room sat a wooden altar about the size of a man. At first I thought it was a solid piece of redwood, possibly an ancient sarcophagus. On closer examination it turned out to be a collection of blocks fitted so perfectly together, you could barely detect the seams. The altar was looped in two places by huge bands of rope, about as thick as my arm in diameter on either end.
"My crew tried unsuccessfully to move the altar. It proved too heavy to so much as budge. When we examined it closer, we found the rope to be interwoven with strands taken from the garlic plant and even had clumps of the root inside of it. At the time I didn't find this strange. It was common practice in earth mother worship to have vegetables and fruit as offerings on their altars, which this obviously must have been.
"In the middle of the altar's top we found a recessed panel. Doing our best not to damage the structure, we carefully removed the panel. Tucked beneath the six-inch block of wood, we found the stone tablet.
"Unfortunately, our dig was cut short. The dig began in early winter and the weather became too volatile for us to remain in the area. We brought the tablet back with us for further examination. After securing the funds to finance another dig, we went back the following year, but storms had erased any sign of the site. So, we were left with the tablet without anything else substantial to back up our findings.” Dr. Grayson leaned against the table as she finished her explanation.
"So, what did the tablet say?” Breathred asked, his face scrunched up, clearly trying to make sense of her story.
"That's the strange part. For one thing it was not written in any form of pictogram one would associate with the American Indians, which forced us to look elsewhere for our Rosetta Stone. The closest thing to it was Ancient Sumerian, but even saying that is a stretch. It took me two long years to finally translate the text. This is what it said.” She opened a notebook lying on the table. In a low voice she began to read, "'The Mother wakes to darkness. Her light the only radiance we need. She hungers, so we hunger. The moon is her lover. In the hours of night she walks. Let every man know that she will walk again at the dawning of each turn of the world a thousand ages from the first. The world will tremble and the children shall rise from their homes to conquer that which is ours by right.’”
Breathred looked at the woman. He wanted more. There had to be more to it than a weird obtuse poem. He could tell Dr. Grayson thought so too.
"I know what you're thinking.” She gave Breathred a wry smile. “There was more but unfortunately, the tablet had deteriorated to such a state it was impossible for me to decipher anything else."
"Interesting, as histories go, but what makes you think we can help you?” Stud asked, reading her notes over her shoulder.
"By itself the text is like you said—nothing to draw any real conclusion from. But if you add the stills we took of the temple's interior, it paints a different story. See for yourself.” From inside the notebook she pulled a series of eight-by-tens and laid them on the table.
All three friends hunkered over the photos. They were of two huge totems. The monstrous structures must have been at least forty feet tall and ten to fifteen feet wide at the base, if the perspective between the statues and the people standing at their bases was correct.
Breathred followed the totems from their bases upward. Carved at each statue's top was the face of a woman. The detail in the ancient sculptures was spectacular. It was as if the wooden statues were living and breathing before him. Then, it stuck him. The woman's canines were protruding past her lips. They were sharp and came to a point just below the thin, bottom lip. The lips themselves were curled into an evil smile.
He looked over to Stud to see if the chimp was seeing the same thing. The shocked look on the simian's face told him all he
"My crew tried unsuccessfully to move the altar. It proved too heavy to so much as budge. When we examined it closer, we found the rope to be interwoven with strands taken from the garlic plant and even had clumps of the root inside of it. At the time I didn't find this strange. It was common practice in earth mother worship to have vegetables and fruit as offerings on their altars, which this obviously must have been.
"In the middle of the altar's top we found a recessed panel. Doing our best not to damage the structure, we carefully removed the panel. Tucked beneath the six-inch block of wood, we found the stone tablet.
"Unfortunately, our dig was cut short. The dig began in early winter and the weather became too volatile for us to remain in the area. We brought the tablet back with us for further examination. After securing the funds to finance another dig, we went back the following year, but storms had erased any sign of the site. So, we were left with the tablet without anything else substantial to back up our findings.” Dr. Grayson leaned against the table as she finished her explanation.
"So, what did the tablet say?” Breathred asked, his face scrunched up, clearly trying to make sense of her story.
"That's the strange part. For one thing it was not written in any form of pictogram one would associate with the American Indians, which forced us to look elsewhere for our Rosetta Stone. The closest thing to it was Ancient Sumerian, but even saying that is a stretch. It took me two long years to finally translate the text. This is what it said.” She opened a notebook lying on the table. In a low voice she began to read, "'The Mother wakes to darkness. Her light the only radiance we need. She hungers, so we hunger. The moon is her lover. In the hours of night she walks. Let every man know that she will walk again at the dawning of each turn of the world a thousand ages from the first. The world will tremble and the children shall rise from their homes to conquer that which is ours by right.’”
Breathred looked at the woman. He wanted more. There had to be more to it than a weird obtuse poem. He could tell Dr. Grayson thought so too.
"I know what you're thinking.” She gave Breathred a wry smile. “There was more but unfortunately, the tablet had deteriorated to such a state it was impossible for me to decipher anything else."
"Interesting, as histories go, but what makes you think we can help you?” Stud asked, reading her notes over her shoulder.
"By itself the text is like you said—nothing to draw any real conclusion from. But if you add the stills we took of the temple's interior, it paints a different story. See for yourself.” From inside the notebook she pulled a series of eight-by-tens and laid them on the table.
All three friends hunkered over the photos. They were of two huge totems. The monstrous structures must have been at least forty feet tall and ten to fifteen feet wide at the base, if the perspective between the statues and the people standing at their bases was correct.
Breathred followed the totems from their bases upward. Carved at each statue's top was the face of a woman. The detail in the ancient sculptures was spectacular. It was as if the wooden statues were living and breathing before him. Then, it stuck him. The woman's canines were protruding past her lips. They were sharp and came to a point just below the thin, bottom lip. The lips themselves were curled into an evil smile.
He looked over to Stud to see if the chimp was seeing the same thing. The shocked look on the simian's face told him all he
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