Trifariam, The Lost Codex (2012) (20 page)

The flight attendant reappeared after letting the pilot know that the passengers were on board. “When the captain has finished refilling the fuel tank, we’ll be on our way. If you want anything, you only need to ask and I’ll be happy to attend to you. The flight to Egypt will be long, so you have free use of the four rooms situated at the rear of the plane along with the bathroom suite. We’ve installed a television and a music system in each of them, which will make your journey much more enjoyable.”

Then, the flight attendant made herself scarce as the aircraft engines roared to life, filling the cabin with a deafening thunder and making part of the fuselage shake. The three friends sat in their seats, specially adapted for takeoff and landing, with robust seatbelts that tightened slightly when the plane gradually increased its speed along the runway of the airfield.

The first few hours of the flight were stress-free. The flight attendant served them a light yet satisfying supper, and the lack of turbulence made it very pleasant indeed.

Richard was starting to pick up on the sparks which were flying between his two friends, and although neither wanted to take their relationship further and each had locked themselves in their room after supper, it was obvious that there was something there other than just friendship.

However, not even an hour had passed when someone knocked on James’ door. With his eyes half open and almost asleep, he got out of bed and undid the latch on the door. Richard burst into the room, clutching his laptop in his left hand and the book James had found in his right.

“You’ve got to see this! I’ve deciphered the second chapter of the book. It’s fascinating.”

James let out a big yawn. “What have you found?”

Richard picked up on the indifference shown by his friend and he folded his arms. For the last two days, he had been working on the book without a moment’s rest and he wasn’t feeling as appreciated as he should have been. Clearly James’ head was in the clouds. “Do you like Mary?”

The question hit James like a bucket of cold water being thrown over his head; he woke up sharp. “She’s just a friend. I’m not interested in her.”

Richard couldn’t help but smirk. He knew his friend inside out and lying wasn’t one of his strong points. “So… you wouldn’t mind if I went to her room right now? I heard a hairdryer a couple of minutes ago, so she must still be awake. I’ll invite her to my room for a whisky; it would go down nicely after the last few hours.”

Richard didn’t even wait for his friend’s response. He gathered all the belongings he had tossed onto on the bed earlier and walked to the door.

“Fine, I like her! Are you happy now?!”

His honesty had stopped Richard just as his hand was hovering dangerously over the doorknob. James went to sit next to him on the bed. “I think even the pilot has noticed the sexual tension you two are giving off all the time. Didn’t you realize that whenever you’re together, the plane gets tossed around from one side to the other as if it’s hit a patch of turbulence? The captain had specifically asked me to keep you apart.”

James cackled. Richard always managed to make him laugh, even when things weren’t going at all well. He was one of the most important people he could lean on when he found the photos of his ex-wife making love to another man.

“You have to forget that bitch and try to rebuild your life. Mary is a nice girl - she’s sensitive, affectionate, sweet and you have a hobby in common: you both enjoy being chased by assassins.”

The young professor smiled again. Although it pained him greatly, his friend was usually right about these things. Maybe it was time to move on and look for a woman who could fill the void in his heart and repair the damage that his ex-wife had done. Besides, he had the support of his daughter who had known the truth about what had happened from the start, and she had always stood firm and supported her father. Even if she did want to live with James, his hectic lifestyle didn’t allow for that at the moment and she would have to remain under the legal custody of her mother until she came of age.

“Well,” said James, changing the subject. “What have you found?”

A
completely unfamiliar voice rang out through the aircraft speaker system. The captain had just activated the automatic pilot and it was addressing its passengers, letting them know that they would be landing in Cairo in approximately thirty minutes. James, struggling to consciousness, took out his earplugs and wriggled out from under the blankets until he was sitting on the edge of the bed, and looked at the circular clock which hung on the wall. It had been eight hours since Richard had burst into his room to tell him about his latest findings.

According to him, the second chapter of the book was dedicated solely to the
Trifariam
, the object for which the Grand Master, Simone Di Benedetto, had given his life. It went into minute detail about what it looked like so that the explorers would be able to recognize it instantly. The book even claimed that it had been fashioned from a material which came from the stars and was incredibly tough, probably from a meteorite which fell to Earth millions of years ago. The inhabitants of this fabled land were faced with a huge increase in sea levels on a daily basis, which led to the city being completely flooded. Many of them thought that they had been punished for betraying the trust of the gods and creating an artifact whose power was comparable to theirs. They swore never to speak of it again and hid it so that it wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands, allowing them to forget about the object until it was really necessary.

The survivors fled in different directions, settling in various parts of the world, and the city of the Great Pyramids was the one charged with looking after the object. However, tales began to spread like wildfire by word of mouth; the stories told of the magnificent powers harnessed by the
Trifariam
, thus making it an object of desire for the most covetous men on the face of the planet. The priests managed to hide its existence for hundreds of years, destroying everything that was written about it. Its exact location was known only by a chosen few who had been trained since children to carry out their task: the Grand Masters.

Years later, a group of Egyptian looters had become blinded by greed from all those legendary stories and they tried to take possession of the object. They came so close that the priests at the time were driven to split the object into several pieces, hiding them in the most inaccessible places in the world.

Richard, who already knew the book well, had discovered that there were hidden messages on certain pages and although he didn’t understand many of them, others gave him very important and meaningful clues. In this case, the last page of the chapter was blank, but scrawled at the foot of the page, and practically undetectable to the naked eye, was the following alchemical symbol:
. In spite of the similarity with the symbol on the cover of the book, he quickly realized that what he had in front of him was the alchemical symbol for carbon. It could easily have escaped his attention, but when he rubbed his fingers over the page, he found it was rough to the touch. He had an inexplicable urge to grab a charcoal pencil and set about carefully shading in the whole page, gradually seeing that the marks were in fact a text written without ink and therefore invisible at first glance.

The text claimed that the
Trifariam
consisted of several other fragments, the exact location of which would be revealed to them when the first two pieces were joined together.

This had sparked a heated debate between the two friends as to the true meaning of the word
Trifariam.
James fought tooth and nail to defend his suspicion that the name of the object was not related to it being divided into three parts; as with all Richard’s hypotheses, that would involve translating the word literally.

Before his friend had paid a visit, James’ head had been swirling with thoughts and ideas; the one which made most sense was that part of the object could have been hidden in the Great Pyramid in Egypt, otherwise known as the Pyramid of Cheops. If the text on the canvas did indeed refer to a large pyramid, there were plenty of cities across the world with gigantic pyramids, but Richard had narrowed down the possibilities marvelously when he had translated the second chapter of the book; it suggested the home of the three great pyramids as the starting point for the search and mentioned the existence of a hidden chamber inside one of them. It was undoubtedly talking about Egypt.

Taking into account the similarities they had already discussed, there could also have been communication between the Egyptians and the Mayans, with the latter clearly being influenced by the former. It would be far from crazy to believe that the Mayan civilization could hold the key to the second piece of the
Trifariam
.

The stewardess helped them disembark as soon as they landed. Just as Hawaiian women honor tourists with an endless show of flowers, the oppressive desert heat welcomed its visitors with a wave of hot air to the face, all year round. The heat was generally dry except in Cairo, where it was slightly more humid.

“Mr. Williams has ordered that the plane be at your full disposal for however long it is needed. We have hired one of the hangars and we’ve booked a couple of rooms in a nearby hotel where we shall wait for you until you decide to leave the country. Whenever we have the necessary details, we’ll send a message to Mr. Matheson’s cellphone.”

Despite not having any difficulty in communicating with the Egyptian taxi drivers, some of whom could get by very well in up to five different languages, they preferred to hire a vehicle for their stay in the city from one of the airport offices. While Richard dealt with the paperwork, Mary and James looked for an information point where they could stock up on all kinds of material relating to the city, whether it was about hotels, restaurants, museums, and even an armful of maps and street plans.

Mary had previously visited Egypt on an archaeological expedition and recommended staying at the hotel
Sofitel Cataract Aswan
. However, the hotel was undergoing repairs for the next two years, so after perusing the many options available, they opted for the establishment nearest the pyramids that looked the most comfortable.

Once at the hotel, they were truly astonished when they saw their rooms - they were completely out of place for a four star hotel and a long way from the mediocrity they had been expecting. As soon as they entered reception, it became apparent that the air conditioning would work perfectly in all the suites. And although it wasn’t an excessively luxurious hotel, it did have its little touches of opulence.

T
heir visit to the three pyramids on the Giza Plateau would have to wait until the following morning. The weather had been extremely hot the whole week, with very high temperatures which verged on being intolerable for humans and which did not spare anybody who was insufficiently prepared. To make matters worse, the monuments would more than likely be crawling with people, making both getting in and out complicated and stressful.

Mary told her friends about what had happened the first day she had visited the pyramids. A woman tripped down the steps leading down into the bowels of the Great Pyramid, rolling for some thirteen feet until she collided with some tourists who managed to stop her. A quick once over revealed she had suffered a severe neck injury so nobody dared touch her and she was left there, blocking the exit for a couple of hours until the medical services eventually showed up. She had run out of water and the sense of panic had grown immeasurably into full-blown claustrophobia. She almost went crazy down there.

They took advantage of the rest of the day to visit the city, occasionally taking shelter under the comforting shade of some cafe terrace where they enjoyed the most hydrating drink there was: water.

Mary, who was already an expert on the city, improvised as tour guide while she told them all about the wonders that they could visit in the country, and which were so far apart from each other that it was impossible to visit them in just one day.

“Yes,” said Richard, sitting in a privileged position from which he could see the three pyramids in all their glory. “I know many people who have visited Abu Simbel and they have told me about the real marvels of that stunning archaeological site.”

Mary continued to speak. “I’ve had the chance to visit it three times, and each one was much more satisfying and culturally enriching than the last. I always discovered small details that had escaped me on previous visits. I’d love to take you there, but it’s too far.”

The waitress served them three large bottles of water with a small snack.

Abu Simbel is a beautiful complex comprising two temples dug out of the rock itself under the reign of Ramses II. The bigger temple is nowadays considered to be one of the best conserved in Egypt and it has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

Construction ended in approximately 1264 BC, with the aim of intimidating neighboring towns and reinforcing the influence that Egyptian religion held over the whole region. Once the temple was abandoned, it was gradually filled with sand over the years until it became hidden, and was not discovered until 1813.