Title: The Quest for Nagifar - Part 7
Author: Emily
Rating: PG-13
Couplings: 1x2, 3x4, 11+13
Warnings: action, adventure, language, angst, yaoi
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. Don't own Indiana Jones, either. Both belong to something bigger than I could ever comprehend.
Comments/Lyrics/ and emphasis and 'thought' and flashback, some may not be used in this fic...it's just a heads-up. Sequel to "Heero Yuy and the Eye of Horus". Starts up maybe two or three months after its epilogue. You don't need to have read "HYatEoH" in order to understand this fic, but it would be nice.
Oslo, Norway
They had to wait a day, spending the night in the Horch in the outskirts of Oslo so that if OZ found out their location a getaway would be faster and easier. They didn't want to take risks, especially with so many of the soldiers around. Heero doubted that they'd try kill him and Trowa because of Une's latest reaction, but the archaeologist wasn't feeling to eager to test that theory and end up captured.
The pair started off the next morning, the Vikingskipshuset being easy to find once they cleared the traffic and pedestrians wanting to get a glimpse of the OZ officers as they went through the town. It seemed like Oslo was a generally quiet city, so when something did happen, everyone turned up to participate. This, of course, meant that the museum was empty with the exception of the employees, who just left Heero and Trowa alone to do as they wished.
The Oseburg was on a round pedestal in the middle of the museum, tinted skylights overhead to provide natural lighting without bleaching the wood. It was in the same general shape that Viking ships tended to be in - long and narrow with lots of oars, coming up in the front to look like the neck and head of a type of sea creature. The oars that were still remaining had scratches in them, presumably from the chains the oarsmen were kept in. The Vikings would use prisoners of war more often than their own warriors, using a system of chains and stakes to keep them bound to the ship, no matter what.
The battering ram projected just below the curve of the neck and the end of it was broken off. From looking at the fracture Heero could tell that age and wear didn't just cause it to snap off, but that the sharp end was lost in a battle a long time ago. Sharp Prussian blue eyes caught sight of a lighter-colored sliver in the ram, and on closer inspection, almost couldn't believe what he was looking at.
"Trowa?" he asked, catching the attention of his friend who was reading through the narrative history the museum provided with the display. "What does this look like to you?"
The taller man moved to stand next to Heero, fixing his gaze on the item in question. Trowa's eyes narrowed, looking like he didn't believe what he saw, either. "Is that...a fingernail?"
"That's what I thought," Heero affirmed, glancing around to see if there was anybody else around. All the guards had their attention outside, watching as the OZ admiral was driven through the streets. He reached forward, carefully pulling it out of the wood. "It isn't really a nail," he concluded, noting the opacity and the complete lack of decay. "Fingernails and hair are made the same in the body, so they decay the same." Heero tapped against it, using his senses to test the material. "This is ivory."
"How would the Vikings get their hands on ivory?" Trowa asked. "And even then, would it create a buoyant vessel?"
Heero shrugged. "Maybe the Vikings had been to Africa, or at least traded with the tribes. They could have gotten it from the Spanish, too. Hundreds of years spent raiding villages, they probably found a lot of ivory from Spain to South Africa. As for buoyancy... The Vikings were master ship craftsmen. They probably could make anything float, if they needed it to."
"So assuming that is a piece of the Nagifar, how would it help?"
Heero stood back up, raking his fingers through his hair. He glanced at the description of the Oseburg, the information that he had read about flashing through his mind. "The Oseburg served as a patrol ship for the coastline. The Viking Navy, so to speak, would have kept Nagifar docked, kept away from people." Heero paused. "What if it had been stolen?"
"The Vikings would have sent ships out to regain control. The Oseburg would have been sent out after it, if it hadn't been there already. The king would have been pissed. Knowing Viking rage, there would have been executions, which would have been kept track of in the military records," Trowa looked at the walls lined with exerpts from Viking naval history. "Something would have turned up."
Heero nodded, smirking slightly. "We should try the library. They'll have ancient records on file. The only problem is that they will be kept hidden somewhere and a transcript would need to be requested in advanced. We can go scope it out now, and come back tonight when their closed if there isn't a way to get a hold of those records."
The library was down the street several blocks and just to the left of the ship museum, being a small building when looking at it from the street, but revealing several basement levels as well as the four above-ground ones. This was the oldest library in the city, opposed to the more modern one with the up-to-date texts. This library was also family run and grant-based, giving it the advantage of having the artifacts of greater use to archaeologists and anthropologists looking into information on ancient Norway, which was the exact reason why Heero and Trowa were there to begin with.
A middle-aged man looked up at them briefly as they entered, going back down to his books when he saw that it was nothing of his particular interest. 'Duo would just outright ask for the documents,' Heero thought, having long ago realized how useful his longhaired lover's amiability was in trying to get information from people. The Japanese-American considered that option for a moment, but he knew it wouldn't work. Heero also considered just flashing his college identification card and request the materials but that could flag the attention of OZ.
The oldest texts were in the lowest basement level, which was surprisingly dry and dim enough to perfectly preserve the pages which they were written on. Norse paper was a little more substantial than papyrus or parchment, having been woven from cloth and written on with inks that were mixtures of liquids identified from anything such as juice to animal blood. There was, thankfully, a cross-referencing guide, but they hadn't the slightest idea as to what keywords they should start under.
"Maybe starting with 'Executions' and 'Naval History' would be the best," Heero suggested, handing out the alphabetized volumes that linked to the corresponding texts in the library. It took them the better part of five hours, but what they were looking for was stumbled across when Trowa was looking up 'Slaves' under the subheading of 'Mutiny.'
"Look at this one," Trowa said, sliding the protected document across the table they had taken up at.
Heero glanced at the record, translated into English in a footnote attached to the bottom. "Oar-slaves commandeered a vessel that the king kept under guard in his personal collection. They tried to escape through the fjords and into the ocean, so the Oseburg was sent to bring them back. Oseburg was found later, damaged and filled with the bodies of the crew, its oarsmen also freed." Heero scanned the notation further. "Then there's a note that the scribe put to remind himself to put in the order for a vessel to replace the one the king lost, but he isn't certain if there's enough ivory to make one just like it. This is what we needed."
Trowa folded his arms over his chest. "But if they escaped, that means Nagifar could be anywhere."
Heero scratched at his neck thoughtfully. "Ivory would be heavier than wood, so they'd be exhausted after rowing for so many days straight. We need maps of the currents to see where they could end up and go from there."
"Venice?" Trowa asked, getting a nod from the archaeologist in response. "Great. Do you think Lucrezia will want to help us?"
Heero shrugged. "Won't hurt to try."
End Part 7