to get frustrated by the whole affair.
‘I doubt we’ll find out anything useful in the village.’
‘You’re right, Colonel,’ the Guard admitted reluctantly. ‘Perhaps there’ll be something useful in what the soldiers found.’
‘I hope so.’ Darius stood up and, deep in thought, began pacing back and forth. ‘We also need to find out what caused the delay in delivering the documents to Atlantis and when the date was falsified.’ He sighed heavily. He didn’t even know where to start, and already he could feel the problems piling up. ‘We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us.’
Bleist shielded his eyes with his hand as he gazed at the city spread out on the opposite shore of the lake. Bushtabhar looked as though it had been plucked straight from The Arabian Nights. Towering above the buildings was a hill, at the summit of which stood a sandstone citadel bristling with towers and turrets, from which banners bearing a golden star fluttered in the breeze. Around it lay a sea of rooftops dotted with small gardens full of colourful plants. From this hive of activity emerged several more buildings — a vast temple consisting almost entirely of domes covered in multicoloured mosaics, a simple, massive building with whitewashed walls and a somewhat imposing appearance, a palace reminiscent of a royal residence, and a soaring obelisk rising somewhere between the other landmarks.
Despite the heat, even from a distance one could see activity in the harbour and on the lake itself. A swarm of people poured through the narrow streets, sheltered from the sun by colourful strips of fabric. A few smaller boats bobbed on the water, and a clunky ferry slowly made its way towards the buildings on the northern shore of the lake.
The view was magnificent, but the heat pouring down from the sky spoiled everything. Darius had had more than enough of the latter. With all his heart, he would have liked to be at home, enjoying the beautiful weather in pleasant, moderate warmth, but that was not to be.
‘It looks like we’ll make it
