Common Ground
[ Summary: seto_kaiba_, ishtar_marik, aidan_mutou and yugi_mutou meet to discuss their research regarding the objects that were found in Jerusalem.
Backdated to Friday, June 22nd. ]
~~~
Anticipation colored Seto's afternoon, thoughts of the coming meeting intruding in odd corners of time. It was with a faint sense of relief, of things moving forward, that Seto left KaibaCorps, heading for dinner. After a good fettucini and two glasses of wine, Seto headed for the Common Ground, where Seto had reserved a room in the back for himself, Aidan, Yugi and Marik to compare notes and progress regarding research on the individual artifacts they had found in Israel.
Yugi and Aidan were not far into a board game when Seto arrived. They had headed to the East Village early, both to ensure they could find the bar, and to get dinner there. They'd claimed a game from the shelves to keep themselves occupied while waiting, but as soon as Seto appeared, they packed the game up in favour of the evening's true pursuit.
Greeting Seto, the brothers followed him into the reserved room to await Marik's arrival.
It wasn't long before Marik arrived briefcase in hand to east village. He wasn't interested in dinner so he headed to the common ground and straight for the backroom where the others were awaiting his arrival.
Finding his way inside Marik sat down his affects and greeted everyone.
"Good evening, gentlemen," Seto said when they were all settled in. "We have three very distinct pieces of this puzzle. The time has come to pool our research, and see if fresh insights can be offered through sharing, as well as sorting out how this all fits together." His eyes moved to Marik. "Would you care to begin?"
Yugi leaned forward in his chair and raised a hand partway for attention. "Uh, actually, I had a question first, if that's okay?" He looked from Seto to Marik and back for acknowledgement before continuing.
Seto's eyes swung toward Yugi. He was coming into this entire affair late, and it was unclear exactly how much Aidan had told his brother. In fact, Seto was surprised he had only one question. first he reminded himself. For a brief moment he considered precedent, Yugi's role in this endeavor, his share of Aidan's share, and set it aside as irrelevant at the moment.
"Of course," he answered smoothly.
Yugi nodded thanks before frowning thoughtfully at the edge of the table as he gathered words. "Well, I've gotten things piecemeal and out of order so maybe I've gotten the wrong impression along the way, please correct me if I'm wrong," he began.
"Aidan told me this all started with an archaeological find of mostly-Egyptian artifacts, and one mysterious possibly-Roman statue, in... Peru? Marik told me he's an Egyptian expert and liaison, but no details. Aidan told me about sneaking around in Israel, finding other artifacts. And, of course, the need for secrecy has been made very clear to me -- and I totally respect that, I've given my word." He smiled ruefully, not quite apologetic about having stumbled into things the way he did.
"So, what I'm wondering is, do we have permission or legal right from all -- or any -- of those countries' governments to do be doing any of this? Or are we likely to get in trouble with the Antiquities Authority or Interpol or whoever if anything leaks out?" Yugi's tone was curious, not judgemental. "I just want to be a little more clear about the risks and ethics of what I'm involved in, please."
Considering that he had handled the legalities of the initial artifact, Marik deemed himself to have the most plausible answer. "As far as the first artifact is concerned, KC has ownership and legal rights. As far as the other items there has been no talk of legal issues, but perhaps since KC owns the initial artifact, and provided we do succeed in finding a 'treasure' at the end of all this, it could possibly be argued once the word is out that since the initial artifact was owned by KC, they have all rights to corresponding pieces. It's a stretch, but it is feasible."
"KaibaCorps, Marik, if you please." Seto gently corrected the other man absently, his eyes resting on Yugi with surprised speculation. "You do bring up a good point, one I should have addressed long before this." Looking down, he made a notation on his datapad to set the KaibaCorps attorneys the task of drafting up a suitably vague document securing the rights to his property. Their property. It was more than once he'd shredded and divided any potential spoils against items in hand.
"Before the next phase of this operation we will have secured the necessary permissions." He met Yugi's eyes once again. "Thank you."
Yugi answered Seto's gaze with a sunny and sincere smile. "Cool!"
His indirect question of 'ethics' hadn't been addressed, but this was probably a better foundation for dealing with any later issues than he'd dared expect, given Grandpa's stories of what likely amounted to tomb raiding, and their similarities to what Aidan had recounted. Then again, Grandpa had lacked resources and official credentials, even if he had wanted to get permission for his adventures and research. Access to legal means limited by money and social status. Yugi set it aside to ponder later, and sat back in his chair to listen and learn about this particular puzzle.
Aidan watched the exchange silently, his expression somewhat pensive. The underlying questions weren't so easily resolved as that, but there was no point in attempting to hash them out right now. He remembered where mention of museum rights had ended a previous conversation.
Marik leaned forward and took out a folder,opened it to glance at it's contents, then turned his gaze to Yugi. "Do you have anymore questions to pose?, If not I'll begin with my findings."
Yugi shook his head. "No, no other questions right now, just lots of curiosity. Thanks for allowing me to interrupt, please go ahead."
"Not at all" Marik said with a small smile to Yugi, then turning his eyes to include the others. Taking a few papers from his folder he handed them out for reference. "In front of you is a copy of the letter so you may view it for yourself. Despite its concise orientation there is a lot hidden within the words of the text. I started first with the year, and as Aidan had mentioned before, it was around the time of the Templar knights, whose headquarters were established inside the Temple Mount in the year 1119. So in turn by the time of the penning of this letter-1186- , the Templar knights were a significant strong hold. In the same year Jerusalem appointed a new king, Guy Lusignan. There were many that were in line for this title, and some who opposed this ruling. One man in particular Raymond III of Tripoli. Now because of this dissension among leaders as well as other Christian factions, Raymond formed a separate truce with Saladin, a Muslim Leader who had become the Sultan of Egypt and controlled most surrounding countries of Jerusalem. In essence long story short, less then a year later Saladin claims Jerusalem.
Now is this an impending sense of doom A.W. scribed here, I can't say for certain. However fearing that this 'treasure' or source of power as it were from falling into the wrong hands, I can feasibly say they meant the hands of the Muslims." By this point Marik had found himself slightly pacing as he talked, but neglected to stop seeing as he found it a bit easier to share such information while -not- standing still.
"As far as traveling to the western North is concerned. That could be a numerous amount of locations. One though was to Acre, Israel. It's a city in the western Galilee district of Northern Israel. Thus this city is in the exactly the right spot if you take the words literally. This city is also known as the 'Key to Palestine' because of its advantages location near the coast. So, if I were trying to escape a coastal city would be a wise choice, seeing as I could flee a country for good. Also being named the 'key' of Palestine also raises thought that what we are looking for could be there." At this point Marik placed a map of the region of Acre for the rest to view.
"Seeing as I have said a lot about the same general area of the world, there is possibilities that western north could be off of Israel and possibly as far as England and France which were Templar supporters, and if we were to go with the theme of the Hunt, possibly Egypt. The only problem with Egypt however is its Southwest of Jerusalem. Perhaps the other pieces that will be discussed here today will help narrow the field."
Taking a deep breath Marik continued "I've spoken for some time, but I will be brief with my second item of study. The wooden cross with the pewter center and the nine-pointed star emblem. As far as the cross itself, there was a lot of speculation and belief that some possessed actual shards of the cross in which Jesus was crucified. In essence there are dozens of churches and temples which hold reliquaries saying that they own such a treasure. The nine-pointed star symbol is even more obscure. I simply found that it is a symbol used in the teachings of the Bahá'í Faith. The number nine is the largest single digit and thus it symbolizes perfection and unity. My only synthesis of that is, perhaps the three triangles represent the three religions that have faith in the -One God-." Ending with that Marik finally took his seat. "Any questions or suggestions?"
Aidan leaned forward, elbows on his knees, his copy of the letter held absently in one hand. "Not terribly surprised to find its the Knights Templar," he began. "They were certainly the most notorious order fitting the time and location. They were also bankers, as I recall, and controlled a rather vast network of financial transactions even if the knights themselves were sworn to poverty. And I agree, if you wanted to get something out of the Holy Land, heading for the coast is the best route." He traced a route on the map, north from Jerusalem to Acre, and then northwest off the coast. "What about Cyprus? It lies in the right direction, and would make a good layover, if they had to go further."
Marik looked at the map and nodded. " I thought of Cyprus as a possibility as well, specially since the Templar knights were indeed the financial powerhouse of their day, they actually owned the entire island of Cyprus."
"Hmm." Straightening up, Aidan glanced down at the letter but didn't bother trying to read it again. "Acre sounds like a reasonable place to start. No further questions here at the moment, Marik. Thank you." He smiled at Marik, appreciating the sum of the man's research.
Seto had kept quiet during Marik's presentation, nodding at some points and studying both the map and the man in turn. He'd chosen wisely in trusting Marik and could appreciate the value of the information. After he had absorbed what was being discussed, Seto spoke in turn to Aidan. "Would you share the substance of your research with us?" he asked, directing the question to Aidan but including Yugi with a glance and a nod of his head.
"Certainly," Aidan replied. "Although it's considerably less substantial than Marik's research, we do have a couple of theories." Reaching into his backpack, he pulled out the small lockbox he'd been keeping the pyramids and udjat in and set it on the table. Unlocking the box, he removed the pieces and set them in plain sight. "What we have is a lot of triangle symbolism," he continued. "Marik mentioned the nine-pointed star: as you'll remember, there was one carved into the floor of the waterway, but it was also contained within a fourth triangle which indicated direction. Groups of threes are common in various symbol sets: the Judeo-Christian Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Freudian Id, Ego and Superego; maiden, mother, crone archetypes; bad things come in threes. Directionally speaking, three axes are needed to triangulate a position. But the addition of a fourth axis -- time -- increases accuracy and--" he picked up one of the squat, blocky pieces, "--turns a triangle into a pyramid. A four-sided object."
Setting the pyramid back on the table, Aidan sat back in his chair. "My first thought was that, like the udjat, these four pieces might be keys of some kind -- which would mean they weren't particularly useful until the keyholes were found. Yugi had another idea." He gestured to the pyramids, inviting Yugi to arrange them as he had when they'd first discussed them.
Yugi picked up one of the pieces, turning it to show the different sides as he spoke. "Except for this key part sticking out, all four of these are exactly the same shape, but the shape isn't a 'regular' pyramid in the mathematical sense of having four equal triangular sides, or in the 'Great Pyramids' sense of having five sides: four triangular faces and a square base -- even if you ignore the key part. Instead, it's got this side with the key, two blank sides which are equal-sided triangles, and one side which is a right-angled triangle." He made sure everyone got a look before putting that side down on the table. "Right angles also get called square angles because four of them make a square. And we've got four of them."
He arranged the other pieces to make that square, leaving a small gap on each side. "If we arrange them like this, the keys all point into the centre, and it looks like the triangles were 'cut off' from the base of a five-sided pyramid with proportions much like the Great Pyramids of Egypt. So maybe instead of -- or in addition to -- plugging into a wall like the udjat, they are also pieces that fit into a larger pyramid, like a 3D burr puzzle."
Yugi picked up the udjat. "They also seem to be made of the same stuff as the udjat: gold leaf over wood. It also looks like a puzzle piece, with notched edges like the notched keys on the pyramids. And the overall triangular shape of it, when you ignore the notches, also has roughly the same proportions as the faces of the Great Pyramids." He held it against one of the imagined 'faces' of the pyramid suggested by the square of keys, before adding ruefully, "Except if the words carved into the back give it a top and bottom, then the 'base' is at the top and the tip points down, and Aidan said it was used that way in the wall in Jerusalem. That might be meant to be misleading about another purpose, or maybe the words fit better in that direction or were added later by someone who didn't know it had any other purpose. Or it could be that if these pieces and others we haven't found yet do assemble into a pyramid shape, it's one that points downward. Maybe that's another directional clue about where to look next, or maybe it's like a reversed tarot card: it changes the symbolic meaning from sky to earth, male to female."
He set the udjat down beside the four keys, then frowned at them. "Huh, they really do look like they're all made of the same stuff, and then preserved exactly the same, too. They've all got some wear on the notches, scratching through the gold, but... the udjat was buried in a dry place inside a statue, right? And these other four were on a ledge right above an underground river, a very humid place, so the leather bag they were in had rotted and disintegrated. You'd think they would have swelled and split from the humidity in a few years, too, nevermind the state they'd be in after, what, eight hundred years?" He gestured at a copy of the dated letter. "That's weird, I didn't think we could preserve wood that well even in modern times." He didn't want to say anything about supernatural properties, not yet when he didn't know if it would get him laughed out of this project with all his other ideas disregarded too, but he couldn't help but think it.
"So, um, any questions?" he belatedly remembered to ask.
"Informative Yugi; as far as my knowledge reaches the pointed down arrow as you mentioned turned it from male to female. A pointed down arrow is also in the shape of a chalice and symbolizes holding something, which in this case does not have to be water. Is it possible for any of these items to be holding something, as well as be a piece of the puzzle?" Marik said lightly twirling his pen in analytical thought of what was heard.
Yugi nodded. "Good point. I don't think there's anything inside these four pieces, though. At least, they seem solid and evenly weighted, and I haven't noticed any seams for an opening."
Seto had also listened to each of the brothers in turn, resisting raising his eyebrows at Yugi's eloquence. If indeed all the research on that idea was his, Seto found himself revising his opinion of the man's usefulness. He glanced at Aidan, once, prepared to let him know, then quickly away. There were things too fresh between them yet for that type of communication. Seto found he missed it, suddenly and sharply.
"Thank you both," he said as the silence made it clear that it was time for him to add his own research. He reached into the large metal case which had been open on the floor beside him when the others arrived, and carefully removed both statues, putting them on the table before him.
"This," he reminded them, lightly running his finger over the curve of the first statue, "was the original piece that began it all. I had an analysis performed on the material of the statues and these men are carved out of just what it appears they are, marble, most likely Italian." Seto smiled at the two men locked forever in one moment, a private, fleeting expression of fondness that he wasn't aware of revealing, before he picked it up and carefully set it to the side, well back from the edge. "But this," he said, voice coloring with excitement as he lightly touched the second piece, "is another story altogether."
The statue was once again of two men, this time they were on opposite sides of the piece. The right-hand figure was standing with knees slightly bent, head and shoulders forward and mouth partially open. His whole posture was one alive with anticipation, a mix of joy with a healthy dose of fear. His arms were bound behind his back with cord, and he wore shackles which would allow him to take short, hobbling steps. He wore only a subligar, the small, wrapped loincloth. He was an obvious prisoner. The left-hand figure faced him, running full tilt towards the opposite figure, with his left arm extended heavenward and his right extended forward, reaching wildly. Between them lay a sword, at a slight angle so that the point and the edge of the blade, were mostly in the direction of the right-hand figure. There were words etched into the blade, one on top of the other:
Θούριοι
Κρωτονας
Λοκροί
"The substance here is not marble, but granite, which are often mistaken for one another to the unpracticed eye. If the sculptor knew the piece was going to be subjected to the elements, granite would be a more logical choice." Seto's hand curved around the base of the statue as he went on, voice picking up the cadence used for secret revelations. "More to our purposes, however, is the specific type of granite used. It is known as Baltic Brown, quarried in one area of the world, Ylämaa, in eastern Finland."
"These pieces represent a wealth of information, and we've barely begun. Later, we will attempt to manipulate this piece, even as the other one was. I have not done so, despite my suspicions, because it... was appropriate for us to be together when we did so. First however, are there any questions at this point? If not, I would ask Marik to provide a translation for the words on the sword." Seto knew they were in Greek and had no doubt in his expert's ability to translate.
With a nod to Seto, Marik stood and took the floor again."The three words written on the sword are indeed Greek. However they weren't specific words or meanings like I would have suspected they'd be. In truth they are all with the exception of the final word are places located in modern day Italy. Keep in mind that back then these regions were known as parts of Magna Graecia. The first word 'Θούριοι' in Latin would be called Thurium and was one of the latest of all Greek colonies. The second 'Κρωτονας' also known as Crotone was also a flourishing city and located in Southern Italy. In its history it lead way to the men who flourished in the Olympic and Panhellenic Games and was also the home to the school founded by Pythagoras himself. Finally 'Λοκροί' was an ancient Greek tribe in Greece which by the 7th century the most record worthy pursuits of this tribe were located in the settlement again in Southern Italy." Taking a small pause he continued.
"In find out direct translations of these words, I didn't find too much pertinent information about these places or people to extend too far out of the box of possible clues to proceeded with the hunt. However since Southern Italy is mentioned throughout the words it'd be best to see if it coordinates with any of the information presented today. As I searched further on I did come across one thing that connects with my information presented earlier. After Jerusalem was taken by Saladin in 1187 there was a follow up crusade. The consequent Third Crusade, from 1189 to 1191 was led by Richard I of England, Phillip II of France, and Frederick I of the 'Holy Roman Empire'. The Crusaders captured the port of 'Acre', several other ports, and secured treaty rights for pilgrims to visit Jerusalem. Thus the mention of the port down Acre." With that Marik stopped for a few brief moments and thought. Turning to Aidan for a brief glance specifically to him he turned his vision back to the entire group. " I've just recalled in my latent memory that Cypress was also taken during the same crusade as Acre, so indeed it reinforces both locations. However that is as much as I know currently, any questions?"
Reaching into his bag, Aidan pulled out his glasses case and reluctantly put them on. His gaze flicked up to meet Seto's over the upper half-rim as he extended his hand toward the statue with a gesture that asked if he could move it closer. It wasn't that he distrusted Marik's translation; he simply wanted to see the inscription for himself. He'd picked up enough Greek in school to be able to work out rough transliterations. "Unless we're being blinded by the obvious, it sounds like Acre is indeed a location of interest," he said thoughtfully.
Clenching his fingers against the automatic, possessive instinct to reach out and capture the statue back, Seto nodded at Aidan and made a sweeping, close-fisted gesture of acceptance. "Be careful," was all he said, knowing the words were unnecessary at best and insulting at worst, but unable to keep them unspoken.
Seto was obscurely proud for limiting himself to that comment alone.
As far as their next course of action... Seto wanted to think first, to let everything that he had learned here today settle, to do his own research into the other pieces, to put each piece together in context with every other piece. That was what he did, his role and life as CEO of an international company, what he had been trained for since his first breath.
A corner of his mind wondered for a moment what his delivery had been like, who had been in the room, what were the first words spoken to the infant that had become the man. Flinching internally, learned instinct honed by years of practice, Seto cauterized the thought and flung it to his serpent as he watched Aidan pick up his...the statue.
Accepting Seto's words with a curt nod, Aidan gently moved the statue close enough to inspect the tiny letters of the engraving. Intently focused on the characters, he wasn't aware that his lips were moving slightly as he sounded them out. More importantly, the visual reminder of his Ancient and Classical Greek history classes was stronger than the audible one; Marik's modern pronunciation was recognizable, but not what he had learned. "Thourioi," he murmured. "Late Greek colony would put it at... 400-something BC? Krotonas... Pythagoras was roughly 580 BC, so no obvious connection there. Maybe it's not so much that they're Greek as what came after? Punic Wars? Carthage, maybe. The Romans, almost certainly. Did the Gauls make it that far south?" His train of thought brain-storming ran out at that point. Beyond it, he had only a vague sense of the history of the region. The third word: Λοκροί -- lambda, omicron, kappa, rho, omicron, iota. "Lokroi... a tribe, you said, Marik? Anything to tie them to the Crusades?"
Aidan leaned back a little, taking off his glasses and letting his gaze sweep over the entire statue and the pose of the two men. "End of a war? But which one? And Finnish granite? That speaks of a much later origin for the statue itself." He wanted badly to be in a library, doing his own research on the subjects raised, or at the very least cross-referencing through Wikipedia. He did have his laptop with him, and there was likely an open Wi-Fi connection within reach... but it would be rude not to give Marik the opportunity to further expand on his findings when Aidan had posed so many questions. Instead, he reached into his bag again and pulled out a stack of Post-it™ notes and a pen. Beginning with the city names, he made a postie for each, including the various spellings, and handed them off to Yugi to stick on the table.
Yugi had been biting his tongue to keep from snarking about the crusades, and was glad for something familiar to do. He accepted the hot pink posties as fast as Aidan could write them, quickly arranging them in an intuitive layout which might or might not trigger Aidan's own intuition.
Carthago delenda est, Aidan wrote. Which really had nothing to do with anything, at the moment, but --
"No, over there," he said, correcting Yugi's most recent placement without really looking up. With the tip of his pen, he indicated a spot below "Crusade III." Splitting the stack of posties in three, he leaned forward, reaching carefully around the statue, and put a stack in front of both Marik and Seto. "Brain-storming by habit," he explained, with a lop-sided smile. "Feel free to join in."
Seto looked at the sticky notes with an absolute blankness of expression. "Yes," he said in much the same tone, and reached down once again to this briefcase to take out a blue, padded, notebook, half-filled with his distinctive handwriting. "I understand the value of such an endeavor, yet I need to make my own notes for research first."
*First,* his serpent laughed. *Feel inadequate, do you?*
*Shut up,* Seto responded, *not everyone researches the same way.*
*Are you going to tell them that?*
*Shut UP*
Methodically, Seto began setting down all the pieces of information he had heard today, locations, dates, translations. Finally he set aside the notebook and with a glance at Aidan, squared the Post-it'™ pad in front of him.
"Everything, relevant or not," he said, and quickly began writing.
Water, underground stream. Knights of the Cross. Religious beliefs. Keys and locks. Secret door, secret passage. Reconstruct what has been broken. Pride goeth before the fall. The Lion's glory-Jesus? Journey to the far western north. Journey to a far, cold place.
Here, Seto blinked. Frowned. "Wait," he said. "These are from the letter. The writer speaks of dispersing objects they believed had power. One group was going to 'the western north', and one to a 'far, cold place'. Leaving aside the statue for a moment, and we are far from done with it, where does Jerusalem fit directionally with regards to Acre?"
Marik looked at the map Seto had in front of him and simply drew a line with his finger from Jerusalem to Acre. " It's almost directly North of Jerusalem, but it's a little to the left crossing the West Bank. As far as the weather is concerned Acre is a coastal city it has a Mediterranean climate with cool, rainy winters and long, hot summers."
A small silence followed. Aidan frowned at his copy of the letter, then at the array of words and phrases he and Seto had stuck to the table. "I had managed to collapse those two concepts into one -- 'far, cold, western, north' -- and had an unfounded impression of England, for some reason." Setting the letter down, he pulled his glasses off and pressed the tip of one arm against his lips, careful not to actually chew on it. "The previous statue gave us direction last time, yes? Perhaps the second one holds some clue to help us move forward. I distinctly feel like we're missing large pieces as of yet."
Aidan's words echoed Seto's thoughts rather nicely. He itched for his notebook and a computer connection, and the silence and space to think foolish, potentially useful thoughts. Even in company of these nebulously defined people- more than business associates, not-quite-friends, Seto ran against a mental barrier. He was simply not a creative person. Seto's strengths lay in tenacity and methodically stepping from where he stood to the vision of his goal.
"This statue," he said, touching the newest one lightly with his fingertip, a move that turned into a short caress of the cool stone, "has one more secret. On the base, nearly worn off, are words that I first took to be a maker's mark of some sort. They led me to the Webster's version of the bible, the 20th chapter of First Samuel."
Aidan's eyebrows arched momentarily as several questions occurred to him at once. He glanced at the statue, but made no move to pick it up or even touch it again. "What are the words? And why the Webster's version and not, say, the King James?" He leaned forward a little, eyes bright with intent curiosity.
Seto reached out and picked up the indicated statue, nesting it in the base of the vee made by the join of thumb and forefinger. With a deft motion, Seto flipped his wrist over, revealing what seemed to be the flat, smooth base of the statue. With a careful finger, Seto caressed a spot that looked no different than any other. The tip of his finger could just discern the fine, thin lines his exploring fingers had found earlier.
Seto reached for Aidan's hand with his free one without thinking. A heartbeat later he changed the gesture, placing that palm flat on the table and extending the other one, tipping the base but not relinquishing the statue. His eyes flickered to Aidan then away. "You can just barely feel it. Here, let me write down what it says." He set the figures down carefully, and pulled over the brightly colored pad.
1SML20
WEBSTER 1833
"Hunh," Aidan murmured, nodding slightly. "That would be a good reason." He'd noticed the aborted gesture and pretended not to. Not for the first time, he wished he knew how to repair their friendship, how to put each other at ease again.
Yugi also noticed Seto's gesture, and noticed Aidan noticing, and noticed him pretending he hadn't. He glanced back and forth between the two men, then focused his attention on the statue and on Seto's transcription of the mark. "I don't know the Bible well," he admitted, "other than what everyone is pretty much forced to know in western culture, and how to refute some of the oppressive and misused stuff. Hmm... Samuel... oh! Is that the part with all the juicy bits about David and Jonathan always kissing in the fields and their 'love surpassing that of women'1 and so on?" Er, okay, maybe that wasn't the best way to get the conversation past the awkward moment. He shut himself up before swallowing his foot entirely.
In an instant, Seto's breath evened out deliberately, quiet inhale and exhale a grounding point against the sting. The gaze he turned on Yugi was suddenly opaque. He shook off the initial desire to lash out possessively at the dismissive description of his statues; it would be divisive and counterproductive. "Although 'juicy' is a subjective term," he answered, the coolness in his voice matching that in his eyes, "I would suggest that since this inscription takes care to mention the Webster's edition, I would refer you to that specific version."
Yugi met Seto's cold gaze unflinchingly with an openly bemused one, not allowing himself to be intimidated. He had guessed he might have hit a nerve when the words left his mouth, so he'd been half-anticipating a defensive reaction of some sort. "I meant no offense. Any mockery in my tone was aimed at myself as I admitted my ignorance and the bias of what little I do know," he replied, his vocabulary shifting chameleon-like to match Seto's formality, though not his chill, in an unconscious attempt to communicate better by using the other man's own language. "Do you have the cited text to share with us? I would like to learn what it says."
On firmer ground now that they were operating in territory Seto understood, he relaxed slightly, and his next words were neutral. "I do, in fact, although it is accessible online." Surprisingly, instead of pulling out printed copies of the chapter in question, Seto picked back up his notebook. The quick shuff of pages was a quiet background until Seto reached the page he wanted. Wordlessly, he turned the notebook around and proffered it to Yugi. In Seto's careful cursive, stark blue ink against the white page, was the text of the chapter written longhand.
Yugi raised his eyebrows as he accepted it, expecting impersonal printouts for everyone rather than one handwritten copy. Well, that would probably be the reason why Seto had not offered it to everyone immediately, rather than the high-handedness Yugi had started to suspect, though he still wondered why Seto had chosen not to prepare printouts.
Picking up the notebook, Yugi began to read it out loud so that Aidan and Marik could learn what it said at the same time he did. Despite his earlier flippancy, he read respectfully and slowly so as not to trip over the old-fashioned words and grammar. His voice was clear and expressive, as he had picked up from growing up with storytellers.
Chapter 20
"And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? what is my iniquity? and what is my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my life?
"And he said to him, Far be it from thee; thou shalt not die: behold, my father will do nothing, either great or small, but that he will show it to me: and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.
"And David swore moreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thy eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he should be grieved: But truly as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.
"Then said Jonathan to David, Whatever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee.
"And David said to Jonathan, Behold, to morrow is the new-moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field to the third day at evening.
"If thy father shall at all miss me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me, that he might run to Bethlehem his city: for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.
"If he shall say thus, It is well; thy servant will have peace: but if he shall be very wroth, then be sure that evil is determined by him.
"Therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy servant; for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the LORD with thee: notwithstanding, if there is in me iniquity, slay me thyself; for why shouldst thou bring me to thy father?
"And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee: for if I knew certainly that evil is determined by my father to come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee?
"Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me? or what if thy father shall answer thee roughly?
"And Jonathan said to David, Come, and let us go out into the field. And they went out both of them into the field.
"And Jonathan said to David, O LORD God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about tomorrow any time, or the third day, and behold, if there be good towards David, and I then send not to thee, and show it thee;
"The LORD do so and much more to Jonathan: but if it shall please my father to do thee evil, then I will show it to thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace: and the LORD be with thee, as he hath been with my father.
"And thou shalt, not only while yet I live, show me the kindness of the LORD, that I may not die:
"But also thou shalt not withdraw thy kindness from my house for ever: no, not when the LORD hath cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth.
"So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the LORD even require it at the hand of David's enemies.
"And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him: for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
"Then Jonathan said to David, Tomorrow is the new-moon: and thou wilt be missed, because thy seat will be empty.
"And when thou hast stayed three days, then thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place where thou didst hide thyself when the business was in hand, and shalt remain by the stone Ezel.
"And I will shoot three arrows on the side of it, as though I shot at a mark.
"And behold, I will send a lad, saying, Go, find the arrows. If I expressly say to the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them; then come thou: for there is peace to thee, and no hurt; as the LORD liveth.
"But if I say thus to the young man, Behold, the arrows are beyond thee; go thy way: for the LORD hath sent thee away.
"And as to the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, the LORD be between thee and me for ever.
"So David hid himself in the field: and when the new-moon had come, the king sat down to eat food.
"And the king sat upon his seat, as at other times, even upon a seat by the wall: and Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place was empty.
"Nevertheless Saul spoke not any thing that day: for he thought, Something hath befallen him, he is not clean; surely he is not clean.
"And it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second day of the month, that David's place was empty: and Saul said to Jonathan his son, Why cometh not the son of Jesse to eat, neither yesterday, nor today?
"And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem:
"And he said, Let me go, I pray thee; for our family hath a sacrifice in the city; and my brother he hath commanded me to be there: and now if I have found favor in thy eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not to the king's table.
"Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thy own confusion, and to the confusion of thy mother's nakedness?
"For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the earth, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.
"And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, Why shall he be slain? what hath he done?
"And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him: by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to slay David.
"So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month: for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame.
"And it came to pass in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad with him.
"And he said to his lad, Run, find now the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow, beyond him.
"And when the lad had come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said, Is not the arrow beyond thee?
"And Jonathan cried after the lad, Make speed, haste, stay not. And Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows, and came to his master.
"But the lad knew not any thing: only Jonathan and David knew the matter.
"And Jonathan gave his arms to his lad, and said to him, Go, carry them to the city.
"And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place towards the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded.
"And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the LORD, saying, The LORD be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever. And he arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city."
As Yugi read, Seto reached one index finger out to tap one of the triangle pyramids a little out of line. A thought hit him, and Seto's blue eyes narrowed as his mind began to work on a tangent completely different from the text of the chapter, which he had studied previously.
Leaning back in his chair, Aidan closed his eyes and listened intently as Yugi read. All of the religious overtones of the puzzle pieces made him uneasy on many levels, and not just because of the Catholicism that had been drilled into him until his parents died. He forced himself to actively listen, building the scene in his mind. Yet when Yugi finished, Aidan found he had no immediate connection to make. It was if the words sat in isolation, walled off by his own resistance. With a mental sigh, he opened his eyes and glanced at his companions.
Marik had listened and watched intently not uttering a word as the interactions between his company continued. It was in his best interest as well none of his business to inquire about the strange behavior on that part of both Seto and Aidan. There was a history--somewhere. It wasn't until the reading of the bible verse Marik shifted his whole attention back to the matters in which they were here. Being withing the Christian sect of believes these were all words he had heard before, but he was more familiar with the King James version of the scriptures. Nevertheless it was similar enough to understand the version read aloud by Yugi.
At the silence that fell after he'd finished reading, Yugi glanced around the table at the others, but they seemed lost in their own private thoughts. He looked back down at the notebook, flipping back a page as he scanned the text again. He knew he didn't learn well by only seeing or hearing, though; he needed to play with things to understand them. Speaking mostly to himself but loud enough for the others to hear, he mused, "So, this chapter drops us into the middle of the story, so that we don't get the context of why Saul wants to kill him and what happened to let David know that, and we don't find out what happens after David leaves, so either those parts of the story aren't clues, or they're clues being hinted at indirectly because they need to be even more hidden."
He looked from Seto's notebook to the copy of the letter that Marik had provided, and back. "It doesn't say in this chapter where David goes when he leaves, I guess that would be too obvious. That's doesn't seem to be the point of this part of the story, though there's other places named... does that Ezel stone actually exist, I wonder? And what's significant about this Webster edition, how's it different from others that were available at the time? I wonder if the new moon and second day of the month part means something, too, like the sun on the wall." With a shrug, he put the notebook back down on the table, within easy reach of the other three.
His attention caught by the words, Seto looked up from the pyramids. "What? No, don't you see? It doesn't have to do with that at all." A tiny smile curved his lips as he glanced at the first statue. "That's who they are." He reached out one fingertip to rest on the head of the martial figure, "Jonathan," he named before his finger moved to the other man, "and David. That's who you are." The final words were breathed with a soul-deep satisfaction.
Yugi frowned and nodded quickly, impatient at having the questions that had piqued his own curiosity brushed aside as irrelevant, annoyed at realizing he'd skipped over explicitly voicing other details while talking out his reasoning and brainstorming, but not understanding the reverence Seto attached to that part due to joining the treasure hunt so long after that initial question had started it.
"Yeah, when I remembered that Samuel was about those two, I figured that that's who the statues were probably supposed to be--" (except, oh yeah, he'd put his foot in his mouth and stopped himself before actually getting to his point about that) "--except it seemed too obvious and then the text of the chapter didn't match what's going on in either of the statues, so I figured there must be something more that's important about that particular chapter, that particular version."
He leaned forward to get a good look at the pairs of figures. "Why are they Jonathan and David, what does that mean?"
"Oh," Aidan said abruptly. "Metaphor. The author of our letter and his companions must have found themselves in the same position -- hated by an authority figure, warned to flee by a beloved friend. Those who went on and those who remained. Two kinds of journey."
Seto took in the responses avidly, although he kept his eyes on the statue. At Aidan's words, Seto flashed him a sudden, delighted smile. You understand, he wanted to say, but when his eyes met Aidan's the words left him and he looked away again. "This works because we all see things differently, Yugi. Each line of reasoning is valuable whether it ends in a null result or a sudden revelation."
Touching the second statue, Seto continued. "I believe we all want to see if this one is manipulable like the first. And the most obvious thing..." Seto reached carefully between the figures, to see if the sword could be turned more fully toward one man or the other.
Nothing happened. With the application of a little more force-- still nothing happened. Seto picked up the statue and manipulated it carefully, and then a little less carefully. Setting it on the table, he made a sweeping gesture, non-verbal invitation. Once they had all explored the statue to no visible affect, Seto packed them both away, retrieving his notebook.
"Gentlemen, I believe we have pooled all the knowledge we have available. I propose we each study all the information separately now, looking at the findings as a whole. There is a time for specialization, and a time for the broad view. Shall we exchange emails the next few weeks, perhaps arrange an online meeting. I will be unavailable until late July."
"That certainly sounds like the best idea at the moment," Aidan agreed, with a quick glance at his brother, who nodded. Leaning forward, he collected the udjat and the pyramid pieces, placing them carefully back into their box. "Then if we come up with nothing more obvious over the next month or two, perhaps it might be time to discuss travel plans."
Gathering up his affects as well, Marik nodded in agreement. " Sounds like a plan."
--
Note:
1. 'surpassing that of women' - Yugi is actually quoting part of 2 Samuel 1:26.
Backdated to Friday, June 22nd. ]
~~~
Anticipation colored Seto's afternoon, thoughts of the coming meeting intruding in odd corners of time. It was with a faint sense of relief, of things moving forward, that Seto left KaibaCorps, heading for dinner. After a good fettucini and two glasses of wine, Seto headed for the Common Ground, where Seto had reserved a room in the back for himself, Aidan, Yugi and Marik to compare notes and progress regarding research on the individual artifacts they had found in Israel.
Yugi and Aidan were not far into a board game when Seto arrived. They had headed to the East Village early, both to ensure they could find the bar, and to get dinner there. They'd claimed a game from the shelves to keep themselves occupied while waiting, but as soon as Seto appeared, they packed the game up in favour of the evening's true pursuit.
Greeting Seto, the brothers followed him into the reserved room to await Marik's arrival.
It wasn't long before Marik arrived briefcase in hand to east village. He wasn't interested in dinner so he headed to the common ground and straight for the backroom where the others were awaiting his arrival.
Finding his way inside Marik sat down his affects and greeted everyone.
"Good evening, gentlemen," Seto said when they were all settled in. "We have three very distinct pieces of this puzzle. The time has come to pool our research, and see if fresh insights can be offered through sharing, as well as sorting out how this all fits together." His eyes moved to Marik. "Would you care to begin?"
Yugi leaned forward in his chair and raised a hand partway for attention. "Uh, actually, I had a question first, if that's okay?" He looked from Seto to Marik and back for acknowledgement before continuing.
Seto's eyes swung toward Yugi. He was coming into this entire affair late, and it was unclear exactly how much Aidan had told his brother. In fact, Seto was surprised he had only one question. first he reminded himself. For a brief moment he considered precedent, Yugi's role in this endeavor, his share of Aidan's share, and set it aside as irrelevant at the moment.
"Of course," he answered smoothly.
Yugi nodded thanks before frowning thoughtfully at the edge of the table as he gathered words. "Well, I've gotten things piecemeal and out of order so maybe I've gotten the wrong impression along the way, please correct me if I'm wrong," he began.
"Aidan told me this all started with an archaeological find of mostly-Egyptian artifacts, and one mysterious possibly-Roman statue, in... Peru? Marik told me he's an Egyptian expert and liaison, but no details. Aidan told me about sneaking around in Israel, finding other artifacts. And, of course, the need for secrecy has been made very clear to me -- and I totally respect that, I've given my word." He smiled ruefully, not quite apologetic about having stumbled into things the way he did.
"So, what I'm wondering is, do we have permission or legal right from all -- or any -- of those countries' governments to do be doing any of this? Or are we likely to get in trouble with the Antiquities Authority or Interpol or whoever if anything leaks out?" Yugi's tone was curious, not judgemental. "I just want to be a little more clear about the risks and ethics of what I'm involved in, please."
Considering that he had handled the legalities of the initial artifact, Marik deemed himself to have the most plausible answer. "As far as the first artifact is concerned, KC has ownership and legal rights. As far as the other items there has been no talk of legal issues, but perhaps since KC owns the initial artifact, and provided we do succeed in finding a 'treasure' at the end of all this, it could possibly be argued once the word is out that since the initial artifact was owned by KC, they have all rights to corresponding pieces. It's a stretch, but it is feasible."
"KaibaCorps, Marik, if you please." Seto gently corrected the other man absently, his eyes resting on Yugi with surprised speculation. "You do bring up a good point, one I should have addressed long before this." Looking down, he made a notation on his datapad to set the KaibaCorps attorneys the task of drafting up a suitably vague document securing the rights to his property. Their property. It was more than once he'd shredded and divided any potential spoils against items in hand.
"Before the next phase of this operation we will have secured the necessary permissions." He met Yugi's eyes once again. "Thank you."
Yugi answered Seto's gaze with a sunny and sincere smile. "Cool!"
His indirect question of 'ethics' hadn't been addressed, but this was probably a better foundation for dealing with any later issues than he'd dared expect, given Grandpa's stories of what likely amounted to tomb raiding, and their similarities to what Aidan had recounted. Then again, Grandpa had lacked resources and official credentials, even if he had wanted to get permission for his adventures and research. Access to legal means limited by money and social status. Yugi set it aside to ponder later, and sat back in his chair to listen and learn about this particular puzzle.
Aidan watched the exchange silently, his expression somewhat pensive. The underlying questions weren't so easily resolved as that, but there was no point in attempting to hash them out right now. He remembered where mention of museum rights had ended a previous conversation.
Marik leaned forward and took out a folder,opened it to glance at it's contents, then turned his gaze to Yugi. "Do you have anymore questions to pose?, If not I'll begin with my findings."
Yugi shook his head. "No, no other questions right now, just lots of curiosity. Thanks for allowing me to interrupt, please go ahead."
"Not at all" Marik said with a small smile to Yugi, then turning his eyes to include the others. Taking a few papers from his folder he handed them out for reference. "In front of you is a copy of the letter so you may view it for yourself. Despite its concise orientation there is a lot hidden within the words of the text. I started first with the year, and as Aidan had mentioned before, it was around the time of the Templar knights, whose headquarters were established inside the Temple Mount in the year 1119. So in turn by the time of the penning of this letter-1186- , the Templar knights were a significant strong hold. In the same year Jerusalem appointed a new king, Guy Lusignan. There were many that were in line for this title, and some who opposed this ruling. One man in particular Raymond III of Tripoli. Now because of this dissension among leaders as well as other Christian factions, Raymond formed a separate truce with Saladin, a Muslim Leader who had become the Sultan of Egypt and controlled most surrounding countries of Jerusalem. In essence long story short, less then a year later Saladin claims Jerusalem.
Now is this an impending sense of doom A.W. scribed here, I can't say for certain. However fearing that this 'treasure' or source of power as it were from falling into the wrong hands, I can feasibly say they meant the hands of the Muslims." By this point Marik had found himself slightly pacing as he talked, but neglected to stop seeing as he found it a bit easier to share such information while -not- standing still.
"As far as traveling to the western North is concerned. That could be a numerous amount of locations. One though was to Acre, Israel. It's a city in the western Galilee district of Northern Israel. Thus this city is in the exactly the right spot if you take the words literally. This city is also known as the 'Key to Palestine' because of its advantages location near the coast. So, if I were trying to escape a coastal city would be a wise choice, seeing as I could flee a country for good. Also being named the 'key' of Palestine also raises thought that what we are looking for could be there." At this point Marik placed a map of the region of Acre for the rest to view.
"Seeing as I have said a lot about the same general area of the world, there is possibilities that western north could be off of Israel and possibly as far as England and France which were Templar supporters, and if we were to go with the theme of the Hunt, possibly Egypt. The only problem with Egypt however is its Southwest of Jerusalem. Perhaps the other pieces that will be discussed here today will help narrow the field."
Taking a deep breath Marik continued "I've spoken for some time, but I will be brief with my second item of study. The wooden cross with the pewter center and the nine-pointed star emblem. As far as the cross itself, there was a lot of speculation and belief that some possessed actual shards of the cross in which Jesus was crucified. In essence there are dozens of churches and temples which hold reliquaries saying that they own such a treasure. The nine-pointed star symbol is even more obscure. I simply found that it is a symbol used in the teachings of the Bahá'í Faith. The number nine is the largest single digit and thus it symbolizes perfection and unity. My only synthesis of that is, perhaps the three triangles represent the three religions that have faith in the -One God-." Ending with that Marik finally took his seat. "Any questions or suggestions?"
Aidan leaned forward, elbows on his knees, his copy of the letter held absently in one hand. "Not terribly surprised to find its the Knights Templar," he began. "They were certainly the most notorious order fitting the time and location. They were also bankers, as I recall, and controlled a rather vast network of financial transactions even if the knights themselves were sworn to poverty. And I agree, if you wanted to get something out of the Holy Land, heading for the coast is the best route." He traced a route on the map, north from Jerusalem to Acre, and then northwest off the coast. "What about Cyprus? It lies in the right direction, and would make a good layover, if they had to go further."
Marik looked at the map and nodded. " I thought of Cyprus as a possibility as well, specially since the Templar knights were indeed the financial powerhouse of their day, they actually owned the entire island of Cyprus."
"Hmm." Straightening up, Aidan glanced down at the letter but didn't bother trying to read it again. "Acre sounds like a reasonable place to start. No further questions here at the moment, Marik. Thank you." He smiled at Marik, appreciating the sum of the man's research.
Seto had kept quiet during Marik's presentation, nodding at some points and studying both the map and the man in turn. He'd chosen wisely in trusting Marik and could appreciate the value of the information. After he had absorbed what was being discussed, Seto spoke in turn to Aidan. "Would you share the substance of your research with us?" he asked, directing the question to Aidan but including Yugi with a glance and a nod of his head.
"Certainly," Aidan replied. "Although it's considerably less substantial than Marik's research, we do have a couple of theories." Reaching into his backpack, he pulled out the small lockbox he'd been keeping the pyramids and udjat in and set it on the table. Unlocking the box, he removed the pieces and set them in plain sight. "What we have is a lot of triangle symbolism," he continued. "Marik mentioned the nine-pointed star: as you'll remember, there was one carved into the floor of the waterway, but it was also contained within a fourth triangle which indicated direction. Groups of threes are common in various symbol sets: the Judeo-Christian Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit; Freudian Id, Ego and Superego; maiden, mother, crone archetypes; bad things come in threes. Directionally speaking, three axes are needed to triangulate a position. But the addition of a fourth axis -- time -- increases accuracy and--" he picked up one of the squat, blocky pieces, "--turns a triangle into a pyramid. A four-sided object."
Setting the pyramid back on the table, Aidan sat back in his chair. "My first thought was that, like the udjat, these four pieces might be keys of some kind -- which would mean they weren't particularly useful until the keyholes were found. Yugi had another idea." He gestured to the pyramids, inviting Yugi to arrange them as he had when they'd first discussed them.
Yugi picked up one of the pieces, turning it to show the different sides as he spoke. "Except for this key part sticking out, all four of these are exactly the same shape, but the shape isn't a 'regular' pyramid in the mathematical sense of having four equal triangular sides, or in the 'Great Pyramids' sense of having five sides: four triangular faces and a square base -- even if you ignore the key part. Instead, it's got this side with the key, two blank sides which are equal-sided triangles, and one side which is a right-angled triangle." He made sure everyone got a look before putting that side down on the table. "Right angles also get called square angles because four of them make a square. And we've got four of them."
He arranged the other pieces to make that square, leaving a small gap on each side. "If we arrange them like this, the keys all point into the centre, and it looks like the triangles were 'cut off' from the base of a five-sided pyramid with proportions much like the Great Pyramids of Egypt. So maybe instead of -- or in addition to -- plugging into a wall like the udjat, they are also pieces that fit into a larger pyramid, like a 3D burr puzzle."
Yugi picked up the udjat. "They also seem to be made of the same stuff as the udjat: gold leaf over wood. It also looks like a puzzle piece, with notched edges like the notched keys on the pyramids. And the overall triangular shape of it, when you ignore the notches, also has roughly the same proportions as the faces of the Great Pyramids." He held it against one of the imagined 'faces' of the pyramid suggested by the square of keys, before adding ruefully, "Except if the words carved into the back give it a top and bottom, then the 'base' is at the top and the tip points down, and Aidan said it was used that way in the wall in Jerusalem. That might be meant to be misleading about another purpose, or maybe the words fit better in that direction or were added later by someone who didn't know it had any other purpose. Or it could be that if these pieces and others we haven't found yet do assemble into a pyramid shape, it's one that points downward. Maybe that's another directional clue about where to look next, or maybe it's like a reversed tarot card: it changes the symbolic meaning from sky to earth, male to female."
He set the udjat down beside the four keys, then frowned at them. "Huh, they really do look like they're all made of the same stuff, and then preserved exactly the same, too. They've all got some wear on the notches, scratching through the gold, but... the udjat was buried in a dry place inside a statue, right? And these other four were on a ledge right above an underground river, a very humid place, so the leather bag they were in had rotted and disintegrated. You'd think they would have swelled and split from the humidity in a few years, too, nevermind the state they'd be in after, what, eight hundred years?" He gestured at a copy of the dated letter. "That's weird, I didn't think we could preserve wood that well even in modern times." He didn't want to say anything about supernatural properties, not yet when he didn't know if it would get him laughed out of this project with all his other ideas disregarded too, but he couldn't help but think it.
"So, um, any questions?" he belatedly remembered to ask.
"Informative Yugi; as far as my knowledge reaches the pointed down arrow as you mentioned turned it from male to female. A pointed down arrow is also in the shape of a chalice and symbolizes holding something, which in this case does not have to be water. Is it possible for any of these items to be holding something, as well as be a piece of the puzzle?" Marik said lightly twirling his pen in analytical thought of what was heard.
Yugi nodded. "Good point. I don't think there's anything inside these four pieces, though. At least, they seem solid and evenly weighted, and I haven't noticed any seams for an opening."
Seto had also listened to each of the brothers in turn, resisting raising his eyebrows at Yugi's eloquence. If indeed all the research on that idea was his, Seto found himself revising his opinion of the man's usefulness. He glanced at Aidan, once, prepared to let him know, then quickly away. There were things too fresh between them yet for that type of communication. Seto found he missed it, suddenly and sharply.
"Thank you both," he said as the silence made it clear that it was time for him to add his own research. He reached into the large metal case which had been open on the floor beside him when the others arrived, and carefully removed both statues, putting them on the table before him.
"This," he reminded them, lightly running his finger over the curve of the first statue, "was the original piece that began it all. I had an analysis performed on the material of the statues and these men are carved out of just what it appears they are, marble, most likely Italian." Seto smiled at the two men locked forever in one moment, a private, fleeting expression of fondness that he wasn't aware of revealing, before he picked it up and carefully set it to the side, well back from the edge. "But this," he said, voice coloring with excitement as he lightly touched the second piece, "is another story altogether."
The statue was once again of two men, this time they were on opposite sides of the piece. The right-hand figure was standing with knees slightly bent, head and shoulders forward and mouth partially open. His whole posture was one alive with anticipation, a mix of joy with a healthy dose of fear. His arms were bound behind his back with cord, and he wore shackles which would allow him to take short, hobbling steps. He wore only a subligar, the small, wrapped loincloth. He was an obvious prisoner. The left-hand figure faced him, running full tilt towards the opposite figure, with his left arm extended heavenward and his right extended forward, reaching wildly. Between them lay a sword, at a slight angle so that the point and the edge of the blade, were mostly in the direction of the right-hand figure. There were words etched into the blade, one on top of the other:
Θούριοι
Κρωτονας
Λοκροί
"The substance here is not marble, but granite, which are often mistaken for one another to the unpracticed eye. If the sculptor knew the piece was going to be subjected to the elements, granite would be a more logical choice." Seto's hand curved around the base of the statue as he went on, voice picking up the cadence used for secret revelations. "More to our purposes, however, is the specific type of granite used. It is known as Baltic Brown, quarried in one area of the world, Ylämaa, in eastern Finland."
"These pieces represent a wealth of information, and we've barely begun. Later, we will attempt to manipulate this piece, even as the other one was. I have not done so, despite my suspicions, because it... was appropriate for us to be together when we did so. First however, are there any questions at this point? If not, I would ask Marik to provide a translation for the words on the sword." Seto knew they were in Greek and had no doubt in his expert's ability to translate.
With a nod to Seto, Marik stood and took the floor again."The three words written on the sword are indeed Greek. However they weren't specific words or meanings like I would have suspected they'd be. In truth they are all with the exception of the final word are places located in modern day Italy. Keep in mind that back then these regions were known as parts of Magna Graecia. The first word 'Θούριοι' in Latin would be called Thurium and was one of the latest of all Greek colonies. The second 'Κρωτονας' also known as Crotone was also a flourishing city and located in Southern Italy. In its history it lead way to the men who flourished in the Olympic and Panhellenic Games and was also the home to the school founded by Pythagoras himself. Finally 'Λοκροί' was an ancient Greek tribe in Greece which by the 7th century the most record worthy pursuits of this tribe were located in the settlement again in Southern Italy." Taking a small pause he continued.
"In find out direct translations of these words, I didn't find too much pertinent information about these places or people to extend too far out of the box of possible clues to proceeded with the hunt. However since Southern Italy is mentioned throughout the words it'd be best to see if it coordinates with any of the information presented today. As I searched further on I did come across one thing that connects with my information presented earlier. After Jerusalem was taken by Saladin in 1187 there was a follow up crusade. The consequent Third Crusade, from 1189 to 1191 was led by Richard I of England, Phillip II of France, and Frederick I of the 'Holy Roman Empire'. The Crusaders captured the port of 'Acre', several other ports, and secured treaty rights for pilgrims to visit Jerusalem. Thus the mention of the port down Acre." With that Marik stopped for a few brief moments and thought. Turning to Aidan for a brief glance specifically to him he turned his vision back to the entire group. " I've just recalled in my latent memory that Cypress was also taken during the same crusade as Acre, so indeed it reinforces both locations. However that is as much as I know currently, any questions?"
Reaching into his bag, Aidan pulled out his glasses case and reluctantly put them on. His gaze flicked up to meet Seto's over the upper half-rim as he extended his hand toward the statue with a gesture that asked if he could move it closer. It wasn't that he distrusted Marik's translation; he simply wanted to see the inscription for himself. He'd picked up enough Greek in school to be able to work out rough transliterations. "Unless we're being blinded by the obvious, it sounds like Acre is indeed a location of interest," he said thoughtfully.
Clenching his fingers against the automatic, possessive instinct to reach out and capture the statue back, Seto nodded at Aidan and made a sweeping, close-fisted gesture of acceptance. "Be careful," was all he said, knowing the words were unnecessary at best and insulting at worst, but unable to keep them unspoken.
Seto was obscurely proud for limiting himself to that comment alone.
As far as their next course of action... Seto wanted to think first, to let everything that he had learned here today settle, to do his own research into the other pieces, to put each piece together in context with every other piece. That was what he did, his role and life as CEO of an international company, what he had been trained for since his first breath.
A corner of his mind wondered for a moment what his delivery had been like, who had been in the room, what were the first words spoken to the infant that had become the man. Flinching internally, learned instinct honed by years of practice, Seto cauterized the thought and flung it to his serpent as he watched Aidan pick up his...the statue.
Accepting Seto's words with a curt nod, Aidan gently moved the statue close enough to inspect the tiny letters of the engraving. Intently focused on the characters, he wasn't aware that his lips were moving slightly as he sounded them out. More importantly, the visual reminder of his Ancient and Classical Greek history classes was stronger than the audible one; Marik's modern pronunciation was recognizable, but not what he had learned. "Thourioi," he murmured. "Late Greek colony would put it at... 400-something BC? Krotonas... Pythagoras was roughly 580 BC, so no obvious connection there. Maybe it's not so much that they're Greek as what came after? Punic Wars? Carthage, maybe. The Romans, almost certainly. Did the Gauls make it that far south?" His train of thought brain-storming ran out at that point. Beyond it, he had only a vague sense of the history of the region. The third word: Λοκροί -- lambda, omicron, kappa, rho, omicron, iota. "Lokroi... a tribe, you said, Marik? Anything to tie them to the Crusades?"
Aidan leaned back a little, taking off his glasses and letting his gaze sweep over the entire statue and the pose of the two men. "End of a war? But which one? And Finnish granite? That speaks of a much later origin for the statue itself." He wanted badly to be in a library, doing his own research on the subjects raised, or at the very least cross-referencing through Wikipedia. He did have his laptop with him, and there was likely an open Wi-Fi connection within reach... but it would be rude not to give Marik the opportunity to further expand on his findings when Aidan had posed so many questions. Instead, he reached into his bag again and pulled out a stack of Post-it™ notes and a pen. Beginning with the city names, he made a postie for each, including the various spellings, and handed them off to Yugi to stick on the table.
Yugi had been biting his tongue to keep from snarking about the crusades, and was glad for something familiar to do. He accepted the hot pink posties as fast as Aidan could write them, quickly arranging them in an intuitive layout which might or might not trigger Aidan's own intuition.
Carthago delenda est, Aidan wrote. Which really had nothing to do with anything, at the moment, but --
"No, over there," he said, correcting Yugi's most recent placement without really looking up. With the tip of his pen, he indicated a spot below "Crusade III." Splitting the stack of posties in three, he leaned forward, reaching carefully around the statue, and put a stack in front of both Marik and Seto. "Brain-storming by habit," he explained, with a lop-sided smile. "Feel free to join in."
Seto looked at the sticky notes with an absolute blankness of expression. "Yes," he said in much the same tone, and reached down once again to this briefcase to take out a blue, padded, notebook, half-filled with his distinctive handwriting. "I understand the value of such an endeavor, yet I need to make my own notes for research first."
*First,* his serpent laughed. *Feel inadequate, do you?*
*Shut up,* Seto responded, *not everyone researches the same way.*
*Are you going to tell them that?*
*Shut UP*
Methodically, Seto began setting down all the pieces of information he had heard today, locations, dates, translations. Finally he set aside the notebook and with a glance at Aidan, squared the Post-it'™ pad in front of him.
"Everything, relevant or not," he said, and quickly began writing.
Water, underground stream. Knights of the Cross. Religious beliefs. Keys and locks. Secret door, secret passage. Reconstruct what has been broken. Pride goeth before the fall. The Lion's glory-Jesus? Journey to the far western north. Journey to a far, cold place.
Here, Seto blinked. Frowned. "Wait," he said. "These are from the letter. The writer speaks of dispersing objects they believed had power. One group was going to 'the western north', and one to a 'far, cold place'. Leaving aside the statue for a moment, and we are far from done with it, where does Jerusalem fit directionally with regards to Acre?"
Marik looked at the map Seto had in front of him and simply drew a line with his finger from Jerusalem to Acre. " It's almost directly North of Jerusalem, but it's a little to the left crossing the West Bank. As far as the weather is concerned Acre is a coastal city it has a Mediterranean climate with cool, rainy winters and long, hot summers."
A small silence followed. Aidan frowned at his copy of the letter, then at the array of words and phrases he and Seto had stuck to the table. "I had managed to collapse those two concepts into one -- 'far, cold, western, north' -- and had an unfounded impression of England, for some reason." Setting the letter down, he pulled his glasses off and pressed the tip of one arm against his lips, careful not to actually chew on it. "The previous statue gave us direction last time, yes? Perhaps the second one holds some clue to help us move forward. I distinctly feel like we're missing large pieces as of yet."
Aidan's words echoed Seto's thoughts rather nicely. He itched for his notebook and a computer connection, and the silence and space to think foolish, potentially useful thoughts. Even in company of these nebulously defined people- more than business associates, not-quite-friends, Seto ran against a mental barrier. He was simply not a creative person. Seto's strengths lay in tenacity and methodically stepping from where he stood to the vision of his goal.
"This statue," he said, touching the newest one lightly with his fingertip, a move that turned into a short caress of the cool stone, "has one more secret. On the base, nearly worn off, are words that I first took to be a maker's mark of some sort. They led me to the Webster's version of the bible, the 20th chapter of First Samuel."
Aidan's eyebrows arched momentarily as several questions occurred to him at once. He glanced at the statue, but made no move to pick it up or even touch it again. "What are the words? And why the Webster's version and not, say, the King James?" He leaned forward a little, eyes bright with intent curiosity.
Seto reached out and picked up the indicated statue, nesting it in the base of the vee made by the join of thumb and forefinger. With a deft motion, Seto flipped his wrist over, revealing what seemed to be the flat, smooth base of the statue. With a careful finger, Seto caressed a spot that looked no different than any other. The tip of his finger could just discern the fine, thin lines his exploring fingers had found earlier.
Seto reached for Aidan's hand with his free one without thinking. A heartbeat later he changed the gesture, placing that palm flat on the table and extending the other one, tipping the base but not relinquishing the statue. His eyes flickered to Aidan then away. "You can just barely feel it. Here, let me write down what it says." He set the figures down carefully, and pulled over the brightly colored pad.
1SML20
WEBSTER 1833
"Hunh," Aidan murmured, nodding slightly. "That would be a good reason." He'd noticed the aborted gesture and pretended not to. Not for the first time, he wished he knew how to repair their friendship, how to put each other at ease again.
Yugi also noticed Seto's gesture, and noticed Aidan noticing, and noticed him pretending he hadn't. He glanced back and forth between the two men, then focused his attention on the statue and on Seto's transcription of the mark. "I don't know the Bible well," he admitted, "other than what everyone is pretty much forced to know in western culture, and how to refute some of the oppressive and misused stuff. Hmm... Samuel... oh! Is that the part with all the juicy bits about David and Jonathan always kissing in the fields and their 'love surpassing that of women'1 and so on?" Er, okay, maybe that wasn't the best way to get the conversation past the awkward moment. He shut himself up before swallowing his foot entirely.
In an instant, Seto's breath evened out deliberately, quiet inhale and exhale a grounding point against the sting. The gaze he turned on Yugi was suddenly opaque. He shook off the initial desire to lash out possessively at the dismissive description of his statues; it would be divisive and counterproductive. "Although 'juicy' is a subjective term," he answered, the coolness in his voice matching that in his eyes, "I would suggest that since this inscription takes care to mention the Webster's edition, I would refer you to that specific version."
Yugi met Seto's cold gaze unflinchingly with an openly bemused one, not allowing himself to be intimidated. He had guessed he might have hit a nerve when the words left his mouth, so he'd been half-anticipating a defensive reaction of some sort. "I meant no offense. Any mockery in my tone was aimed at myself as I admitted my ignorance and the bias of what little I do know," he replied, his vocabulary shifting chameleon-like to match Seto's formality, though not his chill, in an unconscious attempt to communicate better by using the other man's own language. "Do you have the cited text to share with us? I would like to learn what it says."
On firmer ground now that they were operating in territory Seto understood, he relaxed slightly, and his next words were neutral. "I do, in fact, although it is accessible online." Surprisingly, instead of pulling out printed copies of the chapter in question, Seto picked back up his notebook. The quick shuff of pages was a quiet background until Seto reached the page he wanted. Wordlessly, he turned the notebook around and proffered it to Yugi. In Seto's careful cursive, stark blue ink against the white page, was the text of the chapter written longhand.
Yugi raised his eyebrows as he accepted it, expecting impersonal printouts for everyone rather than one handwritten copy. Well, that would probably be the reason why Seto had not offered it to everyone immediately, rather than the high-handedness Yugi had started to suspect, though he still wondered why Seto had chosen not to prepare printouts.
Picking up the notebook, Yugi began to read it out loud so that Aidan and Marik could learn what it said at the same time he did. Despite his earlier flippancy, he read respectfully and slowly so as not to trip over the old-fashioned words and grammar. His voice was clear and expressive, as he had picked up from growing up with storytellers.
Chapter 20
"And David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, What have I done? what is my iniquity? and what is my sin before thy father, that he seeketh my life?
"And he said to him, Far be it from thee; thou shalt not die: behold, my father will do nothing, either great or small, but that he will show it to me: and why should my father hide this thing from me? it is not so.
"And David swore moreover, and said, Thy father certainly knoweth that I have found grace in thy eyes; and he saith, Let not Jonathan know this, lest he should be grieved: But truly as the LORD liveth, and as thy soul liveth, there is but a step between me and death.
"Then said Jonathan to David, Whatever thy soul desireth, I will even do it for thee.
"And David said to Jonathan, Behold, to morrow is the new-moon, and I should not fail to sit with the king at meat: but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field to the third day at evening.
"If thy father shall at all miss me, then say, David earnestly asked leave of me, that he might run to Bethlehem his city: for there is a yearly sacrifice there for all the family.
"If he shall say thus, It is well; thy servant will have peace: but if he shall be very wroth, then be sure that evil is determined by him.
"Therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy servant; for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the LORD with thee: notwithstanding, if there is in me iniquity, slay me thyself; for why shouldst thou bring me to thy father?
"And Jonathan said, Far be it from thee: for if I knew certainly that evil is determined by my father to come upon thee, then would not I tell it thee?
"Then said David to Jonathan, Who shall tell me? or what if thy father shall answer thee roughly?
"And Jonathan said to David, Come, and let us go out into the field. And they went out both of them into the field.
"And Jonathan said to David, O LORD God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about tomorrow any time, or the third day, and behold, if there be good towards David, and I then send not to thee, and show it thee;
"The LORD do so and much more to Jonathan: but if it shall please my father to do thee evil, then I will show it to thee, and send thee away, that thou mayest go in peace: and the LORD be with thee, as he hath been with my father.
"And thou shalt, not only while yet I live, show me the kindness of the LORD, that I may not die:
"But also thou shalt not withdraw thy kindness from my house for ever: no, not when the LORD hath cut off the enemies of David every one from the face of the earth.
"So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, Let the LORD even require it at the hand of David's enemies.
"And Jonathan caused David to swear again, because he loved him: for he loved him as he loved his own soul.
"Then Jonathan said to David, Tomorrow is the new-moon: and thou wilt be missed, because thy seat will be empty.
"And when thou hast stayed three days, then thou shalt go down quickly, and come to the place where thou didst hide thyself when the business was in hand, and shalt remain by the stone Ezel.
"And I will shoot three arrows on the side of it, as though I shot at a mark.
"And behold, I will send a lad, saying, Go, find the arrows. If I expressly say to the lad, Behold, the arrows are on this side of thee, take them; then come thou: for there is peace to thee, and no hurt; as the LORD liveth.
"But if I say thus to the young man, Behold, the arrows are beyond thee; go thy way: for the LORD hath sent thee away.
"And as to the matter which thou and I have spoken of, behold, the LORD be between thee and me for ever.
"So David hid himself in the field: and when the new-moon had come, the king sat down to eat food.
"And the king sat upon his seat, as at other times, even upon a seat by the wall: and Jonathan arose, and Abner sat by Saul's side, and David's place was empty.
"Nevertheless Saul spoke not any thing that day: for he thought, Something hath befallen him, he is not clean; surely he is not clean.
"And it came to pass on the morrow, which was the second day of the month, that David's place was empty: and Saul said to Jonathan his son, Why cometh not the son of Jesse to eat, neither yesterday, nor today?
"And Jonathan answered Saul, David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem:
"And he said, Let me go, I pray thee; for our family hath a sacrifice in the city; and my brother he hath commanded me to be there: and now if I have found favor in thy eyes, let me get away, I pray thee, and see my brethren. Therefore he cometh not to the king's table.
"Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, Thou son of the perverse rebellious woman, do not I know that thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thy own confusion, and to the confusion of thy mother's nakedness?
"For as long as the son of Jesse liveth upon the earth, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. Wherefore now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die.
"And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, Why shall he be slain? what hath he done?
"And Saul cast a javelin at him to smite him: by which Jonathan knew that it was determined by his father to slay David.
"So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month: for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame.
"And it came to pass in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little lad with him.
"And he said to his lad, Run, find now the arrows which I shoot. And as the lad ran, he shot an arrow, beyond him.
"And when the lad had come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the lad, and said, Is not the arrow beyond thee?
"And Jonathan cried after the lad, Make speed, haste, stay not. And Jonathan's lad gathered up the arrows, and came to his master.
"But the lad knew not any thing: only Jonathan and David knew the matter.
"And Jonathan gave his arms to his lad, and said to him, Go, carry them to the city.
"And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place towards the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times: and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, until David exceeded.
"And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the LORD, saying, The LORD be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy seed for ever. And he arose and departed: and Jonathan went into the city."
As Yugi read, Seto reached one index finger out to tap one of the triangle pyramids a little out of line. A thought hit him, and Seto's blue eyes narrowed as his mind began to work on a tangent completely different from the text of the chapter, which he had studied previously.
Leaning back in his chair, Aidan closed his eyes and listened intently as Yugi read. All of the religious overtones of the puzzle pieces made him uneasy on many levels, and not just because of the Catholicism that had been drilled into him until his parents died. He forced himself to actively listen, building the scene in his mind. Yet when Yugi finished, Aidan found he had no immediate connection to make. It was if the words sat in isolation, walled off by his own resistance. With a mental sigh, he opened his eyes and glanced at his companions.
Marik had listened and watched intently not uttering a word as the interactions between his company continued. It was in his best interest as well none of his business to inquire about the strange behavior on that part of both Seto and Aidan. There was a history--somewhere. It wasn't until the reading of the bible verse Marik shifted his whole attention back to the matters in which they were here. Being withing the Christian sect of believes these were all words he had heard before, but he was more familiar with the King James version of the scriptures. Nevertheless it was similar enough to understand the version read aloud by Yugi.
At the silence that fell after he'd finished reading, Yugi glanced around the table at the others, but they seemed lost in their own private thoughts. He looked back down at the notebook, flipping back a page as he scanned the text again. He knew he didn't learn well by only seeing or hearing, though; he needed to play with things to understand them. Speaking mostly to himself but loud enough for the others to hear, he mused, "So, this chapter drops us into the middle of the story, so that we don't get the context of why Saul wants to kill him and what happened to let David know that, and we don't find out what happens after David leaves, so either those parts of the story aren't clues, or they're clues being hinted at indirectly because they need to be even more hidden."
He looked from Seto's notebook to the copy of the letter that Marik had provided, and back. "It doesn't say in this chapter where David goes when he leaves, I guess that would be too obvious. That's doesn't seem to be the point of this part of the story, though there's other places named... does that Ezel stone actually exist, I wonder? And what's significant about this Webster edition, how's it different from others that were available at the time? I wonder if the new moon and second day of the month part means something, too, like the sun on the wall." With a shrug, he put the notebook back down on the table, within easy reach of the other three.
His attention caught by the words, Seto looked up from the pyramids. "What? No, don't you see? It doesn't have to do with that at all." A tiny smile curved his lips as he glanced at the first statue. "That's who they are." He reached out one fingertip to rest on the head of the martial figure, "Jonathan," he named before his finger moved to the other man, "and David. That's who you are." The final words were breathed with a soul-deep satisfaction.
Yugi frowned and nodded quickly, impatient at having the questions that had piqued his own curiosity brushed aside as irrelevant, annoyed at realizing he'd skipped over explicitly voicing other details while talking out his reasoning and brainstorming, but not understanding the reverence Seto attached to that part due to joining the treasure hunt so long after that initial question had started it.
"Yeah, when I remembered that Samuel was about those two, I figured that that's who the statues were probably supposed to be--" (except, oh yeah, he'd put his foot in his mouth and stopped himself before actually getting to his point about that) "--except it seemed too obvious and then the text of the chapter didn't match what's going on in either of the statues, so I figured there must be something more that's important about that particular chapter, that particular version."
He leaned forward to get a good look at the pairs of figures. "Why are they Jonathan and David, what does that mean?"
"Oh," Aidan said abruptly. "Metaphor. The author of our letter and his companions must have found themselves in the same position -- hated by an authority figure, warned to flee by a beloved friend. Those who went on and those who remained. Two kinds of journey."
Seto took in the responses avidly, although he kept his eyes on the statue. At Aidan's words, Seto flashed him a sudden, delighted smile. You understand, he wanted to say, but when his eyes met Aidan's the words left him and he looked away again. "This works because we all see things differently, Yugi. Each line of reasoning is valuable whether it ends in a null result or a sudden revelation."
Touching the second statue, Seto continued. "I believe we all want to see if this one is manipulable like the first. And the most obvious thing..." Seto reached carefully between the figures, to see if the sword could be turned more fully toward one man or the other.
Nothing happened. With the application of a little more force-- still nothing happened. Seto picked up the statue and manipulated it carefully, and then a little less carefully. Setting it on the table, he made a sweeping gesture, non-verbal invitation. Once they had all explored the statue to no visible affect, Seto packed them both away, retrieving his notebook.
"Gentlemen, I believe we have pooled all the knowledge we have available. I propose we each study all the information separately now, looking at the findings as a whole. There is a time for specialization, and a time for the broad view. Shall we exchange emails the next few weeks, perhaps arrange an online meeting. I will be unavailable until late July."
"That certainly sounds like the best idea at the moment," Aidan agreed, with a quick glance at his brother, who nodded. Leaning forward, he collected the udjat and the pyramid pieces, placing them carefully back into their box. "Then if we come up with nothing more obvious over the next month or two, perhaps it might be time to discuss travel plans."
Gathering up his affects as well, Marik nodded in agreement. " Sounds like a plan."
--
Note:
1. 'surpassing that of women' - Yugi is actually quoting part of 2 Samuel 1:26.