The Alarna Affair

Chapter 6: The Return of Doctor Blackfeather

"My word, Jon, I think you are correct," the Professor said. "It's a sealed tomb passage, if I am not mistaken." The Professor pointed to a line of carved symbols. "What do you think of this?"

Jon peered up at the line the Professor indicated. "That looks almost like the writing of the Ancients, in Shandor!"

"But," the Professor said, looking at Jon.

"It's wrong somehow," Jon said. "Less smooth, more blocky."

"As if someone who did not know it tried to copy it from another source," the Professor said.

"You're not saying it's a forgery, are you?" Djaren looked alarmed. "If someone has tampered with the dig–"

"No, I believe this to be quite as real and old as any of this place, only carved by someone inexpert in the letters. I don't think the Ancients were native to this place. This script is, like ourselves, only a visitor."

"But what does it say?" Anna asked.

The Professor, Jon and Djaren all considered it. Djaren frowned and examined the other lines. "The Kardu section says something about a man who slew a god."

"The Alendi script says the same, I think," Jon said, pointing to another row of letters.

"Yes." The Professor nodded. "But the Ancient reads a little differently. While a little unclear, this seems to be the word for warrior, not man. And nothing is mentioned about a god, only a word I think means 'a powerful evil'."

"If the scribe didn't know Ancient, how did he get even that close, though?" Djaren asked.

"It must have been what was written on the source he copied from," Jon guessed. "Someone who did speak or write Ancient must have told him what the words meant, and maybe it got garbled in translation."

"Perhaps the Ancients visited here." The Professor's eyes shone. "The original of that text might still be here, somewhere."

"Behind the door?" Anna asked.

"It looks like you could remove the stone with all the writing on it," Tam noted, "with a chisel and some ropes. Then you might be able to see in."

"But probably not," Djaren said. "We could remove the stone, but that's only set into a larger door. We've found two other broken doors so far in the excavation. If this one is like them, that stone is only a seal. There would be solid rock behind it."

"Dynamite?" Tam said.

Jon winced. "No, Tam, this is archeology. We're trying to save the past."

"Though you'd be amazed at the means early archeologists employed." The Professor smiled. "There were a few fellows who relied heavily on dynamite. But then, they were only looking for bronze statuary, and smashed everything else underfoot."

"Barbarians," Anna sniffed.

Behind her, Tam reddened.

"Long careful hours of work will remove that door," the Professor said, "with good documentation. We'll have to try to preserve it whole. That translation stone in particular is priceless for scholarship."

"That's work for us!" Djaren grinned at Jon. "Your Alendi is better than mine. Just think, we could be the first to translate Sharnish!"

"We could be published?" Jon asked, wide-eyed. "Already? Before I'm even ten?"

"Anna has drawings published," Djaren pointed out. "It's high time we caught up."

"I want dinner." Ellea pulled at Djaren's shirt. "Not languages."