The three halted in their tracks and stared at it. Just at the margin where the last of the heath gave way to bare rock, stood a large boulder. Its front was a perfectly smooth slab of stone, about seven feet high, with four edges forming a rough diamond shape. On closer inspection, it appeared that the rock’s angles were an accident of nature rather than the work of human hands.
“This is a seide,” Lars told them. “When the Saami people find a strange rock shape like this one, they sometimes make it a holy place where they can leave offerings or perform rituals. This site must have been used a very long time ago because there is an ancient carving on it. Do you see?”
The trio stepped in closer to inspect a weathered human figure cut into the slab. The body was a long rectangle, perhaps indicating a dress, with stick feet protruding from beneath. The stick arms were bent upwards at the elbow and spread to the sides. The head was a circle with dark hollows for eyes and dots for the nose and mouth. Instead of hair, rays shot upward from the figure’s crown.
“This is Grandmother Ahkka herself,” their guide said. “She lives in this mountain. Because she comes here so much, the Saami carved her image in the stone thousands of years ago.”
Daniel furrowed his brow as he contemplated the likeness. “Doesn’t this look a lot like the cave painting we saw in Australia?”
“Yes, it does resemble Yingana,” Griffin agreed. “Another goddess raising her arms in benediction over her children.”
“Why here?” Daniel asked Lars bluntly. “Why would your goddess Ahkka favor this spot more than any other?”
“Because this rock marks the entrance to the underworld,” the guide replied. “Grandmother Ahkka is the goddess of the dead as well as the living. There is a tunnel here which the Saami believe leads to the realm below. That is where the ancestors go and those who are about to be born wait.”
For the first time, the trio noticed a narrow gap in the mountain face. It would have been easy to mistake it for a deep fissure unless a person knew it to be a cave entrance. The diamond-shaped stone stood right beside it, like the open door to a crypt resting on its hinges.
“Some of the overlord Norse legends say that Stortoppen holds the entrance to Valhalla,” Lars continued. “They must have been thinking of this place when they made up that story. Lucky for us that nobody comes here anymore.”
He paused to regard his listeners, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. “But I did not bring you all this way only to meet Grandmother Ahkka. The Lule Saami trove keeper said you were looking for flowers carved into stone. She thought I might know of such a thing.” He pointed to the apex of the seide. “Is this what you are seeking?”
They all gazed upward. A few inches below the tip of the boulder was a tiny carving of a Minoan lily. Its shape was unmistakable, but its design had been simplified—almost as if the carver wished it to be mistaken for another specimen of Saami rock art.
“They were here!” Griffin exclaimed.
“I could sense them the whole time we were driving this morning,” Cassie said.
“But surely after all this time,” the scion objected. “The Sage Stone can’t still be in its hiding place.”
“Yes, it is.” The pythia smiled. “I can feel it.”
“Then let us go inside and find your treasure,” Lars prompted. He switched on the LED lantern and moved forward. Turning sideways, he squeezed through the gap in the mountain.
The others all reached into their packs for flashlights and followed him.
The narrow entrance opened into a tunnel which was only slightly wider—about three feet across and seven feet high. They followed its twists and bends for a hundred yards until it opened out into a large cavern.
Lars paused just beyond the tunnel opening so everyone’s eyes could adjust to the dimness.
“I didn’t expect something this size,” Griffin whispered in awe.
The ceiling arched fifteen feet above them. The chamber measured at least thirty feet across. Its walls branched off into corridors that led deeper into the mountain.
Daniel swept his flashlight beam around aimlessly. “I don’t see anything here that would offer us a clue to the Sage Stone’s hiding place.”
Their guide strode toward the far wall and set his lantern down on the ground, forcing the shadows to retreat. “That is because all flowers bloom best when there is light.” He chuckled at his own joke.
His three visitors all gasped. The wall which their guide had illuminated held five Minoan lilies like the one carved on the seide guarding the entrance. These were arranged in a staggered pattern. The left-most lily was carved about five feet above the ground. A foot below it and two feet to its right was a second lily. Two feet to the right of that was a third lily carved three feet above the ground. Two more lilies followed which were the mirror images of the two on the left side.
“Brilliant.” Griffin smiled appreciatively.
“But what are these flowers supposed to tell us?” Daniel seemed disheartened by the prospect of yet another puzzle to solve.
Cassie walked up to the lily on the left and placed her hand over it. She caught a brief flash of the Minoan priestess and two men working beside her.
“They made all of this,” she murmured, running her fingers over the carving and the wall surrounding it which seemed to bubble outward slightly.
“They covered everything over, so it would blend in, and nobody would know.” The pythia’s eyes narrowed as she turned her flashlight beam on the lily. “This isn’t a carving at all. I think the image was stamped into wet clay. It’s some kind of seal.” She wrapped her knuckles lightly across the protrusion in the rock. “And it’s hollow.” Without warning, the pythia smashed the butt of her flashlight against
