by S. L. Menear
As I crept closer to the sarcophagus, darkness seemed to close in around me, the tiny beam of my mag light not providing enough illumination.
My heart raced and my breath came in spurts.
Calm down or you’ll hyperventilate and pass out.
I closed my eyes, filled my lungs with stale, musty air, and let it out slowly. When I opened my eyes, I focused on the beam of light illuminating the coffin’s lid and searched for an Atlantean symbol. An engraved Coptic cross with a gold trident piercing it at an angle, like the symbol in the alcove, adorned the center.
One more glance around the room reassured me that I was alone.
Claustrophobia sucks.
I reached out and touched the trident.
The stone lid vibrated, and I jumped back. It scraped against the sarcophagus as it slid slowly to one side. Worried something might leap out at me, I backed farther into the shadows and held my breath. Was that a whisper coming from the coffin?
Silly girl. Probably just an old skeleton in there. Still, better safe than sorry.
I waited, barely breathing.
No sound, except my pounding heart.
Nothing moved.
Sweetwater’s Hideout
Sweetwater held a phone to his ear and paced inside his air-conditioned hut, barely controlling his rage. “Did you catch up with the team that failed me?”
A deep voice on the satellite phone said, “We found them hiding in Libya.”
“Good.” Sweetwater stopped pacing. “Did you take them alive?”
“Yes, sir, with just a few minor wounds.”
He glanced out the window at the lions in the pen and grinned. “Bring me those incompetent bastards.” He disconnected and punched in another number. “Did she find the Blue Dragon?”
“She found something, but it was much too small to be a two-foot-long diamond.”
Sweetwater clenched his fist. “Well, dammit, what was it?”
“Don’t know exactly. It’s about four inches long, and she carries it in a leather pouch.”
He rubbed his balding head. “Where is she and what’s she doing with it?”
“Their jet left for Lalibela before dawn this morning.”
Sweetwater pounded his fist on a table. “Isn’t that in Ethiopia? Bloody hell! Why didn’t you warn me yesterday?”
“The U.S. military knows you have people on the inside. They’re being very secretive. I just found out about Lalibela this morning.”
He paused and took a deep breath. “Do we have a way to track her?”
“I bugged their satellite phones. They’re touring the monolithic churches.”
Sweetwater gripped the phone so hard his knuckles turned white. “Keep a close watch on their whereabouts. I’m sending a team.” He ended the call and dialed the commander of his mercenary army.
Lalibela
Edging close to the open coffin, I peeked inside.
I gasped as King Lalibela’s skeleton stared back at me, his gold-capped teeth forming a creepy grin. A royal crown, inset with jewels, gleamed on his skull, and he wore a ruby ring on his right hand.
My body shaking, I inched closer and examined the coffin with my light, avoiding another look at the scary skull. There was nothing resembling a Blue Dragon inside the stone burial box.
I knew it wouldn’t be this easy.
I pulled out my cell and took pictures of the creepy king and the contents of his resting place.
A distant noise made me jump. I froze and listened.
Faint sounds of pounding on stone filtered down from above. What if the locals broke through the stone door and found me down here in their beloved king’s crypt?
I wiped sweat from my brow, even though the burial chamber was cool. The king’s skeleton had really freaked me out. I didn’t have the right stuff to be a tomb raider. I jerked my head toward the coffin. Did something move in there?
Better try to close the sarcophagus before somebody comes down here. Wouldn’t want anyone to know I disturbed their sacred king.
I reached out with a shaky hand and touched the trident symbol again. The lid slid into the closed position.
Thank God.
The pounding grew louder.
Worried about how much time I had before they broke through above, I backed away from the coffin and bumped against the back of a niche recessed into the wall.
I jumped forward, fearing the crypt was trying to trap me inside a wall.
I took a deep breath. No more horror movies for this girl.
Withdrawing the leather pouch, I slid the Eye of Atlantis into my right hand. It filled with light and projected an image of the only monolithic church in Lalibela that stood apart from all the others—the Church of Saint George. The entire edifice had been built in the shape of a Coptic cross.
A voice in my head whispered, “Pass next test here.”
Had finding King Lalibela been a test too?
I replaced the Eye, tied the pouch shut, and secreted it in the padding under my robe. Too bad the first hologram hadn’t been more specific. Could’ve saved me a lot of time.
Loud pounding from above interrupted my thoughts. I sighed. It was time to return and feign stupidity around the church officials.
I climbed the stairs to the landing and found another engraving of a Coptic cross pierced by a trident. My touch opened the stone door.
A group of anxious Ethiopians stood outside the alcove. The instant I exited the stairwell, the door closed behind me. Church officials pulled me out and rushed to reopen it.
Good luck with that.
It didn’t take long for them to realize they had no idea how to make it open.
One of them pointed at me. “You! Open the door.”
I grabbed Banger, who had rushed over to me, and whispered, “Tell them I have a weak voice, but I told you they need something to hold it open.”
He nodded and relayed my message.
A few minutes later, two guys carried in a big, rectangular stone and set it on the alcove’s floor.
The apparent leader waved me forward.
I stepped inside and ran my hands all over the wall, like I didn’t know what I was doing. When my fingers slid over the trident symbol, the door opened, and I backed out.
Men shoved the block into the doorway, preventing the stone door from closing. Excited, they forgot about me and rushed down the spiral steps.
Lisa had summoned the team while I was in the crypt.
I elbowed Banger. “Time to go.”
Banger led us out and away from the church. “Now what?” he asked.
“We need to go to the Church of Saint George, which is in a separate location. First, we’ll have to follow the trail past the last two churches down here to reach the steps topside.” I pointed at a spot on the guide map.
“We’d better get moving before they come looking for us,” Mike said, waving us forward.
We bypassed the last two buildings and rushed up the steps to ground level.
I consulted the site map. “The Church of Saint George is that way.” I showed Banger the spot on the map, and he set off at a brisk walk. For me, the view of the mountains and valleys was a welcome change from the dark interior of the king’s tomb.
As we approached the church, Banger slowed and leaned in toward me. “What did you find back there?”
The team crowded around us to listen.
“It was King Lalibela’s tomb,” I said. “His skeleton was in the coffin, but no Blue Dragon, so I activated the Eye. It showed me a hologram of St. George’s Church. I hope that one is built over intersecting ley lines.”
Banger pulled me forward. “Let’s find out.”
He led me down thirty-five rock-hewn steps that ended in a narrow open area outside the church. My head tingled with electromagnetic energy, the intensity increasing as I neared the entrance.
I stopped for a moment, my head buzzing. “Guys, this is definitely the place. I feel the ley lines.”
&nbs
p; Banger signaled a halt before we entered. “This time, if you open a secret door, we’re all going.”
“Look for a trident symbol,” I said as I climbed the four steps into the ancient church.
We spread out and searched the walls and floor. The ceiling was almost four stories high, and it was too dark inside to see what might be up there.
The entire building was carved into the shape of a giant Coptic cross, and artisans had spent many hours creating beautiful images on the stone interior.
Following the energy intensity, I discovered the strongest concentration where the building’s four cross sections came together in the middle.
I found a Coptic cross about three feet wide engraved in the center of the stone floor. A gold trident pierced it at a forty-five-degree angle, just like the symbols I’d found in the alcove and tomb in the previous church. I called my team.
When we were gathered around the cross, I bent down. “Ready?”
They nodded.
I reached down and touched the trident.
The three-foot-square stone with the engraved cross dropped a foot and slid under the floor.
My breath caught, and I jumped back as stale cool air rose from the black hole.
I crept forward and peeked inside. Spiral stone steps descended into a dark void.
Not again.
Lance eased up beside me and shined his light into the stairwell. “Looks deep.”
Lisa nudged me. “I don’t know about this—could be a death trap.”
Six
Banger aimed his mag light in. “Or maybe this leads to where the Blue Dragon is hidden.”
“Well, if it’s like the other places I’ve opened, everyone has to go in ahead of me,” I said. “The stone slab will close as soon as I enter.”
Mike glanced at me. “Are you sure we should go down there?”
I hesitated, my gut twisting into a knot. “The Eye directed me here, so I guess I’m supposed to go.” I peered into the depths. “Maybe the rest of you should stay behind and wait for me.”
Lance patted my back. “Two is better than one. I’ll go with you.”
“Wait.” Lisa took a few steps down the stairwell and tried to see how far it descended. Her voice tightened. “Too dark. Can’t see past the short beam of my mag light.” She climbed out and dropped a fifty-pence coin down the stairs. It pinged off each step and faded into a distant echo. “Sounds like it goes down a lot deeper than the steps to the king’s tomb at the other church.”
“Don’t forget all the churches are over eight thousand feet above sea level.” Bryce peered into the blackness. “Plenty of room for a deep staircase.”
Mike said, “Yeah, but how could they have carved so many steps downward into solid rock?”
“The same way ‘they’ carved the huge, three-story monolithic churches. Right?” I tapped my guidebook.
Mike crossed his arms. “You said all the experts agree that these stone churches are scientifically inexplicable.”
“Scientists, engineers, and architects have studied the site.” I shrugged. “Nobody can figure out how the churches were carved. I think those experts would reach the same conclusion for these steps.”
Mike peered down the stairwell and frowned. “Well, I suppose it’s possible this will lead to what we came for. Do you think the Atlanteans made this?”
“I know Atlantis ruled the world thousands of years ago and left their unusual creations on every continent. Don’t forget I found this Atlantean medallion key in India.” I held it out. “And I found secret chambers and other Atlantean artifacts in Scotland, Petra, and on a remote mesa in South America, not to mention their sunken city near Cuba.”
“But Lalibela’s churches weren’t carved until the Middle Ages,” Lisa countered, scanning the building.
“True, but until they were wiped out earlier this year, Atlanteans sent trained workers all over the world for many centuries, and they had the benefit of two hundred thousand years of scientific knowledge.” I glanced around. “It’s possible they made this. I mean, these trident symbols activate when I touch them, just like they did in Petra and other places.”
“I was with Sam in India, Petra, and South America.” Lance patted my back. “She’ll get us to where we’re supposed to go.”
Lisa turned to Bryce. “I saw her activate Atlantean crystals in South America. Let’s find what’s down there.”
Bryce nodded. “I’m in.”
Banger glanced around. “Seems like all the pilgrims are still at King Lalibela’s tomb. Let’s go in before anyone sees what we’re doing.” He started down the steps, and the team followed.
I sucked in a deep breath and lifted my medallion key. When I stroked the pyramid-shaped diamond embedded in the gold, it filled with brilliant light and illuminated a small portion of the steep staircase.
The moment I passed below the opening in the floor, the slab slid closed above me.
My heart hammered my chest.
Darn my claustrophobia!
I continued down the seemingly endless spiral steps.
As I slowly descended, I distracted myself from my fear by counting each step.
After what felt like a long time, I checked my watch—forty minutes had passed.
So far, I’d counted five hundred steps, and there was no end in sight.
How could there be so many?
My mind wandered. Could these steps have been here long before the churches were carved?
The dark void made my heart race, and my breath came in short spurts.
“Anybody see anything down there?” My voice sounded squeaky.
“Nothing so far,” Banger’s deep voice echoed up the stairwell.
Nothing? What have I gotten us into this time?
The steps wound down almost eight hundred feet. Finally, I rounded the last turn and entered a long, empty corridor. My teammates, who weren’t hindered by claustrophobia, must’ve descended a lot faster. Distant voices filtered down the rock-hewn hallway.
The dark passage looked level. Eager to rejoin my team, I followed it sixty paces to where it dead-ended beside an open door. Inside, I found a circular chamber about twenty feet in diameter. It had a high ceiling which helped relieve my exacerbated claustrophobia. The five flashlights held by my comrades revealed hundreds of ancient symbols covering the curved rock walls. When I walked in, they aimed their lights at an object in the center of the room.
“Check this out, Sam.” Mike stood beside a tall, narrow pedestal table.
The round, four-foot-high table held a silvery-blue globe resting on four tiny legs that extended from inside it. An opening in the metal sphere’s top revealed the pointed tip of a long marquise-shaped blue diamond mounted vertically.
I took a closer look. In an effort to ease the tension, I said, “It looks like it might be made of blue anodized titanium, or what my aircraft builder friends refer to as unobtainium.”
Nobody laughed.
I sized it up visually. “Maybe this soccer-ball sized device with the large blue diamond is the Blue Dragon.”
“Don’t you know what it looks like?” Bryce took a step closer.
“I wasn’t given a description—just the name. I think it’s reasonable to assume what we’re looking for is blue, that it might even be a blue diamond, or it might be made of something blue that looks like a dragon.” I spread my hands. “Sorry. That’s all I know.”
“Well, this thing is silvery-blue with a blue diamond.” Banger stood next to me with his arms crossed. “You’ve had plenty of experience with Atlantean artifacts. What’s it supposed to do?”
“I don’t know.” I eased closer to it. “Should I try to activate it?”
“Wait.” Mike held his hands near each side of it and then eased them against it. He yanked his hands back. “Whoa! It shocked me.”
“Maybe that was static electricity.” I tentatively touched the gem with my right index finger.
It instantly filled with brill
iant light.
I yanked my hand away and jumped back, shading my eyes.
The entire chamber became as bright as midday, and a low hum resonated from the sphere.
I stepped back farther. “Everyone against a wall until we see what this thing does.”
The round device vibrated, and the humming intensified, echoing off the rock walls. In seconds, the entire chamber resonated with the strange sound.
Mike glanced at me. “Sam, what the—”
A powerful laser, its light so bright I had to shield my eyes, shot from the diamond’s tip straight up to a round hatch in the stone ceiling.
The beam hit the center of crossed gold tridents engraved on the metal hatch, activating a mechanism that disengaged the lock. In an instant, the laser shut off, and the hatch swung open.
I took a few steps forward and looked up through the opening.
A tubular vertical tunnel ascended into darkness. The strange humming started again, and I almost tripped, rushing backward to the wall.
The laser switched back on and fired straight up the tunnel, apparently opening a hatch at the surface. The beam extinguished, and I heard a faint echo when the surface hatch clanked open.
Seconds later, small clumps of dirt dropped from above and slid off the globe onto the floor.
“Bloody hell!” Bryce stared at the sphere.
Lisa elbowed me. “Now what?”
“I wish I knew.” I edged closer to the device.
A tiny metal panel closed over the diamond, and the legs retracted, sealing the sphere.
The room became silent.
Instantly, and without making a sound, the strange globe zoomed up through the narrow tunnel and disappeared into the sky.
“Whoa.” Lance stared at the open hatch.
“What did you do, sis?” Mike rushed to the pedestal.
I looked up at the pinpoint of light from the open hatch eight hundred feet above us. “Well, I never expected that to happen. I hope that thing wasn’t the Blue Dragon.”
Tension permeated the team. Everyone glared at me, and no one spoke.
Lisa finally broke the silence. “You said the Eye led us here. If you activate it again, maybe it’ll show us something useful.”