The Cup

CHAPTER 21

The flight to Greece was long and boring. From the air, Athens was almost invisible under a thick blanket of brown smog. On the ground, the polluted air stung their eyes. You could almost hear the smog eating away at the ancient stones of the acropolis.

Diplomatic passports took them and their weapons through customs without a luggage search. They spent the night at a hotel near the airport. In the morning they connected for a flight to Macedonia and Veroia.

Selena's fluent Greek smoothed the way everywhere they went. They rented a Toyota Land Cruiser at the airport in Veroia. When Selena explained that they had come to visit the holy icon of Soumela, she was met with smiles and advice. She spoke with the clerk for several minutes before taking the keys and a map.

Once they were outside, Nick asked, "What was all that?"

"She was very helpful. The monastery is on Mount Vermion. The nearest town is Kastania. The clerk has a cousin there who owns a hotel. She said it's the best hotel in town and we should stay there because the beds are clean and the food is good."

Lamont said, "That sounds like a great recommendation. You can put up with a lot if the food's good."

"I didn't know you liked Greek food," Ronnie said.

"Hell, yes, I do. Like that lamb on a spit, what do you call it?"

"Souvlaki," Ronnie said.

"And that bread they serve with it."

Selena smiled. "Pita bread. There's a lot more to Greek food than that."

"Good. I'll try it all."

They got in the car. It smelled vaguely of onions.

Kastania was less than fifty kilometers from Veroia. It was a straightforward drive along a good highway that passed through a broad valley outside of the city before it started the climb into the mountains. After about twenty minutes they turned off for the town.

The road was a typical, narrow mountain road with blind curves and sheer drops. A low guard rail formed the only barrier along the cliffs. In most places going through the rail meant certain death.

Selena was looking at a brochure about Kastania she'd taken from a rack at the car rental.

"It's a small town with only a few hundred people, set on the slope of Mount Vermion. The main attraction is that it's near the monastery."

"We'll be there soon," Nick said.

The hotel was easy enough to find. There weren't a lot to choose from. At the desk, Selena chatted away with the clerk, the nephew of the woman at the car rental in Veroia. He gave them keys to rooms on the second floor, old type skeleton keys marked by a large tag with the room number on them, the kind you left at the desk when you went out.

The rooms looked out through arched windows over the plain below. A wide river ran through it. There were snowcapped mountains in the distance.

"Nice view," Nick said. "I'll bet they fought some big battles on that plain in the old days. It's a natural. That river had to be an important artery."

Selena came over to stand beside him. She put her hand on his shoulder.

"It probably still is, and you're right about the history. Alexander's armies went through here, and his father's before him."

"This whole country is soaked in blood. Nothing ever changes, only the weapons and the names of the generals."

"That's really cynical, Nick."

"You know it's true. They always say that people who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it but nobody ever seems to learn a damn thing. You look at what's going on in the world and it's the same old, same old. The people in charge keep making the same mistakes for the same reasons, and people like us have to clean up after them."

"I've never heard you talk like this before."

"I'm going to be a year older next month and I've been doing this my whole adult life. There's always another asshole waiting right around the corner, out to screw everything up for everyone else. I'm not sure what I'm fighting for any more."

"We're on a quest for the Holy Grail! How many people can say that?"

"You're a romantic."

"Yes, and so are you."

"What do you mean?"

"You and Don Quixote, always going against insurmountable odds for the sake of truth and justice."

"Someone has to do something about the people who want to tear down everything that's good," Nick said.

"See? You're a romantic, just like Cervantes' hero."

"Don Quixote tilted against windmills. They didn't shoot back with AKs."

"No, but you don't carry a lance and ride a horse, either."

Lamont knocked on the open door.

"Hey, it's time to eat."