It was raining; autumn was in the air, crisp and moist by turns. The elegiac sweetness of Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs filled Toby Ashe’s warm sitting room.
Scattered around the floor were sheets of paper covered in large felt-penned words:
SETH
THOTH/HERMES
ABRAHAM
BRAHMIN
RA
BRAHMA
SHIVA
ARYAN
SERPENT
PILLARS
TOWER OF BABEL
MITHANNI
CHALDAEANS
KURDS
URARTU
UR
YEZIDIS
The results of a lifetime’s research lay before Ashe’s eyes: piles of Crayke’s now yellow-edged papers occupied the floor. Some of the typed and handwritten notes dated back to the Second World War. The most recent additions had been written in the last few years. For Ashe, every page was a source of fascination.
Crayke’s neat hand had embraced the most obscure textual resources, from the manuscripts of Arabic libraries in Istanbul and the Yemen to the private collections of maharajahs. The academic and private libraries of Europe and America had been thoroughly raked for anything that might sate Crayke’s infinitely patient curiosity.
For the last few hours Ashe had been ploughing through acres of notes made by Crayke during a trip to Sri Lanka in the fifties. As far as Ashe could tell, Crayke had gone there to visit the island’s many shrines dedicated to Shiva and the Shiva-lingam, the god’s phallic symbol. As in India, it seemed that in Sri Lanka the Shiva-lingam was particularly important to Hindu women who were either praying for fertility or giving thanks for it.
Ashe already knew that Shiva, the Destroyer, was one of the Hindu Trinity, alongside Brahma, the Creator, and Vishnu, the Preserver. He was aware that Shiva had three eyes – the moon, the earth, and the sun, and that his third eye was always open. But Ashe was intrigued to learn that Shiva had close correlations with the Canaanite and Syrian god Ba’al, as well as to the Roman Saturn, the Phoenician El, the Greek Typhon, and the Egyptian Seth.
‘Seth’, it transpired, was Sanskrit for ‘white’, and Shiva rode a white bull. The white seemed related to the ‘sour milk sea’ from which, according to the Hindu Vedas, Creation emerged. The Yezidis called Creation’s first beginning ‘the pearl’.
Sometimes Shiva was depicted covered entirely in serpents. The word ‘semen’ came readily to Ashe’s mind – the elixir of life scattered the world over. And he was often represented by a phallus: the Shiva-lingam. He was the father of the nations, and his colours were white, black, red and yellow. He was the patron deity of esotericists, occultists, the creator and saviour of spiritual man.
Where did all this fit into his investigation? Or was the investigation supposed to fit into all of this? Ashe stared at the words surrounding him. If Crayke already knew how all this tied together, why was he wasting Ashe’s time?
The phone rang.
‘I want to speak to—’
‘Laila!’
‘Of course it’s Laila, Tobbi. I’m in Cairo, with relatives. What of the Baba Sheykh – and my brother?’
‘Your Baba Sheykh was probably in Istanbul in March. Perhaps with a doctor.’
‘Sinàn is a doctor.’
‘That helps. Any idea why they were in Istanbul?’
A pause. Laila seemed uncomfortable with the question.
‘Laila, are you there?’
‘I think I know. It was about Freemasonry and our faith. Baba wanted the world to know about us. But they cannot be in Istanbul now.’
‘Why?’
‘There is a Yezidi community in Germany. Near Giessen. Baba and my brother have visited recently. I think they are in Germany still, Tobbi. And in great danger.’
‘Was anyone trying to hurt your brother and Baba Sheykh in Istanbul?’
‘I cannot say. Please look after yourself. Please find them!’
‘Laila, you know I’ll do everything I can. But you need to tell me more about the Baba Sheykh so I can understand what danger he might face.’
The line crackled for a few seconds and Laila’s voice emerged once more.
‘The Baba Sheykh is like one of your saints. Like them, he is sworn to follow a path. He is Ekhityare Mergehe.’
‘It means “Old Man of the Sanctuary”. “Baba” means “Father”, Toby. He is father of the sheykhs. He must belong to the Fekhr el-Dîn branch of the Shemsani – the oldest clan of Yezidi sheykhs. The Baba Shekyh may not marry anyone except a member of this clan – and his son follows him. This is always the tradition. God be with you, Tobbi.’
Into the void of incomprehension crept a single word. Rising from within Ashe’s brain, it spread itself over his consciousness like the tail of a glorious mythical bird.
The word was ENDOGAMY.
Endogamy. The Shemsani sheykhs were endogamous. That was the key Ashe had been waiting for: the key to understanding Crayke’s long quest.