He was not wrong. Two more stones with the Herculean mark were discovered, spaced out about half a mile apart in different directions. “I believe I understand the significance of the markers,” Tyndareus announced after surveying the third. “We have found three, each approximately corresponding to a cardinal direction. I believe there is a fourth to be found as well, but we do not need it now. Our destination lies where the lines connecting north and south, and east and west, converge.”
Fiona barely heard him. She was beyond thirst now. The constant heat was not only draining the moisture from her body but breaking down the insulin in her pump. She recognized the early symptoms of dehydration associated with diabetic ketoacidosis. The reek of sulfur had left her nose-blind, but her breath probably reeked of acetone. She needed to get somewhere cool, drink a couple of gallons of water, and change out the insulin in the reservoir, but that was not going to happen unless Tyndareus either found what he was looking for or admitted defeat, and since both seemed pretty unlikely, Fiona resigned herself to the alternative. She would eventually collapse. She might even die.
If that happened…when that happened…the secret would be safe forever. Tyndareus would never be able to open the gates of the Underworld.
The thought brought her a little comfort, until Tyndareus led them down into a dry ravine, which butted up against a rough extrusion of igneous rock. Faintly visible on its weathered surface was another Herculean sigil. Beside the symbol, a large section of the rock face was rougher in texture than the rest. It matched the color of the stone where Alexander’s chisel had left its mark. As she stared at it, Fiona began to see shadowy lines in the stone, like an echo of what had once been written there.
An inscription written in the Mother Tongue.
The letters became more visible, as if her awareness of them was coaxing the ancient writing out of hiding.
“It was here,” Tyndareus said, his voice a mixture of triumph and anger. He whirled around and bent toward Fiona until his visor was almost touching her face. “There was something written here. The Herculean Society removed it. What did it say?”
The letters vanished as though she had imagined them, but her memory of them was perfect. She had seen the same message before, on the walls of the Labyrinth and on the map that had belonged to Queen Hippolyte.
She felt a flicker of defiance as she stared, not at the face of the monstrous Tyndareus but at her own frail and beaten reflection. It’s almost over now.
A line from an old Star Trek movie popped into her. The usually cool, reserved Captain Picard, in a rare display of anger, defiant in the face of a Borg invasion. It was probably a quote from Shakespeare or Moby Dick, or maybe the Bible. Uncle George would know.
She straightened. “You’re right. It said, ‘This far. No further.’”
A strange noise issued from the helmeted head, then repeated with greater frequency, until Fiona recognized it as laughter. Tyndareus pulled back, rising to his full height. He began slamming his armored fist into the Herculean symbol. The pistonlike assault pulverized the distinctive sigil, but the rock itself was unyielding.
This far. No further.
That should have been the end of it, but Tyndareus abruptly broke off his temper tantrum and whirled toward the open end of the ravine, where a group of his men were advancing, escorting someone. Two someones: Gallo and Kenner.
Fiona began crying, but whether they were tears of joy or despair, she did not know.
49
Kenner was unusually quiet as they trekked across the basin. Gallo was grateful for the silence at first, but after a while it began to unnerve her. She had expected him to continue professing his sincerity, offering flimsy rationalizations for his earlier misdeeds, but he hardly spoke at all.
George was right. I shouldn’t have trusted him. She glanced over her shoulder at the harsh landscape through which they had been walking. Pierce and the others were back there somewhere, following, but there was no sign of them.
I should turn back. Right now. This was a bad idea.
Perhaps sensing her anxiety, Kenner chose that moment to break his silence. “It’s going to be all right, Augustina. We’ll get Fiona away from him.”
She scrutinized his optimistic smile. “How did you get mixed up with him in the first place, Liam?”
Kenner ducked his head in embarrassment. “What answer won’t make me sound like a complete arse? I did it for the money? Fame? The chance to discover something amazing? A little bit of all of those, I suppose.
“It didn’t seem like I was doing anything wrong at first. Just passing along information about new discoveries. And of course, keeping tabs on George. Mr. Tyndareus was always very interested in him and the Herculean Society. I never thought I would be asked to put other people in danger.” He gave her a sidelong glance. “People I care about.”
He went on before she could respond. “Now, I just want to make things right. You understand, don’t you?”
“Honestly, it won’t be easy. Not after everything you’ve done.”