Again, the old man gave him an incredulous look. “Why you, of course.”
“I?” Daniel gasped. “Surely there must be someone else. I’m hardly qualified—”
“You are supremely qualified,” the old man cut in. “You have learned how to read this ancient language.”
The young man could barely contain his panic now. “But Father, I… I am a scholar. I understand books. I do not understand the world.”
In an almost benevolent tone, the old man said, “Fear not, my boy. You won’t be sent off into the Fallen Lands alone. There is a worldly man in my employ. He performs special tasks for me, and I will send him to protect you.”
Daniel’s concern was hardly alleviated by the thought of a stranger, and a worldly one at that, accompanying him on this mysterious search. “In all likelihood, these Bones are to be found in the place where this language was last spoken.”
“Yes, yes.” Abraham nodded in agreement. “That is very likely.”
“B… but, that’s halfway around the world!” Daniel blurted out.
The old man’s voice held a hint of warning. “Daniel, what is the greatest of all sins?”
The young man sighed and looked down at the floor. “Disobedience, sir.”
“I hope I’m not detecting a wicked obstinacy in you.”
“No, sir.”
Abraham came to stand next to his son’s chair once more. “God has charged me with a great responsibility. I am the servant of the Lord just as you are my servant. We are all links in the great Chain of Being. It will be your task to find me these Bones, wherever they may be hidden.”
Daniel said nothing. He was too appalled to speak. The grim irony of the situation didn’t escape him. He had originally been keenly interested to go to the library in the city and learn about the internet from the handsome young librarian. It was an innocent little adventure not far from home, and he had relished it. At the time, it had been his father who was alarmed at his interest in the outer world. His father who had cautioned him about the dangers of the Fallen Lands. And now it was his father who was pushing him directly toward those dangers to seek out a pagan abomination. Whether his father was divinely inspired or simply gone mad was beyond his power to discern, but he feared that his own soul hung in the balance.
Abraham took his son’s long silence as a sign of consent. He continued. “You will proceed to translate the other symbols on the key. Hopefully, they will give us more information regarding the location of the relics I seek. You will come to me again only when you have deciphered the rest of the code. Then we will prepare for your journey.”
Daniel felt as if he had just received a death sentence. “Yes sir,” he said meekly. “I will do as you command.”
Chapter 25 – Pythia Practice
It had been a few weeks since Cassie last visited Faye’s house. The old woman had instructed her to come by to round out her training, whatever that was supposed to mean. The girl reflected that it might have been a century since their last meeting considering how much her life had changed in less than a month. Faye looked ancient as ever when she opened the door. She was wearing what Cassie took to be her uniform—an overly bright floral house dress.
Since it was raining when the girl arrived, chatting in the garden was out of the question. Faye asked her to have a seat in the parlor while the old woman went toward the back of the house to retrieve something.
Cassie sat down on the sofa. Like everything else in Faye’s house, it gave the impression of great age although the velvet fabric wasn’t worn, and the camelback upholstery didn’t sag. The girl looked at the coffee table in front of her. There were three objects sitting on it—a clay pot, a stone cat, and a little carved statue. She had just reached out a hand toward the statue when she heard Faye’s voice emerging from the dining room. “Don’t touch those just yet, dear. We’ll go through them one by one.”
The old woman reentered the parlor balancing a tray of tea and cookies. She placed it on the table in front of Cassie. “I thought you’d like a snack. After all, it’s a long drive out here from the city.”
The girl transferred her attention from the relics to the food. She sipped and nibbled for a few moments in silence while Faye settled into the purple armchair across from her and poured herself a cup of tea.
The old woman regarded her visitor with bright blue eyes. “How has your introduction to the Arkana been going?”
Cassie shrugged. “Even though I’m going into information overload, some of it has been great. During my last session with Griffin, he told me that women were responsible for a whole bunch of inventions that men like to take credit for. Things like clothing, agriculture, domesticated animals, weaving, pottery, calendars, and writing.”
“He’s absolutely right,” Faye said. “We’ve amassed collections of artifacts that prove those assertions.”
“Even though I ended up with a brain cramp at the end of that day, those facts were fun to learn.” She hesitated. “My training with other people didn’t go as well.”
“Oh?” Faye seemed concerned.
“That Erik is a real piece of work.”
“Erik?” the old woman echoed in surprise.
“He’s a total jerk. He was so rude to me that I walked out of our training session. I went to Maddie instead.”
“I see,” Faye said. Those two little words suggested volumes about what she inferred
