“It sure didn’t seem like you had a vision,” Erik remarked skeptically.
“That’s because it wasn’t so much a vision as snapshots flashing in front of me. I saw one of the Minoans chiseling a lily symbol on a rock. Not up to their usual standard, I have to say.”
“In what way?” The paladin squinted at her uncomprehendingly.
“I mean it was a hurried job. Not elaborate like their usual lily carvings. Just the bare outline of the flower. Maybe they didn’t like being stuck out here any longer than they had to be. Judging from where we’re standing...” She paused to look around and get her bearings. “It would have been over there.” Cassie pointed to a now empty spot about six feet away and to her right.
“This is just as I feared.” Griffin shook his head in discouragement. “The lily rock is gone. We have no idea where to dig for the treasure.”
“But they didn’t bury anything here,” Cassie added almost as an afterthought.
“What!” Both men exclaimed in unison.
“Nope. They just carved the symbols. On two rocks, not one. At opposite ends of the circle. Then they left.”
“What the bloody hell were they playing at?” Griffin cried in irritation.
“Calm down. It’s all good.” Cassie patted him reassuringly on the back. “I got the feeling that the lily marks were just meant to point us to the real hiding place. And by the way, you should be glad they didn’t bury anything here.”
“I should?” the scrivener asked half-heartedly.
“Yeah, she’s right.” Erik came to Cassie’s defense. “Remember you told us this place was dug up awhile back. Archaeologists were crawling all over this site. What if they’d found our artifact?”
“Oh, I’d quite forgotten.” Griffin seemed slightly contrite. “Sorry for the outburst. I just don’t see where we’re to go from here. “
“Then it’s a lucky thing my eyes can see a little farther than yours,” Cassie reminded him. “Let’s take a look at that snapshot of the dove relic.”
Griffin flipped through the photos in his portfolio and drew out the picture of the lapis dove.
The three of them bent over the picture and studied it.
“There!” Cassie announced triumphantly. “Look at the two rubies. One’s bigger than the other, and they’re at opposite ends of the diamond circle. Maybe they’re meant to be a pointer. The bigger ruby would be the tip of the arrow and the smaller one would be its tail.”
Griffin paused to ponder her theory. “Yes, that sounds plausible.” He brightened a bit. The old spark was back in his eyes when he glanced at her. “I believe you’re right. What we need to do is reconstruct the approximate location of those missing megaliths to see what the Minoans were pointing to.”
“How are we supposed to do that?” Now it was Erik’s turn to sound hopeless. “Look at this mess.”
“Don’t give way,” the scrivener counseled with surprising optimism. “We know the original circle was twelve feet wide. We have a few of the original Orion stones to tell us where the center of the circle was.”
“We can also figure out the direction of the arrow from the position of the rubies on the dove’s back,” Cassie pointed out. “Remember the clue? The dove is flying east.”
Griffin understood in a flash what she was suggesting. “Yes, brilliant!”
“Huh?” Erik asked in bemusement.
Cassie held the photo out in front of him. “See, if the dove is positioned with her beak to the right and we assume that’s east...”
“Oh, I get it.” Erik completed the thought. “The way the rubies are placed along the circle, that means our arrow is pointing someplace southeast of here.”
“Precisely.” Griffin was already busy checking a compass to determine which direction was southeast. Then he placed small stones at opposite ends of the imaginary circle to mark the southeast and northwest positions. After that, he hurried back to the central stone where Cassie and Erik were standing. “I doubt Bakri has a tape measure in our vehicle,” he said gazing off toward the Land Rover.
Their driver, hearing his name, peeked around the wheel to regard them dubiously before ducking back into the shade.
“That’s what I thought,” Griffin murmured. “Not to worry. I know the length of my stride.” Pacing off the distance from the center, he said, “The first lily mark would have been just here.” He nudged one of the small stones into place with the toe of his boot.
“Stay there,” Erik instructed, moving to the opposite end of the circle. Visually calculating the distance from Griffin to the center, he moved the other stone into place where the tail of the arrow should have been.
“Well done,” Griffin said approvingly, returning to the center again. He regarded their progress with satisfaction for a few seconds before his mood began to darken again. Turning helplessly toward his teammates, he asked, “Now what are we supposed to do with this new information?”
Chapter 30—The Arrow of Their Ways
Griffin stared listlessly at the horizon to the southeast of their position, trying to guess what the Minoans wanted them to see. “There is absolutely nothing out there but more sand.”
Cassie shielded her eyes to follow his gaze, saying nothing.
“What about the rest of the riddle?” Erik asked hopefully. “We haven’t even considered that yet.”
His question brought Griffin up short. “You’re absolutely right,” he said with wonder in his voice. “How did I manage to forget about that?”
“What did it say again?” Cassie prompted.
“One dove flies to wake the helmsman,” Griffin repeated from memory.
“Yeah, we got the bit about one dove and flying east,” Erik said. “But who’s the helmsman?”
They all remained silent, contemplating the question. When nobody offered a reply, Cassie urged, “Tell us the next line. Maybe that will give us a hint.”
“The course he sets reveals his fate,” Griffin recited.
“Okay, so maybe not,” Cassie said. “But wait,” she added as a new thought struck her. “Isn’t a helmsman a ship’s navigator?”
Griffin nodded uncertainly. “Yes, but what of it?”
“So, he sets the course of a
