Jewel of Inanna (Perils of a Pagan Priestess Book 1)

by Hannah Desmond

  “But we ate catfish!” Lilly exclaimed.

  Sylvia nodded, “Yes, some creatures have taken form in this lazy bayou with the express purpose of providing food. The fish live out their life span before they are enticed into fish nets and experience a gentle passing. We eat them with gratitude and strengthen our bond with their species.”

  “What do we do?” she continued repeating Lilly’s question, “I would have to say we love. Our intention for beauty and balance expressed as love, permeates the area and sustains it. Without the magick of love, the world withers.”

  Lilly nodded as her heart opened, embracing the beauty and grace of the wild, renewing her connection to her Fae heritage and the swampy world of her childhood.

  Chapter 50

  Touchpoint South

  A variety of canvas bags, tents and bundles were tied to the top of Lucky’s van. Everyone was eager to set off on the journey. Lilly, Roland and Aunt Pearl sat in the back seat. Lance sat up front with Lucky and Ani folded himself into the space behind the back seat. The mood was upbeat and excited. James and Jolene climbed into Kumira’s luxury sedan to follow Lucky’s van down the narrow highway toward the Gulf of Mexico.

  From stories passed down through generations in the Faery village, Lance and Ani believed the ancient pyramid was located in the marshy area of a small island near the mouth of the river. First order of business was getting to the island.

  After numerous stops along the way and questions to the friendly Cajuns in the small town of Buras, the group, heavy with supernatural talent, was directed to a little store, no more than a shack, on a side road. Lance, disguised in a fisherman’s glamour, walked into the store. He came out of the store smiling and carrying a red metal gasoline can. Lucky followed Lance’s directions to a small dirt road about a half a mile from the store. They turned and Kumira’s car followed closely. Lucky pulled the van up and parked next to a group of palmettos. They stepped out onto the marshy earth, stretched and breathed in the briny scent of the river.

  Three canoes were pulled up on the marshy ground. A large boat with an outboard motor was tethered to a tree in shallow water. Lance pointed to the motor boat. “I paid for the bigger one plus gas for the trip back.” Within minutes they were heading straight across the Mississippi River.

  As they grew near the island, Lucky saw a pier jutting out into the water. A green metal boat, its’ engine askew, sagged in the water near the shore. “Hey, are ya’ll sure this island is uninhabited?”

  Lance and Ani muttered, “Don’t know.” The rest of the group shrugged. Lucky steered the boat next to the pier and threw a rope over one of the posts. He gave Roland a hand up out of the boat and they helped their fellow travelers onto the pier. The group stood together on the rickety boards, surveying the wide swath of tall grass before them and the jungle forest in the distance.

  Lance led the way with a swing blade, cutting a path through the hip high grass. Lilly and Roland held hands and followed close behind the rest of the crew. The men had machete’s in hand and small shovels strapped to their backs. They took turns hacking a path through the tall grass.

  James moved ahead of the group with his swing blade. He stopped suddenly and called out, “Hey, come see this!” It was a post about six feet high with a sign nailed across the top. One end of the sign was formed in the shape of an arrow pointing towards the South. TOUCH POINT SOUTH was painted on the sign in faded red letters. “Let’s see what this is,” James said as he followed the direction of the arrow. Ten minutes later they came to an old, abandoned house.

  “There is strong aura of magick around this place,” Kumira said.

  James looked around with a raised eyebrow. Everyone nodded when he said, “Lets go check it out.” It was obvious, by the size of the house and furnishings, a large family had once called it home. There were seven bedrooms, a huge kitchen, dining area and one large bathroom with several out house style circles cut in an enclosed wooden bench. The group wandered through rooms strewn with mats and pillows rotting in the dampness. Baby beds and playpens, children’s toys and dolls were scattered throughout the old house.

  Kumira and Jolene found a long low table in one room. Brushing away cobwebs, they found a box of incense, candle stubs and a brass statue of the three Graces. Rubbing off dust and debris, Kumira sat the statue on its base. “This was a sacred place, a sanctuary of some kind. Where did the inhabitants go?”

  “It looks like they left in a hurry,” Jolene observed.

  “Yes, it does. How do a group of people with kids leave an island in a hurry?”

  “If the motor boat we saw at the pier belonged to them, they didn’t leave by water,” Jolene observed.

  “We know they didn’t leave in the boat,” Kumira agreed. Shrugging, Jolene said, “Maybe they had another boat.”

  Kumira shook her head from side to side, “With a pyramid nearby, there may be an inter-dimensional portal on the island. The people at Touch Point house may have left through the portal.”

  Lucky and James came in on the tail end of the conversation. “They aren’t here now and it looks like they have been gone for a while. I’d like to come back to explore more of the island and do some sketching,” Lucky said. “But for now, let’s get on with the business at hand.”

  James addressed the group standing together on the sagging front porch, “If we get separated, if anyone gets lost, try to make it back to this house.” Everyone agreed as James took Jolene’s hand and lead the way.

  The group walked toward the thick tangle of woods with heavy undergrowth, massive tropical plants, and a tangle of vines blocking their way. The going was difficult. The men used machetes to chop through curtains of thick vines, stinging plants, and huge palmettos. A half mile or so into the woods they came to a clearing, everyone stopped and looked at Lance and Ani. “Which way?”

  The Fae brothers stood together and slowly turned in a complete circle, simultaneously pointing west. The group trudged through the jungle for over an hour taking circuitous routes around impenetrable areas of thick foliage. The earth beneath their feet turned into sticky dark mud the further west they walked.

  They came to a sudden halt when Lance and Ani raised their arms, “Stop. We are near the pyramid. We can feel the energy.” Ani pointed directly into the dark, thick, jungle growth, “That way.”

  Jolene quickly cut off a moan as they continued to walk through the dark, humid jungle like forest. The heat of the day was at its zenith when the group stopped, unfolded sheets of heavy plastic over the muddy ground and sat down for lunch and a short rest.

  Refreshed with food and drink, the group took a collective deep breath and resumed their mission. They men hacked vines and pulled branches aside. The women warned of spider webs and snakes.

  Ani, in the lead stopped in his tracks and shouted, “Quick sand.”

  “Aw crap,” Roland said explosively.

  Lilly looked at him, “We can go around it.”

  “Yea,” Roland said, “I don’t like mushy ground. I draw my strength from the earth. Soggy places drain my energy.” He picked up his machete and walked gingerly around the quicksand.

  Ani gave a high pitched whistle. Lance raised his arm and everyone stopped for a moment. Lance signaled the group to come forward. They gathered around the two brothers and turned their eyes up expecting to see a pyramid towering through the trees. Not finding a magnificent structure before them, their eyes turned to Lance. He pointed down and they saw the peak of a small pyramid covered with green moss, barely visible in the marshy jungle.

  “It’s small!” Lilly exclaimed.

  Lance shook his head, “No, it isn’t small, its sunken into the mud. This is the top of it.”

  “Let’s find a way in,” James said with a tremor of excitement in his voice.

  The two Fae brothers, the Druid Priest, James and Roland, walked around the pyramid. They walked around it clockwise, counterclockwise and clockwise again. Th
ey stood in silence for long minutes at each side of the pyramid.

  Within an hour they were unanimous in their opinion. James turned to the little group looking wilted as they mopped sweat off their faces and fanned themselves with leaves, “There is some leakage of energy on the North side. That is the only direction we are getting any reading on this thing,”

  The digging was slow and difficult. The muddy earth continuously slid back towards the pyramid and the men found it difficult to keep their footing as they shoveled. Swarms of mosquitos gathered and hung in the air as the sun began to set. The group decided to give up for the day. They followed their path back to the old house. Lucky found a broom in the kitchen closet and went to work clearing a work space in the kitchen.

  Lilly found the bathroom and decided to turn on the water faucet to the bathtub. Brown water gushed out of the faucet. Lilly let it run down the drain. Eventually, a slow trickle of clear warmish water flowed into the tub. Closing the drain, Lilly left the slowly running water and went to clean a room where the group could sleep.

  Anticipating a relaxing bath and looking forward to being clean again, Lilly opened the door to the bathroom. “Oh, my stars, everyone come see this.” The bath water, nearing the top of the tub, glowed an eerie florescent green in the dark room.

  Quietly, Aunt Pearl advised, “We’re going to have to skip our baths tonight.” Laughing and shaking their heads everyone headed out of the bathroom.

  Roland turned to Lilly, “Are you going to pull the bath plug or are we going to use the glowing water for a night light?”

  Lilly was disappointed. She turned to James, “Why is the water glowing?”

  “I’m not sure, Lilly. I would bet the tub filled with river water. There are so many chemicals dumped in the Mississippi River as it flows to the Gulf of Mexico, the combination could easily become fluorescent and very toxic.”

  “Maybe that is why the family left. The water became too toxic to bathe in much less drink,” Lucky said. Laughing nervously, the group gathered in the kitchen for sandwiches washed down with the water from their canteens. A gibbous moon was rising when everyone lay on top of their bedrolls and fell into exhausted sleep.

  Chapter 51

  Pyramids and Portals

  The sun peaked over the horizon, as Jolene and James stood on the porch ready to finish the work they had come to do. Ani, Lance and Lucky came out looking refreshed from a good night’s sleep. Kumira arrived with her long braid pinned in a coil on the top of her head. Roland and Lilly joined them, their faces glowing with excitement.

  As the men excavated, the women went to work clearing the top of the pyramid. When the vines, moss and tenacious foliage were pulled away, the crystal capstone of the pyramid reflected the morning sun.

  Lilly stepped back, “It’s a crystal! The capstone is a crystal!”

  Kumira stood beside her, “This pyramid has powerful potential. Now that the capstone has been revealed, the sunlight can activate whatever ancient magick lies within.”

  Around noon Ani called Kumira to the North side of the pyramid. She came forward and inspected the portion they had cleared. With a quiet whoosh of air, Kumira was gone. The Atlantean priest stood in the mud leaning on his staff. His ancient eyes fixed on the pyramid.

  The priest spoke indecipherable words in a commanding voice. He ran his hand around an invisible seam on the side of the pyramid. There was a clunk and the stone moved slightly. Lance turned to grab a tool. Using a metal bar, he forced the stone to open so everyone could slip inside the cool dry interior of the pyramid.

  With flashlights on, they took a few tentative steps inside. Lilly looked around for the Atlantian priest, but saw Kumira, her eyes huge as she peered pass the entrance. Turning her focus back to the pyramid she shone her light on the smooth stone of the floor and walls.

  The group moved toward an arched opening beyond the entrance and stopped. Lucky made eye contact with each of them, “Shall we go on?”

  There was a moment of hesitation. Lilly stepped forward, “Of course we shall.” Stepping through the archway she entered total darkness. Their flashlights offered pinpoints of light in the cavernous room. The group scanned the walls, ceiling and floor. All eight flashlights landed on a ledge on the far side of the room. The group neared the ledge, their footsteps echoing off the stone walls.

  Lilly, sensing a luminous power, told the group, “Let’s turn off our lights.” The group huddled in the darkness. When their eyes adjusted they saw a blue light pulsing below the ledge.

  The group stepped closer and peered into a swirling pool of color. They watched as the shimmering pool took on form and substance. Lilly saw jeweled peacock feathers with glowing golden eyes. Lime green plumes, interspersed between the peacock feathers, undulated with energy. The feathers swelled slightly as they formed a mandala of brilliant color and texture. Shimmering concentric circles of gold formed a spiral.

  Lilly leaned over the ledge, awed by the beauty of the bright colors. She stood mesmerized, staring into the mandala as the golden spiral began to move. She heard Roland say something, turned her head to look at him, lost her balance and catapulted over the ledge into the swirling pool of jewel encrusted feathers.

  Like Alice down the rabbit hole, Lilly fell for so long she could no longer tell if she was moving up or down. She spiraled through dimensions of sound and color, spitting bits of feather off her tongue. When the spiraling stopped she was floating, arms stretched out from her sides, legs out behind her and eyes slightly bulged.

  After an eternity, or maybe only a moment, she was hovering over an enormous collection of glittering gemstones. Poised in mid-air she watched the dazzling stones form a geometric kaleidoscope. Entranced by the glowing gems, myriad textures, and the cascading sound of bells, Lilly put her hand out to touch a glowing green stone. Her fingers had barely touched the surface of the emerald when she slipped through the kaleidoscope and fell into a sarcophagus. Holding her hand over the dull priestess crystal around her neck, her mind filled with a silent scream for a mere second before darkness welcomed her.

  ~

  In the darkness, there was peace. Time stopped as her consciousness stirred and centered on a point of light in the distance. The light grew closer and revealed two women sitting together in the twilight watching stars appear in the darkening sky. The older woman removed a thick gold chain from around her neck and placed it over the young woman’s head. A flash of violet light illuminated the night followed by a glowing red knife piercing the older woman’s heart.

  The young woman caught sight of the dark clothed unholy monks and the wickedly sharp knives they wielded. The knives, fueled by the monk’s desire for power, glowed an angry red. With adrenalin rushing through her body, the girl ran for the shelter of a nearby cave. Glowing red daggers whooshed by her as heavy footsteps grew closer. She weaved as she ran, avoiding the daggers. She felt her lungs would burst and her legs collapse before she made it to safety. The world moved in slow motion as she entered the cave and ran through a labyrinth of tunnels. Exhausted by terror and hours of evading her pursuers, she collapsed in exhaustion.

  The warrior monks had crept through the trees ready to invade the temple of the vestal virgins in their sanctuary by the sea when a violet light flashed on a nearby ridge. The dark clothed monks grinned at one another when they spotted the two helpless women sitting on a ridge, a violet light glowing between them. They had fallen upon the girl and her mentor determined to capture the powerful stone. Stories and legends of the violet stone had filled them with fear and longing throughout their lives. They had seen the violet stone, they knew it was real and within their reach. The monks, their blood boiling in anger and crazed with frustration, turned slashing and screaming at one another. Their blood lust sated, the survivors began to move as one through the countryside.

  The young priestess opened her eyes to total darkness. She sat up and, as her eyes adjusted, she saw the darkness was broken by the di
m violet light of the crystal around her neck. Taking the crystal from under her tunic, she held it up and looked at her surroundings. She stood and began to walk. The tunnel narrowed and she crawled on her belly. Twisting and turning, she propelled herself forward with her feet. Her eyes found a glimmer of light and she surged forward with renewed strength. A babe struggling through the stone birth canal of the cave, she labored toward the light. She arrived at the end of her struggle to find the opening covered by bushes and thorny vines. Placing the Priestess crystal beneath her tunic, she squeezed through the bushes, and fell onto the beach awash in the light of dawn.

  Unsure of the power of the crystal or how to use it, she struggled with paralyzing fear. No sooner had she been named keeper of the sacred jewel of Inanna, than her mentor was murdered. Her head spun with a thousand questions she feared would never be answered. Free of the mountain caves, she forced her body forward. Keeping to the sparse woods alongside the road she approached villages warning of the band of warrior monks stealing through the land.

  After days of begging food and sleeping under bushes, she entered the gates of a city unknown to her. The thrumming energy of the crystal and its violet light lead her to the center of the city to the temple of the Goddess. She sought the high priestess of the temple and told her of the monks and their knives.

  The priestess nodded wisely, “They carry great fear and misdirected anger. They have been taught corrupted stories and misinformation which darkened their souls. We will set protective wards and make preparations.”