“The horns of consecration and the labrys were both found at Psychro Cave.”
“Are you sure you didn’t mean Psycho Cave?” Cassie asked archly.
Griffin rolled his eyes. “Not psycho, psychro with an R.” He turned to Xenia. “That’s on the plateau, yes?”
The trove keeper nodded. “The Lasithi Plateau. It is less than two hours from here if you wish to go there tomorrow.”
“I think it would be worth investigating.” Griffin rose as if he were getting ready to depart, but Xenia laid a restraining hand on his arm.
“There is one more artifact I wish you to see. Wait please.” She left the office briefly and returned with a small gold object in the palm of her hand. She held it out for her guests to inspect. “Exquisite, is it not?”
Cassie studied it for a moment. “It’s a bug, but I can’t be sure what kind. Maybe an Egyptian scarab?”
“I believe it’s a chrysalis,” Griffin offered uncertainly. “A cocoon for a butterfly?”
“That is so,” Xenia affirmed. “The chrysalis was yet another symbol of transformation and regeneration to the Minoans. But look at the mark on the head.”
“A lily!” the visitors exclaimed in unison.
“Not only that, I believe it matches the pictures you have brought.”
Griffin feverishly checked his photograph of the key. “It does, it does! Look at the two lilies flanking the Linear B text. They are identical to this one.” He looked intently at Xenia. “Where did this come from?”
“Ah, that is where we have a little problem,” she hesitated. “It was bought from a private collector. He thought it may have come from Karfi.”
“But there’s nothing there!” Griffin’s tone was despairing.
Cassie raised her eyebrows, waiting for an explanation.
“Karfi was the Minoan last stand if you will. Once the Dorians overran the island, many of the original inhabitants fled to the Lasithi Plateau. An area high in the mountains which would have been very difficult for an invading force to take. Karfi was the last known Minoan settlement. It was built into the side of a mountain and was sloppily excavated by archaeologists in the 1930s. There’s really nothing to see there but rubble.” Griffin ran his hands through his hair. “This is maddening. Our clearest connection to the key, yet we have no idea where this object originated.”
“I have a thought,” Xenia suggested tentatively. “Perhaps the pythia can help?”
“Cassie?” Griffin looked at his teammate blankly.
The trove keeper wordlessly held out the gold chrysalis toward Cassie.
“You want me to…” The pythia trailed off. She gulped. It was one thing to touch relics under Faye’s guidance, but she had no idea where this odd little bug had come from. It might be another tainted relic for all she knew. Still, if she could finally do something other than trail around and ask questions, maybe there was a reason for her to be part of this mission after all. Fortunately, she was wearing the obsidian pendant Faye had given her. She gripped it tightly in her left hand and held out her right to take the artifact. Drawing in a deep breath, she said, “OK, here goes nothing.”
She found herself walking in a procession. There were people ahead of her carrying torches. This time, the part of her that was Cassie was still around, like someone hovering just over her shoulder, watching the spectacle. The other part of her was a woman wrapped in a shawl. It was cold, and there were snowflakes in the air. The woman was part of a group walking down a long narrow ramp that seemed to lead underground. There was a square doorway ahead. As she passed under the doorway, she realized she was in a burial chamber. She felt very sad. There was a square box in the center of the room. It seemed to be made of clay—some sort of terra cotta casket. There were decorations painted on the clay: birds, flowers, and numerous horns of consecration with double axes at their center. A priestess was performing a ceremony. She was pouring liquid into a bowl and chanting. For the first time, Cassie registered that the woman she was channeling held something in her right hand. Looking down, she realized it was the chrysalis. The woman in her vision walked up to the casket, and Cassie could see that the lid was covered with funeral gifts—jewelry, miniature vases, small golden axes. The woman gently placed the chrysalis on the casket and touched her hand to the double axe painted on the lid.
Cassie blinked. She was back. The other two were looking at her intently.
“Where did you go?” Griffin asked in a slightly worried tone.
“I was attending a funeral,” she said tersely, then recounted exactly what she had seen.
The scrivener seemed to view her with a newfound respect. “That’s very helpful,” he said at last. “It sounds as if you were in a tholos tomb. That’s a type of burial chamber. The fact that it was partially underground suggests a Mycenean design rather than Minoan, but no matter. Xenia, are there any tholoi near Karfi?”
“Yes,” the trove keeper assented. “There are a few cemeteries near the settlement and a number of tholos tombs. Some are partially below ground.”
“Excellent!” Griffin sounded hopeful once more. “By tomorrow Erik will be here, and we can search Psychro Cave and the cemeteries around Karfi.”
“Oh good,” Cassie thought to herself. “More underground burrows.” She decided that if she ever owned a house someday, it wouldn’t have a basement.
Chapter 34 – A Plot in the Country
It was almost midnight when Leroy and his charge arrived in Heraklion. Hunt was annoyed that they had rushed off the mainland to Crete with no advance warning. Apparently, Junior’s talk with the preacher hadn’t gone well.
