Kismet shook his head. “I don’t know. In the movie, I think he used a stick.”
“The wizard’s staff? The magic wand?” Chiron chuckled, but his eyes were serious. “That’s exactly how he did it. The Staff of Moses was no mere shepherd’s rod. The Midrash Rabbah, an oral argument expounding on the Torah, has a great deal to say about the Staff of Moses. It is said to be made of pure sapphire, weighing hundreds of kilograms — too heavy in fact for a man to lift without God’s power. According to Rabbinic tradition, the Staff was given to Adam by God following his expulsion from Paradise, and was passed down through a succession of holy men until it came into the possession of Jethro, one of Pharaoh’s advisors, who lived in the land of Midian. Jethro incidentally became Moses’ father-in-law. However, I suspect this story was merely a clever invention by Moses himself to conceal the Egyptian origins of the Staff. It is my belief that the Staff was fashioned by Egyptian priests as a key to unlock the energies channeled by the pyramids, and that Moses wrested control of this talisman from them, ultimately turning their greatest weapon against them.”
Kismet finally understood. “So that’s what we’re looking for? Moses’ magic stick?”
Chiron raised a hand. “Is it so hard to believe? At some point the Bible stories do begin to agree with recorded history. The people who named themselves Israelites — descendants of Jacob — did conquer Palestine and establish a kingdom that endured until Roman times. More than that, they established a belief system unique in their time — a religion where there existed only one true God. Some factual incident inspired these accounts. I think that classifies it as more than just a bedtime story.”
Kismet rubbed the sweat from his eyes, trying to hide his exasperation. Philosophical discussions notwithstanding, he could not escape the fact that Chiron had somehow shanghaied him into a war zone for the sake of a treasure hunt. “What makes you so certain that it ended up here?”
“Ah, there’s another story. The Bible does not speak of the disposition of the Staff. In fact, every effort is made in the writings attributed to Moses to minimize its significance. I suspect that he did not want his own acolytes figuring out how to steal the power and seize control, so he couched much of the knowledge inside the rites of the Levitic priesthood. The design of the priestly vestments and the architecture of the holy tent of meeting are consistent with theoretical mechanisms for modulating the earth’s magnetic energy. The fabled Ark of the Covenant is perhaps the best example of such a device.”
Kismet made a sour face at the reference, but he did not comment.
“In any event, the Staff’s fate is unknown. Some traditions hold that Moses placed it inside the Ark. Others believe that it returned to God. One thing is certain, with the passing of Moses, the frequency and magnitude of miracles began to diminish. The Bible tells how Joshua stopped the sun in its tracks and threw down the walls of Jericho, but remember that he was in the company of priests hand-selected by Moses. It is also quite likely that some of these events — stopping the sun, for instance — were embellished to establish Joshua’s legitimacy.
“I tend to believe that the Staff remained in the care of those priests, even though they gradually lost touch with the knowledge of how to use it. As the traditions of their new religion deepened and victory in their wars brought an end to the need for uncanny power, the priests forgot how to utilize the awesome resource that lay at their fingertips. In fact, according to the Bible, the Ark was put into storage until the time of King David.
“I believe that David may have commenced the search to relearn the mysteries that Moses brought out of Egypt, handing them down to his son Solomon, who in turn used this newfound wisdom to acquire extraordinary wealth for his nation and to build a permanent structure which, like the pyramids, would channel the earth’s energies. Evidently his quest for knowledge offended some of the true believers. The Book of Kings records that Solomon left the God of his forefathers. Doubtless he realized the truth that Moses had so cleverly concealed. God was not a wizened old man in a heavenly abode, but an awesome omnipresent force that could be tapped as one might harness the wind in a sail.”
Curious in spite of his skepticism, Kismet volunteered a question. “Are you saying that he found the Staff?”
“Quite likely. Or else he learned how to make one for himself. The alchemists believe that he found or made a ‘Key,’ also sometimes referred to as the Philosopher’s Stone, with which, among other things, he could transmute base metals into gold. Since Moses’ Staff was a whole crystal of sapphire, no doubt a singular occurrence in nature, I’m inclined to believe that he located that original Staff or was given it by his father. But once again, the knowledge fell into disuse as the next generation, spoiled and self-satisfied, saw no reason to continue the pursuit of wisdom. There are a few noteworthy incidents recorded in the Bible that, if true, would suggest that the power was still there to be used: the miracles of Elijah and Elisha; the defeat of an Assyrian army numbering nearly 200,000. For the most part however, the power and certainly the Staff — or Solomon Key — was once more hidden away. When Nebuchadnezzar successfully overthrew Jerusalem, casting down her walls and carrying everything away as spoil, he no doubt took the Staff and likely the Ark of the Covenant along with all of the other temple treasures.
“I suspect that Nebuchadnezzar might also have been adept in the power of geomancy, but evidently he did not recognize the significance of these items, or perhaps feared to use them, and hid them away in a vault deep beneath the ziggurat temple of the chief Babylonian deity.
“That is where you come into the story, Nick. Whatever it was that Samir Al-Azir showed you twelve years ago, it convinced you that at least the last part of my story is true. And the artifacts that have begun appearing on the world market are identical to the utensils used in Solomon’s temple, as described in the Book of Kings. We both know that someone found that vault. Yet the most treasured artifacts have not reappeared on the world scene.”
“Has it occurred to you maybe there’s another very good reason for that? If even half of what you’re suggesting is true, then this is exactly the kind of thing the Prometheus cult would be interested in.” Kismet drew in a sharp breath, still wondering if it was time to tell the old man the whole story. He chose his words carefully. “I can tell you this much — at least one of the artifacts you mentioned was taken by Hauser that night.”
Chiron’s lips moved as if trying to form a word, but no sound was uttered.
“Pierre, I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but there’s almost no way that your Staff — or Solomon Key or whatever you want to call it — is still here. If someone had tried to fence it, the Prometheus gang would have pounced on them in about two seconds.”
After the impassioned argument, Chiron seemed to deflate a little, but he stood his ground. “But if we could find the vault, at least that would give us a starting point, and perhaps we would find some clue to guide us on our way.”
“It’s a long shot. Honestly, Pierre, what difference would it make? It’s not going to prove your theory, and even if it did, how is that going to… how will it ease your sorrow at losing Collette? I don’t think the answer’s here, at least not the one you’re really looking for.”
“So that’s it? You’re giving up after only a few hours of searching?”