"It looks like a spike," observed Claudia.
"Now that you mention it... it could be one."
"I'm also not that sure it's made of stone," she said, holding the piece in her hand. “It may be some type of saline formation."
"A crystal?" Nino asked as he ran his hand along the surface.
“Possibly, but I wouldn't know enough to say what kind."
They put the crystal aside to focus their attention on the piece of leather. The first thing they noticed was that it was well preserved despite all the years spent inside the box.
"Unfold it...but carefully," suggested Claudia.
First, they stretched out one part that resembled a page of a book.
"I think this is some kind of map and from what I can tell, they folded it like this."
The full contents were revealed after they finished opening the other seven parts. The one thing that worried them somewhat was the stitching along the edges formed by the piece of leather.
"Have you checked out the edge of the map?" Nino asked.
"That seemed strange to me, too," she answered, rubbing the upper corner of the map.
"Oh, my God!”
"Don't tell me, don't say it out loud," groaned Claudia, jumping up and down and covering her mouth.
"But it is human skin. I find that fascinating."
"I think it's gross."
"Naturally, but you must admit that you don't come across a map with these features very frequently," Nino declared, proudly showing off his scientific side.
"Of course I recognize that, but it doesn't make it any less revolting."
"Well, try and imagine that's it's cowhide."
"I can't do that."
"Then go away."
"The hell I will," said Claudia, shooting him a murderous glare.
"It disgusts you, you don't want to see it and you don't want to go away. Let's see if you can clear that up."
"What's clear is that you don't have the slightest idea of how to treat a woman."
Having said that, Claudia took hold of the skin and swiftly but surely unfolded the entire map and spread it across the table.
"Let's see what it tells us," she remarked with a disgusted look on her face.
"I like you that way... when you're decisive."
The humanoid figure occupied nearly the entire surface of the table. They immediately deduced that the darkened marks had been burned on to the messenger’s skin when he was still alive. The outlines had lost their definition in many sections, a fact that told them they were dealing with a young man when the skin was burned.
"At least the injuries didn't become infected," said Claudia with a certain amount of relief.
"I don't want to imagine the pain this individual suffered. He must have either been a fanatic or someone with no sense at all."
"Maybe both.”
"That's for sure," Nino concluded. "But what was so important that he would let them torture him this way?"
"Check the line that goes around the different markings."
An irregular circle went across a major portion of the map. A varied assortment of symbols like Xs, squares, triangles, lines and arrows appeared within it.
"I think I know what this is," Nico declared. "Give me a second."
He headed off to his room and brought back a laptop covered with weird stickers. Once he put it down next to the map, he began to type non-stop in the Images section of Google.
"There you go," he said a few second later with great satisfaction. "The ancient walls of the city of Syracuse. You can see it, the design is very similar."
"That's true. Then what we have here must be a map of the city. Now I get it. The lines are streets, probably the major ones, while the arrows are the routes to follow. The squares must be buildings, maybe not all of them, but the most significant ones, so that whoever the people were who read the map could pinpoint their location without any problems."
"The only things we still have to figure out are the Xs and triangles," Nino added.
The two of them remained lost in thought. They observed the map from every possible angle so they wouldn't miss a detail or overlook the legend related to it. They ran their hands over the surface and searched for a hidden layer. They investigated material on the Internet about similar objects. But all to no avail. Until...
"Remember those war maps we studied at the university?" Claudia remarked. "The combat units appeared as triangles in a lot of them."
"Of course! Why didn't I think of that before? That means the Xs must be guard posts, although there's a chance it might be the other way around."
"That's doesn't really matter that much. What's important is that now we know what the map is about.
"It's a war map," Nino indicated.
"More like an assault plan. Don't you see? The plan is to capture the church that marble block mentions."
"The Church of the Dead."
"Exactly!" exclaimed Claudia.
"Get yourself ready so we can go to Syracuse."
"Now?"
"Yes, right now," Nino declared excitedly, giving Claudia the knowing look that passes between co-conspirators.
V – Wandering the Streets
Traveling 170 kilometers on a Vespa was not the easiest thing in the world to do, nor particularly comfortable. Aside from freezing their asses off for the four hours they drove that night, it was a real pain having to stop so many times to get more gas. It just made the journey seem even longer. This wasn't the first time the two of them had visited the magnificent city, although it was going to offer a unique opportunity for them to view it from a different perspective. Through the eyes of an explorer.
They parked in the plaza by the cathedral, found a free table at a nearby cafe and ordered some rolls for breakfast. Somehow, they found a way to arrange all the plates, cups and spoons so they could take the map out and orient themselves by recognizing the key points in their quest to find the lost church.
"How are we going to look at the map without handling it all the time?" asked Claudia. "Ruining it doesn't strike me as a good idea. And I can't say I particularly like the idea of showing off a piece of human skin, no matter how ancient it is, either.
"You're right."
Nino took the map out carefully, stretched it out between his feet and Claudia's, and snapped several photos with his iPhone.
"I'll be right back," he said getting up from the table. "I'm going to go put this away in the Vespa because we won't need it any more."
He came back 10 minutes later clutching a few pages of DIN A3 paper from a laser printer.
"Viva technology. You take some photos, send them to the copy center’s e-mail so they can print them for you, adjust the zoom you need and, Voilà! Ready. I made several copies, just in case."
"Why didn't I think of that?" said Claudia, smiling.
"Because you're not used to traveling around on a motor scooter, that's why...ha ha," he joked, sipping his coffee.
The buildings that ringed the plaza, as bright white as if they had only been recently built, transported visitors back to other eras, when the harshness of daily life was camouflaged and softened by romanticism. A few meters farther down, facing the south facade of the cathedral, a gigantic modern sculpture was literally swallowed up by the ancient ground. Only parts of the face, arms and legs were visible, suggesting that the rest of body was sunken beneath the stone.
"Very ingenious, although I can't say I like it much," Claudia remarked.
"I do like it. I think it's a little disgusting."
"Pervert," she said, pressing her lips together.
"Boring," he replied, wrinkling his nose at her.
Some kids were scampering around nearby, scaring some pigeons who immediately took flight. They passed right in front of Nino and Claudia, almost like they were going to crash right into their faces, but those two only had eyes for one another.
"OK," Claudia interrupted their brief reverie, smiling. "So where do
we start?"
Nino took another sip of coffee.
"Right here," he said and opened the map. "Look at this square. It matches the proximity to the wall, the direction and it also appears to be aligned with these other two rectangles. I'm almost certain that is the community library, built right next to the archdiocese building.
"How you can even be sure that those buildings existed when they made the map?" Claudia asked.
"The truth is that I wouldn't know enough to tell you that I'm totally convinced which buildings the geometric figures represent, but given its location, I consider that to be the most likely option. I also know for a fact that they used to build on top of the ruins of other buildings in ancient times. That way they not only reused the materials they needed but also made effective use of the ruins to reinforce the foundations at the same time."
"Let's hope that lady luck is smiling on us."
"I'm sure about that," Nino added, "but if you want good luck, you have to go looking for it," he said, standing up as he finished the sentence.
He left a 10 euro bill on the table and pointed to the cathedral entrance.
"Can you imagine what happened that night?"
"Why would it have to be at night?"
"Give me a break!" Nino exclaimed. "Day, night... it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the history."
*
In the past...
The guards were running through the streets. When they occupied the posts assigned by their superiors, they protected themselves behind barricades they formed with their shields. Only one word was running through their minds, keeping them alert to everything that was happening around them. Kill. Their orders were to kill everyone who tried to overrun or attack them. No doubts, no hesitation.
When the citizens of Syracuse poured into the streets like the water rushing through the gap of a failed dam, the guards saw they were outnumbered. Holding their lances at the ready, they leaned forward with their bodies so most of the weight rested on the shields, a stratagem for reinforcing the fragile barrier. The enraged crowd rushed headlong at them without regard for their safety. They were simply fed up with corruption, hunger and abuses of power. They were shouting, they were running, they were threatening. Until a frightened guard reacted by hurling the first lance and struck a 9-year-old girl directly in the heart. It seemed as if the entire city came to a halt for an indefinite instant from all the shouts that were stifled, prompted by their feelings of helplessness and impotence in the face of a sight unworthy of being remembered. Then the girl dropped to the ground dead.
The explosive rage that swept over the crowd was flavored a thirst for revenge that whetted the appetites of the most outraged elements in the street. Woman soaked fabrics in animal grease; the men threw rocks; and the guards lost control of the situation. Once the fabrics reached the soldiers, a barrage of torches rained down to set them afire, burning alive anyone unfortunate enough to be nearby.
While the aftereffects of death tinted the streets with blood, another group of men, oblivious to any influence that did not interest them, headed towards their objective. A building that would enlighten the rest of the world when they were ready. A temple surrounded by walls but outdoors, covered by tiled roofs but with views of the stars, built on columns to support the weight of the stone but not apparent to the naked human eye. Invisible.
"The Children of the Dead" were going after their church. They avoided every place where blood was being spilled, evaded the patrols by going around them and, on those occasions when they were trapped by the unrest, climbed up to the roofs to continue on their way. It was the perfect opportunity to take the temple, although the most complicated part of their mission would be to hold it the next day.
*
"...you imagine it," Nino continued. "The heroes risk their lives battling for freedom while a few others take advantage of the confusion to march through the corridors, concealing themselves, to achieve their objective."
"The opportunists who let the people die, that's more like it."
"Say it however you want," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "That happened a long time ago. The only thing that matters now is to find the church of the killed.
"Of the dead," Claudia corrected him.
"Whatever, of the dead."
"Now that you think you've located all the marks on the map, where do you guess we'll find what we're looking for?"
"The usual thing is for the X to mark the spot, but the ones that appear here are guard posts or barricades. Now if we follow the arrows that mark the route to follow, what do we see?"
"Nothing. The arrows stop in a place where nothing is marked," Claudia stated.
"Exactly! There is nothing because when something is very important, it’s not even necessary to mention it. This 'nothing' we see on the map is the place where we'll find what we're looking for."
"Do you know where it is?"
"Yes, the Fontana de Piacha Arquimede*.”
VI – Nothing
Syracuse smelled of the sea. Bathed by Mediterranean waters, the city reveled in the feeling of freedom in the air while being embraced by the hot sun that transformed the twilights into magnificent works of art worthy of being portrayed by the finest painters. The shade created by the buildings was tricked by the beautiful street lamps that continued revealing the secrets of the mysterious street corners. But not everything was in plain view to the inattentive eye. Sometimes only the knowing gaze of someone wise in the ways of the city was capable of lifting the cloak of obscurity that protected those enigmas forgotten with the passage of time.
The plaza was quite simple. Highlighted by the beautiful Fontana di Artemide*, the rest of the plaza could easily be described in two words: road and buildings. While it was true the area around it retained the classic flavor that marked most of the city, the plainness of the location was still quite striking.
"I was expecting something more impressive. I don't know, really spectacular," Claudia remarked, titling her head.
"Wow..."
"It could be one of the buildings around us."
"None of them looks like a church. You hardly need to look at those buildings too closely to realize that not much effort went into making them anything more than functional. They were certainly conceived with that in mind originally."
"The only beautiful building is the fountain," noted Claudia.
"That's exactly what I find so interesting."
"The fountain?"
"No, the fact that it is so unique."
"Do you think the church is the fountain?"
"No, but it is possible we were mistaken right from the start.”
"What are you talking about?" asked Claudia.
"It's very simple. From the start, we set out to find a church. The question is, should we be looking for something else?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like a duck without feathers," Nino sighed, hanging his head.
"Look, I know it's kind of a stupid question, but that's no reason for you to make fun of me."
"You're right. I'm sorry," he apologized, taking her hand. "It's just that I'm tired and a little disappointed, that's all. But I shouldn't take it out on you."
—...
"Know what? To make up for it, I'm inviting you to stay in the city tonight. Maybe when we look everything over again in the morning with our minds fresh, a new theory will come to us. How's that sound?"
"OK, but separate rooms."
"Oh, come on, you know very well I don't exactly have a lot of money. Besides, after spending this much time together, you should trust me more."
Claudia gave him a sideways glance.
"That's exactly the reason why, because I know you too well," she answered, but she didn't refuse to share a room, either.
*
The space separating the two twin beds felt like an ocean between two continents. When they registered, Nino didn't want to aggravate Claudia or pressure her into sharing a room wi
th a double bed and simply requested a room for two. Even as forward as that was, he knew he shouldn't step over the line or he would lose a good friend for the sake of scoring a one-night stand. And she was much more than that to him. The very first day he met her, he wound up losing himself in her beautiful deep green eyes that recalled springtime in Tuscany.
Claudia, Claudia, Claudia, whispered over and over in his mind.
He had trouble breathing thinking about how close she was, but how far away with that enormous space in the middle between them. It was barely one meter wide, but it separated the two of them every bit as much as an immense cliff in the middle of the desert. Sometimes he held his breath just so he could listen to the sound of the air escaping from her lips. Those full lips that looked like two sponges soaked with the fluid aromas of her mouth. His eyes wide open, he dreamed of her silken skin and the scanty clothing covering her naked body at that moment. Black panties covered her sex while a tight bra strained to keep her voluptuous breasts safe from lascivious eyes. His eyes.
An ocean of one meter separated him from the loveliest and most intriguing woman he had ever known, and an ocean of one meter would always stand between them until the day she invited him to cross it.
*
The next morning, Nino was eating breakfast alone in front of the fountain. He had decided not to wake Claudia up. He hadn't been able to sleep very well anyway, not with his head spinning from amorous thoughts mixed in with the mystery they were working on. In spite of that, he would never forget that night. The first night he had spent together with Claudia.
"What did you order?"
Nino turned his head and smiled.
"Good morning, sleepyhead," he greeted Claudia. "You don't look so hot."
Tales from the Voynich Manuscript and the Island of Jan Mayen Page 8
