“What is it?” Abraham asked.
“I don’t know. There was a gust of wind that started blowing pretty hard and then it stopped. I heard a woman’s voice, but I didn’t understand the language. It seemed to be coming from both sides of the vehicle.” Everyone stayed completely silent as they listened. The voice seemed to call out from the shadows. It was followed by many whispering voices. They seemed to be close, whispering and hissing right outside of the windows, but the four could see nothing.
“Listen!” Kate said in a hushed voice.
A light scratching sound came from under the Range Rover. It sounded like a single clawed hand running its nails across the length of the vehicle. The noise became louder. Each person in the group listened in terror to the scratching and clawing as something crept under their vehicle. It moved in a slow and frightening caress as if the creature was trying to sense their fear. The creature repeated the scratching several times, and then it suddenly became silent.
Kate was the only one to speak and when she did, it was a whisper. “What the fuck was that?”
With the sudden shock of a lightning bolt there was a thunderous thump on the roof that startled everyone inside. It was silent again for only a minute, but to the inhabitants of the vehicle it seemed like an hour as their anxiety grew. They feared what would happen next. Then it started. A relentless pounding on the roof. The vehicle rocked back and forth as a huge beast slammed its closed fists down on the roof.
Without giving any warning Lexi pointed her pistol toward the roof, and fired off four quick shots. Everyone’s ears rang from the gunshots. “Jesus Christ, Lexi!” Kate yelled.
“Ha! Take that you son of a bitch!” Lexi shouted. The pounding stopped. “Yeah! That’s right! I got you!” Lexi’s show of bravado was cut short when the pounding restarted, only this time it came more rapidly. The intensity of the hammering was powerful and furious.
“I think you just pissed it off, Lex.” Ryan shouted, because of the temporary hearing loss he incurred being next to the wild barrage that erupted from Lexi’s gun. He started the engine, turned on the headlights and put it into gear.
The rubber-less wheels futilely spun in the loose dirt. The pounding on the roof ceased once again. Ryan left the lights on, but stopped the engine. A different sound emanated from the roof. It was the sound of scraping. It seemed as if someone was dragging something rough and heavy over the top of the Range Rover. Ryan and Lexi looked upward to the top of windshield to see what could be making the hideous sound.
A face suddenly dropped down over the edge of the roof and looked directly at them. Everyone jumped back in terror from the sight before them. It was a dried out, decayed and rotten face resembling an old corpse that had been left to decompose in the desert sun. Pieces of leathery flesh hung loosely over the bare facial bones. It bared its gnarled, twisted teeth. More scratching sounds came from both sides of the vehicle. Faces just as hideous peered in through all of the windows and chanted the same strange words.
In the distant darkness they saw a shadow. A silhouette appeared against the moon with large sweeping wings. When it flew into the flood of light from the headlights they could clearly see what it was.
“Look, a giant owl!” Lexi yelled.
The hideous creatures disappeared and the owl flew off into the darkness. Lexi clutched the little owl pendant that Ryan had given her and muttered a thanks to the owl. Abraham was badly shaken and mumbled something in Hebrew while Kate clung to him in shock.
Ryan spoke to nobody in particular. “I don’t know what the hell those things were. I’m guessing those things were the witches. I’d say that owl is definitely after them as well. That could be a good thing for us.” The headlights illuminated a mysterious figure standing in the distance. It was the figure of a woman, but it was not the figure of one of the monsters that had attacked them. The woman was too far away to identify, and she did not move an inch. She disappeared into the dark in the blink of an eye.
They welcomed the dawn that wiped away the terror of the night. Clouds of dust were rising behind them and coming closer. “It’s Kemil. Thank God!” Ryan shouted. The envoy that arrive included several military vehicles. Some had the Turkish flag painted on the doors, others were non-descript, offering little to no identification. Ryan stepped out and met Kemil who had come out to meet them.
“So what happened here?” Kemil asked.
“We got Lexi’s sister. She was being held by some sort of extremist group. You’ll find their bodies down there by their camp.”
“It doesn’t surprise me. Did you know that you are only twelve hundred meters from the Syrian border? It could be any one of several groups operating in there. You have every terrorist group in the region trying to get in on the fight in Syria. My guys will go down and see if they can identify them, or get some information off them at least. Anyway, good job.”
“We were ambushed, though. Your vehicle is trashed I’m afraid.”
“No worries. It wasn’t mine to begin with. Let me take you guys up to Urfa. You can rent a few rooms there, and arrange for transport out of here.”
Ryan decided not to mention their plans for Gobekli Tepe. “Sounds great to me, Kemil. Thank you!”
Ryan and his party gathered up their gear and loaded into one of Kemil’s vehicles. Before long they arrived in the city of Urfa. They found an ancient but bustling city of nearly half a million people. Kemil dropped them off at a small, clean hotel where Ryan and Lexi checked in together. Kate and Abraham opted for their own rooms. After Lexi gave Kate some clothes to change into they went off to relax, and agreed to meet back in the lobby at five o’clock. Ryan arranged for a rental car to be ready for them so they could continue their mission.
Chapter Nineteen
When they arrived at the foot of the hill on which the ancient site was located, Abraham and Kate gave Ryan and Lexi a quick overview of what to expect. Ryan spurred the necessity for the lesson with his lowly opinion of the site. “Wow! It’s really kind of a letdown for me. I was expecting something really big for some reason. Something above ground, like Stonehenge.”
Abraham responded with an explanation. “Ryan, you have to remember that it is a huge site, but it has been buried in the earth for probably 8,000 years. The people that used this site actually buried it on purpose. They sealed it up, and it has been hidden for that whole time. So it will take years before it is completely excavated.”
“Why do you suppose they buried it?” Lexi asked.
“Well, I can think of a number of reasons. We may never know for certain, but as we uncover more of this place and we study more of its history, we will probably garner quite a few theories.” Abraham replied.
Kate added, “Abraham and I have a number of theories about why it was buried. First of all, ask yourself this question. Historically, what do people do with things that they are trying to save from an impending disaster? One that is sure to be on the catastrophic scale? Either natural or manmade disaster?”
“I suppose they try to move whatever they can to a safer place.” Ryan answered.
Kate continued with her questions. “What about the things that can’t be moved? For example, a sacred place? Or, what if they doubt whether they will even be able to save themselves?”
Abraham didn’t wait for Lexi or Ryan to respond, and moved to make a point. “They bury it. They seal it up. They cover it in some way to protect it. Even when we aren’t talking about a cataclysmic event, people save things by burying them. Look at most tombs, time capsules, buried treasures, and the like. Now, let’s talk about some ideas as to why they buried this place. It coincides to the time right before the great flood. Perhaps they somehow knew of the impending deluge and they decided to bury it, because it was such an important location. Perhaps they expected to be invaded by an enemy, and so they buried it in order to hide it until they could restore it later. When you look at it that way those reasons both make sense, except for one thing.”
; Lexi knew what Abraham was getting at. “Those reasons don’t make sense, because they didn’t leave a record of it and nobody ever came back to uncover it. Right? Meaning, if you are going to hide it from some catastrophe, you would go back to it at some point, or at least leave some clue as to where it was.”
“Exactly, Lexi. It was covered up to seal it for good. The most likely reason is because people suddenly realized that it was dangerous. It was a bad place. A place that frightened them. Perhaps it was the source of an evil sorcery they sealed up to prevent it from ever being discovered, or used again.”
“Now that makes perfect sense.” Ryan said.
Kate added in her research. “At the risk of sounding redundant, because I know you’ve learned quite a bit about this so far, my research tells me that this place was used exactly in that manner. A group of powerful sorcerers or witches were using this as a spiritual portal. They were caught with their hands in the cookie jar, and their little demonic business was shut down. Then came the flood that wiped away the known civilizations.
When civilizations cropped back up in places like Sumer, perhaps one or two thousand years after the flood, some evil sorcerers learned of the old demonic conjurers. They decided that they needed to get this spirit portal reopened. Apparently, they were caught or something happened to them that prevented them from accomplishing their goal. Then along came people like our parents who started digging it up. So now the structure is all ready to go. The worst part is the old witches were somehow able to hang around waiting for this alignment.”
Lexi asked. “Do you think this portal is like a time machine? Can people go back in time through it?”
Kate thought about what Lexi asked and offered her answer. “No. I don’t think so. Not in the way you’re thinking. I believe that through the use of some kind of magic it can be a type of a time machine, but only for the spirits. Imagine spirits or demons that were locked away, bound to a time and place long ago. Now imagine you had a portal to the past that could free them, and bring them into the present.” Kate said.
“Yeah, that would be bad. Incredibly bad.” Lexi said.
“Of course, there is no way to know all of the secrets this place could hold, since we have only unearthed a portion of what is here on the dig.”
“So you’ve only scratched the surface on this dig?” Ryan laughed at his pun.
Kate restrained from scolding him over his attempt at humor at a serious moment. “Right, we don’t know what other powers could come from this site. The witches probably do. I don’t know where the witches are right now, but I know they will be back. I wouldn’t even begin to guess how to stop them, other than to get control of that amulet so they can’t use the portal.”
“We learned one thing last night, though. That owl definitely scared them off.” Ryan said.
“And it was more effective than blasting them full of bullets.” Lexi added.
“I suppose we should start moving along. Abraham and I are going to find the sacrificial altar stone they plan to use with the amulet.”
“Lexi and I will roam around with you, so we all look like we are all together, and then spread out to check out the other digs around the hillside. Let’s all meet back at the truck at sundown.”
From the top of the grassy hill of Gobekli Tepe, they could see a patterned blanket of earth-toned colors spreading though the valley a thousand feet below. Hills on the horizon were visible in all directions. The main structure was in a circular shape of approximately sixty-five feet across with stone walls. Inside the circular room were immense T shaped stone pillars. The tallest one stood about sixteen feet in height. The pillars were arranged in circles that started from the center, and then more pillars created rings of concentric circles. There were other circular structures of similar construction in various states of excavation. There were dozens of holes or depressions carved into the surrounding rock floors that resembled plazas.
“Did any people live here?” Lexi asked.
“No, not that we know of. There is a village not too far from here though. It was the center for early agricultural development. It appears that this place was only used for religious purposes, however, not for burying the dead.”
Ryan noticed the view and thought of its strategic importance. “I can’t help but think about this location. It allows anyone up here to have a commanding view of this entire valley. Strategically it’s the ideal location for a fortified encampment.”
Abraham responded. “Good point Ryan, although there is no evidence of warfare or even a hint of military activity. Most of the uncovered artifacts found so far have been fragments of stone tools, and bones of wild animals that were likely from sacrificial offerings.”
Lexi looked around at the carvings on the pillars. “What is the deal with all of these creatures carved into the pillars? Just about every one of them are creepy, except for the birds. Spiders, snakes, scorpions, and ants—and what the hell is that? It looks like a wild dog or a wolf showing its teeth.”
“There is a definite theme here. They didn’t carve images of the animals that were used for food. It creates more questions and possibly clues to what this place was used for. Could they have been used to frighten people or spirits? Perhaps they were trying to overcome their own fears of these creatures. They could also represent evil spirits. We may never know.”
“Abraham, take a look at this set of small symbols on this rock.” Kate was looking at large flat surfaces of stone that had dozens of shapes carved into them. “Do you notice that these symbols resemble many of the shapes found from ice age cultures throughout Europe? Only these seem to be in an arrangement, and some of the symbols are repeated. A few of them have been modified slightly then repeated. This is a pictographic text. Amazing! We are talking about a major discovery if you are correct in your theory. If this is a written text, it predates any other known written language by almost eight thousand years!”
“This is incredible! Imagine what we could learn from this, and I am certain more will be uncovered. This is just the tip of the iceberg.” Abraham nearly danced with excitement.
“Okay, well we will let the two of you celebrate your new find. Ryan and I will look around the rest of the area. See you down by the parking area at sundown!”
Beyond the recently uncovered circular structures archaeologists had been systematically dividing up smaller areas into squares. These squares were only big enough to allow two or three people to fit inside, and each one was in a different stage of excavation. There were also a number of small holes in various places. These were left by workers who had probed for artifacts in several suspect locations.
At the top of the dome shaped hill there were various wooden sheds with corrugated metal roofs. They formed an L shaped wall on one side of the dig site. A barbwire fence surrounded the entire site.
Ryan and Lexi noticed a number of smaller excavations further out that would work well as observation points later that night. The smaller dig sites reminded him of foxholes that could be seen in a thousand old war movies. They could each take a side of the hill, watching from a concealed position. No matter what direction Ben or anyone else arrived from, they would be sure to see them.
Ryan liked the added benefit to being outside of the guarded perimeter of the actual site. As long as the guards didn’t wander too far outside of the main complex, they shouldn’t have to worry about them.
The group met back at the car to discuss their plan, and to wait for the sun to set. “Abraham, Kate, did you find any location that you think might be the final destination for the amulet?” Ryan asked.
Abraham proudly answered. “Yes, we believe we did. It’s located in the main circular structure right in between the two center pillars. There is a stone with a depression carved into it, where the amulet looks like it would fit. This is a type of altar used for a blood sacrifice that we typically find in almost all Mesopotamian temples. Of course, this place is older than anything we have ever seen, so we can
’t be sure. The people that built this place may have had the same beliefs as the later Sumerians or Akkadians. In this case, we have to assume that it would be the most likely spot, based on what knowledge we have.”
Once darkness fell over the land, the security guards arrived. Ryan noticed there were only two guards, and they appeared to be armed with pistols. “I don’t think we’ll have any problems with those guys. I’m not so sure about Ben though. He is a very well trained and experienced agent. If anyone notices any sign of him approaching, I want you to get my attention with hand signals. We should have enough moonlight to see each other’s silhouettes. I have no idea what we can expect out of Ben. My guess is that since he was willing to put a gun to Lexi’s head to get the amulet, we have to expect that he will be extremely dangerous. Please do not confront him. I will have to surprise him, and I will be armed.”
Lexi thought about Ryan’s expected confrontation with Ben. “Ryan, what If he’s not alone? And what about those witches, or monsters, or whatever they were?”
“I’m counting on the witches to appear close to three a.m., just like they did when they attacked us before. I really think Ben would want to get here before that time. If someone or something else shows up instead of Ben, we have to treat that person as if he or she is just as dangerous as Ben.”
With their plan agreed upon, they slowly headed back up the side of the hill. When they were about a third of the way up, they split off and encircled the top. Each person found and settled into to one of the many small pits that had been dug out. The sky was clear and the glow from the full moon proved to be enough to easily see any movement. Lexi and Ryan were separated by a distance that was about the length of a soccer field.
Conjuring Darkness Page 22
