AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Well?” I prod.
He clears his throat, and his voice is hesitant in a way I’m sure is foreign to him when he says, “Ancient Sumerian.”
I nearly snort with laughter but manage to make it sound like a cough. “Well, Mr. … What did you say your last name was again?”
“I asked you to call me Gideon.” His dry response makes me think I didn’t cover my laugh as neatly as intended.
“Well, Gideon, I’m afraid you’ve been duped. Whoever sold you the manuscript was clearly unscrupulous. There are no books from ancient Sumer. They didn’t record anything on parchment or rolls. Only stone tablets and?—”
“Yes, I am aware,” he interrupts in that bone-dry tone of his. “And I didn’t say the book dated to ancient Sumer, only that portions of it seemed to be written in it.”
I’m not taking the job, but my curiosity gets the better of me. “When does this book date to?”
“It’s medieval.”
“And only parts of it are in Sumerian? What about the rest of it?”
“Some of it’s in Sumerian, but it also has passages in Greek and demotic. As well as some in another—” he pauses, seeming to mull over his choice of words “—more obscure language.”
Something about how he says that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up … not in fear, but with a prickle of excitement.
“Sumerian, Greek, demotic, and something else?” I ask. “That almost sounds like the Rosetta Stone.”
It sounds exactly like the Rosetta Stone, in fact. Could this manuscript be the key to deciphering other languages? Maybe even ones we’ve seen only a handful of times?
Can you say catnip? This man sure knows how to dangle his carrot.
I chuckle at my unintentional joke.
“I beg your pardon?” he asks.
“Nothing. Sorry. Just clearing my throat.”
He makes a noise that might be a chuckle of disbelief.
He’s a cocky monster, that’s for sure.
“My book is the Elysian Chronicles, and I guess it could be compared to the Rosetta Stone. But if you’re not available …” He lets his words trail off, a sure sign he knows he’s hooked me.
“Can you tell me more about the other languages? The ones you haven’t yet identified.”
“I could tell you. But I think it would be better if you saw it yourself. It’s the kind of thing some people don’t believe when they’re looking at it.”
Once again, I have that prickle of awareness that tells me he’s about to bait the hook with something bigger than his book, as intriguing as it sounds.
But what other mysterious medieval manuscripts are there?
On instinct, I blurt, “Is this about the Lenayovitch Tome?”
A moment passes, and another chuckle comes from the end of the line—a chuckle that warms me right down to my toes, though I’d never admit it. “You’re not only intelligent but perceptive. Are you interested?”
The Lenayovitch Tome is a very ancient and mysterious book filled with fantastic beasts and plants that don’t exist on this planet, all surrounded by words that cannot be deciphered.
Or, if Gideon’s hints are to be believed, might one day be deciphered with the help of this book of his.
My blood rushes in my ears as my thoughts race. I know it may be a new dialect of the old language, but if I were the one who helped to decipher it, I’d get credit for that work. I’d make sure of it.
“What do you think? Are you interested now?”
