by Tod Eten
'So where is this key?' Seth asked.
'I do not know' Gagan admitted as he started translating the inscriptions.
Li enter the small temple once more.
'Valley is still clear' Li confirmed. 'Have you found key?'
'Ask the professor over there' Seth said who was sitting on the floor of the temple looking thoroughly bored.
'Actually I think I have found something' Gagan declared.
'You have!' Seth exclaimed jumping up.
'Yes this refers to the key!' Gagan confirmed.
'Finally!' Seth looked up at the ceiling giving thanks. 'What does it say?'
'Errrmm.. The key opens a gateway for the chosen, a sanctuary for the chosen... yes we know all that! Ah wait here, it says; the key lies beneath the underworld!' Gagan read.
'The key is buried down there' Seth said looking at the floor. 'But its solid rock!' Seth said stamping on the ground to make his point.
‘Not in the floor, there!’ Gagan said pointing his flashlight at twelve palm sized stone balls that sat in recesses along the end wall behind the alter.
‘Which one is it?’ Li asked immediately understanding.
‘The one under the scorpion of course’ Gagan said with a grin.
'Underworld!' Hoshi smiled.
'Underworld!' Seth repeated also smiling.
Taking the stone key the group quickly made their way out of the temple and back out into the of maze of rooms above. But as they reached the newly created hole into the last big chamber Li made them stop, making them turn off their flashlights.
‘What is it?’ Gagan whispered in the darkness.
‘There are people out there’ Li replied quietly pointing to the entrance of the main temple.
The group quietly made their into the large chamber then crept up to the entrance of the temple. When they looked out at the valley beyond they discovered dozens of desert nomads busy setting up a camp right outside the temple.
‘Shit what are we going to do now?’ Seth exclaimed.
Toth took his airship high above the land so that they were no more than a tiny spec to the casual observer on the ground. He was following a course towards Jerusalem that that took them over the more remote areas to further avoid being seen. By time they were high above the Dead Sea the sun was starting to set and Toth turned his craft towards the lights of Jerusalem that they could now clearly see in the distance. An hour or so later with darkness hiding their arrival Toth brought the airship down over the city where they could see that a number of buildings had been burnt down and many others were still smouldering or on fire.
‘Looks like they're have some trouble’ Aiden remarked.
‘Lots of army’ Long said pointing to a large column of trucks and jeeps that were passing through the streets below them.
‘You are certain this tunnel is still there?’ Aiden said looking at Toth.
‘Yes yes it was cut through the rock itself, very solid’ Toth replied as the airship dropped lower.
‘So where is the entrance?’ Aiden asked looking down once more.
‘It is now called the Mount of Olives I believe’ Toth pointed
‘Well at least it’s dark down there, so where exactly is this entrance then?’ Aiden asked.
‘It is in an old tomb’ Toth now whispered as they descended ever lower.
The airship was now silently gliding over the tombs that covered the hillside in the distance the golden dome of the rock glowed through the night. Their final destination if Toth was right being somewhere underneath it.
‘There’ Toth whispered pointing towards the largest tomb on the hillside where a whole section of the hill had been chopped out and in its place a monument had been built which had a rectangular base on top of which was a four sided sharply pointed pyramid.
‘That one there’ Aided said quietly pointing to the large monument.
‘No beside it on the left’ Toth indicated a smaller tomb that had a number of stone columns at its entrance. ‘The entrance you need is below that tomb.’ Toth said bringing the airship to a stop. ‘Inside the tomb you will find a circle inscribed into the wall in the middle of which you will need to insert this’ Toth gave Aiden a disk similar to the one that Aya had given him when they had met with Selinus.‘When you insert this disk a doorway will open and the tunnel beyond will lead you to Solomon’s Temple where you will find a five pointed star which is the key for air. I will wait for you here’ Toth added.
Aiden and Long quickly jumped down from the airship and made their way towards the place that Toth had shown them. Using only the moonlight they searched the hill below the tomb Toth had pointed out. They soon discovered an opening behind some bushes which led them to another empty tomb whose walls were blank and featureless.
‘But there is nothing on these walls!’ Aiden exclaimed quietly.
Long walked up to the wall of the tomb to take a closer look and rubbing his hand against the wall he removed a layer of dust revealing some inscriptions underneath.
‘There are inscriptions under the dust’ Long pointed to the writing that he had revealed.
‘Good, let’s start on the end wall the tunnel will most likely be there’ Aiden whispered and Long nodded in agreement.
The two of them quickly began brushing off the dust that covered the wall revealing row upon row of inscriptions until Long found the circle that Toth had described to them. Aiden found the place to insert the disk and carefully blowing out any dust that remained in the central hole he then inserted the stone disk that Toth had given him. A few seconds later there was the low rumble as somewhere gears began turning and a section of the wall slid open to reveal a tunnel. They quickly followed the tunnel which eventually led them with a few twists and turns to a large circular underground chamber.
Aiden shone his flashlight around the chamber and his mouth fell open for there glinting and gleaming in the torch light were chests full of gold coins, gem stones, jewellery and other treasures that were placed around the edge of the room. In the middle of room was a stone alter.
‘A kings ransom’ Aiden whispered. ‘OK we need to find this star’ Aiden said bringing his mind back to the task at hand. They quickly set about searching the chests for the item they were after.
‘This is like trying to find a needle in a haystack’ Aiden said in frustration after they had been searching for some time, for each chest was full of so many different objects. Aiden pointed his torch at the walls and examined the paintings and inscriptions that were drawn upon them. Then he looked once more at the altar in the centre of the room and noticed that there was some kind of design on its front. Aiden walked over to the alter in order to get a better look at the design and saw it was another circle in the middle of which, standing proud of the surface, was a five pointed star. Aiden looked carefully at the star which was the same size as the palm of his hand. He traced his finger around stars edge. The star stood out from the surface of the alter by at least an inch and Aiden using his finger tips gripped the star and tried to move it but nothing happened. Undeterred he placed his flashlight on the floor and this time using both hands he tried once more to move the star. Aiden using all his strength pulled and all of a sudden the star came free in his hands.
‘I’ve got it’ Aiden said triumphantly and Long came quickly over to take a look at the stone star that Aiden held.
‘Right let’s go’ Aiden said and with one last look at the treasures in the room they quickly made their way back down the tunnel. When they entered the tomb once more Aiden put his finger back into the hole in the middle of the circle. He pushed the small disc inside the hole and heard a click. Then removing his finger he snatched hold of the small stone disk as it was pushed out of the hole, just as Toth had instructed. After doing this the stone door to the tunnel slid shut once more. They then quietly made their way back to where Toth had dropped them off and walked straight into the middle of a small patrol of soldiers who immediately raised their weapons. Aiden an
d Long put their hands in the air in surrender.
‘So what do we do now?’ Seth asked looking at Gagan.
‘Well we could wait here until they all go to sleep’ Gagan replied as he watched some nomads tethering their horses .
‘But what if they come in here?’ Hoshi said.
‘Well I can’t see what else we can do’ Gagan replied.
Just then what looked like a large firefly that gave off a dull green light flew in through the entrance and began darting around the room they were in.
‘What is that’ Seth said in alarm and as if hearing his voice the fire fly stopped and then made straight for him. Seth backed away from the strange creature trying to swat it away with his hands.
‘Wait’ Gagan said quickly, ‘That must be one of those dryads that Aiden told us about remember, the things he saw Aya talking to in the woods.’
The fire fly had stopped darting around and now hovered in the air in front of the group as if observing them.
Gagan held out an open hand and the fire fly without hesitation flew up and landed on his palm. They all heard the sound of tiny tinkling laughter. Looking closely at the creature they could now see that it was a tiny female with two sets of semi transparent insect wings.
‘That's a fairy’ Seth exclaimed.
The creature flew up to Gagans ear and he listened as the creature spoke to him.
‘She says she is a Dryad not a fairy’ Gagan told Seth and he listened once more. ‘She says fairies are smelly things.’ Gagan continued raising his eyebrows.
‘Oh sorry!‘ Seth said uncertainly.
Gagan listened once more as the Dryad continued talking to him. ‘She says that Aya sent her to watch over us’ Gagan continued and listened once more to the little creature.
‘We are trapped’ Gagan said a while later in answer to the Dryads question, ‘we cannot go anywhere because of the nomads out there’ Gagan pointed, ‘and we are worried that they may come in here.’
Gagan listened once more as the Dryad talked to him nodding his head at what she was saying. Then the Dryad flew up off his shoulder and darted out of the entrance.
‘She says she will create a diversion and that when the nomads are fully occupied we should make our escape.
The group waited in silence watching from the shadows as the nomads went about setting up their camp for the night. Suddenly the horses that the nomads had tethered near by started to get very agitated rearing up on their hind legs and neighing loudly. A few nomads quickly jumped to their feet making their way over to calm them down, but before they reached them the animals as one bolted through the camp causing chaos. All the nomads now set off in pursuit of their horses as they stampeded out of the camp and down the valley.
‘Right let’s go’ Gagan said and the group quickly set off into the night making for the passageway that had led them into the valley. They were nearly at the passageway when they ran into the group of Nomads who were guarding that end of the valley.
The guard barked a question at Aiden in what he assumed was Hebrew.
‘Sorry English’ Aiden answered.
‘What are you doing here?’ The guard demanded this time in English.
‘We were lost’ Aiden said.
‘You are not allowed here you should be in your compound. What group do you belong to?’ the guard asked and Aiden stared blankly back.
‘Where are your papers?’ The guard demanded clearly getting suspicious.
‘We lost them‘ Aiden lied.
‘You mercenaries are all the same’ the guard nearly spat, ‘you will come with us now’ and without another word the patrol escorted the two men their hands still raised out of the cemetery.
‘Where are you taking us?’ Aiden demanded but he received no reply.
They were led out of the cemetery and into the surrounding streets where after a few minutes walk they came to large building which Aiden guessed acted as some kind of a guard post. Once inside Aiden and Long were stripped of all their weapons and armour as well as the stone star that they had come all this way for! Then they were locked up in a small windowless room.
In silence the two men waited as the hours rolled by until finally the door to their cell was opened and an officer entered looking them up and down. He was a small man with a round face whose premature balding made him look much older than he really was.
‘So please tell me who you are’ the officer asked with obvious boredom.
‘I am Aiden and this is Long’ Aiden replied with a smile.
‘So Aiden and Long’ the officer sighed, ‘where are your papers?’
‘We lost them’ Aiden lied.
‘Mercenaries’ the officer complained more to himself, ‘why don’t any of you have brains? And tell me is your whole regiment armed with bows and arrows?’ the officer asked raising an eyebrow.
‘We thought with the technology problems’ Aiden replied thinking quickly.
‘Yes but the guns still work! With bows and arrows you will be about as much help as my my wife's mother!’ the officer shook his head. 'What is the name of your regiment?' the officer demanded.
'The errm.. forty second' Aiden stuttered.
'Forty Second what?'
'Errmm' Aiden looked confused.
'You do not know the name of your regiment!' the officer looked at Aiden with a raised eyebrow.
'We both only just joined didn't we' Aiden looked at Long who nodded.
‘Well we will have to see if we can find out who you belong to then! But I am afraid that if we cannot identify who you are we will have to assume that you are spies. Which I regret means that we will have to shoot you! So please try and remember which group you belong to!’ and with that the officer turned and left the room.
Long now got up and started looking around the small room feeling the walls with his hands and examining the door.
‘I can break through this wall’ Long said quietly.
‘But where would that get us, there must be thirty or more soldiers here!’ Aiden said shaking his head, ‘and they have our weapons!”
Just then the door of the room was unlocked again and another soldier entered the room.
‘Please follow me’ the soldier said urgently, Aiden glanced at long in surprise and followed behind the soldier.
The soldier led them through the guard house where everyone seemed to be in a state of panic with desks being cleaned and uniforms being buttoned up, one soldier was even busy mopping the floor. The soldier led them to another door on which he knocked twice then opening the door he then stood aside to allow Aiden and Long to enter. In the room seated behind a rather grand desk sat the officer who had so recently been questioning them. The officer indicated for the two men to enter as the door of the room was shut behind them.
‘It seems that there are people in high places that are interested in you! Major General Avram no less! He is on his way here now to see you’ the officer leaned back in his chair steepling his fingures as if waiting for some kind of explanation from them. ‘Can you tell me why the Major General himself would be interested in you?’ the officer continued when no answer was forth coming.
Aiden and Long looked at each other still having no idea what was happening.
‘Very well if that is how you want it’ the officer sat up annoyed. ‘Go through there’ he pointed at a door at the side of the room.
'What are you going to do to us?' Aiden challenged the officer.
‘It is a bathroom, go and clean yourselves the Major General will be here shortly!’ the officer sighed.
As ordered Aiden and Long washed their faces and combed their hair then went back into the main room where the officer inspected them making them button up their shirts and adjust their clothing so that they looked as smart as possible. Soon after there was another knock at the door and yet another solider quickly entered with a salute and said something to the officer in Hebrew.
‘The Major General has arrived, you will both wait here’ the
officer said and picking up his cap of his desk he strode quickly out of the room leaving the soldier to stand guard beside the open door.
Aiden looked again at Long but Long as usual showed no emotion what so ever. There was now silence in the guard house and Aiden could see through the open door that all the soldiers were standing to attention. He then heard the sound of approaching footsteps. An old man with dyed black hair entered the room his green army uniform had row upon row of military decorations and enough gold braid to scale a small cliff. The old man’s face a map of wrinkles that had been tanned and aged by the sun and wind. The Major General with cold dark eyes regarded Aiden and Long, like a snake would a mouse. Behind him followed the now anxious looking officer in whose room they were standing in. The Major General turned and spoke to the officer in Hebrew who saluted and quickly turned and left the room. The Major General then took his hat off and casually threw it on the desk. He then walked round Aiden and Long looking each man up and down. The officer of the guard house once more entered the room this time followed by two soldiers who were carrying Aiden and Long’s weapons and armour as well as the stone star. The soldiers placed the items neatly on the desk and saluting the Major General they turned and left the room. The Major General now gave the officer some more orders in Hebrew as he began examining the weapons on the desk.
‘You will come with me’ the officer said pointing to Long and together with the guard at the door all three left the room closing the door behind them.
The Major General picked up Aiden’s sword feeling its weight in his hands and looking closely at the inscriptions down the length of its blade.
‘So this is the great Burning Sword’ the Major General finally said in English, clearly not impressed, ‘and you are the great Etlud Shahadaku’ the Major General said sarcastically, turning his gaze on Aiden whose face remained blank. ‘Come come there is no need for subterfuge we are alone after all’ the Major General said waving an arm around the empty room. ‘We have been waiting for you for some time! I must say many of us did not think you would ever show yourself. Personally I thought you had scurried off into a hole somewhere to hide. But here you are, at last!’the Major General said placing the sword carefully back on the table. He then picked up Aiden’s bow and began examining it carefully. ‘Yes the great Etlud Shahadaku’ the Major General said putting the bow back down. ‘We had hoped to find you with that whore of yours, imagine our surprise when we found that you were not there. Yes that is right’ the Major General continued seeing the look on Aiden’s face, ‘we have your precious mate.’