The Collectors Book Two: Full Circle (The Collectors Series 2) by Ron Sewell Read Free Book Online

Maria to him, the smell of her body tantalising. With a kiss on her lips, he lifted his bag, turned and left. Being a father thrilled him, but Maria’s words struck a chord: any boat, no matter how luxurious, was not the ideal place to raise a child.
     
    *  *  *
     
    Maria returned to her bed, rested on top of the covers and closed her eyes. Alysa murmured in her sleep. Why hadn’t Petros been with her during the birth? she asked herself, knowing the answer. When they first met, she understood he would go away often. In the beginning, every homecoming was another honeymoon. Now, with Alysa’s arrival, everything would change. When her mother died she coped on a daily basis with her father and four brothers. In fairness, when she was at university, her father did hire a Philippino girl to clean and cook
    She loved Petros and thanked God he was back.
     

Chapter Five
     
    Greek Cypriot land near Famagusta – 2002
     
     
    The brothers Alexis and Yannis marked out the ground and started to dig.
    “Why you took this, instead of money, I don’t know.” Alexis waved his hand. “It’s fit only for goats and snakes.”
    “You know I won it playing poker,” said Yannis as he wiped the sweat from his eyes. “There’s water somewhere here and when I find it I can grow whatever I want.”
    The sun crept ever higher in the deep blue sky, its searing heat making any work arduous. The two of them dug into the dry soil and dumped it into buckets. When full, they lifted and emptied them a few metres away. For shade they sheltered under a tattered canvas canopy.
    One year out of Nicosia University, twenty-two year old Yannis remained a lanky individual. In the bright sun, his grey hair, a defect from birth, shone with a silvery hue.
    For five days he and his older brother dug, removing countless buckets of stones and sand-coloured earth. In the heat of the midday sun Alexis rested but Yannis continued. Living in hope, he ambled back and jumped into the three-metre pit.
    This time, the ground quivered beneath his feet and the dry earth swirled like water. A vortex formed and his feet vanished.
    “Help,” he screamed. Disorientated and frightened, he lay in the gloom, staring up at a circle of light. He moved his fingers and toes: no pain. He spat the dirt from his mouth. “Help …” he managed to croak.
    The sun silhouetted Alexis’s head.
    “Yannis, are you all right?”
    “No bones broken. Alexis , get me a flashlight, quickly …”
    At last Alexis lowered a torch on a piece of string. Yannis grabbed it and switched it on. His dark eyes filled with amazement at the stonework surrounding him. Stonemasons must have cut these to build this circular chamber, he concluded, each perfect in shape and size. He knew that in the past, men belonging to a village would dig ten to fifteen wells. Connecting tunnels enabled water from the aquifer to flow by gravity from one to another.
    Working feverishly, he positioned the torch and with his hands he cleared away as much of the earth close to the stones as he could.
    “Alexis! Drop me a bucket,” he shouted. “I need to clear this rubbish.”
    “Do you need any help?”
    “No.” His eyes studied an ancient mason’s mark. “No, Alexis. If I find anything, I’ll shout. Just keep lifting the buckets.”
    Broken rocks and rubble made the excavation difficult. Yannis laboured, while Alexis pulled full buckets from the pit. The worked stones took shape and he noticed from its different size the beginnings of a keystone. Excited, he called out, “Alexis, I’ve found something.”
    “I hope it’s water.”
    “Lower yourself. You’ll find this interesting.”
    In a cloud of dust and stones, Alexis dropped down beside Yannis. “It’s a wall. Wonderful?”
    Yannis shone his torch at the stone wall. “It’s Roman. It’s definitely Roman!” His voice soared with enthusiasm. “I need to excavate more before I’m certain.”
    Alexis rubbed his hand across the smooth stone.