“Look at all of these new caverns I’ve discovered,” she said. Her eyes lit with enthusiasm. “But this isn’t the one I was so excited about. There are more, and one deeper in. This is the tunnel I took.” She pointed to her left. “I had to crouch, so it’s likely you’ll have to crawl through.” She eyed him, then the tunnel. “It’s a tight space.”
“I’m certain I’ve been in worse.”
She was right. He did have to crawl. The space was far too small for him to even bend over and walk, so he had to get on his knees and move through it that way. Tiny rocks lining the floor punched into his knees.
“Because this particular cavern is so difficult to get to, I believe that it is quite special. Especially because of the manmade contraption farther back. It does seem as if perhaps someone might be protecting something,” she said brightly. “I, for one, hope it’s fossils.”
They came upon the skeleton, and Graeme, already on his knees, used his position to investigate the remains. He ran his hands along the outer edges of the remaining clothing, looking for anything that would indicate the person’s identity. But he found nothing.
“If I had to guess, based on the type of clothing,” Vanessa said, “this was a man, and he’s been dead for many years. Look at the style here of his shirt.” She pointed, her long fingers pausing over the collar. “Clearly a style long since passed.”
Graeme sat back on his heels. “You surprise me,” he admitted.
“How so?” She looked at him inquisitively.
“I would not have expected you to care a whit about fashion, let alone pay that close attention to it.” Judging from the clothing he’d seen her wear, she only had an arsenal of practical dresses cut from wool.
“Oh, I don’t care at all.” She waved her hand. “But my mother does, and she has schooled my sisters and me on the intricacies of fashion, both for males and females. A good wife should know how to select a tailor for her husband.”
She was quoting her mother there; on that he’d wager money. Despite her odd interest in the bones of creatures long dead and her decided lack of delicate sensibilities around dead bodies, Vanessa had obviously been raised a gentlewoman. She had all the knowledge and skills to make her the perfect duchess. His perfect bride. On the other hand, whether or not he had what it took to become an ideal husband was still very much up for debate.
Graeme glanced back at the body and found her assessment to be true. He’d seen his own father wear a shirt with a similar cut, but his father had been dead for nearly ten years.
“I don’t believe this man is going to offer any further assistance to us,” he said.
“Shall we continue, then?”
Graeme nodded and motioned for her to move farther into the tunnel.
“It’s right up this way,” she said.
The area opened slightly, enough that Graeme was able to stand and move his arms freely.
She was right. This cavern was spectacular, formed and shaped by water flowing in and out. Their damp, cold surroundings seemed untouched by man. Vanessa immediately went about exploring. She walked slowly, holding her lantern just so as she scrutinized the cavern walls.
“Be careful,” Graeme said. The small puddles around his feet sat stagnant, but as he moved forward, they rippled around his boots. There was something almost familiar about the cavern with its many stalactites and stalagmites. Not that he hadn’t seen such shapes before. Hell, he’d been intimately acquainted with one earlier that day. The two stitches in his arm still pinched where his skin had been pulled tight to close the wound.
It was something else that called to him. A certain recognition felt deep in his gut. There was a passage in The Magi’s Book of Wisdom that immediately came to mind: The three guard the secret, and swords from above point the way. He’d never known precisely what those words had meant, and it seemed odd that he’d think of them now, but looking straight in front of him he knew why.
Hunkered in the darkness, three large stalagmites stood looking very much like monks wearing their tunics and hoods. Directly above the formations, sharp stalactites pointed down at the cavern floor, almost illuminating the area nestled at the would-be men’s feet.
Perhaps he was imagining things. Perhaps he’d searched for the damned thing for so long that his mind conjured clues where there was nothing to be found. But he’d followed lesser hunches. He fell to his knees and felt around the base of the largest stalagmite, the center of the three. Chilled mud oozed around his fingers as he explored.
“Graeme?” Vanessa asked from behind him. “Whatever are you doing on the ground?”
“Looking for something,” he said.
“Indeed.” And then she was at his side, on her own knees.
The additional light from the lantern better illuminated the entire area. More than ever, the formations before him resembled three men, and above, the sharp tips reaching down toward him appeared swordlike. With renewed effort he dug through the mud.
“Whatever are you searching for?” she asked, her voice breathless with excitement.
“A medallion.” He laughed. “It’s probably a futile quest, but something about this area seemed right.”
His fingers moved through the mud and water searching for anything that felt out of place. He searched all over in front of the three figures, but found nothing unusual. “It’s a decoder,” he found himself saying. “For The Magi’s Book of Wisdom.”
“That handwritten bit in the back of the book,” she said.
