“Give me your flashlight.” You tell Noah. He passes you the heavy metallic cylinder and you roll it along the floor. One of the uneven blocks rumbles as the flashlight touches it and you hear a dull click behind the walls. Spears instantly spring out of each of the holes, making you pull back in surprise.
“My God!” Noah gasps.
“Calm yourself.” Helga tells him. “The trap has been sprung. Let us make haste.” As you all carefully weave your way through the spears, Noah stoops to retrieve his flashlight. The soldier leads the way as you continue down the passageway.
“We’re so close now, I can feel it.” Noah tells you with a spring in his step. His elation is short-lived. Just ahead of you, the ground falls away beneath the soldier’s feet and he drops through the floor with a cry of terror. You all gawp in horror as he plunges down into an abyss, his terrible scream echoing for several seconds before it is abruptly silenced.
“I should have brought more men.” Helga comments coldly, stepping to the edge of the pit and gazing down into the darkness.
“Nice place you’ve led us to, Wheatley.” You growl before something catches your eye. One of the blocks in the wall appears to be loose. Moving closer, you can see that some of the mortar has crumbled around it. You push against it, grunting with effort until it finally shifts.
“Here, give me a hand with this.” You tell Noah. He adds his weight and with a grating, scraping sound, the block slides back before falling away. Noah shines his flashlight into the darkness beyond.
“I can’t see much, but it looks like there’s a space behind the wall.” He murmurs. “You might be able to squeeze through and bypass any more traps.”
“Or plunge to my death like our German pal.” You growl. “Anyway, why the hell shouldn’t it be you squeezing through the goddamn mailbox of doom, huh?”
“I’ll never fit.” Noah replies before glancing at Helga. “And with respect to our esteemed Gruppenführer, neither will she.”
Climb through the tiny opening
Proceed carefully and disarm any traps along the way
“Goddamn it.” You mutter, peering through the hole. “Give me the flashlight.” Noah hands it to you and after casting him a withering glare, you crawl through the hole, wriggling your body until you slip through. Getting to your feet, you shine the torch around, finding yourself in a narrow void between the sandstone blocks of the wall and the uneven sides of what appears to be a naturally formed cave.
“What can you see?” Noah calls through the hole.
“Not a lot.” You reply, your voice echoing. You shine the flashlight along the void in the direction you came in. The beam reflects off an ancient bronze mechanism with levers and springs. It must be the device that thrust the spears through the holes in the wall when the trap was triggered. You shine the flashlight the other way and you can see the edge of a vertical shaft in the floor of the cave system which must be the abyss beneath the false floor. Beyond the other side of the pit, you can make out more infernal mechanisms further along the passageway.
“There’s more traps ahead!” You call out. “Stay where you are. I’ll try to deal with them.”
“Okay!” Noah calls back. You shine the flashlight around. There’s no way past the deep hole, but there looks like you can pass it along the roof of the passage. Grunting with effort, you scramble up the side of the sandstone wall. There is just enough room beneath the roof of the tunnel to crawl on your hands and knees. As you begin to move forward, you hope the loose block that led you here is not a deliberate and devious trap of its own.
After a few minutes of slow progress, you reach the next trap. Again, it seems to be constructed from bronze and is a mystifying array of levers, gear wheels and sprockets. While the mechanics are beyond you, you notice a series of linkages on the other side of the passageway which seem to connect all the various traps. Perhaps if you can reach the end, there will be a way to disarm them all at once. As you crawl onwards, the flashlight flickers a couple of times before going out.
“Don’t you goddamn dare!” You growl as you are plunged into total darkness. You shake the flashlight and switch it off and on a couple of times until it flickers back to life again. Breathing a sigh of relief, you press on.
A little further ahead, the cavern ceiling drops lower, forcing you crawl along on your stomach. While you have never suffered from claustrophobia, the confined space certainly feels restrictive and you feel a little anxious. Shining the flashlight ahead, you can see that it is even lower ahead and you will not be able to squeeze through the gap between the roof of the passageway and the ceiling of the cavern. Shining the beam to either side, you can see that there is plenty of space between the passageway walls and the cavern. To the left, you can see the bronze levers and gears of another devilish mechanized trap while to the right, there seems to be just darkness and no obvious footholds.
Climb over the mechanism to the left
Dangle over the right side and pass the obstruction
You don’t trust your strength to hang on by just your fingers, so you crawl over to the right hand side and lower yourself onto the mechanism. Testing your weight on one of the huge gear wheels, you shine the flashlight ahead while holding on to the top of the sandstone passageway with your other hand. You can see the cavern ceiling rising again a little further ahead, so you just need to climb across the mechanism and haul yourself back onto the roof of the passageway once past the obstruction.
“Piece of cake.” You murmur, stretching out your leg onto a lever next to the gear wheel. As you shift your weight onto the bronze strap, it clicks, sliding to one side. Your eyes widen as you feel the gear wheel move beneath your other foot. You scramble to climb off it, but it’s too late. As the gear wheel turns, your foot is pulled between it and another intermeshing gear wheel. You cry out in agony as your trapped foot and leg are crushed between the turning wheels. Screaming in agony, you pull desperately to try to free yourself. It is utterly futile. Mercifully, within moments you lose consciousness as your whole body is slowly drawn into the workings of the ancient machine.
THE END
Go back a few moments and rethink your actions
Frowning at the impenetrable darkness, you slip the flashlight into your pocket and carefully lower yourself over the side of the passageway, your feet scraping down the side of the sandstone wall. Hooking your fingers over the edge of the top of the passageway, you dangle against the wall. Without the flashlight, you are engulfed in total darkness. You drag your toes around, searching for some unseen foothold, but find nothing.
“Figures.” You grimace grimly, your arms already starting to ache as you begin to slide your hands along the top of the wall, one after the other, slowly dragging your dangling body along the outside of the passageway wall and trying not to think of the bottomless abyss beneath you. Grunting with the effort, you pull yourself further and further until your muscles burn in protest. Hoping you are past the low section of cavern, you try to pull yourself back up.
“C’mon! C’mon!” You gasp but your strength and endurance seem to evaporate. Panic threatens to overwhelm you as you grunt and strain, your feet sliding against the sandstone wall in desperate search of purchase. You simply no longer have the strength to haul yourself up. Dangling there for a moment, your mind turns summersaults as you try to think of a solution. Finding none, your fingers lose their grip and you scream as you drop away into the darkness…
…And promptly land on your feet a fraction of a second later. Blinking in surprise and with your pulse racing, you reach for the flashlight and switch it back on. The rocky cavern floor is just below the passageway at this point. Not sure whether to laugh or cry, you instead breathe a sigh of relief and let out a stream of imaginative expletives before shining the flashlight ahead. The cavern opens up in the distance and you feel a strong sense of relief that you have nearly reached the end of this accursed passageway. After massaging your weary limbs, you jump back up the wall and sc
ramble back onto the passageway roof. Buoyed by knowing the end is in sight, you crawl quickly onward.
As you reach the end of the passageway, you shine the beam of the flashlight around and your mouth drops open.
“This is it.” You murmur. The passageway below you leads into a wide circular room. Torches burn brightly on the sandstone walls which seem to be decorated with many elaborate carvings and artifacts and while you’re no archaeologist or historian, you can make out several diverse ancient cultures: Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Tall, thin ivory statues that bring to mind the tribesmen of central Africa. Carved dragon heads from the Far East. A large ornately engraved circular stone with a fierce face at the center that looks like it may have come from the Aztec or Mayan civilizations. In the center of the room you can see an immaculately carved waist high stone column. An ornate jeweled dagger protrudes from the top, half the glinting blade buried into the stone. The beautiful knife seems to softly glow, but you guess it’s just a trick of the light, the flickering of the torches perhaps.
“Now, where’s King Arthur when you need him.” You grin, swinging your body off the roof of the passageway and dropping down onto the stone floor. Glancing back along the passageway, you can just about make out Noah and Helga waiting in the distance.
“Elyse!” You hear Noah call out, his voice echoing. “Is it safe?” First things first. You notice the linkage from the mechanisms leads to a large bronze lever next to the mouth of the passageway. You step towards it and grasp the lever before pausing. Just for a moment, you are tempted to leave the traps activated and call to them anyway. You shake your head. No, you’re not a murderer. However, the thought lingers. After all, Noah’s a lying, deceitful son of a bitch and Helga’s a Nazi fascist…
Deactivate the traps
Lure them into the traps
“C’mon, it’s safe!” You call out along the passageway, your voice echoing.
“Wunderbar Fraulein!” Helga’s voice echoes back. You glance at the lever, feeling a pang of guilt and wondering if you are doing the right thing. Then you hear a cry of fear followed by a scream of pain. A series of gunshots makes you jump. Then another horrible cry of agony before it trails off to complete silence. You pull the lever down, deactivating the traps. After all, you don’t want to meet a similar fate on the way out. Turning, you gaze across the circular chamber at the dagger. It seems to beckon to you and you stride across the room towards the column.
“Beautiful.” You breathe, examining the jewel encrusted golden hilt, a sphere of amber set into the end. Reaching out, you grasp the hilt of the blade. The dagger slides easily out of the stone and you hold it, gazing curiously at it. The ground seems to tremble beneath your feet, but you barely notice as you feel a peculiar tingling in your fingers. The sensation grows until you can feel a strange power coursing through your body. A stronger tremor shakes the chamber yet you smile down at the dagger, feeling strong and invigorated. You hear a whisper in your mind and you blink in surprise, realizing the dagger is calling out to you. It wants blood. Your blood. Not much, just a few drops to strengthen your connection.
Do as the blade commands
Drop the dagger and get out while you can
You lay the blade across your left hand and draw it sharply across your palm. The razor sharp edge slices into your flesh and you feel the warmth of your blood trickling from the wound. The amber sphere at the end of the hilt clouds red and you realize it has drawn your blood into it.
“We are one.” The otherworldly voice whispers in your mind. You feel the energy flowing through you and you know nothing and no one can stop you. A smile crosses your face. You feel supremely confident, even as one of the dragon statues falls over, shattering on the ground.
“I am a goddess!” You exclaim, your voice reverberating with the voice of the dagger. Cracks appear as the whole chamber quakes violently. Dust fills the room and sections of the sandstone walls begin to collapse around you. Your smile falters as you see lava boil up out of the cracks around you.
“We must leave.” You announce, your voice and the dagger’s now in perfect unison. As you step towards the passageway, it collapses in on itself, sealing you within the chamber. You feel no fear, knowing now you have the strength of the dagger that nothing can harm you. The delusion is short lived as the whole chamber collapses down on you, a hundred tons of rock and stone instantly crushing the life from your body. The dagger slips from your fingers, the crimson fading from the amber sphere. The dagger will patiently wait for another. It always has.
THE END
It is a supreme test of willpower, but you allow the knife to drop from your hand. As it clatters on the stone floor, your clarity returns and your eyes widen as another tremor rumbles, the ground shuddering beneath your feet.
“Shit!” You gasp, realizing the whole subterranean complex is moments away from collapsing around you. Turning, you sprint towards the passageway, the echo of your footsteps drowned out as another tremor rumbles angrily around you. Sections of the ceiling begin to crash down onto the floor, sandstone blocks thumping and breaking apart as they hit the ground. While you can just about make out a square of daylight at the end of the passageway, it seems so far away. You grit your teeth, bow your head and run as fast as you can. The ground cracks, the blocks moving underfoot. The air is full of dust and debris, choking you as you draw in each deep breath. Behind you, you can hear the passageway collapsing in on itself, but you daren’t even glance behind you.
“Keep going!” You growl to yourself, your arms and legs pumping as you draw on your last reserves of strength and stamina. Abruptly, the dust clears and you burst out in the open just as the entrance to the passageway collapses in on itself behind you. You lean forward, your hands on your knees as you gasp for breath, your heart thumping in your chest. Another deep rumble shakes the ground beneath your feet and you look up. Your eyes widen at the sight of a dark cloud of ash filling the sky while the top of the mountain glows with fire. Streams of lava are slowly creeping down the slopes towards you.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” You groan, turning and hurrying back towards the beach. You can see the dinghy in the distance, the sailors dragging it out into the ocean. They’ve obviously seen enough and are not waiting any longer.
“Wait! Wait!” You scream. Your voice sounds faint and muted against the deep rumble of the angry volcano. You are still a distance away. Are you too late? Will you be stranded on this volcano to either be suffocated by the noxious gases or burned alive by lava?
“Please wait!” You scream again and one of the sailors glances back at you. He turns to the other and you can tell they are having a conversation as to whether they dare wait one more minute. You keep running, clambering and stumbling over the rocky landscape and praying they won’t leave you. The sailor that spotted you turns from his companion and gestures for you to hurry. Relief washes through you as you reach the beach, the muscles in your legs aching with the effort. You dash across the beach and splash through the surf before throwing yourself into the dinghy.
“Others?” One of the sailors asks you in heavily accented German as they row away from the island.
“Gone.” You tell him, shaking your head. He frowns and nods before turning his attention back to rowing the dinghy back to the Herkules.
As the Herkules steams away at full speed, you lean on the railing at the aft end of the vessel. The thick fog bank still shrouds the island but you can see the glow of the erupting volcano through it while the dark ash cloud fills the sky above. You sigh, reflecting on how close that place came to being your tomb. Released of his obligations to the Reich, the captain is returning to Rio to resume merchant voyages. You wonder what next for you. Your plane is gone, you have no money and you’re about to be stranded in Brazil.
“Goddamn it.” You mutter, ruing the day you ever met Noah Wheatley and his damn map.
THE END
“Give the guy a break.” You tell Helga. “He’s
never seen this island before, but he’s got us this far, hasn’t he? Why don’t we take a look around, see if we can find anything?” Helga glances at you and raises an eyebrow.
“Very well.” She replies. “We’ll spread out and search the island.” As the four of you fan out along the beach, Noah mouths the words ‘thank you’. You nod curtly before turning your attention to clambering over the steep rocky terrain. The island seems so bleak and desolate, you are convinced that you are probably the first people to ever set foot in such a godforsaken place.
“How the hell have I ended up here?” You murmur to yourself as you pick your way through the jagged rocks.
“Anything?” You hear Noah call out through the fog.
“Nothing.” You shout back at the barely visible silhouette. At that moment, a blood curdling cry of agony echoes through the haze. Sounds like the soldier. You sprint across the mountainside towards the sound, seeing the soldier staggering ahead before dropping to his knees. You reach him at the same time as Noah and Helga. He has suffered multiple puncture wounds to his chest and back and you know it is hopeless. His eyes glaze over and he slumps forward, lifeless.
“Scheisse.” Helga mutters. You follow the trail of blood and your eyes widen.
“Son of a bitch!” You murmur, moving closer. “Look!”
“Remarkable.” Helga murmurs, joining you. A tall stone arch is built into the mountainside, the ornately engraved sandstone blocks contrasting with the dark volcanic rock around it.
“I told you!” Noah grins triumphantly, perhaps more through relief than vindication. He steps towards the arch and studies the engraving. “Different languages…” He murmurs. “Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs… here’s some Sumerian, Aramaic, Ancient Greek…”
Adventures of the Aviatrix Page 24