“Well that explains it,” Fiona exclaimed. “The Nazis didn’t have the Tabernacle. That’s why their faces melted.”
Pierce tapped a finger to the tip of his nose and pointed at Fiona. “Now you’re getting it.”
Gallo groaned. “Don’t encourage him, dear.”
Pierce turned back to Chillingsworth. “I’d like to see those writings, if you have them. I think Newton might have understood how we’re supposed to use the Ark to shut down the Black Knight.”
“Of course. All our resources are at your disposal.” Chillingsworth stopped at the curtain, and, with a theatrical flourish, drew it back to reveal the interior of the sacred tent.
The lights in the hall could not penetrate the thick fabric, but in the beam of Pierce’s light, Fiona could make out a rectangular space, twice as deep as it was wide. There was an ornate table to one side, a large six-armed menorah, and directly ahead, up against another heavy curtain, was a small altar. All the objects reflected the flashlight with a deep yellow glow like nothing Fiona had ever seen before. She knew, intuitively, that the metal had to be gold.
“This part of the Tabernacle was called ‘the Holy Place,’” Pierce said. “It’s where the priests would offer the sacrifices and burn incense every day. The Ark would be in the next chamber, the Most Holy Place, or the Holy of Holies, behind the Altar of Incense. Only the High Priest — the Kohen Gadol—could enter into the presence of the Ark. He had to wear a special garment called an ephod, woven with gold threads. Some modern scholars have speculated that the vestments acted like a Faraday suit, insulating the priest from the energy of the Ark.
“There was also a special breastplate called the hoshen, studded with gems and crystals, which might have acted as a sort of interface or control device, and the mitznefeta, a turban with a gold crown inscribed with the true name of God. But I think the Urim and Thummim are the most important components of the ensemble.”
“What are those?” Fiona asked.
“No one’s really sure. They’re only mentioned a few times in scripture and never described, but according to the Bible, they’re one of the three ways that God revealed his will to humans — the other two being dreams and prophets. The linguistic roots suggested literal translations of ‘Lights and Perfections,’ or ‘Revelation and Truth,’ or simply ‘Innocent and Guilty.’
“It’s believed that they were a sort of oracular device, a Divine form of casting lots to determine the guilt or innocence of an accused person. Two stones: one white, one black. Put them both in a bag, ask God a question. ‘Is so-and-so a secret sinner?’ Take out a white stone and they’re innocent. A black stone, and—”
“They get stoned,” Fiona finished.
“But even that is just supposition. Members of the Latter Day Saints church believed that the Urim and Thummim were sacred crystals, which their founder, Joseph Smith, bound together like eyeglasses, enabling him to read and interpret the Golden Plates that contained the Book of Mormon.”
“An instant translator,” Fiona remarked. “Just like Cintia’s babelfish.”
“Only better, because these could read the secret language of God.”
Fiona’s eyes widened a little at that possibility.
“I’m eager to see them. All that was known about them was that they were to be placed in the small pockets sewn into the hoshen.” Pierce turned to Chillingsworth. “Do you have the High Priest’s garments? We might not need them if my suspicions about Fiona being a Baal’Shem are correct, but why take chances.”
A frown creased Chillingsworth’s forehead. “No priestly vestments were found when the crypt was opened.” His expression indicated that there was more he wished to share, but instead of putting it into words, he stepped through the opening and walked the full length of the Holy Place.
Pierce opened his mouth, perhaps to warn the man of the dangers of approaching the Ark unprotected, but before he could utter a single word, their host pulled back the curtain that separated Holy from Most Holy, revealing the cube-shaped enclosure.
And nothing else.
“Where’s the Ark?” Pierce said. Fiona could hear the fear in his voice.
“I’m afraid there’s been a misunderstanding, Dr. Pierce. The Ark of the Covenant is not, nor has it ever been, in our care. If the Knights of the Temple found it, they did not bring it here.”
FIFTY-ONE
Lazarus and Carter left Axum in the back of an old five-ton truck, accompanied by Abuna Mateos and half-a-dozen men armed with AK-47s and machetes, but they were not prisoners or hostages on their way to an execution.
“They are here to protect us,” Mateos told them as they climbed aboard. “The roads are not safe after dark. And we cannot afford to wait for sunrise.”
Lazarus did not need to ask how the clergyman knew this. The bishop had explained everything early in the night, outside the Chapel of the Tablets.
“The Lord came to me in a vision,” he had said. “He told me that you would come for the Ark, and that I was to help you return it to Mount Zion.”
“That’s not the real Ark,” Lazarus had countered. “But you already knew that.”
“The vessel you saw is a holy, consecrated tabot. So, as far as the Church is concerned, it is an Ark of the Covenant. But you are correct. It is not the Ark the Israelites bore through the wilderness, and which Solomon safeguarded in his Temple.”
“Well, that’s the Ark I need, so if you’ll just step aside, I’ll be on my way.”
“I will take you to it,” Mateos had said in a solemn voice.
The true Ark, he had revealed, had indeed been kept in the Chapel of the Tablets until 1991, when political unrest, civil war, and ultimately revolution, threatened the long-standing arrangement between Church and State. Fearing that a new government might attempt to seize the Ark, removing the symbol by which the centuries-old Imperial dynasty had ruled by divine right, the keepers of the Ark had fashioned and consecrated a replica. They had then removed the real Ark to one of its earlier resting places, the monastery of Mitsele Fasiladas on the isle of Tana Qirqos, just off the eastern shore of Lake Tana, about 250 miles to the southwest of Axum.
Lazarus took the bishop at his word. The man had no reason to deceive him with an offer of assistance. Lazarus had been caught red-handed, after all. The clergyman’s sincerity however did not automatically mean that his Church was in possession of the true Ark.
Carter shared his apprehension, but they both knew that the only way to resolve the mystery was with a visit to the remote island monastery.
They rode through the night, reaching the lakeside city of Bahir Dar just after sunrise. Mateos sent their armed escort back to Axum, and then hired a boat to take them twenty miles north to Tana Qirqos.
Lake Tana was most famous for being the source of the Blue Nile, which joined with the White Nile in Khartoum to become the world’s longest river. But for Ethiopians it held great spiritual and historical significance. Many of the islands dotting the shallow but expansive lake were home to monasteries, and each monastery was linked to an ancient tradition or miracle. Tana Qirqos, their destination, not only figured into the story of the Ark of the Covenant, but also the history of Christianity.