Rachel Murcheson's Notes
My grandfather made it clear, when I was old enough to understand, no one was to go down into that "wicked world where Sturdevant and I came from".
I was destined to fail him though because of a mistake my grandfather had made early on in the expedition. He sired a son by a West Djaharrian woman in Kandur. His mother named him Raul, Sir William never knew about his other, bastard son.
I found out quite by accident when I encountered Raul while I was exploring close to the forest during a "walkabout" of sorts. He said, in English, that he was looking for an alabaster city in the mountains. (I guess my sister and I looked enough like Europeans to fool people, the differences being more subtle, and the other's covered most of the time.) He said he was Sir William's son, he had a great mane of white hair, which made him look very impressive. But he had a cruel, and debauched-looking demeanor, so I mistrusted him immediately.
He and I were cordial, at first, but something told me that I shouldn't acknowledge that I was Sir William's grand-daughter. However, I must have let something slip, or he guessed the truth because of my clothes. Because, he insisted that I take him to the White City, I refused him point blank. He then became angry, and ordered his companions to detain me. I, of course, had had no experience of this kind of behaviour, and meekly obeyed. He tortured me. But, even I was surprised that I had that kind of resilience, I guess it came from my Mother.
I eventually escaped, but the White City was forever closed to me, because I could never be sure that I wouldn't be followed by Raul, or someone he had hired.
I returned to London and looked up my relations, they finally acknowledged me. They had to, you see, I had my father's journal, all except for the ripped out pages, which Raul stole from the Ministry. I still suspect he had an "inside man". I'm still trying to recover them to this day. I heard that Raul was trying, from Djahar, to sell them in America.