Oasis of Eden (2 page)

He nodded. “First thing.”

Jade scooted her chair back, and Dr. Harper stood when she did. “Good night then.” She grabbed a handful of flat bread and, as she past the little table, took up the bottle. Without looking back to see if the good doctor had noticed, she made for her tent.

* * * *

“This is amazing,” she murmured to Dr. Harper, thankful only one torch provided light in the temple room. Last night, she’d finished off half the bottle of what must have been bathtub gin and was paying dearly for it now. She shrugged aside a subconscious reprimand. There were always consequences the next morning.

“We’ve already dusted and catalogued the items on the dais, the adornments and the four pillars—how would you like to help out with the glyphs?” He held out a brand new journal and a sharpened pencil to her.

Jade’s gaze landed on Dr. Harper’s offering. Her fingers itched to fill the blank pages of the book with her very own hypotheses. Assisting with the dig was certainly not on her agenda. However, the lure of deciphering the mysterious hieroglyphics enticed her the same way a tall, cool bell-bottom in his dress uniform did. “Dr. Harper, you could tempt a nun to debauchery.”

He smiled and relinquished the journal to her. “No, only the daughter of Doctor Anthony Victor Poole to a room full of ancient Egyptian artifacts.”

* * * *

It had taken several hours to go over every inch of the small room. When she finished, she’d handed the journal to one of Dr. Harper’s assistants and returned to her tent to collapse onto her cot.

With a brief half-hour nap under her belt, she emerged from her tent and stretched her arms toward the late afternoon sky, working out a few kinks in her neck and shoulders. The heat hadn’t lingered, thank goodness, and the temple room where she’d studied for the better part of the day sat just below ground, keeping it cooler than the outdoor temperatures. Still, it would be heaven to take a bath and sleep the rest of the afternoon and evening away. Not that she’d find a bath anywhere—

“Jade Anne!” Dr. Harper called to her not two steps from her tent. “I read your findings.”

“Come on in, Doc,” she said with a sigh.

He pushed his way through the entrance flap. “My dear, aren’t you the least bit excited?”

“You mean because of the blanks we filled in today?”

“No! Because you found the room itself to be pre-dynastic! Not a single ruler’s name, on record or otherwise, could be found on the walls of the temple room.”

She waved a hand. “Oh, that. Haven’t there been other pre-dynastic findings?”

Dr. Harper shook his head. “Nothing like what we have here. This is the first—or should I say
yours
is the first.”

“I see,” she said with far less enthusiasm than he displayed. What she hadn’t logged was that the glyphs may have been the work of some fanciful Egyptian, and this room was the first fiction novel ever written. She would bet a thirty-inch string of black pearls that this room was a hoax, a farce, an ancient practical joke someone had played and forgotten to dismantle. The pattern to which the information followed circled the painted scenes in loops and didn’t follow a vertical flow as did other hieroglyphs. There were travelers—beings from the sky mentioned—which she imagined caused the others involved to claim “conflicting views.” Had she the time, she’d wait until the Church muscled their way in and shut them down for heresy.

Interrupting her thoughts, Dr. Harper placed his hand on her shoulder. “Tonight we celebrate. The entire camp has been called out to enjoy dinner in costume and,” he dropped his voice low, “several celebratory barrels of aged French cognac are on their way as we speak.”

This perked Jade up like nothing else had since she’d set out on this little excursion. She couldn’t pass up a great party. It just wasn’t in her to do so. Perhaps she’d let the good doctor in on her personal theory tomorrow. “Er, Dr. Harper, is there any way to get a bath sent to me?” She smiled and batted her eyelashes.

He grinned. “Anything for our star archeologist.”

* * * *

The costume Jade had come up with, whilst draining the remainder of the bottle of bathtub gin she’d pilfered the night before, was nothing less than scandalous. And she refused to feel guilty about raiding the inside of her own tent for the items she’d gathered. It was her money they’d acquired the goods with, after all. Two nearly sheer panels of narrow white linen draped over her shoulders to sweep at the tops of her sandaled feet. If one looked close enough, one could detect her nipples through the material—good thing the warm desert weather held its end of the bargain. She’d fashioned a loin cloth with the same thin fabric and fastened everything at her waist with a soft leather sash Her hair hung over her shoulders to the middle of her back, having rejected the popular bob every single one of her girlfriends had. She looked as if she’d stepped off of the walls of the temple she’d been studying all day. The only thing she needed to complete her outfit could have been purchased from
Tiffany & Co.
Unfortunately, she didn’t have access to her favorite jewelry store in Nowhere, Egypt.

Snapping her fingers, she recalled the pair of gold bracelets on the table in the temple. Dr. Harper and the others wouldn’t mind if she borrowed them just for tonight’s little soirée.

Jade dashed over to the entrance of the temple and took the lit torch from the wall outside. She made her way down a few stone stairs and into the room. She hiccupped and giggled aloud at the echo she’d created. Placing the torch in the wall sconce, she stepped upon the dais.

Circling the table, she eyed a matching pair of gold bracelets that glowed back at her in the dim light. They looked about the size of her wrists and would reach to mid forearm. “
Tres chic
,” she whispered and picked one up to study it. The hammered bracelet sported intricate roped edges. Depicted in the center was a beautifully detailed winged sun. The same suns vertically adorned each of the four foot tall obelisk pillars set at the four corners of the dais.

With a grin she slipped her wrist between the gap and glanced up at ancient artwork upon the wall. The figure in the painting had placed the seam at the front of his wrist, but Jade didn’t think it displayed the item to its advantage that way. She donned the other bracelet, and her eyes wandered back to the walls of the temple. She had stared at the figures for the better part of the day, but now she felt a sort of appreciation for their plight. She backed up a couple steps to get a better view of the wall upon which her torch sat. Living in the desert was nothing short of crazy. Why people settled here all those years ago was beyond her.

Jade shrugged. It was none of her business anyway, and she really needed to get to that party. Intending to step down from the dais, she misplaced her foot and fell through the air. With a shriek, she braced herself to meet the ground. However, the ground she expected never came.

Chapter Two

Forcing a whoosh of air from her lungs, Jade’s bottom landed upon soft, cool sand. She groaned. “Damn bathtub gin,” she murmured and came to her knees. Her gaze lifted to the brilliant night sky packed with so many stars, she couldn’t decipher a single constellation.

Reaching up, she dragged a hand through her hair. “How in the hell did I end up outside?” Along the horizon line, there was nothing but flat desert as far as she could see. A tremor of panic grabbed at her stomach. She stood and whipped around, spotting the torch-lit camp in the distance. Her hand clapped down upon her chest in relief. On wobbly legs, she vowed to stay away from distilments made by Egyptian peasants. With determination, she strode toward the shimmering lights.

Jade kicked at the sand as she made her way up and over the low dunes, angry with herself for imbibing alone like some pathetic gutter-puss and for losing her way because of it. But it wasn’t just that. She felt guilty for having to pull Dr. Harper’s financing. Perhaps with a bit of gumption and a dash of luck, he could alert a newspaper in some wealthy part of the world where dozens of philanthropists were just salivating to invest in a treasure hunt.

Soon she found herself in the middle of Harper’s camp, but not a single tent looked familiar. She should have taken some time to explore the camp upon her arrival.

“Excuse me,” a tall, broad-in-the-belly man addressed her. “Are you new?” He spoke Egyptian, but an odd accent with harsh vowels accompanied his language.

Honestly, Jade would have been happy to encounter a friendly person, no matter what dialect they used—but apparently this man thought her breasts would answer his inquiry.

She sank a little in the knees, but it was no use. His eyes followed her chest down and back up again when the muscles of her legs dictated her to stand up straight.
Gads
. “Could you please show me to Edward Harper?” She asked in Egyptian.

“No. There is no Edward Harper here.” He glanced up, catching her eye for the briefest of moments and then his gaze returned to her breasts. “Only you and I exist.”

Oh, brother
.
She’d heard some lines in her day, but this pill she couldn’t swallow. How untimely his flattery was. He in no way qualified for snugglepup status. And the way he hovered over her…why, it was enough to give her the heebie-jeebies.

When he inched toward her, she retreated a step. “Your pardon, sir, but I need to find my tent.”

“I am Lothar-Canute. Please consider my tent yours.”

“How considerate of you,” she murmured, glancing about in case she needed a quick exit. “But I must find Doctor Edward Harper. He is the man in charge of this dig.”

“Omari Elydian Amun is in charge, and no one here has been given permission to dig.”

Jade’s breath caught in her throat, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. “I-I must be in the wrong camp, then.” She spun on her heel and hurried back the way she came.

From behind her, Lothar-Canute quickly ate up the distance between them until he was next to her, matching her strides. “There is no other camp for many days, unless it is your turn to visit the oasis,” he said keeping pace with her.

Jade paused and turned to him in order to argue the point. Surely Dr. Harper’s camp was the next one over. He hovered, still gazing down at her chest with unadulterated fascination, and licked his lips.

Ignoring his unwanted attentions, she continued on and soon arrived at the edge of the encampment. Scanning the horizon, she found that the big dope had told the truth. There was nothing out there but sand. What if she was at the wrong end of the camp? Without a word, she turned and marched forward,
longing to catch a single glimpse of her destination.

With Lothar still at her heels, Jade’s
unwavering resolve burned in her belly. She stormed past a row of tents and several small brick structures. Some were decorated with tarps and awnings. Others had
faded, thickly carpeted pathways leading to their doors. Stone water troughs butted up against some of the structures, and a few palms stood like sentinels along the trail.

At the end of the sandy pathway, she came upon a tall fence. The sturdy wood frame supported a thick burlap curtain. Feeling her way along the barrier, she discovered where the fabric over-lapped and poked her head through to the other side. There, at the edge of what appeared to be a pre-dawn sky, a long, dark shadow lay at the horizon, stretching for miles in either direction.

“I take it that’s the oasis?”

“Yes. The Oasis of Anuk-dye. It is where we get our food, our water—it has very fertile ground.”

Jade stood upright when his hand caressed her bottom in emphasis of his words. His hand fell away when she shifted her hip. Her irritation had reached its peak. She was in no mood to
play touching games at the moment, and certainly not with a lug named Lothar. She turned to him, realizing too late that she’d just replaced his view of her posterior with one of her chest. He loomed over her, his hot breath stirred the hair at her temples, and she suppressed a shudder of revulsion. Stamping down her fear, she put on her sweetest voice. “You mentioned another—someone in charge? Would you be so kind as to show me to him?”