Chapter 49
Duncan was pacing around the room liked a caged animal, Methos looked up from his notepad "Why don't you sit down MacLeod.I can't think with all this pacing around" Duncan glared at him "Times running out and we're no closer to solving these riddles.I hate this.He's out there laughing at me.I should be out there looking for him.doing something" Methos dropped the pencil he was holding onto the pad "And what good would that do Richie.we'll deal with Costa when we've found Richie" Methos realized that his tone had sounded quite harsh from the pain he could see in Duncan's eyes "Hey.why don't you go down to the dojo and work out for a while.you know give yourself a break"
Duncan paced over to the window wiping both hands over his face "I don't need a break" Methos stood up "Well I do.frankly I can't think with you pacing around the place like a demented tiger.go workout it'll help clear your mind" Methos said as he gestured towards the elevator. Duncan was about to argue when he realised the ancient Immortal was right he wasn't doing any good here, so he grabbed his sweats and sword and made his way down to the dojo.
Methos sighed with relief when Duncan left the loft, he stretched his aching back he had spent hours hunched over the desk scribbling on the notepad and Duncan was right they were no close to the solution and time was ticking away. Methos walked over to the kitchen, opening the fridge door his hand hovered over a cold beer "Not a good idea" he said to the empty room as he took down a cup, kicking the fridge door closed and walked over to the coffee pot.
Duncan changed into his sweats in the dimly lit dojo, the arid odour of the smoke was still quite strong, Duncan walked to the centre of the floor, he closed his eyes and started to breath deeply, trying to calm his racing mind. He slowly started to move trying to focus his mind on every movement his muscles made, his arms cutting gracefully through the air as he had practiced for centuries, his feet moving the ash and soot that the fire had left there causing small clouds of dust to rise a little way from the ground.
Methos poured himself another cup of coffee and then made his way back over to the desk, he looked down at the pad none of his scribbling made sense. After putting the cup down he tore the top sheet off, his fingers tightened as he crumpled the page in his hand, he held on tighter and tighter seemly trying to turn the paper into dust 'I know I know the solution why won't it come' he thought to himself before tossing the small paper ball into the waste basket. He then sat down, reaching across the desk Methos picked up the note that came with the wreath and once again read the first riddle through speaking the words out loud hoping it would help,
"Five hundred begins it, five hundred ends it,
Five in the middle is seen,
First of all figures, the first of all letters,
Take up their stations between,
Join all together, and then you will bring,
Before you the name of an eminent King."
As he spoke he wrote the first line on the clean sheet of paper in front of him, as he let his mind drift the pencil just drew anything that came into his mind. In frustration Methos threw the pencil on the desk and lent back in the chair his hands covering his face, he then let his hands drop wearily to the desk, his eyes blinking as they tried to focus again on the paper, suddenly Methos jumped like he had been hit by a bolt of electricity "I don't believe it.how could I not of seen it before"
Duncan now had his sword in his hands as he moved around the dojo fighting an opponent hided from everyone's eyes but Duncan's. The light from the street lamps glinted off the katana's blade with every block, parry and thrust Duncan made. Duncan's skin glisten with the effort he was putting into this workout trying to block the events of the last few days from his mind. The last blow came as Duncan took the head of his invisible foe; he then walked over to one of the benches and sat down, he buried his face into the towel he had brought down with him, part of him hoping that when he took it away it would all have been a dream, Richie would be in the office and Dani would be waiting for him upstairs, but as he dropped the towel away and picked up the bottle of water, that he had stood near the bench, he wondered when they would all be together again, he then took the lid off and drank the cool liquid. As he took the bottle away from his lips a drop of water escaped and slowly fell landing on his arm, Duncan then put the lid on and gentle let the liquid roll from one end of the bottle to the other. The bottle crashed to the floor as Duncan jumped up as the solution to the second part of the riddle hit him; he grabbed his sword and headed for the elevator hitting the buttons impatiently.
Methos looked down at the paper and where he had listed all the ways to write 500 in numerous different languages he saw the letter D "the roman numeral for 500 is D.so 500 begins it and ends it" he said to himself as he wrote D on one side of the page and another D on the other "Five in the middle is seen" in the centre of the two Ds Methos put the roman numeral for five "now the first of all figures.that has to be" he said as he marked 1 on the page "the first of all letters.and that is.the letter A.so we put them all together and we have" Methos stared at the name on the page "The name of an eminent King" Methos grabbed the phone book that lay on the edge of the desk and hurriedly turned the pages to the junk yards but with only the first name it was difficult there were several possible ones.
Just then the gate on the elevator lifted and Duncan rushed out "Water.the answer to the last riddle is water" Methos turned the pages till he came to W "here it is" Methos said as he turned the phone book for Duncan to see, Methos pointed to two entries for D. Water "But why D. Water's?" Duncan watched as a broad grin broke on Methos's face "What are you smiling at?" Duncan demanded "we want David Water's.the answer to the first riddle is David.and there is only one listed that says David and the other is D. Water.we can phone the other to check but I bet that this is the one" Methos replied as he handed Duncan the phone. Duncan dialled the number of the other Junk yard "Dwight Water's Junk Yard, we're now closed until 8 am" Duncan sighed with relief "Thank God for answer phones" Duncan said as he replaced the receiver, he then started searching through the desk drawers "What are you doing?" Methos asked, "Aha.got it" Duncan replied as he pulled out a state map and spread it out on the desk. Duncan lent forward with one hand on the map, his finger running over the surface of the map until he found what he was looking for "It must be at least a 4 hour drive" Duncan said as he stared down at the map. "Well how much time to we have?" Methos asked.
Duncan looked at his watch "it's nearly 4am.I got the message at about 5pm.so that means we still have about 12 hours before the deadline"
"Unless Costa meant from when he left the message" Duncan looked over in horror at what his friend had just said, he grabbed the tape from the drawer and pushed it into the answer phone and hit the play button "you have one new message left at 10am Tuesday" Duncan stopped the tape "that means we could only have 6 hours" Duncan said as he walked quickly towards the bathroom "I'm going to grab a quick shower.it won't take me long" Duncan didn't wait for a reply, Methos looked around the loft "Well.I guess I have time for another coffee".
Duncan was pacing around the room liked a caged animal, Methos looked up from his notepad "Why don't you sit down MacLeod.I can't think with all this pacing around" Duncan glared at him "Times running out and we're no closer to solving these riddles.I hate this.He's out there laughing at me.I should be out there looking for him.doing something" Methos dropped the pencil he was holding onto the pad "And what good would that do Richie.we'll deal with Costa when we've found Richie" Methos realized that his tone had sounded quite harsh from the pain he could see in Duncan's eyes "Hey.why don't you go down to the dojo and work out for a while.you know give yourself a break"
Duncan paced over to the window wiping both hands over his face "I don't need a break" Methos stood up "Well I do.frankly I can't think with you pacing around the place like a demented tiger.go workout it'll help clear your mind" Methos said as he gestured towards the elevator. Duncan was about to argue when he realised the ancient Immortal was right he wasn't doing any good here, so he grabbed his sweats and sword and made his way down to the dojo.
Methos sighed with relief when Duncan left the loft, he stretched his aching back he had spent hours hunched over the desk scribbling on the notepad and Duncan was right they were no close to the solution and time was ticking away. Methos walked over to the kitchen, opening the fridge door his hand hovered over a cold beer "Not a good idea" he said to the empty room as he took down a cup, kicking the fridge door closed and walked over to the coffee pot.
Duncan changed into his sweats in the dimly lit dojo, the arid odour of the smoke was still quite strong, Duncan walked to the centre of the floor, he closed his eyes and started to breath deeply, trying to calm his racing mind. He slowly started to move trying to focus his mind on every movement his muscles made, his arms cutting gracefully through the air as he had practiced for centuries, his feet moving the ash and soot that the fire had left there causing small clouds of dust to rise a little way from the ground.
Methos poured himself another cup of coffee and then made his way back over to the desk, he looked down at the pad none of his scribbling made sense. After putting the cup down he tore the top sheet off, his fingers tightened as he crumpled the page in his hand, he held on tighter and tighter seemly trying to turn the paper into dust 'I know I know the solution why won't it come' he thought to himself before tossing the small paper ball into the waste basket. He then sat down, reaching across the desk Methos picked up the note that came with the wreath and once again read the first riddle through speaking the words out loud hoping it would help,
"Five hundred begins it, five hundred ends it,
Five in the middle is seen,
First of all figures, the first of all letters,
Take up their stations between,
Join all together, and then you will bring,
Before you the name of an eminent King."
As he spoke he wrote the first line on the clean sheet of paper in front of him, as he let his mind drift the pencil just drew anything that came into his mind. In frustration Methos threw the pencil on the desk and lent back in the chair his hands covering his face, he then let his hands drop wearily to the desk, his eyes blinking as they tried to focus again on the paper, suddenly Methos jumped like he had been hit by a bolt of electricity "I don't believe it.how could I not of seen it before"
Duncan now had his sword in his hands as he moved around the dojo fighting an opponent hided from everyone's eyes but Duncan's. The light from the street lamps glinted off the katana's blade with every block, parry and thrust Duncan made. Duncan's skin glisten with the effort he was putting into this workout trying to block the events of the last few days from his mind. The last blow came as Duncan took the head of his invisible foe; he then walked over to one of the benches and sat down, he buried his face into the towel he had brought down with him, part of him hoping that when he took it away it would all have been a dream, Richie would be in the office and Dani would be waiting for him upstairs, but as he dropped the towel away and picked up the bottle of water, that he had stood near the bench, he wondered when they would all be together again, he then took the lid off and drank the cool liquid. As he took the bottle away from his lips a drop of water escaped and slowly fell landing on his arm, Duncan then put the lid on and gentle let the liquid roll from one end of the bottle to the other. The bottle crashed to the floor as Duncan jumped up as the solution to the second part of the riddle hit him; he grabbed his sword and headed for the elevator hitting the buttons impatiently.
Methos looked down at the paper and where he had listed all the ways to write 500 in numerous different languages he saw the letter D "the roman numeral for 500 is D.so 500 begins it and ends it" he said to himself as he wrote D on one side of the page and another D on the other "Five in the middle is seen" in the centre of the two Ds Methos put the roman numeral for five "now the first of all figures.that has to be" he said as he marked 1 on the page "the first of all letters.and that is.the letter A.so we put them all together and we have" Methos stared at the name on the page "The name of an eminent King" Methos grabbed the phone book that lay on the edge of the desk and hurriedly turned the pages to the junk yards but with only the first name it was difficult there were several possible ones.
Just then the gate on the elevator lifted and Duncan rushed out "Water.the answer to the last riddle is water" Methos turned the pages till he came to W "here it is" Methos said as he turned the phone book for Duncan to see, Methos pointed to two entries for D. Water "But why D. Water's?" Duncan watched as a broad grin broke on Methos's face "What are you smiling at?" Duncan demanded "we want David Water's.the answer to the first riddle is David.and there is only one listed that says David and the other is D. Water.we can phone the other to check but I bet that this is the one" Methos replied as he handed Duncan the phone. Duncan dialled the number of the other Junk yard "Dwight Water's Junk Yard, we're now closed until 8 am" Duncan sighed with relief "Thank God for answer phones" Duncan said as he replaced the receiver, he then started searching through the desk drawers "What are you doing?" Methos asked, "Aha.got it" Duncan replied as he pulled out a state map and spread it out on the desk. Duncan lent forward with one hand on the map, his finger running over the surface of the map until he found what he was looking for "It must be at least a 4 hour drive" Duncan said as he stared down at the map. "Well how much time to we have?" Methos asked.
Duncan looked at his watch "it's nearly 4am.I got the message at about 5pm.so that means we still have about 12 hours before the deadline"
"Unless Costa meant from when he left the message" Duncan looked over in horror at what his friend had just said, he grabbed the tape from the drawer and pushed it into the answer phone and hit the play button "you have one new message left at 10am Tuesday" Duncan stopped the tape "that means we could only have 6 hours" Duncan said as he walked quickly towards the bathroom "I'm going to grab a quick shower.it won't take me long" Duncan didn't wait for a reply, Methos looked around the loft "Well.I guess I have time for another coffee".