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Alexandria, Egypt
Like many other cities Maddock had visited in his travels, Alexandria was a collision of past and present. The ancient past, what little of it remained, was like a granite bluff extending out into the ocean, slowly but inevitably eroding away under the relentless assault of progress.
There was plenty to remind visitors of the city’s history, and indeed, tourism remained a major industry, despite recent political turmoil in the Arab world. But even though the ancient monuments, such as the misnamed Pompey’s Pillar and the Catacombs of Kom El-Shouqafa, and more recent but no less historic structures—such as the Citadel of Qaitbay, which occupied the ground where the famed Pharos Lighthouse once stood, or the magnificent Mosque of Abu al-Abbas al-Mursi—continued to generate interest in the city, tourists now came as much for modern pleasures such as sunbathing and gambling, as for a deep interest in history. For many, the ancient ruins were a curiosity, on par with a modern theme park. Even the ancient Library of antiquity had been reimagined as a fantastic modern structure of glass and steel, surrounded by gardens and reflecting pools, perched at the eastern tip of the harbor. Although its collection, which included not only millions of books but also film, video archives, and over 100 terabytes of data, was greater by several orders of magnitude than its namesake from antiquity, the Bibliotheca Alexandrina seemed like just another tourist attraction.
Their flight, from Cairo—a short hop after the longer trip across the Mediterranean—landed just as the sun was settling below the western horizon. Since the end of the road trip in Ankara, where they had been obliged to dump their captured weapons, Aliyah had ceased to be their prisoner and was now a traveling companion, evidently a willing one, though Bones continued to vocally register his suspicions about her. Maddock harbored the same doubts, but was a little surprised by his friend’s unrelenting antipathy toward her. It wasn’t like Bones to pass up a chance to make a fool of himself in front of an attractive woman, and by any standard, Aliyah was that.
They traveled by minibus to their hotel just a couple blocks from the harbor, but stayed in their rooms just long enough to offload their luggage, such as it was, and grab a quick meal in the hotel restaurant.
As they finished their supper over cups of coffee, Aliyah began revealing the knowledge she had earlier withheld, doling the information out like a tour guide. “The Library of Alexandria was originally part of a larger institution of learning and research on subjects ranging from philosophy to astronomy to anatomy. In addition to the enormous wealth of wisdom and knowledge contained on scrolls, the institution included laboratories, observatories, and even a zoo. It was dedicated to the nine Muses of Greek mythology—the deities who inspired the creative arts—from which it derived its name: Musaeum.”
“And from which we get, museum,” Maddock said.
“It’s described as a campus with several buildings, connected by covered walkways, gardens, dining halls and dormitories, even a theatre. Oddly enough, the one thing that original museum didn’t have was an art collection, but it was the start of the Library. By 145 BCE though, the center of learning in Alexandria shifted to another building, called the Serapeum—the temple of the Greco-Egyptian god Serapis, the protector deity of Alexandria.”
“Greco-Egyptian,” Maddock mused. “Like Hermes Trismegistus.”
“Serapis was a syncretic deity—a joining of beliefs from different religions. The name derives from a combination of the Egyptian deities Osiris and Apis, but he seems to have a lot more in common with Dionysus. Interestingly, the Anabasis Alexandri, generally considered to be the best source for information about Alexander the Great, says that as Alexander lay dying of fever, his companions asked Serapis—which I would take to mean a statue of the god—whether to bring him into the temple to be cured. The account says that the god spoke and told them to leave Alexander where he was. Mind you, this was in Babylon, not Alexandria.
“In any case though, the Serapeum of Alexandria was the most famous temple to the god, not to mention being the most impressive temple in the whole city. As the Musaeum declined, the Serapeum not only grew in prominence, but housed at least part of the Library Collection—the part that survived the longest. There were however statues to all the Greek gods, including Hermes, in the Serapeum. Balinas might have lived in the Eighth Century, but Apollonius of Tyana lived in the First, so it stands to reason that if he visited Alexandria, he would have gone to the Serapeum.”
“So what happened to the Serapeum?”
“When Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity in 325 C.E., he ordered the Serapeum closed, along with all other temples to pagan gods. The Alexandrians held out for a while, but in 391, the Serapeum was sacked. That’s generally considered to be the end of the Library of Alexandria, though it’s likely that at least some of the collection was preserved elsewhere. There’s even one legend that part of it was loaded aboard a Roman galley which eventually wound up in Texas.”
“Really?” Bones was now definitely paying attention.
“Probably not,” Aliyah went on. “Arab sources attribute the final destruction to the order of the ruling Caliph, after Muslim forces captured the city in 642 C.E. but given the subsequent Golden Age of Islam, in which science and mathematics continued to evolve throughout the period known in Europe as ‘the Dark Ages,’ it is likely they preserved the knowledge, rather than destroying it. After the Library of Alexandria, the greatest library in history was in the Persian fortress of Alamut.”
“The seat of power for the famed Hashashin—the Assassins cult,” Rose said, nodding. “My great grandad wrote about it one of the Dodge Dalton novels.”
Aliyah gave a disdainful sniff, then continued, “The Serapeum is gone but we know where it once stood.
“In 297 C.E., Emperor Diocletian erected a triumphal column at the Serapeum. A granite monolith carved from a single stone, rather than stacked drums, over sixty feet high, and it’s still standing today. If you read the tourist brochures, you know it as ‘Pompey’s Pillar’ though in fact it has nothing to do with Pompey the Great who once ruled Rome alongside Julius Caesar. The foundation of the Serapeum lies nearby, along with the entrance to the Catacombs of Kom El-Shouqafa. I believe we will find the vault with the Tabula Smaragdina within those ancient tunnels.”
“Unless someone took it when they relocated the rest of the Library.”
“I do not believe that happened.” Aliyah turned to Kismet. “Do you recall the story of how Adam Garral found the Apex in the Great Pyramid?”
Kismet had been unusually subdued since their arrival. During the taxi ride, Maddock had observed him looking around warily, as if checking to see if they were being tailed. When he had asked Kismet about it, the man had simply replied. “I don’t like the desert.” Now, he straightened in his chair and nodded. “He claimed it appeared to him after some kind of out-of-body experience.”
“In which he found a secret passage inside the pyramid. A passage that not only led to a secret room, but transported him through time as well. Balinas describes a similar journey into the vault under the statue of Hermes to find the Emerald Tablet. And unlike your ancestor, he did not remove what he found.”
“It could still be there,” said Maddock.
“With the relics you now carry, we will find that vault. It will open to us, even as it did for Apollonius of Tyana, and inside we will find the tomb of Alexander the Great and in his hand, the Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus.” She pushed her empty coffee cup away. “Are you ready?”
“You mean right now?” Maddock glanced around the table and saw his look of concern mirrored in the faces of the others. “It’s dark out.”
“Meaning we will not be disturbed by other visitors.” Aliyah folded her arms across her chest. “I expected a little more enthusiasm.”
“I don’t like to rush into things,” Maddock said. He half-expected Bones to make a joke at his expense, but the big Cherokee just nodded.
“Well, she’s got a point about not being bothered by the tourists,” Jade said, though she sounded almost like she was trying to convince herself. “We can at least check the place out.”
Rose seconded the suggestion. “Judging by the reaction we got in Antarctica and on Drake Island, we should be able to tell if it’s there just by walking by.”
Aliyah stared at the other women intently but said nothing. Maddock shot a look at Kismet, who simply shrugged. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt to do a walk-by.”
Although it was not required by local custom, Aliyah suggested the women wear hijab headscarves to avoid attracting unnecessary attention. As Jade and Rose donned their scarves, Aliyah glanced at Bones and added, “I’m afraid there’s not much we can do to cover him up.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Only that you stand out in a crowd,” she replied with a coy smile.
That mollified Bones somewhat. “It’s true. I am outstanding.”
“Well since you’ve got the best view,” Maddock said, “keep that head on a swivel.”
He glanced over at Kismet who returned a nod of confirmation. This all felt too rushed, like a trap, but even if it was, there was no way around it. They could either go through, or go home.
As promised, the former site of the Serapeum was only a few blocks from the hotel. The surrounding neighborhood was quiet and poorly lit. All six of them stood out, though Bones perhaps more than the others, attracting the notice of more than a few jellabiya-clad local men, all of whom looked away quickly when Bones gave them the stink-eye.
Aliyah took them along the edge of a rocky plateau occupying several acres where no modern construction had taken place. “This is the old Bab Sidra cemetery,” she explained, and pointed forward to the column, a dark silhouette thrust up into the night sky, perhaps a quarter of a mile distant. “That is where we must go.”
Maddock maintained his 360-degree awareness as they moved along the edge of the cemetery, occasionally checking with Bones and Kismet to see if they had noticed anything of concern. Maddock was pleased to see that Jade also remained alert. She had, he realized, come a long way from the hapless, trouble-prone archaeologist he had rescued from a submerged ruin in Argentina all those years before. Probably Professor’s influence, he thought. Definitely not the girl I fell out of love with.
The thought went through his head—and the rest of him—before he knew what was happening.
Cut it out, Maddock. He told himself, forcefully. You’ve got Angel, and she’s all the woman you’ll ever need.
He forced his gaze forward again as they came to the gate that blocked access to the ruins. It was closed and secured with a padlock.
“Guess we’ll have to come back tomorrow,” Bones said. “Oh, well. We tried.”
Although the fabric of her hijab hid her hair, Aliyah’s exposed eyebrows went up in an expression of surprise, or perhaps dismay. “I would not have thought men such as yourselves would be stopped by something so primitive.”
Bones glanced over at Maddock in a “what do you think?” look. Maddock could only shrug.
Bones let out a sigh. “Challenge accepted,” he said, and reached into a pocket for his lockpicking tools. “My misspent youth pays off again.”
With one hand cupped over the screen of his mobile phone for light, Bones went to work on the lock. Rose moved closer to Maddock. “Dane, I’m not getting anything.”
She had whispered it, but Aliyah overheard nonetheless. “The relics are not reacting?” There was no hint of coy playfulness now; her surprise was real. “I don’t understand.”
“Same with the Apex,” Kismet said, absently fingering the talisman which hung from a rawhide cord around his neck. “Nada.”
“Maybe we aren’t close enough,” Maddock suggested.
“We got a reaction from the orb from miles away,” Rose countered.
“You have three relics now, correct?” Aliyah said. “Perhaps they are setting up an interference pattern. Canceling each other out.”
The suggestion felt sincere, but Maddock couldn’t help but wonder if this was the prelude to a betrayal. Was Aliyah trying to get them to separate? Isolate the relics and divide their forces?
“That didn’t happen on Drake Island,” Rose said. Nevertheless, she unslung the backpack, opening it to begin rooting around inside.
“Got it,” Bones said as he removed the lock from the hasp. He started to pull the gate open but stopped himself. “Or should I lock it back up?”
“At least walk around,” Aliyah pleaded. “It has to be here. Maybe you just need to be closer.”
Maddock looked to Kismet for some hint of what to do. The latter shook his head. “I think this is another dead end. But we’re here. We might as well try it.” He fixed Aliyah with a cold stare. “It’s not like we’re completely defenseless.”
Aliyah tilted her head in a gesture that indicated she understood the implicit threat, and then reached for the gate. She swung it open and went through without waiting for them.
There was just enough ambient light for them to make out the path winding through the ruins. They passed excavations and mounds, eventually reaching the crest of the hill where Pompey’s Pillar stood, its enormous base flanked by a pair of sphinx statues, each the size of a bull elephant. Aliyah led them past the column, following a route that she seemed to have memorized, and brought them to a large hole in the ground.
Maddock activated the flashlight on his phone but kept one hand over it to mute the light and mask their presence. He shone it into the hole, revealing a staircase of cut stone that descended into the gloom. Round shapes, like black ping-pong ball halves, skittered away from the touch of his light.
“Scarab beetles,” Bones murmured. “Don’t let them get under your skin.”
“This is the entrance to the old tunnel system that once connected the temples of the Serapeum,” Aliyah explained. After a momentary pause, she turned to Rose. “Has there been any reaction from the elemental relics?”
Rose shook her head.
“I don’t understand,” Aliyah said, her voice becoming increasingly taut. “It has to be here. You must be doing something wrong.”
“I’m not doing anything,” Rose protested. “And neither is the orb. There’s nothing—”
Before Rose could finish, Aliyah sprang into motion, seizing Rose’s backpack strap. Maddock started to react, but Aliyah was already moving, dragging Rose into the dark hole.