Faye focused her attention on the jewels. “Maddie, I’m sure your fingers shook as you wrote the check to cover the cost of those.”
“You better believe it.” The chatelaine gave a wry laugh. “I almost had a coronary when I found out we needed two replicas. But I managed to save a little money by ordering gold plating and paste gems for the second copy.”
“You mean the one we put back in the shrine was a shoddy knock-off?” Cassie registered surprise.
Maddie shrugged. “Only Metcalf’s copy stands any risk of being authenticated. It had to seem genuine. Nobody’s going to inspect the copy in the shrine. Besides, it’s not their relic anyway. The Minoans left it there for us to find.”
“Speaking of which,” Cassie turned to Griffin. “You never did tell me why the Hindu pilgrims thought it was a gift from Shiva. Back in the cave, I remember you said something about the snake being part of Shiva’s iconography?”
“Quite so,” the scrivener agreed. “Shiva is often portrayed with a cobra looped around his neck. Not merely looped, but looped three times as our Minoan relic is. The three coils represent the past, present, and future. The serpent around the god’s neck is meant to symbolize his mastery over time. To a Hindu, such a familiar image found in a cave on Shiva’s holy mountain would certainly have been construed as a divine epiphany.”
“The relic is an impressive work of art by any standard,” Faye observed. “But what about the secret message it contains?” Resting her gaze on Griffin, she asked, “How much can you tell us about the glyphs?”
“Little enough, as per usual,” the scrivener replied lightly. “Since we were somewhat distracted while fleeing for our lives, Cassie and I didn’t have much time to discuss the meaning of the riddle. However, I can certainly tell you what it says.”
They all waited for him to retrieve a notebook from his carrying case and check it. Griffin flipped through several pages until he found the right passage. “Ah, yes. Here it is. The inscription reads: ‘The kindred stir upon the high sharp peak where the river flows red to the serpent’s heart. Under the lawgiver’s glare, its coils tremble in the mirror at the lion’s feet.’”
Erik scratched his head. “It sounds to me almost like the last riddle. I mean you’ve got the kindred again which stood for the flock of doves and another reference to a lion which stood for the headwaters of the Indus. Do you think the next artifact might be hidden right around Kailash somewhere?”
“We should be so lucky!” Cassie shook her head. “When I picked up the relic, I got a vision of a mountain, and it didn’t look anything like Kailash.”
“We also need to consider the phrase ‘the kindred stir,’” Griffin said. “‘Stir’ in this context would mean ‘awaken,’ and awakening is associated with sunrise. Therefore, we’re looking for a mountain directly east of Kailash.”
“Why directly east?” Erik persisted. “Why not southeast or northeast?”
“Because of the kindred, dude.” Cassie’s clarification did little to help.
Griffin filled in the blanks. “Just as our dove of the earlier riddle was geographically identified with the latitude of the Tropic of Cancer, the dove’s kindred are identified with Saptarishi Cave. Therefore, our new heading is approximately thirty-one degrees north. The riddle seems to be directing us to a mountain peak at that latitude somewhere east of Kailash.”
“But it could still be in Tibet,” Maddie observed cautiously.
“Perhaps, or it could be as far afield as China,” Griffin countered.
Wandering off-topic, Cassie remarked, “China is another country I’ve always wanted to visit. The perks on this job are incredible. You guys should print recruitment posters with the motto: ‘Join the Arkana and see the world.’ Of course, there’s a steep downside if you manage to get yourself killed in the process.”
“Whether it’s Tibet or China, this is still a good thing.” Maddie’s tone was encouraging. “You’ve got a course to start with. That means you won’t have as much downtime before the next mission.”
“Not exactly,” the pythia demurred. “This unknown mountain is someplace where winter has already arrived with a vengeance.”
“So?” the chatelaine retorted. “You’ve gotten around weather issues before.”
“I’m afraid this time we’ll have to wait for spring,” the scrivener demurred.
“We’re looking for a specific river that flows from the high sharp peak that’s mentioned in the riddle,” Cassie explained. “And we don’t know the direction of its current. It would be too hard to find during the winter.”
“Hard as in difficult?” Erik asked in disbelief. “That’s a new one. You’re not one to run away from a challenge.”
“Hard as in frozen,” Cassie replied matter-of-factly. “And buried under a couple of feet of snow by now.”
“I see your point,” Maddie conceded. “I guess that means until the rivers soften up in the spring, it’ll be business as usual for the pair of you. Griffin, I know your department has a ton of data to catalog.”
“Brilliant!” the scrivener exclaimed gleefully.
Turning to Cassie, the chatelaine added, “And there’s a huge stash of artifacts in your office waiting to be authenticated.”
The pythia gave a gloomy sigh. “When people come back from a successful field mission, they aren’t supposed to be punished.”
“Oh Maddie,” Faye rebuked mildly.
“I didn’t mean right this minute,” the chatelaine protested. “You two should take a week or so to catch your breath. Then come back when you’re rested.”
“Sounds good to me,” Cassie agreed. “Fleeing from imaginary bandits can be exhausting.”
Faye checked her watch. “I should be
