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Volodimir Vladko
Descendants of the Scythians

A NOVEL

Kiev

Dnipro Publishers 1986

Translated from the Ukrainian by Olexandr Panasyev

© Translation into English, Dnipro Publishers, 1986.

PART ONE

CHAPTER ONE

A geologist, an archeologist and two geology students decide to explore a cave, Artem the student is envious, falls into an archeological daydream, and faces the music in the cave.


It was growing dark but as night fell, it did not become cooler. It was the middle of July. Ivan Semenovich took off his embroidered Oriental skull-cap and wiped his shaven head with a handkerchief. The skull-cap was his favorite headgear.

“It’s hot, isn’t it?” he said matter-of-factly, and reaching up to the miner’s lamp, he turned the flame down. Then he pulled a large piece of paper closer to him which bore a diagram of the newly-discovered deposits and prospecting shafts, and turned to the others. His small, piercing gray eyes seemed to be assessing the mood of the three people facing him, although this time he evidently had no intention of reproaching them. His fingers smoothed his short mustache and his voice sounded almost gentle when, after a short pause, he began to speak.

“It’s not at all difficult, my friends, to analyse the results of our efforts. We have not found very much so far, the main impediment being… Do I need to tell you that what is hindering our progress is our working, as it were, along two lines? Yes, Dmitro Borisovich, working along two parallel lines, that’s how I would describe it. Your rebellious outbursts are what distracts you all the time, aren’t they? In fact, they distract not only you but also Lida and even Artem! I never imagined that archeologists could be so enthusiastic… All right, all right, I’ll stop, seeing that you’re ready to explode. What I was going to say is that the time has come to unite our efforts…”

The exordium was quite promising.

“All the data we have from the geological prospecting points to one and the same thing,” Ivan Semenovich continued. “The veins of copper ore cannot yet be traced very far below the surface, but their general direction can be determined: they descend into the depths.of the Sharp Mount.”

“Isn’t that what I’ve been telling you all along?” said the archeologist, his glasses flashing reflected light.

“Like the rest of us, you have been putting forward certain ideas. But all these theories have to be thoroughly checked,” Ivan Semenovich replied. “Lida, be so kind as to pass me your diagram.”

Artem watched the girl rise slowly and gracefully to her feet, her movements deliberate and easy, pushing a straggling wisp of hair into place, take the paper from the windowsill and pass it to the geologist. The girl’s every supple motion was pleasing to the eye. Even the navy-blue overalls she wore, which looked so scruffy on the others, fit her perfectly.

“I haven’t finished it yet,” she said handing over the diagram.

“That’s all right, we’ll be able to make out the main lines anyway. Move closer everybody, will you,” the geologist said, unfolding the paper. “Here is the line of the prospecting shafts. All of them, except the sixth, indicate the general outline of…”

“The Sharp Mount!”

“Of course. The Sharp Mount and nothing else. You were right from the start, Dmitro Borisovich. Also anyone can see even without the keen sight you’re endowed with, Dmitro Borisovich — the diagram shows it unequivocally — that the lines of the prospecting pits run straight for a while and then they break. The veins disappear at a depth of approximately ten meters, and there’s no telling whether they reappear inside the mount. It’d be stupid to insist that they do without further borings, and deep ones at that. Surely you agree with that, Dmitro Borisovich! And we don’t have any data as to how the veins run further down, do we? I don’t as far as I am concerned, anyway.”

“But I have some data!”

“All, you do, do you?”

“Yes.”

“Do you mean to say that you have the geological data concerning the veins inside the mount?”

“Yes, I do.”

The archeologist, sensing the intrigued gazes trained upon him, deliberately wiped his glasses with a piece of cloth, and said:

“You may be interested to know that I’ve observed outcrops of the veins on the walls of the cave, and though I’m not a geologist I can assure you…”

Ivan Semenovich shrugged his shoulders:

“Again you’re talking about that cave of yours, Dmitro Borisovich. I deeply respect your knowledge of archeology and I remember too, without your reminding me, that you are not a geologist. But I must tell you at this point that there is quite a difference between archeology and geology… In view of this, I grant that your observations may have been those of a scientist but nevertheless…”

“I’ve foreseen the objections you would raise, my dear Ivan Semenovich, but ignoring the somewhat boorish manner in which they’ve been couched…”

“I do apologize, really!”

“Ah well, never mind, never mind. I have long grown accustomed to the manner in which you express yourself… And to a greater extent than you have managed to accept the archeological enthusiasm you keep mentioning… But let’s get back to where we started. In view of the objections I was sure you would raise, I invited Lida to accompany me to the cave today, in the capacity of, let’s say, a reliable geological witness.”

Artem opened his eyes wide in bewildered indignation: Lida went to the cave in the company of Dmitro Borisovich without even a word to him about it! All right, just you wait!

Suppressing a smile, Ivan Semenovich said:

“Well, that, of course, is quite another matter since Lida, as a student at a geological college does know something about geology… And may I ask what you found in that cave? If my memory serves me right, the cave in question is only fifteen or so meters deep?”

“It used to be until recently.”

“Oh, I don’t quite get your meaning. Has it suddenly gotten deeper, or what?”

“We got as tar as the obstruction caused by the rockfall. It blocked the way further down, but the cave in fact is much deeper…”

The geologist made himself more comfortable in his chair and looked at the archeologist with growing interest. Then he turned his gaze to Lida who forced an embarrassed smile.

“What a shame you didn’t tell me about it right from the start,” Ivan Semenovich said reproachfully. “You call that discipline?”

“Ivan Semenovich,” Lida said, now really red with shame, “we only decided to keep it a secret to make it more exciting now. A little surprise, that’s all.”

“Did Artem take part in your secret sally into the cave?”

“No, he didn’t. There were only the two of us. Artem was busy with something else and we didn’t want to disturb him.”

Artem, eyebrows knit, kept silent. Disturb him, indeed! It wasn’t a matter of his being busy, not at all! Besides, sorting geological samples wasn’t so important… The thing was that Lida and Dmitro Borisovich just didn’t want him to know anything. It was a case of clear-cut treachery since they surely were aware that he was interested in the cave, too! All right, he wouldn’t let them know what he thought about the whole thing! He had his pride, after all!

“I see, I see,” the geologist said pensively. “Anyway, I’d appreciate being informed of the results of your secret expedition. How deep is the cave?”

“I wouldn’t pretend to know,” Dmitro Borisovich said irresolutely. “And I don’t think it’s possible to find out yet.”

“Why not?”

“The cave is much too deep. We got down about to a hundred and fifty meters and turned back. And the end wasn’t in sight.”

“Ivan Semenovich,” Lida cut into the conversation. “When we were digging through the rockfall we saw a passage that led into another cave, a very long one too! Then a lot of small passages, galleries, corridors and openings. A sort of maze. That’s why we didn’t go any further. We were not ready for a speleological venture. Here, have a look, I’ve made a quick pencil sketch of the cave section we went through.”

Three heads leaned over the rough pencil sketch. Artem stayed put in his corner. He was determined not to budge.

The whole thing could be treated only as an offensive disregard of his person. Disgraceful!

Who was it who had first taken an interest in the cave when they had arrived just a month before and began prospecting — Artem of course! Who had kept assiduously collecting all kinds of information about it? Artem! Who had managed to find an old man who told them of some finds long ago in and around the cave? Again none other than Artem. Nobody would even have noticed the insignificant little cave had it not been for him. True enough, Artem wasn’t an archeologist; he was a geology student, but then, Lida wasn’t an archeologist either! She was also a student taking the same course as he. Anyway, one way or another, Dmitro Borisovich did not have the right — at least from an ethical point of view — to take Lida with him on this prowl that had turned to be so revealing. It was an affront! All right, now Artem knew what he had to do…

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