“I thought that was an admonition to the Moors not to heed the stampede of the horses they had captured in their camp,” said Paul.
“What camp!” Robert exclaimed. “The battle wasn’t even to be fought there in the altered Meridian. And look here, I failed to notice this before, but these various sections of the stela are all separated by solid lines. They’re separate stories,” he said definitively. “Why didn’t I see that before? This bit about the weave is separated from the narrative of the battle above it, and this wavy line here was often used to indicate a journey of the soul through transformation in the afterlife.”
“Then the stela is recording information derived from the original Meridian, as well as the altered one,” said Paul. “The story of the battle comes before the wave, and this other text comes later, after the wave that transforms the soul,” he said.
“The Heisenberg Wave,” said Kelly.
“And look here,” said Nordhausen. Remember this line? ‘Plunder taken… the road becomes the path of Martyrs. For he who would be slain must live…” The whole thing has a double meaning. That line could apply to events in either Meridian. I thought that referred to the death of Abdul Rahman before, but now that we have this new perspective, it could be talking about Lambert! This road leads to his martyrdom, and it’s saying that he must live.”
“It’s the damn horses again,” said Kelly. “They are the Pushpoint in both Meridians.”
“Right,” said Paul. “In our time they could be connected to the commotion in the enemy camp at the battle of Tours causing such confusion that the Saracens break off their attack, and when Abdul Rahman tries to rally his men he is killed. Now, here in the altered Meridian, Dodo is thrown from his saddle by a willful beast and the plot to kill Lambert is foiled.”
“I’m willing to bet the loose twine is the rein on that horse,” Maeve said quietly.
“Just a second,” said Robert. “I missed this symbol before. It changes the meaning of this line slightly.” He was squinting at the hieroglyphics again. “The weave undone… A loose twine… where horses were brought to gather…” But this symbol here at the beginning makes that whole line a command, and imperative phrase. In effect it would be saying you must undo the weave, the twine must be loosened, where the horses were brought to gather. Damn! It’s telling them what to do in the altered Meridian! How could this scribe know this?”
“Easy,” said Kelly. “People were arriving from the future all the time, carrying scrolls, like that fellow you encountered in the desert. It appears that Hamza is creating more than a record of days there,” he concluded. “He’s archiving a record of the interventions the Assassins make at key points on the Meridians. The dual meaning of these hieroglyphics makes that obvious now.”
“Makes sense,” said Paul. “Let’s admit it, we’ve had a little help from the Order as well. They sent back Mr. Graves, and then this LeGrand fellow with similar information on what we needed to do to alter the history.”
“Well we could certainly use a little help now,” said Robert. “I didn’t like the man, to be honest with you, but where’s LeGrand when you need him?”
“I don’t think we can expect any help this time,” said Paul. “Remember, we’re back on the Prime Meridian now, the line of causality that results in the Palma event in our time. That event strikes a blow at contemporary Western history, and most likely severely weakens the Order. Isn’t that what LeGrand told us? They had twenty Arch complexes, but only two remained after the Palma Heisenberg transformation surged forward to their time. The Assassins get the upper hand, which is probably why they are able to plan and execute this complex mission involving all these points on the Meridian aimed at Charles Martel. Now it’s the Order hounded into caves in remote areas of the world. Perhaps they are still holding out. LeGrand did mention they had an Arch that was very well hidden. But Palma casts an enormous shadow on the Meridian now. It was all they could do to send Graves back to us before that first mission, and that was when they had all twenty Arches operating.”
“And he still missed his target date by seven years,” Kelly reminded them. “He had to wait in a Trappist monastery all that time until the night of our first mission.
“So I doubt if they can get through the Shadow now,” Paul concluded. “It’s up to us then. We’re the last line of defense.”
“Alright,” said Robert. “What do we do?”
“We have to make sure Dodo doesn’t get thrown from the saddle and fall on his ass!” Kelly put it bluntly.
“Where?” said Paul. “Does it say where this happened?”
“Just when,” said Kelly. “The night before the battle. Oh, it’s on the road to Lambert’s estate. Listen: ‘At the citadel, where Pippin held court, he did roil in banquet with his sister, then did Dodo depart to carry out his fell deed and slay the Bishop Lambert.’”
“At the citadel? That would have to be some prominent fortification within a day’s ride of Lambert’s Villa,” said Paul.
“Namur is a possibility,” said Kelly. “Wiki says the Romans built a fort there as early as Julius Caesar. The Merovingian’s improved those fortifications considerably. In fact, the place is still called the Citadel today. You can take tours of all the underground caverns and passages there. And I make it no more than 30 to 40 miles to Liège, Lambert’s Villa at Leodium.”
Nordhausen was looking at the history and quickly had another possible solution. “And there’s also—”
“So Dodo must have stopped for the night somewhere on the old Roman road between the Citadel at Namur and the Villa,” said Paul.
“But it could have been anywhere,” said Robert. “I was going to say that Pippin’s stronghold was at Heristal, just 16 miles north of Lambert’s villa.”
“Well, that’s much closer,” Kelly piped in.
“Probably Heristal, then,” said Maeve. “Does it say where this accident happened?”
“It says it was at a farm.” Kelly put in. “But there’s nothing more specific in this chronicle. If you assume he needed to freshen his mount, then a farm would make sense. They’d have animals.”
“Lord,” Nordhausen breathed. “How can we work up a breaching point with this? At least the location of the battle of Tours was fairly well surmised. But Dodo could have stopped anywhere, on that road, and that’s a lot of ground to cover on foot. Particularly in these shoes,” he pointed. “They’re still a size small, Maeve.”
“Right,” said Maeve. “So don’t worry, Robert, you won’t have to walk, because you aren’t going anywhere.”
“What do you mean? I’m scheduled for the next reconnaissance. We’ve already decided it.”
“Things have changed,” said Maeve. “I’ll have to go in your place.”
“You?” Robert gave her a bemused smile. “Why you couldn’t walk that distance either.”
“I won’t be walking,” Maeve said calmly. “I’ll be riding.”
Chapter 15
“Riding?” said Nordhausen. “Are you daft, woman? Riding what?” Nordhausen was quite perturbed. He had been all set for a look at the 8th century and, true to form, his old nemesis, Maeve, was mucking up the brew.
“Riding a horse,” Maeve said quickly. “I can’t very well take a motorbike through, can I?”
“A horse?”
“I’ve kept and ridden horses all my life, Robert. I’ll find something close to the breaching point. You can set me down somewhere on the road. I’ll ride south toward Lambert’s villa.” She folded her arms, ready for a fight that she was determined to win.