Ancient Echoes

CHAPTER 56



CHARLOTTE LISTENED WITH amazement as Melisse relayed her strange experience with Thaddeus Kohler and the glowing red stone he wore.

Charlotte put the description of the stone together with the manuscript Will Durham had given her. Then she went to Kohler.

“We need the philosopher’s stone,” Charlotte said. At his startled look, she continued. “I’m sure you have found the six stones that were left here by the men of the Secret Expedition. I need them. Now.”

“How do you know about such things?” he asked.

“I read about it before coming here, and put it together with an interesting tale from Melisse.”

Kohler’s jaw stiffened while Will Durham gave her a slight nod to show gratitude she hadn’t spoken of his role in this.

“What makes you think a philosopher’s stone would do you any good, if such a thing existed?” Kohler asked. “Or that you would know how to use one?”

“Everything in alchemy starts with the stone. The Book states that. Lionel and I can spend years trying to make one, just as Nicolas Flamel and his wife did, or we can start with one that already exists. I suggest the latter.”

Kohler nodded. “What would you do with them?”

“Take them to the pillars. We would put them together, touching each other, The Book indicates that if we heat the philosopher’s stone, a special gas will be released. Lionel and I have collected some cinnabar, which can be found throughout this area. We will mix it with the stone, and see what happens.”

“You have cinnabar?” he asked, both skeptical and surprised.

“Yes.” She knew Jake and others could find her some red rocks. “Give us the stones, and we’ll do the rest.” She held out her hand.

His gaze hardened. By now, the other villagers were listening, and all appeared equally reluctant to part with their precious stones. “We’ll go with you,” Kohler said. “So we can see this for ourselves.”

o0o

“Only five men have gone with Charlotte and Lionel to the pillars,” Michael said. “I didn’t see Arnie Tieg with them.”

“He’s probably in the guard tower,” Jake said. “And most likely will be watching us.”

“We have to do something about that,” Michael said.

It took some convincing, but they got Brandi to go alone to the guard tower. She stood at the bottom and called up to Arnie. “Hello?”

“What do you want, girl?”

“Nothing.”

“Then don’t bother me! You’ve got work to do. Two plump rabbits to prepare for our dinner, and meat to dry for the winter. Get busy! They’ll be hungry when they get home.”

“But…I can’t. I mean, I can, but…it’s too much for me to do alone! I don’t want to skin them, or touch all that inside stuff,” she wailed. “It’s too disgusting!”

“What do you mean alone? Everyone is in the community house.”

“Not anymore. They went into the tunnel, and told me I’m too much trouble to go with them!” She began to sob loudly. “They said I should stay and cook. But I can’t!”

“The tunnel!” He ran down the stairs. “Those bloody—”

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, and turned to run toward the tunnels, Michael stepped out from the side of the community house. Tieg noticed the movement, and spun toward him just as Michael swung a thick piece of firewood against the side of his head.

He dropped like a stone. Jake helped Michael bind and gag him.

“I did good, didn’t I?” Brandi all but danced with excitement. “I always wanted to be an actress.”

“You did just great,” Michael said, causing her to beam with pride.

“Take the kids,” Jake said to Quade and Melisse who had been watching from the community house. “We’ve got to find those weapons, but if we can’t, at least you’ll have a good head start.”

“We’ll go, as we agreed,” Quade said.

“If you find a Beretta,” Melisse said. “It’s mine. Those bastards took it from me.”

o0o

Charlotte and Lionel needed to string out their deception as long as possible to give Michael, Jake, and Quade time to find the weapons and escape with the students. Both of them took frequent rest stops and complained about fatigue and aching backs and hips as they walked the four miles to the pillars.

Charlotte and Lionel climbed the mound with the villagers and sat in a circle. The prior night’s heavy rainfall left the ground damp, but the morning was warm and sunny. They then announced that they needed a small campfire, and descended the mound.

Finding dry twigs took time, but eventually, they gathered enough to build a fire.

Once the fire blazed, the five men placed their philosopher’s stones in a clay pot, and placed it on the fire. Kohler added in Arnie Tieg’s to complete the six pieces that made up Abbé Gerard’s original stone. Each of the six pieces had been set in gold, and made into a pendant. “The gold will melt if the fire grows hot enough,” Kohler said.

“That may be a good thing,” Charlotte said. “That way, the stones will touch each other more directly.”

“Where is the cinnabar?” Kohler asked.

“I’ve got it. I’ll use it when the time comes. Now, we must read.” She opened The Book of Abraham the Jew and began reading the ancient Greek aloud. She was unsure of the meaning or pronunciation, but no one could call her on it if she was wrong.

“I want to see the cinnabar now,” Kohler insisted, “before this goes any further.”

Charlotte didn’t want to do it, but she removed the four small rocks Jake had found in the stream.

“That’s not cinnabar. They’re red pebbles,” Kohler said.

“Have you seen cinnabar before it’s removed from its natural setting? I have, and this is it,” Charlotte said as forcefully as possible. Most people had no idea what the mercury sulfide ore looked like, or even that it most often resembled a brick red quartz.

Kohler looked suspicious, then nodded. She felt a flood of relief. He didn’t know. She continued to read from the book.

When she hoped enough time had passed, she stood and threw the fake cinnabar into the fire while she continued to read aloud. She expected nothing to happen. She planned to put on a sad face and tell Kohler and the other villagers that her plan failed.

But a few seconds later, the philosopher’s stones began to glow. The village men gasped in awe.

“It’s working!” Lionel shouted. “We did it! The gateway is going to open!”

The villagers let up a cheer. Just then, Arnie Tieg came running toward the mound, waving his arms. He carried two full quivers of arrows, as if he expected a battle. “Don’t trust them! It’s a trap! The others escaped!”

A shot rang out. Ben Olgerbee fell. More shots followed. A bullet hit Gus Webber next. The others scrambled and rolled down the mound to find cover. Charlotte peeled off her jacket and used it to pick up the crucible with the philosopher’s stones, and then followed Lionel who had paused to pick up the book. The villagers were well ahead of them both.

o0o

“Damn!” Michael said at the sound of gunfire as he and the others hurried through the pine forest toward the pillars. “High-powered rifle fire. It’s got to be those mercenaries.”

“The sound seems to be coming from the direction of the pillars,” Jake said.

“Yes, but who are they shooting at? And why now?”

They were already moving fast, but hearing gunfire, they began to run. They had spent two hours searching all the huts and the tunnel for the weapons taken from them and Melisse. They almost gave up but decided to do a more thorough search of the storage shed. They found the weapons in a barrel filled with wild onions.

Before they left, they saw that somehow Arnie Tieg had freed himself of the ropes they used to tie him. They had no idea how he had managed it, but he was gone. No one doubted he would head straight for the mound, which meant Charlotte and Lionel were in trouble.

Almost as quickly as it began, the shooting stopped and the land became eerily quiet.

o0o

Charlotte and Lionel no sooner reached the foot of the mound when Derek Hammill stepped between them and their escape route. He flashed them a smile more threatening than friendly. “I knew you could get us out of here. And you’ve got the book. A two-fer! Our lucky day!”

Charlotte immediately recognized Hammill from Jerusalem and Paris. Her gaze riveted on his; her stomach knotted. “Who are you?”

“Who we are isn’t important,” Hammill said.

Lionel glanced at her, worried and confused. “What’s going on?”

“The only thing for you to worry about is how to get us out of here. Go back up to those pillars.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you,” Charlotte said.

Hammill laughed. “Oh, I wouldn’t be so sure of that, Charlotte,” he said. “You don't want us to kill your friends, do you? All we want is the book, and to go home again. You give us the book and open that ‘gateway’ as you call it, and we won’t hurt any of you. We’re quite reasonable. We aren’t killers. You can trust us.”

“Like hell.” She sneered.

“Down!” Nose shouted and fired into the trees.

At that same moment, arrows flew toward the mercenaries. The village men fought back.

Bullets and arrows flew at each other, cracking rocks, snapping brush and tree limbs, and ricocheting all around.

Charlotte and Lionel ran in the opposite direction from the village men, and also away from the area the mercenaries ran toward.

“This way!”

Charlotte turned at the whispered sound. She saw Michael with Jake behind him. They both carried rifles.

“We’ve got weapons and supplies, plus some of Ben Olgerbee’s magic poultice in case anyone gets hurt,” Michael said, glancing towards the mound where the fighting raged on. He handed her the poultice for safe-keeping, and she zipped it shut in a jacket pocket. “Quade is leading the students to a creek. They’ll wade through the water, head south, and wait for us. Let’s get out of here!”

Michael knew that whatever happened, Lionel would never let go of The Book of Abraham the Jew. He never felt so happy to be right about anything as he did then. He found a plastic rain poncho in his backpack and wrapped the book carefully in it so it would stay dry even if it fell into a creek or pond. Lionel wanted to carry it until he felt how heavy the rations and rifle magazines made the backpack. He quickly agreed to let his brother have the honor, although his face contorted as he released the book.

Charlotte put all six philosopher’s stones around her neck and tucked them under her shirt while everyone’s attention was on the book. She found she couldn’t bear to part with them.