happen to you?”
“N... no,” Hannah replied hesitatingly.
“What else did he tell you about our world?”
“He said that murders happened on every street corner. That people lied and stole from each other. That there was no rule of law.”
“Has anybody treated you badly since you came to the city?”
The girl paused to consider the question. “Well, there was that one man who drove a cab. But nobody else was mean to me at all. Everybody was very... kind.”
Faye sat forward. “Hannah, I want you to pay attention now. What I have to ask you is very important.”
The girl focused her eyes on the old woman.
“Answer me this. Was your diviner right about anything at all in the Fallen Lands?”
The question took the girl completely by surprise. Her face registered bewilderment. Clearly, she had never considered the thought before. “No,” she said with dawning recognition. “He was wrong about everything in this world. He was wrong about everybody.”
Faye sat back again. “So that would tend to prove he isn’t infallible.”
“I suppose not,” Hannah agreed slowly, still getting her mind to encompass an idea that would never have been considered much less uttered within the walls of the compound.
“Now answer me one final question, and this is the most important of all. If he was wrong about so many o
ther things, what makes you think he’s right about you going to hell because you had a miscarriage?”
The girl didn’t reply at once. She gave a slight smile instead. It was like a tiny sunbeam breaking over the horizon. “There’s no reason why he should be right about that. He doesn’t know anything at all about the way the world really works.”
Faye nodded. “Well said.” She rose and kissed the girl on the forehead. “You need to get some more rest, child. I’ll be back to look in on you later.” The old woman helped Hannah lie down and tucked the covers around her shoulders. “Sleep well,” she said and switched off the lights.
Chapter 30 – Witch Way?
The Arkana team agreed to meet shortly after dawn in the lobby of their hotel in Durango. They had spent the previous afternoon decamping from Bilbao, renting a car and setting up their base of operations in the smaller town to the east. There was less traffic in Durango than the big city, and it was also much closer to the Exteberri farm. Since the climb to the top of Anboto and back promised to be an all-day affair, they needed to make an early start. True to form, Cassie trailed down the stairs last.
She yawned expressively as Griffin handed her a cup of coffee. The gesture earned him an appreciative, though sleepy, smile.
“What, no coffee for you?” she asked Erik.
“Already had it with breakfast,” the security coordinator said pointedly.
Cassie pulled an energy bar out of her backpack and ripped it open.
“That’s all you’re gonna eat?” Erik asked incredulously. “You should have ordered room service.”
“This is all I need,” she replied. “This and coffee.”
“Wait a minute.” Erik unzipped his pack and rummaged around until he found an object wrapped in paper. He handed it to Cassie. “Here, take this.”
She balked at the offering. “What is it?”
“An egg sandwich left over from breakfast. I brought it along for a snack later, but you need it more than I do.”
The Arkana Mysteries Boxed Set Page 68