“Oh God,” Nina said, pressing her hand against the wound. “Eddie! Eddie! Kari’s hurt, she needs help!”
“She’s not the only one,” Chase gasped as he slid out from beneath the bar, then rolled off the stone bench. He pushed himself to his feet, aching arms barely cooperating. “I need some light.”
Nina took the light and directed it down the passage so Chase could make his way through the poles. By the time he was halfway through, the ceiling had returned to its original position and the awful noise had stopped.
There was another clunk, this time from the dead end of the passage.
Nina whipped the flashlight around to see an opening appear, one of the stone blocks in the wall pivoting backwards to reveal darkness beyond.
“Nina …” said Kari, looking at the blood on her shoulder.
“Forget about me, you’re hurt worse than I am. Eddie!”
Barely fitting between the poles, the barbs plucking at his leather jacket, Chase reached them. “What happened? Let me see.”
Nina held up the light. “One of these spikes got her.”
“Jesus,” Chase muttered, carefully peeling back the wet material for a better look. “That’s deep—and the first aid kit’s outside in the village.”
“Forget that,” said Kari, struggling upright. “We don’t have time, we’ve got to keep moving. How long have we got?”
Chase raised his arm to look at his watch, letting out a strained grunt. “Are you okay?” Nina asked.
“Feels like some bugger dropped a car on me. We’ve got… forty-nine minutes.”
“And two challenges to go,” Nina said ruefully.
“We can do them,” said Kari, no doubt in her voice. “Come on.”
Once through the opening, Chase insisted that they stop so he could treat the women’s wounds. By ripping off Kari’s torn sleeve he was able to tie it around her arm to slow the bleeding. The injury to Nina’s shoulder was less deep, so he wadded up one of her sleeves and used it as a makeshift bandage.
“That’s the best I can do for now,” he said apologetically. “You’ll both need stitches when we get back out. And shots too. Don’t want some nasty little bastard insect infecting you with anything.”
Nina shuddered. “God. I can’t believe how close that was.”
“Still got two more to go,” Chase reminded her.
“Yeah, thanks for the reassurance. And you’re sweating.”
“I think this officially counts as hassle.”
“We’ve beaten the Challenge of Strength,” said Kari, cautiously flexing her arm and wincing a little. “So we’ve still got the Challenge of Skill, and of Mind.”
“I was going to say that I hope they’re easier than the last one,” Chase said, “but… I’m not getting that feeling.”
“Nor am I,” said Kari. “But I know we can do it. How much time?”
“Forty-six minutes.”
“Okay, then. Let’s see what the Challenge of Skill involves.”
They walked cautiously down the new passage, which turned several times before the sound of their footsteps was joined by something else. Chase directed the light ahead. The corridor opened out into a larger chamber. “Water,” he said.
“Inside the temple?” Nina asked.
“You said it’s the temple of the sea god …” They increased their pace. “Definitely running water. Maybe that little river we saw by the village goes through the temple as well.”
His theory was proven correct moments later as the narrow passage widened out. The trio found themselves on a platform along the long edge of a giant rectangular pool of brackish green water. The ceiling above the platform was at the same claustrophobic height as the passageway, but the chamber over the pool was far taller.
Chase directed the light at the water, rippling reflections crawling over the chamber’s walls. The pool, at least a hundred feet long, was about twenty-five feet across. Spanning it was what Nina at first thought was a rope until she realized it was actually a narrow wooden beam, little more than an inch wide, supported along its length by poles emerging from the pool. The beam was two feet below the level of the platform—and only six inches above the sluggishly flowing surface of the water.
“Okay, now what?” Chase wondered.
Kari pointed across the channel. “What’s that?”
The flashlight revealed a glinting golden dagger, resting point-down inside a shallow recess directly above the opposite end of the beam. About ten feet above that was a ledge running along the far wall, but there didn’t appear to be any way up to it. “Well, that’s the Challenge of Skill,” said Nina, moving to the edge of the platform and crouching for a closer look at the wooden beam. “You have to balance on this thing and walk across to get the dagger.”
Chase found something else of interest, at one end of the pool against the stone wall. “And then that comes down so the others can get across.” On the far side was a narrow drawbridge, held up by ropes. He traced an arc from its upper end with his forefinger, all the way down to the edge of the platform on which they stood.
Nina looked more closely at the pool. At each end of the chamber she could just about make out the arched top of what she assumed was an aqueduct, channels for the water to flow through. “Why not just swim across?” she wondered aloud. “I don’t know how deep it is, but—”
The dull green surface of the water suddenly exploded into life. A set of gaping jaws burst out of it, lunging at Nina—
Kari seized her by her collar and yanked her backwards as the caiman’s mouth snapped shut where she had been a moment earlier. The twelve-foot predator thrashed and clawed at the side of the pool, trying to pursue its quarry, but was defeated by the vertical stone wall. Unable to gain traction, it dropped back into the water with an evil hiss.
Nina was too shocked to speak. “Are you okay?” Kari asked as Chase let out a considerably louder shout of “Jesus!”
Her voice returned. “Oh my God!”
“That’s why you can’t swim across,” Chase said. “Wouldn’t surprise me if there’s piranhas in there too.”
“How did that thing get in here?” Nina yelled, her whole body shaking. “We’re in a five-thousand-year-old fucking temple!”
Chase warily examined the pool, watching the ripples subside. “Same way the traps still work—those bastards outside.”
“Nina, it’s okay, it’s okay,” said Kari, trying to comfort her. “Mr. Chase, can you see anything else?”
Keeping his feet a cautious distance from the edge, Chase leaned out over the pool, shining the light up at the ceiling. “There’s something up here, over the beam, but I can’t see what it is. Like a recess in the wall.”
“Can you reach it?”
“No, it’s too high … Oh, I get it. To get a proper look, you’ve got to cross the pool to where the dagger is.”
Kari let out a long breath. “Okay. Then I suppose I’m going to have to go and get it.”
“You?” Nina objected. “But you’re hurt!”
“You sure?” Chase asked. “I mean, it’s a narrow beam, but I could probably make it…”
In reply, Kari effortlessly cartwheeled into a handstand, holding herself on just her uninjured right arm before flipping back elegantly onto her feet.
“Okay,” said Chase, nodding. “So you go and get the dagger…”
Nina looked at the pool, worried. “Kari, are you sure? If one of those things sees you …”
“We don’t have a choice,” Kari said, going to the end of the beam. “How much time have we got?”
“Forty-one minutes,” Chase told her.
“Then I’d better hurry.” She stepped down carefully from the platform onto the wooden beam. It creaked, flexing slightly. Chase held up the flashlight to illuminate her path. Composing herself, Kari slowly stretched out her arms for balance, holding in a little moan as pain jabbed through her injured arm. “Okay. Here I go.”
She took a first step. The b
eam creaked again, more loudly. To everyone’s alarm it also wobbled, the supporting poles swaying in the water, causing ripples.
Other ripples appeared in the pool, near the aqueduct at the downstream end of the chamber. The sinister eyes of a caiman broke the surface, the rest of its long body barely visible beneath the algae-filled water. “Kari…” Nina warned.
“I see it,” she said, returning her full attention to the beam as she advanced, step by careful step. She was at a point halfway between two of the support poles, and the beam was sagging alarmingly, only a couple of inches above the water.
The caiman moved, its tail undulating sinuously from side to side as it drifted towards her.
Kari ignored it, concentrating solely on keeping her balance. The next support pole was now almost beneath her. That stopped the beam from sagging—but the whole affair was still wobbling. It took all her effort to keep upright.
A soft splash made Nina look around to see a second caiman surface at the other end of the chamber. It was even larger than the first, and seemed unconcerned about remaining unseen, floating on the surface like a log.
A log with teeth. It lazily opened its mouth, letting out a malevolent hiss.
Kari increased her pace. She was now halfway across, the beam drooping again under her weight. Every step made it sway a little more.
She could see the dagger clearly now. Its tip rested in a little metal cup that seemed to be connected to something behind the shallow recess. Another booby trap?
There was also a very narrow ledge just above the end of the beam, so thin she hadn’t been able to spot it until now. It was under a meter across and barely a centimeter deep, just enough to provide a toehold. It had obviously been placed there deliberately by the temple’s builders, but for now their reasoning remained unclear, and Kari had the distinct feeling she wouldn’t like the answer when it revealed itself—
The beam wobbled.
Her attention had been diverted by the mysterious ledge, just for a moment—but a moment was all it took for her to lose her balance. She tried desperately to straighten up, but her weight had already shifted too far over. In a second, she would fall into the pool, into the jaws of the waiting caimans—
She threw herself forward, grabbing the beam with both hands as she landed on her stomach. The narrow wood slammed against her like a truncheon blow. She clamped her knees around the shuddering walkway, trying to stop herself from rolling into the pool.
“Kari!” Nina screamed.
Chase pulled off his jacket, ready to jump in after her. “Shit, she’s not going to make it!”
The caimans, attracted by the noise, closed in.
“Stay back!” Kari shouted. Her knees were still in the water, but she managed to hook both her boots around the beam to drive herself forward.
The long head of the nearest caiman came fully out of the water, opening to expose its jagged teeth—
“Oi!” Chase roared, dropping onto the end of the beam and stamping one foot hard into the water, creating a huge splash. “Over ’ere! Hey!”
The larger of the two caimans changed direction with a flick of its tail, heading for him. The first, still gliding rapidly towards Kari, turned its head towards the noise—and took the heel of her boot against the side of its skull with a crack that echoed around the chamber.
The caiman released a sharp bark of air, thrashing its tail and dropping back into the water. Frantically, Kari hauled herself along the beam, looking back over her shoulder at the great reptile. It was circling in a sinister line through the water, arcing back around for her.
Chase kicked up another splash before leaping back onto the ledge as the caiman erupted from the water, its giant mouth agape. Powerful claws raked the stone wall as its heavy body thudded against the beam.
Kari was nearly jolted into the water by the impact. She clung to the beam with all her strength, the caiman crashing into it again and again in its attempt to pursue Chase, before it finally admitted defeat and dropped back into the pool.
The other caiman was still heading back at her, slimy water streaming from its mouth as it broke the surface. This time it had learned its lesson and was aiming for her upper body, out of range of her legs. Straining, she dragged herself forward again.
Her fingers touched cold stone, and she clawed for the tiny ledge, gaining just enough purchase to pull herself up from the beam and plant one foot upon it, thrusting herself upright.
The caiman lunged—
With a yell, Kari snatched the dagger from its resting place and plunged it down between the caiman’s malevolent yellow eyes, stabbing deep into its brain.
The reptile crashed onto the beam, then slid lifelessly back into the pool as she pulled the dagger out with a spurt of blood.
And where the blood blossomed in the dark water, it suddenly frothed, churned from below by dozens of fins.
Chase had been right.
Piranhas!
Kari flattened herself against the wall. One foot was on the beam, which juddered as the caiman’s body ground against it. The very tip of her other heel was on the little ledge. She waited until the beam stopped shaking, then looked around to see the result of removing the dagger. Something had definitely clicked when she’d grabbed it…
Two things happened at once.
From somewhere above Chase and Nina came a loud clang of metal. She caught a flicker of movement inside the opening Chase had seen, but it was too dark to make out the cause.
But she had no time to think about it, because the beam had started moving, retracting into the wall behind her. The supporting poles moved with it, slicing V-shaped ripples into the water—the whole thing was mounted on some sort of framework at the bottom of the pool, and now it was disappearing with alarming speed into the cold stone at her back.
“Eddie, do something, stop it!” Nina wailed, helpless as she watched the beam slide away from the side of the platform.
“How?” he demanded, looking for something, anything he could do to stop its relentless retreat. There was nothing.
Close to panic, Kari hopped her foot along the beam, only to have it forced back against the wall within moments. At the speed the beam was moving, she had a minute—less—before it completely disappeared and she was plunged into the pool with the remaining caiman… and the piranhas tearing at the flesh of its dead companion.
She still had the dagger in one hand, for all the good it would do her.
The dagger …
There must be something more, she realized. She had to do something with the dagger, not simply retrieve it.
“Throw me the flashlight!” she shouted.
“She’ll fall in!” Nina protested as Chase pulled back his arm.
“She’ll fall in anyway in a minute!” he shot back. “Kari! Ready?”
“Yes!”
He flung the flashlight. The brilliant light arced across the chamber like a falling star. Kari reached up with her wounded arm, and the light landed in her hand with a slap. Swaying to keep her balance, she brought it up, aiming the beam at the recess high above the other side of the pool. It was revealed as an alcove, a cube three feet to a side. Metal gleamed within, copper or gold, a foot-wide circular object like a shield standing up inside it.
Not a shield; a target.
There was only a meter of the beam still exposed, just seconds before it disappeared completely.
Kari turned and stepped onto it with both feet, snapping back her right arm to throw the dagger. The blade flashed through the torch beam—
It struck the target with a bang, dead center. The metal disc toppled backwards, disappearing from sight.
The beam stopped moving. With a creak of wood and straining ropes, the narrow drawbridge at the far end of the chamber fell, hitting the platform opposite with a whump.
Kari looked down. There was just enough of the beam still protruding from the wall for her to fit both her feet, if she turned them sideways.
She put her
free hand against the wall for support, feeling very vulnerable. “Now what am I supposed to do?” she asked aloud.
As if in answer, there was a noise above her. A length of knotted rope, a chunk of wood weighing down its end, dropped from the ledge running along the wall.
Chase and Nina were already making their way to the bridge. “We’ll meet you on the other side!” Chase called as Kari gripped the rope and pulled on it, checking that it wasn’t about to break—or that it wasn’t booby-trapped itself. It seemed firm. Favoring her right arm, she climbed onto the ledge. It was only a foot across, but compared to what she’d just been standing on, it seemed as wide as a motorway.
Nina and Chase were waiting for her at the end of the drawbridge as she dropped down. “That was a hell of a throw,” said Chase as Kari slumped against the wall, exhausted. “How big was the target?” She held her hands a foot apart as Nina checked her makeshift bandage. “Bloody hell, I don’t think I could’ve made that. They weren’t kidding when they said it was a challenge of skill.”
“We’ve still got one more challenge to go,” Nina said.
“The Challenge of Mind? That sounds like your cup of tea, Doc. You up for it?”
She smiled nervously. “Do I have a choice?”
“How long have we got?” Kari asked Chase, voice tired.
“We’ve got… thirty-six minutes.” They all looked down the passage leading deeper into the temple. Even though it was no different from the others they had traversed, it somehow seemed more forbidding.
“Okay, then,” said Nina, standing straight with a defiance she definitely didn’t feel. “I hope my mind’s up to the challenge.”
FIFTEEN
Wary of traps, they made their way down the passage.
Something was troubling Nina, but she wasn’t quite sure what. It wasn’t just the adrenal aftershock of having narrowly escaped death. There was something else, a feeling, a certainty that she was overlooking some vital fact.