We got to work doing the stuff that's required before we desecrate tombs. There was measurements to take, photos to snap, and notes to write. By the time we were through with all the minute details it was past lunch and the natural light was fast fading. I was lucky to be in the group assigned to open the door along with Ed and the professor. The only problem was we didn't quite know how to get it open.
The professor scrutinized the borders of the door with a flashlight and magnifying glass. "There doesn't appear to be any hinges," he muttered to himself.
"Maybe the door pushes inward," I suggested.
The professor wrinkled his nose. "I very much doubt the prince would allow such a simple-" I pressed my hands against the door and pushed. It gave a few inches before I stopped. The professor stared at my progress and blinked. "Well, I suppose times were much less technologically advanced," he admitted. He pocketed his flashlight and pressed his hands against the wall. "Ed, if you would assist," he requested.
I stepped back and watched the two men push with all their strength. The door gave beneath their combined forces and it slid several feet into the mystery that lay behind it. The men stopped and we shone a flashlight into the interior. There was a solid stone floor behind the door, so he and us stepped inside. His flashlight reflected off the stone to reveal something. It was brilliant, it was beautiful, it was-nothing. Absolutely nothing. Well, I guess there was this big empty room of large, undecorated stone walls and a ceiling to match. The professor's face dropped farther than the 1929 stock market. He stumbled back and Ed caught him before he collapsed like jello onto the hard floor.
"Nothing," he murmured. "There's nothing here. It's been taken. We were so close, and yet so far," he added.
There went our chance at fame and fortune.
Chapter 3
"It never looks like anything was here," Ed spoke up.
I shone my light over the entire room. It was square, about fifteen feet by fifteen feet, and the floor was covered in a fine layer of dust. The entrance door was situated in the far-left bottom corner of the chamber. Here and there the long roots of the trees that surrounded the meadow had crept through the ceiling blocks and made beautiful but creepy designs above us. Ed was right about nothing ever being there. Unlike most robbed places there was no broken pottery, remnants of jewels, or any clues that would point to a wealth carried off in ancient times.
As I stood to the right of the doorway a breeze swept over me. The strange thing about it was it came from my right and not from the left where stood the opening. I shone my flashlight on the wall to my right and thought I glimpsed a darkness beyond where my light could reach. With my heart beating hard in my chest I stepped over to the wall and passed my hand over the dark area. The stone gave away with my tiny push. That meant it was hollow behind it.
I turned to the moaning professor with Ed beside him. "Professor, I found something!" I yelled at him.
He straightened and pushed off from Ed, sending the young man into the wall close to the entrance. "What? What is it?" he cried out only inches from my face.
I indicated the loose wall. "There's something here. The wall moves," I explained to him.
The professor pushed me aside and pressed one hand against the wall. The stone moved beneath his touch and in his eagerness it toppled backward into what appeared to be a large space. Dust fell from the ceiling above us and coated us in a fine layer of phantom color. Van Sloan ignored the dust, pressed his face into the hole created by the missing slab, and shone his flashlight into the new abyss.
"Eureka!" he exclaimed. He turned to us and his eyes flashed with glee. "The lost treasure! We've found it!"
"Let me see!" Ed pleaded. The professor stepped aside and Ed leaned against the wall to peer through the hole.
Bad idea. The entire facade was unstable, and his weight broke the camel's back. Two dozen stones and Ed leaned forward and toppled into the hidden chamber. The collapse disturbed the dust and swept us into a storm of dirt. We coughed and shone on our flashlights into the mist.
"What's going on down there?" Stacy called from the entrance.
"Don't come in here unless you want to choke to death," I warned her.
"Nonsense, the dust will settle," the professor's voice spoke through the storm.
"Get me out of here!" Ed yelped.
"In a moment. Wait for the settling," the professor insisted. In a moment the dust settled and my flashlight allowed me to see the hidden chamber. It was much larger than the false room, about fifty feet square, and just as we had all hoped the room was full of glittering golden objects and luxurious furniture. Wooden tables with intricate scenes on their surfaces lined the walls and were laden with vases and bowls made of gold and silver. Goblets stood in perfect posterity beside books unread for almost two millenia. High-backed chairs sat beside the tables, and on the floors lay luxurious oriental rugs and chests that I didn't doubt were full of jewels, necklaces, and rings that glittered in the sunlight. A few paintings were hung on the walls and showed off their bright paint even after so many years.
Thankfully the fake wall and Ed had crashed onto empty floor so none of the priceless treasures were damaged. Ed climbed to his feet and back into the first room while the professor stumbled over the rubble into the new room. The professor gingerly touched his hand against the hidden door's frame, and the wall trembled beneath his touch. Our flashlights were the only light, but he flashed it over every inch of the area and raced from one table to the next. His voice and face were filled with excitement that threatened to break his sanity, if not a vase. "I've found it! I've found it!" he repeated over and over.
Ed and I stood at the entrance to the room and watched the madness unfold. "I found it," Ed grumbled beside me.
I would have pointed out my contribution to the discovery, but I was distracted by a strange sensation. The room had a chill to it colder and damper than the walls that made me shiver. I wrapped my arms around myself and noticed the eerie silence in the tomb. Even with the entrance open we heard none of the noise from our fellow students above and behind us. It was like stepping into the threshold of the room trapped you in the hidden chamber with the intention of never letting you go.
My watch and internal fear alarms told me it was time to leave. "Professor, shouldn't we seal this up and get back to camp? It's almost night," I reminded him.
The professor stopped at the far corner and took a deep breath. "Perhaps you're right," he agreed. He turned and flashed his light on us, or tried to. There was a large pedestal a half a foot tall in the way, and atop that pedestal was a stone box with high sides and a thin slab of stone for a lid. The professor's eyes lit up and he slowly stepped onto the pedestal to sweep his hand across the lid. "My god. The prince," he whispered.
"Professor!" I scolded him, but this time he ignored me.
"This must be the prince's coffin," the professor murmured to himself. He tilted his head this way and that, and shone his flashlight over the point where the lid met the coffin. "There might be a hole in which to glimpse him."
I frowned and marched around the coffin to stand by the professor. He was so absorbed in trying to find a hole that he didn't notice me. "Professor, we need to leave," I insisted.
"In a moment. Just one moment," he absently replied.
I was not staying in this cavernous room any time after dark. "No, now," I ordered him.
I marched onto the pedestal and around the head of the coffin, grabbing the lid as I went to stabilize myself. The lid was flimsier than it looked and gave way beneath my delicate, meager weight. I fell forward across the top-corner of the coffin and my traitorous hand that caused this mess slipped against the stone lid and cut its palm. A neat trail of blood flowed from the jagged wound and spilled into the coffin. I yelped, lost my grip, and tumbled onto the floor and onto something bony.
"Mary!" the professor gasped, and I heard Ed race toward me.
The pair shone their flashlights on me and I blinked into thei
r blinding light. The men stood stiffly over me and had strange, horrified expressions on their faces. "What? Do I look like a ghost?" I asked them. I was covered in the dust from the floor.
Van Sloan held out his hand to me. "Mary, don't look beneath you and get up very slowly," the professor whispered to me.
I frowned and, of course, looked beneath me. I lay over a dusty, dry skeleton covered in the ragged remains of its clothes. I did what any sensible woman would do and screamed loud and clear. The noise echoed off the walls as I scrambled to my feet, scattering rib cage and limb bones in my wake. I jumped into Ed's arms and clung to him like a drowning woman. Ed awkwardly patted me on the shoulders.
"It's fine. You're okay," he told me.
The professor stooped and examined my new dead friend. "Very interesting. The door was sealed, so we must assume this person was buried in the tomb with the prince," he murmured.
"Professor, could we get out of here?" Ed pleaded.
Our supervisor shook himself and stood. "Of course, of course. It's getting late and we need to close the tomb before we can hardly see what we're doing," he agreed.
"A-and my hand," I reminded the men. I'd left a nice smear of blood on Ed's shirt from clinging to him.
"Ed, would you take her back to the camp and treat her while I have the others close the tomb?" Van Sloan requested.
"Sure, no problem," Ed agreed.
Ed guided my shaky self out of the tomb area. His shoulder scuffed the side of the frame and more dust fell. We paused when a groaning noise emanated from the ceiling. The professor flashed his light over the frame and frowned. "The dirt and rocks above the tomb have made the frame unstable. We must be careful when coming in here," he commented.
We hurried through the false room and into the open, fresh air of twilight. Everyone was gathered around the hole and Stacy gaped when she saw our dusty, pale faces. "What in the world happened down there?" she asked us.
"I fell on a skeleton," I told her.
Gasps of horror erupted from our peers and eyebrows shot up. They were all atwitter with excitement and questions. The professor came up behind us and held his hands up for quiet. "We have found the tomb, but the time is too late for any more inspection. Tomorrow everyone will get a chance to look at the treasures there, but for right now please assist me in closing up the hole so no animals can get inside," he commanded them.
Stacy followed Ed and me toward the path. Her eyes fell on my bloody hand. "Did it cut you?" she wondered.
"No, the coffin lid did that," I replied.
"Coffin lid?" Stacy gasped.
"If you're going to follow us could you help me out here?" Ed requested. My knees still shook violently, so I leaned heavily on Ed. He nearly collapsed beneath my weight.
Chapter 4
Stacy put her back, or rather her shoulder, into helping Ed, and the three of us navigated the narrow trail back to camp. It was dark by the time they dropped me on my cot. My legs were sturdier and my hand had stopped bleeding. I lay down on the cot and sighed. "I don't think I ever want to go back down there again," I murmured.
Stacy sat down on the end of the cot and glanced between Ed and me. "What exactly happened down there?" she asked us.
"The first room behind the door was empty, but I found another one on the side. That room is filled with treasures and a big sarcophagus," Ed explained.
"And a skeleton," I added.
"A skeleton? In the sarcophagus?" she wondered.
"No, beside the sarcophagus," Ed told her.
"Was there a body in the sarcophagus?" she asked us.
Ed and I opened our mouths to reply, but we had no answer for that. "I don't think we got a look at what was inside the sarcophagus," Ed replied.
"I didn't want a better look of that thing. My hand already had a close enough encounter with the lid," I commented. I held up the wounded hand. It was covered in dry blood.
"Well, let's get that taken care of. Ed, you start the fire outside so we can have food soon," Stacy ordered him.
Soon my hand was bandaged and a fire crackled in the pit outside. Our fellow students and the professor came up the path a half hour after us. I lay on my cot resting when the flaps were brushed aside and the professor entered. A propane lamp on the table beside my cot lit my small home-away-from-home, and by its light I saw his face was stretched with concern. He walked across the short space and knelt beside my bed.
Van Sloan's face was strained and he didn't look me in the eyes. "I can't apologize enough for my behavior down there. I. . .I believe I was taken over by the moment," he admitted.
I hated to see him like this, groveling at my feet for an acceptance to his apology. "I'm fine. It's just a small scratch on my hand," I told him.
He shook his head. "No, I can't be let off that easily, not when I'm responsible for you and the others. I mustn't let my emotions run away with my better judgment even with this fantastic discovery at our fingerprints," he replied. That familiar sparkle of fanaticism slipped into his eyes. "But all those riches. The wealth of a prince who ruled a kingdom thousands of years ago. The countless priceless artifacts that may lead to new discoveries about the ancient world!" He stood and his face broadened into a smile. "We'll be famous, and the wealth of information from the-"
"Professor?" I spoke up.
He shook himself and turned to me as though nothing had happened. "Yes?"
"Could you go get me a bowl of tonight's surprise soup?" I requested.
"O-oh yes! Of course! What was I thinking? I'll be right back," he agreed, and eagerly left to obey my order.
I rolled my eyes. "This is going to be a long dig," I murmured.
I lay back down on the cot and closed my eyes. I expected the professor to return after a minute and wasn't disappointed when I heard the flaps open. I opened my eyes and turned toward the entrance expecting to see his figure slip toward me. No one was there. I was alone. I sat up. "Professor?" I called out.
"Coming!" came his voice from outside the tent. He pushed the flaps open and came in bearing a bowl of food. "Here it is, tonight's special," he told me as he handed me the bowl.
"Thanks," I replied as I took it from his hand. I glanced around him to the rest of the empty tent. Nothing stirred. "Is there a wind outside?" I wondered.
"Wind? No wind. It's a perfectly calm, beautiful night," he answered.
"Did. . .did you see anybody come in here before you? Or maybe just pass by?" I asked him.
"No, not at all. Why do you ask?" he returned.
"Well, I just thought I heard the flaps of my tent move and somebody come in," I explained.
"I'm sure it was just your mind believing I had returned early, but just in case I recommend a good, hearty rest. I want you to be one of the ones to head to the village with me for some digging supplies and a few mirrors to lighten up that dark tomb. A treat, of sorts, for finding that secret room," he informed me.
That actually wasn't a bad treat. A little bit of civilization sounded fun to me. "Sounds great, count me in," I replied.
"Excellent! Now get that rest and I'll see you bright and early in the morning!" The professor left and I put my finished bowl on the small table.
I changed into my nightshirt with pants and slipped beneath the sheets on my cot. The nights were a little chilly in these mountains, and I wrapped myself in those thick, cotton blankets. I was exhausted from the long, tedious day of digging and that panicked finish, and in a few minutes I was asleep.
I don't know how long I lay there slumbering, but far off I could hear my peers talking around the campfire. I awoke with a start and my wide eyes glanced around the small room. Nothing stirred. Nothing made a noise. Someone outside laughed. I lay on my back and held my breath as I waited for something to happen. Something must have awoken me. I couldn't remember having a dream.
That's when I saw the shadow against the wall of the tent. It was tall and thin, and reached to the tip of the poles. Nothing in my tent stood that tall. My ey
es widened to saucer plates when the shadow stepped off the cloth and became three-dimensional. It now cast its own shadow and blocked the opening. Two burning red eyes peered out from the head area, and I could see that whatever it was had a cloak wrapped around it.
I tossed aside my covers and jumped to my feet. My intention was to scream and alert the others, but when I opened my mouth the thing held up a pale hand. My scream caught in my throat. I tried to run, but my legs wouldn't obey me. They only quaked beneath me. The shadow stepped closer, and it was as though it stepped from darkness into light. Holes appeared in the old cloak, and I could see there was a thick layer of dust over the front. The head was revealed to have long, black hair that flowed down the person's back. It was a man before me, but one unlike I'd ever seen. His face was shrunken, almost skeletal, and those red eyes burned with all the damnation of hell.
He spoke, and his voice was as smooth as velvet and as cold as ice. "You are the one who revived me," he whispered. He stepped closer and I could see that beneath his pale cracked lips were long fangs. "Through your blood I have learned about this future world, but the connection was meager. Too little blood. I know some of what you know, and I am eager to see more." He stood before me now. His body reeked of dust and decay. I wanted to turn away, but he held me with those eyes. He raised his arms and from beneath the cloak slid pale, thin hands. They grasped my bare arms and his thin, dry skin crackled beneath my warm flesh.
My heart beat furiously in my chest as he leaned down, fangs bared. I turned my head to the side and closed my eyes. His teeth pressed against the flesh of my neck. Their sharp points broke through the skin, but the pain was a fraction of a second before pleasure swept over my body. From our connection came waves of heat that rippled through me. It was as though a hundred hands caressed every part of my body. I shuddered against the onslaught. My mind grew hazy. The world receded into the background. There was only him and me, and the intense, heated passion within our connection.
The creature pulled me closer to him. I was swallowed in his cloak. The darkness in there was peaceful, serene. Not even a heartbeat disturbed the quiet. I grasped a dry piece of cloth that was his shirt. It nearly crumbled beneath my fingers, but a change took place over the cloth, and over the entirety of his body. His dry hands that held me grew supple, and the dust disappeared from his clothes.