Chapter One

Day One, The Artifact

The warm September sun was shining down on Ray and Dona as they approached the end of the short pier at Le, Château, d'Oléron.

It was the first full day of their holiday on the Île d'Oléron in France and the warmth of the afternoon sun was a welcome change from the cold wet miserable summer they had just had back in the North East of England.  All of the previous day had been spent travelling there from England.  First they had the long drive to Portsmouth from the North East, then around six hours on the ferry and the equally long drive south from Caen.  So until now, all they had done today, was sleep, rest in the sun done some reading and had a light lunch.

Île d'Oléron, is an island off the Atlantic coast of France, due west of Rochefort, on the southern side of the Pertuis d'Antioche strait, the second largest French island after Corsica and a perfect place for a relaxing holiday.

They had two weeks there, in an apartment that they had obtained for a bargain price, as part of an internet holiday offer.  Luckily for an offer, the apartment was very nice, well furnished, close to the port, with a small south facing garden for sunbathing.  Something of a result, for a couple on a very tight budget.  They had been holidaying in France for ten years now, mainly using a motorhome, Ray had bought with his redundancy money but lately, money had become so tight that even using the van had become something of a struggle. So this holiday was something they had not expected to be having this year.

Now why were this couple at the end of the pier, well walking to the end of piers, was something they did and they did it wherever they went, if there was a pier, they would have to walk to the end.   They did not know how or where this had started but by now, it was a tradition.

This was a new part of France to Ray and Dona, they had visited Rochefort, a couple of years previously but only in passing.  So there were plenty of new things to see and do in the next two week and they were really looking forward to it all, especially the warm sun.

As they stood enjoying the view, a fishing boat with its catch of the day, came rushing up the channel through the mud flats towards the port.  As the boat swung round in the harbour and then moored, Ray and Dona wandered over to the quayside, and together with a few other tourists, watched the fishermen unload their catch.  Two fisherman dragged a small cart, with boxes full of fish in ice, up the ramp to a waiting van.  As soon as the boxes of fish, were in the van, it shot off along the quayside into town.  Next the fisherman dragged up a smaller amount of fish, which they sold to some locals, who by now had made they way over to join tourists watching the unloading.

With all the fish sold, this only left a strange shaped object in the cart, it was about forty centimetres long, and looked like it was made of bronze. Ray assumed it must be something to do with the boat or fishing tackle but it didn't look like it was.  Anyway one of the fisherman took the object to his car and locked it in the boot.

After the boat was offloaded and everyone had wandered off, Ray and Dona continued their day by having a quick look around the Citadelle du Château-d'Oléron, the fort on the opposite side of the port.  It was just a short walk to the fortifications, passed the moored oyster boats and over a footbridge. They didn't do too much walking around the fort as it was the first day, Ray had dodgy feet and a bad knee and the last thing they needed, was for him to be laid up for part of the holiday.

So after about an hour, they retreated to one of the small bars near the port for a beer or three before their evening meal.  Now it was time for decisions, do they just get the draught beer (bière pression), or a more expensive bottled beer. The barman was watching the news on his iPad but came over the serve straight away.  It's the first beer of the holiday so they go a bottle of Leffe each and drink them from glasses.  Ray had a thing about drinking from the bottle, it is a thing that kids do, not grown ups.  Leffe is Ray's favourite Belgian beer and Dona is partial to the odd few as well.

The bar was very small and decked out in fishing paraphernalia, nets, glass floats etc.  It looked like it was decorated like this for the tourists but just then, one of the local fisherman from earlier came in and got a bière pression.  Soon after he was joined at the bar by the other fisherman and another man in a suit, who definitely didn't look like a fisherman.  The second fisherman also got a bière pression but the man in the suit ordered a coffee.

All three men got a table together in the corner of the room.  The bar was so small though, that Ray and Dona couldn't help seeing and overhearing their conversation.  Although overhearing didn't mean much, as neither Ray or Dona could understand a word of French.  Also even though they had visited France on fourteen separate occasions by now, neither of them could speak a word of French either.

They could however grasp the gist of what was going on.  The first fisherman produced the object they had seen earlier and gave it to the man in the suit.  He briefly examined it and then placed it back on the table, he then said something that seemed to upset the fishermen.  Whatever he had said the two fishermen looking disgruntled, finish their drinks shook hands with the man in the suit, said salut to the barman and left, leaving the object there on the table.

Ray now got a better look at the thing and there was a lot more to it than he originally thought.  It sort of looked something like an orange juice squeezer he had once seen but it wasn't really that much like it and it was much larger.

Ray went for more drinks and as he stood at the bar, he nodded a greeting to the man in the suit and said "do you speak English?".
"Just a little" was reply, which in Ray's experience, usually meant, I speak perfect English.  Ray then said "I saw the fisherman bring that thing in with the catch today, do you mind if I ask what's it for?".   As the barman had now appeared, Ray ordered another Leffe for himself and a Hoegaarden for Dona this time.

"I have no idea," replied  the man in the suit, when Ray had finished ordering the drinks.  "The fishermen" he went on, "had hoped it was an atrifact of some importance, that it might an ancient artifact from Roman times or something and worth money, but I think it is a worthless piece of junk".   "Here have a feel" he said, "it doesn't even feel like its old. it's very light, probably aluminium or some other modern alloy.  Look if I scratch it it's a silver colour underneath not bronze at all and I have come all the way from the Musée National de la Marine de Rochefort, what a complete wast of my time".

Ray held the object and asked "what are you going to do with it now".
"Throw it in the bin, where it deserves to be" said the man from the museum, finishing his coffee and rising to leave.
"Can I have it then?" enquired Ray.
"You can do what you want with it, it will save me disposing of it, bonne chance", he said and left the bar looking slightly annoyed.

When Ray arrived back at the table with two more bottles of beer and a worthless atrifact, Dona said "what do you think you are going to do with that?   I do not want that thing back at the apartment"
"I just wanted a good look at it, here feel how light it is" he said passing it to Dona.
"Yes very light" she said mockingly, "it's very cold though, have they had it in the ice with the fish, here feel it yourself" she said passing it back.

"That's strange" said Ray and put the atrifact in his backpack.
"What are you doing" siad Dona,
"I just want to have a better look at it in the morning and then, it can go in the bin, honest" lied Ray.

After the drinks, they got the bill, inwardly gasped at the price, paid and decided they would not be drinking much Leffe and a Hoegaarden this year, well not in bars anyway.  They then set off back to the apartment for supper.

The atrifact, was safely tucked in Ray's backpack.