Another cold breeze rolled through the center of the town, kicking up dust along the way. Dark clouds were beginning to sneak up from the west. While the southern part of Armenia and eastern Turkey didn’t usually experience drastically cold temperatures, there were times when the weather could reach some extremes. Snowfall wasn’t a typical thing. But as cold as the air was, Sean wondered if the approaching storm might bring some precipitation.
The bigger problem was that if Firth was right, and the sword sculpture was a type of sun dial, they would be up a creek without a paddle if the clouds covered up the source of light. They needed to figure out the direction, and quickly. Otherwise, hours could be lost, maybe even days. That was something they couldn’t afford.
Sean closed the picture out and pulled up his Google maps app. He entered the location and zoomed into the center of the city where they were currently standing. He twisted the overhead view a little and zoomed back out, peering with narrow eyes at the image.
“What are you looking for?” Adriana asked. Firth had moved over to where the other three were huddled around Sean’s phone and tried to lean in to see what he was doing.
“A road, a path, a trail, anything leading out of the town that could coincide with the line that leads into the mountains.” He pointed at the screen. “The problem is there are several roads that lead out of the town, heading into the mountains. It could be any of them.”
Adriana’s face crinkled slightly as she considered the problem. “What if the direction we should take is still part of the clue, the one about the righteous?”
Sean shot her a quick grin. “Could be. But how does it relate?”
“Before, it had to do with kneeling. I doubt there is another map hidden under this dirt, though,” she traced a finger around the area circling the monument. “It would have been found long ago. Or it might have even washed away after being exposed to the elements.”
“So, what could it be?” Jabez wondered.
Adriana began slowly moving around the sculpture, staring at it as she spoke. “Muslims are required to pray at certain times of the day. In the ancient times, the Judaic ancestors of Abraham kept a similar tradition. There was a time for morning and afternoon prayers, while the sun was still up, nearing the end of its journey across the sky.” Sean nodded as she spoke. He was beginning to see where this was going. “It is estimated that the afternoon prayers took place around five 0’clock. If we assume the sun would be at that point,” she extended a finger into an empty place in the sky, “the shadow would be cast across the ground in that direction.” She pointed at the sword, but her eyes were gazing beyond, into the high mountains outside the city.
Sean checked the direction she indicated then got back his phone to see if where she was pointing had any discernible paths. There was one faint outline of a dirt road that trailed away from the town and wound its way into the Mountains.
He looked up from the screen and smiled. “I think you did it,” he praised. “I’m pretty sure this is our road.”
Jabez and Firth peeked over his shoulder at where he was indicating on the screen.
“Pretty sure?” Firth returned to his dubious self. “If we are going into those mountains, I would hope that you are a better than pretty sure.” He crossed his arms again and cocked his head to the side.
Sean slipped his phone back into his pocket. There was “It’s the only way that makes sense,” he responded as patiently as possible.
“And how far do we go into the mountains? Do we just keep going until we bump into some mythical boat?” The Englishman held his arms out to his side. “If it was there in plain sight, other people would have already found it by now. It won’t be that easy.”
For a moment, the only sound that interrupted the silence was the wind blowing across the surface of the sword and a through a few of the scraggly trees dotting the tiny park.
Firth had a point, as much as Sean hated to admit it. If ark was sitting in plain sight in the mountains to the north, someone would have already found it. Even if it weren’t obvious, satellites or possibly airplanes would have noticed an anomaly and taken pictures of the ancient vessel.
Adriana interrupted his thoughts. “We need to think about this differently, Professor. If there were a large boat-type structure that came to rest somewhere, years of erosion and decay would have destroyed the entire ship. Correct?”
“Obviously,” he answered emphatically. “Based on the geography, those mountains probably receive most of their rainfall in short bursts. That means flooding. So, after decades and centuries of rotting and decay, the remnants of anything would have surely washed away. If there was something there to begin with.” He added the last part with a little sneer.
The dark clouds in the distance eased a shadow over where the companions stood. Without the warming light of the sun, the temperature seemed to drop about ten degrees. Jabez pulled his cloak tighter around his shoulders.
Adriana nodded in agreement to what Firth had stated. “Your assessment is accurate, Professor. But if there were a structure that large, it still would have left behind a trace of something else.” To this, Firth’s face curled in question.
“What do you mean it would have left something else behind? There is nothing. Even if it was there, it is gone now.”
“Tell me, Professor. Have you ever been to the beach before?”
His face twisted further, clearly confused as to where her line of thought was headed. “Yes. But what does that have to do with anything?”
She set one foot out in front of the other on the loose dirt. The ground sloped slightly downhill running away from the stone sculpture. “When you were at the beach, did you ever walk along the line where the water met the sand?”
His frown couldn’t get any deeper. “Yes. I supposed, so. I’m not much of a beach person, though.” Sean snickered at the last comment.
Adriana ignored his skepticism and continued. “When you walked on the wet sand, did you ever let the water wash up over your feet?”
Firth was now exasperated. He put his hands on his hips and let out a deep sigh. “Look young lady, I don’t know where you are going with this, but I hardly think we have time to be discussing long walks on the beach.”
“I have,” Sean chimed in, answering the question for the grumpy professor.
She smiled over at him. “And what happened when you let the water wash over your feet?”
Sean had to think for a second. He hadn’t been to the beach in a while. Standing there in the cold made him long for it even more. The warmth of the sunshine, the calm sounds of the ocean waves crashing into the beach. Then he remembered.
“Your feet sink a little into the sand. Right? They sink and sand washes up around them. If you stand there long enough, your feet get covered with sand.”
She nodded at him, her grin widening slightly. “Exactly.” Firth crossed his arms, trying desperately to make the connection with what she was talking about to their current predicament. “Now,” Adriana went on, “when you pull your foot out of the sand, what do you have?”
Sean’s face lit up as he realized the answer. What she was saying suddenly made total sense. “A footprint,” he said steadily, trying to contain the epiphany.
“Precisely,” she said pointedly, moving her foot away from its spot on the ground.
The men imagined seeing the footprint in the sand, as they would have on the beach. Professor Firth still wasn’t convinced.
“That theory is fine and all, but a wet footprint in the sand washes away eventually,” he spoke almost as if he were happy to rain on her parade.
Adriana was undaunted, though. She’d overcome more obstacles than a grouchy English archaeologist in her life. And she’d prepared for his argument in the same moments she had come up with the idea.