by Sammi Cox
Virgin goddess of the moon
Sentenced to pay for others mistakes
Failure will surely lead to her doom
The words danced before her eyes. This can’t be happening. I need to get back to the car. The new riddle went round and round in her head. She knew immediately who had been buried alive.
The women of Mac’s maternal line were always given ancient Greek names; the reason for it wasn’t important, but it had meant she had a very good grasp on Greek mythology. It was no hardship for Mac to decipher The Magician’s riddle; the words spoke of Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Agamemnon had offended Artemis, the virgin goddess of the hunt and moon. In order to placate the goddess and banish the ill-fortune that was stalking him, he offered to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia, to her.
Iphigenia was Andromache’s grandmother’s name.
Mac stumbled her way back to the car, tears flowing freely down her face. She tripped and fell; she grazed her knees and her hands in an attempt to break her fall. She sobbed; one time she even screamed, but she no longer cared. She needed to find her grandmother. She needed to save her grandmother.
The return trip seemed to take ten times as long; she knew fear of failure was playing with her mind now that the focus of The Game had a name and a face. The name and face of one of the people who had helped raise her; who had taught her the tarot.
When she reached the car, she fell into the driving seat. She knew she needed to get going, but again, she had no idea of where to go. She didn’t know if she had enough energy or control to use the pendulum again; her hands wouldn’t stop shaking. It was then that she noticed another envelope tucked under the windscreen wiper.
For a minute she sat staring through the glass, unable to move. He is close by, she thought, slowly turning to look out of her windows. Being under The Magician’s constant gaze was eating away at Mac’s composure. He watched me stop the car. He watched me walk to the field and find the balloon. He watched me realise that he had taken my grandmother and buried her in a coffin somewhere, and he probably knows I don’t know how to find her.
She started crying again; there was nothing for it. She needed to get it out of her system and deal with it as quickly as she could. At first she cried because she loved her grandmother, then because she felt so helpless. Last of all she cried because she was angry. She picked up the mobile phone from the seat next to her and dialled.
‘This is what you call fun? Answer me, goddamn you!’
‘Pull yourself together. The Game is in full-swing. Your anger and lack of concentration will get you both killed.’ He hung up.
His sharp tone stunned her for a moment, forcing her to clear her head. She got out of the car and retrieved the next envelope from under the wiper, but waited until she was back in the driver’s seat to open it.
Ma Cheri, I have watched you work your pendulum magic and been amazed by how you have stumbled upon my clues. The next test is one of general knowledge; some questions will be easy, some might be a little harder. The answers to the questions will spell out your next destination. And remember, Ma Cheri, the clock is ticking. Tick-tock. Tick-tock. Faithfully yours, The Magician.
The questions:
*The second letter of the second name of the woman who lived with seven dwarves.
*The first letter of the Greek alphabet.
*The first letter of the first name of “Lawrence of Arabia”
*The Egyptian God of the Moon and Magic?
*What is the third most abundant chemical element in the universe?
*The seventh element in the periodic table.
*Which feast closes the seasonal celebration of Advent?
*The XVIII letter of the alphabet.
*The seventh letter of a compendium of knowledge.
*On which of the two of New Zealand’s main islands is Christchurch to be found?
*The country whose capital city is Ljubljana.
Mac looked at the questions and knew she couldn’t answer them all. She picked up the phone.
‘Would you be so kind as to tell me how much of my designated time remains?’
‘Of course. One hour and ten minutes. Good luck.’
Mac quickly got out her notebook and pen. She wrote numbers next to each of the clues on The Magician’s note, and then drew eleven short horizontal lines across a page in her notebook. For a brief second she thought of the game “hangman”.
She read the questions. Number one is obviously Snow White that gives us ‘h’ as our first letter. She wrote the letter above the first line.
Number two was easy too; who didn’t know that ‘alpha’ was the first letter in the Greek alphabet. The letter ‘a’ was placed over the second line.
Number three had her stumped; Lawrence of Arabia had always been Lawrence of Arabia to Mac even though she knew that was not his real name. Thank you, Hollywood! She knew that the answer to number four was “Thoth”, so she entered a “t” assuming that the question asked for the first letter although it wasn’t stipulated.
Number five and six were chemistry-related questions and her knowledge in this area was fairly limited. Number five she had no idea about, but at a stretch she thought number six was doable. After all, when she was in school she’d had to learn the first twenty elements of the periodic table off by heart. She didn’t think she could reach twenty now, but then she didn’t have to. She only needed to remember the first seven.
‘Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon...what comes next, what comes next...oxygen is eighth and fluorine is nine, but what is seven, Mac? Come on, think...’ She started again. ‘Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron, carbon...nitrogen...? Nitrogen, I think that’s right. Nitrogen’s chemical symbol is an “N”.’ She added that into the corresponding place in her notebook.
Next question: asking a pagan about a Christian celebration isn’t playing fair, she mused, even though she thought she knew the answer. Advent was associated with Christmas, so she added “c” into the next space, and an “r” into the one following as Roman numerals caused her no difficulty.
The next question had two possible answers. A compendium of knowledge was an encyclopaedia, the seventh letter of which was an “o”, however, in an encyclopaedia the seventh letter might refer to the letter “g”, which was the seventh letter of the alphabet, and the order in which information would be catalogued. She looked at her page and wrote “o / g” in the space. Looking at the letters that preceded it, Mac didn’t think that the answer was likely to be “g” but she left it there just in case.
Mac had never been to New Zealand, although she did know that its two main islands were called ‘North Island’ and ‘South Island’. However, on which one Christchurch located, was a mystery to her, but there could only be two answers, and from the other questions, she believed that the first letter of either of them must be one she needed. In the space in her notebook she added “n / s”.
The last question, she knew; European geography, she could manage. The answer was Slovenia. In the final space she entered an “s”.
That was it; that was all she could do. There were two empty spaces, representing questions she had no idea about; she couldn’t even make an educated guess. Then there were two questions, one after the other, where there were two possible answers. Perhaps if they had been spread out over the word it wouldn’t have mattered so much, but as she looked at the page before her, she believed it wasn’t good enough, and that it had taken her far too long.
She got out the phone and asked for a time update. She only had forty-five minutes left. The Magician didn’t sound too concerned as he spoke to her on the phone, but then Mac wondered why he would. It was all the same to him.
There was only one thing left that she could do now: get out the map and try to find a place on it that fitted with what she had scribbled in her notebook. She folded the map so that the quar
ter the pendulum had indicated to her was facing up. She began systematically tracing her finger along all the roads, starting with the main ones, before going back to the beginning and following the minor ones.
Her hopes were raised and then dashed when she stumbled upon a place called Halton Claton. The first name of the village fitted perfectly but the second did not. She resumed her search.
As she approached the top of the quarter that was facing her, she finally found it. Hatton Cross. Mac started the engine and began to drive.
Chapter 8: The Finale
It was lucky that Mac did not pass any speed cameras as she pushed her Beetle to its limits. She retraced her route back past The Black Horse Inn, through Market Higham and then took the next right-hand turn, leading to Hatton Cross.
Hatton Cross was either a large hamlet or a very small village. It did not have a shop of its own and its pub had closed its doors to the thirsty and the hungry a few years previously, Mac guessed from the state it was in.
Driving slowly through Hatton Cross, she scoured every nook and cranny for an envelope, a balloon or anything else that The Magician might have left for her. It wasn’t until she had exited the village that she noticed a red balloon tied to a hedge.
Without looking for a place to park the car, she just stopped and got out, running over to the balloon to fetch the next, and hopefully the final envelope, which she opened as she ran back to the Beetle.
The end is in sight, Miss Jones. Go to Flinders Forest. Drive the car down the track into the woods and then pull over when you reach a fence that blocks your path. Then travel on foot according to the directions below:
N300, NE104, E54, NW276, W192, SE83
The gravestone marks the spot.
She picked the map up from the passenger seat and located the forest. She had approximately a four or five mile drive in front of her. She started the car and went. On the way she made one last phone call.
‘I’m on my way to the forest. How long do I have left?’
‘Twenty two minutes.’
‘Is that all?’
‘I am afraid so.’
‘Is it enough?’
‘I can’t answer that.’
‘It isn’t is it? You and your bloody game,’ she hissed. Mac was the first to hang up this time. It took all the strength she could muster to remain calm and composed as the thoughts of what her grandmother was going through threatened her self-control again.
Ten minutes later, she had parked the car by the fence and was looking at the instructions. What can the numbers mean? Think, Mac, think! The only answer she could come up with was that the letters referred to compass directions and the numbers steps.
She quickly paced out the first twenty or so steps to gauge the distance between one footstep and the next and then broke out into a run.
100 steps.
The trees were spaced quite far apart, which aided Mac in her run through the woods.
200 steps.
As she ran, she trained her eyes to look immediately at the ground in front of her to ensure that there was nothing to trip her up, and then back up and straight in front so she could see where she was going.
300 steps.
She stopped, turned to the north-east and started moving again.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5...25, 26...
The incline increased slightly and she began breathing heavily.
71, 72, 73...100, 101, 102, 103, 104.
She stopped, faced east and again broke out into a run.
19, 20, 21...36, 37, 38...49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54.
Then north-west.
100...150...200...250...273, 274, 275, 276.
West.
1, 2, 3...51, 52, 53...112, 113, 114...141, 142, 143...188, 189, 190, 191, 192.
She was almost there. She wanted to call out to her Gran that she was coming, if she could only hold on, but the warning about talking to anyone other than The Magician or herself rang in her ears.
She was now moving south-east, but the tree density was thicker here and she couldn’t see that far ahead. She had to negotiate around tree trunks that blocked her path, and branches that wouldn’t let her pass.
38, 39, 40, 41...
She stepped around an old oak and resumed her path.
54, 55, 56, 57...
The forest was silent and the beating of her heart pounded inside her head.
71, 72, 73 - BANG! The echo of a gunshot reverberated all around her; birds were scared out of the trees and took to the skies.
‘No! No! No! I am here!’ she screamed, counting out the last ten paces which brought her to a tree that had a red arrow carved on to it. She turned to the direction it was pointing to and there, less than a hundred yards away was a gravestone.
‘I’m here, Gran! I’m here!’ she called out, forgetting the rules and barely able to see through the tears that were flowing freely down her face unnoticed. She reached the grave which had “Iphigenia” carved in gothic script across its face and fell to her knees.
She began scraping away at the disturbed mound of earth which lay in front of the headstone.
‘I’m coming,’ she sobbed, ‘I’m coming,’ trying her best to dig through the soil with her bare hands.
After what seemed an eternity she scraped the skin off the tops of her fingers as she hit wood and the top of the coffin. She uncovered the edges so she could pull the lid off but was bemused when she found it was only two feet wide and three feet long. Her confusion stopped her crying.
She finally pried off the lid, but now blood was trickling down her fingers. She flipped the wooden cover back to find the box was empty, except for another phone and a letter. She reached in to grab them, now feeling utterly exhausted, perplexed and yet thankful that her grandmother wasn’t lying there, dead.
The phone rang before she had a chance to do anything.
‘It seems you were not quick enough, Miss Jones. Time ran out.’
‘Where’s my grandmother?’
‘Now, don’t get cross with me.’ The Magician paused. ‘Your grandmother is safe and sound back in Bramblesgrove with the rest of your family.’
‘She’s at home?’ Mac started crying again with relief. ‘She’s at home? She was never here was she? She was never in any danger? How can you be so cruel? All of this for your stupid little game?’
‘This is a warning, Miss Jones. I like you, and for that you are lucky. Iphigenia could so easily have been dead in that box. Think of that next time you see your grandmother, and remember this kindness I have offered you.’
‘Kindness? Kindness? You have put me through hell.’
‘I spared your grandmother. I didn’t have to. You did not complete the challenge I set you in the allotted time and you are still alive because I will it. The other contestants were not so lucky. Be grateful.’ Then the phone went dead.
Mac then completely broke down. On the one hand she was so relieved that this hadn’t been The Game she had been led to believe back in The Magician’s lair, but on the other he had emotionally tortured her for nothing more than his amusement.
She didn’t know how long she spent curled up crying in the dirt. When she calmed down she noticed the unopened letter in front of her. Ripping the top off, she pulled out the expensive stationary and read the words written in the now familiar spidery hand:
Congratulations, Miss Jones. The Game did not claim any blood sacrifices this time, but be in no doubt, you will hear from me again. The Magician
THE END
The Answer to Riddle in Chapter 7: Tick-Tock
[H] The second letter of the second name of the woman who lived with seven dwarves. (Snow White)
[A] The first letter of the Greek alphabet (Alpha)
[T] The first letter of the first name of “Lawrence of Arabia” (T.E. Lawrence)
[T] The Egyptian God of the Moon and Magic? (Thoth)
[O] What is the third most abundant chemical element i
n the universe? (Oxygen)
[N]The seventh element in the periodic table (Nitrogen)
[C] Which feast closes the seasonal celebration of Advent? (Christmas)
[R] The XVIII letter of the alphabet. (X = 10, V = 5, I = 1)
[O] The seventh letter of a compendium of knowledge. (Encyclopaedia)
[S] Which of the two of New Zealand’s main islands is Christchurch to be found? (South Island)
[S] The country whose capital city is Ljubljana. (Slovenia)
About the Author
Sammi Cox lives in Bedfordshire, UK, with her partner and two cats. She loves writing and making things. She reads and writes both fiction and non-fiction, and sometimes even poetry, if the fancy takes her.
The Magician, although written after The Queen of Swords and The Poisoned Chalice, is the first instalment in her soon to be available Andromache Jones Mystery Series.
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