Cibola

Chapter 11

Dane rose early and enjoyed a long, quiet jog in the dim light of dawn. He did his best thinking when he was on the move, keeping his body and mind in sync. Something about Sleeping Ute Mountain did not seem right to him. He couldn’t put a finger on it, but he had always been one to listen to his instincts, and right now they were telling him that something was just a little bit off. Returning to his room, he unwound with a hot shower, then sat down to do a little research. By the time Jade appeared at his door he was on to something, but she was in no mood to hear about it.

“Saul is gone,” she said, handing him a slip of note paper. “He left this at the front desk for me. I’m going to kill him.”

‘Jade,’ the note read, ‘I rented a car. Had some things to take care of. Don’t worry about me. I’ll call you this afternoon and we’ll reconnect. Saul’

“He isn’t answering his phone. All of his things are gone.”

“Did he take the artifact?” Dane asked before he could stop himself. Though constantly annoyed with Saul, Jade was often touchy about criticism directed toward her assistant.

“Of course not,” Jade snapped. “It was in my room.” She dropped heavily into one of the leather padded chairs, picked up the remote and turned on the television. “Do you mind?”

Dane wasn’t much for TV at any time of the day, but given the mood she was in, this was not the hill he wanted to die on.

“I guess we should go on as planned,” he said. “Saul did say that he would catch up with us later. We can find rooms near Cortez and…”

“Hush!” Jade said, holding up a hand. She had stopped on a local news program. Behind the reporter was an image of Sleeping Ute Mountain.

“…morning Ute Tribal Police arrested a man for trespassing on restricted tribal land. The suspect was reportedly trying to gain access to a sacred dance floor on Sleeping Ute Mountain. No motive….”

“Bloody hell!” Jade articulated the words as only an incensed woman can. She turned off the television and dropped the remote onto the table. “One guess who they arrested. What an idiot.”

“I guess there’s no point in me suggesting that maybe it wasn’t him?” Dane asked with an utter absence of sincerity. He had disliked Saul almost on sight, and nothing the man had done since then had convinced him otherwise. This stunt was exactly what Dane would expect of the man.

“Not if you want me to continue respecting your intelligence,” Jade said. “In one fell swoop the moron has killed any chance of us checking out the dance floor.”

“I’m not sure we’ll need to,” Dane said. Jade’s expression was unreadable, so he hurried on with his explanation before it became a book he didn’t want to open. “I didn’t feel right about the dance floor. There’s nothing to indicate that particular area was used for solstice dances at the time of Fray Marcos. Also, it’s not just solstices and equinoxes that are significant. I think the sun itself is important. Remember the sunbursts on the shield, and the fact that the first piece was hidden in a place where the sun’s rays actually strike on the solstice?”

“I’m listening,” Jade said in a flat tone that hopefully indicated abating anger and rising interest. She sat with her arms folded beneath her breasts, her legs crossed, tapping her foot in fierce rhythm.

“I did some searches on the terms ‘Sleeping Ute Mountain,’ ‘solstice,’ and ‘equinox.’ I had to do some digging, but I found a likely spot. It’s called Yucca House.”

“Never heard of it.”

“Neither had I. It’s a site that’s fallen into ruin. The National Park Service maintains control of it, but it’s out in the middle of nowhere with no facilities or anything, just an occasional ranger making a drive-by. Anyway, it lies between Mesa Verde and Sleeping Ute Mountain. From there, you have a perfect view of the foot of Sleeping Ute Mountain.” He thought Jade sat up a little straighter. “Supposedly, if you stand in the right place on the date of the equinox, the sun sets right on the tip of the Sleeping Ute’s toe.”

“It sounds… promising,” Jade said. Her toe had stopped tapping and she was now gripping the arms of her chair and leaning slightly forward. “It’s not like we have anywhere else to go at the moment.”

“Remote location,” Dane added, his convictions strengthened by her interest, “few visitors, and best of all; it’s never been excavated.”

“All right,” Jade said, sounding unconvinced. “Let’s give it a try.”

Saul parked the car in a dense thicket of cottonwood and snakeweed, killed the engine, and double-checked the topographical chart he had printed out at the library. This appeared to be the right place. He took a long look around before exiting the car. He was crazy to try this, but it was necessary. If the Ute police caught him twice in one day, no way would they let him go again.

The rustle of cottonwood leaves in the sparse breeze put him to mind of a rattlesnake lying in wait. How could such an open, empty space seem so sinister? He had no time for such thoughts. He needed to hurry.

He hadn’t believed it when he found it on the map: three hills, almost perfectly round, like the lobes of a clover, and a butte where the stem would be. And the place was perfectly positioned! This had to be it.

He crested the closest hill and gazed down into the valley. It was beautiful, as so much of this land was, but didn’t look like much. Lots of scrub, yucca, juniper, and oxeye sunflowers. A flash of movement caught his eye and he dropped to a knee, though there was nowhere to hide up here. He relaxed as he realized it was a lone pronghorn deer wandering past.

He trotted down the hill and began picking his way through the tangle of flora. As he walked, he saw the remains of low walls, piles of stone, and a few overgrown holes that likely had been kivas. That was encouraging.

At the center of the valley, the ground dropped off in a circle forty feet across. His heart leapt. This once had been a massive ceremonial kiva. The roof had long since collapsed, but hopefully…

Choosing a spot where the remains of the roof had piled against the edge, forming a ladder of sorts, he clambered down into the ancient center of worship and moved to the center, careful not to turn an ankle on the loose rock. He squatted down and started clearing away the debris when the ground suddenly seemed to churn and something brown and black burst forth from the hole he had created. Scorpions!

He snatched his hand away and stumbled backward, landing hard on his backside. Seven or eight of the angry creatures scurried out across the rocks and vanished into the cracks and crevasses among the loose piles of stone. They were huge! Each one was at least five inches in length. He was no expert, but he thought they were called desert hairy scorpions. They ought to be called desert harrowing scorpions after that surprise.

He got to his feet, breathing a deep sigh, brushed himself off, and even more cautiously returned to the hole he had created. He really didn’t want to get stung, but he had to do this. He would regret it if he didn’t.

Slowly, one rock at a time, he cleared a hole about a yard in width. He bit his lip when he saw only hard, dry earth underneath. But he couldn’t be wrong. It had to be here. If it wasn’t in the center, he’d have to go back for the metal detector and inspect the whole place, and who knew how long that would take? He pulled out his pocketknife and scraped at the hard-packed earth. The blade caught on something. He continued to scratch the surface, revealing something round. This was it! Ten minutes of digging and clearing rewarded him with precisely what he had been looking for. A clay seal bearing the sigil of Fray Marcos de Niza!

Not wanting to waste time working the seal loose, he picked up a heavy stone, raised it above his head, and brought it crashing down onto the seal. The ancient clay shattered, falling into the dark hole that had been the sipapu — the ceremonial hole in the center of the kiva. He reached into the sipapu and his hands closed on a metal box. He had found it!

The pitted, dirt road bounced their rental, jostling them as they drove.

“Ow! My coffee,” Jade sputtered, dabbing at her pants with a napkin. “Cheap gas station lids. When we get back to civilization, the first thing I’m going to do is find a Starbucks.”

“Sorry,” Dane said. “I don’t know how you can drink that stuff in this heat.” The arid southwest climate was not as oppressive as the humidity of the Caribbean, but the feeling of perpetual dehydration was wearying. They came to a fence line with a gate blocking the way. “Are we in the right place?” he asked, bringing the vehicle to a stop. “This looks like a ranch or something.”

“It says here that the road crosses private property,” Jade said, consulting the directions she had printed off the web. “You don’t need permission. Just close the gate behind you. I got it.” She slipped out the door and strode into the hot midday sun.

Dane watched as she walked to the gate and swung it open. He loved the way the sun played off her glossy black hair and lithe, athletic figure. Best of all, she was smart. Bones might like them dumb, but not him.

“Sometime today would be nice,” Jade called, waving him on. Grinning, he stepped on the gas and pulled through the open gate. Jade secured it behind them and hopped into the cab. “It is seriously hot out there.” She picked up his water bottle and uncapped it.

“Hey, what about your coffee?”

“Are you crazy? It’s too hot for coffee. Besides, caffeine dehydrates you.” She rolled her eyes at him as she took a drink.

Dane shook his head and grinned. There was no point in trying to win.

They arrived at the site a short while later. There was no parking lot. The dirt road simply faded into flat, open ground, ringed by post and wire fences. A ranch lay off to the right, and a brown sign with white lettering directed them through an empty horse corral to the main gate on the other side.

Mesa Verde lay in the distance, clearly visible in the clean, clear air. Dane looked out at the fabled Anasazi settlement, and wondered what it was about that place that seemed to tug at him.

“Jade, have you checked any of the shield symbols against Mesa Verde structures? I mean, why wouldn’t it be one the Seven Cities? Seems like an obvious choice to me.” They arrived at a small gate flanked by a brochure box and a dented, green garbage can on the left and a faded brown National Park Sign. He gave the sign a cursory glance, and helped himself to a brochure before opening the door and motioning her through.

“I have done some checking,” Jade said. “The problem is that it’s such a large settlement, and the images on Fray Marcos’ shield are so small. It could be any little corner or section of a cliff dwelling. As to why it wouldn’t be Mesa Verde, I suppose because it’s too obvious. I’m still working on it, hoping to find a likely location.”

Dane followed her through the gate. He felt a little strange securing the gate behind them in this desolate place, but he supposed it was there for a reason.

“Have you checked out the solstice angle?”

Jade looked back over her shoulder at him, crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue. “Yes, I’ve checked. There aren’t any structures that are specifically designated as solstice markers. In such a big place, there might be some structures that fit the bill, but…” She shrugged.

“Needle in a haystack,” Dane said. The thought didn’t discourage him. In fact, the challenge made him even more determined to solve the riddle. Men who were easily discouraged didn’t make good marine archaeologists. The countless hours going back-and-forth on sonar sweeps saw to that. “So, where is this place?”

“Right here.” Jade pointed to a series of overgrown mounds ahead of them. “Not what you expected, I take it?”

“Hardly,” Dane said. The site was surprisingly large, but there seemed to be nothing still standing, except a single wall running along one side. “All of these mounds… is this it?”

“This is it,” Jade said. “Really, Maddock, don’t you read your own research? The largest one is Upper House.” She indicated a mound in the center of the complex, then handed him a computer printout. “Here’s a sketch drawn by William Holmes, the man who initially discovered the site. Of course, much of it is speculation. The site was already in ruins when he found it.”

“Oh,” Dane said, scratching his head. “I stopped reading at the solstice part. Okay Boss, where do you want to start?”

“Honestly, I think it’s going to be kind of arbitrary. I thought we’d scout it out, then get the metal detectors and see if we can come up with anything that way. I still can’t believe Saul took off with the ground penetrating radar.”

“It was almost worth it to see the look on your face when you found it missing,” Dane said. He had not believed so lovely a face to be capable of such contortions. “You looked like something between Plastic Man and the Hulk.”

“Do you always say the wrong thing, or is it only with me?” Jade lowered her sunglasses to peer at him like a schoolmarm. “No wonder you’re not married.” She must have noticed something in his face because she immediately forsook the mock-disapproval and laid a gentle hand on his arm. “I just stepped in it really deep, didn’t I?”

“My wife died a few years ago,” he said “Look, it’s okay,” he continued as Jade smacked herself on the forehead so hard he feared it would leave a mark. “You didn’t have any way of knowing. I don’t really talk about her.”

“Oh my…” she blushed furiously. “Dane I am so sorry. Here I was accusing you of saying the wrong thing and I make the blunder to end all blunders.”

“Like I said, you couldn’t have known. I really don’t talk about it much.”

“Tell me you accept my apology and I’ll feel a little bit better. Not much, but a little.”

“Apology accepted. Now how about we get to work?”

They spent the next thirty minutes clambering over and around the heaps of rock that had once been a thriving Anasazi settlement of some size. Try as he might, though, Dane could not see how to even begin their search. It looked like an old quarry.

The midday sun was sweltering. They sought refuge in the thin shade of some scrub growing atop the remnants of what had been the largest structure in the settlement. They shared the tepid water from Dane’s canteen and stared out at the distant hills, hazy in the hot air.

“Do you miss her?” Jade asked, staring out at the ruined site.

It took Dane a moment to realize of whom she was speaking. “Every day,” he said.

“Does the hurt ever go away?” Something in her eyes told him she had a very personal reason for asking.

“Not exactly.” He let the word hang between them, thoughts of Melissa seeming to choke off further words. Finally the tightness in his throat subsided, and he was surprised at how normal he sounded. “But it dulls with time. At first you can’t stand to think about it, but you can’t think of anything else. Little by little, you distance yourself from it. After a while it’s only the little things that get to you; a certain song, a favorite place, a little gift you gave her that you thought she’d thrown away. Then it all comes back, if only for a little while.”

“I know what you mean,” Jade said. She exhaled loudly and sprang to her feet. “Well then,” she said, a forced cheerfulness in her voice. “I think the most likely place to start is down by Lower House. I saw an overhang that looks promising.” She picked her way through the rubble toward high house without waiting for him.

When Dane caught up with her, Jade was on her hands and knees crawling into a shady opening at the base of the rock pile that, according to the brochure, had once been an L-shaped Puebloan dwelling with a large central kiva, the round, sunken building that was the center of Anasazi worship. He dropped down alongside her, peering into the darkness. The air was cooler, though not by much, but still it was a stark contrast to the sun blistering his back.

“It looks to me,” Jade said, “like this part of the structure has actually held together. If we can scoop out some dirt, we might be able to get inside. I think I see an open space back there.” She flicked on a tiny flashlight and directed the beam to the back of the overhang where the blackness was complete. She lay down on her stomach and scooted forward.

A flicker of movement caught Dane’s eye. Lightning fast, his hand shot out just as an angry buzz filled the small space. He grabbed hold of the rattlesnake’s tail and with a flick of the wrist, slung it out into the sun. The fat, gray-brown viper beat a hasty retreat into the rocks and scrub, rattling furiously all the while.

“Oh my…” Jade backed out of the overhang and rolled over onto her back, where she lay spread-eagle, her eyes closed and her breath coming in gasps.

“Are you all right?” Dane asked. “He didn’t get you, did he?”

“I’m fine,” she said, still breathing rapidly. “Not my first rattler, but my closest call.” She took a few deep breaths, gaining control of her breathing, before sitting up. “Western Diamondback?” she asked.

“I think so,” Dane said. “We don’t get too many of those in the Caribbean, but I watched Wild Kingdom when I was a kid.”

“How did you manage to grab that thing?”

“Fast hands and poor impulse control,” he joked. “I caught sight of him when you turned on your flashlight. He was coiled to strike, but he was turned so that I had a clear shot at his tail. Probably wasn’t the safest way of handling a snake, but at least I went for the less-dangerous end.”

“I can’t believe I was so careless,” she said. “I’m just so mad that we wasted our time coming out here. It seemed so promising.” She pulled the folded printout of Holmes’ map out of her front pocket. She opened it and scrutinized it for a moment before balling it up and throwing it on the ground. “I give up,” she said. “Let’s get back to semi-civilization. Maybe Saul is back, and I’ll have someone to take out my frustrations on.”

“Wait a minute,” Dane said, picking up the crumpled map. Something had taken shape in his mind when she had opened it up moments before. He smoothed it out and laid it on his lap. “Got a pen?” Wordlessly she handed him a cheap ballpoint with a chewed cap, and sat back with her arms folded across her chest and a look of skepticism painting her face.

“Look at how the site was originally laid out.” He drew a faint outline around the layout as he spoke. “Notice how the general layout makes a three-lobed shape. And if you tie in this square ruin at the bottom…”

“A clover,” Jade said, her eyes wide in amazement. “But wait a minute. This place would have been here before Fray Marcos’s time. It would have to be a coincidence.”

“Yes,” Dane said. “But imagine you’re Fray Marcos or Estevanico, looking for places to hide pieces of this… puzzle or whatever it is. You don’t want it to be too easy, but you also want to make sure someone will eventually find the clues. What better place to hide one of the pieces than in a village that is shaped like Marcos’ personal symbol?”

“Which would explain why such a small place as this would be a likely spot,” Jade said. “I like it. But where do we look?”

“If I draw a line right down the center,” Dane said as he drew, “see what it looks like when I cut a horizontal line right across this well in the middle?”

“It’s a perfect cross!” Jade said. “But couldn’t it be another coincidence?”

“It could,” he agreed. “But there’s only one way to find out for sure.”

They made their way to a low spot that was, to the best of their estimation, the site of the small kiva. With great care they began moving aside the jumbled rocks. After twenty minutes of tiring work, he was surprised to feel a cool draft on his face. He dropped to his belly and scooted down into the hole they had made.

“There’s a tangle of interlocking roots holding up all of this rock,” he said, dragging a heavy stone away to reveal open space underneath. “I think the kiva is intact down below us!”

“No way,” Jade said, sliding up alongside him. “Just like the well where we found the breastplate.” She took out her flashlight and shone it into the hole. Its slender beam sliced through the darkness, illuminating stones that had not seen sunlight in centuries. “Hard to believe it wasn’t filled up with debris. I just assumed it wouldn’t be worth inspecting when I saw the pile of rubble.”

“If we can clear a large enough hole for me to fit through without bringing the whole thing down, I’ll drop in there and see what I can find,” Dane said, sliding back from the hole and climbing to his feet.

“I’m going too,” Jade said, standing and brushing the dirt and bits of rock from the front of her clothing. “I’m not letting you have all of the fun. This is much too cool to miss.”

“One of us has got to stay up here with the rope in case something goes wrong,” Dane said. “If we’re both down there and the roof comes down…” He did not need to finish the sentence.

“In that case,” Jade said, “I should be the one to go down there. I’m lighter, so there’s less chance of me bringing something crashing down. And if there is a problem, you’ll have a much easier time pulling me up than the other way around.”

Dane wanted to argue, but her logic was impeccable. Besides, he had seen her in action, and she was far from helpless. Still he did not like it.

“I see your point,” he said. “I just think I should be the one to go down there. We don’t know what we’re going to find.”

“And why should you be the one to take the risk?” she asked. Her voice held a note of challenge. She folded her hands across her chest. “And you had better not say it’s because I’m a woman.”

Actually, that was exactly what Dane had been thinking. He knew it was irrational, but it was the way he had been raised. He also knew Jade would not find it an acceptable reason.

“Suit yourself,” he said. “Just promise me you’ll be careful.”

“Thanks, Galahad,” she said, smiling. She put a hand on his cheek in a gesture that was somehow both condescending and affectionate at the same time. “I promise I’ll be careful.”

They began clearing way the rubble, until there was enough space for her to wriggle through. They secured a rope to a nearby boulder and doubled it around the base of one of the larger scrub brush for added strength. Dane took hold of it and held tight while Jade squirmed backward through the hole and slid down into the darkness.

The oppressive darkness seemed to press down on Jade. She shone her light on the ceiling above her. The mass of earth and stone seemed to strain against the roots that bound it, seeking to pour down upon her. It seemed more threatening than the well in which she had dove. Somehow, the water had felt like a safeguard. Here, it was painfully obvious that nothing would protect her should gravity finally win this centuries-long battle.

“You’re wasting time, Jade,” she chided herself. She let the light play across the floor and then around the walls, searching for a clue. Maddock had better not have brought her on a wild goose chase. She continued to search, occasionally brushing dirt off of a likely-looking stone, hoping to find something, but to no avail.

She paused, dropping to a knee and looking around. What might she be forgetting? Solstices were important. What was the connection between solstices and kivas? The axes of kivas were usually built on solstice lines, which meant the solstice sun would shine on…

She turned her light toward the heel stone that hid the tunnel through which the shaman would enter the kiva. Could it be?

She first inspected the heel stone, but found nothing. Now for the tunnel. The Anasazi had been a small people compared to modern-day humans. The tunnel was going to be a squeeze. Holding her flashlight in one hand and her knife in the other, she squeezed into the opening and scooted forward. Inch by inch she wormed her way back into the darkness. If I get stuck, there’s no way Maddock will hear me call for him.

She finally reached the end of the tunnel. Above her, where the shaman had once climbed down into the tunnel, was another hole filled with a precariously loose clump of stone and debris. The wall in front of her would have been in direct alignment with the sun, if not actually illuminated by it, so she started there. She started scraping away at the rocks in front of her. Nothing on the first one. Nor the second. Maybe…

A dull, dragging sound like a burlap sack being dragged across a rough floor filled the hole and she looked up in time to see the ceiling cave in on her.

Dane checked his watch. It had only been three minutes, though it seemed longer. No word yet from Jade. He strained to listen, but could hear nothing. After a couple more minutes he called down.

“Everything okay down there?” He hated not being down there with her. “Jade?”

No reply.

“Jade, what’s going on down there?” What had happened to her? It wasn’t so far to the bottom that she would not be able to hear him. “I’m coming in after you if you don’t answer me.” He suddenly had a vision of the rope giving way during his descent, leaving them both trapped at the bottom. But what choice did he have?

“Hold your horses, Buddy!” Jade called back. “I had to… I’ll explain when I get up there.” Another long silence, then “Go ahead and pull the rope up.”

“You want me to pull you up?” he asked. “Are you hurt?”

“No, Maddock. Just pull up the rope.” Her voice had the quality of a wife wearied of her obtuse husband. He remembered Melissa speaking to him in that tone many times, usually involving bright-colored laundry and the wrong temperature water. Duly chastised, he started hauling.

Whatever was on the end of the rope was light and came up easily. He hauled it out of the hole: a metal box like the one they had found at Chaco Canyon.

“You did it!” he called. Quickly untying the knots that held the box in place, he dropped the rope back into the hole so she could climb out.

Jade was covered in dirt, her face grimy, but her eyes were positively aglow. She immediately set to untying the rope.

“The interior of the kiva was still intact, just as we thought,” she explained. “There was a tunnel. Shamans would use it to make a dramatic entrance while the room was smoky and the worshipers frenzied. It made them look like they were appearing out of nowhere.” She finished coiling the rope and headed back toward their vehicle, still lecturing. “I followed it to the end. The box was sealed up in a recess behind a rock like the one you described from Chaco. I had to scrub away the dirt to find the right stone, and managed to bring a chunk of the ceiling down on me. It scared me more than anything, but I finally found a rock that had the symbol carved in it.”

“Glad you’re okay,” Dane said, looking her over just to make certain. “I wonder how many researchers have been in that room, never dreaming that if they just did a little scrubbing they’d find something amazing,” Dane said, holding the plain, metal box as if it were a priceless treasure.

“Lucky for us, this site doesn’t seem to have gotten much attention,” she said. “Let’s get out of here before someone shows up. I can’t wait to see what’s inside this box.”