The Solomon Scroll

CHAPTER 33

On top of the hill it felt like being inside an oven. Rippling waves of heat rose from the rocks and sand. They'd searched for a sign of the tomb and found nothing. Now they were going around the columns once more. Nick had decided that the whole exercise was a waste of time and was ready to concede defeat. Their desert camouflage uniforms were soaked black with sweat. Selena moved with the others around the base of one of the pillars. Suddenly she froze.

"Snake."

Nick looked where she was pointing. The snake was curled up on a flat rock next to the column, within striking distance from where she stood. It was a yellow, sandy color, with a round snout and round cat eyes. Two horns stuck up from its head, giving it a demonic look. It raised its head and looked at her.

"Don't move," Nick said. "That's a horned viper."

He reached for his pistol. Ronnie laid a hand on his arm.

"I'll get it," he said. "Better not to make the noise."

He eased a throwing knife from a sheath strapped under his arm and launched it at the snake. The blade arced through the sunlight and buried itself behind the viper's head. The snake contorted, showing its fangs. Selena backed away.

"Wouldn't be good to get bitten by one of those," Nick said. "It creates serious pain and a lot of damage. We're a long way from medical help for a viper bite."

"Gee, thanks for reminding me."

The snake stopped moving. Ronnie retrieved his knife.

"That was slick," Diego said. "Too bad you had to kill it."

"Selena was too close. It would have struck if she'd moved. Otherwise we could have left it."

Selena stared at the column where the snake had been dozing.

"There's something here."

She pointed at a faint groove in the rock on the edge of a wide, vertical fissure climbing the side of the column. The fissure was hard to see, filled with a thick growth of juniper. There was no way to tell if it went deeper into the column or was simply a wide crack on the surface.

"That mark could be man-made," she said.

"Maybe," Nick said. "What would cause something like that?"

"A rope? I don't know. It just doesn't look natural to me."

"Me neither," Diego said.

They'd passed the spot before and decided it was solid. "We haven't seen anything else," Nick said. "Let's clear away the greenery."

They hacked away at the growth until they could get next to the fissure, then began prying out accumulated dirt and debris. A small opening appeared. A dry, dusty odor drifted out of the blackness.

"I'll be damned," Nick said. "I think we've found it."

The discovery energized them. Another half-hour and they'd cleared away a narrow passage into the column.

Nick turned on his flashlight and aimed it into the dark interior.

"What do you see?" Selena said.

"Someone widened this passage. I can see tool marks on the rock."

"Nothing else?"

"No. We'll have to go inside."

"There could be spiders. More snakes."

"I don't see any webs. Anyway, we don't have a choice. Just watch where you step."

Single file, they followed Nick into the interior. The passage was barely wide enough to let them pass. After a short distance it curved to the right and opened into a large, natural chamber in the center of the rock column. In the middle of the space was an upright stone. Except for the stone, the chamber was empty.

"I don't see any gold," Diego said.

"Or Solomon either," Ronnie said. "Just that stone."

Selena moved her light over the stone. A six pointed star was carved into the hard rock. In the center of the star was something that looked like a flower with eight petals. Within each point of the star was a dot.

"I think that's the seal of Solomon," Selena said

"Then we must be in the right place," Nick said.

"There's something written beneath it." Selena knelt down in front of the stone and aimed her light at it.

"Biblical Aramaic, like the scroll."

"What does it say?"

Selena pursed her lips and stared at the writing. After a few minutes she sighed.

"It's a riddle. Or a clue, take your pick."

"What do you mean?"

"I'll read it to you."

"The queen's land? What the hell does that mean?"

"I don't think he's talking about Australia," Ronnie said.

"What's all that about the soul sheltering?" Diego asked.

"Soul isn't exactly the right translation," Selena said. "The ancient Hebrews believed some kind of life went on after you died, in a sort of vague limbo. The life essence of a person. There had to be something left of the body or that was the end of you. Bodies were buried and the bones preserved. Nobody cremated their dead in ancient Israel. That would've been a terrible crime."

"Doesn't sound like much of an afterlife," Diego said. "I like the idea of harps and angels better."

Ronnie said, "How do you know it's not going to be pitchforks and demons?"

Diego shrugged. "Couldn't be much worse than Afghanistan."

Nick said, "Let's think about this. Why would Ephram set this up? Leaving clues about this place in the scroll, only to tell us there's nothing here when we find it?"

"There's something else here," Selena said.

She brushed a layer of dirt and dust from the stone.

"I think it's a map."

"I can't see that it does us any good."

"That's because we don't understand it yet. That's Solomon's seal above the writing. It's a riddle you have to figure out if you want to get closer to wisdom. When Ephram writes wisdom, I think he means Solomon. So what the message says is that Solomon is with his consort in the queen's land."

"Because people associate wisdom and Solomon together?"

"Yes."

"Who was Solomon's consort?"

"He's supposed to have had over a thousand wives."

"I wonder what he was taking?" Diego said. "We knew that, we'd all get rich."

Selena ignored him. "The story of Solomon is in the Bible, in Kings. According to that version, the wives were foreigners. God told Solomon not to marry them because they would corrupt him with false gods. Solomon didn't listen. He seems to have been very attached to them. He began worshiping other gods and setting up temples for his wives to their gods. As punishment, God told him his kingdom would be scattered after his death and separated into different tribes."

"So who was his consort? If he had a thousand wives, how do we know which one the stone is talking about?"

"We have to think about it. It could be…"

Nick interrupted her. He held up his hand. "Everybody get quiet. I heard something."

They listened. "Vehicles," Ronnie said. "More than one."

"Coming up the valley," Diego said. "Now they're stopping."

"They'll be down at the foot of the slope" Nick rubbed his chin. "A four wheel drive might make it up here."

"Who'd know we're here?" Selena asked.

"Could be an Arab military patrol. Or maybe it's Al-Bayati. Get some pictures while we take a look."

Selena took out her phone and began taking pictures of the stone.

"Come on," Nick said.

They emerged from the darkness of the chamber into late afternoon light. The sun had reached the horizon and the sky was spread wide with red and vermillion streaked with black, as though the world was burning.

Nick moved with the others through the bushes to the edge of the plateau. They looked down at the valley floor. Six vehicles idled at the base of the slope. Two were pickups with heavy machine guns mounted in the back.

"That's not an Arab patrol," Ronnie said.

"They're getting ready to drive up the hill."

They went back to where Selena waited for them by the column.

"We have company," Nick said.

"Arabs?"

"There are no army markings. The Saudis don't use trucks like that. It has to be Al-Bayati."

"What do you want to do?"

"Wait until after it's dark and leave. There's nothing more for us here."

The trucks began to labor up the hill in low gear.

"Too late," Diego said. "Here they come."