The Quest: A Novel

trunks.
    Gann looked up and said, “Doesn’t seem to be anything edible up there.”
    Purcell handed him a cloth bag. “Have a date.”
    They drank the last of their water and took stock of their food, which they estimated would last one more day.
    Gann and Purcell looked at the map and they both agreed they were between twenty and thirty kilometers west of the road, though they couldn’t determine if they were north or south of Shoan. And Shoan was another thirty kilometers east of the road.
    Gann said, “We are a long day’s march to Shoan.” He added, “Unless we run into rough country.”
    Purcell said, “That was encouraging until ‘unless.’ ”
    They all agreed they’d head back to Shoan in the morning.
    Vivian stood and said, “Be right back.”
    Everyone assumed she’d gone off to relieve herself, but she kept walking, and Purcell was concerned that she was becoming delirious and had seen another mirage. He couldn’t call out to her because they needed to be quiet, so he stood and caught up with her.
    “Where are you going?”
    “I saw a glint.”
    “Really?”
    “Right over here.”
    He let her lead him farther into the tight undergrowth.
    The ground was rising, he noticed, and he recalled the high, rocky ground he’d seen when he flew over this area, returning from Gondar.
    The undergrowth began to thin, and he felt rocks beneath his feet.
    He was looking where he stepped, and also looking left and right to be sure no one was there, and Vivian was ahead of him again. He drew his pistol from his cargo pocket and stuck it in his belt.
    Vivian stopped and said, “There is the rock.”
    He caught up to her and looked west into the setting sun. Spread out to their front was a deep depression in the ground that covered acres of land. There were a few trees growing in the sunken ground, but it was mostly open. In the deep, wide depression grew brush, crawling vines, and tropical flowers, but he could also see acres of black rock coming through the ground growth. An old stone quarry.
    Vivian pointed, “The rock.”
    On the far side of the abandoned quarry, about a hundred yards away, was a great black monolith—a quarried slab of rock, about twenty feet high and ten feet wide, that had been shaped by human hands, but never transported from here. The late afternoon sun highlighted the black luster on its top edge. Purcell didn’t understand how Vivian could have seen it from where they were sitting.
    He heard a noise behind him, pushed Vivian down, drew his revolver, and knelt facing the sound.
    Gann and Mercado came up the rise and saw them.
    Gann said, “There you are. Don’t shoot, old boy. We’re still friends.”
    Purcell put the revolver in his cargo pocket and waved them up the slope.
    Gann asked, “What have you found?”
    “A quarry.”
    Vivian said, “We have found Father Armano’s rock.” She pointed.
    Mercado and Gann looked across the quarry and Gann said, “Yes, a quarry. Good scouting.”
    Mercado was staring at the black monolith on the far edge of the rock quarry. He looked at Vivian and asked, “How do you know?”
    “Henry, that is the rock.”
    Gann spotted the carved rock and said, “Let’s have a look, shall we?”
    The sun slipped below the tall monolith, and a shadow spread across the expanse of the ancient quarry.
    Purcell said, “It’s not going anywhere. Let’s camp here, and we’ll take a look in the morning.”
    Vivian nodded. “I knew it was here, Frank.”
    Purcell looked at her, then looked downslope from where they’d come.
Impossible.
    She put her hand on his arm. “No, not impossible.”

Chapter 52
    T hey awoke before dawn and ate the last of their bread and dates, leaving only some dried goat meat, which Purcell thought would taste like steak when they were near starvation.
    Purcell knew they would run out of food before they got to Shoan, but he wasn’t sure they would be starting back today. Not with that black monolith staring them in the face. He looked out across the quarry. It was still too dark to see the black slab—but it was there.
    They would have to make a decision; should they look next for Father Armano’s tree? Then his stream? Purcell was almost certain that Vivian was right—this was
the
rock.
    Purcell asked the question on everyone’s minds. “Do we press on from that rock, or do we head back to Shoan and return here when we’re reprovisioned”
    No one replied, except Vivian, of course. “We did not come this