Chapter1 Part1

Chapter 1
Part 1
Cairo
"Well, it doesn't matter now; whatever will happen, will happen." ~Esther Jones

The light spilled in through a somewhat large gap in the window shutters, illuminating the small stone room.  It moved slowly across the sandstone floor towards a small bed in the far corner. It flowed into every crack and imperfection in that floor, which gave the room a relaxing texture. As the light reached the bed, it sifted through the mosquito netting encompassing the bed and fell on the beautiful face of Esther Jones.
Beautiful may be too bland a word to describe Esther. It may be even safe to say that she was the very quintessence of beauty. Everything about her was as charming as a lush garden, and certainly she was told this quite often. Her hair and eyes were a silky black, reminiscent of obsidian, which greatly accented her soft olive-colored skin. She was rather tall as well, with a gentile but strong frame. This fact had come in useful in a few situations where a great amount of running was involved.
All her beauty in the physical realm is irrelevant however. She was far more complex than outward appearances, which most people say to be deceiving. There was a certain quality about Esther that drew people to her counsel.  It was more than just a charming attribute. It was something that emanated from her very smile, or the way she would look at someone with warm greeting and compassion. It was a sweetness that is so rare among people and is exotic among friends.
    As the reviving light touched her eyelids, they fluttered and she awoke to greet the marvelous morning.  She smiled sweetly and sat up, throwing her long velvety hair back behind her shoulders.  The scent and sounds of the marketplace below welcomed her ready senses, prompting her to slide out of bed.
    She did not slide out of bed.  In fact, having forgotten about the netting, she ended up on the floor in a tangled mess.  She let out an angry exclamation of frustration and erupted in a fit of attempts to free herself.
    "Infernal netting!" Esther yelled, throwing her arms up in the air and laying back on the floor.  Breathing heavily she began to count to ten.  Although she had many pleasant personality traits, patience was not one of them. (Besides, what is a heroine without her faults?) Once calm, she was able to contemplate her next course of action.  Then, after considerable thought on the matter, she reached for her belt and retrieved a small dagger.  (She had slept in her travel clothes the night before; therefore she was still wearing her knife.)  With it, she cut a slit about two feet long in the netting, through which she was able to escape.  Once free, she straightened her clothes, let out a sigh, and stood for a few minutes in the center of the room.
    She recalled that words in her father's last will and testament, stating the precise location in which she was to stay.  The will itself had also told her that a message would be hidden somewhere in the room. She prayed silently, with all the passion she was capable of that she would find the message.
     “I must know what my father desired to tell me!” she thought.
She and her father had never really been close. In fact, she could barely remember him in her childhood. Despite this, she had loved him dearly and she could remember the wonderful sensation she received when that man look upon her with favor. Most of her young adult life had been spent trying to please him. Unfortunately, it never was enough. Not to mention, the difficulty it was to impress a man that she had only seen three times a month. After terrible automobile accident in her young life, Esther received an epiphany of the greatest importance. She discovered the never-ending love of Christ. That was when she began to find out what it really was to live. She no longer cared what other people thought; she had found true meaning in her life. Still, she strove to please her father in the little ways in the hope that it would show him the truth that she had discovered.
She determinedly began searching the room. Her hands moved swiftly as she searched the desk, under the bed, and among the books on the shelf. This was particularly hard for there were a great many books on the shelf. As she did this, she became distracted after coming across a copy of Charles Dickens’ novel, “A Tale Of Two Cities”, translated in the Arabic language. She opened it and began reading it interestedly. She was a fast reader and was in the middle of “Book the Second” when she remembered her initial quest. She put the book back and began her search once more. The search complete she laid her findings on the bed and looked at them. She sighed, her eyes falling over the grand total of two paper clips and an aspirin. She held the pill up to the light and looked at it.
    "This may come in useful. That is if I keep getting frustrated,” she began with a long sigh. “Well, there's no sense standing around in grubby clothes, stewing in my own sweat." she commented as she disposed of her findings in the nearest trashcan. Retrieving a bar of soap she headed into the bathroom for a hot bath.
    A few minutes later she emerged from the bathroom completely cleansed and in a new out-fit. With her outfit, she wore a belt, on which many tools resided, including her ever-useful dagger. The other tools consisted of a lighter, pen, money, small med-kit, and other necessities. On top of these, she had wrapped a ten-foot rope around her waist, fastening it to the belt.
"I always say, 'One can never be too prepared in this country,'" she exclaimed after appraising herself in the mirror.
    Suddenly, a firm knock sounded on the old wooden door, sending a cloud of dust from the ceiling down into the air. Esther jumped and waved away the dust. Her eyes looked over the door. The door itself was made of unfinished hardwood that looked as if it was older than the tiny ancient cat sculpture sitting on the desk. She shrugged and approached the door.
    She unlatched and opened the door. Behind it, stood an incredibly handsome man with short sandy blond hair, and intense blue eyes. His physique was nothing less than stalwart; being quite visible through the black t-shirt the man was wearing. He smiled good naturedly at her.
    Esther expectantly looked into his gorgeous eyes, hers never wavering. However, there was no response to her questioning gaze. The man simply stared, his smile mixed with a look of awe after he had looked more closely at her.
    Ignoring, or rather tying to, the man's good looks, she spoke up.
    "Can I help you?" she asked. The man jumped, blinking several times as his face developed a dark red tint.
    "Oh!" he exclaimed. "I… uh… I'm sorry… I didn't know you would be so… uh…." he stopped, his face darkening even more (if that was even possible.)
    "It's okay… I know… Everyone tells me I need to start wearing more feminine garments. However, when it comes to practicality, pants and a tank top are much more understandable." she explained, looking down at her apparel.
    "Oh no! I didn't mean to imply… I only meant… well… that….” He paused, his eyes serious. “You’re beautiful!" he finally blurted out, his face now nearly the color of a clown's nose. Esther looked at him in surprise, her face turning nearly as red as his.
    "Oh… uh… well," she began, her words stuck in her throat.
    "I'm sorry. That has always been my problem…. I always think before… I mean, I always speak before I think," he continued.
    "That’s okay. Although I thoroughly enjoy a compliment, I still would like to know who you are and what you are doing here," she said, cunningly changing the subject to a more comfortable one.
    "Oh right, right, right. Sorry about that,” he answered, furrowing his brow as if trying to remember something. When he did this a cute worry-line formed on his forehead, giving her puppy-dog eyes extra intensity. “I'm Kael Teagan. Kael most people call me. Uh, the mission's board sent me to escort you to Sarra. I know you were expecting me next week, but there was an accident and you are needed to teach the elementary class as soon as possible. That's why I'm a bit early," he told her, a charming smile coming over his expression.
    "What happened? Exactly that is," Esther asked. It was a question she would later regret, for she was unaware of young Kael's tendency to ramble when nervous.
    "One of the teachers became ill with a terrible sickness. I’m not quite sure what it was exactly but it was bad. The teacher went back to the States to see a specialist. Dr. Hammond I believe. He's been well known for hi techniques with acupuncture, which out-do other techniques--." Kael continued to ramble on about the most irrelevant subjects for quite some time. By this time, Esther was busying herself by going over possible locations of her father's hidden message. She could not help herself; she had always a concentration problem. In the past she had been known to miss out on a conversation completely. Soon she was groping around the room once more and attracted Kael's attention.
    “--And after Jacob went…to-- What are you doing?" he asked, his urge to ramble dissipating. Esther froze and her eyes widened.
    "Oops!" she thought, mentally kicking herself for her rudeness.
    "I'm sorry Mr. Teagan. I'm looking for something that has been eluding me thus far," she explained continuing her search for the "message". She ran her hands along the wall, seeking any imperfections and/or unevenness. Kael allowed a thoughtful look to come over his face, and he asked if it was something she had lost. "No. It's a message my father hid somewhere in this room," she answered frankly after standing akimbo, looking around.
    "Ah. The distinguished Henry Jones. I'm sorry for your loss. I read in the paper a couple months ago that he passed away." Kael added sympathetically. His eyes appraised her apathetic response but he remained silent.
    "It's okay. I hardly knew him. He left my mother almost a year after they were married. We lived part of the time in New York, but she visited Egypt frequently. That's how I became interested in Egyptology. Well, part of the reason. Anyway. I only ever saw him once or twice a month, which was worse than when I didn't see him. He was always busy translating texts and what not." Esther told him, the story absently flowing from her lips without the slightest bit of effort. It had become such a common tale that she did not even realize that she was telling it.
    “But you loved him,” Kael added. Esther sat on the floor and looked at the door as a wave of emotion assailed her face. It quickly disappeared.
    “Yes,” she answered with a partial smile at Kael.
    "Hmmm. I'm sorry. It seems as if life was hard for you," Kael commented. His eyes searched hers to find the emotion he had seen before, but it was long gone.
    "It was okay. I had Jesus," she added with a hopeful smile. “That was all I needed.”
    "Amen," Kael agreed. They smiled at each other for a while, their eyes were firmly locked. Esther broke it first and looked away. Kael cleared his throat.
    "Well. Do you mind if I take a look around. I'd like to see if I can maybe help you in your quest," he suggested, exaggerating some of the words for dramatic emphasis. He was becoming quite comfortable in Esther's company; a prodigious change from before. Esther smiled gently and nodded. He was a good man and he seemed intelligent. But more than that; Esther could see something special in him. She was not quite sure, but it was something.
    "Absolutely. I always welcome help, when it's needed," she answered truthfully.
    "Okay. Let's see. Well, considering your father's reputation, it would be hidden in a very inconspicuous location," Kael stated his eyes scanning the room. Esther nodded in agreement as she stood up from her position and brushed herself off. "However, sometimes, the most inconspicuous location is the most conspicuous one," Kael continued. His eyes were fixed on the bricks in the European-style fireplace. Without another word, Kael made a beeline for a discolored brick among the rest of the rather uniform-colored bricks.  Throwing a comforting glance at Esther (almost winking at her), he placed his hand on the brick and pulled on it. It moved. Esther's eyes sparkled with excitement. Kael turned his head and smiled at her as he set the brick on the mantle. Then, turning back to the hole he slid his hand in. He withdrew his hand, a bundle of clothe in it. He grinned at Esther.
    "Let's have a look, shall we?" Kael suggested. Esther smiled, not just with excitement, but also with a certain extent of admiration for Kael. There was something about him, but it was still out of her grasp. She duly nodded. Kael thanked her and with gentle, meticulous movements, he worked the wad of cloth.
    "There's something hard in here," Kael stated, continuing his careful work. Finally, the contents of the wad were laid in plain view on the desk. Kael was ecstatic.
    "Wow!" he exclaimed. "This is an ancient medallion usually buried with the mummies of royal Egyptians. This is wonderful!” He looked up at Esther briefly then continued in a calmer tone. “This has some strange markings on here though. They look like a mixture between Egyptian hieroglyphics and Ancient Hebrew. Very odd," he explained. Esther slowly lowered to her bed, her face as pale as the sandstone walls. He looked up at her again.
    "What's wrong?" Kael asked, very concerned, almost forgetting the medallion. His cute worry-line returned. He was about to get up and go to her when she spoke up.
    "It's nothing," she said, keeping her eyes on the gold and silver medallion, which depicted a powerful horse with ruby eyes. The odd markings encircled the stallion in a loop of gold as a border. The ruby eyes seemed to look straight at her, boring into her very soul.
    "Well I suggest you put this someplace safe. It's worth a lot of money," Kael continued, wrapping the "message" (as Esther had called it before the discovery).
    "You seem to know quite a bit about the ancients," Esther commented, coming back to a subject in which she was comfortable.
    "Oh yes. I studied for five years in ancient languages," he answered. "You should know more than I do…. It's well known to everyone in the archaeological world that you have all the insight and passion for the ancients as your father did," he continued, using Esther's euphemism.
    "Yes, I studied a bit," Esther returned, modestly.
    "A bit? If you call a child genius going to college for eight years, graduating with honors, and teaching for two years at Yale, a bit, I would hate to know what you call a lot!" he continued. Esther was blushing again; the subject had yet again entered the realm of uncomfortable.
    "Well, I suggest we head out. We need a guide, supplies, and camels," she said.
    "Whoa! You really don’t like talking about yourself, do you?" he returned. She did not answer. “Okay… let’s go,” he gave in, deciding that he should appease her. With that, he started out with a strange amount of energy. Then, when Esther did not follow, he stopped just before he was out of the door. "You coming?" he asked. She didn't answer him, but continued to look at the wad of cloth. "Yoo hoo!" Kael broke in. "Hello! I thought you said you wanted to go."
    "Yes. Sorry. I was thinking," she answered, standing up and taking the wad in her hand. She then carefully began to place the wad back in the wall. Kael, being satisfied, began to leave again. As he did, Esther took the wad and placed it in her pocket, then replaced the brick. She then hurriedly joined Kael in the hall, shutting and locking the door.