Chapter 1
A torch light flickered fitfully in the grim darkness, the sound of dripping water echoing from somewhere deep in the recesses of a damp and chilly cave. Two men, sitting around what could only be described as a crude and not very well lit camp fire. One, was cooking as the other set about sketching and writing notes in to a leather bound book, taking long and well thought out notes as he stared endlessly and without any care to his current surroundings.
The pictures the man was staring at depicted a somewhat vicious and crudely drawn battle waged long before these men had ever been thought of. Squinting as he stared at the drawings on the cave walls, the man without even looking over his shoulder spoke to his counterpart.
" Marcus.. what do you make of this? These drawings I mean.. what do you think they mean?"
Looking up briefly from the cooking he was concocting, Marcus slowly rose to his feet, brushing the dust and dirt from the back of his trousers as he slowly made his way over to his long time friend.
Not really being able to make much of the drawings due to the lack of sufficient light in the cave, Marcus went back and picked up one end of a burning branch and brought it back over to the cave wall. Shining the burning branch up and down and across the length of the wall, Marcus slowly and thoughtfully studied the drawings on the cave wall.
" I'm not really sure Eric... these men here are clearly fighting, though the crudeness of the drawing makes it difficult to interpret what those things they are holding actually are."
Studying the drawings even further, Marcus and Eric spent hour upon hour looking up and down the wall, comparing their notes and sketching what they could as best as they could. Taking very careful and well thought out notes on what the drawings could mean.
Hours seemed to pass as Marcus and Eric continued their study of the ancient drawings on the cave wall. Stretching and yawning exhaustedly, Marcus placed his hand calmly on Eric's shoulder.
" We've done all we can for the day my friend. We need to sleep for tomorrow we venture deeper in to this dark abyss and hopefully find some more interesting things while we are here."
Eric looked at Marcus, the bags under his eyes giving a clear indication that he too was beginning to feel the toll of staying awake for so long to study their first find on their venture.
Nodding in agreement, Eric closed his notebook and slid his pencil in to his shirt pocket as he made his way slowly over to where Marcus had lit the crude fire hours before.
" I think we neglected our fire my friend, there aren't nothing but embers left now for us to keep ourselves warm."
Marcus laughed a little to himself as he too inspected what was left of their fire. Looking around for any loose kindling or bits of twig that he could find to stoke the fire with a little bit to get it burning a bit better before they went to sleep.
Marcus fell asleep with almost immediate effect as his head hit his rolled up coat, Eric, on the other hand tossed and turned fitfully on the uneven and hard ground. His years living in a comfortable society had softened him a lot. Finally, Eric gave in and sat up right, yawning as he stretched his arms out as far as he could before rubbing his eyes and letting out a long drawn out sigh as he saw that Marcus was happily snoring away across the fire from him.
Staring blankly in to the grim darkness of the cave, thinking about what could possibly be down here after so many years. But one thing was certain in Eric's mind, If there was anything to be found further down the seemingly endless darkness of the cave, either he or Marcus would be the ones to find it.
It must have been at least six or seven hours later when Eric felt a light touch on his shoulder. As he opened his eye's Eric realised he must have finally drifted off to sleep as he was now staring up at Marcus wide eyed and some what unsure of how long he had actually been asleep.
"Come on Eric, it's time to get moving, we have a fair amount of work to be done today. I'll get breakfast on the go while you shake out them sleepy cobwebs."
Sitting upright, Eric wiped his eye's and looked around him as he reached in to his pocket and pulled out a packet of cigarettes, lighting one up as he watched Marcus dig around in their supply bag for their breakfast.
Taking a long drag of his cigarette as he pulled his notebook out from under his make shift pillow which was nothing more than his dirty jacket. Eric started to then sift through the pages staring it seemed at his rough sketches and notes. Again without looking up from his book, Eric spoke.
"How far down this cave are we going today Marcus? Until we find something of interest? Or until we fall out of the ends of the earth in to Australia?"
Smiling a bit to himself as he said it, Eric looked up briefly from his book at Marcus who had found something edible for breakfast it seemed and was also smiling as he then dug out something to cook their food on.
"I'm not entirely sure my friend. It would seem like we found something interesting here, though neither of us are qualified enough to give a proper assessment of the find. We will have to wait until we get home and the university professors can review exactly what it is we did find."
Eric at that point had stopped reading through his notebook and looked up with an anguished look on his face as Marcus mentioned university professors.
"Do we really have to report this to those over stuffed bureaucrats back home?.. why can't we just take our finds to someone who is more willing to actually look at our finds and helps us understand what they mean?"
Closing his notebook and standing up, Eric moved closer to the fire, warming his hands a little as he watched his breakfast cook on the open fire. Looking in to the fire endlessly as the flames flickered and danced, the wood crackling as it burned.
"I mean, lets be honest Marcus. The university professors won't even take a second glance at this stuff. The Viking period of history is full of what they like to call "myth and legend" when what we are seeing is contrary to what is actually known of that time and era. Those plump morons wouldn't even be able to date half of the finds we have already, we have been at this for five months now and we have barely even started cataloguing what we have already."
Marcus looked up from the fire from time to time as he listened intently to what Eric was saying. He knew as well as anyone, the Professors back home would never really take much interest in the finds, as Eric had quite rightly pointed out, there was never really any good evidence to support the theory that Viking gods and goddesses were actually real or that the rituals performed by specific members of a Viking society had any basis in fact. That was of course, in Marcus' mind, Until recently when he and Eric had discovered an artefact that could only have come from the Viking era.
Looking up from the cooking he was doing, Marcus looked at Eric and smiled lightly to himself as he saw his friend staring aimlessly in to the flames.
"You might be right there old friend, but who can we take our findings too if not the university professors?.. I know only a few people who would be interested in these finds and they would all want to sell these to the highest bidder on the treasure markets."
Eric at this point was smiling to himself as he squatted down near to the fire and began to remember a certain person who he had not seen or spoken to for quite some time. He laughed a little to himself as he recalled a fond memory of this person from his childhood. Marcus confused a little bit, stared at his friend wondering what was so funny.
Neglecting the cooking, Marcus looked at Eric for a while longer, before asking what was on his mind.
"Care to share the funny thing on your mind old friend?"
Eric at this point had snapped out of what seemed to be an endless trance like recollection of his fond memory. He looked over at Marcus, shaking his head slightly to adjust his eyesight back to the dim light of the fire in the darkness. He half chuckled to himself as he rubbed his hands together and stared in to the flames again before speaking.
"Sorry Marcus. I was recalling a fond memory of a man I think would have a serious interest in what we find down here. Though I'm not entirely sure where he is. I haven't seen or spoken to him for a very long time."
Marcus raised an eyebrow in curious anticipation of the revelation of the person Eric was talking about as he stoked the fire a little more and grabbed a couple of crude metal plates from his backpack. Slapping their meagre breakfast on to the plates and handing one to Eric, he sat back against a rock and began to eat as Eric continued on.
"This guy.. for all intents and purposes, is the very reason I became and archaeologist. He's the reason I've taken such a keen interest in the history of Vikings and proving that they were anything but myth and legend."
Marcus began to feel a little tense as Eric drawled on about his friend. All Marcus was really interested in was his name and whether or not he could be trusted with the finds.
"Spit it out man!.. What's his name and can we trust him?"
Eric looked a little startled at the sudden outburst that came from Marcus. He recoiled slightly almost dropping his plate on the ground as he stared blankly at him for a moment in a little shock. Pulling himself together, Eric shook his head a little more and played with the food on his plate.
"That was sure unexpected of you Marcus, you're not usually so grumpy in the mornings. But I can understand your eagerness to know is he is trustworthy of looking at our finds. Believe me, this guy is perfectly trustworthy.."
Playing with his food a little more, Eric looked down at the flames of their crude fire again and spoke only two words.
"Gregory... Bell.."
