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The stairas not long and ended in a sled and echoed on the far side A natural spring poured out of a knee-high hole in the wall and flowed through a crack in the floor, then vanished out the opposite wall

"A Harappan well cave," Elizabeth said, recognizing the configuration "Living alongside the Indus River, the civilization grew skilled at irrigation"

Gray shone his light around the space It was crudely circular Cut into the stone floor was another chakra wheel But the center of this one wasn’t e-shaped stone rested there

"It’s a copy of the omphalos," Elizabeth said

She and the others were drawn to it It stood as high as her e as the one from the Delphi museum The dome’s outer surface was carved with trees and leaves

Elizabeth sed hard and stared around her "Soinal adytum, the inner sanctum of the Oracle, where she cast her prophecies"

Elizabeth stepped over to a toppled bronze chair It had three legs "Here’s a tripod The classical seat of the Oracle"

"Or oracles" Gray had wandered a few steps away He pointed his flashlight to more toppled chairs

Five total

Elizabeth snapped several pictures What was this place? What was it doing here?

Rosauro called froht want to see this," she said

Luca stood farther down the wall His ar Even in the shadows, Elizabeth noted how his hand shook

Elizabeth crossed to Rosauro A e, covered the wall Several tiles littered the floor, fallen away So centuries of ined her father swabbing a cloth over the artwork, seeking what lay beneath

She stared at as revealed

Froe on a temple set amid mountains "Parnassus," Elizabeththe downfall of the Temple of Delphi"

The next section revealed a room not unlike the one they were in, even with an omphalos in the center--but the stone was shown in cross section Hidden beneath its do woether as a Rolanced to the stone behind her It couldn’t be…

She stepped along the wall The next tableaux revealed a caravan of horses, donkeys, and carts At the head of the train, the sa caravan climbed up and over a mountain The last cart was hauled by two fiery stallions, clearly representing the steeds who drew Apollo’s sun chariot across the skies But they were not dragging the sun here In the back of the cart rested the same stone that had protected the woman and child The omphalos of Delphi

Elizabeth turned and faced the stone behind her She trembled all over "That’s not a copy," she said with a shudder "That’s the original omphalos The one spoken of in the histories of Plutarch and Socrates"

"And see this," Rosauro said

The woman drew Elizabeth to the next scene It was a picture of the canyon, a joyous scene of the Greeks building temples into the cliffs The adytum was also depicted, but instead of one Oracle seated atop a tripod, there were five They circled the omphalos, which smoked like a volcano fro boy with outstretched arms His eyes were fire, and flames climbed froeneral or so more specific?

Either way, Elizabeth found those fiery eyes staring back at her

At her shoulder, Gray had also followed the story He waved an ar the tale

"The last Oracle, the child, must have been spirited away after the downfall of the teuardians and supporters fled the Ro these Harappan ruins, and stayed hidden"

Elizabeth remembered Abe’s story of this place "They re with the local tribes in secret And after so enerations, the Greeks were slowly absorbed into the Indian culture"

"Then they grew afoul of religious persecution and the growing Indian caste system," Gray said "All the bones A massacre occurred here"

Luca spoke at the end of the wall "And they fled again," he said

They joined hi The art here was not mosaic tiles, but someone had painted a hurried frieze It was done in black paint, showing the attack of the tehted by radiant streaks, escaped in a caravan of tall wagons with large wheels It faded s far away

Luca placed his fingers gently to the wagons His voice cracked with emotion "These are our people," he said "The Roin"

Gray shifted back He stared across the wall, his face stunned

The Greek guardians escaped with the last child and the o over the span of seven centuries into Indian culture, then that saain, but under a new name

Gypsies