The remnants of Engaruka spread out across the hilly terrain. First recorded by explorers in the late nineteenth century, the system of ruins was regarded as one of the region’s most important archaeological sites. Though explorers had compared the features to castle ruins, and had remarked on its stone circles and impressive structures, its significance was due to its irrigation and cultivation structures. Even knowing this, the site was hardly what Maddock had expected. Rather than impressive feats of masonry, what remained of the ancient city amounted to little more than terraces and the foundations of buildings. In some places, only a few piles of stone remained.
“Doesn’t look like much, does it?” Bones mopped his brow and squinted against the midday glare.
“Who cares what it looks like as long as we find what we’re searching for?” The heat and their fruitless search were clearly getting to Dima. She rounded on Maddock, hands on hips. “Tell us again what Schrader said about this place.”
“Like I said, he was getting less and less coherent. The first thing he said was, ‘They came up from the ground.’ He didn’t say who ‘they’ were, but given the context, I can only assume he meant Noah and his family, and maybe the animals.”
“But he also mentioned the Mountain of God,” Bones said, turning his eyes toward Ol Doinyo Lengai looming on the horizon. “It makes it sound like Noah didn’t come down the side of the mountain, but instead he came out through an underground passageway.”
“Volcanic tubes,” Maddock agreed. “We know from experience that’s a possibility.”
“Yeah, but that’s an active volcano up there.” Bones nodded toward the peak. “Even if we find the passageway, do you really want to go inside?”
“Tell you what, when we find it, Dima and I will go in and you can stand guard out here. How does that sound?”
“Screw you, Maddock. What else did he say?”
“He said, ‘Remember the sacrifice.’ I seem to recall Noah made sacrifices to God after the flood waters subsided.”
“Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it,” Dima recited.
“So we’re looking for an altar?” Bones asked.
“Makes sense to me,” Maddock said. “I’ve kept my eyes open but haven’t seen anything.” He turned to Dima. “Any suggestions?”
“Engaruka isn’t nearly old enough to have been here during the time of Noah, but if it, or an older settlement, grew up in the wake of Noah’s arrival, it would make sense that the altar might have been central to their culture.” She glanced at a map she had found online and then took a look around. “I think the middle of town, so to speak, would be that way.” She pointed to the northeast. “Just over that hill.”
Twenty minutes later they found themselves in the midst of a cluster of low walls and stone circles. Maddock turned slowly around, taking it all in. Nothing leaped out at him. What if they were wrong and this was another false trail?
“Are either of your stones reacting at all?” Dima asked with no trace of hopefulness in her voice.
“As cold as my sex life,” Bones said.
Dima smirked. “Maybe things will turn around for you once we find the ark.” She gave him a wink.
“You hear that, Maddock? Leave no stone unturned! Andale!”
Maddock froze. “What did you say?”
“You already forgot your high school Spanish? Speedy Gonzales. Arriba! Andale! Get your big white butt in gear.”
Dima giggled and gave Bones a playful shove.
“No. Before that,” Maddock said.
“Leave no stone unturned?”
“Exactly.” Maddock turned toward what he estimated to be the very center of town. There stood the remnants of a large building. Only the foundation remained, but its former size and grandeur was clearly evident. He imagined it had once dominated this stretch of the landscape. “Look at the outline of the walls. What does it remind you of?”
Dima saw it immediately. “Six points! The Star of David!”
“What do you say we take a look underneath that big pile of rubble in the middle?”
Bones didn’t have to be told twice. He vaulted the wall, climbed up onto the pile of rocks, and began moving stones with surprising vigor considering the amount of time they’d already spent walking in the heat of the day. Maddock and Dima joined in and they fell into a rhythm, working the stones loose and tossing them aside. Little by little, they reduced the heap of stone to a small mound, but they turned up nothing of note.
Maddock was just beginning to wonder if he’d steered them onto the wrong track when Bones whooped. “Jackpot! Take a look at this.”
The sun shone down onto a smooth, black stone, so unlike the native rock of the region. They attacked the pile with a renewed sense of purpose. An hour later, they’d cleared a space around a massive, rectangular slab of black stone the size of an ox. Maddock began brushing the surface of the stone, clearing away the dust and dirt to reveal a crude, six-pointed star carved in its surface.
“I think this is it.” Reverence reduced Dima’s voice to a whisper. “What now?”
Maddock remembered the next thing Schrader had said. “Blood is the key.” He slid his belt knife free of its sheath, pricked his thumb with the tip of the blade, and let a few drops of blood dribble onto the stone right at the center of the six-pointed star.
They waited.
Nothing.
“I think you need more blood,” Bones said. “Or maybe it has to be an animal sacrifice.”
“Maybe, but…”
The ground shifted beneath Maddock’s feet and he sprang back. The altar slid to the side, revealing a gaping hole.
Bones clapped Maddock on the back. “Nice job, Maddock. I keep forgetting you aren’t as dumb as you are ugly.”
“The feeling’s mutual.” He took a deep breath, sheathed his knife, and took out his Maglite. “What do you say we find Noah’s Ark?”