Chapter 6
Ray sat next to Ethan in the backseat of the four-wheel drive jeep. His wife, Melody, sat in the front seat next to Officer Yin Baolin who was driving. Melody was rapidly talking to the local police officer from Bayingol, China who had come to tell her about her daughter.
When none of the expedition team could find Nokomis anywhere, Melody had gone to the police in Bayingol the day that Nokomis had disappeared.
Melody stopped talking and turned around to look into the backseat. There Raymond sat behind her with Professor Ethan Harkness from New York University's archaeology department next to him. Sadly smiling at both men she asked if Ethan could translate for Ray.
"Sure Professor, not a problem," Ethan stated to her.
Melody turned back around and talked to the officer once more. Now she could concentrate on what he was saying to her without having to stop him and explain it to her husband.
When Melody had climbed out of the ancient tomb, she had been shocked to see Ethan standing there in front of her smiling. She thought she had left him to run the summer archaeology program back at the university for her.
"What the hell are you doing here?!" she had yelled at Ethan.
"I had to bring your husband to find you," Ethan replied.
Melody cringed as she remembered slapping Ethan hard across his face before Ray had caught her hand when she went for another strike.
"Melody!" Ray yelled at her. "What are you doing? It's not Ethan's fault that he's here. Egon made me bring him. Egon couldn't come and he didn't want me lost forever in China's Taklamakan Desert."
Melody immediately apologized to Ethan and then had turned her back on both men. She had never wanted for them to meet.
Listening to Officer Baolin explain about the search for her daughter she could hear Ethan in the backseat translating for Ray. She may not have liked Ethan being here, with her husband, in China but now felt a little better about the situation that she felt she had been placed in the middle of.
Ray sat listening as Ethan translated the local Chinese dialect of Mandarin to him.
"Officer Baolin says that this morning a helicopter spotted an international ground-air emergency code," Ethan said.
"That's Nokomis!" Ray shouted to Melody.
"I know Raymond," Melody said holding up a finger at him to wait a moment.
Officer Baolin was still talking to her. Ethan continued to translate.
"They sent out a search and rescue team with a tracking dog," Ethan told Ray listening to Officer Baolin.
"The dog picked up a scent from the pile of rocks and followed it north," Officer Baolin explained.
"Is that when they found Nokomis's backpack?" Melody questioned the officer as she hung onto the dashboard as the jeep made a sharp left turn, following an old dry creek bed.
"Yes," Officer Baolin said as he slowed down just a bit to take the curve.
"Did the search and rescue team disturb the backpack?" Melody asked, "Nokomis had samples inside from the Loulan ruins."
"No," Officer Baolin said before he was interrupted by Ray.
"Was that the orange backpack I bought for Nokomis for her senior year of high school?" Ray asked interrupting them.
"Yes Raymond!" Melody said as she raised her voice to him. "Now please let me ask the questions."
"Professor Stantz," Officer Baolin said to her, placing his right hand on her left arm to calm her down.
Yin Baolin didn't understand English, but he did understand body language between a married couple. Especially when it involved their child.
He had seen too many of these conversations. Xinjiang province was home to a rise in 16 to 20 year old girls being taken to be forced into child prostitution. Most of the children ended up in Beijing or Shanghai in brothels. They were hard to find because the venues typically included hotels, karaoke's, and beauty salons. Those girls forced into marriages were never found.
When Officer Baolin saw Professor Stantz calm down he continued.
"Professor Stantz," he said removing his hand. "Doctor Stantz is worried about his daughter too. It's alright if he wants to ask questions. Please let him. He is going through a tough time also."
The jeep fell silent as Ethan translated the last sentence to Ray.
"How do I say 'Thank You'?" Ray asked Ethan.
Ethan smiled and taught Ray the Mandarin word.
"Xiexie," Ray said to Officer Baolin.
Officer Baolin smiled looking into the rearview mirror at Ray as he spoke to him. Ethan laughed along with Melody when he was done.
"Did I say it wrong?" Ray asked.
"No," Melody told him turning around to face him. "Officer Baolin says that your dialect is a little off, but you have a great talent for picking up new languages."
Melody turned around in her seat and spoke to Officer Baolin as Ethan listened, waiting to translate for Ray.
Instead of translating Ethan sat there shocked at what he was hearing from Melody. At work Melody would often speak about Nokomis to him and sometimes her husband. When she spoke of Raymond it was always about things that he had done wrong, but now Melody had respect for her husband as she spoke to Officer Baolin.
"Ethan," Ray said concerned that he was missing something important, "what is Melody saying?"
"Oh sorry," Ethan replied embarrassed that he had forgotten about Ray. "Melody is telling Officer Baolin that you know American Sign Language and can speak, read, and write Latin, Spanish, and French."
"She is?" Ray questioned, "I must have made her good list today. Normally I'm on her bad list."
"You and a lot of her newer students too," Ethan replied. "I gave up trying to find out where I am each day at work."
"So you too?" Ray questioned.
Ethan laughed at Ray as Officer Baolin brought the jeep to a stop. Outside was another jeep with a man waiting. As Ray climbed outside of the jeep he could see some rocks gathered together. Shutting the jeep's door, Ray stiffly walked over to the rocks, leaning on his cane for support. He really needed that warm bath right now, but all he got was the afternoon sun on his back. This was definitely Nokomis's work that he saw before him.
Stopping next to Melody, who was now talking to the new person, Ray noticed that Nokomis had made a directional arrow and a capital 'V'. Nokomis had remembered what he had taught her but he also knew that she was in trouble. The capital 'V' meant that she required assistance. Ethan appeared by Ray's left side as he started translating what Melody was saying.
"This is Chief Zhang Bai," Ethan said pointing to the new man. "He's the Assistant Chief of Police from Ruoqiang. He's telling Melody now that they spotted the international ground-air emergency code early this morning. They searched the immediate area and found nothing so they expanded their search and brought in a tracking dog. The team went out that way," Ethan said as he pointed to the north a short time after Chief Bai had done so.
"They followed the dog for another four miles where they found traces of blood," Ethan said bringing his hand down. "After that they went another eight miles and found an orange backpack, two swords, a compass, and a headlamp."
Ethan stopped talking as Melody was speaking to Chief Bai now. As she spoke, she followed him to his jeep. Ethan motioned for Ray to follow him as Chief Bai opened the front passenger door for Melody.
"Chief Bai is going to take us to where they found Nokomis's backpack," Ethan explained as he opened the backdoor for Ray.
Ray climbed inside the jeep, but before he shut the door he called out to Officer Baolin.
"Xiexie!"
Officer Baolin stopped and waved at Ray. "Bu Keqi, Doctor Stantz," he said as he got into his jeep and drove back the way they had come.
Ray shut his door as Ethan climbed in the other side and Chief Bai turned over the jeep's ignition. Chief Bai placed the jeep into gear and pulled away to the north. Ethan leaned over to Ray and said, "Officer Baolin said…,"
"You're Welcome," Ray interrupted him.
"No," Melody said, turning in her seat to face her husband. "Bu Keqi literal means 'Don't Polite'."
"Don't Polite?" Ray questioned.
"Yes," Ethan tried to explained as he leaned back into his seat, "It means "don't be polite" and is used as a reply when somebody thanks you for something which they think is no big deal."
"Oh," Ray said now understanding what had just happened. "Officer Baolin didn't think that driving us half-way across the desert was a big deal."
"Correct Raymond," Melody said as she turned around in the front seat to watch the desert outside.
A short time later Melody could see another two jeeps and a search and rescue team outside waiting for them. Before Chief Bai had even stopped the jeep Melody was opening her door and was trying to step outside.
Chief Bai placed the jeep in park and shut off the ignition as Ray opened his door and followed Melody to where she was squatting down by an orange backpack. Ray knew that this was the backpack that Nokomis had picked out for her senior year of school. Limping slowly over to his wife he saw her rummaging inside the pack.
"They're still here!" she shouted out to Ray and Ethan. "They haven't been taken."
Coming up to Melody, Ray leaned heavily upon his cane. He wasn't going to be able to stand for much longer. He needed to lie down before he fell down.
"What's still here Professor?" Ethan asked coming to stand next to Ray.
Melody pulled out four test tube vials. Two in each hand, that held the Celt mummy's tissue samples. Ray nodded his head as he turned to his left to face Ethan.
"It's the Celt mummy's samples from the burial chamber back at Loulan," Ray explained to Ethan.
Turning back around Ray saw two swords sitting on the ground. Stepping around Melody, Ray approached the swords. Carefully bending down, Ray sat onto the ground and pulled the larger sword toward him. Nokomis had been correct. The swords were what looked to Ray to be daisho's. Daisho was a Japanese term for a matched pair of traditionally made swords worn by the samurai class in feudal Japan.
"Melody," Ray said, "Nokomis was right. These swords are Japanese."
"Are you sure Raymond?" Melody questioned as she came over with Nokomis's backpack, placing the test tube vials back inside.
"Did you forget that I do have degrees in Metallurgy and History," Ray responded as he turned the sword to look at the tsuba design on the collar.
The design was beautiful. A pair of eyes and a set of lightning bolts were forged into the longer sword's metal, while the handle was wrapped with a blue braided rope.
"Raymond," Melody pointed out kneeling down on the ground next to her husband to zipper the backpack up, "Metallurgy deals with the chemical behavior of elements and their alloys. You got that degree studying for your mechanical engineering degree. It doesn't make you an expert in metal working."
"No, Melody, it doesn't. But remember Nokomis is interested in Japanese history just like me."
"So," Melody said as she pulled the smaller sword towards her.
Ray picked up the larger sword and brought it onto his lap.
"So, this is a matched set of daisho's," Ray told her taking the longer sword's handle in one hand and pulling it from its scabbard, holding it up to the sun's light as he did so. "The longer sword here is a katana and the smaller one that you have is a wakizashi."
"The blade has a unique profile and an exact tip shape. This point here," Ray said carefully pointing to the end of the sword, "is called a kissaki. Kissaki's have a curved profile and smooth three-dimensional curvature across the surface towards the edge. This originated in Japan," Ray said as he placed the katana back into its scabbard.
"It's true Melody," Ethan said coming up behind them both. "Daisho's were the symbol of samurai in Japan."
"And this katana is roughly about three pounds in weight and about twenty-eight inches in length. That places it in the late 16th century. So on all accounts Nokomis was correct in her observations in the burial chamber."
"Professor Stantz," a member of the search and rescue team said to her.
"Yes," Melody said standing up and placing Nokomis's backpack on her left shoulder.
"Could you please come over here? We found a compass and over by the road we found a headlamp. Can you identify them for us?" the man asked in Mandarin.
Ethan translated for Ray as he took the katana from him and helped Ray to his feet. Reaching down Ethan retrieved the wakizashi and watched as Ray and Melody were led away by the search and rescue man.
Stopping, the man pointed to the ground. Melody and Ray looked down to see a compass upside down in the dirt. Melody took the backpack off and set it down as she bent over and picked up the compass with trembling hands. Raising back up she held the compass with outstretched hands to her husband.
Ray nodded his head. This was his compass when he had been a boy. He had given it to Nokomis when she had turned ten and had shown her how to use it too. Nokomis always kept it with her, either in her pocket or backpack. It never left her side. Ray swallowed the lump in his throat and reached out a hand to reverently touch the instrument.
"Yes," Melody told the search and rescue man in Mandarin, "this belongs to my daughter."
The man nodded his head in understanding as Ray closed his hand over Melody's own. Melody looked up into Ray's face, sadness written in her eyes. Ray dropped his cane and took his right hand and wrapped it around Melody's waist pulling her towards him.
Melody let Ray pull her into a hug, holding onto the compass in her right hand, as she placed her left hand around Ray's shoulders. The weight from the past few days finally caught up with her. She had tried to put on a 'brave' face for her fellow archaeologists during the time that Nokomis was missing. She was a Professor after all. She couldn't, or was that wouldn't, she told herself, show any weakness to her fellow colleagues. A professional at all times.
Now here she stood with Raymond, her husband who she hadn't been getting along with lately. She had considered him indifferent to her needs these past few years. Melody had thought that Raymond was no longer listening to her or participating in their relationship. Raymond had very strong negative reactions to her and that led to fighting and conflicts between the couple.
Melody realized now that Raymond wasn't indifferent. In fact his negative emotions showed her that he still cared. If he didn't, Melody would not see the anger and fear from him. In truth, she was the one at fault.
Melody had stopped making Raymond a priority. Nokomis and her job came first and ranked much higher up than her husband did. She had fallen into a trap of just coasting along, perceiving that he didn't care. Melody now realized that this was an incorrect assumption on her part. In fact Raymond cared very much or he wouldn't have come to China.
Melody had tried controlling her husband these past few years. But in doing so it had caused resentment on both parties. Raymond was being the better person now and taking the lead. He was demonstrating to her the type of behavior that he wanted to see. Sure they had their issues, what couple didn't. But once upon a time they were in perfect sync and truly happy. That hadn't happened in a long time Melody realized as she cried into his shoulder.
"It's my fault Raymond," she quietly said between sobs, "I'm so sorry."
Ray held his wife close to him and released her right hand so that he could use his left hand to rub her back. He thought that Melody was talking about Nokomis and her fight that she had with her before Nokomis ran away. Ray wished that he could make Melody understand that it wasn't her fault. He still loved Melody after everything that they had gone through these past few years. Nokomis was their daughter. A product of the love they once shared with each other. Even though they had their differences he knew that no one was perfect. Everyone made mistakes. Ray knew that no matter how far away someone went, there was always a way back.
"Melody," Ray said trying to comfort his wife, "we'll get through this together."
Ray heard a voice in front of him and looked over the top of Melody's head to see someone coming out of an entrance to what looked like an underground house. Ethan was walking quickly over to the man who was talking excitedly and pointing in their direction.
"Raymond," Melody said lifting her head from his shoulder, "what is going on?"
"I don't know," he replied as Melody released his shoulder and turned towards the voice.
Ethan was now arguing with the man and trying to get him to follow him. Ethan clearly wanted the man away from the entrance.
"No!" Melody gasped.
"What?" Ray responded looking down to see the color drain from Melody's face.
"They found human bones inside the advance sentry of Loulan there," Melody said as she pointed to the entrance where the men were arguing.
Suddenly without warning Melody released Ray, dropped the compass, and ran towards the entrance. Realizing what was happening Ray left his cane and limped after her as fast as he could go. Ray saw Ethan catch Melody's arm as she tried to pass him and hold her tight.
"Professor you can't go in there," Ethan said to her, trying to keep her out.
"I need to know," she said pulling hard against Ethan's tight grip. "Damn it let me go!"
Ray caught up to Melody as she finally pulled away from Ethan and rushed past the other man and into the entrance. Ray placed a hand on Ethan's shoulder and shook his head no. It wasn't Ethan's responsibility, it was his. Ethan bowed his head and Ray limped up to the entrance and walked inside.
Melody was sitting in the sand a few feet away and crying. Ray came up to her and sat down by her side. Placing his left arm around her, he brought her close to his side. If they were going to find Nokomis's body he wanted Melody to know that he would be there for her, always.
Ray looked in front of him, and his heart fell, as he saw a pile of human remains. He sighed and could only hope that Nokomis hadn't suffered. A tear ran down the side of his cheek as his wife's crying turned to laughter. "What was going on?" Ray wondered. Ray looked down to see Melody looking up at him.
"They're too old," Melody said pointing to the bones. "Nokomis has been gone for only two days. These bones have no flesh on them. They don't belong to our daughter. She's still alive Raymond!"
"That's good news Melody!" Ray said as his heart leaped in his chest. "I just wish I knew where she was."
"I know where she is," a familiar voice said behind them.
Ray and Melody turned their heads as one to see a woman dressed in white standing before them a few feet away. Ray recognized her.
"Jean?" he asked.
"Yes Raymond," she replied, "It's me."
"But how?" Ray questioned her.
Jean raised a hand to stop him. She was dressed in a straight, white gown which went to her ankles and hung off of one shoulder. Jean had been sent to warn Ray of the future and to prepare his daughter for the trials ahead.
"I don't have much time," Jean said. "I have sent Nokomis on ahead. She is safe and will return to you in due time."
"Where did you send her?" Melody asked.
"I'm sorry I can't tell you that Melody, but she did leave a message for you," Jean stated.
"What's the message?" Melody asked.
She was a little startled at first upon seeing Ray's dead sister, but then again her husband worked with 'ghosts' for a living. It was something you got used to after awhile.
"I will tell you the message after I deliver a warning for Raymond," Jean said.
"Jean, what is the warning?" Ray asked.
"They are coming," Jean said.
Jean looked around her, deciding if she could say anything further. When she realized that no one was watching or listening to her, she turned her attention back to Ray.
"I'm forbidden to tell you all the details but I can tell you this," Jean said as she looked around her one more time, just to make sure that she was completely alone.
"A woman is in labor with a male child. They wait for the birth of the child. They want the child that is not theirs and the woman too."
"There will be total darkness and great pain as preparations are made for the final battle between the forces of good and evil…," Jean trailed off and looked to her right as if someone was listening to her.
"I'm sorry, I'm being called back," Jean said as she started to fade from view.
"Jean!" Melody called out to her holding Ray's hand tightly. "What was Nokomis's message?"
"Tell Daddy and Mom that I love them," Jean said as she faded from view.
"And," Jean's voice resonated around the empty room, her body now gone, "that they don't have to fight over me any longer."
Melody's head fell against Ray's shoulder as he squeezed her tightly. She didn't understand the message that Jean had just given to her husband. What she did understand was that Nokomis was safe, alive, and was coming back to her. That's all that mattered in the end.