Since there was no traffic to contend with, the short trip to the farm took less than fifteen minutes. When they pulled up beside the building, Ortzi’s car was already parked there. He must have been waiting for the sound of their vehicle because no sooner had they gotten out of the SUV than he emerged from the basseri.
“Shall we take my car?” he offered. They obligingly climbed in and were off.
Even though the peak of Anboto was visible from the farm, they had to travel several miles to pick up the trail head in the sleepy little hamlet of Arrazola.
When they parked, Ortzi opened his trunk and removed a backpack and a coil of rope.
“What’s that for?” Cassie asked suspiciously. “We’re not going to be rappelling, are we?”
The trove keeper chuckled. “Most of the trail is very easy, but we have to cross the top of the mountain to get to the cave. The path to visit Anbotoko Sorgina is a little steep, so we need a guide rope for that part.”
“A little steep,” Cassie murmured looking up at the peak. It was so close now that it seemed to loom directly overhead, threatening to crush her. She shook off the gloomy notion. “Let’s get to it, then.”
They struck off on a broad level path that led through gently rolling fields. Everything was green and covered with dew in the early morning light. Eventually, the fields gave way to forest, and the grassy undergrowth gave way to more rocky terrain. The higher they climbed, the scarcer the vegetation became until there was nothing but grey limestone dotted with sparse patches of grass. At that point, the trail took a sharp turn upward.
Even though Cassie wasn’t ordinarily afraid of heights, she deliberately avoided looking down. This climb was different than anything she’d experienced on Crete or in Turkey. When they were at Karfi, they’d been on a mountain plateau. Even Mount Ida hadn’t seemed that daunting since they’d traveled by car almost all the way. Anboto was scarier. The trail close to the summit was steep, and Cassie knew there was nothing to break her fall if she lost her footing. The thought made her extremely nervous, but she wasn’t about to show her trepidation to the others. She focused on the path in front of her and commanded herself to block out everything else.
By the time they reached the peak, the sun was directly overhead. Ortzi paused to fasten his rope to an outcropping of rock. He tested the knots to make sure they would hold.
“Now where do we go?” Cassie asked in surprise. There was nothing in front of her but sky.
“Down,” he said simply. “The cave is on the other side of the peak, below us a little ways. I will go first.”
He turned to face the three who were standing above him. Backing down feet first, he kept a firm grasp on the guide rope. They could hear scraping sounds where his feet met loose rock and gravel. Then after several moments, he called for the next person to follow.
“Ladies first, toots,” Erik prompted. “We’ll be right behind you.”
Cassie swallowed hard. She was surprised to find this experience so unnerving. Giving her teammates a brave smile, she turned her back on the sheer drop beneath her and grasped the rope. Keeping her eyes on them, she felt her way down the narrow declivity between two jagged pillars of limestone.
Eying the bracelet which Ochanda had given her the day before, she whispered, “Bangle, don’t fail me now!”
She let her toes find their way along the path while her hands clutched the guide line. At one point, she lost her footing on some loose gravel and slid downwards. The palms of her hands received a nasty rope burn before she managed to stabilize herself. A few tenuous steps later and she could feel Ortzi’s hands on her shoulders, steering her to safety.
“Very good,” he said encouragingly.
She turned to face him. Just past his shoulder, she could see a dark indentation in the mountainside. “Is that it?” she asked.
“Yes, that is the cave of Anbotoko Sorgina.”
“The Witch of Anboto,” she translated with a shiver of apprehension.
“You can go sit by the entrance and wait for the others if you like,” Ortzi suggested.
The terrain leveled out in front of the cave and Cassie gratefully made for the flat space. She breathed a sigh of relief as she sat down and looked out at the countryside below her. The view was awe-inspiring—a patchwork of fields with the highway, a white line, snaking its way across the valley floor. Looking directly ahead, Cassie could see a series of misty peaks in the distance. As she sat admiring the landscape, she failed to notice her teammates walking over to join her.
Once they too had spent a few moments in silent appreciation of the scene, Erik said, “Showtime, toots. Get on up and do your thing.”
Ortzi looked at Cassie curiously, apparently not understanding Erik’s meaning.
Griffin tried to explain. “Our pythia has gotten very good at tracking the elusive Minoans. When we were on Malta, all she had to do was touch a stone at each of the ruins, and she could tell if they’d been there or not.”
“I see.” Ortzi sounded impressed.
Cassie stood and dusted off her jeans. She turned to face the gaping hole in the mountain. Unlike Psychro Cave on Crete, the entrance wasn’t wide. It was tall and narrow.
She extended her hands before her and approached the rock. “Here goes,” she said with butterflies in her stomach. Shutting her eyes, she placed her palms flat against the stone. Nothing happened.
Cassie knit her brows. “Hmmm. I can sense that they were here, but I’m not getting a visual. It’s like what happened at the stone circle on Ida. I had to be near the spot where they left the relic before I got a hit.”
“I guess we need to go farther inside the cave,” Erik
