Read Enigma for Free Online

bodies of men riled for battle would be different than those simply attending a speech.”
    Rias returned the flute. “Or maybe it’s just a story.”
    “There is some Science about this one,” Tikaya said.
    “Either way, I doubt it’ll provide the solution the captain seeks.”
    It took Tikaya a moment to realize what Rias meant. Admittedly, she’d been more interested in the puzzle rather than debating the reason for the captain’s urgency at having it solved, but, yes, if he anticipated pursuit, it made sense that her story had stirred within him the hope that the flute could be used to sedate the fury of those who followed.
    “We’d best hope we make port before the pursuit he fears shows up then,” Tikaya said.
    Rias said nothing.

Part VI
     
    Down in the bilge room, Tikaya sat on a rib running across the naked hull of the ship while Rias labored at a long lever, pumping out water that had collected in the bowels of the schooner overnight. Dawn might have come, but no outside light seeped into the dark room. A sole lantern burning by the hatch provided illumination, and Tikaya held the flute up to it as she twisted segments. Despite Rias’s implication that the instrument would prove ineffective against their pursuers, she, like a hungry dog gnawing a bone, couldn’t let the puzzle go unsolved. She’d been up most of the night and had finally come down to join Rias while she mulled.
    “Want me to take a hand at that?” Tikaya nodded toward the pump. In part, she made the offer because she felt guilty sitting there while Rias labored, sweat dribbling from his brow, but also because she’d often found mindless repetitive work helpful for solving problems. On her family’s plantation, she’d spent countless hours firing arrows into targets while working on ancient language puzzles.
    Rias, standing in calf deep water, his back hunched in order to work the lever in the tight quarters, glanced her way without pausing in his work. “You must be truly stumped to make that offer.”
    “What? You don’t think I’m simply jealous that you’re having all the fun there?”
    “No.”
    Tikaya tapped the flute on her thigh. “I am stumped. I’m tempted to go wring that boy’s neck for information, but it’d be slightly more satisfying to solve the puzzle on my own.”
    “Only slightly, eh?”
    “At this point, neck-wringing is sounding quite appealing. I’ve dredged every Nurian mythology tale I’ve ever heard out of the depths of my mind. None of them go together in a way that makes sense here. Either I’m forgetting something or the knowledge wasn’t there to begin with. If that’s the case, I’m going to have cross words for my World Mythology professor when I get home. My parents paid good money for me to receive a complete education.”
    Rias paused and regarded her, one hand gripping a beam above his head, the other on the pump. “Does it have to make sense?”
    “What?” Tikaya’s first thought was that he referenced her education, but then she remembered her earlier sentence. “Well, I’d think so. The history with which I’m familiar tells us the flutes always tell an old Nurian tale, and that presumes certain narrative traditions of chronological ordering, rising conflict, etcetera, etcetera. Some of their ancient narrative poems were on the quirky side, but—oh!” A new thought rushed into her mind, surprising her into dropping the flute. Caught in the moment, she didn’t rush to retrieve it, priceless artifact or not. “Dear Akahe, could that be it?”
    “Hm?” Rias plucked up the flute before it rolled into the water.
    “A poem. No a rhyme . There are countless silly Nurian nursery rhymes about animals and hunting, and they make about as much sense as... well, they’re for teaching children language by using repetition and—” Tikaya stopped, as an old nursery rhyme floated into her thoughts. She pointed at the flute. “I’m going to need that.”
    “Of course.”