“Mr. Hunt! I need your help!”
Hunt sprang to his feet. Reaching for his shoulder holster, he ran up the hill toward Daniel. “What you hollerin’ about, boy?”
“Come here, please,” the young man said excitedly. “I believe I’ve found something.”
Relaxing his grip on the gun, Leroy sank down on the ground beside the diviner’s son.
Daniel had already begun tugging at a corner of the flat rock in front of the stele. “Help me,” he grunted with the effort. “I need to move this rock aside.”
“Well, why didn’t you just say so instead of scarin’ a body half to death.” Leroy wrapped his meaty paws around the other side of the stone and, with one jerk, slid it away from the base of the boulder.
“There! There it is!” Daniel pointed excitedly at the dirt-filled markings etched into the front of the rock.
“Well, I’ll be.” Hunt scratched his head in surprise. “Don’t that beat all!”
Daniel barely heard him. He was busy copying the pictograms from the stone into his computer. He pressed the Translate button, and when the results appeared, his face lit up with a smile. “Ah ha,” he said with satisfaction.
Hunt positioned himself behind Daniel, so he could read the output on the screen. “’Where flows the River Skamandros’? What the hell is that? Skamandros. Sounds like a disease if you ask me.”
“Let’s find out.” Daniel opened another piece of software and began searching for references to the term. He read the data out loud. “Skamandros. Ancient name of the River Karamenderes which flows from Kazdagi (formerly Mount Ida) in Turkey.”
The implications of the geography lesson weren’t lost on even someone as obtuse as Leroy Hunt. “Oh, hell no!” he exclaimed. “You mean we been lookin’ for this doodad in the wrong damn country?” He regarded Daniel with amazement.
The scion matter-of-factly began packing up his computer. “Apparently so. I’ll contact my father immediately and let him know we’re moving our search to Turkey.” When he rose to go, Daniel deliberately steered Hunt away from the back of the tomb. He didn’t want his bodyguard to notice anything out of the ordinary. The fact that the three strangers were probably still alive wasn’t something Daniel intended to share with the mercenary, or with the diviner for that matter. If they were still engaged in the relic quest, then so be it. If they were destined to retrieve the artifacts first, then that would be for God, and not his father, to decide.
Chapter 22 – Of Two Minds
Annabeth sat hunched over a sewing machine, her eyes fixed in concentration. She fed the coarse grey cotton material past the needle, running a straight seam down the side of a girl’s smock. This was the tenth she would finish today. Her shoulders and neck were beginning to ache from holding them tensed in this position. She raised her head and rotated her neck muscles to ease them. There were a dozen other women in the sewing room all engaged in the same work. Annabeth looked at the clock on the wall and sighed. Two more hours before supper in the refectory and afterward a brief chance to spend some time with her daughter. A flurry of motion at the door caught her attention.
Hannah stood there, wide-eyed and breathless. She seemed to be searching for someone in particular. When her eyes met Annabeth’s, she rushed over and knelt beside her work table. “I need to talk to you, please!” Her tone was urgent.
Annabeth stared at her. “Now?” she asked in surprise.
The girl nodded vigorously. “It’s important.”
The older woman looked around at the other seamstresses who appeared to take no notice of the visitor’s presence. They were all bent over their work. The clatter of sewing machines muffled the sound of conversation.
“Can we go someplace private?”
“But…” Annabeth cast around helplessly. What if somebody noticed she was missing? People would whisper. There could be trouble. She bit her lip, hesitating on the point of refusal.
Hannah tugged urgently at her sleeve. “There’s nobody else I can talk to. Please!”
With deep misgiving, Annabeth stood up. “All right. We can go to my quarters.”
The two women left without a word to anyone. They walked through the corridor in silence until they reached Annabeth’s door.
When the older woman opened it, Hannah ran past her and threw herself face down on the bed. Without warning, the floodgates opened. “I don’t know what I’m going to do!” the girl sobbed.
Annabeth hastily shut the door but kept her distance at the opposite side of the room. She wasn’t sure what this odd behavior meant. “Hannah?” she asked cautiously. “What’s happened?”
The girl buried her face in the coverlet. Her voice was muffled. “He wants to marry me!”
Annabeth’s curiosity got the better of her. In spite of her wariness at this display of emotion, she took a few steps closer to the bed. “Who wants to marry you? You’re already married.”
“The diviner!” wailed the girl, still crying into the bedspread.
“What?” Annabeth sank down beside Hannah, not because she wanted to offer the girl any comfort but because she was too much in shock to remain standing. “What do you mean?”
Hannah rolled over and propped herself up on her elbow. She made an attempt to wipe her tears away with the hem of her apron. “The diviner… he… he… called me into his office. He said he had wonderful news for me.” The girl struggled to sit upright, facing Annabeth. “He kept smiling. I hate it when he smiles!” She shut her eyes and shook her head as if to dislodge the image from her brain. “He told me the Lord had given him a revelation. That I was meant to be his wife, not Daniel’s. He said he’s going to make the announcement to the congregation this evening.” The girl’s eyes welled up again and spilled over. She looked at Annabeth in desperation. “Do you think he’s right? Did God
