“Sorry. I can’t always turn it off. There’s something about an intelligent woman.”
Dima smiled, or perhaps it was a smirk, but that ended the exchange and everyone turned their attention to Maddock.
He hadn’t tried using the stone yet, but he’d watched Bones do it a few times, and his friend had described how it worked. He took a deep breath and pressed the stone into his hand. The moment his blood oozed onto the stone, his flesh began to tingle. The air around him seemed to crackle as if an aura of energy surrounded him. He sensed life all around him. Something moved in the forest close to the house and he called out to it with his mind. After a moment’s hesitation, he felt it approach. Something clattered outside the front door. Moments later, Archer let out a surprised curse followed by a chortle.
Maddock turned to see a doe peering in the window. Their eyes met, and then he felt the connection break. In that instant, the deer darted away.
“Well, I’ll be damned. Can I see that?” Archer held out his callused hand.
Maddock passed the stone to the old man, who turned it over and over, examining every detail. “I always believed the stories were true, but to actually see it for myself, that’s truly something.” He smiled and handed the stone back to Maddock. “Needless to say, I believe you boys.”
“It’s amazing,” Dima said, “but my interest is in the Noah’s Ark story. Other than the nickname ‘Noah Stone’ there’s not really any connection to the Biblical Noah.”
“I think there might be.” Archer stood, retrieved his rifle and headed for the door. “You three come with me. There’s something I have to show you.”
They piled into Archer’s battered pickup. Dima rode in the cab while Maddock and Bones sat in the back. Now satisfied that they meant him no harm, the old man had told Dima to return their weapons, and now the two of them were on high alert, wondering if the Trident would make another appearance.
After a short drive down a rutted dirt road, they pulled over to the side in the middle of the forest. Archer led the way, changing directions seemingly at random. Ordinarily Maddock would have enjoyed the lush greenery, cool air, earthy aroma, and the soft ground beneath his feet, but after the incident at Dark Entry, he found no comfort in the woods. The way grew more difficult as they picked their way through rocky terrain choked with brush and brambles. Finally, Archer called a halt.
“There’s a sinkhole up here. Be careful on the way down.”
The hole was large enough to swallow a small house, and filled with more of the tangled undergrowth they’d fought their way through. A stand of trees grew out of the center, a testament to the years that had passed since the ground in this spot had collapsed. Inside, only thin slivers of sunlight filtered in, and Maddock felt they were walking at twilight. When they came to a halt at the far end of the hole, Dima put her hands on her hips and frowned. “You brought us to see a hole?”
Archer smiled, pushed aside a tangle of vines, then slipped his hand into a crack in the rock face, and pulled. He skipped to the side with surprising agility for a man of his apparent age as a tall, flat chunk of stone teetered and fell with a muffled thump. Where it had leaned against the rocky face, a two-foot wide crack split the rock.
“In here,” he said. “It isn’t far.” He turned, scooted sideways into the passageway, and disappeared from sight.
Bones tilted his head and pursed his lips. “I suppose I’ll go next. If I can make it through, you two definitely will.
“And if you get stuck, I’ll be here to pull you out,” Maddock added.
“Thanks for that.” Bones exhaled loudly and slid into the passage. He needn’t have worried — there was plenty of clearance and he too quickly disappeared into the darkness. Dima followed behind him with Maddock bringing up the rear.
There was a dank, musty air about the place. This close to the coastline, Maddock was surprised to find an underground space completely free of groundwater. The Chicora had chosen a good place to hide whatever it was they kept down here.
About ten meters back, they found themselves in a tiny cave. The old flashlight Archer carried cast a faint yellow light. Probably needed fresh batteries. When Maddock and Bones added the beams of their mini Maglites, the cave lit up. They found themselves facing a stout metal door set in the rock. Archer produced a key and unlocked the padlock that held it closed.
“We don’t let many people in here,” he said, pushing the door open. “Don’t touch anything.”
Beyond the door lay another, even smaller cave. Rusted metal shelves stood to their left and right, all piled with Native American artifacts, but it was what lay before them that caught his eye.
A rectangular stone box set against the far wall. Maddock knew immediately what it was.
“The man who brought us the stone was real. We know it to be true because this is his final resting place.” Archer moved to the crypt, grabbed hold of the lid, and slid it to the side. A low grinding sound and a fine cloud of dust rose around them.
Bones leaned down and shone his light into the stone coffin and cursed.
“What’s the matter?” Maddock asked. “This is hardly your first dead body.”
“You need to see what he’s buried with.” Bones glanced at Archer. “I know were not supposed to touch anything but would it be all right if we remove the lid?”
Archer stared at him, chewing his cheek, before finally nodding.
“We’ll be careful,” Maddock reassured. “We’ve done this before.” Carefully, he and Bones lifted the stone lid and set it gently on the ground. Maddock shone his light inside the coffin and immediately understood Bones’ reaction.
The skeleton that grinned up at them was clad in what had once been a white cloak. In his hand he clutched a dagger with a familiar symbol on the pommel — a red cross.
“He was a Templar,” Dima whispered.
Maddock and Bones nodded.
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said.
“We have, but it’s been a while.” Maddock ran the beam of his light all around the coffin and immediately spotted a wooden cylinder. “What’s inside there?”
“He recorded his story before he died, at least as much of a as he could remember.” Archer held up a hand. “No, you can’t open it, and there’s no need. I know the story verbatim. It’s been handed down from generation to generation. I’ll write it down for you. But the short story is, he and his companions came over the ocean in a ship carrying items they wanted to keep away from the Saracens. The items he treasured the most were a pair of sacred stones.”
“A pair?” Dima asked. “Not three?”
Archer shook his head. “Only two, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t part of a trio. Anyway, their ship went down in a storm just off the shore of Bowhead Island. The only thing he saved was the single stone — the one you have now.”
“If you have an idea where the ship went down, why hasn’t anyone tried to recover it?” Bones asked.
“People try from time to time, but they’ve never succeeded.”
They stood there in silence, gazing at the knight’s remains.
“You’re right,” Dima finally said. “If a Templar brought the stone here, that makes it much easier to believe that the stone came from the Holy Land.”
“Do you think this,” Bones patted his chest pocket where he held the stone, “might be what Noah used to bring the animals onto the ark?”
“I’m starting to think so,” Dima said. “The fragment of the Book of Noah mentions stones, a Templar brings your stone to the New World, and it holds a power that could fit in with the Noah story.”
“It’s just so hard to believe,” Archer said.