“I’ll go out on a limb and say it’s an IVC city,” Erik ventured.
“And the gentleman wins a kewpie doll.” Dee’s eyes sparkled with mischief. “This island city happens to be the largest IVC site this side of the Pakistani border. It was first excavated in 1989. A marvel of water conservation engineering. It was abandoned in 1450 BCE, long before your Minoan friends arrived. Based on Cassie’s vision, it would seem they carved their lily on a stone in the floor of the observatory at Dholavira.”
“Dholavira,” Cassie echoed. “That’s the name of the place I saw?”
“Yes, Dholavira. That’s where you’ll find your island tower.”
Instead of looking happy, Griffin crossed his arms and frowned at the computer monitor. “But that makes no sense.”
“What doesn’t?” Erik challenged.
The scrivener rubbed his forehead. “Why would the Minoans go to all the trouble of giving us a line of latitude to follow? The riddle clearly stated that the dove continued to fly eastward along the same course until she alighted on her island tower.” He focused on Dee. “What is the latitude of Dholavira?”
She typed in the search criteria. “23.8861 degrees. Right on the Tropic of Cancer, in fact. That would probably explain the prominent observatory.”
“Wait a minute,” Cassie interrupted. “Wasn’t Nabta Playa on the Tropic of Cancer?” She rounded on her teammates. “What if we miscalculated the dove’s position in Africa?”
“I beg your pardon.” Griffin sounded put out. “We’ve already established that the dove led us to Nabta Playa and from there to Napata.”
“Sure, she led us to Nabta Playa,” Cassie countered. “But where in the riddle does it say she flew on with us to Napata?”
“But...but she must have done,” Griffin protested.
“Hold on,” Erik weighed in. “Remember exactly what the riddle said. Once we got to Nabta Playa, the helmsman was the one who pointed us to Napata. The dove had nothing to do with that part of the clue.”
“Oh, dear.” Griffin blanched as the implication struck him. “I’ve been very stupid.”
“Twice in fact.” The paladin grinned. “That’s the second time you got the latitude wrong.”
“Yes, I’m painfully aware of that fact now.”
Dee looked from one face to the next, trying to understand the conversation. “What on earth are you all talking about?”
“It would seem I’ve misinterpreted our destination,” Griffin admitted. “I assumed our starting point in Africa was the ancient city of Napata. It lies at a latitude of nineteen degrees north. Traveling eastward along that line would have put us in the vicinity of Mumbai.” He cleared his throat. “However, as my colleagues have pointed out, the riddle wasn’t specific as to where the dove was stationed while we continued our trek southward. If we are to assume she began her eastward journey from Nabta Playa, then she would have flown along the Tropic of Cancer all the way from Africa to India.”
“That would have led you straight to Dholavira,” Dee said.
“So it would appear.” Griffin sighed.
Cassie patted him on the back. “Cheer up. We might still have hit a snag even if we went there first. We wouldn’t have known about the flooding. It sure didn’t look like an island tower to me, and I was standing right on the spot, psychically anyway.”
The scrivener gave her a grateful smile.
“Hey, all’s well that ends well,” Erik said consolingly. He focused his attention on Dee. “So how do we get to Dholavira from here?”
The trove keeper typed another search string. “You can catch a flight from Cochin Airport to Mumbai and from there to Bhuj. That would be the closest city to the Rann Of Kutch.”
Dee drew up a map of their destination on her computer. She studied the mileage. “Of course, you’ll need to rent a car. It’s one hundred and fifty miles from Bhuj to Dholavira.”
“I sure hope there’s a place to stay once we get there,” Cassie commented. “It sounds like quite a trek.”
“Well...” Dee hesitated. “There is guest housing nearby, but it isn’t very good. You’re better off staying overnight in Bhuj. It’s going to take you all day to get that far anyway. You can tackle Dholavira as a day trip the following morning.” The trove keeper drummed her fingers on her desk, thinking. “I suppose I should contact someone from the IVC trove to handle the clean-up after you leave.”
All three of them stared at her.
“We don’t usually trash a dig site when we search it,” Erik said defensively.
Dee gave a short laugh. “Are any of you card-carrying members of the Mason’s Union?”
“You mean like Free Masons?” The paladin squinted at her.
Instead of replying, Dee’s gaze travelled to the lily stone which Cassie had left lying on the table in the alcove.
“Oh, I see!” Griffin exclaimed. “Someone needs to fasten the lily stone fragment back in place once we pinpoint its original location. We must leave our clue intact for the Nephilim to find.”
“As I said, I’ll find somebody to follow you out there and make sure the artifact is set back where it belongs.”
“Good catch,” Erik admitted. “None of us thought of that.”
“In fact, if it wasn’t for you we’d still be spinning our wheels in the sand at Mohenjo-Daro,” Cassie observed.
“Oh, stop.” Dee chuckled. “You’ll turn my head.”
“All joking aside,” Griffin said, “we are indebted to your quick thinking. First, in recognizing the significance of the Minoan lily, then in pointing us to Dholavira and, finally, in reminding us to put the artifact back.”
Dee gave them a playful smile. “Tell you what. You can take me out to dinner the next time I’m in the States as a way of saying thank you.”
“Absolutely!” Cassie replied.
The others nodded in unison.
The trove keeper wrinkled her brow briefly as a new thought struck
