The Mountain Mother Cipher (The Arkana Archaeology Mystery Series Book 2)

by N. S. Wikarski

  The old woman opened the lid and removed the tissue that surrounded the object. “Oh my!” she exclaimed. “What exquisite craftsmanship.”

  She held the golden bee in the palm of her hand. It measured about three inches in length. The bee’s wings were outstretched as if in flight. The entire surface of the wings was covered with the peculiar markings which had become all too familiar to the Arkana team.

  “It was quite a feat to duplicate something this intricate on such short notice,” Griffin commented. “We’re indebted to the Anatolian goldsmiths who helped us out.”

  “I’ll be sure to express your appreciation to Aydin,” Faye remarked.

  “Let me see.” Maddie held out her hand and Faye passed the object to her. She flipped the bee over and traced the hieroglyphs that covered the underside of the wings. She handed the piece back to Griffin. “Did you get a chance to translate what these symbols mean yet?”

  The Brit sighed. “Translate, yes. Understand, no.”

  “He told us what the message says,” Cassie offered.

  “But it’s all Minoan to us.” Erik completed the thought.

  “More tea?” Faye held out the pot but everyone shook their heads now that a pitcher of cola had been brought up from the cafeteria. The old woman filled her own teacup and resettled herself. “Perhaps Maddie and I can help decipher the message. Just tell us what it says, dear.”

  Griffin set the bee on the table and reached back into his bag for a tablet. He flipped through several pages of field notes before he came to the right section. “Ah yes, here it is. I must say, this seems even more cryptic than our last riddle was.”

  The group waited in silence for him to begin.

  “The first line reads: Let Eurus fill the sails twelve days, then follow Eberos where it climbs to the sky.”

  “I don’t know about the Eurus or Eberos business but the word ‘sails’ has to mean twelve days by boat to somewhere,” the Operations Director speculated as she popped a handful of olives into her mouth.

  “Twelve days’ worth of sea travel to anywhere leads me to believe the relic won’t be in Crete or Turkey,” the Scrivener said.

  “I agree,” Faye concurred. “You’ll be traveling farther afield on your next expedition.”

  “Yeah but they couldn’t have gone that far,” Cassie objected. “Everybody thought the world was flat so they all stayed close to home, didn’t they?”

  The old woman smiled knowingly. “The ancients were far more sophisticated in their navigation techniques and in their understanding of the world that our current history books would lead you to believe.”

  “Ooops.” Cassie grinned sheepishly. “You can chalk that comment up to my overlord education.”

  Faye nodded and then directed her attention to Griffin. “What’s next, dear?”

  The Scrivener consulted his notes. “Set your course three bees from the dragon's wing to the sea.”

  The Memory Guardian frowned in perplexity. “Are you sure you translated that correctly?”

  “I’m afraid so. I checked it several times. I confess I’m as mystified as you are. It’s some sort of nautical reference. That’s all I can determine at this point.”

  Cassie reached across the table for the pitcher of soda and poured herself a refill. “We also figured the bee has something to do with it.”

  “She means that the bee is supposed to be used as some kind of yardstick for us to measure with,” Erik expanded helpfully.

  “How interesting,” Faye murmured half to herself. “So even if one had the text of this clue, without the artifact itself, it would be impossible to determine the location of the next relic.”

  “Wish we’d realized that in time,” Cassie said ruefully. “We might have made the fake relic half an inch shorter. Could have thrown the Nephilim off for a while.”

  “I don’t think it’s going to matter much,” Maddie observed. “If you guys are having a tough time understanding it, I don’t think they’ll figure it out any quicker.”

  “I’ll just keep reading, shall I?” Griffin flipped a page in his notebook. “When the bull turns the season, mark where the goat grazes the spinner’s peak.”

  They all looked at one another blankly.

  “Huh,” Maddie grunted. “Sounds like complete gibberish to me.”

  “Is there any more?” Faye asked.

  “One more line: There lies the second of five you seek.”

  “We figured that one out.” Cassie laughed.

  “Yeah, that was a freebie,” Maddie murmured.

  “Why don’t you read the entire message back to us now,” Faye suggested.

  The Scrivener obliged. “Let Eurus fill the sails twelve days, then follow Eberos where it climbs to the sky. Set your course three bees from the dragon’s wing to the sea. When the bull turns the season, mark where the goat grazes the spinner’s peak. There lies the second of five you seek.”

  “That sure is a mouthful.” Cassie scowled as she considered the diminutive bee. “How the heck did they fit all those words on the wings?”

  “My translation is somewhat liberal,” Griffin admitted. “I attempted to turn the message into something coherent and, to whatever extent, poetical. In its original form, it reads more like Morse Code or semaphore.”

  Cassie regarded him skeptically. “You sure you didn’t lose anything along the way?”

  “Oh no, the gist of what I recited is faithful to the original symbols.”

  “Well if that’s true,” she remarked bleakly, “then we’ve got a ton of work ahead of us to figure this out. And I was hoping for a break!”

  Griffin smiled. “Then I have good news for you.”

  “Really?”

  “We will have quite a lot of time to figure this out.”

  Cassie picked up the bee, turned it over and shook it. “I don’t see anything falling out that says, ‘Take your time. No rush.’” She set it back down in dismay.

  The Scrivener was beaming smugly. “Ah, but that’s exactly what it says. It’s in the third line of the message.”

  By now, everyone around the table was staring at him.

  “When the bull turns the season,” he repeated, apparently expecting them to comprehend. When they didn’t, he continued. “It’s a clear reference to the vernal equinox.”

  “The what?” Cassie asked.

  Faye took up the explanation. “The vernal equinox is the date when days and nights are of equal length.” She turned to face Griffin. “But I don’t understand why you would necessarily connect a bull to that date.”

  “I admit it’s a bit of a stretch,” the Scrivener replied. “Due to precession the constellation associated with the vernal equinox has shifted over time. Approximately every two thousand years, the sun rises on the equinox in a different constellation. It currently rises in Pisces and in a few hundred years will shift to Aquarius. At the time our Minoan friends buried their relic, the equinox would have occurred in the constellation of Aries the ram.”

  “So how come they’re talking about a bull?” Erik asked.

  “Because Minoan civilization first flowered when the equinox constellation would have been Taurus the bull. Their mythology continued the tradition of associating the vernal equinox with the bull long after it was no longer literally true.”

  “So what’s this got to do with us?” Cassie urged impatiently.

  “My dear girl, you really need to brush up on your astronomical phenomena. The vernal equinox is the first day of spring. It usually falls somewhere around March 21st.”

  Cassie began to count excitedly on her fingers. “But that’s more than eight months from now!”

  “Precisely,” Griffin nodded. “Hence my assertion that we have plenty of time to solve this riddle.”

  “So you’re convinced we can’t find the relic til then?” Cassie asked dubiously.

  “Well, it would certainly be consistent with what occurred on Ida,” Griffin replied. “If we hadn’t been in positi
on at precisely that time of year, we wouldn’t have found the bee.”

  “They’ve hidden these objects in space and time,” Faye observed.

  “Eight whole months,” Cassie exhaled in wonder.

  “We’ll still need to apply ourselves before then,” Griffin warned.

  “Yeah, yeah,” the girl dismissed him. “But not tomorrow.”

  “And not next week either.” Erik glanced around at his companions. “I don’t know about you guys but I vote for taking a week off.”

  Faye and Maddie exchanged a look.

  The Memory Guardian replied, “It’s fine with me if Maddie agrees.”

  The Operations Director smiled wryly. “Go on. Get outta here.”

  The trio didn’t need any further encouragement.

  Erik sprang out of his seat.

  Cassie stood up too. “All the things I could do with a week off.” She closed her eyes, imagining the possibilities.

  Griffin collected his files and followed his teammates.

  “There’s a beach in Tahiti I haven’t been to in a couple of years,” Erik said half to himself. “Just hanging out. Sun, sand, surf, island chicks.” He turned back to Maddie. “How about it, chief?”

  “You expect me to foot the bill for that?” Maddie asked incredulously.

  “Oh come on. I risked life and limb on this last recovery. I deserve some R and R.”

  She eyed him appraisingly and then said, “I suppose we can work something out.”

  Taking that as a yes, Erik smiled happily and headed for the door.

  Cassie followed him out. “I think I’ll get a pedicure.”

  “A pedicure?” he echoed in disbelief.

  “Hey, you relax your way and I’ll relax mine.”

  Griffin brought up the rear. “I confess I’m rather eager to get back to the vault. I miss my books.”

  His companions sighed in exasperation.

  “Griffin, you really need a chia pet or something,” Cassie muttered.

  The trio happily continued to discuss their plans as they walked down the corridor. Maddie and Faye kept silent until their voices faded in the distance.

  The Operations Director shook her head in disbelief. “They’re the oddest mix of characters I’ve ever seen in the field. It’s amazing they even found their way to the airport. Much less…” she trailed off.

  Faye completed her thought. “Much less managed to accomplish the impossible.” She picked up the golden bee and considered it, smiling. “I don’t believe we’ve even scratched the surface of what they can do. Exciting times are in store for the Arkana and they’ll be at the forefront of it all.”

  “I can feel my ulcer acting up already,” Maddie groaned.

  THE END

  NAMES YOU SHOULD KNOW

  (Through The End Of Volume 1 In The Series)

  Key to books in the series:

  GK – The Granite Key

  Abraham Metcalf – Prophet and autocratic leader of the Blessed Nephilim. In his seventies.

  Annabeth – Third wife of Daniel. Nervous and high-strung. Wants to improve her position in the Nephilim hierarchy by birthing more children.

  Arkana – Secret organization whose mission is to retrieve and protect the artifacts of lost pre-patriarchal civilizations around the globe.

  Blessed Nephilim – Fundamentalist religious cult which traces its lineage to the Nephilim of the Bible. They practice polygamy, live in isolated compounds, and maintain a strict separation from the rest of the world.

  Bones Of The Mother – Collection of Minoan artifacts which have been hidden among the ruins of forgotten civilizations on every continent. Each artifact provides clues to the location of the next relic. Collectively, they will lead to the location of the Sage Stone.

  Cassie Forsythe – Psychic with the ability to touch an artifact and relive scenes from its past. She succeeds to the title of Pythia within the Arkana after the murder of her sister. Nineteen-year-old college freshman at the beginning of the story.

  Central Catalog – Abandoned rural schoolhouse outside the Chicago metro area which contains the global records of Arkana troves throughout the world. Also known as “the Vault.”

  Chief Scrivener – Person responsible for managing the records of the Arkana Central Catalog. The title is currently held by Griffin.

  Chris (David Christian) – Librarian at the Chicago Public Library who assists Daniel with his research and becomes his friend.

  Circle – Governing body of the Arkana.

  Concordance – General council of the Arkana.

  Consecrated Bride – Nephilim term for married women within the cult.

  Daniel Metcalf – Lesser son of Abraham whose skill with ancient languages has made him an unwilling participant in the quest to find the Bones Of The Mother.

  Diviner – Title given to the prophet of the Nephilim. A role currently occupied by Abraham Metcalf.

  Dr. Rafi Aboud – Foreign doctor with a mysterious past who has been hired by Abraham to perform experiments at a secret laboratory. The purpose of his experiments is known only to the Diviner.

  Erik – Martial arts and weapons expert, in his mid-twenties. His job is to protect the Pythia on field assignments and arrange for the safe transportation of artifacts. His title is Security Coordinator.

  Fallen – Term used by the Nephilim to describe inhabitants of the outer world. Anyone who doesn’t belong to the cult.

  Faye – Elderly leader of the Arkana. She holds the title of Memory Guardian. Her age is unknown but it may exceed normal human limits.

  Griffin – Chief Scrivener. He is responsible for cataloguing all artifacts collected in troves around the world. British and in his early twenties, he has an eidetic memory.

  Leroy Hunt – Mercenary currently on the payroll of the Nephilim. His job is to protect Daniel as they attempt to retrieve the Bones Of The Mother. He has no conscience and a taste for violence.

  Maddie – Short-tempered, chain-smoking Operations Director of the Arkana. She manages day-to-day global affairs.

  Matristic Civilizations – Arkana term for ancient goddess-worshipping societies which thrived without military fortifications, rigid social hierarchies, male dominance, or career warfare.

  Memory Guardian – Faye’s title as head of the Arkana.

  Operations Director – Maddie’s title as manager of global operations for the Arkana.

  Operatives – Members of Blessed Nephilim satellite communities assigned to help Daniel in the field. In order of appearance: Nikos (Crete-GK).

  Overlord Cultures – Arkana term for male-dominated warrior cultures fixated on territorial expansion through conquest and exploitation of indigenous inhabitants.

  Pythia – Title currently held by Cassie. The official seer of the Arkana.

  Rhonda – Antique store owner and Sybil’s former business partner. Surrogate big sister to Cassie.

  Sage Stone – Mythical Minoan relic which is reputed to possess great power. Nephilim prophecy reveals that this relic must be acquired by Abraham if his secret plan to orchestrate a global apocalypse is to succeed.

  Scouts – Field agents of the Arkana deployed around the globe. Individuals tasked with assisting in the retrieval of Bones Of The Mother.

  Security Coordinator – Title currently held by Erik. He reports to the Operations Director.

  Sybil Forsythe – Cassie’s sister. Late Pythia of the Arkana.

  Trove – Arkana collection point for artifacts related to a specific geographic region or culture.

  Trove-keeper – Person appointed to manage the collection of artifacts at a particular location or trove. In order of appearance: Xenia Katsouros (Minoan-GK).

  Vault – Another name for the Central Catalog.

  AUTHOR BIO

  "There's a 52% chance that the next Dan Brown will be a woman ... or should we just make that 100% now?" --Kindle Nation

  Nancy Wikarski is a fugitive from academia. After earning her Ph.D. from the University o
f Chicago, she became a computer consultant and then turned to mystery and historical fiction writing. Her short stories have appeared in Futures Magazine and DIME Anthology, while her book reviews have been featured in Murder: Past Tense and Deadly Pleasures.

  She has written the Gilded Age Mystery series set in 1890s Chicago. Titles include The Fall Of White City (2002) and Shrouded In Thought (2005). The series has received People's Choice Award nominations for best first novel and best historical. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America and has served as vice president of Sisters In Crime - Twin Cities and on the programming board of the Chicago chapter.

  She is currently writing the seven book Arkana Mystery series. Her work on the Arkana volumes has prompted Kindle Nation to call her one of its favorite authors.

  BOOKS BY N. S. WIKARSKI

  All the links below are for the Amazon US store.

  The Fall Of White City (Gilded Age Mysteries #1)

  A socialite stalks a murderer against the backdrop of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

  Shrouded In Thought (Gilded Age Mysteries #2)

  A drowned factory girl provokes a labor riot during the Pullman Strike of 1894.

  The Granite Key (Arkana Mysteries #1)

  The murder of a shopkeeper over a stone artifact known as the granite key sparks a 3,000 year old treasure hunt.

  The Mountain Mother Cipher (Arkana Mysteries #2)

  When clues to the Bones Of The Mother lead from Greece to Turkey, the Arkana team struggles to stay one step ahead of its rivals.