Naturally

Yeah, another cliffhanger.

I can't resist them. But isn't it better this way? Now there is something exciting to look forward to next week. Until then, try and guess what is in the bust and who Charlotte would be calling so late. I'll give you a cookie if you're close!


Looking back on that evening, Amanda couldn’t fathom how they’d all expected to be able to simply shut the mysterious lady back in her crate with the promise of Max that her remains would never be disturbed.


After the discovery of the bust that supposedly carried the ashes of the goblin’s so-called lady, Charlotte had personally sealed the statue back in its crate and locked the storage shed. Making sure everything was secure, she began marshaling her resources.

“Amanda, I need to know who or what she is and why the goblins fear her release. Max, please assist her. François, guard this building with your life. No one is to come near it.” Charlotte turned to leave.

“Where are you going?” Amanda asked rather peevishly. It was well into the early morning hours and everyone was starting to feel grumpy.

“I’ve got to make a phone call.”


An hour passed. And then another. Amanda and Max were sequestered in his make shift office pouring over old histories. There simply wasn’t much to go on for the Tartessian culture and no clues as to who the lady could be.

“It’s like I told Charlotte,” Amanda yawned, “Tartessos was a trade city. If there is something interred in that bust, then it could be anything, from anywhere.”

“True, we have no way of knowing, unless the ashes were examined.” Max, despite being as tired as Amanda, had a strange gleam in his eye. Amanda recognized all to well the professional curiosity that had gotten so many archaeologists in trouble.

“Charlotte would kill you.” Amanda said blankly. Max nodded soberly; his history with Charlotte had taught him that much.

Both felt ready to simply drop their heads on the desk and get whatever sleep they could before Charlotte returned. Amanda yawned again as she looked over at her little goblin, who had been hiding behind a stack of books and cowering since the bust had been revealed.

“I don’t suppose you could tell us anymore about her, besides that bad things would happen if she were released?” The goblin shook his head, a look of dread in his large eyes. Amanda shrugged and was just about to close her eyes when a horrible sound echoed across the quiet dig site. It was a sound all too familiar to Amanda; the sound of splintering wood.

Something was trying to open the crate.