“Why?”
“Because I do believe that one of the theories of the Four Horsemen started in Armenia around that time. One reading ties the Four Horsemen to the history of the Roman Empire subsequent to the era in which the Book of Revelation was written. That is, they are a symbolic prophecy of the subsequent history of the empire, and a lead up to the fall of Rome.”
“Interesting. I wonder if those Four Horsemen here were based on the Biblical reference.”
“They must be. What else could they be based upon?” Wallis asked.
“Well. If this cave is as old as it looks, there’s always the possibility it’s the other way round.”
Wallis stopped walking. “You think Revelation was based on a much older story — some sort of warning about the coming future?”
Sam nodded and stopped directly in front of a cave painting. It depicted four people staring up at the image of Jesus Christ above. Their bodies were covered in robes, but their faces were easy to see and well defined. He studied their faces. There were two men and two women. He didn’t recognize the first three, but the sight of the fourth one took the breath right out of him.
Her face was quite beautiful. She had a high jaw line and strong features. They were almost over the top, as though the original artist wanted to glorify her, as he or she would their God. Only she wasn’t portrayed as a God. If anything, she looked… Sam thought about it for a moment… like a royal messenger. He was quite certain he’d never seen this woman before, and yet, at the same time, a hundred percent confident that he had seen someone very much like her.
The more he thought about it the more certain he became. He’d never met the woman in the painting, but certainly a close descendant. He’d never been more certain of anything in his life, and at the same time knew that it was entirely impossible. He took a couple steps back and took a couple photos of the painting with his phone.
His eyes drifted down toward the bottom of the painting. A dark wisp of smoke meandered through the legs of the four at the foot of the cross, and into their mouths. Or was it coming out of their mouths and then sliding through their legs? The smoke, like a blurry haze, had no definite form or shape. Yet there was definitely something serpentine about the way it wrapped itself around the four people. Without a doubt, he was certain the smoke creature was the same one he’d seen in the Dragon’s Breath Cave in Namibia.
“If your theory’s correct, do you think we’re looking at the original Four Horsemen?” Wallis stared up at the painting and corrected himself. “Or two horsemen and two horsewomen?”
“I have no idea what to think, yet. But you might be right. This could be the first visual depiction of the Four Horsemen.”
Sam stepped forward and carefully scratched a few small pieces of the dark creature, painted with charcoal, into a few collection canisters. “Wallis, have you ever seen this smoke creature before?”
“No. But it’s full of imagery and hidden meaning, isn’t it?” Wallis stared at the painting. “The serpentine smoke isn’t an uncommon metaphor for evil. Perhaps the artist was trying to represent the evil tidings of the four horse… people?”
“Maybe.” Sam stepped back and took one last look at the woman at the end of the picture. “Anything else you think I ought to see, Mioli?”
“No. I think you’ve seen the lot of it.”
“Good. I’ll take one more sample from the painting of Jesus Christ on the ceiling, and then I want to get back to a lab to see some sort of scientific facts.”
Thirty minutes later they had climbed the wire ladder and reached the surface of the crevasse. Mioli covered the surface with a small wooden board carried specifically for this purpose, and then quickly filled the rest of the opening with snow until it was once again completely buried from view.
Sam took off his gloves and withdrew his cell phone. It was an Iridium Satellite Phone. He scrolled down until he found the name he was after and pressed the call button.
“Tom, how did it go with Peter Smyth?”
“Good. He knows where the Mary Rose sank. She’s on the bottom of nearly three thousand feet of water in the Black Sea. What’s more, he knows she was carrying a map to the pyramid in the Kalahari Desert — what we believe might be the Third Temple. I took the Sea Witch II down to have a look this morning. Found the wreck all right, but I’ll need to send an ROV in to find the stone inside her hull. I have a dive planned for tomorrow. How did you do with the lost tomb of Jesus Christ? Do you think it’s legit?”
“We never called it that, but yes we found some things. Can you hang on for a moment?” Sam didn’t wait for a reply. Instead he started to text the image he’d taken of the Four Horsemen. “Listen, I’m going to send you a picture. I want to know what you’re first thought is when you see it.”
“Okay,” Tom said. A few moments later he said, “Got it.”
“What do you think?” Sam found himself holding his breath as he waited for Tom’s answer.
“I think you took a photo of Elise’s sister or even her mom. Why? Where did you get this?”
“What would you say if I told you I took it inside the ancient temple?”
“No way!” Tom said. “What the hell does that mean? Elise’s great ancestors built the temple, or do you think we’re being led into one gigantic hoax?”
“I don’t think it is a hoax. Then again, if it is, it sure is a good one.” Sam shook his head.
“Are you going to show Elise? She’s going to want to know.”
“Of course I will. She has a right to know, but not yet. Not until I know a bit more about the scientific facts. I’ve taken a number of samples and I’ll run the radiocarbon dating myself on board the Maria Helena, but right now, I think this is heavily connected to whoever has Billie and the Third Temple.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“Forget the woman in the picture for a moment. There’s something about the image that I think you should see. Look at the bottom, what do you see?”
Tom swore loudly. “It’s the same creepy smoke thing we found in the Dragon’s Breath Cave!”
“Exactly, and it’s looking up and staring at the image of Jesus Christ.”
“No. I think you’ve got it all wrong,” Tom said. “I don’t think that’s what the image is meant to represent at all.”
“You don’t?”
“No,” Tom said. “I think Jesus Christ is staring down at the Black Smoke in fear.”
Sam studied the photo again. Tom was right, the image of Jesus Christ was pleading with the Black Smoke below. “I think you’re right. Jesus appears worried about the Black Smoke, but what the hell was it?”
Chapter Thirty-Six — Maici River, Amazon Jungle, Brazil
The Maici River is a tributary of the Dos Marmelos River in the Humaita National Forest, in northwest Brazil, one of the most isolated and remote jungles on the planet. To this day, few Europeans have ever penetrated far enough into the Amazon Jungle to reach it. Those who have, struggled to survive. But for the Pirahã tribe, who have lived in total isolation from those outside the Amazon, it was home.
Dr. Billie Swan sat on the edge of a large boulder as she stared at a few of the strange tribal people whose land she’d shared for the past two years in complete wonderment. They were catching fish from the edge of the Maici River. The children and the adults all smiled constantly while they worked. Their eyes were wide, as though they were taking in the day in a way that made her question whose civilization was the most advanced — those from western society, or these primitive people? As an archeologist she’d traveled to many remote and distant regions of the planet. For a time, she thought she’d seen it all, but then she met the people of the Pirahã tribe.