“Where is it, brat? All I see are dead animals everywhere. If you’re taking me on a wild goose chase I’m going to cut your tongue out, do you hear me?”
“And that will get you closer to finding Rhapta for sure, won’t it you idiot?” She lashed out in response.
“So, you still have that little attitude of yours is it? I don’t scare that easily woman. Now where are we going?”
Alex pushed her chin toward the trees further ahead. Eric scanned the direction she pointed out and found nothing. Within a second he was behind her and yanked her head back by her hair.
“There’s nothing! You’re lying!”
“No! I’m not. It’s been a while, okay? The vegetation has changed. Perhaps it’s a little bit off this way.”
Of course she was lying. She was trying to buy them more time. It was just about sunset so they’d have to wait until the morning if it got too dark. Perhaps then they would have an opportunity to escape during the night.
Eric’s phone echoed through the trees and she watched his face drain from red to pale white. If his accomplices found him out now they’d kill him; and them.
“What are you staring at, brat? You have exactly five minutes to find that cave entrance or I’ll kill this boyfriend of yours.” He ejected a ball of saliva at Sam’s feet.
Her eyes meet Sam’s who, strangely enough rolled his eyes, making it understood that he wasn’t intimidated. He didn’t seemed worried in the least. He was a good head and shoulders taller than Eric and certainly more athletic in build, so perhaps he saw him not to be a threat.
Her father, on the other hand, might not be in such a good position to wrestle him off if he went for him. He looked as battered and exhausted as her mother. She couldn’t risk losing any of them, so she decided to turn to the right and walk towards the bird’s lair. It was time to pull out all the stops.
As they came closer, the bird’s powerful wings flapped above their heads. She rushed up from the side and announced her presence with a shrill shriek so loud it pushed them all to the ground. Charles grabbed the moment and kicked Eric's face, rendering him lights out next to a bare carcass. With their hands still tied behind their backs and their mouths gagged, they each headed to a tree for cover. Using the razor sharp edges of the palm tree, Alex cut through the thin ropes and pulled the gag from her mouth.
“Use the tree to cut your ropes!” She yelled across to the others.
She watched as Sam ran through the lair towards her mother to untie her hands; momentarily causing her to hold her breath. But he made it and freed Izzy’s hands.
"Dad? Are you okay?"
"All good here Alex. Now what?"
The bird turned and dove down to where Eric still lay passed out in the sand. Its gigantic claws clutched Eric’s unconscious body and ascended above the trees. There was no saving Eric now. They needed to save themselves.
"Guys! I think I see a hollow in the bushes. Look. Over there! We can hide in it! Let's make a run for it before the bird turns around again."
"Okay, let's do it and hope the shelter is large enough for all of us!” Charles shouted back.
"It looks fine Dad, come. On three okay?” Looking across to her mother and Sam where they waited on her count.
She counted it down and Alex pushed herself away from the tree trunk sprinting across the lair, crushing several skeleton bones under her feet. She briefly looked back to see the monster bird dipping low for another dive. Her foot hit the remains of a dead animal or something, and she fell flat on her face next to it. Bewildered she looked up to see the rest of the group all safely inside the hollow, shouting for her to get up.
"GET UP! HURRY!"
Her hand sank inside the rotten animal’s carcass as she pushed herself up. It was disgusting but she sprinted for the hollow and got to it split seconds ahead of the bird who came in for another dive. Izzy pulled her in by her arm with a strength she didn't know she possessed. Before she knew it, she had Alex soundly in front of a wall of hanging tree roots. The Rhaptor, apparently upset by the party making it to the opening, swooshed overhead and turned to come in from a different angle. Dead ahead the Rhaptor made a clear descent straight toward them.
Its sharp beak was open and ready to devour anything in its path. Clasped together and paralyzed with fear, they stood frozen stiff as they became aware that the bird had trapped them in the hollow. There was a clearing directly in front of them with the enclave half mooned around them. There was no way out.
The bird headed directly for them. Alex’s mind worked ferociously. She stepped back between the roots and found her body fall back against a stone wall. Straight away the wall swiveled around and deposited all of them safely on the other side. Plunged in total darkness they remained pinned against the wall. They might have escaped the bird but the situation presented a new challenge.
Alex frantically tried to untangle herself from a string of cobwebs that had her in a panic.
"Mum, Dad, Sam?" Her voice echoed back.
"Yeah, I'm here," Charles answered in a nervous voice, followed by a "Yup, I’m here too" from Sam and Izzy’s faint “Me too.”
"Okay great. Any chance any of you might have a flashlight or something?“
“I never leave home without one sweetheart,” Charles chuckled retrieving a matchbox sized emergency flashlight from his pocket.
Seconds later the light from his torch shone across a dark chamber. The curtain of tree roots they fell through had disappeared and solid walls encircled them. There were no doors or windows. The walls and floor were solid stone, and ancient engravings and abstract symbols lay splashed across them. Alex noticed an archaic flame torch against the wall and held it out to Sam.
"You have a match somewhere?"
"Matches and bandages Miss Hunt." He flicked the match against the stone wall and lit the flame.
Finally in a position to see their surroundings Alex ran toward her mother where Charles was already by her side.
"I can't believe you're alive! All this time we thought you were dead and he had you locked up in the safe house! I don't know why we never thought to go there. I'm truly sorry Mum."
"Hush sweet girl. You couldn't have known. The authorities were in on it."
"My dear Izzy, I should have known. What an idiot I've been?”
"We can't change it now, Charles. Let's not dwell on the past okay?”
She pulled away and looked across at Sam.
“Now, is someone going to introduce me to the young man who somehow landed himself in the middle of this?”
“Say I too. I hear he’s a doctor,” Charles joked.
“Yes well, he’s a lot of things actually. This is Sam, Dr. Sam Quinn. He's Professor Keating's best student and also happens to be a qualified medical practitioner, yes. Oh, and quite possibly your biggest fan.”
Sam blushed; visible even in the faint torchlight.
"I'm honored to meet you both Professor Hunt, Mrs. Hunt.”
“A Doctor? That’s quite something. Well, Dr. Quinn. It’s a pleasure to meet you too.”
"Oh, I forgot to mention, Sam is an aspiring archaeologist, so this is officially his first expedition.”
“Thanks for the reminder, Alex. Now, if you don’t mind me asking, where the heck are we and what the hell was that thing that just chased us?"
Their laughter filled the hollow chamber.
"I haven't the foggiest Dr. Quinn. That thing was from the pits of hell if you ask me."
"Do you think it's the rapturous bird everyone's been talking about?" Sam asked Charles again.
“I don't know what else to think Sam. I've never seen anything like it. But if the rumors are true, then yes. It’s quite possible. Perhaps a few simpler questions is where we are and how we are going to get out of here.”
“Well, it looks like some underground passageway. I have no idea how we got inside or how to get out. I can't see any doors,” Alex cut in.
She ran her hand along the stone wall th
at had deposited them inside the chamber. There were no latches or openings.
"There's nothing here. I can't see any exit. Let's move this way."
Torch in hand, she moved forward ahead of them.
"Be careful Alexandra. There could be booby traps. These tunnels usually have snares everywhere."
Izzy barely finished her sentence before the floor gave way in front of Alex. Alex jumped sideways to avoid a sheer drop into a pit of darkness.
"Rats! That was close. All okay?" Not waiting for anyone to answer.
"We're going to have to try balance along the wall on the ledge and then jump the last stretch. Do you think you can do this?" Alex nudged.
"Heck yeah, piece of cake,” Sam said sarcastically.
"Like the doctor says. Piece of cake so let's go for it,” Charles added.
The ledge was narrow and holding a firm footing wasn't easy, but they made it across. Alex lost her flame torch when the floor had given out and never heard it fall; declaring quite obviously the chasm’s depth. As soon as she reached the other end, Charles tossed his torch across and started off on the ledge. In expert sequence they all moved safely along the ledge to the other end. When Sam, who was last, finally stepped off the ledge on the other side, it was as if someone pushed a remote button and the stone floor straightaway closed up again behind them.
"I thought Egypt was tricky? That was a brush with death if ever I've seen one,” Charles commented.
"Remarkable, it must operate on a weight switch,” Izzy added.
“It feels good to have you with us, Izzy my love,” Charles whispered to his wife.
"We're onto something here Dad. The Rhaptor bird didn't want us coming in here. It was protecting it. All those dead people in its lair obviously came too close, burying the secret with them.“
"You're right. Have a look at this. What do you make of it?"
Alex stared at a stone carving. It read —
Feed me, and I live, yet give me a drink, and I die
"I have no clue,” Charles offered. “Everything lives with food but what will die with a drink? What drink? Alcohol? Poison?"
"Can you perhaps spot anything else anywhere that might help us decipher the riddle?" Izzy asked intrigued.
With the torch above their heads they held it up against the wall and inspected it block by block.
"Nope, only another torch, bigger than this little one. Here, hold this please, Mum?" To Alex it was as if time turned back and the famous Hunt team was as it was before her mother’s deceitful death.
The larger torch cast an expansive glow across the entire passage.
“Mum. Look!"
Painted on the wall was the Rhaptor bird protecting a city adorned with gold and gems. Sketches of bags filled with spices and weapons lay scattered around a temple.
"It's Rhapta, Mum! This is it! We found Rhapta!"
In that moment Alex couldn't ask for anything better. It had been a while since she felt that happy. The two people who meant most to her were right there with her. Not to mention that she found a new best friend in Sam.
"There is a good chance here. It does look like it Alexandra, but I'm going to play it cool though okay? Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm still stuck on this riddle and let's not forget we need to find a way out of here.”
Alex looked at the clue again.
"What dies when you give it a drink? Think. What liquid can kill?"
They paced forward and backward until Sam eventually spoke.
"Well, water can kill a flame.”
"Sam! My golly my man! You’ve got some talent in there. It's a fire." Charles patted a congratulatory hand on Sam’s back, impressed with his quick thinking.
Sam sported a grin so wide that they expected his cheeks to crack any second. Alex burst with pride too. It was quite impressive that he had managed to crack the riddle. This man had undoubtedly changed her opinion from that first meeting on the plane.
"Okay. It's a fire. Now what? Are we supposed to light the torch above the riddle? That would be the burning a flame part. What are we missing here?" Izzy queried.
Alex took a couple of steps back to have a better look at the wall around the riddle. A tiny furrow seemed to outline the puzzle and led all the way around the paintings on the wall. In the dark Alex wasn’t able to see it clearly and moved the torch closer to the wall. Instantly the furrow caught alight and pushed the flame through the burrows along the walls. Like a massive labyrinth of golden passages made from fire it ran a trail throughout the chamber.
"What in blue blazes?"
"Let's follow it. Look, it's carrying on over there,” Alex yelled excitedly.
Before long they followed the route through the tunnels where it stopped at tiny kindles of fire. In the center of the kindles was a round pond filled with a thick liquid. Within seconds the pool exploded into a mass of flames and in turn ignited several other canals with fire. It was ancient ingenuity to the fullest. They were standing in a massive chamber, entirely illuminated by trenches of fire all around them.
"Mum... look there!"
They turned to where the fire stopped and encircled an enormous shrine with a ring of fire. Above it was a gold statue of the soaring Rhaptor bird they ran from and in its claws, a rectangular box almost identical to the one they had found the scroll in. On this box, written in ancient Greek, it read
R-H-A-P-T-A
Izzy’s legs collapsed from underneath her, as she fell to her knees and wept. Tears overwhelmed with the knowledge that decades of searching came to pass.
"Is this true? After all these years of digging and believing in something we have not had any evidence ever existed, we found it!"
They had found Rhapta, yes. The ancient lost city of Africa was finally discovered.
"Yes Mum. You did it! You REALLY did it! Your dream has come true and look, you're sitting right in front of it! You found Rhapta!"
Charles leapt to his wife’s side. Sam, who stood mesmerized, eventually joined them in a celebratory huddle. The entire chasm was illuminated all around them; a shiny, glittering chamber.
“What do you think is in the box? Do you think it holds the treasures?" Alex eventually asked.
"I am convinced it looks precisely like the one we found. If it is, it can only mean that there's something hidden inside it. What it is, we are about to find out,” Izzy ventured.
They stood in awe at the foot of the shrine, beneath the towering golden bird’s claws.
"What if the thing comes to life when we touch the box? It could be booby-trapped, you know?" Alex paused.
"Not likely, my girl. I can't see anything indicating that it's alive. What I see though, is a box looking for a key."
"A key? Like a real key?" Sam piped up.
Izzy inspected it closer. ”Certainly looks like it. The box resembles our one but look here. It's a hollow engraving of some sorts. Almost as if we're supposed to place something on top of it to unlock it. I just don't know what yet. It's not very clear."
The box was perfection. Alex traced her fingers along the odd shape on top of the box. It looked familiar, very familiar. Her hand reached for the relic knife she hid in the small of her back before Sam and she left for the safe house.
"Well knock me over with a feather! If it isn't the knife. The knife is the key! Alexandra, my clever girl. I think this time it's clear. You have your mother's brains after all."
Alex giggled. “Mum, you should do it."
Izzy took the knife from her daughter and placed it into the hollowed out shape on the side of the box. A series of loud clicking sounds filled the chamber all around them as they watched the box release latch after latch. And there, in front of their eyes, the box unlocked a drawer filled with gold coins and jewels of all descriptions.
And behind the shrine, a stone wall glided open to welcome the last of the day’s bright rays down on them.
Chapter Eighteen
After Rhapta
The expansive auditor
ium gathered hundreds of archaeologists and scientists from around the world. Since discovering Rhapta, the smiles never left Charles Hunt’s lips. His grin was now a permanent fixture of pride. Izzy never left his side. She was never quite the same since their return. Her three-year captivity haunted her each night and robbed her from her zest for life. Dr. Jones worked closely with her, but despite his efforts in getting her to open up, she plainly refused to talk about what had happened. And that was ok. She was alive.
Sam Quinn’s calm presence was assuring to Alex as always. His never-ending strength and encouragement never ceased to amaze her and for the first time in a very long while, Alex Hunt found herself happy.
“And now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for. Please put your hands together for the courageous and audacious Alex Hunt!”
When the audience clapped and cheered as Alex took her place behind the podium, her tummy fluttered. She had hope. Hope in mankind, and hope in her future. She watched as Charles Hunt jumped to his feet with excitement; his wife safely by his side.
Sam Quinn’s firm hand was in the small of her back next to her as he proudly stood behind her on the stage.
“You did great Alex Hunt,” he whispered behind her ear.
They were a team now and she wouldn’t want it any other way.
The crowd cheered and applauded with thunderous ovation as Alex invited Charles and Izzy to the stage with her. The Hunt Team did it again.
And when the crowd finally settled down, Professor Keating spoke a few words in honor of Charles.
“This is a bitter-sweet moment for us today. After years of loyal service to the university and the archaeology faculty, Professor Charles Hunt and his lovely wife, Izzy, will be entering retirement. They have endured and sacrificed much in their fight to preserve history and science and they will be sorely missed. We are fortunate enough that they’ve left us a legacy. One that will stand in their place and continue to carry the Hunt torch. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome their courageous daughter, Alex Hunt!”
The Alex Hunt Series Page 17