The Granite Key (Arkana Mysteries) (32 page)

“Yes,”
Griffin
chimed in. “Given the lead we’ll establish with the first relic, there’s no reason why we can’t stay several steps ahead of the Nephilim in retrieving the other four. They’ll never discover the Arkana’s involvement at all. Let the Diviner have his forgeries and welcome to them.”

 
“We will have to plan our strategy carefully,” the old woman murmured half to herself. “Forgeries, substitutions. This may require the full resources of the Arkana if we’re to orchestrate it correctly.” Then she lapsed into silence.

The other three gazed at her eagerly, waiting for her to say something more. She remained silent for several minutes, lost in thought.

The trio looked at one another, not sure if they should tiptoe quietly out of the garden and come back another day but then the old woman roused herself from her reverie. “Yes,” she said decisively. “Yes, I believe this is a workable plan.”

She gave them each a probing look in turn. “My dears, you are about to play a very dangerous game. You should understand the risks.”

“You don’t need to tell us,” Cassie said in a rueful tone. “We already caught the preview.”

 
“Of course we can’t go anywhere just yet,”
Griffin
interjected. “There’s still the small matter of interpreting the second line of code.”

“Any chance our friends will figure it out first?” Erik asked warily.

“Unlikely,” the Scrivener replied. “And even if they did, it wouldn’t change the fact that they would be searching the wrong mountaintop in the wrong country.”

 
“Before we get cracking on cracking any more codes, I need to get a few hours of beauty sleep. I want to be well-rested for the next time I’m in mortal danger,” Cassie observed.

“I need to get in touch with some of my Turkish contacts. This isn’t gonna be a walk in the park,” Erik admitted.

Faye looked around searchingly at her guests. “Judging from your comments, I take it you’re all up to the task?”

The trio exchanged glances. A wordless message seemed to fly from one to the next.

Cassie laughed and decided to translate for the group. “I think I speak for all of us when I say try and stop us.”

Chapter 45
– The Key To The Kingdom

Abraham retreated to his prayer closet for a few moments’ reflection at the end of a very long but very satisfying day. So much welcome news. Daniel had discovered the whereabouts of the first relic and the thieves who coveted the artifacts had been dealt with. He could see the hand of
Providence
in all these things. God surely smiled on his efforts.

He walked over to the locked cabinets that lined the wall. His hands mechanically performed a task he had done a thousand times before. A task so familiar that he could go through the motions with his eyes closed. He unlocked the middle cabinet and withdrew a leather-bound volume of Diviner prophecies. The pages were worn. The prophecies it contained were over a hundred years old but he knew they referred to him just as surely as if the Diviner who gave the prediction was standing in the room and pointing at him, speaking his destiny.

When Metcalf had first ascended to the position of Diviner, he followed the traditions of his predecessors. As their founder Jedediah Proctor had ordained, they were to live blameless lives apart from the Fallen and await the end of days. It was not until he began perusing the divinely-inspired prophecies of his forebears that he felt this course of action to be a grave error. God had decreed an entirely different plan for the Blessed Nephilim. They were not to wait meekly for the end times. They were to bring them about. It was clear that God had grown tired of human folly. He had chosen his servant Abraham to cleanse the world of the Fallen abomination and replace it with a godly
kingdom
of
Blessed Nephilim
. The first time Metcalf had read that prophecy, it sent chills down his spine. The words could not possibly refer to anyone else but him. It was as if God, himself, were whispering in his ear and he would not fail his master.

He imagined how sweet the day of his ultimate triumph would be. The day when he was finally called to his master’s side, his work on earth completed. God would look upon him with favor and announce to all the heavenly host that Abraham was his good and faithful servant. He would raise Metcalf above the rank of the archangels. They would kneel before him. The Lord Jesus would take him by the hand and call him brother.

Metcalf returned to the present moment. There was work yet to be done before that joyful day arrived. He understood God’s plan for him with fierce clarity and a renewed sense of purpose. Now nothing stood in the way of its fulfillment.

He opened the volume of prophecies to a familiar page and read the words aloud though he knew them by heart:

“And in the end times shall arise a mighty leader. He shall rule the Blessed Nephilim and set their feet upon the path of righteousness. His name shall be called Abraham for he shall be the father of his people as it was in the beginning. And he shall cleanse the world with pestilence and plague. He shall grind the Fallen to dust beneath his feet. But let him be mindful of the Bones Of The Mother. For whosoever shall lay hands on them will claim the Sage Stone and receive the power to change the world forever.”

He kissed the volume reverently and placed it back on the shelf, locking the cabinet afterward.

“In hoc signo vinces. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done,” he said.

THE END

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The treasure hunt and cast of characters in this series are purely fictional but the underlying historical assumptions are based on new theories about our distant past. I am indebted to the authors listed below for having the courage to challenge cultural beliefs which we’ve accepted without question for far too many generations. I would encourage readers who want to delve more deeply into those topics to have a look at the works cited in the bibliography.

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barnes, Craig S.
In Search of the Lost Feminine: Decoding the Myths That Radically Reshaped Civilization
. Golden, CO: Fulcrum Publishing, 2006.
Biaggi, Cristina, ed.
The Rule of Mars:
Readings
on the Origins, History and Impact of Patriarchy
.
Manchester
,
CT
: Knowledge, Ideas & Trends, 2006.

Davis-Kimball, Jeannine.
Warrior Women: An Archaeologist's Search for History's Hidden Heroines
.
New York
: Grand Central Publishing, 2003.
DeMeo, James.
Saharasia: The 4000 BCE Origins of Child Abuse, Sex-Repression, Warfare and Social Violence, In the Deserts of the
Old World
. 2
^nd
Edition.
Ashland
,
OR
: Natural Energy Works, 2006.

Eisler, Riane.
The Chalice And The Blade
.
New York
: Harper & Row, 1988.

Fagan, Brian.
The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization
.
New York
: Basic Books, 2003.

Gadon, Elinor W.
The Once & Future Goddess
.
San Francisco
: Harper
San Francisco
, 1989.

Gimbutas, Marija.
The Civilization of the Goddess: The World of Old
Europe
.
San Francisco
: Harper
San Francisco
, 1991.

__________
 
The Gods and Goddesses of Old
Europe
, 7000-3500 B.C. Myths, Legends, Cult Images
.
London
: Thames and
Hudson
, 1974.

__________
 
The Language of the Goddess
.
San Francisco
: Harper & Row, 1989.

__________
 
The Living Goddesses
. edited and supplemented by Miriam Robbins Dexter.
Berkeley
:
University
of
California
Press, 1999.

Lerner, Gerda.
The Creation of Feminist Consciousness: From the Middle Ages to Eighteen-Seventy
.
New York
:
Oxford
University
Press, 1994.

__________
 
The Creation of Patriarchy
.
New York
:
Oxford
University
Press, 1987.

Miles, Rosalind.
Who Cooked the Last Supper: The Women's History of the World
.
New York
: Three Rivers Press; 2001.

Morgan, Elaine.
The Descent of Woman: The Classic Study of Evolution
.
London
,
UK
: Souvenir Press, 2001.

Naranjo, Claudio.
Healing Civilization
.
Nevada City
,
CA
: Gateways Books & Tapes, 2010.

Ryan, William and Walter Pitman.
Noah's Flood: The New Scientific Discoveries About The Event That Changed History
.
New York
: Simon & Schuster; 2000.

Sanday, Peggy Reeves.
Female Power and Male Dominance: On the Origins of Sexual Inequality
.
New York
:
Cambridge
University
Press, 1981.

__________
 
Women at the Center: Life in a Modern Matriarchy
.
New York
:
Cornell
University
Press, 2004.

Sjoo, Monica.
The Great Cosmic Mother: Rediscovering The Religion of the Earth
.
New York
: HarperOne, 1987.

Stone, Merlin.
When God Was A Woman
.
New York
: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978

__________
 
Ancient Mirrors of Womanhood
.
Boston
: Beacon Press, 1984.

AUTHOR BIO

"There's a 52% chance that the next Dan Brown will be a woman ... or should we just make that 100% now?" --Kindle Nation

Nancy Wikarski is a fugitive from academia. After earning her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, she became a computer consultant and then turned to mystery and historical fiction writing. Her short stories have appeared in Futures Magazine and DIME Anthology, while her book reviews have been featured in Murder: Past Tense and Deadly Pleasures.

She has written the Gilded Age Mystery series set in 1890s Chicago. Titles include The Fall Of White City (2002) and Shrouded In Thought (2005). The series has received People's Choice Award nominations for best first novel and best historical. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America and has served as vice president of Sisters In Crime - Twin Cities and on the programming board of the Chicago chapter.

She is currently writing the seven book Arkana Mystery series. Her work on the Arkana volumes has prompted Kindle Nation to call her one of its favorite authors.

BOOKS BY N. S. WIKARSKI
Amazon links for all books listed below can be found on my
Amazon Author Central Page
.

The Fall Of White City (Gilded Age Mysteries #1)
A socialite stalks a murderer against the backdrop of the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.
 
Shrouded In Thought (Gilded Age Mysteries #2)
A drowned factory girl provokes a labor riot during the Pullman Strike of 1894.
 
The Granite Key (Arkana Mysteries #1)
The murder of a shopkeeper over a stone artifact known as the granite key sparks a 3,000 year old treasure hunt.
The Mountain Mother Cipher (Arkana Mysteries #2)
When clues to the Bones Of The Mother lead from Greece to Turkey, the Arkana team struggles to stay one step ahead of its rivals.
The Dragon’s Wing Enigma (Arkana Mysteries #3)
A puzzle in the sky leads the treasure seekers to some unexpected places and unforeseen allies.