The Autumn Prince

6. Antiquities

Among the other items in the chest was a pair of intricate cylinders made from silver and red crystal, a bouquet of dried flowers held together with a frayed, lace ribbon, a stone mortar and pestle, both inlaid with what appeared to be Scandanavian runes, a dagger with a long handle and a short, silver blade, a heavy iron chisel, and a variety of other tools and trinkets both familiar and arcane. A leather wrapping contained a necklace with a bird skull, a clay phial stoppered with a wooden plug, a small bronze ring, a scrap of torn silk, and a leather pouch tied and sealed with wax. I piled all of these and more on top of the blanket.

Under everything sat another box, taking up about a third of the space. This one was simply made without any kind of clasp and held several thick books, perhaps a dozen rolls of parchment, and an enormous, wood-bound tome, hinged in bronze with a bronze clasp. The big one was at least as heavy as it looked, with intricate carvings that matched those on the chest, dominated by a stylized tree and a large, clear crystal embedded on the front cover. The heavy clasp had been designed for a lock, but there was none so I opened it gingerly. Its pages were a kind of marbled parchment, pale yellow with age, and the first contained just one line of script:

Si quis furetur, Anathematis ense necetur.

I'd taken classes in nomenclature and there had been plenty of Latin so I understood the references to a curse, a sword, and thieves. It reminded me of the warnings written on Egyptian tombs to deter grave robbers.

Every page was beautifully illuminated, but the pictures were hard to focus on, as if some odd illusion in the illustration deflected the eyes. The text was just as strange. I carefully turned a few leaves expecting more Latin script, but instead it presented me with Greek, Coptic, Aramaic, Sanskrit, and a couple different sets of hieroglyphics. There were Asian characters as well, at least Japanese and Korean, possibly Chinese, probably more, a section of Norse runes, and symbols, and others I couldn't possibly recognize. Worse, few lines began and ended in the same tongue. It would be impossible to read if you weren't perfectly fluent in all of them, and as I was most definitely not, I gently closed it and set it down, careful not to mar its unblemished surface.

There was more to dig through, but after a few more minutes sitting on the cold, concrete floor, I selected the large book and one of the smaller ones, the bowl, pendant, club, and blanket, and replaced everything else carefully for later inspection. The lid of the trunk provided some resistance suggesting a spring or some pneumatic component that prevented it from slamming shut. When it clicked into place the iron face made a whirring, tapping noise and with a metallic "ping," it spit out the key as if reminding me not to leave it behind.

I bundled everything in the green cloth and set it in the hallway while I replaced the tarp. The bundle alone was almost too heavy to carry without the risk of dropping it, so I'd have to come back with a hand truck to get the chest itself. For a moment I hesitated, wondering if it would be safe, but Miss Gold clearly trusted her arrangements, and the office girl's confidence in the facility's mundane security was convincing. Aside from that, it couldn't be moved inconspicuously, and not at all by fewer than two people.

I closed the door and snapped its lock back into place, then hauled my double armload toward the front office. Becca saw me coming before I reached the door and rushed to open it for me.

"Thanks," I said, struggling with the awkward load.

"Can I help with that?" she looked worried I might hurt myself. A few days earlier I probably would have.

"No, I'm good, but if you could get the other door..." I nodded toward the front parking lot.

"Right! Sorry, um—sorry, I don't know your name," she said as she trotted ahead of me to pull the door open.