Paul straightened up. “Who could be my guide then?” he then asked imploringly. “I thought it would be you. Why are you backing up? Why have you changed your mind? I mean… if it is not you, Youssef, who could help me fight Satan again, and win? Who could tell me everything I need to know about the Society of Keepers? Who could help me understand the true nature of the ‘Seth Servitors’? Who?”
Gabriel inhaled from his cigarette with incredible calmness, the kind of calmness known only to fishermen, and those who live by the sea. “Oh… brother, I have truly done my part,” he replied with a voice full of regret. “It is true that I cannot guide you along the path, but do not fret, someone else will and very soon,” he revealed with a smile.
“What do you mean by that? You are confusing me!” Paul exclaimed in protest, yet a new hope surged in him at Gabriel’s insinuation.
The old man discarded his cigarette in the ashtray, gazed at his guest—with all the compassion Paul had hoped for—and said, “I am the Guardian of the Chamber of Gebel. You, my brother, are a Keeper of the Word. Only a Keeper of the Word can guide a fellow Keeper of the Word.”
Paul gasped at such refreshing news, but felt even more perplexed than before. He longed to hear more, and sensed Gabriel would tell him, presently, “Here in Lebanon, as I have previously mentioned, there are four Initiates to the Mystery of the Alphabet… of the word. They are the Society of Keepers I’ve told you about, they know the Phoenician Code, and are waiting for the fifth adept to complete the Chamber.” He paused and could almost hear Paul’s heart, beating fast, indubitably overwhelmed with great excitement. So he continued, “You are the anticipated fifth adept, Paul. With you, the five points of the Star will come to completion. They will explain everything to you when they meet you. Now, I advise you to take some rest, for the night is well advanced, and we’re both tired.” He stood up, and walked out to the balcony for his final cigarette of the night. Paul followed suit, automatically. “Tomorrow is another day… tomorrow is Wednesday, a day dedicated to Thor-Hermes, the first Initiate into the mystery of the word.” He looked up at the stars, after he lit his cigarette. “Enjoy the night view, my friend,” he eloquently ended.
Alone now, with his countless thoughts, Paul smiled profusely, almost at the edge of laughter, despite the astonishment, which the words of the old man had provoked in him. He felt invigorated by a new energy at the idea of meeting them soon, the Keepers of the Word; somehow expecting they would warmly accept him into their mysterious Order.
With peace of mind, half an hour later, Paul went to bed, and surrendered to the world of dreams…
.24.
The Fortress
Wednesday, November 3, 09:05 AM
With a new vigor, Paul woke up early the next morning, to the sound of seagulls over the nearby seashore. Half an hour later, he enjoyed a delicious breakfast with Mariam and Gabriel. The meal, a simple one consisting of tea and toast, topped with melted cheese, tasted splendid to him.
And still, he ached for the reassurance Gabriel had given him last night. He glimpsed at Mariam, certain that she was not acquainted with the Secret, and felt relieved at that. “On second thought, Gabriel, eh… are you sure of what you told me last night? Might you not be, in some way, mistaken? I mean, how do you know I am, what you said I am… the fifth… you know?” he spoke cautiously.
Maybe Mariam knew something, he thought again. She probably didn’t know about the murders of the Architect and the Archaeologist, but he recalled her mentioning the death mark, and calling her husband by the name that the Society of Keepers had given him, Gabriel. Yet he had to believe his host, concerning this matter, for Gabriel had assured him that she wasn’t informed about the Secret at all, for safety reasons.
Gabriel stared at Paul with a kind look, and murmured, “Would you please finish your breakfast, in silence.”
The guest tried to abide but time went by, frustratingly slow, and turned into an enemy, fiddling with his nerves, trying to make him surrender and lose patience. Finally, Gabriel stood up. “We move in an hour, my friend. We’ll take to the shore, and head to the mountains… for the Fortress,” he said casually.
The Fortress! That took Paul by surprise.
Mariam walked to him with those easy confident steps of hers and handed him a crucifix. “It’s for your own safety. You will use it one day… believe me, my son.” She nodded at something, which only she fathomed at this stage, and squeezed his hand. He was speechless.
Around 10:15 that morning, they drove out of the city of Gebel, and up towards the mountains, an agreeable journey that gradually expanded its view of more cities along the Mediterranean Sea. Shores gave way to pastures of plentiful greenery, and the air cooled into a revitalizing climate, as they moved further up. The villages, which they crossed gradually, turned more ethnic in their structures and habitations, and the trees, more impressive in age and height. Mile after mile, the road became ever more deserted, until Gabriel took a secluded, single-lane narrow path. The drive became difficult; rocks and bushes scattered all along slowed them down. In front of them, on both sides of the road, cypress trees formed two parallel lines, looking like soldiers in eternal formation.
Despite his secret excitement, the trip started to deplete his resolution. Paul took a cigarette, and speculated about the meeting ahead with the Keepers of the Word. Faces of all shapes and colors populated his imagination. What would they look like, these sage fellows? How should he behave in their company? A sudden cramp got a hold of his neck, and the palms of his hands dampened.
Nervous, all of a sudden, Paul shifted in his seat, trying to find a more comfortable position. He knew his discomfort came from the recognition that he was but an ordinary man, seeking answers to certain queries. To be claimed a Keeper of the Word, out of the blue, was more than he had ever anticipated when he had first undertaken the path of knowledge!
He tried to visualize the Fortress, its structure and age, its doors and walls. An old fortress, more than likely, and this thought, in his mind, spurred a mystical and enigmatic prospect. Gabriel remained as quiet as when they had initiated this journey; his thoughts unrevealed, his features resolute, his eyes attentive on the road, and his hands firm on the wheel. He looked determined to reach their destination, no matter what. Other than keeping the Chamber safe, his mission, as Guardian of the Chamber, included finding the fifth element that would close the lines of the five-pointed star. He had found Paul; the fifth adept he had kept an eye on, and was now guiding to the Inner Circle.
At the top of the hill, he saw something that looked like a tower. Paul assumed it was part of the Fortress he was longing to see. The road circled the hill, up to a massive iron gate. On a cubical stone, at the right side of the entrance, stood a remarkable statue of a man, holding a Scepter entwined by two serpents. The vivid image of a wise man flashed in his mind; the wise man and his Scepter, who had instructed many, on the genesis of man in a world created by God.
Whose statue is it? he wondered. The moment Gabriel stopped the car at the gate; Paul looked out from the car window, to read the inscription at the foot of the Statue. It read, “No entry for the profane.”
“Here we are. Could you please step out?” Gabriel invited with a smile of encouragement, but he did not move, nor did he seem intent on doing so.
“What!?” Paul exclaimed. “You’re not coming with me?”
“No,” he uttered, shaking his head with regret. “I can’t.”
“What do you mean? Why can’t you? Aren’t you the Guardian of the Chamber? Surely you could, come on!”
“Still… I… can’t,” he muttered with soreness in his voice.
“But… you are not profane, Gabriel,” the Historian heard him well, and argued, determined to bring him along, wherever his destination might be.
The old man gazed at him, and again, Paul could have sworn that, for an instant, he recognized the image of Kadmus in the man’s eyes! Kadmus—whom Gabriel had met in the world
of visions.
“Nor am I a Keeper of the Word,” he justified, and nodded.
Paul clearly understood what Gabriel had meant. In fact, he understood that he was expected to continue the journey without him. As he stepped out, and closed the door behind him, Gabriel’s voice called back to him, “Brother…” Paul came closer, and crooked his head through the open window to listen to what he had to say. “This statue was sculpted by a skillful Phoenician artist. It represents Thor-Hermes, the father… the father of the spiritual laws.” His voice echoed in Paul’s mind, as he veered to look at the statue, in awe, and remained thus, for a long while after the car had disappeared down the hill.
Somewhere behind the Iron Gate—Paul assumed—the enigmatic Fortress stood out of time—and within its walls the Secrets of the Society awaited him. As he tried to peek through the iron bars, the gate opened widely, as if inviting him in. He hesitated for a moment, until he realized that backing off now was not an option. If he was indeed the fifth element, as Gabriel believed, these fellows needed him, as much as he needed them.
He treaded inside, with slow careful steps. On both sides of that barely asphalted road, rose some old majestic Cedar and Oak trees. He contemplated them for a moment, basking in their pleasant aroma, and in the splendid environment around him. The air, cool and pure, revived in him a sense of belonging to some hidden aspiration. He inhaled deeply, and proceeded in his journey on that forsaken road towards the unknown. He walked for a few minutes, before he reached what he had wrongly perceived, from afar, to be a dead end. In fact, the road stretched out to the right. With no hesitation, he pursued his expedition.
Suddenly, when he least expected it, the Fortress appeared in all its magnificence, amidst lavish shrubs of laurel. Overwhelmed, he took a lungful of air, and then drew closer, in order to scrutinize its imposing structure, made of stones, huge in height and width, most probably from Phoenician times. Whoever had built that edifice had used the stones of a Temple, belonging to ancient times, and maybe several others from a later period. Some of these ancient stones remained scattered all around the hill.
On the right side, a glorious tower of strange design stood, overlooking the road from which Gabriel and Paul had come. He imagined the Keepers watching their arrival from there, and then, opening the door for him to enter. His heart skipped a beat, as he beheld the huge Cedar door to the Fortress. Paul stood, gazing at the splendor of two golden Sphinxes, sparkling with sunlight, on either side of the door. At once, he recalled the image of the pyramid and the Sphinx of Egypt. The inexplicable light of their eyes emanated a magnetic power that transfixed him. He remained motionless, wondering. A few meters away, on a nearby wall, he discerned an inscription in, what looked to be, an ancient language.
A sweet fragrance of Cedar wood drifted around him, as he loomed over the geometrical configurations of celestial figures carved on the door. He neared one of the sphinxes, and swept his hand over it. Strange, he thought, for the briefest moment he heard them roaring, like lions. He backed off, grinning. Traditionally, a Sphinx was shaped as a lion, with a male human head, just like the one rising before the Pyramid of Khephren, in Giza, sculpted from a single piece of rock.
Khephren, a pharaoh of the fourth dynasty, had lived around the year 2650 BC. The face of the Sphinx had probably been fashioned from the image of that Pharaoh. Sphinxes—although usually identified with Pharaohs in their immortal aspects—had represented the Living Horus: the son of Osiris and Isis. A combination of two living creatures, a man and a lion, the Sphinx had never really existed but as a symbol. To be more accurate, esoterically, the Sphinx had symbolized, not only two, but four creatures: the hoofs of an Ox, the upper body of a Lion, the wings of an Eagle, and, the most intriguing part of all, the face of a Man.
Egyptologists, however, had given no conclusive analysis of what the Sphinx epitomized. For centuries, the Sphinx has remained one of the greatest riddles of all times. The brightest thinkers of every nation, culture, and religion have endeavored to unlock its secrets. A long series of men and women, over time, have attempted to interpret its meaning. One of them, Oedipus, was said to have conquered the Sphinx, and ended that great intellectual struggle. If, however, the Sphinx has sunk into the deepest abode of defeat and oblivion, blame it not on the resolution of its riddle, but on the fact that Oedipus had corrupted the concept of the spiritual, the divine, the immortal Horus: forever dishonoring the great Truth.
The inscriptions on that wooden door had originated from Phoenician times, and the geometrical shapes were those of the Zodiac. Above the door, a Pyramid was carved on the stone. On its top, a glorious Sun appeared. Its rays bypassed the lines of the Pyramid, radiating all around its circumference. The Pyramid, the Sun, the Eye of Providence! The Historian remembered he had seen these symbols in one of the books related to the History of Symbolism, in a chapter that interpreted the meaning of the 16th Phoenician Letter, Ayin. If these symbols were clearly visible on the façade of the Fortress, although far from the eyes of the profane, then what could lay hidden behind its walls?
He knocked… once. A man with short brown hair, who looked to be in his late thirties, opened the door. Dressed in a long white jacket, over a white suit, he faced Paul, a hint of a smile curving his lips, as curious eyes surveyed his guest. “We have been waiting for you,” he said cordially. “Please come in.”
Without hesitation, Paul stepped in, with only one great desire: knowing the Secrets hidden in there. The air changed into an enchanted ambiance that felt as magically old, as the Fortress itself. He stopped there, inhaled deeply, and then glanced inquisitively all around.
“Let me show you around,” the man ushered, from behind his guest, with a serious, although friendly, voice.
Paul followed the man’s slow steps. An exquisite mixture of wood and stone formed the interior halls, whose walls exhibited scenic paintings in antique frames. At this stage, in the dimly lit interior, Paul could not distinguish the differences of their antiquity, yet some appeared to convey esoteric and mystical messages.
They then entered the living room. The windows allowed sunrays to seep in and shine all around, with a particularly focused spot, on a round-shaped table in the center. A fireplace, carved on the wall, attracted his gaze, and he was surprised to see Gabriel’s wooden cottage depicted in a beautiful painting above the mantle. An antique brass and crystal chandelier of eight candles hung from the painted ceiling.
The man invited him to proceed out of the room, and through a long corridor that took them to a vast library where thousands of books and parchments stood, cheek by jowl, on the wooden shelves of all the walls. A long cedar wood table reigned in the middle of the Library. The man explained to his guest that the two computers in here were connected to the Internet via a private satellite server. Paul noted with approval the fine oak wood of the bookshelves and the enticing scent coming from them.
“These books and parchments are divided by subjects, antiquities, and authenticities,” the man informed in a neutral tone. “It is very important for you to understand that,” he said. “In fact, many Keepers throughout history have worked on collecting this great archive we have here. It contains almost everything you might, one day, need.”
Their eyes met for a moment then Paul gazed at the books, thoughtfully. Without a doubt, the Keepers of the Word seemed to form an efficiently organized Order. But Why? What was really going on? Questions rushed through his mind. What about Gabriel? Did he have any idea what was inside the Fortress? Who were the Keepers of the Word? He craved to know more, yet kept quiet and waited…
The tour inside the fortress continued for almost half an hour, through an imposing dining room dressed in Louis XV furniture, a large kitchen—seemingly renovated, several modernized bathrooms, and finally, a storage in the basement for food provisions. The man expressed no reservation in showing him around. Of all the things he had seen, what had intrigued Paul the most was a door with the inscription ‘Star Chamber’, i
n front of which they had stopped for a few seconds.
Star Chamber! His eyes widened, and his heart accelerated, as he recalled Gabriel’s words, “With you, the five points of the Star will come to completion.” A burning desire to know the contents of that secret Chamber pulled him forward, but halted, as his guide shook his head in denial. One thing was sure; Paul’s patience was at stake!
“Please follow me,” the man invited with polite tenacity, and the guest abided, treading behind his host, up a spiral ladder, to the bedroom quarters on the second floor. Then, the man halted at a door with the number five engraved on it, “Your room,” he informed, surprising Paul.
“Oh, excuse me… but,” Paul stuttered in confusion. “But Gabriel never mentioned that part. I mean, why do I need a bedroom? I’m not staying here, am I?” His eyebrows lifted.
The man’s smile, with a hint of indifference, was quickly gone. “Gabriel is not aware of the procedures we follow here, at the Fortress.”
That, at least answered Paul’s curiosity about how much Gabriel knew. Gabriel ignored what transpired within the walls of the Fortress. Paul still needed some more information, though, to quench his mounting curiosity. “What do you mean?” he asked.
“I am simply saying that you’ll be staying here for some time. Everything will be explained to you in time, Paul, and there is nothing to worry about. Meanwhile, you might want to rest in your bedroom, or… go to the Library. Actually, you may do whatever you want,” he ascertained with an encouraging smile, addressing Paul for the first time by his name.
“But… I don’t have the necessary stuff to stay over,” Paul argued, unprepared for a long stay.
“Everything has been taken care of. Everything you might need, you will surely find in this room. You will also find a clean white outfit and a long white jacket, similar to the ones I am wearing.”
The Phoenician Code Page 21
