Stones of Fire

21

Unwilling to penetrate the murky depths, Cædmon purposefully equivocated. ‘I am merely saying that there are areas of overlap between the two religions.’

‘Such as…?’

‘Such as the Ten Commandments, which are suspiciously similar to the behavioural mandates set out in the Egyptian Book of the Dead, a work that predates the biblical Exodus. And let us not forget circumcision, an unusual practice to say the least. Did you know that circumcision was a ritual procedure amongst the Egyptian royal family and their courtiers? Other similarities include the stricture against graven images, a hereditary priesthood, the sacrifice of animals and the use of a golden ark to contain the might and majesty of what can only be called a very jealous god.’ His case made, Cædmon folded his arms across his chest. ‘Would you not agree that such similarities give one pause?’

‘Yeah, well… Right now I need to pause and catch my breath because I’m still grappling with Moses being an Egyptian magician.’ Edie took a noisy slurp of her G and T, loudly chomping on an ice cube. ‘I’m sorry, Cædmon, but I’m having a hard time accepting that Judaism descended from some long-lost Egyptian religion.’

‘I’m not speaking of Judaism as it is practised today, that being a religion primarily created in the sixth century BC during the Babylonian Captivity. I’m speaking of the Hebrew religion as it was practised from the time of the Exodus up until the Babylonian Captivity, a span of roughly seven hundred years.’

‘So, which came first, the worship of Aten or the worship of Yahweh?’

‘Ah, the chicken-and-egg conundrum. In the same way that Roman religious practices influenced early Christianity, I believe that the enslaved Jews in Egypt influenced, and perhaps even inspired, the worship of Aten. The Old Testament makes mention of Moses having been instructed in “all the wisdom of the Egyptians”.’

‘What exactly does that mean, “all the wisdom of the Egyptians”?’

The question immense in its scope, Cædmon considered his reply. ‘The prescribed Egyptian education included the study of crystals and metals, necromancy and the art of divination, knowledge that Moses put to good use when creating the fabled Stones of Fire.’

‘But I saw the breastplate with my own eyes. It was just —’ she shrugged ‘— twelve jewels and some bits of old gold.’

‘Yes, but it’s those very jewels that give the Stones of Fire its immense power.’

‘Okay, I’ll nibble. What’s so special about those twelve jewels?’

‘Allow me to preface my answer by saying that gemstones are not the inert, inanimate objects that most people assume them to be. Indeed, gemstones, as well as crystals, are energy conduits. In Asian cultures such energy is known as chi.’

‘I have a girlfriend who’s into crystals. She swears that if you hold a crystal long enough in your hand you’ll feel a vibratory pulse. Personally, I consider that awfully New Agey.’

‘Not if you consider the fact that crystals are used to boost radio waves in a process known as piezoelectricity. In a similar process, the ancients used gemstones and crystals to both generate and enhance energy. A high priest steeped in the mysteries of ancient Egypt, Moses used his vast knowledge of gems and crystals when creating the Stones of Fire. I would even go so far as to say that the breastplate is nothing less than a form of ancient technology, each stone specifically selected for its unique vibratory properties.’

Edie snorted. ‘You’re kidding, right? I’d hardly call an old breastplate a technological wonder.’

‘Ah, but that’s exactly what the breastplate was, and perhaps still is. Because SONY isn’t stamped on it, that doesn’t make it any less sophisticated than the mobile phone in my breast pocket,’ he countered, patting said pocket. ‘The Stones of Fire, even by twenty-first-century standards, is state-of-the-art.’

She mulled that over for a paltry half-second before uttering a non-committal ‘Huh.’

Reaching across to the cabinet that separated the two double beds, Edie grabbed a pink and white bag of Oreo cookies. Using both hands, she ripped it open, slid free a tray of factory-packed, chemical-laced brown biscuits and offered him one.

‘No, thank you,’ he politely demurred

Her lips curled in a come-hither smile. ‘Ah, come on, Cædmon. Try it, you’ll like it.’

Realizing how easily Adam had been swayed, he took a creme-filled biscuit.

‘Quite tasty,’ he remarked a few seconds later.

With a twist of her wrists, Edie unscrewed the two halves of her biscuit. To his lurid fascination, she proceeded to lap at the white creme with her tongue. ‘OK, let’s suppose for argument’s sake that Moses was a member of the Egyptian priesthood. Why would he lead a bunch of Hebrew slaves out of Egypt?’

‘Your question presumes that the Jews, and only the Jews, left Egypt.’

‘Well, who else would have gone with them?’

‘All those in grave danger of losing their lives.’ He let that sink in a moment before saying, ‘Specifically, the entire court of Akhenaton.’

She lowered her cookie. ‘Come again?’

‘What you must understand is that when the pharaoh Akhenaton imposed a monotheistic faith upon the inhabitants of Egypt, it was nothing short of a religious revolution. Not unlike the furore that ensued when Martin Luther put nail to paper. Suddenly, overnight, the pantheon of familiar gods and goddesses — Isis, Set, Osiris — was null and void.’

‘I’m guessing that what some considered a new religion, others considered out ’n’ out heresy,’ Edie correctly surmised.

‘Indeed. When Akhenaton died, the practitioners of the old religion swooped down upon the royal court. And with a vengeance, I might add. Virtually all traces of Akhenaton and Aten were wiped from the annals of Egyptian history.’

‘What happened to those Egyptians who still believed in Aten?’

‘They fled Egypt in the dead of night. A vast migration of slaves and nobility.’

‘Well, that would explain the passage in the Book of Exodus where the Hebrew slaves supposedly took “jewels of silver and jewels of gold” with them when they fled Egypt. I mean how the heck did a bunch of slaves get that kind of treasure?’

He nodded, surprised that she was so well-versed in scripture. ‘In truth, it was not the Hebrew slaves who possessed such wealth, but rather the Egyptian nobility who accompanied them on their flight.’

‘Moses leading the way to the land of Canaan.’

‘So I believe.’

‘While it makes for the greatest story never told, I still need more proof before I chuck away years of Sunday-school indoctrination.’ She glanced at the electric alarm clock on the cabinet. ‘Time for the six o’clock newscast,’ she announced, lunging off the bed.

Aiming the remote at the TV, she hit the ‘Power’ button. A suited woman sporting a blond bob appeared on the screen.

‘In a scene reminiscent of the pandemonium that struck Washington in the wake of 9/11, museum goers at the National Gallery of Art came under terrorist fire earlier today, a gunman shooting into the underground concourse area.’

As the talking head read her script, a grainy video of the ‘pandemonium’ appeared on the screen, the footage clearly shot by an amateur hand. And a shaking hand at that, there being a decidedly frenetic quality to the images. To Cædmon’s relief, neither he nor Edie was visible in the video.

Slack-jawed, Edie turned to him. ‘They’ve got it all wrong. It wasn’t a terrorist attack.’ Reaching for the remote, she quickly changed channels.

‘The shooting spree in the museum’s concourse was part of a well-coordinated terrorist attack, a car bomb detonating yards away from the 4th Street entrance. No fatal casualties were reported, although several emergency workers suffered severe burns.’

‘Oh God,’ she murmured as she watched the accompanying video of the smouldering blast site. Then, her eyes filling with tears, she turned to him. ‘That’s the Jeep. The same Jeep I wanted us to —’

‘Don’t say it,’ he roughly ordered, equally shocked by the charred wreckage on the screen. ‘By a fortuitous stroke of luck, we escape the demon.’

‘That’s crap, and you know it! They’re not going to stop until they find us.’ She shoved a balled fist into her mouth, her eyes glued to the television screen.

In silence, they watched the remainder of the news, Edie muting the volume when the sports came on.

‘Don’t you think it’s odd there was no mention of Padgham’s murder? There are three dead bodies at the Hopkins Museum, yet there’s no mention of it on the nightly news.’

‘I presume the bodies haven’t been discovered.’

She shook her head. ‘On Mondays the cleaning crew arrives at four o’clock. Why didn’t they —’ She gasped. ‘Oh God! Maybe they killed the cleaning crew.’ Spinning on her heel, she made a grab for the telephone. ‘I’m going to make an anonymous call to the DC police and inform them that Dr Padgham and the two security guards were —’

Cædmon yanked the phone out of her hand.

‘What are you doing?’

‘In this day and age, it’s impossible to be truly anonymous,’ he matter-of-factly informed her. ‘We already know that the local police force has been infiltrated. If you contact the authorities, you may inadvertently lead our adversaries —’

‘Right to us.’ Grim-faced, Edie sank to the bed.

‘I have a far better suggestion.’

‘Unless it involves a magic wand, I don’t know how you’re going to make things better.’

Knowing its source, he ignored the sarcasm. ‘I propose we do a bit of cyber-sleuthing. High time we met the enemy.’ He removed his jacket from the back of the wingback chair.

‘But we don’t have a computer.’

‘True, but the bloke downstairs at the front desk seemed amiable enough.’