Page 28 of Sacrifice

“Johannes describes an ancient ritual, one that he translated from an Akkadian tablet discovered in Sumeria. It describes eight blades, each representing one planet, which, if used in the correct configuration with the Sun Stone, could summon a great cosmic power. Johannes refers to it as theAnima Mundi, a transformational energy.”

Eve studied the illustration. The body of the woman was covered in astrological symbols. The knives looked strikingly familiar. Just like the ones she had collected from Christie's, their distinctive hilts each bearing a gemstone, connected by rays of light to the large central gem that hung above her.

“The ritual honored the coming of Anu, the supreme god of the Babylonian pantheon.” Henry added, tracing the tip of the rod along the dotted lines between the gemstones on the hilts until it reached the blade buried in the woman’s breast. “They’re thought to have been used in human sacrifice.”

“Sacrifice?” Eve said, remembering the knicks in the blades. “Why is it the women that always get sacrificed?” She shook her head, “Especially virgins.”

Henry shuffled uncomfortably and fiddled with his collar. “Don’t worry, you’re quite safe. The knives have been lost for millennia.”

“And that’s where you’re wrong, for once, Henry,” said Eve.

He looked rather taken aback and suddenly Eve saw that he may have misunderstood her. This wasn’t the kind of conversation you had with Henry.

She stuttered quickly back into speech. “Dr Knight has them now, the knives, that is. He bought them from Christies.”

Henry blinked at her. “Dr Knight? Has he?”

An icy shiver ran down her spine as she remembered the nicks on the blades. Somehow, it made their history even more real. The idea that she’d held one sent a thrill of horror through her.

“Yup. Being stored in the vaults just across the hall,” she continued, “I’m heading over there with the Sun Stone. The reason I’m down here, really.”

Henry had gone rather pale. “Reunited,” he said in a whisper.

“There are all sorts of related items coming in.” Eve waved Lucien’s shipment list at him. “I need to check on their progress. Another reason to come down. Not that it isn’t lovely to catch up,” she added quickly. “What does that say?” She pointed to a series of pictograms on the page woven around the line connecting the gemstone to the sun.

Henry bent forward. His glasses slid down to the tip of his nose. Words formed silently on his lips as he read the text.

“Ah,Transitus Veneris, the transit of Venus, yes. It has always been a particular favorite with ancient civilizations. Fascinating planet. One of the most visible objects in our sky. They call it the Morning Star, which is, of course, another name for Lucifer—Light Bringer in Latin.”

“What’s a transit?” Eve asked, trying to remember the order of the planets. Astronomy had never been one of her strongest subjects.

“Let us consult the work of the Astronomer Royal, Sir George Airy,” Henry said, flourishing his brass rod like and wand and producing another ancient book from beneath a heap of papers on the desk. He noticed Eve’s raised eyebrows. “I’ve been doing a little research myself,” he said. “I like to get ahead when a new exhibition is being planned.”

He opened the almanac to reveal a series of hand drawn observations and geometric calculations.

“The transit of Venus is when Venus moves between the earth and the sun, blocking out some of its light. Apparent movingacrossthe sun, do you see? A rare event, only occurring every two hundred and forty years or so. The last was in 1882. It caused all manner of unusual weather. Over thirty ships were reported lost to freak storms.”

Eve was struggling to see what was so important about it. “So, it's some sort of eclipse?”

Henry shook his head. “Not exactly no. More of an astronomical alignment.” He carefully turned the pages. “According to Johannes’s interpretation, the Babylonians believed it was a sign that one of their gods, Shamash, the sun god, had turned his eyes away from them, allowing all manner of demons to be let loose upon the world. Only Ishtar could protect them.”

She frowned. “Ishtar?” There was that name again.

He produced another book. “Or Inanna—Queen of Heaven. Goddess of love, beauty, war, and fertility. Lots of hats.”

He flipped open another leather-bound tome, turned to a specific page and rotated it so she could see. There was an illustration of a queen equipped with weapons on her back, ahorned helmet, and trampling a lion held on a leash. “She was a powerful entity.”

“Can I borrow these?”

Henry’s nostrils flared. “All of them? They are rather precious.”

“A bit of background reading. Get up to speed. Like you said,get ahead.”

Henry looked at her over the top of his glasses. A furrow formed between his eyebrows. “Good idea, yes.”

Eve poredover the books to absorb their detail. Once she’d left the sun stone in the curator's care, she’d felt strangely bereft. The winter weather lashed at the exhibition space windows and she hunkered down at her desk in her coat, lost in the old books’ pages.

Bad weather was a bit of a theme. According to one book, the goddess Ishtar was reputed to unleash storms upon the earth in fits of rage, the power to wield the weather being just one of thehatsshe could wear, as Henry put it. Eve wondered if there really was some truth in the myth, now that the weather had turned so bad and the transit of Venus approached.

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