They sat on the red tile floor and Purcell broke out the maps. He told Gann, “We’ve flown over this area west of the road, on our way to and from Gondar, but as you know, we were not doing an aerial recon of this area. From what I remember, however, this is thick jungle, not much different from the area east of the road.” He added, “This map seems to confirm that.”
Gann glanced at the map. “Yes, this whole area south of Tana is carpeted with dense growth.”
Mercado asked him, “Do you remember any of that terrain from when you were here in ’41?”
“I’m afraid not. We pushed up from the road and avoided the jungle.” He explained, “The Italian Army, too, avoided the jungle and kept mostly to the roads and the towns. When we took Gondar from them, they retreated into the hills and mountains to the north, not to the jungle.” He asked Mercado, “Did you experience the pleasure of jungle warfare when you were here?”
Mercado replied, “I was an army war correspondent.” He confessed, “I fought mostly in the bars and brothels.”
Vivian laughed, Gann smiled, and Purcell was afraid that Henry and Edmund were on the verge of swapping Gondar 1941 war stories, trying to discover if they knew the same bartenders and prostitutes, so he changed the subject and said, “What I do recall from our flyovers was that there was some high terrain to the west of here — what looked like rocky ridgelines coming through the treetops.”
Gann nodded. “Two of the three obsidian quarries I’ve identified from speaking to the people in Shoan are west of here.” He informed them, “The villagers still visit the quarries for small pieces of obsidian to use for carvings or house ornamentation.”
Vivian asked, “Could you find the quarries?”
“I have a general idea where they are.”
Mercado asked, “And you think the black monastery could be in proximity to these quarries?”
Gann replied, “Perhaps.” He pointed out, “We don’t have much else to go on.”
Purcell looked at Gann and asked, “Is it possible that Miriam said something to you, which if you thought about it…?”
Gann considered the unfinished question, then replied, “The villagers who went out to meet the monks would always return with sacks of carved obsidian, which they would take to Gondar for sale.” He explained, “Crosses, saints, chalices… occasionally a Star of David, and now and then a carving of Saint George Cathedral in Addis.”
Purcell informed him, “Vivian almost bought one of those in Rome.”
Gann smiled and said to her, “You should have bought the one with the map etched on the bottom.”
“I wish I’d known.”
Mercado said, “So what you’re saying is that you think the monks carved these objects and gave them to the villagers in exchange for provisions.”
“It would seem so.” He asked rhetorically, “What else do monks have to do all day?”
Pray and drink, Purcell thought. He said to everyone, “Well, it seems that this quest has taken on some of the aspects of Arthur’s knights running around without a map or a clue looking for the Grail Castle.”
Gann replied, “They actually found it, you know.”
Purcell pointed out, “There are no jungles in England.”
Vivian glanced at Purcell and said, “If we are meant to find it, we will find it. If we are not, we will not.”
“Right.” Purcell asked, “If the monks’ sandals and candles have been cut off from Shoan, how long do you think these monks are going to last in the black monastery?”
“Good question,” Gann replied. “I believe the monks are fairly self-sufficient in regards to food, though the villagers of Shoan would always bring something that the monks didn’t have. Wine, of course, but also grain for bread.” He surmised, “I don’t think there would be a lot of grain grown in the monastery or surrounding rain forest. So they will soon be needing their daily bread.”
Purcell suggested, “I’d think a single loaf would do, and one fish.”
Gann smiled.
Mercado asked Gann, “Where do you think these monks come from? I assume they don’t reproduce there.”
Gann replied, “No, they don’t. All gentlemen, as far as I know.” He told them, “It’s my understanding that the monks are chosen from monasteries all over Ethiopia. They understand that if they go to the black monastery, they will never leave there.” He reminded them, “Like the Atang who guards the Ark of the Covenant in Axum.” He concluded, “It’s a job for life.”
Purcell said, “I have two observations about Ethiopia. One is that this place has been caught in a time warp, and the other is that with the emperor gone, they are free-falling into the twentieth century, and not ready for the landing.”
“Perhaps.”
He asked Gann, “What has drawn you to this place? I mean, aside from your princess.”
Gann smiled, then replied, “It gets into your blood.”
Purcell looked at Mercado, who said, “It is the most blessed and most cursed land I have ever been in.” He added, “It has biblical magnificence, complete with an apocalyptic sense of doom.” He concluded, “I hate the place. But I would come back.”
“Send me a postcard.” Purcell returned to the earlier subject and said, “I think time is running out for the monks of the black monastery. They, unfortunately, can’t multiply the loaves and fishes, and history in the form of General Getachu is breathing down their burnooses. I would not be surprised if they are already gone, but if they’re not, they will be soon.”
Everyone agreed with that, and Mercado said, “I would be content with just finding the black monastery.”
Vivian said, “I would not.”
They looked at the map in the fading light as they ate some bread and dates, and Gann asked, “Do you know how long the priest was marched from the black monastery to his fortress prison by the soldiers of Prince Theodore?”
Mercado replied, “As I mentioned, the priest did not comment on it, so I’m assuming it was a day or two’s march.”
“All right. We now know that the travel time from here to the fortress is at most four hours. Therefore, let’s say the monastery is no more than a day’s march west of here. In open country, or on a good trail, either of which would be known by the soldiers, that would be… let’s say a ten-hour march at a brisk pace of four K an hour, will give us forty K to the monastery.”
Vivian reminded them, “The monks brought Father Armano to the soldiers. The soldiers were not at the monastery.”
“Quite right. And we don’t know where the soldiers were in relation to the monastery. But let’s use fifty K total.” He drew a half circle on the map, with the center of the radius starting at the spa and ending at the road. “There we are.” He asked, “What is that formula to find the area of a circle?”
There was an embarrassed silence, then Mercado said, “If that were a rectangle and not a half circle, it would be five thousand square kilometers… so if we nip off the curved part of the semicircle, it would be about… let’s say, four thousand square kilometers… give or take.”
“All right.” Gann stared at the map. “That’s a good amount of territory to be walking.”
Purcell suggested, “It’s not really the square kilometers that are important. It’s the trails and the few clues we have, including maybe the quarries, that will determine where we look.”
“Quite right,” Gann agreed. “And we can’t be sure that the priest was marched for only one day. It could have been two.”