by Max McCoy
Indy followed Ali outside as he wrapped the turban around his head. The stars were shining brightly in a cloudless sky. They walked down the dirt street to the temple with the cone-shaped top, and Ali paused. A dozen pairs of shoes and boots were outside the doorway.
"Take off your boots," he told Indy. "Leave them outside, and do not step on the threshold when you cross the doorway. Say nothing, do nothing, unless you are instructed."
Once inside the temple, Ali took a lighted candle from a table and moved a tapestry hanging on the far side of the rounded wall, revealing a flight of stairs. Khanjer in hand, a priest stood beside the tapestry, which represented a peacock.
"Is this always guarded?" Indy asked.
"Of course," Ali said as he descended the steps. "This is the center of worship for all Yezidi. It is ancient beyond memory. We cannot allow you to witness our rituals, but as sheikh I can show you our most venerated object. After all, that is why you are here, is it not?"
Indy smiled, but said nothing.
On the walls of the passage were representations of large black snakes twisted around each other.
Indy could hear the sound of running water, and as they descended the sound grew louder.
"What do the pictures of the snakes mean?"
Ali held his finger to his lips.
When they reached the bottom of the steps, they were in a large granite cavern. Ali used the candle to light a pair of torches held in sconces upon the wall. In the center of the room was a pit, and at the bottom of the pit was a flowing stream of clear water.
"You may ask questions about anything except the pictures upon the wall," Ali said. "Those are the property of Shaitan, and we are forbidden to speak of them."
"The water," Indy said. "It is from the village well."
"Yes," Ali said. "Our temples are always built over underground streams."
Then Ali walked over to an alcove cut into the rock, and from the light of his candle Indy could see the wooden doors of a coffin-shaped reliquary.
Ali opened the doors, revealing a bone-white piece of wood. It was nearly two meters long, Indy judged. Ali gently removed the Staff from its resting place.
"You may hold it," Ali said, "but under no circumstances it is allowed to touch the floor."
Indy nodded, then took the Staff.
"It is so light," Indy said.
"It is very old, and has lost much of its weight. If you were to drop it, it would shatter like a piece of glass."
"Bring the candle closer," Indy said, "there are some markings here, but I cannot make them out. They look like Hebrew, but I can't be sure."
"It has not produced miracles in my lifetime," Ali said. "It has healed the sick in the past. I remember my grandfather telling me about the lepers and the demon-possessed it cured."
"Is that why you thought I was a physician?"
"More of a hope, really," Ali said. "We have had a few foreigners come seeking the Staff every generation or so, but they are always after power."
"Within the last few years," Indy asked, "was there ever an Englishman named Kaspar?"
"No," Ali said. "You are the first in a generation."
"The Staff and the...," Indy said and nodded toward the stairway. "We have a Western symbol, the caduceus, which represents healing, that is a combination of those pictures and the Staff."
"I know of it," Ali said.
"How did the Staff come into the possession of your people?"
"We do not really know," Ali said, "there is an old story about the Staff and the Ark of the Covenant being stolen from Solomon's Temple at the same time, long ago, but we cannot be sure. It is just a story."
Indy carefully handed the Staff back to Ali, and as the sheikh put it back into the reliquary Indy asked:
"Has anyone asked merely to borrow the Staff?"
"That would be quite impossible," Ali said. "We have very strict laws about that. It must remain here, under our protection. And if someone were to steal it, woe to them. After we cut off their hands, they would be staked in the desert and disemboweled. What a feast for the vultures, eh? But we are a peaceful people. Tell me, Dr. Jones, what is your interest in the Staff?"
"Purely academic," Indy said.
"Of course," Ali said. "You know, there is one circumstance only in which the Staff may leave the village, and that is in the hands of the Expected One, who again can bring forth miracles with the aid of the Staff. Frankly, my friend, I was hoping that would be you."
"I'm not your man," Indy said. "Sorry."
"So am I," Ali said. "We are sorely in need of the Age of Miracles to return. In my dream, even the heavens responded to the will of the Chosen One."
"So you saw it," Faye said.
They were sitting on the straw mats in the hut, and Indy had just finished telling her about the tour of the temple and its underground chamber.
"Yes, or something like it," Indy said. "Very old, kept in a wooden cabinet in an alcove cut into the rock."
"This pit that had the well water in it," Mystery said. "How big was it?"
"About three feet across."
"Could you tell how deep the water was, or the chamber in which it ran?"
"No," Indy said, "it was too dark."
"This is going to be difficult," Faye said.
"This is impossible," Indy said. "The temple is guarded around the clock."
"Yes, but just by one priest," Faye said.
"There's no way to get past him. Even if you could somehow overpower him, you'd have to fight the entire village to escape."
"Maybe," Faye said. "Unless you could put a duplicate in its place. From your description, it doesn't sound all that special-looking."
"Look, I don't want to have my hands chopped off and then be staked in the desert to serve as food for vultures," Indy said. "It's just too risky. And besides that, it wouldn't be right. These people have shared their food and their shelter with us. Let's not repay them by stealing the most valuable thing they own."
"We could bring it back," Faye said.
"It would still be stealing," Indy said.
"It's the key to the Omega Book," Faye said. "It also may be our only chance of finding Kaspar."
"Too risky," Indy said.
"The famed scholar, adventurer, and grave robber concedes a challenge he can't meet?" Mystery asked mockingly.
"I prefer to rob my victims after they've been dead a few thousand years, not while they're still walking about," Indy said sourly. "We'll leave for Baghdad tomorrow, at first light. There is nothing more for us here."
Indy sat upright on the straw mat, awakened by the shouts of men and the ululation of the women in the center of the village. He glanced across the room and saw Faye sleeping, but not Mystery.
"Oh, no," he said.
"Where's Mystery?" Faye asked, rousing.
"I don't know," Indy said as he pulled on his shoes and grabbed his zebun. "But I'm afraid she may be the cause of all the excitement."
There was a crowd gathered around the temple, and everyone seemed to be talking at once in Arabic. "What's wrong?" Indy asked Ali.
"The Staff is gone," Ali said. "We came here for morning worship, and it was missing. Where is it?"
"You can't think I stole it."
"I can think of no one else," Ali said. "I shouldn't have showed it to you. It was a mistake."
Ali made a motion with his hand, and Indy and Faye were grasped by their arms.
"Where is the girl?" Ali said.
"I don't know," Indy said.
"Again, where is the Staff?"
"Again, I don't know," Indy said.
Ali shook his head. He drew his khanjer, the blade of which gleamed in the pinkish light of dawn, and held it beneath Indy's chin.
"You will tell me," Ali said. "Better you tell me now than later, but you will tell me. Because I will start by peeling the skin from your arms and legs," he said. "The palms and the soles of the feet are particularly sensitive. Then, I will do
the same to your chest and belly, and finally I will peel your face and scalp away. After that, when we recover the Staff, we will cut off your hands—"
"I know the rest," Indy said.
"Stake them down," Ali commanded.
The crowd grabbed Indy and Faye by their hands and feet, then staked them spread-eagle on the sand with leather rope and wooden pegs.
"Do you have any ideas?" Faye asked.
"Not one," Indy admitted.
Ali sat cross-legged on the ground and removed Indy's left boot. Then he pulled the sock off and pressed the blade of the knife to the thin skin over the bone.
"We are a peaceful people," he said.
"Hitler says the same thing," Indy said.
"Who is this Hitler?"
"Guess," Indy said.
"You force us to do this," he said. Then Ali leaned close to Indy and said: "For fear of Shaitan, please tell us where you have hidden the Staff. I thought you were my friend. I do not want to hurt you. We will have to kill you now, of course, but I do not want to torture you."
"Then don't," Indy said.
Ali shook his head and began to trim the flesh from Indy's ankle. Indy gritted his teeth, but could not suppress a scream when he felt the blade of the knife skim along the bone.
"Stop!" Mystery shouted.
She emerged from the well, holding the Staff. Her hair was matted and she was covered with mud.
"I stole your stupid stick," she said. "I lowered myself down the well and swam the underground spring to the chamber. Let them go."
Ali shouted in Arabic for the men to grab her.
"You touch me and I'll break this thing," Mystery said. "You let Indy and my mother go, and then I'll think about giving this back."
Ali told them to stop.
"We cannot release them," he told her. "It is our law."
"Then you can just say good-bye to your most precious possession," Mystery said and applied pressure to the Staff. It bent over her knee like a bow, and when it began to crack Ali held up his hand.
"All right," he said and told the others to cut Faye Maskelyne free.
"What about Dr. Jones?" Mystery asked.
"He abused my trust and my friendship," Ali said. "For that alone, he must die—as you must die, for stealing the Staff. But I will let your mother go."
Faye stood up, rubbing her wrists. She walked over and took the Staff from Mystery. A sudden cool wind rustled the coarse robes of the men and the scarves of the women, and Ali thought he saw something like the glow of phosphorus playing about the length of the Staff.
"Give me the Staff," Ali said. "Then go."
"I'm not leaving without my daughter," Faye said, her blue eyes flashing. "Or my friend."
"They are to die," Ali insisted. "Go."
"Damn you," Faye said and pointed the Staff at Ali. "You're not going to kill anybody."
A thin bolt of lightning descended from the cloudless sky and struck the sand at Ali's feet, knocking the khanjer out of his hand and sending him flying backward.
The crowd retreated.
"Wowser," Mystery said. "Do it again, Mom."
"I don't know what happened," Faye said as she walked over to Indy. She drew a knife from her belt and cut him loose. "I was just angry, that's all."
"Remind me not to make you angry," Indy said.
Ali sat up and shook his head. His turban and robe were smoking, and puddled on the ground was a red-hot fulgurite where the sand had melted together.
"Could it be?" he asked. "A woman?"
"What's he talking about?" Faye asked as she helped Indy to his feet. "How's your ankle?"
Indy wiggled his toes.
"Funny," he said, examining the wound. "It's just a scratch. I could have sworn that Ali carved a hunk out of my ankle like it was a Thanksgiving turkey. But it's not bleeding now, and it doesn't even hurt."
"May I examine the Staff?" Ali asked.
"Why should I give it back?" Faye asked.
"Please," Ali said. "Allow me to see it, if only for a moment."
He held out his hands pleadingly.
"Give it to him," Indy said as he put on his sock and boot.
Ali took the Staff and tested its weight.
"It is much heavier," he said. "Bring me a lamp."
Someone brought a lighted oil lamp, and he examined the length of the Staff with it. He ran his thumb over the letters.
"Look," he said. "They are quite clear now."
"What?" Faye asked.
"The Hebrew letters," Ali said, offering her the Staff back.
"The name of Aaron," Indy said.
"This is really it."
"Of course, Mom," Mystery said. "You think you can summon lightning with any old stick?"
"You are the Expected One," Ali said.
"I'm no such thing," Faye said.
"The Age of Miracles has returned," Ali said.
"I wouldn't argue with him," Indy whispered in her ear. "Grab the Staff and let's get out of here."
"A woman!" Ali said in amazement.
"I told you I wasn't it," Indy said.
"Ah, but that is the way with dreams," Ali said. "And our lives are but dreams while Allah sleeps and Shaitan plays. Our prayers are merely supplications to Allah to continue sleeping, for when he awakes—the world vanishes."
8
Snake Charmers
Two weeks later, in the Muski—the ancient section of Cairo—Indy braked the Indian to a stop in front of a tenement building that he had visited many times. Mystery, driving the Scout with Faye in the sidecar, pulled up behind him. Both motorcycles were covered in dirt and mud, and badly in need of repair.
"Wait here," he told the Maskelynes as he pulled the goggles from his dirty face. He walked up the flight of stairs to an apartment on the top floor of the building, wiped most of the dirt from his face with his kerchief, and knocked.
A dark-haired girl of about three came to the door.
"Is your daddy home?" Indy asked in Arabic.
She looked at him blankly.
Another child came to the door, a boy, a little older and bigger than the first child. Indy repeated the question. The boy nodded gravely, but did nothing further. Finally, another girl joined the two youngsters already at the door, and when Indy repeated the question yet one more time, she called into the house.
Indy could hear heavy footsteps pad across the wooden floor, and soon a familiar face appeared in the doorway.
"Sallah," Indy said. "It's me."
Sallah stared for a moment, as if he were looking at a ghost, and then broke into a wide grin.
"Let him in, my little ones," Sallah said. "This is our friend, Indiana Jones, who has come to pay us an unexpected visit. Come in, please."
"I have a couple of friends downstairs—"
"Invite them up as well," Sallah said. "No, wait, I will send one of the children to fetch them. Are you hungry? We can make something; it will be no trouble. You look as if you have come a great distance." Sallah led Indy out onto the balcony, poured him some tea, and allowed him the most comfortable seat. The balcony overlooked a narrow alley, but beyond Indy could see the minarets and rooftops of Cairo.
"Forgive me for asking, my friend, but what spell has some wizard put you under?" Sallah asked, concerned. "You don't look like yourself—a pale, tired, older imitation of yourself, perhaps."
Indy smiled.
"If I believed in the religion of my ancestors," Sallah continued, "I would have to conclude that your ka has come to visit me on its way to the underworld."
"I'm no ghost," Indy said. "I'll tell you the story sometime, but not now. Rest assured that it is really me. I'm surprised to catch you at home this time of day."
"The Depression is felt the world over," Sallah said. "There have been few digs in this area since the late twenties. In addition, the Service des Antiquites has been making it increasingly difficult to obtain permits to continue excavations at the more famous monuments."
"Hol
d that thought," Indy said as Faye and Mystery joined them.
Sallah stood and kissed both of their hands. In her left hand, Faye held the Staff, wrapped in a thin blanket.
"You did not tell me you were traveling with such beautiful companions," Sallah said.
"Please," Faye said. "I'm sure I look frightful."
"What do you have there, my radiant one?"
"Open it," Indy said.
Sallah unwrapped the blanket. The Staff had grown thicker and heavier, and was now a rich brown color. Sallah ran his fingers over the Hebrew lettering.
"Surely this is a modern fake," he said.
"No," Indy said. "It's the real McCoy."
"How can you be sure?"
"We had a demonstration of its power."
"But this wood shows hardly any signs of aging at all."
"When I first saw it," Indy said, "it was nothing but a desiccated stick. Since then, it has changed into what you see now. And it is what has brought us to Cairo."
Indy spent the next hour telling Sallah about the adventures he and the Maskelynes had shared. When he finished, Sallah scratched his dark beard and took a sip of his cold tea.
"Do you know what my people call the Sphinx?" he asked. "'The Father of Terror.' It was once thought to be an eternal god, old beyond humanity."
"Will you help us?" Indy asked.
"Of course," Sallah said. "Anything I have to give, it is yours. But it will not be easy. We must work at night, and be prepared for the possibility of discovery—or intrusion. Tell me, this Japanese villain whom you blinded, is he still following you?"
"Not since Calcutta."
"Well, at least that is something," Sallah said. "We shall begin two nights from now. The moon will then be full, and it will help us to see while we are digging."
"Antiquities," the shopkeeper hissed. He was a gaunt man with a hawklike nose and a gold front tooth, with a cheap tarbush perched on his scalp, and wearing a dirty gray robe. "Priceless relics of a lost civilization. May I show you a royal scarab, perhaps?"
"We are not interested in your poorly made fakes," Sokai said.
"Sir, everything in this shop is genuine," the merchant said, pretending injury.
