The Moses Riddle (Thomas McAllister 'Treasure Hunter' Adventure Book 1) by Hunt Kingsbury Page B
Authors: Hunt Kingsbury
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could return to Unas with an ultrasound machine and make a copy of the riddle. Sinistar could translate it for her. Maybe he should destroy that section of the wall . No, that would be stupid. His whole train of thought was ridiculous. Martha would never betray him. She was incapable of such an act.
Thomas had been in Egypt many times and knew many of Martha’s friends and colleagues. He’d also worked with numerous other Egyptian specialists . . . but he had never heard of Sinistar. Of course, that could be because he didn’t work with linguists that often. Still, it was odd. But, again, he needed Sinistar. He couldn’t solve the riddle without a linguist. It was too late now anyway.
The phone rang and Thomas snatched it off the hook on the first ring. The following conversation was burned into Thomas’s memory. Sinistar had said, “I have the information you wanted, Dr. McAlister.” He read him the five words and biblical history as Christians and Jews had always known it was forever changed. It came like a tidal wave and hit Thomas like a physical blow.
“Are you there, Dr. McAlister? Dr. McAlister . . . sir . . . are you there?”
The implications were so enormous, it took a full minute for Thomas to get back to the present. “Yes, I’m sorry, doctor. I-I dropped my pen and had to pick it up. Dr. Sinistar, if I reread the words I provided for you, could you repeat the meaning for me? I want to be crystal clear, so that there’s no misunderstanding so I won’t have to bother you again. Now let’s start. I’m reading Hebrew concurrent to Late Classic.”
Thomas waited for Sinistar’s answer. The linguist sighed impatiently and said, “Yes, yes, Dr. McAlister. I know.”
Thomas’s pulse was racing, as he carefully spelled the words. “The first word is chabar , spelled: C-H-A-B-A-R. It means?”
Dr. Sinistar, resigned to doing this Thomas’s way said, “ Chabar means salvation or deliverance .”
Thomas smiled. “Good! That was my guess.” He wrote the word down. “Let’s go to the next words, kanaph and nachash , spelled: K-AN-A-P-H and N-A-C-H-A-S-H. What do they mean?”
“These were harder. I have never in all my life seen these words written in Hebrew. The word kanaph means feathered or plumed . The word nachash means dragon or serpent . It’s very, very odd, especially when I tell you the meaning of the final word.”
Thomas shook his head. He thought his heart might leap out his chest. The implications were staggering. Almost incomprehensible. He spelled the next word for Dr. Sinistar.
“I could find no reference for this word, Dr. McAlister. None at all. None. And that is a first for me. So, I did a letter for letter translation, Hebrew to English.”
Thomas waited. “And . . . what did it spell?”
“The letters spelled the following word: V-I-R-R-A-C-H-O-C-A.” Then Sinistar quickly added, “This is all very strange, Dr. McAlister. Very strange, indeed. That the word Virrachoca would be present, with words referencing the Mayan Plumed Serpent . . . all written in ancient Hebrew. I’m sure you’re aware of these words, Doctor. And their Mayan origins?”
Thomas stared at the three words he’d written, and slowly under his breath whispered, “Jesus Christ!” They were ancient Mayan, purely Central American words, yet gleaned from an ancient Egyptian text.
Thomas ignored Sinistar’s inquiries. He had to end this conversation immediately. He didn’t want to give Sinistar a chance to become even more suspicious. If this turned out to be an actual Mayan reference in an ancient Hebrew text, it would be a career defining find. This was the stuff legends were made of. “One last word, Doctor. “ Cagullah , spelled: C-A-G-U-L-L-A-H.” He spoke slowly, as if speaking to a child.
“ Cagullah is the Hebrew word for ‘ treasure or valuable gift .’ It refers to something considered priceless or beyond monetary value.”
Thomas wondrously murmured the words to himself.
“What was
Thomas had been in Egypt many times and knew many of Martha’s friends and colleagues. He’d also worked with numerous other Egyptian specialists . . . but he had never heard of Sinistar. Of course, that could be because he didn’t work with linguists that often. Still, it was odd. But, again, he needed Sinistar. He couldn’t solve the riddle without a linguist. It was too late now anyway.
The phone rang and Thomas snatched it off the hook on the first ring. The following conversation was burned into Thomas’s memory. Sinistar had said, “I have the information you wanted, Dr. McAlister.” He read him the five words and biblical history as Christians and Jews had always known it was forever changed. It came like a tidal wave and hit Thomas like a physical blow.
“Are you there, Dr. McAlister? Dr. McAlister . . . sir . . . are you there?”
The implications were so enormous, it took a full minute for Thomas to get back to the present. “Yes, I’m sorry, doctor. I-I dropped my pen and had to pick it up. Dr. Sinistar, if I reread the words I provided for you, could you repeat the meaning for me? I want to be crystal clear, so that there’s no misunderstanding so I won’t have to bother you again. Now let’s start. I’m reading Hebrew concurrent to Late Classic.”
Thomas waited for Sinistar’s answer. The linguist sighed impatiently and said, “Yes, yes, Dr. McAlister. I know.”
Thomas’s pulse was racing, as he carefully spelled the words. “The first word is chabar , spelled: C-H-A-B-A-R. It means?”
Dr. Sinistar, resigned to doing this Thomas’s way said, “ Chabar means salvation or deliverance .”
Thomas smiled. “Good! That was my guess.” He wrote the word down. “Let’s go to the next words, kanaph and nachash , spelled: K-AN-A-P-H and N-A-C-H-A-S-H. What do they mean?”
“These were harder. I have never in all my life seen these words written in Hebrew. The word kanaph means feathered or plumed . The word nachash means dragon or serpent . It’s very, very odd, especially when I tell you the meaning of the final word.”
Thomas shook his head. He thought his heart might leap out his chest. The implications were staggering. Almost incomprehensible. He spelled the next word for Dr. Sinistar.
“I could find no reference for this word, Dr. McAlister. None at all. None. And that is a first for me. So, I did a letter for letter translation, Hebrew to English.”
Thomas waited. “And . . . what did it spell?”
“The letters spelled the following word: V-I-R-R-A-C-H-O-C-A.” Then Sinistar quickly added, “This is all very strange, Dr. McAlister. Very strange, indeed. That the word Virrachoca would be present, with words referencing the Mayan Plumed Serpent . . . all written in ancient Hebrew. I’m sure you’re aware of these words, Doctor. And their Mayan origins?”
Thomas stared at the three words he’d written, and slowly under his breath whispered, “Jesus Christ!” They were ancient Mayan, purely Central American words, yet gleaned from an ancient Egyptian text.
Thomas ignored Sinistar’s inquiries. He had to end this conversation immediately. He didn’t want to give Sinistar a chance to become even more suspicious. If this turned out to be an actual Mayan reference in an ancient Hebrew text, it would be a career defining find. This was the stuff legends were made of. “One last word, Doctor. “ Cagullah , spelled: C-A-G-U-L-L-A-H.” He spoke slowly, as if speaking to a child.
“ Cagullah is the Hebrew word for ‘ treasure or valuable gift .’ It refers to something considered priceless or beyond monetary value.”
Thomas wondrously murmured the words to himself.
“What was
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