Carved in Stone

by Stein Willard

  Aeron turned to the young man sitting next to her. She encountered intelligent blue eyes behind wire-rimmed glasses. He gave her a wide smile and stuck out his hand.

  “Henry Willard Jones, Dr Whittaker.”

  “Nice to meet you, Mr Jones,” Aeron said, charmed by the young man’s grin. “I can’t for the life of me remember why your name sounds so familiar.”

  He chuckled at that. “My father is a huge Steven Spielberg fan, especially his Indiana Jones trilogy.”

  Aeron laughed, liking him even more. “Well, we can only blame our parents for all the teasing we have to endure as a result of our names.”

  “You are rather lucky in that regard, I would say, Doctor.”

  Aeron’s brow shot up. “And why’s that, Mr Jones? I doubt being mistaken for an overpriced ergonomic office appliance constitutes as being lucky.”

  “Only to those who don’t know its significance. Anyone named after an ancient Celtic goddess of battle and slaughter is destined for greatness, I would think.”

  Aeron had to physically stop herself from blushing at the offhand compliment. She took a quick sip of her beer as she studied the young man. A beautiful brunette sat next to him.

  “The same can be said about you then. Albeit a fictional character, I believe your father saw qualities in you that rival that of the illustrious Dr Jones. I would say it’s a name to be proud of.”

  This time the young man blushed as the chorus of a popular nineties pop song rang out, sung by his fellow students.

  “Doctor Jones, Doctor Jones, call me Dr Jones. Doctor Jones Doctor Jones, wake up now!”

  “They will all grow up eventually,” Caroline said in a bored tone and the group burst out laughing. Aeron saw the brunette pat Henry’s arm and smiled. A good woman always stood by her man. Henry’s face melted into a look of pure adoration as he glanced at the girl. She drank from her beer again and searched the table for a menu.

  “Have you guys ordered yet?”

  “We were waiting for you to get here first,” Caroline answered. “Let me ask for the menus.”

  After they had ordered their food, the conversation ranged between local cuisine and customs until a female student with bright green hair called for Aeron’s attention.

  “Dr Whittaker, I read your thesis as well as the reviews it generated. During one of your presentations, you admitted that you knew mentioning Phage would unleash a storm, but still you did it. Why?”

  Aeron sipped on her second beer, vaguely surprised that she was having a second one, and even more so that she was actually enjoying the evening with the students.

  “Two reasons. The first one, because her name fascinated me.” She studied the girl. “You do know what the name means, in modern terms, that is?”

  “A parasitic virus that destroys bacteria,” Henry offered. She smiled at him. There is so much hope for the boy. From the looks of bewilderment on the others’ faces, Aeron new she had their full attention.

  “As you can see, there’s no archaeological significance to the name itself. I just liked it.” Her comment produced a few chuckles. “The second reason was because I knew deep down inside that she was a person of great importance. Why else would there be mention of her?” Aeron debated whether or not to disclose the information she received today.

  “Would you say it was worth it going through all that? I mean, you could’ve damaged your integrity severely?”

  Aeron smiled faintly. She had asked herself that same question many times before. “Well, my thesis was approved in the end. Do I regret taking the long road to reach that goal? No. I don’t. I am still convinced that Phage played a pivotal role in Queen Aspen’s rule. The context in which the scroll made mention of her intrigued me so much so that I believe somehow someone tried to erase evidence of her existence on purpose. I probably could’ve phrased my introduction to her differently, maybe made it less abstract.”

  “I’ve reviewed the passage countless times,” Henry said with a smile. “With all due respect, I must say I too found it to lean more towards the fictional. Calling Phage Galatia’s second Queen at the same time that Queen Aspen ruled made no sense to me. The Galatians had a clear hierarchal structural of law, tetrarch, to be exact. Four chiefs reported to one superior ruler. In that case it was Queen Aspen.”

  Caroline smirked into her glass. “There are many reasons why two women could co-rule.”

  The green headed girl shook her head vehemently. “There were no references to any homosexual relations in Galatian society.”

  Aeron shrugged and resting her elbows on the table, fixed her gaze on the girl. “Ok, let’s put your statement to the test. Aspen was the bastard daughter of a Gallo-Greaci Warrior King and an unknown Greek/Egyptian woman. Her father, Pompti, bequeathed a small portion of his kingdom to her at the same time that the Romans began conquering the other parts of Galatia.” The waiter came and discreetly distributed their orders. “This fact, in itself, opened another thread of thought which I decided not to explore at that time. Pompti was renowned for being an arrogant man. Acknowledging his bastard daughter would’ve raised eyebrows and giving her a portion of his kingdom probably had the tongues wagging back then. There is no mention of who Aspen’s mother was. Questionable versions reveal that while on a whim to swim in the popular sweet water of the Black Sea, Cleopatra II, visited nearby kingdoms. Her accounts of her holiday were filled with a romance with a man so exotic and ‘oh so different’. She even referred to him as her barbarian, meaning non-Greek, in that time. A year later a hidden scroll depicts Cleopatra pulling a girl child from her womb. The inscription under this image read: pa-pa-ro, a Mycenaean Greek word for ‘barbarian’. This shows how many ambiguous actualities are left unexplored in history. Thus, be careful to assume that because some things are not mentioned, that they didn’t exist.” Aeron noted that she had a very attentive audience when the students ignored their food. “Now back to Aspen. There is no mention anywhere that Aspen ever married. The only other person of significance mentioned during that period was Phage who, in a scroll depicting Queen Aspen’s life was called by the title ‘rìgain’. If my knowledge of ancient Gaelic serves me right, the term is one of many variations for the word ‘queen’.” She took a bite of her food and chewed slowly as she watched her audience. “I’ll leave the rest for you to figure out.”

  She felt a soft touch on her arm. “I hope you haven’t turned more of my students in Galatian junkies. Henry alone is more than enough for me to handle.”

  The green haired girl chuckled softly. “I must admit that what you’ve just told us is extremely fascinating.” The girl speared a tomato with her fork. “Imagine what the global response would be if it turns out that Queen Aspen was in fact Cleopatra II’s eldest.”

  Aeron held up her hand. “Now don’t get ahead of yourself there. Find one undisputed fact and then you can fantasize about the idea.”

  “Like you did?” Henry blinked at her.

  “Yes, Henry, like I did. I had more than enough on Aspen, even with the little that was available.”

  This time Caroline held up her hand. “Enough shop talk for now. It is considered rude in Turkey to waste food, so eat up.”

  Conversation ebbed for a while as everyone dug into their food. Aeron chose a light dish of rice and aubergines, a favourite of hers. It was also a popular summer dish with the locals.

  “I’ve never really had a thing for aubergines before I came here,” Caroline said and looking at her plate, Aeron saw that Caroline ordered a dish of fried eggplant and peppers.

  “I’ve always considered it a mysterious vegetable. Even its taste is indescribable to me.” A quick glimpse at Caroline found the woman staring at her with a strange look in her eyes. “We are still discussing eggplant, are we?”

  Caroline shrugged. “I believe we were.” The professor took a bite of her food. “The group wanted to visit a nightclub afterwards. Are you up for it?”

  Caroline’s attention was on the pla
te before her, but Aeron could sense the woman’s anticipation to her answer. They were still working on restoring their friendship and Aeron recalled the damaged her first rebuff caused to their friendship. Maybe if she went with them, she could get Caroline alone somewhere and remind her again that she wasn’t interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with anyone right now.

  “I guess I can stay for an hour or so.”

  The green eyes were luminous went they met hers and Aeron felt a deep sadness descend over her, knowing what she planned to do.

  “Will that be all, Madam?” a voice said suddenly and looking up, Aeron stared into the dark eyes of the waiter. She looked around the table and found that almost everyone was still busy eating. Why would he single her out? She looked back at the man and felt an inexplicable frisson rush through her body at the intense way he was looking at her. She blinked and shook her head. The man had been serving them for the last two hours, if there was anything odd about his attention to her, she surely would’ve picked up on it. She gave the man a small grin.

  “Yes, I’m fine for now. Thank you.”

  He bowed and walked away. Aeron’s eyes followed him until he disappeared into the restaurant. Why couldn’t she shake the strange feeling she had?

  ***

  As soon as he was out of sight, the waiter ripped the apron from his waist and walked past the kitchen into a small, private dining area. He walked over to the table where a lone diner sat. The man looked up, his gaze questioning.

  “I got it.”

  “Good.” The man pulled out his cell phone. “Ahmet, can you get here as soon as possible and bring your equipment with you?” The man hung up and reached for his wallet, taking out five crisp notes from it. “You have done well, Bajram.” He handed the money to the man.

  ***

  Aeron looked around her, questioning her decision to come here. The bar was dark and stuffy from all the cigarette smoke and, to top it off, it was so full she wondered if there was any room for movement inside.

  “You look ready to run,” Caroline said close to her ear to be heard over the rock music playing. Aeron looked down at the shorter blonde. Space was definitely an issue, but was she imagining things or was Caroline actually pressing against her? She threw a quick glance over the dancing and drinking mass before she spoke.

  “I was hoping for a quieter place.”

  “We can go somewhere else if you like.”

  Aeron searched the space for the students. “Will they be okay here?”

  “There’s a beergarten across the street. We’ll be able to do our babysitting from there,” Caroline said.

  Relieved, Aeron nodded and allowed Caroline to lead her out of the noisy bar. The beergarten was a little less noisy and they found a table which overlooked the exit of the bar. The waiter took their drink orders and as soon as he left, Caroline spoke.

  “I know what you want to talk about?”

  Aeron, who’d been studying a group of youngsters chatting at the entrance of the bar, gave Caroline a surprised look. The blonde smiled and sat back in her chair.

  “It is not my intention to make you feel uncomfortable, Aeron, but…” Caroline sighed deeply and looked away. “I just can’t help what I feel.”

  Not sure what to say to that, Aeron was studying the table top, pushing around the salt and pepper shakers. When she looked up, it was to find Caroline looking at her with infinite sadness in her eyes.

  “I’m sorry, Caro.”

  “Don’t be, Airhead. If there’s something I know about you, it’s that you are not sadistic at all.”

  Aeron smiled at Caroline’s usage of the nickname. She hadn’t been called that in a very long time and it felt good to know that Caroline was comfortable enough to use it again. She was given the name by her best friend, Harry Klimt, after they both had their IQs tested on campus and she outscored him. She, on the other hand, dubbed him Hairball, because he reminded her of a walking fur coat with his excessive body hair. She reached out and took Caroline’s hand in hers.

  “For what it’s worth, I want to apologise for how I handled it the first time. I was young and stupid.”

  Caroline’s eyes were on their joined hands. “We were both young and stupid back then.” The green eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “You embody everything I’ve wanted in a partner and no one ever came close after you. I hope that whoever is lucky enough to snare you one day, realise their luck.”

  Feeling tears burning in her own eyes, Aeron lowered her gaze. “Thank you, Caro. The same can be said about you.”

  The waiter approached with their drinks and Caroline quickly wiped her eyes. “Now that we got that out of the way, we can talk about something else. Anything new happening in your life?”

  Aeron bit her lower lip. Caroline can be trusted. It would also help to have someone like her as a sounding board.

  “I had a visitor this afternoon.”

  Caroline cocked her head. “After we left?”

  “Yes. He heads a large international company and he came to talk to me about my thesis.”

  “An investor, perhaps?”

  Aeron pursed her lips as she shook her head. “Nope. He offered to show me his private collection.”

  Caroline frowned and sipped her wine. “He didn’t say why exactly? I mean, if a rich business man sought me out to offer me access to his private collection, I would be wondering why. Did you ask him?”

  “I did. He offered me information about Phage.” Aeron watched carefully for Caroline’s reaction. The blonde didn’t disappoint as she quickly set her wineglass down and covered her mouth with her hands to avoid spraying the drink over her. Waiting patiently for Caroline to compose herself, Aeron drank from her beer.

  “Phage…?” Caroline cleared her throat and tried again. “He has information about Phage? Your Phage?”

  Aeron grinned at Phage being called that. Come to think of it, Caroline wasn’t wrong there. Many reviews about her thesis had referred to Phage as such.

  “Yes.”

  “But…but…how? I mean why would he only come forth with it now?” Caroline’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “Are you sure he’s not just trying to lure you to his place so he could…you know?”

  Shaking her head, Aeron smiled. “He doesn’t seem like that kind of man. Besides he knew things about Phage and Aspen that simply blew my mind.”

  “Like what?” Caroline asked, her tone still very sceptic.

  Aeron leaned closer, her eyes boring into Caroline’s. “Phage was an Amazonian princess and Queen Aspen’s wife.”

  She had to duck quickly when a spray of wine spewed forth from Caroline’s mouth.

  CHAPTER 4

  The sea was stormy, bringing with it a sturdy gush of wind. Standing on the terrace overlooking the private beach, the man had to hold his suit jacket closed to avoid it slapping him in the face. Born and bred on the mainland, he rarely made his way to the island unless he had to. Tonight was such a time. He turned to find a servant standing behind him.

  “How long has she been out there,” he asked in Greek.

  “A little over two hours now.”

  He rubbed his chin in thought. He had hoped to return to the mainland tonight, but his reason for being here was far more important than anything else at the moment.

  “I think I’ll stay over.”

  “I will have one of the suites prepared, sir.” The servant left quickly and the man walked over to a seating area which was protected from the wind by a glass partition. He poured himself wine from a carafe on the table and settled back in his chair.

  “What brings you here at this hour, Sadik?”

  Startled by the sound of the deep, husky voice behind him, the man surged to his feet, watching in dismay at his wine splattered pants. Turning to look at his hostess, he was once again left speechless by the sight of her. She was dressed in dark, a reason; he knew now why he hadn’t seen her earlier. She slowly pushed away from the balustrade and approached him. Sad
ik doubted he’ll ever get used to the sheer magnificence of the woman.

  The Sultana.

  She possessed an almost unnatural beauty. Tall and lean, she was the epitome of perfect health. The wind pulled at her long sable locks, making her look wild and untamed. Her features were strong, with a proud forehead, high cheekbones and a tantalising cleft in her chin. Sharp onyx eyes studied him from under long inky lashes.

  She came to stand before him, looking at him questioningly. “What did I tell you about staring, Sadik?” She leaned closer and kissed him on the cheek.

  Sadik shrugged. “You are a true feast for the eyes, madam.”

  A husky chuckle sounded. “I’m too old for you and besides, I’ve changed your soiled diapers way too many times to remember.”

  He blushed at the tease. Yes, she was probably the closest thing to an aunt. When his mother fell pregnant, she moved in with his uncle who was in the employ of the Sultana. She helped raise him until he was old enough to take over from his uncle—running her vast empire.

  “You should know that my preference has always lain with older women.”

  The woman held the glass away from her lips and smiled. Her teeth flashed white against her dark skin. “Yegane is a mere two weeks older than you.”

  “But she’s still older, which proves my point,” he said calmly with twinkling eyes.

  The woman shook her head. “Silly boy,” she murmured as she took a seat. “You never told me what brought you here. How was your trip?”

  Sadik reached into his jacket pocket and, sitting down next to her, held out an envelope. “I have something for you.”

  “I thought all the documentation of purchase has been signed and approved,” the woman said as she reached for the envelope. She didn’t open it but placed it on the table before her.

  Reaching for the carafe, Sadik refilled his glass. When he looked up, intense jet black eyes were studying him. “What you find in there, I think, will be of great interest to you.”