Coal Part 9: 1st Draft

"What were you doing in the bushes?" Zene asked her niece when she got into the car.

"Nothing." Ciara said immediately. "Dad, where else do we have to go?"

"To Marcus The Jeweler." he replied easily.

"The Marcus The Jeweler? No, Dad. You don't have any money to buy me anything that expensive."

He smiled knowingly. "I may have been bleed dry by my present wife, but I haven't given her everything. You'll see."

They pulled up to the jewelers store about fifteen minutes later. It looked usual enough inside, with the generic-looking tennis bracelets and diamond studs, you'd never know the owner was the Royal Jeweler as well. Ciara felt a little better.

"Adrian!" a large red-faced man with a booming voice, nearly made Ciara scream in surprise.

"Marcus." Ciara's father grinned and shook the big man's hand. "It's been a while since I've spent my own money in here. Personally, that is."

Marcus laughed heartily. "That is a fact." he looked over at Ciara. "This must be your daughter. She looks exactly like-" He looked at Zene. "Amara! I thought you were dead!"

"I'm Amara's sister, Zene."

Marcus took a deep breath. "Oh! You look exactly like her. I apologize." He looked confused. "Now what was I about to do? Oh! You wanted a look inside the vault, Adrian?" the large man squeezed behind the jewelry counter and opened a hidden door that blended in perfectly with the creme colored wall.

Directly ahead were three vaults, to the north, east, and west of the door. Marcus opened the door the west. Inside, it was completely empty save for three safety deposit boxes sitting on a shelf. Adrian grabbed Marcus and tried to shove him into the wall. Unfortunately, the jeweler was too big to move.

"Where's the rest of it?" demanded Adrian. "Where are my family heirlooms? Where's my crest?"

"Are you serious? I thought you gave Debra permission to-I mean you never told her to-" Marcus sputtered, his pasty face now redenned. "I was afraid of this."

"Debra will be sorry, so sorry she ever met me!" growled Adrian. "What's in those safety deposit boxes?"

"I don't know. If my memory serves me right, your first wife brought those here eighteen years ago. I didn't see what was inside them."
Adrian released Marcus and strode over to the boxes. "Debra never could get inside them, so she left them alone."

"Over five hundred years of my family's history! Gone to who knows where!" He took a box and frowned at the combination. "Dammit! How am I going to get into it?"

Zene took the box from Adrian. "You married my sister, and you didn't know her love of number games? Please." She stared at the combination lock, which was in the strange shape of a pyramid. She bit her lip, then slowly turned the numbers 3-3-3. The lock opened easily.

Marcus shook his head. "You've got to be kidding."

"Amara had a sense of humor." She opened the box. Inside was an ancient-looking coat-of-arms, depicting a kind of food chain. On the left, a gold lion had a paw on a ruby bird of prey above. The bird of prey had the tail of a large emerald snake in it's beak, and the snake on the right curled under and was striking the lion's heel. In the space between the animals was an engraved picture of the manor that Ciara recognized as her father's estate. Underneath the animals was the motto: Passion, Wisdom, Courage in old-fashioned letters.

Adrian picked up the crest and hugged it to his chest, then noticed a letter underneath. "'Dear Adrian,'" he read, "'I love you, but you leave your crest all over the place. I know how important it is, so I put it here for safe keeping. All my love, Amara.'" he smiled whistfully. "I am pretty messy." Ciara picked up the second box, and saw the combination lock was in the shape of a square. She turned the numbers 4-4-4-4, but the box didn't open. Her father took it from her. "Now this one I remember. 'If you square my love for you, you'll still never know how much that is.' A square has four sides, so four is the first number, love is between two people so the second number is two. 'For' was just her way of saying four again. Squaring her love is 2 to the 2nd power, which equals 4 yet again."

"Wow." said Ciara. "Mom was really smart." She opened the box and inside were a beautiful pair of glass heels, lined with plushy fur, and edged with gold. The heels were solid gold.

Zene ran her fingers over them. "Now these were something I'd thought I'd never see again. These shoes were made by the Swaziland Royal Jeweler ten generations ago for a queen who was having trouble attracting a man she was in love with. She married the man, and they started the dynasty of Mutumba's from which you and I are descended. It's been said that if a woman is in the prescence of the man she loves wearing these shoes, they will fall in love with her. The common people call them 'The Love Shoes'." Underneath the shoes was another letter. "'To my sweet baby girl Ciara: These are my gift to you. I hope you use them to find your love as I have. Never doubt that I loved you. All my love, Your Mother.'"

Ciara bit her lips and tried not to cry. Her mother had put everything in order before her death, making sure her most beautiful possesions were in safe-keeping, protected by her love of numbers. She felt a little better knowing a little bit more about her mother, other than the faded photographs in the manor's storage room.
The last box looked pretty ordinary, with a round combination lock. Zene and Adrian looked pretty clueless, and Marcus was no help at all. Ciara decided to take a crack at it and dialed 3-1-4, suprisingly, the lock opened.

"How did you figure that out?" asked Zene. "You don't know anything about Amara's puzzles."

"The circumference of a circle is 3.14. I learned that in school." answered Ciara. "I guess I was lucky she was thinking the same thing." Inside the box was a large uncut red stone, about a foot long that seemed to be in the shape of a tree branch.

"The Oni-Red Bough!" exclaimed Zene. "I thought it was just a legend! This is the most expensive gem in the world!"

"Are you serious? The Oni-Red Bough?!" said Marcus. "I'll be right back with my jeweler's glasss!"

Zene lifted up the gem carefully, and pulled out the letter underneath. "'My dear sister Zene, I hope this finds it's way to your hands. It took me many months to find this, and I'm sure you'll be happy to put this in the Swaziland National Museum. I love you, and I hope this helps my native land. All my love, Amara.'" Together with the letter were papers proving where Amara purchased the jewel from.

Marcus looked over the jewel with his glass. "This is remarkable! How did this diamond get in this shape without being cut?"

"It's a diamond?" asked Ciara. "It looks like it's made out of ruby to me."

"That's how she was able to obtain it for only twenty-thousand goola." said Zene staring at the bill of sale. "Whoever sold it to her was probably some rich idiot who was hard up for cash and never had it apraised. Of course, that's a good thing, if they had known it was the Oni-Red Bough, they would never have sold it."

"This is remarkable! Can I take pictures?" asked Marcus.

"I don't think that's a good idea. Every jewel thief and their mother will be trying to break into your store for it. It's a legend among jewel thieves." suggested Adrian.

"You're right dad! I think there was a special on T.V. about thieves, and the one thing everyone wanted to steal was the Oni-Red Bough." said Ciara. "I guess it really is the most expensive jewel in the world."

"And it will take a fortune to insure!" groaned Zene. "It will have to be under guard at all times. But at least tourism will be up at the museum. I've been wanting to bring it back to my country for years to revamp the national museum, but I always assumed it had been cut and broken up into smaller gems. This is unbelievable. Simply amazing."

"I'm glad Debra didn't take everything. Your first wife was a good woman. I'll start looking for your family's artifacts as soon as I can, Marquis Avedis. It's the least I can do." said Marcus, apologizing profusely.

"Yes, it is." said Adrian coldly. "I'm as much to blame as you are though. If I wouldn't have given Debra free reign of my affairs, this wouldn't have happened."

"But your things were in my care. I should have made absolutely sure...whatever it takes, Marquis. I'll pay the cost." Marcus insisted.

Ciara rode back to the manor in silence. It was all a lot to take in. Debra was more than a bitch! She was seriously close to being turned in for grand theft. The only thing keeping her out of jail was Adrian's love for her.

"I know it sounds stupid, but I still love her. I know I've been in financial trouble, she probably had to sell everything." muttered Adrian. "I've been so worthless the last couple of years."

Ciara was about say something, but Zene shot her a look. "Your father has to come to a decision about Debra on his own. If he doesn't, he isn't going to hear anything we have to say. It's a lot for him to take in. Someone he trusted betrayed him and mistreated his only child. Once he can get his head around that, it'll be all over for The Vicks. I promise." Zene whispered.

"I hope you're right Aunt Zene." grumbled Ciara, folding her arms.

Want more? "Coal Part 10: 1st Draft"