“I believe you speak the truth. Yours is a tortured soul, but it is pure.”
Ana stared at Hamed and then at Nate, who said nothing. He appeared to be extremely perceptive and Nate once again thought of the djinn. He absently wondered to himself if the tales of the guardians could be true and if this man was in fact one of them. The thought sent a shiver down his spine.
“Do you know precisely where the city is?” Ana asked him.
“No.”
Nate exhaled, somewhat exasperated. Maybe this man wasn’t a djinn after all. He seemed to have nothing but stories.
“Do you at least know if there are any wells nearby? We are low on water.”
“Of course,” Hamed said. “Bir al kanz. Very close by.”
“Bir al kanz,” Nate repeated softly.
“Treasure well,” Ana said excitedly, verbalizing the translation for him.
“You’ve been there?” Nate asked with renewed vigor.
“We’ve just come from there,” the man replied. He pulled a small oil lamp from his robes and handed it to Nate. It was tarnished copper.
“You found this there? In that well?”
“When I was a boy, crossing these sands with my father. This came up in our bucket. It is treasure from Iram.”
Nate turned the lamp over in his hands. He had no way of knowing if this lamp was thousands of years old, or if it was bought in a market in Riyadh a week ago. It certainly looked ancient, and the man seemed as sincere as Ahmed had been about his coin. He handed the lamp back.
“You question the lamp. As you question the existence of Iram,” Hamed said. It wasn’t a question, but rather a fact.
“I want to believe,” Nate said.
“Then you must. Without belief you will never set foot in the city. Because you don’t find Iram of the Pillars. It finds you. But only if you are ready. And only if you believe.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
It was less than an hour before they made it to the well. Hamed had provided them detailed directions, not using a specific heading but a course charted through the sand and using the stars. Once the Bedouin family moved on, Nate checked the location against his hand-drawn map. The distance and direction appeared accurate, and using his compass he knew they were going in the right direction.
The well itself was ordinary, a simple hole in the ground surrounded by stacked stones two feet high. There was nothing of significance to distinguish it from any other well in the desert, although any well that provided lifesaving water in this environment was remarkable all on its own. Still, Nate knew better, and it was why he stared at it in fascination while Tim looked at him like he was crazy.
“You doing okay there, buddy?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Nate replied. “It’s just…”
“A well?” Wally added helpfully.
“A treasure well,” he mumbled to himself. “Downstream from the city.”
“Who are you talking to?” Shane asked him, looking around at the empty desert as he took off his pack.
“Sorry,” Nate said more loudly. “This is the well that Hamed told us about, where he found the lamp. But it’s also similar to the one in which Ahmed’s ancestors found his ancient coin. And maybe even where someone found that Akkadian medallion you have hanging around your neck like you’re in some shitty Arab rap video,” he said, nodding in Shane’s direction.
Everyone stopped to look at the former UFC fighter, noticing for the first time that he was wearing the medallion. He instinctively covered it with his hand. “What? It’s badass.”
“Right, then, let’s find out if this is a dry hole or not,” Wally said. He walked over to the well and pulled out a SureFire flashlight. The rest of them quickly followed and peered down the hole as Wally illuminated the interior with the click of a button.
“I don’t see anything,” Tim said.
“Me neither,” Nate concurred.
