The Oracle Code by Charles Brokaw Read Free Book Online Page A

think?”
    The knife was nearly ten inches long, single-edged, and had probably been an example of craftsmanship back during its day. The ivory hilt had designs worked into it that showed a beautiful woman archer, a full moon, a cypress tree, and a stag in mid-leap.
    Boris traced his fingers over the hilt. “Surely it is Greek. This has to be Artemis, goddess of the wildlands and mistress of animals. See? The stag and the cypress tree are symbols that represent her.”
    “I do see. It appears you have found quite the treasure trove. You’ll be buried in research work cataloguing the things that you find here.”
    “Only if there’s more of this.” Boris grimaced as he moved his injured leg, but his mood remained ebullient. “Come. We should look more while we are able.”
    “While you are able, the two of you should fall to your knees and give thanks that you didn’t get impaled by that spear. I thought you were both dead.”
    Drawn by the woman’s voice, Lourds gazed up at Layla Teneen framed in the opening some twenty feet or so above them. “Good evening, Director Teneen.”
    “More like good morning. You do realize you’ve probably thrown off everyone’s workday for tomorrow with all the gunfire and excitement.”
    Lourds grinned mischievously. “I beg to differ, dear lady. Boris and I are not responsible for the gunfire. We came here unarmed. In fact, all I have to defend myself with now is this dagger, which was probably once very fine but, as you can see, is no longer in good shape.” He held up the ancient dagger for inspection. “As for the excitement, any archeologist worth his or her salt should thank us for that.”
    Layla frowned at him as she played her flashlight beam around the circle of skeletons. “You do realize this was probably a Zoroastrian burial site?”
    “Of course. We were just discussing that. Once we get a good anatomist in here–”
    Boris harrumphed. “I am more than adequately trained in such matters.”
    Lourds nodded and continued smoothly. “–like my good friend Boris Glukov here, we should be able to confirm that the skeletons along the outer edge of the circle are male and the skeletons in the center belonged to women in the second circle and children in the final circle.”
    “Yes, and with that being the case, you do realize that the two of you are probably traipsing around in lime mortar, don’t you?”
    Frowning with irritation, Lourds realized he hadn’t thought about that. Lime was often used by the Zoroastrians to hasten the decomposition of bones. “No. I hadn’t given it a thought.”
    “You should. The Zoroastrians believed that the body of a dead person was filled with pollutants and got rid of it as quickly as possible.”
    “You know your history.”
    “Several histories, in fact, Professor Lourds.” Layla continued to play her light around. She swept the hair from her face. “This is a bit unusual, isn’t it? Didn’t the Zoroastrians bury their dead in dakhmas ?”
    The term translated loosely from Parsig to “tower of silence,” and they were initially loose constructions designed to hold the bodies of the dead until the flesh rotted away—or was taken by animals, birds, and insects—and the bones could be collected and stored for final burial.
    “They did, but eventually they gave up the open-air burial practice for pits.”
    Layla gestured to the passageway she was in. “This seems a little user unfriendly.”
    “When you throw in the spear, it was tremendously unfriendly.”
    Layla smiled, and the sight made Lourds smile even broader.
    “I would not have expected a sense of humor after being nearly killed twice tonight, Professor Lourds.”
    “I should think the fall would count as well, because I didn’t really think Boris and I would survive it when we tumbled out of that.”
    “Neither did I.”
    Boris sighed. “Please. The two of you will have all the time in the world to speak about these things. For the moment, I would