An October afternoon, London, Anglia.
Having endured the introductions to the young druid who had been to Cathay, Dr. Davis asked for an introduction to any druid who had been to India. She was sent to a different grove on the outskirts of London. Having listened to the doctor's incoherent account of the "Cathay interview", the group sent Miss Costorari with the doctor on this second foray. They met a young man similar in appearance to a gypsy but darker complected. Instead of being an Anglian missionary, Sanjay was an Indian from Punjab come to meet the Anglian gods. Dr. Davis, having difficulty looking at a man dressed only in a loin cloth yet not on an operating table, let Miss Costorari handle the conversation once she had offered up the Dhofar statuette.
Sanjay greeted the statuette eagerly (as he did all things), "May I see? May I see?" Sitting cross-legged with his toes, somehow, pointing upward, the young Punjabi started humming. The statuette began humming as well. Both women suddenly felt a warm dry breeze coming from across the sands towards them. They seemed to be before a great statue in front of some pillars. As the vision faded, Miss Costorari tried to identify what was written in some unknown language on a pillar. She made out ")" and "|" but missed the rest. She scribbled the two signs into the sand and pointed them out to the dark-skinned druid.
Sanjay said, "It is familiar, familiar, to what we have. It is an old language, very similar to the script we use. Those symbols," pointing back to Voronika's scratchings, "are 'great' and the other is incomplete, incomplete, only part of a word." As to the statuette: "This is a piece of a memory. A piece of wind." Dr. Davis noted, "We were told it was of Dhofar, an Arabian god of wind." Sanjay: "There is in my lands a Dufa, god of winds. Someone has taken sands of India and somewhere else and combined them with something to become a memory."
Dr. Davis asked, "How do sands become combined to make a memory." The Indian said, "A type of power I do not understand. So sorry, so sorry."
Miss Costorari related her vision from her first touch of the statuette. With eagerness Sanjay asked, "You are a guru? A teacher of visions?" Miss Costorari denied anything but her peculiar ability.
The conversation became more generic and Sanjay expressed an interest in tasting "warm beer". Miss Costorari agreed to take him to an Anglish pub once he was more suitably clothed. Meanwhile, the Indian's host/guard druid was caught by surprise and reduced to mimicking a fish. Flamboyantly, the gypsy whisked away her sheet-draped charge out of the druid grove and into his first exposure to the fleshpots of London, a bemused Dr. Davis following in their wake.
The next week. London.
Plans continued apace for the group to travel to Paris. In the course of the next week or so, Miss Costorari visited her home to ask about gypsies bound for Paris or Yemen and learned that her mother had a cousin who married into a Parisian family. She was told where to find the Gypsy community in Paris. Meanwhile, Po persuaded Mr. Forester to allow Abdul to coach them both in the French language. The tutor purchased a French grammar so to formalize the lessons somewhat.
France
The cost of a trip to Paris was about £3; one pound for the Crossing (half that for the servant Lok) and £2 for the 300-mile train fare. At Calais, pounds were exchanged for franks at a rate of 10f/ £1. There are 100 centimes/franc.
French trains proved to be of an older model than those found in Anglia and the tracks were generally rickety, resulting in less comfort than that to which Our Travelers were heretofore accustomed. Most of the travel was through flat, green farm country. Arrival was at Gare du Nord, the station in north central Paris. Other than the preponderance of dark-haired Frenchmen and the signage in French, it seemed much like Victoria Station back in London. One could not help noticing, however, that the French charged for use of "public" W.C.s and that often people "saved money" in public. The doctor found this unhygienic practice rather distressing.
The boy Abdul led his protectors to the Inter-city train that ran above ground (unlike London's projected Underground), saying it was the fastest way to the Arab quarter. The travelers could see that Paris was a place of low-lying architecture and broad avenues. Someone pointed out the Arc de Triomphe and Mr. Forester snorted something under his breath about a peacock-y little demagogue, referring, no doubt, to the defeated monster Napoleon. At one point the spires of a druidic enclosure on an island in the Seine could be seen.
Against the western skyline, scaffolding arose about four peculiar iron tower frameworks, a structure 3 years in the building and due to open next year at the Great Exhibition. Steele wondered aloud what the structure would do when it was finished. Smith replied wryly, "It's one heck of a focus."
The train headed further south towards a hill topped by another spired structure. The group disembarked in the shadow of the hill where Abdul led through the narrow streets (too narrow for a normal carriage) of the Arab quarter to a undistinguished door. The woman with an enshawled head who answered his knock seemed delighted to see the boy. Eventually he stemmed her jabber and bade the group enter. The place was very small and cramped; the entire group could not stand in one room. After some time, Abdul convinced his hostess to change to Anglish. Unfortunately her vocabulary there consisted of "hullo, hullo, hullo." So he ended up translating, a task for which he was used time and time again in the succeeding days.
His Parisian caretakers were Auf Shari Suhaya and her husband Bahram who worked in the market. They were perfectly willing to send a (presumably coded) message to Abdul's father informing him of the boy's safety and desire to return home. They had no news of untoward happenings in Yemen or, in fact, anything that seemed pertinent from either Anglia or France. (Unless the sighting of ghosts on Montmartre during the last two weeks counted?) When he came home, Mr. Aufshari insisted on ceremonially serving the entire contingent a thick cardamom-spiced coffee. His wife was delighted to get out the prize silver service.
As the group of foreigners had been all too conspicuous in the Arab quarter, it was decided that Abdul would not be left with his Parisian foster parents. Miss Costorari told him, "If someone is looking for you, this is where they'd look first." The group left the Arab quarter, where a great many dark-eyed children could have given a detailed account of their doings, and followed the Left Bank towards the West side of town. En route they observed cafes of languid, darkly dressed, bookish loungers who engaged in active debate with each other at the passage of the mechanical man with the foreigners.
With Abdul's help yet again, Miss Costorari chose a hotel with an Anglish-speaking host, negotiating shared upstairs rooms for the group for about 10 shillings for a week including breakfast, a fair price for holiday lodgings. Dinner was at Le Argent Chevalier where the group was initiated into the mysteries of Parisian table settings: a tablecloth meant dinner, no cloth meant people watching, like the Left-Bank students. The entire group found the meal of surpassing excellence and Mr. Foster speculated on what it would take to entice a French chef back to London. Even Po found a wide variety of egg dishes to his taste. [Wonder how many society points a French Chef is worth? :)]
Abdul was questioned as to the statuettes he had previously seen in Paris. He allowed that there had been two wealthy Arabs who had each had a statuette in their collections. One of the statuettes had been of a female figure. Mr. Blake asked if either owner had been cross-eyed. Neither had been. Steele asked their occupations. Well-to-do merchants. Miss Costorari told Abdul, "We will have to rely on you to make arrangements for us to see those statuettes." Abdul promised to have the Aufsharis do so.
Mr. Blake headed out to find a chemist shop to augment his professional skills, but found only apothecary shops for which he had no use.
Mr. Forester decided that he would take the boys on an educational tour of the Louvre. Miss Costorari wished to check out access to the French originals of The Arabian Nights. The rest of the party also went to the museum. Although students got a discount, the museum charge was 20 centimes/adult. Without letters of introduction, no access was available to anything but the public displays. Those did include Arabic swords (of which a common motif of gems on the hilt was observed) and, inaccessibly under glass, an elegant map of Ptolemy's Greek world. Both Miss Costorari and Dr. Davis realized that they should have used their British museum contacts to get better access and so adjourned to a telegraph office. The former wrote her request to Dr. Richard Barnett, Keeper of Printed Matter; the latter to Sir Madden, Keeper of Manuscripts & Maps. It would take 2 to 3 days before even an immediate reply would be available.
The next couple of days, the group explored the city and various museums, Mr. Forester being very dedicated to educating Po and Abdul, and the others not willing to let anyone wander around without reasonable protection. So it was that, after a visit to the druid temple on the Seine and enjoying the grand music therein, the group started down the narrow walkway separating the religious enclosure from the Seine. Ahead some could see a brown-clad priest struggling with two assailants. Immediately Miss Costorari and Mr. Penrington raced to be of assistance. Mr. Blake raised his cane and cast a blinding light, startling Mr. Forester (who had not noticed the struggle) and garnering the attention of all nearby. Being unwilling to leave the boys, Dr. Davis nonetheless reached out mesmericly exerting her mental strength to hold fast one of the attackers. At Po's urging, Mr. Forester considered drawing the boys away from the rest of the group; but Abdul translated the priest's cries for help and Dr. Davis (having heard Po) asked that they not leave.
Miss Costorari and Mr. Penrington both easily subdued the attackers who had been blinded by the radiological flash. The priest, also blind but feeling himself now free, tried to run to safety and, instead, plunged over the embankment into the river. Dr. Davis immediately shifted her mental restraint to grab the floundering man and pull him from the waters. By the time the gendarmes showed up, the priest - Pere Berenger Sauniere - could again see. He explained to the officers that the foreigners had saved him from muggers. [Note: Pere is the generic title for druids in France; Abbe is a specific term for druid in charge of a small church.]
"My Anlish is no so very bad," the Father apologized as the group accompanied him back to his rooms at the edge of the student quarter, to let him get dry. The priest was visiting Paris from a small, poor parish outside the city, Rhenns le-Chateau.
Mr. Blake: "Why on earth would any one attack a poor priest like yourself?" .
Pere Sauniere: "I do not know. It is the city, which is a dangerous place." .
Mr. Blake: "I have learned to question coincidence. There must be a reason." .
Pere Sauniere: "It is a mystery." .
Mr. Blake: "Did they say anything." .
Pere Sauniere: "Non. They simply ran up and grabbed me." .
Po interjected: "And you are in Paris because...?".
Pere Sauniere: "I am investigating a mystery. I am concerned. We are a very poor church and much needs doing. Some parishioners and I were cleaning up an area. Digging, we found parchments with very strange writing. Concerned, I brought samples -- not the original, but what I could copy easily - to the Chief Druid here at Notre Dame. I've learned to be somewhat a judge of people over the years of counseling in my parish. I could see the Chief Druid was concerned, but he claimed to know nothing of the writing, that it was rubbish and should be disposed of." .
Mr. Blake: "Did these copies of yours survive your swim in the Seine?" .
The priest removed a packet from his robes. "Alas, non." .
Mr. Blake: "How far are we from your parish?" .
Pere Sauniere: "It was four days walking before I could take a train to Paris." With something akin to despair, "I even took time to arrange to meet Boutaine and now I have nothing to show." .
Dr. Davis: "Who is Boutaine?" .
Pere Sauniere: "The chief archivist of the Louvre. I have the appointment with him tomorrow." .
The party exchanged glances; this might be a different opportunity to get an introduction to someone who could grant access to restricted areas of the museum - if something could be devised that would be worth the great scholar's time. It was determined that neither Mr. Blake nor Mr. Forester's radiological skills could restore the water-logged paper. Although the priest did his best to reproduce what he had copied - in yet another unfamiliar script, he said he "feared to show Mssr. Boutaine a poor copy as he does not suffer fools lightly." The group found this rather intimidating and could not think of a better alternative.
There was some speculation as to whether or no the muggers had been sent to destroy Pere Sauniere's document and, if so, if others intent on destroying the originals might already be en route to Rhenns le-Chateau. The priest assured the group that the current hiding place for the original documents was, in his mind, very secure and not in danger of being easily found.
Under that theory, it was decided that the priest should share the party's lodging and protection, for which he expressed yet more gratitude.
The following day, most of the group escorted Pere Sauniere to the Louvre for his interview and then awaited his return at a nearby (but expensive) café. What had been expected to be only a 20-minute wait stretched on. At noon, Po decided to use his powers and discovered that the priest was still in the building in one wing, but further mental exploration revealed interference from the building itself, much as one finds it difficult to use magic at the British Museum. Dr. Davis expressed the group's concern and various people moved to the museum. Actual inquiry of the guards and a docent at the museum elicited only non-committal shrugs. Po then resolved to try his more spectacular power and, paying to hide in a public washroom, found that his telepathy met active resistance without gaining him access to the priest's mind. Po reported to the group that he feared that his mental activity had warned whoever had detained the priest. By evening, it was clear that Pere Sauniere had been spirited from the Louvre by some egress other than the door the party watched. Clearly he had managed to convince Prof. Boutaine of something and had been taken into some sort of "protective custody." Someone expressed the feeling that those holding our priestly friend were "Bad Guys" but the general consensus was that, if Pere Sauniere could, he knew where to return to us at our hotel.
Back at the hotel, Dr. Davis found waiting a letter from London. Mr. Steele and Mr. Smith were brought up to date on what had happened.
Smith suggested that a surveillance team be put at the western train station in case the "Bad Guys" intended to head for Rhenns le-Chateau and had not yet. Mr. Penrington elaborated on that plan, suggesting a two-person team: one to follow on the train, the other to inform the group. Furthermore, he went on, if nothing more was learned, the group should itself go to Rhenns le-Chateau the next afternoon. Thereafter Mr. Steele accompanied the blacksmith to the station.
The next morning, after having set up a mind link with Po and being escorted by the concerned Mr. Blake, Dr. Davis presented her Letter of Introduction from Sir Madden to the Dept. of Cartography at the Louvre. Once again, the senior radiologist cooled his heels awaiting the doctor, while Mr. Forester took the opportunity to further his students' familiarity with the Louvre. Miss Costorari chose to wait at the café by herself where she fended off an overly opportunistic Frenchman.
At the end of the day, the group reconvened to discuss what they'd learned:
Abdul's statuette, when unwrapped from its velvet covers, proved to of a woman with four arms, holding a moon crescent, an Arabian coffee cup, and a short straight knife. The fourth hand was horizontal, palm up, in a reaching-out gesture. The patterning on her garments was subtly different from that on the Dhofar statuette. Steele observed that though the second statuette bore different items than the first, the three could still be viewed as representing the ), |, and ? that we're told represent the name of Ad-Irem.[The ? is actually a line curling up from a squarish element, e.g. steam from a coffee cup or incense from a burner.]
Miss Costorari, touching the new statuette, saw a vision of the same brightly-garbed woman from her first vision walking along a wall near the enlarged version of this statue. It was next to a gate into a city. Within the gate she saw glints of gold and gems. Suddenly there appeared, hopping towards her threateningly, shaggy creatures that seemed but half a troglodyte: one leg, one arm, half a head and body. When she described this vision, Abdul called the creature a "nisnasis," a thing of story that inhabited dead places. "It comes out of no where. Very dangerous!" It was learned that Abdul had never read Arabian Nights because it was too adult.
Mr. Forester tried touching together the two statuettes to no obvious effect. Using more velocity might produce an unacceptable effect, as it had not yet been determined how structurally sound the statuettes might be.
Dr. Davis had looked at all the maps of Arabia available in the French museum and found that none differed materially from the others. She made a sketch of the clearest version. She had hoped to find some discrepancy that would give a better clue to the location of Irem, but had not. However, one of copies had included the appendix from which all modern Ptolemeic maps had been created. In studying that list she discovered that Omanum Emporium had the grid co-ordinates of 7840x1975. Checking back with the maps, she found that the city had been drawn at the co-ordinates of 8740x1975! Some monastic clerk re-creating the map in 1460 had made a transcription error! Instead of being in the middle of the Nejd (center) region of the peninsula — where explorers had consistently failed to find a ruined city —; Omanum Emporium should be found somewhere in the kingdom of Oman in the SE corner of Arabia, the source of frankincense for the ancient world! Questions elicited the information that frankincense was a resin from a particular tree grown in very few lands. The finest, most expensive kind had been clear, and had only come from Oman. It was called "silver frankincense". It had been "the best of foods to feed the Old Ones" and "the food they greatly desired."
Smith suggested, "Now that we have a real clue, the correction of Ptolemy's map coordinate, we should head back to London, present it to the appropriate person (say, the curator of maps?), get them all interested, poof, in funding for an expedition to find the lost city. Got to find it before those horrible French do...!"
Penrington concurred, "Good idea!"
Mr. Forester protested, "I thought our funding problems had been solved -- that the King of Yemen had come though for us? Are we trying to double-bill?"
Penrington smiled knowingly, his eyes sparkling.
Smith objected, "I thought I heard something about £150? Is that enough? Anyway, doing an expedition under the auspices of the British Museum -- and Anglian sponsors -- will be more noteworthy in Anglia."
Dr. Davis commented, "Um. It might be hard to get the King of Yemen to sponsor a run into Oman. The two kingdoms do NOT get along. Politics! I think the King of Yemen is sponsoring our return of his son to Yemen."
Smith: "We might get there, and then get the job of bringing his son back ...with appropriate guards?"
Dr. Davis: "I do not think we'll be asked to return the prince to Anglia with guards. If the last several years have been spent educating him incognito, it seems unlikely that the king will think it useful to educate him abroad 'cognito' with all the problems celebrity status entails. Better to hire tutors at home." She glanced at Mr. Forester with a worried look in her eyes.
Smith: "Guards don't have to be obvious. His 'parents' were guards."
[Calendar Note: There will be a run Thursday, Nov. 6. There will be no run the following week.]
(a) Cumulative (b) Cumulative since Volume II
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