3 years ago - Izzy
"Are you sure you need to go Charles? We can hold off and wait for you to hurry back?"
Charles chuckled at Izzy's plea for him to stay.
"Look after your mum, okay, Alexandra? She thinks she can't do this without me; as if she needs any of my help finding Rhapta. But let me tell you something, there is no stopping your mother. Once she is out there doing her thing she's like a bull in Pamplona. Just you wait and see."
"I still think you should pop over to London, finish the business as quick as you can, and hurry back so we can make this discovery together." Izzy made a final effort to persuade Charles to rush his trip.
He planted a kiss on her forehead.
"Izzy, my love, it's time to spread your wings and do this on your own. It is your dream, remember? I'm going to take care of business back home so we can take this thing to the very end. Make us proud. You can do this."
He gave her one last kiss on the mouth before he drove off to the airport. His mind had been fixed and there was no changing it now.
"Have a safe flight, Charles," Izzy added as she watched her husband drive away.
She wasn't quite sure why she was so emotional. It wasn't as if her husband had never gone off somewhere without her. But something that day was different from the times he left her behind before.
She stood watching the cloud of dust in the road long after he left. She just couldn't shake the feeling she had in the pit of her stomach. Like something terrible was about to happen. In the depths of her heart, she didn't want Charles to leave her, not this time. A sudden rush of fear propelled an intense vulnerability and precariousness within her and for the first time in a long time, she silently sobbed.
"We will be fine, Mum, really. Let him do what he needs to, and we will focus on finding Rhapta, okay? You can do this," Alex consoled. "Besides we ought to get cracking to the river before the sun sits too high. Come. The chase waits for no one right?" She quoted one of Charles' favorite phrases.
"Now you sound just like your dad, you silly girl." Izzy let off a nervous giggle before they turned and made their way to their new dig site.
The river was fast flowing and opened its mouth into the turquoise ocean off the East Coast of Tanzania.
"It's a paradise isn't it, Mum? I mean look at these crystal clear waters."
"I can't agree more, my love. See that island there? Can you still remember which island that is? That's Zanzibar remember? And that one there is Mafia Island. They call these the Spice Islands because they were some of the first islands trading spices between the Middle East and Africa. In fact, they still do. We believe Rhapta disappeared under the ocean right around here and it is in this riverbed your dad and I found the first pieces of ancient pottery years ago. We should start our search somewhere in this vicinity."
Izzy turned to the crew behind her. They were patiently waiting for her instructions. This was precisely where Charles usually took over and whipped their camp into order before anyone could say, 'dig for gold.' Never once had she done any of their explorations without Charles by her side. She needed to stay focused and fake her way through it.
And miraculously she did manage to get into Charles' head, and within an hour and a half, their campsite was up and running like clockwork. And if she was honest, far quicker and more efficiently than when her husband did it. When the crew finished and retired for the night, Alex and she settled in their own tent.
"See, Mum. Dad was right. You're a natural with all this stuff. Now, if only we can figure out what this cipher was for, right? Do you think it is quite literally a key we have to find? And even if it were an actual key, where would it go? I don't see any buildings around here. Perhaps another wooden box or something?"
"It could be, although, I think it might in effect be more like a fundamental solution. Like it is the key to something that holds together important things, a clue that will unlock another riddle or part of the puzzle. The question is what though? I feel like we're missing something."
Izzy paced the small three-by-four tent and heard the sound of twigs breaking under feet outside. Alexandra heard it too. They froze and waited in an attempt to figure out what it was.
It was close to midnight, and the crew would have already been asleep so it was highly unlikely to be any of them. The thought of it being animals was more probable although lions and elephants rarely ventured so close to the beach. There was a definite chance of it being saltwater crocodiles. With their camp sitting right on the river mouth it was rare, but certainly not impossible. But Izzy's instinct alarmed her to the fact that it could just as well be hostiles. She silently wished Charles was with them but consoled herself in the knowledge that she was a strong independent woman with a daughter to protect.
Keeping a gun was something Charles and she started doing many years back when they had first encountered artifact traders. They were not as friendly as they had hoped, and Charles and she found themselves in a couple of sticky situations over the years. This was certainly not the first time they had uninvited guests around their camp. Charles and Izzy were unlike so many of the greedy treasure hunters looking for a quick fortune so when they were hot on the trail of a new relic, these fortune seekers would snoop around their camps for clues.
Izzy placed her index finger on her lips for Alex to be quiet and tiptoed over to her stretcher for the rifle that lay hidden inside her sleeping bag.
She could hear her heartbeat throbbing in her inner ear. It was eerily quiet apart from the gentle waves that flowed out onto the sandy beach. She signaled for Alexandra to turn the lamp down, and then slowly moved toward the door flap. Her stomach threatened to push into her throat, and a wave of heat engulfed her. She struggled to steady her rifle in her sweaty palms. The noise was right outside their tent. It was undoubtedly footsteps. If it was a crocodile that was crawling around outside his tail would have been swooshing in the sand. She was sure the sound was human. Izzy peeped through the slight gap between the tent's walls. Her instincts were right. It was a human. She just couldn't quite make out who.
"Can you see any—?"
Izzy stopped her daughter from finishing her question and quietly mouthed, "There's a man outside."
"Who?" Alex mouthed back, only to have her mother shrug her shoulders.
Izzy gripped the rifle handle and slowly pulled the tent flap aside with the barrel. The stranger wasn't behind the tent anymore, so she looked back at Alex who stood in silent fear. Alex, who had been hiding in the back of the tent, suddenly jumped forward as another crackling noise sounded from outside the tent right behind her.
"Shh." Izzy gestured again before whispering, "Stay here."
"Mum, no! Don't go out on your own," Alex whispered back in angst.
But Izzy knew they couldn't just ignore it. "I'll be fine, just stay where you are, okay?"
The moon was full that night and it shone a bright light over the calm waters and their campsite. Good or bad, she needed to investigate who or what was lurking behind their tent. The moonlight would help to find the intruder, but equally, he could see her.
Izzy sent up a quick prayer. Careful to not give her position away she tiptoed baby steps on the sand around the back of the tent. The moon's light cast a shadow of one single person in her direction. She gripped her gun and put her finger on the trigger, ready to shoot. Her heartbeat in her ears drummed out any chance of hearing anything else to the point that she had to strain her ears. She moved ever so slowly, step by step, until she had a better view.
A little bit further…a little more…almost…
"Eric? Eric is that you?" Finally, she spotted a man that looked vaguely like Eric.
"Hey-ey, Izzy. The one and only yes."
Then he spotted her gun.
"Whoa! You won't shoot your trusted assistant now, would you?" He gave a sarcastic, sheepish giggle.
Izzy lowered the gun in line with her waist, not totally at ease with his sarcastic mocking.
"What the heck are you doing outside my tent in the middle of the night, Eric? And where on earth have you been? You disappeared without a word to anyone."
Eric's nervous display on his face didn't go unnoticed. She sensed he was hiding something. His sheepish smile looked like she might have just caught him with his hand in the cookie jar.
"Speak up, Eric. What are you doing here and where have you been?"
"Nowhere, I've been around the site."
"You're lying. We looked everywhere for you before we left."
"How did you even find us? We left the last dig site undecided about where we were going to settle so how did you know where we'd be?"
"Sorry for scaring you, Izzy, I'm glad I finally found you though. I had some urgent family business to attend to so I went into town to deal with a couple of things."
"Is that so? Urgent family business is it?"
She didn't trust this boy as far as she could throw him. Her father always warned her against redheads when she was a child.
"Indeed yes, like I said, family business. When I got back to the site, the villagers said you had gone."
"And? How exactly did you find us?"
Eric struggled to find the words,
"You heard me, Eric. How did you find us? And the camera? Why did you take the camera with you?"
"I guess Lady Luck was on my side. I have a nose for these things, you know."
"Mum, is everything all right?" Alex popped out from inside the tent.
"Everything's fine, Alexandra. Eric finally decided to show up again. Go back inside," Izzy said sternly.
"Oh hello, Eric. Where have you been? We needed the photos and now Dad—"
"Alexandra, please go back inside."
Izzy's instincts were on high alert. Something in the pit of her stomach didn't quite sit right. Eric's face was an open book and she could tell he was up to no good. She scoured the trees behind him to see if he was alone. It was hard to see beyond the dark shadows between the trees.
"I'm waiting, Eric, talk. Where is the camera and how did you find us?" Izzy pushed again.
"Well, Izzy. Your question is somewhat of a tricky one to answer. I went into town to buy new batteries for my camera and the two shop owners bamboozled me. The crooks managed to swap my camera with theirs right in front of my very eyes, I tell you. I ended up at the police station, and they kept the camera as part of their evidence."
"WHAT? Please tell me you took the memory stick out?"
"Yes, of course, right here, see?" He handed the small black rectangle to Izzy.
"Well, I suggest you knock on the crew's tents and bunk with one of them tonight. We'll pick this up again in the morning. There's a lot of work to do tomorrow."
"Aye-Aye, ma'am, your wish is my command," Eric responded, his voice laden with sarcasm and Izzy watched as he rushed off to one of the crew's tents before heading back into her own tent.
Eric's story reeked of lies. She smelled trouble and was positive something was amiss. Her rifle was not going to leave her side that night.
"Mum, are you okay? What's going on?"
"I'm fine sweetheart. Eric has come back all of a sudden with some tall story of having had family trouble or something."
"But that's good, isn't it? I mean we were looking for him so now he can help, right?"
She had always been such a naive girl, always believing the best about people.
"Oh, you're so naive, Alexandra. It is great that you always believe the best about people, but always watch your back, my darling. Things aren't always as they seem. I'll sort it out in the morning. For now, we need to get some sleep. We have a lost city to find tomorrow."
Izzy gave her a quick hug and turned in for the night. But her head whirled with suspicion over Eric's disappearance and sudden return. Something about his story troubled her and kept her up most of the night.
They started bright and early the next day. Enthusiasm buzzed among the crew as they ardently worked the dig site. They were trusted colleagues that had been at it almost for as long as Charles and Izzy had. They were just as excited to finally find the infamous lost city of Rhapta. Most of them were native Tanzanians so for them it wasn't the treasure that spurred them on. They sought reverence from their tribe for being part of history in discovering something most thought never existed. Their pride was everything to them and yet they were the most humble people on earth.
The elders held firm in their belief that Rhapta was a burial ground for their ancestors and that the land and its people would be cursed if they disturbed it so they insisted on being part of the process and preventing the curse of Kifa.
Bottle caps and scrap metal periodically triggered the metal detectors that, after a while, evoked little surprise. Izzy kept her eye on Eric, scrutinizing his every move. He was his old silent self again, without exception hovering around the site with his journal and auxiliary camera like a vulture flying overhead waiting for his prey to die before moving in. Alexandra took her dad's place and was right beside her mother, sifting and brushing the dig.
Well into their week, with no new relics or any further evidence to speak of, the two crew members Izzy commissioned to dig further down the coast came running toward her, hands waving in the air with excitement.
"Izzy! Come look! We found strange rock formations that bear striking similarities to possible ruins. We found about five of them sticking out of the water! Hurry! Once the high tide pushes in, they will disappear under the surface."
The news washed a wave of relief over the diligent crew that tediously worked with no results whatsoever since they got here. So Alex and Izzy scooped up their equipment and hurriedly followed the men to the discovery site. Eric, of course, was steadily in tow.
They walked about a mile down the coast when they spotted the square rock formations sticking up from the water.
They were right. The tide would completely cover the rock formations and without question hide them from anyone, even a trained eye.
"What do you think, Mum? They certainly bear similarities to ruins. Do you think we finally found Rhapta?"
Izzy giggled, not sure if it stemmed from excitement or total disbelief. Perhaps it was a little bit of both.
"All I can say, Alexandra, is that from this angle, I will eat my hat if it isn't an ancient ruin."
She turned her attention to Eric. "Take a couple of pics and make sure you send them across to Charles immediately. We need his input on this one."
She stood back as he took several photographs not taking her eyes off him once.
"Make sure you get some close-ups and don't disappear anywhere again."
"Yes, ma'am."
The surface of the large gray boulders was flawless and riveting. Unlike the typical ragged rocks with sharp edges, these were perfectly smooth and shaped into identical rectangles with pristinely cut corners.
"How in heaven's name did they get it so precise and even? It's remarkable isn't it, Mum?"
"Indeed, sweetheart, quite a piece of engineering considering they had no laser cutting technology or anything of the likes back then."
Alex noticed something as she stood over one of them.
"Mum, look. It seems bubbles are coming up from underneath here. Perhaps a cave?"
Izzy peered into the water. "Alexandra, you're right. I spot oxygenation on these edges here, and the water seems clearer here too. We'll have to send some divers down to know for sure but it might very well be from an underwater cave. Check on the timetable for us please and get the crew to mark the coordinates. We need to get a dive in during high tide. Low tide diving could be fatal."
"Sure thing, but I am calling Dad first. These formations are far too impressive to leave for later. He has to see this." Alex yanked her laptop from her backpack. It took a couple of attempts at connecting to the internet having to move continually from spot to spot for a signal but it wasn't long before they heard Charles' voice over the laptop. Izzy marveled at the ease of technology and recalled having to rely on sending telegrams if they wanted to convey urgent news when she was a child.
"Dad! Guess what? We found it! I think we found it. Look!" Alex's voice echoed into her laptop where she tilted the screen up and turned it so Charles could see the ruins.
"It looks like ancient ruins, all right. Did you take some samples yet? Check for sulfur, okay? Sometimes there are underground caves with sulfur so be careful," Charles continued.
"I think we spotted a possible cave earlier, yes. We are sending some divers down at high tide. Mum sent for the team at the Aquatic some time ago. When are you coming back? Eric is back. He said he needed to take care of some family issues in town. That's why he was missing."
"Well, that's good, Alexandra. Tell him to send the photos across urgently so I can study them. We might be on the cusp of the discovery of the century."
Izzy looked across at where Eric was a mere five minutes earlier. Once again, he was missing. When she called out for him, he didn't answer either.
"Stupid boy is MIA again," she spat.
"What's your mother complaining about?" Charles laughed from the other side of the line.
Izzy moved over to where Alex was sitting down on one of the formations still chatting with her father.
"Hello, my love. Nothing wrong with your ears, is there? Eric is MIA, again. We found him spying outside our tent past midnight last night. I have no idea how he found us either, but that boy I'm telling you is up to no good."
"Calm down, Izzy dear. I'm sure he has gone back to camp to process the photographs or something. Wrap up the samples and keep me posted, okay?"
"Sure thing, Charles. How are things going there?"
"Oh, same old same old, Izzy. You know how it goes with these benefits. Boring as anything. But it looks like we are making headway, mind you, we will only really know once those donations come in."
As Izzy and the crew wrapped up for the day she silently cast a warning for Eric to be at the campsite when they arrived. She vowed that if he wasn't back at camp sending the photos to Charles, she would wring his neck herself for pulling another disappearing act.
But, as luck would have it, he sat behind his computer downloading the photos, leaving her somewhat disappointed in the wake of the certainty that he wouldn't be at camp. Still suspicious, she glanced over his shoulder to see what he was up to and caught a glimpse of an email before he quickly changed the screen to a blown-up photo of the newly found ruins. Izzy felt that inkling sense in the pit of her stomach again. Her gut had never let her down yet. She knew he was up to something.
"Who's that email going to, Eric?"
She caught him by surprise and watched as he fumbled for words, turning bright red in the process.
"Oh, uh, just family business. Won't happen on the clock again, Izzy."
'Family business' my foot, Izzy thought.