The Scepter

by Tom Hunter

  “Very well.” Abdul nodded. “I shall pray for your success in foiling the Bruard. May God watch over you and keep you safe.”

  He clasped his hands and closed his eyes, whispering words of blessing as he petitioned God for the success of their mission. Waleed looked amused, but respected the High Marshal’s faith enough not to say anything.

  “Amen.” When he was done, Abdul looked up at them all. “I suggest you go and gather some supplies. Prepare yourself for your greatest challenge to date. Who knows how long it will take for you to find the scepter?”

  Twenty-Five

  The Milky Way shone brilliantly over Meroe, bringing a mystical majesty to the swath of pyramids. The scene was surreal and timeless.

  A cool breeze blew across the Sudanese deserts, sending the tourists scurrying back to their hotels for shelter and sustenance. In the darkness, nobody noticed a small party heading away from the modern area and into the heart of ancient Meroe.

  “This way.” Abdul, accompanied by a handful of Knights, led Samuel and his friends to an area outside of the main perimeter of pyramids, off towards the easternmost edge of the city. There was an abandoned, neglected feel to this section. Rarely visited by tourists, there were few information signs in this area, and little refurbishment had been carried out to the remains, making it of little interest to the average visitor.

  Samuel, in particular, was more excited about the untapped potential offered by this segment of the city and, as he walked, his agile mind couldn’t help but make notes on which areas offered the most potential of future digs. If Abdul and his cell had lost so much of their ancient history, perhaps it could be recovered by an experienced archaeologist who was familiar with St. Augustine’s traditions. It was something to consider once the Bruard were finally defeated.

  “This is the stele you’re looking for,” Abdul announced, coming to a halt in front of a nondescript obelisk. Unlike the one they’d been examining earlier, this stone pillar hadn’t been maintained or upgraded. It tilted slightly to one side, a possible result of erosion in the ground. The markings that had been engraved on the walls had worn away from countless sandstorms over the centuries, only the occasional scratch hinting at earlier decoration. However, it did bear one similarity to the other stele: there was a false door on both sides.

  “My predecessor of many generations ago is said to have realized that this stele was the ideal place to hide the entrance to the relic’s resting pace,” Abdul explained. “His reasoning was simple. He knew that mankind was drawn to historical sites, so Meroe would not be able to avoid being looted for long. However, being wise to human nature, he realized that the greedy thieves who would want to ransack the place would be drawn to the pyramids. After all, we all know that there are incredible riches buried with the dead the pyramids protect. Faced with so many options, it would take years to empty all the pyramids. Meanwhile, smaller obelisks such as this one would remain unscathed. So far, we’ve seen nothing that suggests that his wisdom was misplaced.”

  “Hmm.” Waleed walked a little closer to the stele. “Are you so sure? While your predecessor is right in that most people would head for the obvious, grandiose pyramids, the truly clever criminal always knows to look where no one else would consider. Personally, if I were wanting to loot Meroe, this is exactly the kind of place I’d check out first. A lot of people hide valuables among junk for exactly the same reason–they think that’ll keep them safe, whereas in fact they’re making their precious things more vulnerable.”

  “You have a point,” Abdul agreed. “But the High Marshal considered all angles. Knowing that there would be exceptions like you describe, he also installed a certain puzzle lock to keep the stele doors locked.”

  He smiled and raised his hand up, pointing to the indentation at the top of the stele. Basile shone his flashlight beam at it. Unlike the indentation they’d looked at earlier, careful inspection revealed a small carving of a moon in its center.

  “You are clearly an educated crew,” Abdul observed. “Is there anyone among your number who is familiar with gemstones and their mythical association with celestial bodies such as the moon?”

  Samuel chewed his bottom lip, slowly shaking his head. The others all answered in the negative.

  “The only thing I know about jewels is how much they’re worth,” shrugged Waleed. “Their alleged magical properties never interested me much. It’s all a load of hocus pocus to me.”

  “Then this will seem truly mystical,” beamed Abdul. He rummaged around his backpack before pulling out something wrapped in silk. Reverently, he placed the item in his hand, carefully removing the silk to reveal a perfectly rounded selenite crystal. It was so skilfully carved that it looked like it could have been made from glass. Only the milky lines running through its center proved that it was natural crystal.

  He held it up so that everyone could see before gesturing towards the stele’s top.

  “You are kidding me,” groaned Josh, realizing what Abdul was telling them.

  “Not at all,” Abdul grinned. “You see, the early knights of my sect were obsessed with celestial bodies. They were the theological rebels of their day, since this ran counter to the majority of Christian teachings at the time. They believed that the answer to all of life’s questions could be found hidden in the stars, if only you knew where to look. Crystals such as this one were particularly prized due to their resemblance to the moon. It was believed that if you gazed into it for long enough, you would learn the meaning of life.” He chuckled. “I must admit that I stared at my piece of selenite for so long that I began to go cross-eyed and all I learned was that looking at crystals is bad for your vision! Anyway, the creators of this unnamed stele agreed to work with the Knights to incorporate celestial iconography into its design that would serve a dual purpose to lock it tightly closed against the unworthy. Some images were purely decorative, aimed at confounding and confusing the viewer, but others were an integral part of the lock, requiring a key to open them.”

  He ran his hand over the selenite. “A key such as this one. This gemstone has been passed down from High Marshal to High Marshal since the fourth or fifth century, its existence a closely guarded secret. I swore an oath never to reveal it to anyone unless it was a time of direst need. It is clear that the time has now come to open the stele.”

  “Whew!” Waleed whistled when he heard how old the gemstone was. “A rock that size and age has got to be worth a fair amount.”

  Josh elbowed him, scowling.

  “What?” exclaimed Waleed. “I was just commenting. It’s not as though I was actually going to suggest selling it. I know how essential it is to the success of our mission.”

  “You wouldn’t get much for it anyway,” Shafira told him. “It doesn’t matter how old or large it is. Selenite isn’t considered especially desirable, so you wouldn’t get much for it. There aren’t any buyers for something like that except as a mild curio. You’d get a few dollars, nothing more.”

  “I wasn’t saying we should sell it,” protested Waleed. “I certainly wasn’t considering stealing it for myself. All I was doing was making an observation. Sheesh! Can’t a man say what’s on his mind any more?”

  “All right, Waleed. Calm down,” Samuel interjected. “You’ve made your point. The value–or not–of the gemstone isn’t important. What matters is what we’re supposed to do with it. Abdul, if I’m reading you right, are you asking one of us to climb up the stele and install the gemstone into that indentation?”

  They all looked up at the stele, which suddenly seemed to have gained at least another fifty feet in height. It towered over them, seemingly insurmountable.

  “I’m sorry.” Abdul shrugged, apparently genuine in his contrition. “I know that it’s a dangerous thing to ask, but that’s the whole point. The original Knights wanted to make sure that it would be as hard as possible to get to the scepter. Believe me, if you think this is hard, you might as well give up now. It’s nothing compared to the t
rials you’ll face once you’re inside.”

  “I’ll do it,” Akhenaton immediately offered. “As the only Knight in our party, it is only fitting that I should make the climb.”

  “No, I’ll go up,” Shafira countered. “I used to go rock climbing with my brother all the time. Don’t tell my parents, Josh, but we would often go out into the desert and scale rock faces that others would consider impossible. I’ve never yet faced a height I couldn’t scale.”

  “I can’t let you risk your life like that.” Akhenaton shook his head.

  “What, because I’m a woman?” Shafira glared at him.

  “Well…” Akhenaton shuffled about uncomfortably. “It’s not that I don’t think you’re capable because of your gender. You’ve proven yourself time and again. It’s just…”

  “Oh enough, already.” Suddenly, Waleed snatched the gem out of Abdul’s hand and took off into the night.

  Twenty-Six

  “Waleed! Dammit!” Josh raced after Waleed, as the thief expertly weaved and dodged away from the Knights trying to catch him.

  “Come back!” called Shafira, close to tears. “Waleed, we need that gem!” She turned to Samuel. “Do something,” she begged. “We can’t have come so close only to have Waleed ruin everything for the sake of a worthless crystal.”

  “Don’t worry,” Samuel reassured her, putting his arm around her to pull her in close. “Josh is on the case. There’s no way Waleed can outrun him. Look.”

  They watched as Josh closed the gap between himself and the younger man. Josh’s college football days might be long behind him, but he was still fast on his feet and it was clear that it was only a matter of time before he tackled Waleed. Waleed was going to have some explaining to do when he did.

  “Gotcha!” crowed Josh, lunging forward to bring down the other man. However, his fingers only brushed against Waleed’s shirt, as the thief niftily sprang to one side. Performing a manoeuver worthy of the greatest parkour champion, Waleed used a boulder in the ground as a springboard to propel him up the side of the stele.

  Safely placing the crystal between his teeth to free his hands, he began to shimmy up the stele.

  “Sacre bleu!” exclaimed Basile. “I can’t believe what the mad fool is doing. He’s going to fall!” He cupped his hands around his mouth to call out to Waleed. “Waleed! You’re going to slip and dash your brains out on the rocks! You need to come down!”

  “Talk about stating the blindingly obvious,” muttered Josh, panting from exertion as he came to stand with the others. “If I knew that he was going to do that, I’d have let him go. If he’s idiot enough to try and scale that thing without any protective equipment, I’m more than happy to let him claim his Darwin award.”

  “I think he might do it,” remarked Akhenaton, as Waleed deftly made his way up the stele. The rate of his climb slowed the higher he got and the harder it became to find carvings deep enough to provide hand and footholds. “You got this, Waleed! We all have faith in you!”

  “Speak for yourself,” retorted Josh.

  “What’s the matter?” smirked Akhenaton. “Jealous that you didn’t think of doing this first? Hate the thought that Waleed might turn out to be a hero after all?”

  “No,” Josh huffed. “It’s more that when–not if–he falls, not only will he have wasted time on this fool’s errand, we’ll then have to deal with the clean up before we can progress with the mission.”

  “So cynical for one so young,” chuckled Abdul, enjoying the banter amongst the team.

  “Don’t stop, Waleed!” yelled Shafira as Waleed suddenly stalled. Despite the dim lighting, the pain on his face was visible, his muscles strained as he held himself in place, searching for the best way forward.

  “What’s he doing?” she asked anxiously. “Now that he’s stopped, he’s going to find it so much harder to get going again.”

  “Don’t worry. He knows what he’s doing,” said Samuel, his eyes glued to the drama unfolding overhead.

  At last, Waleed made up his mind. Crouching a little, he suddenly threw himself upwards, hand outstretched to catch a decorative stone. He grabbed it…

  …and lost his grip.

  “Waleed!” screamed Shafira as he started to slip down the side of the stele, scrabbling for something that would stop his descent.

  Faster and faster he fell, his friends utterly helpless.

  “I can’t watch!” Shafira screwed her eyes tightly shut, burying her face in Samuel’s chest.

  “It’s okay. He’s caught himself.” Samuel tapped her on the shoulder, persuading her to turn round.

  Sure enough, Waleed had managed to wedge his foot against a small crack where two stones joined, giving him enough of a grip to resume his climb. He’d lost a lot of height, though, and he was visibly tired as he made his way ever higher. His fingers were bleeding, sweat pouring from his brow, as he gritted his teeth and forced himself to keep going.

  When he reached the place where he’d lost his grip, Waleed paused again. There had to be another way up, but where was it?

  “Your predecessor was serious about keeping people out, wasn’t he?” observed Samuel, as Abdul continued to watch Waleed’s progress, captivated.

  “And this is the easiest of the challenges you’ll face,” Abdul warned. “It’s not too late to change your minds, you know. If you can’t open the first door, neither will the Bruard.”

  “No, they’ll just blow it to smithereens instead,” Josh told him. “You’re lucky that we respect ancient history too much to take that approach.”

  “As if we’d ever let you get that far,” scoffed Abdul.

  “Will the pair of you quit trying to figure out who’s got the biggest ego and support Waleed?” scolded Shafira. “He’s almost at the top. Go on Waleed! You’ve got this!”

  Knights and adventurers alike cheered the thief on as he finally reached a point of the stele where he could almost put his arms around it. Monkey-like, he crawled up until he came face to face with the indentation. Taking the gem out of his mouth, he placed it within the indentation.

  There was an audible click and a rumbling sound came from deep within the stele.

  “The door!” gasped Basile, rushing forward. “It’s changed.”

  Samuel and Shafira exchanged a smile before hurrying after Basile to examine the new door.

  “Er… guys?” called Waleed from high above them, desperately clinging to the top of the stele. “A little help up here? How am I supposed to get back down again?”

  “Someone didn’t think it through,” laughed Josh as Abdul motioned to Waleed to stay where he was.

  “If you can hold tight for just a moment, we can set up a crash mat for you,” he called. He beckoned to some of the Knights. “Go to the old warrior stores back at HQ and find some of the large crash mats they used to practice their drills. Set them up around the base of the stele so Waleed has something soft to land on if he loses his grip.” He turned to the others and shrugged apologetically. “I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner. I guess I was so impressed by your friend’s bravery, I got distracted. Still, we’ll make sure he comes down safely.”

  As the Knights ran off to fetch the mats, Samuel and Basile started exploring every inch of the new door.

  “It looks real, but it doesn’t seem to open,” frowned Samuel. “Something’s changed, but I can’t figure out what.”

  “That’s because you don’t have an engineer’s eye,” beamed Basile, happy that his talents were coming in useful at last. “It’s a door all right. But it’s hung in a different way to the traditional side hinge. If my observations are correct–and I’m positive that they are–you need to press on certain pressure points to make it open. The most likely points are here… and here… and here…”

  He pushed against almost imperceptible indentations in the door.

  “Voila!” Basile stood back, making a gesture of revelation as the door slid to one side, revealing a ladder leading down into the d
arkness below the stele.

  “Alright, Basile!” Samuel high fived his friend as he shone his torch into the murky depths to see if he could get a hint to what was waiting for them underground. The ladder disappeared into the gloom long before he could make out any details.

  “Oof!” Tired of waiting for the Knights to return, Waleed had decided to climb down by himself and he landed clumsily on the ground. His legs were exhausted from the effort of gripping the stele and he wobbled about, trying to stay upright.

  “You did it, Waleed!” Akhenaton hugged his friend, beaming with pride.

  “What are you talking about?” Waleed grimaced and tried to push away, but Akhenaton wouldn’t let him. “All I did was save us a bit of time. The rest of you were so caught up in carrying out health and safety risk assessments, we’d have been here until morning. It wasn’t that big a deal.”

  “You stupid man!” Shafira swatted at him, tears of relief falling down her cheeks. “Don’t you ever do something that crazy again. We’re in enough danger as it is without you intentionally risking your neck. But, thank you.”

  She squeezed his arm, dashing away the tears with the back of her hand.

  “I don’t know why you’re all making such a fuss,” said Waleed modestly. “You’re just kicking yourselves that you didn’t think of climbing before I did. You know that I only opened the stele so that I could get first crack at all the treasures inside. I have a retirement fund to build, you know.”

  “Oh, stop it,” Josh told him good naturedly. “We all know that’s not true. You can quit faking that you’re out for yourself. It seems as though you’ve earned your place in the group along with the rest of us.”

  Waleed blushed and soaked up the praise pouring over him. It felt good to be accepted into the team at long last. This feeling, this moment, was worth the bloody fingers and shaky legs.