"A prison… a key… this man speaks in riddles," Jerome said in frustration, looking at the setting sun, which was now a fiery orange orb sinking below the horizon. The desert air was beginning to grow cold. "And that stranger has left us here to die. We do not have much water left, Mayra. We need to start walking now if we hope to reach any civilization."
"No," Mayra said, her eyes fixed on the complex brass instrument she had taken from the satchel. She turned it over and over in her hands, feeling its weight, tracing its intricate gears and dials with her fingers. "He said if we could unlock the secret, we would also find the way. He would not lead us this far only to let us die of thirst. That is not his style. This is part of the test."
Sara picked up Captain Conroy's diary again, its brittle pages whispering as she turned them in the fading light. "Perhaps the answer is in here." She sat down on the cool sand, her scholarly instincts taking over. She began to flip through the diary, not reading every word, but scanning for anything that seemed out of place. Most of the entries were what one would expect from a nineteenth century naval officer: observations on weather, notes on navigation, and personal reflections filled with a profound sense of loss and guilt. But interspersed between these normal entries were pages filled with strange astronomical charts, hand drawn constellations that did not match any known patterns, and complex mathematical calculations.
"This man seems to have gone mad after the sinking of his ships," Jerome commented, looking over Sara's shoulder. "He just sat in the desert and stared at the stars."
"Or perhaps," Sara said, her voice dropping to a near whisper, "he is trying to tell us something." She turned a page and showed it to Mayra and Jerome. On it was a date—June twenty first, eighteen fifty six. The summer solstice. Beneath the date was a single, cryptic sentence:
"Tonight, when the longest day ends, the Dragon will open its eye. Only it will show the way."
"The Dragon?" Jerome asked in confusion. "What dragon is he talking about out here?"
A sudden spark of understanding lit up in Mayra's eyes. She looked at Jerome. "Jerome, the constellations! Which constellation in the night sky looks like a dragon?"
Jerome pulled out his tablet, which he had been preserving on its last few percent of battery. He quickly opened a celestial map application. "Draco. The Dragon constellation. It is visible in the northern sky."
"And its eye?" Mayra pressed.
"The brightest star in Draco is Eltanin. It is sometimes referred to as 'the Dragon's Eye'," Jerome answered, the pieces of the puzzle starting to click together in his own mind.
Mayra held up the brass device. "This is not an ordinary sextant. I think it is an astrolabe, but a very advanced version. It is designed to find direction based on the position of the stars, not the sun or the horizon."
"So you are saying," Sara concluded, her voice filled with a new excitement, "that we have to wait for nightfall, find the star Eltanin using this device… and that will show us the way to Basra?"
"Exactly," Mayra confirmed. "This is the first part of our test. Are we solely dependent on modern technology, or can we also use nature and ancient knowledge?"
Now, they had no choice but to wait. They took shelter in the lee of a large rock formation as the desert descended into a deep, cold darkness. They conserved their water, taking only small sips. Time passed slowly, the profound silence of the desert broken only by the whisper of the wind. The heat of the day was replaced by a biting cold that tested their endurance and their resolve.
As soon as the last remnants of twilight vanished and the first stars began to shine with a brilliant intensity in the clear, dark sky, they got to work. Jerome used his tablet's remaining power to pinpoint the exact location of the star. Mayra picked up the complex astrolabe. It had multiple rotating rings and dials, all covered in tiny, unfamiliar markings.
"How do we even use this thing?" Jerome asked, baffled by its complexity.
"It is in the diary," Sara said, quickly flipping through the pages. She found a section with detailed, hand drawn instructions. "You have to set the rings according to the date and time. Then, you look at the star through the main lens. At the correct angle, another lens will project a mark onto the ground."
They worked together as a team. Sara read the instructions from the diary, Jerome provided the precise calculations, and Mayra carefully adjusted the delicate instrument. Her hands were trembling slightly from the cold and the pressure. If they made a mistake, they would be lost in the darkness forever.
"Okay," Mayra said after several tense minutes. "I think I have it set."
She raised the astrolabe to her eye and looked towards the northern sky. She rotated the lens until the brilliant star Eltanin, the eye of the dragon, was perfectly centered. I see it, she thought, a surge of adrenaline coursing through her.
She looked down at the base of the instrument. From a small lens on the underside of the astrolabe, a very faint beam of light was projecting onto the sand. It formed the shape of an arrow, pointing towards the northeast.
Jerome let out a whoop of joy. "We found it! We found the way!"
Now they faced a new problem. They had no vehicle. Basra was at least twenty kilometers away. They would have to walk.
"We have to reach the Al Ashar souk," Mayra said, her voice filled with determination. "'Do not be late'… that is what he said."
They began their long trek, following the direction of the invisible arrow. It was an arduous journey. Walking on the soft sand was exhausting, and in the silence of the night, every small sound seemed amplified and menacing. As they walked, they talked about the commander's diary, about the 'prison' and the 'key,' their minds trying to unravel the ever deepening mystery.
Hours later, when they were on the verge of exhaustion, they saw a faint cluster of lights flickering in the distance.
It was the city of Basra.
Gathering their remaining strength, they pushed forward. By the time they reached the outskirts of the city, they looked like any other weary travelers. The Al Ashar souk was one of the oldest and most crowded parts of the city.
It was about ten o'clock at night, but the market was still alive. The air was thick with the scent of spices, the aroma of brewing coffee, and the murmur of countless conversations.
"Now what?" Sara asked, panting. "He told us to come to the souk, but how are we supposed to find him?"
Mayra reached into her pocket and took out the small silk pouch that had been in the satchel. She opened it. Inside, along with the cloves, were some other dried herbs. Their scent was strong and very distinctive.
Perhaps… perhaps we are not meant to find him, Mayra thought. Perhaps he is meant to find us.
She noticed that small coal braziers were burning every few feet in the market, where shopkeepers were warming their hands or making tea.
She took a deep breath and emptied the contents of the pouch into a nearby smoldering brazier.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then, a strange, bluish smoke began to rise, and the air was filled with that unique, pungent aroma, a scent so different from the other smells in the market that it stood out like a perfume.
It was a signal.
They waited. One minute… two minutes… five minutes.
Just then, a small boy came running towards them through the crowd. He grabbed Mayra's hand and spoke in Arabic, "He is waiting for you. Follow me."
The boy led them through the narrow, winding alleys of the souk. They arrived at a small, quiet street, where there was an old coffee shop. Outside the shop, sitting at a small table and sipping coffee, was the same stranger.
He had the same calm smile on his face.
"You took longer than I expected," he said.
Mayra, Sara, and Jerome looked at each other. They had passed their first test. But their faces showed more exhaustion and the stress of the coming challenge than the joy of victory.
Who was this stranger who was pulling their strings like a master puppeteer?
And now that they had reached him, what would be their next test?
Were they getting closer to the secret of the 'prison,' or were they just getting tangled deeper in an even more complex web?