The Granite Key (Arkana Mysteries) (26 page)

Chapter 37
– Psychro

The following morning found Cassie and
Griffin
well rested and ready to continue their search. The same could not be said for Erik. He’d arrived late the night before and his surly mood hadn’t improved much after a few hours sleep.

The trio met for breakfast where the Security Coordinator was briefed on everything the other two had discovered. They outlined their plan to search the Lasithi plateau for symbols from the key.

Erik listened in silence during their lengthy summation. When they were done speaking, he nodded curtly. “OK, I’ll rent us a car.”

“Why?”
Griffin
asked in surprise. “
Xenia
drove us around yesterday.”

“No need to bother her. She’s probably got better things to do that chauffeur tourists.”

Cassie opened her mouth to offer a sarcastic retort but
Griffin
laid a warning hand on her forearm. His gesture seemed to imply that locking horns with Erik so early in the day wasn’t a good idea. “We should really go with someone who knows the area,” the Scrivener suggested tactfully. “Someone who speaks the language.”

Erik gave no reply but instead gestured to the waiter. In flawless Greek, he asked for more coffee.

“Show off!” Cassie muttered under her breath.

Grinning impudently at both of them, he explained. “I ran security for quite a few recoveries in this part of the world. Learned to speak like a native and I know my way around the island pretty well. Like I said, I’ll rent us a car.” Without warning he rose and walked out of the dining room.

His companions stared at one another uncertainly.

“Be ready in half an hour,” Erik called over his shoulder. “I’ll pick you up at the front door. And bring jackets. The plateau can get cold in the evening.”

“Nice to see he’s such a team player,” Cassie commented acidly.

“On the contrary,”
Griffin
countered. “I think we just saw his cooperative side.”

***

As promised, Erik arrived at the hotel entrance in a BMW sedan. He insisted that Cassie take the back seat because he said he didn’t want to shout to carry on a conversation with
Griffin
.

“At least he’s decided to talk to one of us,” Cassie thought to herself.

The trip from Heraklion to the plateau was more than fifty miles. For the first half of the journey,
Griffin
and Erik exchanged shop talk about issues back at the vault. Cassie took the opportunity to sightsee, watching as vineyards, orchards and farms drifted past her window.

When she began to feel the car climbing steadily, she knew they were heading up into the mountains. Realizing that they were nearing their destination, she sat forward and tapped
Griffin
on the shoulder. “So tell me about this Lasithi place we’re going to see.”

Griffin
swiveled around in his seat to address her directly while Erik did his best to ignore them both.

“It’s a fascinating bit of geography,” the Scrivener began. “Quite unlike anyplace else on the island. Lasithi is a flat table of land about seven miles wide and four miles long that sits at approximately three thousand feet above sea level.”

Cassie found herself laughing. “It cracks me up how you can rattle off statistics like that. The geeks at your high school probably crowned you Emperor of Greater Nerdonia. How do you carry all that stuff around in your head?”

“I did a great deal of research in preparation for this trip,”
Griffin
said defensively. “It isn’t my fault that I can recall nearly everything I read.” He paused. “Shall I continue or would you like to mock me for a while longer?”

“Go ahead.” Cassie waved him on. “I’m done mocking you for right now.”

The Scrivener gave a martyred sighed. “Very well. Around 1100 BCE, the Dorians invaded
Crete
and began enslaving the local population. Those who were able to do so fled to the plateau. Lasithi is surrounded by peaks on all sides and accessible through only eight mountain passes. Any invaders who wished to conquer the region would have had to arrive through one of those gaps. Although the Minoans set up defenses at each pass, the Dorians never bothered to pursue them this far.

Fortunately, the native population who were now called Eteocretans, or true Cretans, found the plateau quite habitable. Although the altitude makes the climate much chillier than the rest of the island, the farmland is rich and water is plentiful from the spring run-off of mountain snows. To irrigate their farms and orchards, the inhabitants built windmills. Lasithi is sometimes called the land of ten thousand windmills though most of them have fallen into disuse in recent years.”

“I can see one of them now!” Cassie exclaimed, pointing out the rear window.

“Yes, I daresay the one you see carries an advert for the nearest taverna. That’s the march of progress for you.”

During
Griffin
’s lengthy explanation, the BMW had passed from open terrain through a succession of small villages. Erik accelerated as they emerged from yet another one.

Noting his surroundings,
Griffin
commented, “There are about a dozen villages that encircle the plateau. All very quaint and picturesque. Tourism is becoming a more important part of the local economy though the area is still primarily agricultural.”

The Scrivener turned to address Erik. “Do let me know when we reach Psychro.”

“Psycho.” Cassie snickered.

Griffin
gave her an annoyed look. “Now you’re just willfully mispronouncing the name.”

“I can’t help myself. I think it’s funny.”

“We just passed it,” Erik said flatly.

“What!”
Griffin
exclaimed.

“While you two were busy playing Professor Frommer and Miss Giggles, you missed it. The town we just drove through was Psychro. You wanted to go to the cave first anyway, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct,” the Scrivener admitted.

“It’s outside of town up the mountain.” Erik drove a short distance further until the road ended abruptly near a cluster of tavernas and souvenir shops. After parking, he got out of the car and opened the trunk to retrieve a back pack. “From here we walk.”

“Walk where?” Cassie asked.

“I’ve never been to the cave but I believe it’s about a mile up the side of this mountain,”
Griffin
offered brightly.

“A vertical mile!” Cassie gasped. “You don’t have to sound so perky about it.”

They hurried to follow the Security Coordinator who was already moving at a brisk pace up the stony zig zag path.

As they struggled along the steep incline, Cassie kept looking upward, expecting to glimpse the cave mouth. They paused to catch their breaths about a thousand feet above the village on a wide stone shelf that gave them a panoramic view of the plateau and the mountains. Even at the point where they had to stop to buy admission tickets, Cassie still couldn’t spy the cave. A guide offered them lanterns but Erik waved him away.

They resumed their march up the mountain single file and in silence. The trek became automatic, hypnotic, and Cassie found her mind wandering until Erik stopped abruptly and she collided with his back pack.

“We’re here,” he said simply.

“Where? I still don’t see it,” the girl complained.

“That’s because you’re looking up. Look down,”
Griffin
advised.

When Cassie did as he instructed, she saw a forty foot hole in the ground directly below her feet. Far beneath, she could see lights flickering from tourists already inside the cave. The sight made her dizzy and slightly nauseous. “How far down does this thing go?” she asked
Griffin
.

“I believe the depth is about eight hundred feet.”

“Won’t this be fun,” she said tensely. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she could see a winding stairway cut out of the rock wall to her right and a handrail to the left of the stairs.

“How are we supposed to find anything down there?” She felt a sense of despair creep over her.

Erik had removed his back pack and was rummaging around for something. Wordlessly he handed flashlights to his two companions. He managed to make silence sound like a reproach.

“Sorry,”
Griffin
apologized. “It didn’t occur to me to pack a torch. Stupid of me not to have realized we’d need them.”

“Let’s go,” Erik prompted. “Watch your footing.”

The two followed him down the first few stairs.

Cassie felt cool damp air hit her face. After the bright sunlight and dry heat outside, it was as if she’d dived into a pool. Then her feet began to slide sideways. The stairs were slippery from the moisture in the cave. She gripped the handrail tighter and threw her flashlight beam up toward the ceiling. The roof of the cave was rippled with stalactites. It would have been impossible to spot a carving of a lily or a bird or anything else for that matter. The wavy texture played tricks with the eyes. You could imagine any shape you wanted to see in those rock formations.

The trio traveled on in silence until they reached the bottom of the stairs which opened out into a huge chamber.

“This cave has been used as a sacred site since the earliest Minoan settlements on the island,”
Griffin
started to explain. “It was sloppily excavated at the turn of the twentieth century. Sections of the roof had collapsed and then were blasted apart for removal which obviously disturbed layers of strata. This chamber is roughly a hundred feet by fifty feet and in it archaeologists have discovered pottery and votive objects. Things like goddess figurines and small double axes. They also unearthed a large number of libation tables and cups for food offerings. Other offerings, such as animal sacrifices are evidenced by numerous bones from bulls, sheep and goats.”

Cassie swept her flashlight around the chamber, noting even more of the gnarled, twisted stalactites sprouting from the ceiling. “Do you really think we’re going to find any key symbols here?’ she asked bleakly.

Griffin
shrugged. “We have to try. Each of us should take a portion of the chamber and focus on the largest stalactite and stalagmite formations. Those would be the most likely places to find an inscription.”

Erik nodded wordlessly and moved to the opposite end of the chamber. He trained his flashlight on a large stalactite and allowed the beam to travel down its length.

Cassie moved off to the opposite end of the room. She followed Erik’s method by beginning with the upper edges of stalactites and tracing them down. After about ten minutes her eyes began to blur. She started seeing faces and forms in the rock. Quite a few of them looked like Casper the ghost. At least they were friendly. She shook her head to clear away the mirages. Walking back to
Griffin
, she announced, “It’s hopeless. I can’t find anything.”

“Nor can I.”
Griffin
turned to her. “Perhaps it’s time we proceed to the lower chambers.”

“There’s more?” Cassie cried. She couldn’t rally much enthusiasm for the idea of spending time in a space that was bound to be even darker and damper than where she already was.

“Erik?”
Griffin
called questioningly.