Chapter Ten
The Gemma Regina

Alex and John stood beside the obelisk, the archaeologist pushing her long bangs out of her eyes as she watched the second hand tick.

“You know, ancient people didn’t tell time the same way we do, Alex.”

“No, they didn’t. But every culture understands that there is a time when the sun is almost directly overhead. We understand that time as noon, so we’re going to wait.”

John dropped himself onto the nearest step. He’d had to help Alex back up the stairs so they could wait for noon, but it had taken far less time to get to the top than expected, and they were counting minutes rather than seconds.

“It’s almost time.” Excitement crept into Alex’s voice.

“You realize that the door really is obvious.” John loosened his tie, already starting to feel the day warm up.

“Yes, but I’m also sure the architect of this temple likes to play games with people’s lives. I’m willing to wait and be certain.”

“Great, your injuries have finally taken that headstrong edge off of you,” the businessman muttered.

Alex didn’t even look up from her watch, “What was that?”

“Nothing.” She honestly hadn’t heard him, but she smirked at the knowledge it was a biting retort.

She looked at the monolithic shadow again. It was too far from either door to be able to reach either in the next minute and a half. If she could have put weight on her ankle, she would have bounced, if for no other reason than to dispel some of her pent-up energy. As it was, she leaned against the obelisk’s base and waited. Another minute passed. John rejoined her in time to watch the shadow creep ever closer to the far-right door, but as noon arrived, the shadow remained along the wall.

“What?” John demanded. “The professor tricked us! I wonder if putting back the necklace really-”

Alex made a shushing noise. She tried to decide if this was as good an indication as they would get. Her eyes drifted back to the watch face, where she noticed small letters next to the digital numbers: DDT. “Of course,” she whispered.

“What now?” John hadn’t anticipated his partner’s calm reaction to the shadow’s movements, and he certainly hadn’t expected her to find something useful in this.

“It’s not noon.”

He checked his own watch. “No, it’s a couple of minutes after noon.”

“No, it’s an hour before zenith.” John was now convinced Alex had lost her mind. She shoved her watch in his face, “Look!”

His eyes slowly refocused on the watch face, where he read the same thing Alex had only moments earlier. “Oh.”

“Right. Daylight Savings Time is a modern convention. The Ancalites know no more about it than they would know what a car is.”

“So, what you’re saying is...”

“We have to wait another hour.” Alex let her weight drag her down to rest against the obelisk.

“Well, then. I’ll go make us some lunch.”

Alex just chuckled. At least he’ll feel like he has something productive to do.

John gratefully sank into the shadows of the trees that formed the back wall of the camp. The June sun was almost more than he could bear, but he understood that it was well worth it. Alex had already repaired their luck, and now was waiting to recover the real artifact.

He started gathering the components for sandwiches, laying out a production line so he could make food for both himself and Alex. A rustle in the vegetation behind him startled him. By the time he was on his feet and turned around, four large men had surrounded him. He recognized one of them from the Stewarts’ country manor, and could only assume the other three were also in the Brotherhood’s employ.

The one he recognized spoke gruffly, “Keep your hands where I can see them.”

John held his arms out to the side.

“Where is Miss Williams?”

“Not here,” John offered bluntly. He grunted slightly as a pistol butt quickly connected with his cheek.

“Where is she?”

Unable to stop himself, John’s eyes went to the obelisk, wishing he could warn Alex and allow her some time to conceal herself.

The pistol barrel was poked into his chest. He understood and turned slowly. He was going to be forced to march them right up to where his injured companion was waiting. Again, the pistol was pushed against his spine.

“You know, gentlemen. I’m far more cooperative when I’m not being threatened.”

Robbins laughed, a sound that could ruin a soufflé. “Yes, but you might decide to do something foolish, like run away or perhaps call out to Miss Williams.”

There was no denying that logic, but he couldn’t let these thugs reach the obelisk. Alex wouldn’t stand a chance in her current condition. As they approached the stairs, John stole a quick look at his watch. It was five minutes to one. If he could stall them long enough, Alex would be able to check the shadow and vanish into the temple’s shadows.

The first order of business would be to remove the pistol from the equation. The pistol was driven into his back like a cattle prod when they reached the base of the stairs.

“No funny stuff,” Robbins reminded him.

No funny stuff, indeed. Let’s see how funny you think this is. John suddenly drove the blade of his foot at Robbins’ knee, sending the giant man to the ground. The other three got over their shock at seeing their leader howling in pain and advanced on the man. John had no delusions of being able to take on all three at once. He ran to the far side of the staircase, drawing the nearest thug with him. A well-placed series of punches had this thug backing off, grasping his broken ribs as he fought for breath. The next nearest thug took one look at his two downed comrades and slowly started backing off.

John was feeling pretty confident, “If you don’t wish to end up like your friends, then you’ll stay back!” He walked over and picked up Robbins’ gun, using it to keep the thugs even further back. When he was sufficiently convinced they wouldn’t follow him, he turned and ran toward Alex.

Alex was standing again, watching the shadow intently. She’d been watching it for the last hour, nothing else available to entertain her. As expected, the shadow crept steadily toward the far right door. Zenith was only a minute away now. Her excitement was tinged by a concern for John, who still hadn’t returned from making lunch.

“Alex, run!” She limped toward the lower stairwell, trying to see what had John so energized. “Hurry!”

Nervously, she looked at her watch. It was zenith. Her eyes followed the shadow of the obelisk into the temple and gasped. As predicted, the shadow led to the door on the far right, but the sun was at the right angle to make the door appear to be highlighted around its edges.

“Alex, the Brotherhood is here! You have to leave now!”

Pain shot through her leg with every step, but she hobbled through the main room of the temple as quickly as she could. Halfway across, she heard shouts behind her, presumably John trying to warn her further. She moved toward the edge of the room, just in case she was wrong and the Brotherhood had passed him. Ahead of her, the door was no longer trimmed in its golden lighting; that was small comfort.

If the Brotherhood was here, she knew that she had been compromised. They had followed her back here; they might also know how to find the right door. She could only hope the shadows would mask her movements.

John ran into the temple, quickly glancing about for Alex before turning around. He’d made it into the room just ahead of Robbins, and he wanted to be the only thing the brutish man saw when he entered the temple. He could only hope the young woman was already making her way to the treasure, since she was nowhere in sight.

The thug appeared a full minute later, panting heavily. John dropped into an en garde stance. Robbins didn’t even check out the temple before charging the businessman. He threw a punch that John easily deflected. The momentum took him three steps past John, but before he could reorient himself, John delivered a well-placed kick to the man’s kidneys. Over the burly man’s hunched form, he saw Alex enter the doorway.

Good luck, kiddo.

Fortunately, Robbins didn’t see the woman slip out of the main room. He finally straightened, attempting an upward thrust as he came up. John narrowly dodged this attack, but answered it with a series of punches covering his opponent from nose to navel. The enraged thug came at him with a renewed energy and a blood lust in his eyes. The businessman slowly started backing away, hoping he could lure the man out of the temple and give Alex that much more protection.

Alex collapsed as the door closed behind her. Any coherent thought she might have had was pushed out by the pain that threatened to drive her insane. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. When she felt strong enough, she used the wall to pull herself to her feet and took her first look at the room.

It was surprisingly stark. The walls were covered with simple carvings. A table with a pyramid stood in the middle of the room. She slowly limped to the table, pleased to see that her ankle was allowing her to put some weight on it, to see the pyramid flanked by two poles. Five stone disks sat on a middle pole, each disk larger than the one above it.

“Oh, no. The old Tower of Babylon game!”

She remembered playing this game as a little girl. Her father thought it was a good idea to introduce problem solving to her at a young age, and this was one of his favorite puzzles to throw at her. She had yet to defeat this ancient puzzle. Slowly, carefully, she started shifting the disks in accordance with the rules of the game. No disk could rest above a disk smaller in diameter. All of the disks had to end up on one of the outside poles, but she didn’t know which one. She looked around at the carvings, hoping one would give her a clue while wondering what the penalty was for those who moved the disks to the wrong pole. The images around her had no rhyme or reason to them, so she continued trying to work all of the disks to the pole on her right.

When she finally put the smallest disk on the right pole, the room trembled slightly. Remembering the last time she felt a room shake in this building, she gripped the table and hoped against any hope that this wasn’t another bit of bad luck. It crossed her mind to start moving the disks toward the left pole, but the room stopped shaking and a lever emerged from the wall behind the table. Cautiously, she made her way to the lever and pulled it. Stone grated on stone as a door opened beside the lever. Alex peeked in and then tested the floor before walking into it. Given her injury, the last thing she needed was another trap floor.

This floor seemed stable. At its center was a pedestal more ornate than the other one. Alex noticed the room was a bit smaller than the other, but as she walked around the pedestal, she realized it wasn’t really that much smaller. The walls, covered in the same ornate carvings as the pedestal, just felt closer. Alcoves along the wall contained a statue shaped like a woman. She reached out to touch one of them.

“Be careful, Alexandra.”

The woman whirled on her heel. “What...how did you get in here?”

Aurora pushed her lips together in something that vaguely resembled a smile. “We have our ways.”

As she spoke, two other women appeared to step out from the walls themselves. Alex turned around, slowly placing one foot over the other as she surveyed the newcomers. These were the three women who had been randomly appearing over the past couple of months. The cryptic creatures who left her befuddled and confused in a way no one ever had. The women, in turn, looked at her, their faces unreadable. Aurora began chanting in an unfamiliar language. Alex headed for the door, but couldn’t get within a foot of the door. Fighting to keep her stomach from rising into her throat, Alex faced the women who watched her intently.

“Good work, Aurora. Your champion is running away.” Selene clucked.

“I’ve never run from anything in my life!” Alex stood defiantly, trying to ignore that she had just been called a champion. She was barely into her twenties, and nobody’s hero.

Aurora walked over to the platform and traced one tier. “Alexandra, you have been charged with a task.”

“Yes,” the archaeologist acknowledged, “to retrieve an artifact.”

“An artifact rumored to have dangerous side effects for anyone who falls under its will.” Alex nodded. Losing one’s free will was about as bad as it could get in the woman’s book.

Aurora looked to the other two, and they joined her at the pedestal. “The artifact is in this room, but you must find it.”

“A game? All right, I can handle that.” She walked around the room, considering the walls, the statues, and the platform with its ethereal guardians. “But where do I begin?”

“The statues around the room represent six values. You must place the statues onto the pedestal according to their importance. If you are correct, the artifact you seek will be revealed to you.”

“I have to rank them?” Alex looked doubtful, but this puzzle sounded much simpler than the trail of trapped rooms.

“Yes,” the women replied in unison.

The archaeologist looked at the statues, which all looked identical. “What are the values?”

Aurora moved to stand between a pair of statues. “Two of them are justice and courage.”

“And I have to decide which of those is more important on the other?” As she considered the question, she realized that there would be no easy answer. Was it better to be bold, or to be fair? The more she thought about it, the more she realized that it sometimes required courage to be just.

Maybe they were equal.

As a faint smile lit her face, the next woman walked to two more statues.

“Since you appear to have made your decision, consider now my riddle. These two statues represent loyalty and integrity. Which is more important?”

Without a second thought, Alex replied, “I have always thought loyalty and integrity went hand in hand. One is not more important than the other.” Just like justice and courage.

Already, she was starting to worry. Each pair seemed to hold the same importance. How would she unlock the crown’s hiding place if she felt all six values were equal?

She didn’t have long to ponder as Selene took her place between the last two statues. “My pair of statues represent hospitality and honor. Is it not more important to be honorable than hospitable?” Her leading question earned her dark glares from her sisters.

Alex didn’t notice. She was too wrapped up in thinking about all six. She knew that once she decided this pair’s fate, she’d be asked to consider all six together. But neither justice nor courage was more important; the same held true for loyalty and integrity. In her heart, she knew that hospitality and honor were also on equal footing.

None of the values was any more important than the other.

She walked slowly around the room, pleading with the statues to give her some sort of clue, trying to second guess herself and sort the values into some sort of order. With each step, she came to the same inescapable conclusion: the six values were equally important.

Her path led her back toward the door, where she noticed for the first time a large flat shield. She picked it up. As the sisters watched, Alex carefully loaded each statue onto the shield and placed it on top of the platform. It shuddered slightly under the weight and then dropped its sides, revealing a stunning silver crown studded with rubies. She pulled it out and inspected it.

Beyond the platform, the sisters chanted. Once done, they vanished, leaving Alex alone in the chamber with the crown.

She stared at the platform for a moment, feeling confused. It was slowly making sense. The strange visits from these women had been preparing her to deal with this puzzle. How different would this have gone if they hadn’t appeared?

John finally made his way across to the door, entering the tower puzzle room just in time to see Alex limp through the door on the opposite side of the room. He saw something sparkling on her arm, and rushed over to help her.

“The Brotherhood?” she asked, noticing a large bruise on one cheek.

“Out of commission for now. And you?”

She thought about it for a moment. “I’m fine. A bit confused, but fine.” The concerned look on his face made her laugh. “Come on, let’s take this to Dr. Charleston!”

They got no farther than the obelisk.

“Great work, Miss Williams,” a graying gentleman stood at the bottom oft he stairs. “Now, if you would please hand over what belongs to me.”

“You?” John nearly exploded. “What makes you-” Alex put a hand on his arm to quiet him.

A familiar pair of young men approached and took the crown from Alex. The one who strongly favored the arrogant man at the base of the stairs whistled, “It’s beautiful.”

“Westley, bring it here.” Nathaniel Stewart’s patience had worn completely thin. His grandson quickly brought the crown to him, and he laughed, giddy from the thought of the power he would soon control. Alex and John watched in horror as the Brotherhood’s Grand Master put the jewel-encrusted artifact on his head, and then in fascination as the color drained from his face. “It’s a fake!” The man flung the crown at the stairs. “Where is the real artifact?”

John made his way to the discarded artifact, “This is it.”

“No!” the man howled. “It can’t be. It just can’t be!” The man watched as a quest he had devoted far too much of his life to ended with great melancholy.

Embarrassed for the old man, Crispin Dunleavy went to help the most senior Brother away from the temple, but found himself roughly pushed aside.

As the Brotherhood members departed, John brought the crown back to Alex, “This is it, right?” She nodded. “Then we ought to let Meredith know we’re returning home.”

---

John helped Alex into the manor, where the older archaeologist was sitting in the living room sharing tea with Meredith. “Dr. Charleston!”

“Oh, Alexandra! I didn’t hear you come in. Dr. Charleston has been telling the most interesting stories of his adventures as a field archaeologist.” The slight blush on Meredith’s cheeks suggested she had actually enjoyed spending the time with the man.

“How was the countryside?” The professor wore a blush similar to Meredith’s.

“Actually, it wasn’t too bad.”

“And the door?”

John presented the crown to the professor. “The shadow pointed right to the door.”

“It was quite lovely, actually,” Alex agreed, remembering the effect of the obelisk’s shadow across the door.

Robert Charleston took the proffered crown, one of the last remaining artifacts of the people he had dedicated his career to studying. He flipped it over reverently in his hands. “It is something.”

“I am confused by one thing, Professor,” John was replaying the scene at the bottom of the temple stairs in his mind. “Isn’t the artifact supposed to have a special power?”

Dr. Charleston, wearing a grandfatherly grin, placed the crown atop Alex’s head. “Mr. Astori, the Gemma Regina is, as its name implies, the Queen’s Gem. Nothing more. Nothing less. Any powers attributed to it are nothing more than a myth.”

Alex removed the crown from her head, “You’ll be taking it with you, I imagine?”

The professor smiled, “Yes. It’ll stay in my field collection while I study it, and then I’ll donate it and my research notes to the university’s museum.”

Meredith fetched tea cups for Alex and John and the four shared afternoon tea

---

It was late afternoon when Dr. Charleston left, Meredith walking him to the door.

“Well, that was quite the adventure,” John sat with Alex on the bottom step.

“Yes...yes, it was.”

“So now what should we do?”

“I don’t know about you, but I’m going for a swim!”