Ian sucked in a breath as the sword’s handle reflected the late afternoon sun. The hilt was one of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen. It was intricately carved and imbedded with dozens of sparkling gemstones, and at the very end was a silver etching in the shape of a diamond. Ian thought it must be worth a fortune.
Raajhi barked out an order to his nephew before gruffly handing him the sword, and Ian realized that there’d been no greeting shared between Raajhi and Jaaved. Raajhi looked at his nephew with a pronounced scowl of disapproval, but Jaaved took the sword with great care and laid it gently on the corner of the rug before dashing back inside and returning with a cloth and a small jar of ointment. He then squatted down near Thatcher and began rubbing out the tarnish with focused determination.
Ian’s eyes traveled back to Raajhi, and he couldn’t help feeling an intense pang of sadness for Jaaved. The young boy surely didn’t deserve such gruff treatment from his uncle. Jifaar had mentioned that Jaaved’s mother had died. Ian wondered where the boy’s father was.
Thatcher leaned over, pointed at the sword, and spoke in quiet tones to Jaaved, and after he had answered him, Ian leaned around Carl and asked about the sword.
Thatcher eyed Raajhi before responding, making sure they weren’t overheard. “The sword was Jaaved’s father’s before he died in a battle with the Jichmach. It passed to his uncle, who is now head of the tribe.”
Ian nodded, still wondering why Jaaved’s uncle was so cold to him.
Dusk came and the grownups talked on. Luckily for Ian, Carl, and Theo, they mostly spoke in English. When the professor told Raajhi about their encounter with the beast in Larache and about Ian’s hearing two separate howls the night before, Raajhi expressed his concern that he now had not only the Jichmach to worry about, but some giant dangerous beasts as well. “I must go to the camps and get more men for the patrol,” he said. “You should come with us, my father. I would prefer to know you are safe in our camp rather than so far away from my sight.”
The old man smiled patiently at his son. “I cannot, Raajhi. I am nearly done with my commission, and the man will be here before long to collect it.”
Raajhi scowled. “Bah!” he said. “Father, you could bring your crystals and your tools back to the camp and work there. Your patron will find his way to you, and if he doesn’t, then so be it. At least there I know you will be safe.”
“I am safe here, Raajhi,” Jifaar said calmly. “Leave me a gun or two and I will be fine.”
Raajhi sighed heavily. “Stubborn old goat,” he said, but Ian noticed that there was the smallest bit of a smile at the edges of his lips. “As you wish, then. I will leave you three of my men and a rifle for your personal use. As for the rest of you,” he said, turning to look at the six of them, “what the likes of you are doing here so far away from your homeland is of no concern to me. But be warned, this land is not safe for Europeans right now, and it is even less safe for children. While you are on my land, you will be protected, but once you wander off, I cannot be held responsible.”
Ian felt a chill go up his spine. Would they ever be free of danger?
“Thank you for your protection, Raajhi,” the professor answered, “but we have no need to venture far from the lost city. We will make sure to stay close to the ruins, and should anything troubling occur, we shall not hesitate to make our way back downriver.”
Raajhi seemed satisfied. He stood and motioned to a few of his warriors, who came to him and listened while he spoke quietly. Then he took a rifle from the holster on his horse’s saddle and gave it to his father. “My men will guard your home until I can return. Keep safe, my father.”
“You as well, my son,” said Jifaar. With that, Raajhi climbed back onto his great black steed and rode off with his many warriors into the night.
Ian and the others watched them go in silence. As the men crested the third hill and disappeared, Theo reached out and grabbed Ian’s hand. He squeezed it and looked down at her. “You all right?” he asked when he noticed her eyes seemed pinched with worry.
Theo opened her mouth as if to say something, but closed it again as the pounding of horses’ hooves faded into the night. She simply nodded.
Then Ian’s eyes fell on Jaaved, still holding the cloth he’d used to shine his uncle’s sword. Ian hadn’t been able to help noticing the dejected look on Jaaved’s face when his uncle had taken the sword and turned away from the boy without a word. He hadn’t even said goodbye.
Ian leaned over to Jifaar and asked quietly, “Sir?”
“Yes, lad?”
“Why was Raajhi so unkind to Jaaved?”
Jifaar’s eyes sparkled as he looked into Ian’s. “You’re a very observant young man, aren’t you?” he said.
Ian didn’t know how to respond, so he simply shrugged. Jifaar sighed sadly and his eyes moved over to his grandson. “It was Jaaved’s mother,” he said. “Both my sons were in love with her, and who could blame them? She was a beautiful woman with so many gifts. But she chose my eldest son for her husband, and when she died giving birth to Jaaved, well, Raajhi seemed to turn all of his jealousy and anger toward my grandson. And when he took over the tribe, Raajhi sent Jaaved away to Larache to be the servant of that drunken fool at the docks. I believe he did this so as not to be reminded of his broken heart over the loss of his brother and the woman he secretly loved.”
“Forgive me for saying this,” said Ian, “but if Raajhi didn’t want Jaaved near him at the tribe’s camp, why didn’t you tell your son to leave your grandson in your care here?”
Jifaar’s eyes moved over to his house and Ian thought he caught a look of trepidation. The older man’s answer was rather cryptic. “My home is not safe for my grandson right now, Ian. It is better, at least for a little while longer, for Jaaved to be far away from me and my work.”
Ian was about to ask him what he meant, but Jifaar turned away and abruptly changed the subject. “Professor,” he said, “I have a spare hammock in my house that would be better for your back than this cold ground. Children, come inside and take up a blanket for yourselves and the men. The nights can get cold here with the wind from the foothills.”
Ian realized that their conversation was finished, and, sighing, he motioned with his head to Carl and Theo, who followed him, Jifaar, and the professor into the wooden shack. Once the professor settled himself in the hammock, they followed Jifaar through a small doorway and into what looked like a workroom. While they waited to be handed blankets, Ian had a chance to gaze around the room. A very long table dominated the space and butted up against the one small window letting in the last rays of the sun, illuminating the house in a lovely orange glow. The rays sparkled off something on the table, which, Ian saw upon further inspection, were dozens and dozens of crystals and colored rocks. Intrigued, he wandered over to the display to have a closer look.
He walked the length of the table, gazing intently at the many rough crystals at one end and the polished stones, pendants, bracelets, and even some chess pieces at the other. “Do you like what you see?” Jifaar asked.
Ian jumped. “I’m sorry, sir,” he said quickly. “I was just curious.”
Jifaar gave him a reassuring pat on the back and handed him a blanket. “It’s all right, Ian. There is no harm in that.”
“They’re very nice,” Ian said appreciatively. “Especially these,” he added, moving all the way down to the end of the table, where there was an ornately beautiful chess set.
Ian was surprised to see that all the pieces were black instead of the traditional black and white, but he noticed that Jifaar had cleverly distinguished the opposing sides in other ways. He’d used gold and rubies on one set of pieces and silver and emeralds on the other. As Ian inspected them, Carl joined him to take a look.
“You like those, eh?” asked Jifaar.
“Oh, yes,” said Ian, but he cocked his head slightly when he noticed Theo standing far away from him, at the other end of the table, with a mighty frown o
n her face. “Come have a look, Theo,” he offered, thinking she was feeling left out.
But Theo shook her head and her eyes drifted to Jifaar, as if he would understand why she didn’t want to move closer to look at the chess set. To Ian’s surprise, Jifaar smiled broadly at her and said, “You can feel their energy, correct?”
Theo nodded. “I’m sorry,” she said, “but there’s something about those pieces that’s … that’s … wicked.”
Carl and Ian shared a look, and Ian could tell that his friend thought Theo was off her nutty again. Carl reached out and gently lifted one of the pieces. “Wicked?” he said, inspecting a rook. “Aw, Theo, they’re harmless. See?” And he held it up and wiggled it back and forth as if to prove to her that the piece was benign.
Ian was surprised again when Jifaar said, “No, no, lad, the lady is correct. That piece you’re holding is deadly wicked.”
Carl smiled, as if Jifaar had just said something funny, but the longer Ian stood next to the chess set, the more he felt something tugging at him. His mind was slowly filling with dark thoughts until, strangely, he was suddenly very angry at Carl. “Put it down!” he snapped, and he tried to grab the piece away from his friend.
Carl looked at Ian in surprise but he held fast to the chess piece. “What’s come over you?” he asked, but in an instant his brows crossed angrily and his lip curled up into a sneer.
“It’s not yours,” Ian said sternly, still trying to pull the rook out of Carl’s hand. “You shouldn’t touch things that don’t belong to you! Or didn’t you learn that from your dear dead mum?” Ian heard Theo gasp, and somewhere in the back of his mind he knew he’d just said something unforgivable, but he couldn’t seem to control himself.
Carl tugged back on the rook, his fingers firmly gripping it while his other hand curled into a fist. “You take that back!” he yelled, his face contorted in rage.
“Will not!” said Ian stubbornly, and he felt his own hand curl into a fist. He was aware that he and Carl were on the verge of physical violence as anger seemed to be welling within him and he knew he’d lost all ability to see reason.
But before the boys could exchange blows, Jifaar’s bulk was in the middle of them, pushing them apart. When they were separated, the older man carefully lifted the rook out of Carl’s hand and set it gingerly back onto the table. He then scooted both boys down the length of the long table to the other end, near Theo.
After just a few steps, Ian noticed that the intense feelings of anger seemed to evaporate from him, and when he came to a stop next to Theo, he looked at Carl in astonishment. “I’m sorry!” he gasped. “I didn’t mean that about your mum!”
Carl too looked surprised. “No,” he said. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have touched it without permission.”
Jifaar sighed as he regarded both of them; then he reached out and pulled a stool close to sit down. Ian waited tensely for the reprimand he was sure would follow, but instead, Jifaar shocked him by saying, “You two are not to blame for your outburst.”
“It’s the chess pieces,” interrupted Theo, and her eyes were pinned on the beautiful set across the room. “They’re evil.”
Jifaar nodded somberly. “To most observers, that chess set is like any other, save for the artistic beauty, of course.” Ian couldn’t tell if Jifaar had just made a joke, so he kept his face neutral and let the man explain. “But the pieces are not just polished crystal. No, they are something much more than that.”
“What are they made of?” Ian asked. He had guessed they might be carved out of ebony.
“They are made of one of the rarest crystals on earth, something known as Gorgonite—often called the Devil’s Stone.”
Ian shivered and he noticed Carl’s eyes growing wide before Carl gasped, “Did you say Gorgonite?”
“Yes,” said Jifaar, clearly not understanding why that might mean so much to the three of them. “And its more common name, Devil’s Stone, is an apt name indeed, as you and your friend Ian here just experienced.”
Ian’s eyes moved back to the chess pieces. His heart was thumping. The coincidence between the name of the crystal and that of the underworld god could not be dismissed, but he waited to hear more.
“Gorgonite,” said Jifaar, “is a crystal born of the most violent of volcanic eruptions, and it is usually found in the bottom of the crater of a dead volcano. Not more than a few ounces are ever discovered in one crater. Those pieces, in fact, were mined from no fewer than seven different extinct volcanoes, and I’ve had to be very careful in polishing their shapes to make sure no excess went to waste.”
“But what happened when we touched them?” asked Ian. “I mean, why did Carl and I become so angry?”
“All crystals have certain powers associated with them,” Jifaar explained, just as the professor had back in London. “Your friend Theo here is acutely sensitive to their powers, which does not surprise me, as she has the gift of sight and is probably more receptive to their energy.”
Ian thought about the crystal necklace he was keeping for her, and subconsciously put his hand into his pocket to touch the gem. It was warm and he was surprised to discover that he felt a calmness settle in him. It was a stark contrast to what he’d felt by the chess set.
“Some crystals are subtle,” Jifaar was saying, “like this blue fluorite over here.” He picked up a blue heart-shaped pendant and handed it to Theo. “If you hold that long enough,” he said to her, “you might feel calm and relaxed and there will be an orderliness to the way you think things through. But this piece over here,” he said, removing the fluorite and handing her a ring with a fiery red crystal on top, “this is vanadinite and it will cause your mind to go blank, as if you’re in a nice fluffy dream. Concentration will be difficult, and you may even lose track of time.”
As Ian watched, Theo did seem to develop a blank look on her face and she blinked at Jifaar a few times as if she were having trouble understanding him. He laughed and lifted the ring out of her hand.
“Blimey,” said Carl, who’d been watching Theo intently. “What else can you put in her hand?”
Ian reacted without thinking. He lifted the crystal necklace out of his pocket and offered it to Jifaar. “This makes her see things she doesn’t want to see,” he said, hoping the old man could explain why.
Jifaar’s eyes lit up as he gazed at the crystal in Ian’s hand. “You brought it along?” asked Theo, and Ian realized she was shocked to see he’d had it in his pocket all this time.
“Yes,” he said. “I’ve had it with me every day save the first time we went to London.”
“By Allah!” said Jifaar as he lifted the white gem out of Ian’s palm and held it up to the window. “Wherever did you come across this?”
“It was my mum’s,” said Theo. “She left it for me before she died, only, like Ian said, I have trouble with my visions when I’m wearing it.”
Jifaar dangled the crystal in the rays of the setting sun and Ian could see that pink essence in the middle of the white stone warm and brighten before their eyes. “Is it turning pink?” asked Carl, squinting up at the stone.
“It is,” said Jifaar, and he placed the crystal in Theo’s palm. “What you have there, young lady, is also one of the rarest gems on earth. It is called Zeusite, or the Eye of Zeus. It is found only at the top of the tallest mountains, and I know of but a handful of very wealthy people who could afford a piece as large as the one you have here.”
“Crikey!” said Ian and Carl together, and they looked at each other and smiled.
Theo held the crystal in her palm nervously, and Ian knew she was afraid she’d start having visions again. “It makes her see terrible things,” he said, holding out his hand so that she could give it to him again for safekeeping.
But before Theo could hand it back to him, Jifaar reached over to the table to retrieve a beautiful bracelet of blue and white stones. “Here,” he said gently as he wrapped her wrist with the bracelet. “This will help temper the Zeu
site until you can gain more control over your visions.”
Theo gazed at her new bracelet with awe. “Thank you, sir, but we haven’t any money to pay you,” she said.
“Then it is my gift to you,” said Jifaar with a kind smile.
“Why does the Zeusite make her visions so intense?” Ian asked, still curious about its effect on her.
“The Eye of Zeus is a powerful crystal indeed. It can bring out the true goodness and talent of the individual. It is most useful to those like you, Theo, who are gifted with sight. It can enhance the range of your abilities and make you all-seeing, but the images will be difficult to control until you’ve mastered the temperament of the stone. I imagine that you won’t like the idea of wearing the stone, but the more you do, the more you’ll familiarize yourself with it, and soon, you and the crystal will become like one. The longer you wear it, the more it will take on a pinkish hue.” Jifaar pointed to the Zeusite’s pink center. “It is also something that repels evil, so it is useful to wear as a good-luck charm.”
“Whoa,” said Carl.
Jifaar nodded and his eyes moved down to the end of the table, where the chess pieces were. “How interesting that within my humble house we have the two most powerful gemstones in all the world,” he said.
“You were going to tell us about those chess pieces?” Ian reminded him.
Jifaar crossed his arms over his wide belly and got back to his story. “Just like the Eye of Zeus can bring out the best in someone, the Devil’s Stone can bring out the very worst,” he said. “It can reach into your soul and pull out the darkest part of you. It will enhance your anger and make you do and say things you’d never think of without its influence.”
“It sounds awful,” said Theo, fingering her new bracelet.
“Oh, it is,” Jifaar assured her. “Devil’s Stone radiates conflict and impurity. It was created through violence, the birth of a volcanic eruption, and it thus craves a constant return to that violence.” Ian turned to look pensively at the chess set. He wished he’d never gone near it.