The Sword of Moses (80 page)
“If you come back later today, I’m afraid it will be gone,” he said gently. “It may come back here to Montsaunès again during your lifetime. Or it may not. Who can say?”
Ava nodded, unable to put into words the overwhelming emotions streaming through her.
“If I were you,” he ushered her towards the narrow front door. “I would not spend your time thinking about the Ark. That is a burden I carry, and in many ways I envy those who do not have it.”
Arriving at the top of the steps, he turned the key in the lock and opened the ancient wooden door.
Sunlight streamed into the cool church as Ava stepped out onto the pavement.
De Molay touched her arm lightly. “My honest recommendation is to forget all about the Ark and its guardians. We have kept it safe for many centuries, and we will continue to do so. One day we will give it to the world—when the world is ready.”
He stepped up onto the pavement beside her. “I remain profoundly grateful to you for your willingness to help us. I’ll have everything cleared with the English authorities, and they’ll leave you and Major Ferguson alone regarding this whole painful episode. I give you my word you can go back to your life.”
He put a hand on the church’s door. “I must leave you now, Dr Curzon. I can recommend the café in the village. They have been instructed to give you a hot meal, and you will find they have a plane ticket home for you.”
He re-entered the church, and turned to face her through the doorway. “As my brothers in the Order learned to say many centuries ago, may peace be with you.”
She looked at his face one last time as he pulled the church doors closed, leaving her staring at its ancient gnarled wood.
The road was silent apart from the sound of the key turning and the heavy lock clicking shut.
“And with you also, peace,” she replied softly, returning the ancient Middle-Eastern salutation, before turning away from the church and heading slowly in the direction of the café.
——————— ◆ ———————
National Museum of Iraq
Baghdad
The Republic of Iraq
Ava had forgotten quite how hot Baghdad could get in the summer.
The air-conditioning in the museum’s large low-lit medieval gallery was not working especially well, although the climate control inside the major cabinets was fine.
She would have to get it mended properly before the museum opened again to the public.
She straightened the long sword she was placing in the cabinet, balancing it on two clear glass pegs set onto the black-velvet-covered board.
The sword had arrived that morning by special delivery.
She had been back in her office, where it had felt good to be surrounded again by the mass of papers and maps giving clues to the whereabouts of all the thousands of looted artefacts.
She was looking forward to getting stuck in again—to finding pieces she would actually be able to put on display.
As she had been reading a report on the potential discovery of one of the museum’s first-century BC alabaster heads from Yemen, now in an art-dealer’s showroom in Lagos, a man from the mailroom had knocked and entered with a long package.
Intrigued, she had first slit open the accompanying note, which simply read:
London
My dear Dr Curzon,
Please accept this gift as a small token of the Foundation’s deep gratitude to you, and of my personal friendship.
Islamic swords from the crusader period are rare indeed, so perhaps your museum will be able to find room for this one.
As you can see from the engraving on the blade, it belonged to an eminent Muslim knight. I am told he was from Baghdad. So it is fitting that it should go home again and not languish with us.
With warmest greetings,
ODM
Excited, she had removed the wrapping and padding from around the package. De Molay was right—Islamic crusader swords were extremely rare. She could not remember the last time she had seen one.
As she flipped the clasps on the case, her jaw dropped open at the sight of the sword resting on the foam inside.
It was unusually long, slim, and gracefully curved, with the blade fattening slightly before ending in a pointed tip. There was no pommel, and the ivory and wooden hilt bent gently in the opposite direction to the blade. All surfaces apart from the blade—the grip, bands, and quillons—were exquisitely decorated with delicate geometric patterns.
But what caught her eye most was the blade, which was covered with thin watery lines sweeping across in great flowing patterns.
Even just from a glance, she could tell that the medieval metalwork was undoubtedly genuine Damascus steel—a legendary technique of ancient steelmaking, now lost.
The sword had clearly belonged to an immensely wealthy Muslim knight.
The weapon was flawless, and quite the most valuable sword she had ever held.
As she read the name of the owner inlaid into the blade, she could not stop herself from laughing out loud.
What were the chances?
De Molay had style. She had to give him that.
Once she had the sword mounted correctly in the display case, she added the descriptive label she had printed, clipping it into the glass sleeve under the sword. It read:
Standing back to admire the exhibit, she bumped hard into someone behind her.
Unaware there was anyone else in the room, she spun around, instantly on her guard—but found herself looking straight into a very familiar face.
Ferguson.
He beamed, as if it was the most natural thing in the world for him to be in her museum.
“I found a job over here,” he said, looking calm and relaxed. “I figured if this region has kept you interested for so many years, then I ought to give it a try.”
Ava raised her eyebrows.
“I’ve left soldiering and odd-jobbing for the Firm. I’m strictly a civilian now. Back to architecture, in fact. I heard they needed people to help redesign parts of the city that were destroyed. I start on Sunday.”
Ava could feel a smile breaking out across her face.
“If you’ve finished for the day,” he announced breezily. I’ve been recommended a quiet little fish restaurant on the banks of the Tigris. Apparently the white wine is well chilled and the red snapper in pomegranate sauce with limes is excellent.”
Ava linked her arm in his, a little surprised at quite how happy she felt to see him. “Then what are you waiting for?”
They headed out of the museum’s front door, and into the baking courtyard with its pockmarked and shell-damaged walls.
As they strode out under the Ishtar gate, Ava pictured the original, as she always did—the glazed blue tiles alive with their army of winged lions. She thought again of the nearly identical cherubim on the Ark, and smiled wistfully.
Emerging from the gate and out onto the busy street, Ferguson turned to face her. “Actually, there was a little something I wanted to ask you.”
“Go on,” she asked. “I thought a simple meal was too good to be true.”
“Well ... ,” he began hesitantly. “An old army friend who went freelance a few years back was telling me about a little in-and-out job not far from here. Achaemenid period antiquities on a sunken boat at the bottom of the Karan river. I thought I should let you know.”
Ava stopped walking, not quite believing what she was hearing. “You know that’s in Iran, right? They’ll flay us alive if we’re caught.”
Ferguson grinned. “I know. Sounds right up your street, doesn’t it?”
THE END
——————— ◆ ———————
The Sword of Moses
exists. It is a genuine ancient Hebrew magical manuscript for summoning Yahweh to do the conjuror's bidding. There are very few surviving manuscripts. London and Oxford each have copies.
The Ethiopian Orthodox Church claims the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Aksum from Jerusalem by Menelik, son of King Solomon and Queen Makeda of Aksum (the Queen of Sheba). It is kept today in the Chapel of the Tablet attached to the complex of Our Lady Mary of Zion. It is guarded by a solitary monk, who is the only living person ever to see it.
There are an estimated six million freemasons in the world. Written records go back to the early 1400s. Despite several centuries of intense research, the origins of the fraternity are entirely unknown.
The Voynich manuscript is held in Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. It is arguably the greatest unsolved European cryptographic mystery of the last thousand years.
Boleskine House was owned by Aleister Crowley from 1899 to 1913. The guitarist of Led Zeppelin, Jimmy Page, bought it in 1971 and sold it in 1992. Its current owners are unknown.
Wewelsburg Castle in Paderborn, Germany, was acquired by Heinrich Himmler in 1934. Using slave labour from the nearby Wewelsburg/Niederhagen concentration camp, he undertook extensive works to build the SS General's Hall and the crypt for his twelve SS knights. He made Wewelsburg the cult centre of Irminism, his elite occult SS religion. When the war was lost in 1945, his order for it to be destroyed was not fully carried out. Fire ravaged the building, but only minor outlying parts were irreparably damaged. The details of the SS rituals conducted there are still shrouded in secrecy.
The medieval chapel of the Knights Templar at Montsaunès in the Haute-Garonne area of France was built in the mid- to late-1100s. The enigmatic occult frescoes are from the same period. No one has ever decoded them. They remain a supreme enigma.
——————— ◆ ———————
1. Biblical quotations are from:
—King James Bible: Opening quotation (Exodus 15:3); Chapter 58 (Revelation 20:7-8); Chapter 90 (Genesis 1:1-2).
—New International Version: Chapter 28 (Exodus 25:10-22; 32:2-4); Chapter 31 (Mark 5:9); Chapter 53 (Exodus 29:20, 25); Chapter 89 (Ezekiel 9: 5-7; Hosea 13:16).
2. Malchus’s rituals are largely drawn (and adapted) from:
—the Latin edition of the Bible (
Bibla Sacra Vulgata
).
—the various Latin rites of the Roman Catholic Church as found in the
Pontificale Romanum
, the
Rituale Romanum
, the
Missale Romanum
, the
Breviarum Romanum
, etc.
—the black mass as published by A Melech,
Missa Niger: La Messe Noire
, Sut Anubis Books, Northampton, 1986.
3. The quotation in Chapter 17 (‘He that walketh fraudulently’) is taken from the translation of Proverbs 11:13 in
Arbatel de Magia Verum
, R Turner (tr), London, 1655.
4. The quotations on Israeli archaeology in Chapter 28 are from Prof. Z Hertzog,
Ha
’
aretz
Magazine
, Friday 29 October 1999 and Prof. I Finkelstein in R Draper, ‘Kings of Controversy,’
National Geographic
, December 2010.
5. The quotation from the Gospel of Thomas in Chapter 44 is from J Robinson (ed.) and T Lambdin (tr), Saying 108,
The Gospel of Thomas
, in
The Nag Hammadi Library in English
, Leiden, 1996.
6. The lyrics in Chapter 98 are from Led Zeppelin,
Kashmir,
(Page, Plant, Bonham),
Physical Graffitti,
Swan Song, 1975.
——————— ◆ ———————
1
“We salute you.”
2
“If you wish for peace … . ”
3
“… prepare for war!”
4
“Glory be to God, Lord of Hell.”
5
“Come Satan, Lord of the world.”
6
“Behold, I send my angel before thy face, who shall prepare my way.”
7
“My name is Legion, for we are many.”
8
“Bless these gifts, these offerings, these holy and unblemished sacrifices.”
9
“They hear but they do not listen.”
10
“May the Lord receive this sacrifice from my hands.”
11
“Lord, I am worthy.”
12
Warning! Gas leak. It is absolutely forbidden for unauthorized persons to enter.
13
John Dee, 1527-1608, London.
14
“I enter unto the altar of the Lord of Hell.”
15
“End, ashes, worms, stone, oblivion.”
16
“You are not worthy to enter into my house.”
17
“Sprinkle me with hyssop. Hear my prayer, and let my cry come unto you.”
18
“I anoint you that you may have eternal life.”
19
“Let my prayer be like incense in your sight.”
20
“Accept this unblemished sacrifice, which I, your unworthy servant, offer to you.”
21
“May you be blessed by him in whose honour you will be burned.”
22
“I offer this living sacrifice that it might be pleasing in your sight.”
23
“Thus says the Lord: a curse on anyone who keeps their sword from bloodshed.”
24
“This is the blood of the covenant.”
25
“Their blood will be poured out like dust and their carcasses like dung.”
26
“I offer this burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.”
27
“Destroyed is thy holy house, and fallen the gates of thy sanctuary.”
28
“I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.”