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"And, of course, you need a weapon, which you can hide in your dress, Myrina," suddenly came from Edward, who had not spoken up until now.
Surprised, we looked back at him. "A gun? They must have metal detectors there that scan anything bigger than a lighter," Alex objected, and I could tell he still wasn't convinced.
"Edward is right," Aspasia said, nodding sympathetically, "but so is Alex! We need a weapon that isn't metal, and I have just the thing. Worthy of an Amazon." Quickly, she reached under the front of her shirt and fished out a chain. Something that resembled a rather large yet very flat tusk was hanging from it. She detached it from the chain, which had another piece of jewelry attached. With narrowed eyes, I tried to discern what it might be. A stone? A blue gemstone the size of a thumbnail.
Hastily, Aspasia stuffed the chain and pendant back under her clothes and handed me the tusk.
"Be careful. It's damn sharp," she warned me. "I got it from Africa. It's ancient and my talisman."
Gently, I turned the weapon over in my hands a few times and then closed my fingers around the part that seemed to represent the handle.
Overall, the tooth was as long as a pencil, making it easy to hide under my dress.
"Thank you, Aspasia. Of course, you'll get it back right after the gala. I'll take good care of it." I performed a few strokes with the new weapon on a trial basis.
"We'll practice that together later," Edward commented on my movements with a critical look, and Aspasia also grinned at my first attempts.
"Now you have a weapon, but more importantly is that you're not what they're searching for, which is one of the women they're abducting," the literature student added, placing a couple of books on the table. "To find out exactly what that might be, I brought some new reading material for us."
Groaning, Alex reached for the narrowest book; Chris plunged into Roman mythology, one of his favorite topics. Aspasia turned to Egyptian teachings, and I grabbed the next best thing from the pile. I couldn't tell what was left for Edward because the cover was worn.
Again, I grabbed a blanket and walked to the reading chair. Once there, I turned my back on the others and pulled my own necklace out of my dress. After running my finger over the locket, I attached the tusk to it and let both disappear together into my cleavage.
The reading was a tough description of the Xia dynasty, the first dynasty of China, which was located between 2200 and 1800 BC. The slim book also had some surviving stories, including one concerning a flood. In this myth, a hero named Yu was said to have tamed a flood using canals and sewage ditches. Thus, he became the great emperor and founded the first ruling dynasty.
At first, the depiction reminded me somewhat of the biblical tale of Noah, but it would be a stretch to claim these two stories were related. Although such a legend could sometimesend differently than it began in a silent mail game from China to Israel.
Three hours later, I closed the book again. Although I now knew everything about the first dynasty of the Chinese empire, I was far from answering the initial question.
After I had stretched extensively, I looked to the others, but they were all still highly concentrated in their books. Since I didn't want to disturb anyone, I put on my training clothes behind the screen and started with a light warm-up on the training mat. After that, I slipped on my boxing gloves and got into position in front of the punching bag. I needed something I could punch. Something that I could really beat up. All my power had to come out, as well as the anger about our situation, the Knights of the Seals, and myself. Because that's what I was: angry at myself. At not learning to fight faster. At letting myself be lulled by the beautiful dress. At not finding a way out. At not being able to protect Charly. At the weakness I felt about returning to the Metropolitan Museum. And so much more. A considerable portion of anger mixed with fear, powerlessness, and helplessness. Every blow on the punching bag hit, every blow hurt, and every blow gave me relief.
"Rina, are you okay?" I suddenly heard Alex ask behind me. Slowly, he approached me, and I stopped the beating. My hands hurt, and I struggled to get the gloves off. My fiancé turned me to face him, took the boxing gloves from me, threw them on the floor, and pulled me into a hug. Comfortingly, his hand stroked my back, and at the same time, he breathed soft kisses on the top of my head.
"Thank you, Alex," I whispered, feeling the tears well inside me. Before they could completely free themselves, I peeled myself from his tender touch.
"Is everyone done reading yet?" I asked, looking over his shoulder at the others talking excitedly at the table. My fiancé followed my gaze.
"Yes, they are. But I wanted to let you know something else, Rina. No matter what's bothering you, you can always talk to me. I'm here for you," he said quietly, giving me a loving smile.
"I know, Alex."
"Come on then, let's see what the troupe has uncovered. My book was so boring that I almost fell asleep every few seconds. So there was really nothing revealing in it," Alex whispered to me, giggling, and I grinned back.
"My reading wasn't much better."
"But what exactly have you discovered now, Edward?" I heard Aspasia exclaim impatiently.
The literature student sat at the table with shining eyes and held up his worn book. Now, I could also read the title:Myths of Mesopotamia and Related Peoples.
"It's incredible, but it seems that many of our Old Testament Bible stories are derived from the stories of the Mesopotamian culture. Among others, those of Noah and the ark," he reported enthusiastically, flipping open the volume of myths.
"But only one of the creation stories of this culture is of interest to us. Researchers have discovered a myth from the 13th century B.C., passed down on stone tablets in the northern Syrian port city of Ugarit. In the story, the creator god El is living in paradise with his wife Ashera when the evil God Horon is banished from the mountain of the gods. He seeks revenge and transforms the tree of life from El's and Ashera's paradise into a tree of death. At the same time, he envelops the world in a deadly mist. The god El wants to give the world new life, but Horon stands in his way in the form of a snake. It bites the creator god, who thereby loses his immortality. However, El regains it whenhe begets children with his wife, Ashera." Demonstrative and armed with a winning smile, Edward folded the book closed.
"Adam and Eve!" Now, Chris also exclaimed enthusiastically. "Unbelievable! This is our biblical creation story, with the difference that Adam is a god here and Eve is a goddess!"
"And the very crucial part of the story: Eve is not to blame. She is not seduced by a serpent or portrayed as a sinner," Aspasia pointed out the most crucial fact in my eyes.
"Exactly!" Edward confirmed her execution. "That means that Eve was not originally the one who pushed the world to destruction, as the Bible would have us believe."
