The Covenant of Genesis by Andy McDermott

Author:Andy McDermott
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Action & Adventure, Azizex666, Fiction
ISBN: 9780553592962
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2009-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

23

The other two torch beams moved upwards to join Nina’s. ‘Christ on a bike,’ said Chase, amazed. ‘That’s a big fucking statue.’

The stone figure before them was at least sixty feet tall, a giant standing against the back of the high circular chamber, reaching almost to the domed ceiling. It was male, carved in the same elongated, blocky style as the statues outside, but on a much greater scale. Its right arm hung down by its side, holding what looked like a sickle; the left was extended across the chamber, palm upturned as if scattering seeds. It wore a necklace of copper, or possibly gold, the style reminding Nina of an ancient Egyptian menat necklace of the kind worn by the pharaohs, though with several long metal counterpoises extending down over its chest. A similarly ornate belt ran round the statue’s waist, a long copper loincloth descending from it.

And between its feet, at floor level between the statue’s heels, was a low opening, less than three feet high, leading to another chamber behind it. The rest of the room before the mighty figure was empty, an open space in which the faithful could worship.

Nina directed her light at the statue’s head. It had the same high forehead and narrow jaw as the smaller statues outside. She was about to look at the necklace when something else caught her attention - not on the statue, but just behind it. ‘That remind you of anything?’ she asked.

‘It’s a stained-glass window,’ said Sophia unenthusiastically, more interested in the gold adorning the statue’s accessories.

‘No, I don’t mean the window itself - I mean its shape.’

Chase saw what she meant. ‘Lofty’s got a halo.’ The window was circular, lines of coloured glass radiating outwards. It was unmistakably a representation of a light or fire surrounding the figure’s head.

‘Yeah. Now that is interesting.’

‘What, so the sixty-foot-tall bloke inside a temple buried in Antarctica isn’t?’

‘You know what I mean. Haloes are an almost universal piece of religious iconography - they appear in ancient Egyptian, Roman and Greek art, as well as Buddhist. But they’re most closely associated with the Abrahamic faiths, even Islam. Modern Muslims don’t portray Muhammad in artwork, but ancient Muslims did, and he was almost always shown with a halo or heavenly fire around his head.’

‘But this predates any of them,’ Sophia pointed out. ‘By a long time.’

‘I know. That’s why it’s so interesting.’ She crossed to the hole between the statue’s feet. ‘The way to the tree of the gift . . . Let’s take a look.’ Small icicles hung from the top of the low opening. She swatted them with one hand, sending them tinkling to the ground, then crawled through the gap. ‘It is a form of supplication,’ she said. ‘If you want to follow the path, you’ve got to grovel at your god’s feet.’

The passage was short, emerging in a circular room about fifteen feet across. She stood, finding that the room was actually a shaft, extending upwards. Unlike the enclosed temple, the open shaft was blocked by a roof of ice.

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