Destination Eden

by Jim Payton

  Chapter 25

  Eti and Jasmine were unconvinced about the significance of the arrows and their direction. Yes, they agreed, the crosses, or arrows, lined up, but so what? That could be a coincidence. It could show the direction of another Monastery, or sacred site, or nothing. They were reluctant to accept Janet's theory that they pointed towards Eden.

  "Look at it this way Janet," said Eti. "We wouldn't have known of this place unless we had been kidnapped. The purpose of the kidnap was to warn us off pursuing our plans to locate Eden. If these arrows are pointing us towards Eden, it would be the last place they would have brought us."

  "They couldn't have known about them," replied Janet.

  "I find that hard to believe actually," stated Jasmine. "While they were mercenaries and may not have possessed any local knowledge, I'm sure those behind the operation would have been aware of the place and its connection with ancient times. Particularly it's Armenian connection, so I don't see them pushing us towards anything with a religious connection."

  "But you accepted the depictions of Eden I found."

  "We agree they look like the real deal," pointed out Eti. "But until they are further examined and peer reviewed, their authenticity remains uncertain."

  "Oh, it's we now is it? We remain uncertain," snapped Janet. "When did you and I, Eti, become the Eti and Jasmine we? You know Jasmine, my worries about you and a link to the kidnappers has just come back. I don't think I trust you. No I don't think, I don't trust you full stop. I think you are here for your own sneaky purposes."

  "Hey, Janet," protested Eti. "Calm down. Don't be so silly. We are just pointing out real facts. Actually, I think you owe Jasmine an apology."

  "No, Eti," said Jasmine placing a hand on his arm. "Janet, I'm not against you. I am on your side. If you logically look at the facts, I never knew you until Jason contacted me. Yes, I had heard of you, and were following your journey, but that was all. I'm all for what you are doing. If you find Eden then it will benefit Islam as well as Christianity. I'm not the enemy here."

  "So you say," responded Janet. "Well, we'll see won't we?"

  With that, Janet stomped off to be on her own.

  The rest of the day limped by. Janet sat quietly in the cemetery. In her mind, she went over all she had experienced since Eti had been kidnapped. It had been turbulent and there, firmly in the middle, had been Jasmine. She had taken control, and more significantly was the fact that the kidnappers had dealt with her. They had communicated in her language. She, Janet, had had no control. Why had they dealt with Jasmine and not her she wondered? She did not believe they would have been dealing with Jasmine if they were really trying to get a message across to her and Eti. Okay, she had been at her wits end, and vulnerable, and that is where Jasmine inserted herself. What better time to take control and manage the success or otherwise of the project? Admittedly, her involvement had been at Jason's instigation, still, Jasmine could have manipulated even that. Oh, yes, she was a crafty cookie. In spite of her emphasizing the sameness of Christianity and Islam, there was that glaring bit about killing the Infidels no matter how you dressed it up. No, Jasmine was up to no good. Not only that, she had deluded Eti with her Jezebel actions.

  Janet reasoned that Jasmine would want to keep tabs on Eti because she would believe him to be the important person in the whole set up: him and Jason. She believed that Jasmine had already driven a wedge between herself and Eti and was in the process of side lining her.

  There was just a small niggle in the back of Janet's mind that she might be a little paranoid about the whole matter, but she put those concerns to one side.

  "We'll see won't we," she said aloud. "If you want a fight Jazz, then you've got one."

  Methodically Janet went about assembling items that she believed she would need. As well as some food and extra clothing, she packed her information and drawings relating to the Garden of Eden. She re-checked the direction the arrows pointed to and fixed in her mind nearby visible landmarks in that direction.

  When night's darkness had covered the land, Janet crept away from the old Monastery. Strong bright moonlight helped her, but even so, she occasionally stumbled into ditches, or became entangled with unseen plant life. The going was slow, and the tears blurring her eyesight did not help. At each stumble, her mind told her to turn back but she stubbornly resisted the temptation.

  Daylight found her probably about five or six miles away from the Monastery. The going became easier and the warmth from the sun encouraged her. She did wonder what Eti and Jasmine were up to, but dismissed them from her mind. She believed that whatever Eti wanted to do would be thwarted by Jasmine.

  From time to time, she ate fruit and berries she discovered growing wild. Water supplies, while not plentiful, provided enough for her needs. With daylight, and distance, had come a better view of the horizons. She was able to place her position as somewhere between North and North West of Nemrut which she could see in the distance. There was another large mountain away to her right and so high that she took it to be Mt Suphan. The surrounding countryside alternated between areas rich in plant life and barren areas of volcanic rock. She repeatedly scanned the horizon in the North and West looking for the outline she believed would lead her to the Garden of Eden.

  As the day lengthened, and the heat increased, Janet found her initial enthusiasm waning somewhat. On a couple of occasions, she slipped and cut her hands as she grasped at volcanic rock. Sweat then found those abrasions and cuts and increased the pain levels. Instead of deterring her, it increased her determination. She found herself talking aloud and the thought did cross her mind that she may have been a bit delirious.

  "Why can't they see what I can see," she argued with herself. "It's clearly obvious that the whole area is so tied in with creation, and obviously Jesus' disciples had felt it also. Why else would two of them have been in the area, and with Jesus' funeral shroud as well? They must have known something to be here. There is the ark thing as well. Noah lived around about here. Creation began here, or hereabouts. It's logical that local knowledge would have been passed down from generation to generation, just as it was logical that at some stage something would have been written down in some form in case something happened to those passing on that knowledge. What better way of doing that than by drawing a treasure map, and not just any treasure map, but one that would be clearly apparent to anyone interested in history, because cemeteries were always a known source of history. Why couldn't Eti see that?

  "I could understand Jasmine's reluctance. After all the Islamic faith wouldn't want anyone other than them to be in a position to reveal any further faith knowledge. She has got poor Eti wrapped round her little finger. I wouldn't trust her for one minute."

  Janet tripped and fell again. As she lay on her back looking up at the blue sky with the white clouds hanging still and quiet, she started to laugh. To laugh at herself.

  "How pathetic can I get," she asked herself? "Here I am, a grown woman, acting like one of the kids I teach. If I didn't know better I would say that I was just plain simply jealous. Jealous of her and Eti's relationship. Relationship? Get a hold of yourself you silly little woman. They have a shared interest, that's all. I frankly doubt Eti has noticed how attractive Jasmine is.

  "Whoa, there you go again. Okay, so I am a bit jealous. Silly jealous as well. I know that Eti and I have built up a special bond but it's a bond of shared experiences, not feelings.

  "Right, now that I've got that out of the way what do I do? Do I wait here for them to catch up with me or what? What if they don't even realise that I have run away? I haven't left any particular trail so perhaps they are unable to follow. Janet, what an idiot you are. A grown up silly old woman who should know better. Acting like a little school girl.

  "Okay, I guess there is only one thing I can do. I'll have to go back and eat humble pie."

  Having made the decision, Janet checked her direction markers, and turning one hundred and eighty degrees from them, a
nd noted new markers towards which she would travel.

  No sooner had she taken a step in the return direction than she felt a rumble from the ground move up through her feet. Her immediate thought was that an earthquake was underway.

  In a way, it was, but it was not as a result of Teutonic plates moving. There was a loud rumble in the air. Her eyes searched the area to see what was causing the problem. They found the big mountain that she had assumed was Mt Suphan. There was a plume of grey-black smoke over it in the shape of a mushroom cloud. It looked like that formed by a nuclear bomb. Again, the ground shook and actually wobbled. A loud roar then assaulted her ears. It was continuous. The mushroom shaped cloud began to spread and it soon blocked out the sun. Janet could see lightening flashing around the mountain. The side of the mountain closest to her began to leak a red colour and she realised it was larva running down its side. She next smelt the sulphur smell that she knew so well from the geothermal activity back home at Rotorua in New Zealand. Looking back at the sky, she saw that the ash cloud above the volcano, because she now guessed that is what it was, stretched out towards where she was. Instead of panicking, she remembered the disaster training and drills of her childhood, and those she now taught her own pupils. Nearby she found a slow moving source of water. She filled her water container and soaked her bandanna. She was none too soon. Ash, grey and sticky, began falling around and upon her. Janet looked about for shelter. A derelict stone walled building was about 300 yards away. She ran to it. It had no roof, but old beams and pieces of iron lay within the walls. Working quickly, Janet dragged some beams out from inside the walls and leaned them against one of the sidewalls. She then placed sheets of iron against the beams to make a basic lean-to structure. She crawled inside and watched as the ash continued to fall. Not having experienced a great deal of snow, she presumed it was similar to what she was witnessing, although she knew how deadly ash could be. It could block up your lungs and could smother you. There was also the possibility of noxious gases being released, and of huge rocks of cooled larva crashing into you. Janet felt that she was far enough away from the volcano not to be in danger of the rocks, or the larva flow, but just in case, she peeked in the direction of the mountain. It was not visible. All she could see was a solid grey blanket of ash accompanied by that strong smell of sulphur. The rumbling continued and she could hear the crackle of the lightening.

  Afraid, and alone, she prayed and prayed. She prayed that she would make it back home to New Zealand. She prayed for Eti, and she prayed that those living near the mountain would survive. Tears formed wet lines through the dust on her face. At the same time, she was filled with a deep feeling of melancholy. It was a feeling unlike any she had previously felt. Not having been the greatest and most regular user of prayer, she wondered if such a feeling was natural. She thought back to some of her conversations with Eti, and to sermons she had heard when she attended church services. She could not recall mention of such a feeling, but then, unexpectedly, into her mind popped the notion that she was feeling God's sorrow for those being effected by the eruption.

  Regularly, she refreshed her bandanna with water. The air was actually becoming almost thick. Ash slid off the angled iron of the lean-to roof from time to time, and was also becoming quite deep across the exposed ends of it. Janet began to fear she might be buried alive. Pushing away the fear, she dug her way out of the shelter. The ash was up to a foot in depth, and quite a bit more in hollows. Her eyes revealed an eerie sight. It was, she presumed, like the view on a desolate planet elsewhere in the universe; still and grey with no movement, and now, no noise. She assumed the ash was deadening or absorbing sounds.

  She struggled along the stone wall until she came to its end. She frantically dug under the ash searching for a downpipe that had, perhaps, existed from the guttering to the ground. Not finding anything remotely like it, she retraced her steps to the lean to, went past it, and continued to the other end of the wall. She again searched for a downpipe but without success. She did, however, find a length of galvanised pipe. It was about a yard in length and free of any internal obstruction except for spiders and other insects that she cleaned from it of by knocking it against the wall.

  Back in her lean-to, she placed the pipe on the floor. She intended to use it as an emergency air line if the ash blocked her into her shelter.

  Janet was unsure how long she stayed in the shelter. Her watch had been damaged when she had shifted the beams to build it. By her estimate, she was in it for the best part of eight to twelve hours. She had, from time to time, laid her parka outside the shelter to see how deep the ash became over an estimated period of time. On one of those occasions, she brought it back into the shelter to find no ash upon it.

  She was not exactly buried, but she did have to dig about two to three feet of ash from the shelter entrance to get out of it. She could see nothing, and presumed that it was night time and not falling ash causing the darkness. Satisfied that there was nothing she could do at that stage, she went back into the shelter, made herself as comfortable as possible, and tried to sleep. She had been afraid to attempt sleep earlier in case she breathed in ash or choked on it.

  Naturally, sleep did not come. Instead, she went back over her arguments with Eti and Jasmine and the thought came to her that perhaps this was all punishment for the way she had acted. In spite of realising how absolutely silly such a thought was, it still nagged at her. Just in case, she said a prayer accepting responsibility for what she had said and done and forgiving Eti and Jasmine of any wrong they may have done.

  Eventually daylight came. Janet found that she must have drifted off to sleep at some stage as she awoke to a sky with sunlight. Unbelieving, she crawled from her shelter. There was still a strong sulphur smell. Looking over towards where the volcano was, she saw that the smoke was still coming from it but that a slight breeze was blowing it away from her direction. The grey moonscape still lay about her. There was no movement as far as the eye could see.

  Janet rinsed her mouth out with some of the water she still had left, and blew her nose to rid it of the grey ash. She took stock of her position. She still had some food, some clean clothes, some water and was physically unharmed.

  While there was a lack of identifiable landmarks, she could see what she believed was the horizon she had been headed towards; the one that would take her back to the monastery and Eti. With a brief thank you to the shelter, she set out. No more than a few steps later, she remembered she should say a prayer asking for God's blessing and guidance for the day. She remained standing, but bowed her head, closed her eyes and whispered a quick prayer. Finished, she was back on her way and feeling much happier. Saying a prayer before setting out for the day had been an Eti habit and she smiled to herself thinking how pleased he would be if he had been able to see it.

  The dust covered everything. It was thick on plants and the ground. Tree boughs were weighed down with it. It floated up in a fine mist as Janet walked, and it was necessary for her to continue wearing the bandanna over her mouth and nose. From time to time, she came across dead animals. They appeared to have died due to inhaling the dust although clearly she could not authoritively say so.

  She found a stream that had running water but she was afraid to taste it in case, as a result of the eruption, it contained poison of some type. Occasionally she heard and saw a helicopter but none came near enough for her to signal.

  About midday, according to the position of the sun, Janet located a road headed in the correct direction. It was still covered in ash but it was hard underfoot, and flat. The roadside markers allowed her to walk a bit faster as she did not have to take so much care with her foot placements.

  Sometime later, Janet ran out of water. She approached a house situated about two hundred yards off the road. She had already passed several, but none of them had shown any sign of life in the vicinity. There were several sheds surrounding this house and it looked as though it was a farming operation of some type. She could hear d
ogs barking. The barking increased in intensity as she knocked on the front door. There was no response. She continued knocking and calling out but still, the only response came from the dogs. She walked around to the back door. The same result. Janet tried to open the door but found it locked.

  Turning away from the house, she walked in the direction of the barking dogs. There were three and they were locked in their kennels along an implement-shed wall. They jumped and whined happily with wagging tails when they saw her. The kennels were without water and food. Janet quickly located a drum inside the shed with dog biscuits in it. She gave them half a dozen each. A tap, with hose attached, allowed her to provide them with drinking water.

  Janet then traced the water pipe back to its source, a rainwater tank supplied by runoff from the shed roof. The shed gutters were choked with dust, but as there had been no rainfall, Janet presumed little of the dust would have made it into the covered tank. She decided to fill her water container from the same tap she had used to water the dogs, trusting that minimum, if any, contamination would have reached the bottom of the tank.

  Refreshed, she set off again. It was not long, however, before she noticed an increase in the sulphur smell. She became aware of a breeze moving the dust around. It started to hurt her eyes and while she was dabbing at them with her wet hanky, she slipped and fell, banging her head on the road as she did so.

  It was dark when Janet awoke. She was still lying on the roadway. Her head ached, her eyes stung, and her mouth was sticky and foul tasting from the ash dust. She sat up and immediately vomited. She crawled to the side of the road on her hands and knees. She rinsed her mouth out with water and gingerly felt her head. There was a lump the size of a large apple at the back of her head but she did not feel any dampness or blood, so assumed she had not broken any skin. She correctly deduced that she had been knocked unconscious by the fall. There was, she realised, the possibility of concussion, as indicated by the vomiting. Understanding that it was not good to go to sleep if there was the possibility of concussion, she sat waiting for her mind to reset itself. She was able to recall, or believed she could, all that had brought her to where she now was, so decided that she did not have any major trauma. Some shock and a headache, yes, but nothing major.

  She fossicked around in her pack and located some chocolate, raisins and nuts. She ate them and then paused as she heard voices. They were raised and came from some distance away. Janet got to her feet, swaying a bit in the process. She looked in the direction the voices were coming from. They were off to one side of the road and back from whence she had come. She could see the orange glow of a fire.

  Knowing that she was not well, and possibly in need of assistance, Janet decided to make her way toward the fire. The going was not easy. She had to leave the firm footing of the road and travel overland. The terrain turned out to be rolling with the odd deep gully. She was not able to move quickly and by the time she approached the area, the voices had ceased. The first thing Janet saw, was a man holding a rifle and staring towards her. Scared, she stopped. He soon glanced away from her and she realised that he could not see her against the dark background. She crouched down to make as small a target as possible.

  The whole setup reminded her of camps in the cowboy and Indian movies she had watched at Saturday matinee movies in cinemas as a child. The fire was in the centre, and six tents were on three sides: two to a side. Four guards faced outwards and were armed with rifles. The open fourth side of the area was occupied by a man wearing handcuffs and tied to a tree.

  How she managed not to scream, Janet never knew. The prisoner, because clearly he was such, was Eti.

  "Oh no," she said to herself. "Not again. My poor Eti, what has happened to you?"

  While she wanted to run to Eti, she realised that to do so would probably not achieve a great deal. She crept away from the camp and hid herself among some bushes where she could see and hear what was happening.

  As she waited for daylight, the pain of her own problems was numbed by the plight of Eti. She presumed that the kidnappers had returned and taken him by surprise. As she had not seen Jasmine, she presumed she was also a prisoner but held in one of the tents.

  Daylight showed how wrong she was.

  Jasmine was indeed in one of the tents, but as the camp awoke and she appeared, she was clearly not restrained in any way. She ignored Eti but spoke and joked with the rest of the men present. In all, the group consisted of Eti, Jasmine and fifteen others. With daylight, the four guards were reduced to one. Breakfast was prepared after prayers. Clearly, because of their style of praying, the group consisted of either Muslims, or Muslim supporters. Eti was able to eat and drink because they removed his handcuffs but kept his feet tied to the tree. Once breakfast was finished, the group packed up camp and left. They walked in single file with Eti in the middle. They headed in the same direction Janet had headed when she first left the Monastery, headed for where she believed the Garden of Eden to be.

  Janet considered going for help but discarded the idea almost immediately. The previous day had shown her the area was devoid of current human occupation, probably evacuated when the eruption occurred. She guessed that it would be a long time before she would be able to find anyone to help her, and her faith in the Turkish authorities was pretty much zero.

  Janet decided to follow and see if she could somehow do something.

  It was not hard to keep track of the group. They left sign of their movements in the ash. As a result, Janet was able to keep well back and not risk being seen by them. They stopped briefly for midday prayers and something to eat. Janet was unable to get close enough to hear what was being said. Off to one side of where they were, Janet could see the shed where her lean-to was situated. If the kidnappers noticed, they did nothing about it.

  When darkness arrived, the kidnappers again made camp. Janet was able to creep up closer and watch. Plenty of talking was going on but, of course, Janet was unable to understand what was said. From time to time, one of the kidnappers would walk over to Eti and shout at him. Occasionally he would be kicked or hit about the head. Such actions led to shouting from Jasmine, but she seemed to be ignored. It did not take Janet long to work out that Jasmine and an old bearded man were the leaders. The relationship between them was not harmonious however. The man clearly had little time for Eti. Numerous times he approached Eti, with a knife and a sword, and made threatening gestures. Each time Jasmine would pacify him and lead him away.

  Eventually the camp settled down for the night. The guards took up their positions and the others retired to their tents. Eti remained handcuffed and tied to another tree.

  Janet crept away and spent a sad and lonely night wondering what she could do to help Eti. She tried praying but was unable to concentrate. She must have eventually fallen asleep because she awoke to daylight and silence. A check showed the camp empty but with a clear path in the dust showing their direction of travel. Looking ahead towards the horizon, Janet could identify the markers she herself had been heading toward. It was small comfort, to her, that Jasmine appeared to have turned out to be all she had suspected her to be.

  That evening Janet crept closer to the camp. She approached from behind the tree to which Eti was tied. She had a knife with her and intended to try to cut the rope securing him. She slithered slowly towards the tree. She was within twenty feet of the tree when a violent argument broke out between Jasmine and her fellow leader. Jasmine was pushed to the ground and the man strode over to Eti with his sword in hand. A swipe of the sword severed the rope holding Eti. Eti was pulled to his feet, his legs freed, and then dragged closer to the fire. He was thrown to the ground. Jasmine struggled to her feet and grappled with the bearded man. During the struggle Jasmine was again knocked to the ground. Two men, at the leaders command, took hold of Jasmine and held her. Two others forced Eti into a kneeling position. The bearded leader held his sword in front of Eti's eyes and made a cutting motion. He then moved to one side of Eti and raised his s
word. Janet sprang to her feet but before she could do or say anything, one of the men went to the leader and a conversation ensued. Some discussions then took place among the group. Jasmine remained held to one side. Janet sunk back to the ground having been unnoticed. Some laughter broke out among the men and there was much smiling and gesturing. The end result, after much coming and going, was that Eti's handcuffs were removed and a piece of paper thrust into his hands. One of the group went to a tent and returned with a mobile cellphone that he pointed at Eti, clearly using the camera facility. The bearded leader then wrapped a bandanna over the lower portion of his face, as a disguise, and reset himself beside Eti with his sword raised. At that moment, Janet screamed and leapt to her feet. Jasmine broke free of those holding her, and also screaming, ran at Eti and the leader. The group became disorientated. Some looked around to see where Janet's scream had come from. Others tried to grab hold of Jasmine. Eti jumped to his feet and ran. As Jasmine reached the leader, he swung at her with his sword and beheaded her. The sudden silence from Jasmine's scream, and her headless corpse, caused a monetary pause in every one except Eti and Janet. Eti had escaped out the far side of the camp and disappeared into the darkness. Janet had turned and also disappeared into the darkness. The kidnapping gang eventually got themselves organised and set off in groups to find Eti, and whoever had screamed. They quickly found Janet and Eti's footprints in the ash and set off following them. They were both moving away from the campsite in opposite directions.

  As Eti and Janet stumbled away, a reasonably strong wind started up and before long, their footprints were obliterated. After wandering around hopelessly for a couple of hours, the gang reassembled at their campsite after much shouting and yelling. Several arguments and fights broke out due to the loss of their prisoner whom they were going to ransom, and also the loss of Jasmine who had been going to lead them to some unimaginable treasure trove.

  Daylight found Eti and Janet several miles apart. Eti was unaware of Janet's presence. He thought he had heard a scream but was uncertain if it was real, or in his imagination, or if it had even been himself.

  Eti knew it was Mt Suphan that had erupted, and as soon as he was able, he orientated himself in relation to it. He was fortunate enough to find some water, and by using a hanky, was able to prevent the dust choking him. Afraid of being recaptured by Jasmine's group, he made sure he did not head towards either the Monastery or in the direction of where Eden possibly lay. He had a reasonable idea of where he was. Jasmine and he had examined maps of the area when attempting to decide where Janet would have been heading after she left the Monastery. The area was sparse as far as population centres were concerned, but he could recall Guzelsu, a town of one to two thousand people. As he recalled, there was some ancient castle located there. He made it his mission to reach Guzelsu from where he would be able to access real civilization and alert the authorities that Janet was missing. He was in reasonable physical condition, apart from bruising, cuts and possibly broken ribs from the beatings. He knew there was little between the Monastery and Mus except Guzelsu and Lake Nazik off to the north so there was always the chance that he could miss them all and never be found alive. As luck, or God, would have it, he stumbled across a road heading north so took it. For two days he stuck to the road. He managed to break into a house and obtain some much needed food, cleanish water and medical supplies. The ash cloud continued to drift to the north so at least he had no ash fall to cause him any problems.

  Late on the second day, a Red Crescent vehicle searching for lost and trapped people located him. They returned him initially to Guzelsu, and from there he went to Ahlat and then Tatvan.

  He alerted the authorities about his kidnapping, Jasmine's death and Janet's disappearance. Despite air and ground searches, no trace of either Jasmine's body, or Janet's existence was located. Initially the ash made the searching fruitless as it obscured everything. Even months later though, once the ash had dispersed, and animals and humans returned to the area, no sign was found of the women. It was presumed, by the Police, and Search and Rescue, that the kidnappers had probably buried Jasmine's body, or that wild animals had eaten it.

  The most commonly held theory concerning Janet, was that she had lost her way in the ash cloud and died from suffocation. Either that, or was attacked and eaten by hungry animals.

  Several search teams from New Zealand combed the area for Janet but eventually all the teams returned home. Within six months of the last team arriving back in New Zealand, Janet, her bet, and her journey, had faded from most people's minds.

  The monastery where Eti, Janet and Jasmine had been captive became the object of much archeological interest. Eti managed to raise enough funding to base himself at the monastery and work towards detailing Janet's finds.

  Often, he would find himself staring off into the distant North West, but knew from the searches that the elusive Garden of Eden remained forever hidden from mankind.