A/N- Hey guys, I'm sorry this took forever. Thanks for the reviews. This one is for Roxie, Angie and Kate! I hope you like it.

Chapter 5 : Riddle

The flight to Greece had been anything but comfortable, Not only was Sydney plagued by disturbing thoughts of Nigel, she had not been able to sleep properly since the night of her arrest, and was hoping to catch a few winks on the flight. The couple sitting behind her had other plans for her though. They had bickered and fought through out the trip, and the plain was so crammed that it felt like they were talking directly in her ear. She had to stop herself lashing out at the two of them several times. She had missed Nigel's company as well. Usually, if both of them couldn't sleep, they'd talk through the whole trip. They'd get so caught up in their conversation that the announcement for the plain landing would take them by surprise. Sydney smiled at one of their recent conversations.

"Ok your turn."

"What? I'm not playing this stupid game."

"Come on Nigel, I told you my most embarrassing moment."

"Oh please, that was hardly embarrassing."

"What? Did you not hear me, I treipped!"

"How is tripping THAT embarrassing?"

"It was prom night."

"So, its just tripping in a party, I'm sure no one even noticed."

"I tripped over the prom king's foot on stage, going to receive my crown! I was forever known as queen Clutz."

Nigel gaped at her, a little sympathetic but mostly trying to control his laughter.

"Don't laugh! It was horrible!" That set him off completely before Nigel went into hysterics.

"Sorry, Sorry….So what happened after that?"

"I kneed his highness for making fun of me."

"I thought you fancied him."

"I did till he dubbed me queen Clutz in front of everyone."

Nigel smiled knowingly "You know, someone, the conclusion of your story is not at all surprising"

"Ok now your turn." Said Sydney, eager to shift focus from herself. However, Nigel did not share the enthusiasm.

"Come on Nigel, it can't be that bad!"

"Oh it is!"

"Tell!" She glared, knowing that her mock stern order would do the tick.

"Fine, Fine" Nigel Sighed dramatically. "Preston forced me to take ballroom dancing, so he could show off his bloody excellent skills with flinging young ladies around the dance floor. But it so happened that I danced better than he did and he was deathly jealous of me. So one day, he offers generously to buy me a nice pair of slacks for dance practice. I didn't suspect anything because I was a naïve idiot at the time. When we finally got to the dance floor, I realized that they were rather tight, but it was too late to do anything by then. So, lo and behold, during one of the more complicated lifts, I stretch my legs and take a guess what happened?" Sydney was pretty sure about what was to come next but didn't dare interfere. "That's right, they split right down the middle." as though Sydney had spoken "and Preston did everything in his power to humiliate me!" At this Nigel's voice rose of few octaves, as he became steadily more enraged at the memory

Sydney didn't dare laugh, though the image of Nigel's pants tearing while doing the splits, repeatedly floated about through her head. Refusing to rise to the bait of her over active imagination, Sydney decided not to comment, as Nigel was quite unpredictable when it came to his brother.

"That's…that one tops mine by a mile."

"Oh, I can sweep the floor with all your embarrassing moments if I recount all the tortures Preston has bestowed on me."

"Well at least you weren't cross dressing, or naked!"

"Actuallu come to think of it, you might have done me worse than Preston on some accounts." Mortified Sydney squealed.

"I did not!"

"Did too."

"Did not!"

"Yes you did."

"Did NOT. I merely expanded you horizons about certain talents, you know, rising above the usual."

"Well I like to stay on the bottom." At that Sydney's eyes went wide with mischief.

"Do you now? I like to be on top." Nigel blushed a deep shade of pink.

"Syd!" He chided, But then broke into a chuckle "you're horrible."

"Why thank you Nigel" She replied, with a broad grin on her face.

The sound of the phone ringing brought Sydney back to the present. She quickly rummaged through her sachet before fishing out her cell phone.

"Hello?"

"Syd, its me Claudia. I have news."

"What is it Claudia?"

"Dr Amrol's assistant, or ex-assistant just faxed me all of the professor's research, and in it I found a photocopy of the scrolls he was talking about and also a map that he later discovered behind the scrolls. "

"What happened to the original?"

"They were stolen, probably by the people who killed him. I never got a chance to ask about them when you were in jail."

"Ok scan everything and e-mail it to me."

"Ok."

"Syd..." there was a small pause. "Bring him back." Claudia's voice was so quiet that Sydney wondered if she had imagined it.

"I will. Don't worry. This is one hunt I intend on following through at any cost."

"Yea I know. I better get back to my research. I'll call you if I find anything significant."

Just as Sydney hung up the phone, Derek walked away from the hotel reception counter to stand in front of her.

"I got the keys, lets get settled in, get something to eat and then move out."

Sydney nodded and then quietly picked up her bags before following Derek to their designated rooms. On the way, she recounted her conversation with Claudia.

"So basically, they want Nigel to translate and then possibly find the relic."

"Yea, so our best move would be to find the relic. We find it, we find Nigel. Because either they will want to bargain for the relic, or we'll find Nigel in the same place searching for the relic."

"You think he'll help them?"

"Not willingly, but I don't even want to think about what he's up against."

"You're right." Nodded Derek as they reached their destinations.

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I killed Sydney Fox! Was the only thought that stayed alive in Nigel's mind beyond the pain, the exhaustion, fear and anger. All he wanted to remember was that his Sydney was dead because of his refusal to help his captors and this thought tortured him far more than any physical pain anyone could bestow upon him. He wanted to live now, if only to torture himself, to prolong his suffering, which he believed he rightly deserved. He knew that Sydney would never have wanted his captors to get their hands on the elixir of life, but he was sure there could have been a cleverer way of keeping it from them. He felt he should have done more to protect Sydney.

He didn't get much more time to brood over his mistakes as the sound of the door slamming open disrupted his thoughts. Forcing himself to open his eyes, he had fallen unconscious again, and in that time it seemed that his surroundings had changed. He was no longer hanging from shackles but was instead lying on a solf coushined bed. Looking around, he realized that he was in a small bedroom with no windows, cream painted walls and a small desk towards the right of the bed. In the doorway stood Markus, exuding an air of flase patience.

"feeling any better?" he asked, almost sounding kind.

Thinking over it, Nigel felt decidedly worse than the night before, if that were possible and he was sure, the poison was its cause. He felt feverish, adding to his long list of ailments. He decided to keep this to himself.

"Oh yes, I feel delightful." He replied instead, sarcasm dripping from every syllable. He was beyond hatred, he wished nothing but the most horrible death upon the man before him, not because of his own sorry state but for killing the only woman he had ever loved.

"Good then, we're leaving this afternoon. The scrolls are on the desk, finish your translations. We're going to begin our search today. Your breakfast will be here soon. I suggest, you behave, the only reason you're being treated like this is because I need you to live long enough to find the relic. If you're not going to co-operate, dead one way or another, doesn't matter to me." With that, he spun on his heel and left, leaving Nigel on the verge of a retort, staring and the closed door.

Rage bubbled up inside him, he wanted just to rip the man's heart out. His own heart was already broken and his will to live and left him since the night before. All stangle the person responsible for Sydney's death, himself included. But then, he realized that Sydney would have lost her life for nothing. He had find a way to find the relic without letting it fall into the hand of these criminals. He wanted to go on this hunt to honor Sydney, and restore one last relic for her sake, before it fell into the wrong hands. He was sure that after his death, they would find someone else for the job. He would not allow it. Once he handed over the Asclepios' shrine to its people, there would be plenty of time to die, and possibly to kill. He was not sure if he had the ability for the latter in him, but the anger that boiled inside him at that moment certainly made it seem like he did.

And so he put himself to work.

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Nigel double checked the scrolls to make sure he had translated the text correctly. The dialect was a derivative of ancient Greek, Linear A and hieratic, that was much harder to decipher if one was not an expert in all three. He was sure very few in the world could read this rare combination, as it was only used in a very small area of Greece.

He quickly scribbled down the English translation on a piece of paper. It read

Eternity lies in the cradle

Life lies at the foot of Daedalus

As our God that preserved it wished

Seek and you shall sea,

Land beneath the wind

Reading them over a couple of times, Nigel frowned at the words. Talk about being cryptic. It was a riddle that was for sure., but what it meant, was lost on Nigel. He then turned to the "map" behind the scroll. It was pointless because it was so obscure, one could only apply it to a very localized piece of land. He guessed, one had to know the location to use the map. All it contained was a vague shaped sketch of a mass of land, with an X drawn on the lower right side, and rectangular shape directly opposite it. THe only thing it told Nigel was that they were probably looking for an island.

The thought of the island suddenly sparked a connection in his tired brain. Of course. Daedalus was trapped in Crete, which was also known as the Minoan cradle of civilization. The shape of the island on the map didn't match up but Nigel figured that the shape must have changed in the past couple of thousand years.

He was unsure of what to do next. He couldn't lead these people directly to the relic, and he also had no way of getting there himself. The only way to lead them half way, then find the most advantageous moment to take them out and then go looking for the relic himself. He knew that he wasn't as good at deception and "taking people out", certainly not the way Sydney was, but if this was his last act on earth, he was going to do everything in his power to reach his goals. Besides, he thought, he had spent enough time with Sydney to pick a few thing up.

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Derek was getting agitated, Sydney had spent the past hour, shuffling papers and scribbling lines on a pad. He respected her expertise but he was a man of action, and not being able to help in any way was making him feel anxious. Then suddenly Sydney got up from her desk. There was a glint of hope in her eyes that he hadn't seen before.

"Get your stuff, we're leaving for Crete in five minutes." With that Sydney rushed out the door to her own room to pick ip her sachet.

Derek sat dumbfounded for a few seconds. A surge of excitement ran through his body, they were getting closer to finding Nigel. He could feel it in his gut.

A/N Hey guys, I know its a short one, but please review! And I'm sory for any grammatical errors.