by Tom Hoffman
Edmund nodded. “I agree. Some of the controls here would indicate they had underground docking facilities specifically for their mining vessels. That will be our doorway into the city. I have been discussing it with Oliver, and he thinks the city was built solely to support the Mintarians’ vast mining enterprise here. The city may well have been built underground to hide their activities from the local residents. The Nirriimians would not have been thrilled to know the Mintarians were plundering their natural resources.”
“I never thought of that. That’s quite plausible. There could be ancient Mintarian cities hidden all over Nirriim.”
Edmund adjusted his adventurer’s hat then said, “Strap and roll, rabs! We’re moving out!” He pushed one of the slider bars forward and inched the silver control rod to the right. The Explorer snaked around and headed back out into the desert.
They cruised along the surface of the sand at close to twenty miles per hour. Once everyone was comfortable with the peculiar swaying motion of the ship, Edmund increased the speed to thirty-five miles per hour. It would take another six hours to reach the city, over two hundred miles away on the far side of the desert.
The Explorer was displayed as a moving green blip on Edmund’s holomap. He simply had to guide the blip to the area Bartholomew had designated.
Bartholomew spent several hours disposing of the disabled ore crushing machine, blinking it piece by piece to the bottom of the desert. The removal of the huge device opened up a sizable section of the craft which Bartholomew filled with several comfortable couches and a number of cushiony stuffed chairs. It wasn’t long before he and Oliver were relaxing with glasses of a tasty white wine.
Thunder and Lightning emerged from the back of the craft, each one dragging a heavily laden sack filled with gold nuggets and Nirriimian white crystals. They could not have looked more pleased.
Bartholomew grinned at them. “How’d the treasure hunting go?”
“I’m going to buy my parents a huge mansion right next to the water!”
Thunder chimed in. “I’m going to buy them a giant boat they can sail around the lake and go fishing as much as they want.”
Lighting flopped down on a long couch, resting his head on a pillow. Moments later he was sound asleep, one paw resting on his bag of treasure. Thunder quickly followed suit.
Edmund was keeping an eye on his map, watching as the green blip drew closer to the city. He pushed the control stick forward and the ship responded without hesitation, veering down beneath the sand. He had deactivated the ore intake doors so there was no longer any danger of anyone being injured by flying chunks of metal. The ship descended deeper and deeper beneath the desert, the hull making groaning sounds as they approached four hundred feet.
Oliver and Bartholomew were asleep in their large stuffed chairs when the alarm went off. It was both piercingly loud and immensely startling, instantly waking up all four of the sleeping adventurers. Oliver staggered to his feet in a state of confusion. “Great heavens! What? Is there a fire? Who’s there?”
Lightning mumbled, “Is it time to get up already?”
Bartholomew blinked to the front of the ship. “Edmund, what is it? What’s happened?”
“I’ve lost control of the ship! It’s moving by itself and going deeper into the sand – we’ve passed five hundred feet and we’re closing in on six hundred.”
“Can’t you override the autonomous function?”
“I’ve tried, but it just switches back on. If it goes down too deep we’ll be crushed, buried alive!”
Thunder and Lightning entered the control room just in time to overhear the conversation. “What??!! We’re going to be buried alive?”
Bartholomew held up his paw. “Everyone, please relax. No one is getting buried alive. Oliver and Edmund are the best two engineers on the planet. They will figure out what is happening to the ship.”
Oliver strolled into the control room, gave a great yawn, tapped one of the dials, then noticed the looks on everyone’s faces. “What? What’s the matter? Oh dear, did I not tell you about the alarm? I set it to go off when the ship approached the city. Nothing to worry about, I assure you. If I am correct, and I usually am, the ship will take control of the docking procedure.”
Everyone else looked dubious. “You’re sure about this?”
“It’s slowing down!” Edmund pointed to one of the dials on the control panel. The craft’s velocity was decreasing and it had leveled out. They could hear loud clanging noises and screeching, grinding sounds echoing from outside the ship.
“What’s that noise? Is the ship breaking up?”
Oliver tapped another dial on the control panel. “No need to fret, I’m quite certain this is all just part of the docking procedure. I believe the ship is being drawn into the landing bay by some external mechanical conveyance. We should be able to exit the craft shortly. Nothing to be concerned about.”
Sure enough, less than a minute later there was a shrill whining noise and the two large semicircular doors at the front of the craft slid apart, revealing an impenetrable darkness beyond.
Bartholomew was filled with growing apprehension, but did his best to sound cheery. “All ashore who’s going ashore! Welcome to the lost city of the Mintarians!”
Chapter 39
The Ghost of Mintar
The five adventurers stepped into the stagnant darkness of the forgotten city.
“Hold on.” Bartholomew extended his paw, concentrating deeply. A dazzling stream of tiny sparkling lights shot out into the gloom. Thousands of the lights spread across the ceiling above them, growing brighter with each second, illuminating the room.
To their left was a long hallway lined with doors identical to the one they had just exited. This was mining on a grand scale, several dozen Wyrmes harvesting thousands of tons of ore on a daily basis.
In front of them stood row upon row of rusty green lockers, each one roughly ten feet tall and two feet wide. Many of the locker doors hung loosely on one hinge, and some had fallen to the floor, transformed into barely recognizable piles of rust and decay. Lightning dashed to the closest locker. “There could be treasure in here!” He unlatched it, and with a painful squeal the ancient door swung open. “It’s just old clothes.” A dingy pair of decrepit canvas coveralls hung inside the locker, a pair of crumbling boots beneath them.
Oliver made his way over and peered inside. “Mining gear, almost like the gear we wore in the ferillium mines. These lockers must have been for the Wyrme crews. It’s astonishing the Wyrme of Deth survived for these hundreds of years. It seems clear the Mintarians ran short of raw materials on their own world and were plundering other worlds, taking whatever they needed.”
Edmund nodded. “How do you think they sent the ore back to Mintar?”
“I have no idea. It would be almost impossible to transport such vast amounts of ore in ships, and they would have been spotted by the Nirriimians. Perhaps they had spectral doorways similar to the one you opened. I suppose we’ll never know for certain.”
They walked on past the endless rows of lockers to the far side of the room, where they found four sets of wide descending stairs.
Lightning pointed to the ceiling. “The lights are following us! How did you do that, Bartholomew?”
“Just a little trick Clara taught me, one she learned from Bruno Rabbit. They’ll follow us until I blink them off.”
Their legs were aching by the time they reached the bottom of the stairs. The Mintarians were far taller than rabbits or mice, which translated into eighteen inch tall steps.
Thunder moaned loudly. “Whew! That was rough. Hey, Edmund, next time can you carry me?”
“Look! It’s a city!”
Bartholomew’s lights had soared up over a thousand feet, dispersing rapidly across a gigantic dome made of an unknown bronze colored material. The lights multiplied, increasing in brightness until the entire city was ablaze in light. In front of the adventurers stood hundreds of buildings, many
ten to fifteen stories tall. The city was crisscrossed with dozens of paved streets, now a spider web of cracks and fissures due to the unstable, shifting ground.
“It’s gigantic! How could they make buildings that tall?! They look weird, kind of like plants.” Thunder and Lightning stood gaping at the strangely organic cityscape. This was the first large city they had ever seen.
Bartholomew led the way down the wide rutted streets, stepping carefully across the multitude of fractures and crevasses, occasionally stopping to peer inside one of the darkened buildings. Oliver was the first to spot the skeletons. “Look over there! What do you suppose happened to them?” He was pointing to a group of four skeletons lying on the sidewalk in front of a badly damaged building. A few of the skeletons were partially covered by torn and shredded metallic debris. Their skulls resembled that of a snake, with two rows of curved, vicious teeth.
Bartholomew said, “When I visited the city using the Traveling Eye I saw these skeletons strewn across the entire city. I’m in the dark as to what happened here. Perhaps it was a deadly plague, or some kind of poisonous gas.”
Edmund pointed to the side of the building. “Look closely at the outer walls. I’ve seen this before.”
“What? I don’t see it.”
Edmund strode over to the building and touched a smooth round hole in the outer wall. Then he pointed to another, and another after that. Once they noticed the holes they could see hundreds of them on the surrounding buildings. “There was a vape gun battle here. Probably more of a massacre than a battle. It looks as though someone invaded the city and killed everyone in it.” He looked down at the pile of skeletons, slowly shaking his head. “There’s no doubt these are Mintarians. They were thieves on a monumental scale, but they didn’t deserve this.”
The adventurers walked on in silence down the ancient boulevard. “There’s no end to the bodies.” Edmund stopped. “Look. Here’s our answer.”
Lying in a shadowy doorway was a massive skeleton with two long curved tusks. Next to it lay a silver tube covered with dust and fragments of metal blasted from the building. “That metal cylinder is a Model 14A Heavy Particle Beam Projector. It uses the same basic technology as our vape gun. The 14A beamer was the main battle weapon used by Anarkkian soldiers during the war. This city was invaded by Anarkkians. I saw enough of this during the war to know exactly what happened here.”
Bartholomew asked cautiously, “You mean Edmund the Explorer saw it?”
Edmund blinked. “Yes, that’s what I meant. Edmund the Explorer told me many stories of his wartime experiences, but it’s evident to me now how deeply it must have affected him. This is not something you quickly forget.”
The mood of the group grew somber as they passed the never-ending piles of skeletons. Thunder and Lightning stopped talking about treasure and were looking uncomfortable. Their lost city of treasure was transforming before their eyes into a lost tomb. Thunder and Lightning had little desire to disturb the Mintarian bones, much less search the remains for treasure. They spotted a few more Anarkkian skeletons along the way, but for each Anarkkian they found, there were a hundred Mintarians. This had been a brutal slaughter.
Bartholomew didn’t have to read Thunder and Lightning’s thoughts to know the city would have a powerful and lasting effect on them. It was painful to watch their reaction, but he knew understanding and accepting the existence of evil was a necessary part of growing up, and ultimately awakening to their inner voice. He sensed that Thunder and Lightning would bring great good to the world. Still, it was difficult for him to watch them now.
They walked silently through the streets for many blocks until finally Bartholomew spoke. “That huge building down at the end of this street is the main palace. I believe it’s where we’ll find the Queen’s Treasure Chamber. When I was using the Traveling Eye I discovered a throne room and a large set of golden doors behind the two thrones. It’s my guess we’ll find what we’re looking for behind those doors, unless Edmund’s Blue Spectre was wrong about the Queen’s Treasure Chamber.”
A half hour later the party of five adventurers stood facing the Mintarian palace. This was by far the most magnificent building in the city, more fluid in form than the others, and covered with complex and elaborate architectural detail and carving. The steps leading up to the main entrance of the palace were wavy and irregular, but Bartholomew couldn’t tell if it was the result of shifting ground or if that was the original intended design.
Bartholomew felt a growing unease as they made their way up the stairs. If they didn’t find the Seventh Key here they would have to start over from square one, and he wasn’t sure he even knew where square one was anymore. He couldn’t bear the idea of losing Edmund the Rabbiton.
Reaching the top of the stairs they found themselves standing in front of three sets of massive doors, the center set nearly forty feet tall.
Oliver was the first to reach the doors. “I daresay we’ll need all of Edmund’s strength to open such an enormous door as this.” He touched his paw to the forty foot tall door and it silently swung open. “Good heavens, that was rather unexpected.”
Bartholomew flicked one paw and the lights covering the dome streamed down and flew into the palace through the open doorway. Oliver cautiously peered into the building and was met by the sight of more skeletons scattered across the palace’s cavernous foyer. He stepped inside, gazing up at the vast ceiling. “These organic architectural forms are quite unique with their odd root like appearance. It’s unclear to me what has a structural function and what is simply decorative. Perhaps it is a combination of both. Quite magnificent in its own peculiar way.”
Bartholomew took the lead, doing his best to remember the location of the throne room. It was much harder to find it now that he couldn’t fly through the walls. They passed through room after room with no sign of the two red doors he was searching for. Most of the rooms appeared to be offices, and though the furniture was dissimilar in form to Lapinoric furniture, it appeared to serve the same function. Thunder and Lightning stopped and poked through a few drawers here and there but found nothing which appeared to have any value.
After an hour of wandering through the maze of the hallways and rooms they nudged open a door and found themselves in an enormous marble room. In the center of the far wall stood a set of ornate red doors. There were hundreds of intricately carved figures and symbols on the doors, but none that Bartholomew recognized. When he touched one of the red doors it silently swung open. They were in the throne room.
Thunder and Lightning both shrieked, dashing across the pure white marble floor to the thrones. They stopped short. On the floor behind the thrones were two Mintarian skeletons. A crown lay next to one of them, a bejeweled sword in a sheath next to the other, both inlaid with delicate white and black marble designs.
Thunder and Lightning stared at the crown and the sword. Neither one wanted to be the first to touch them. Finally Lightning said, “If we don’t take it someone else will, and maybe it will be someone who won’t take care of it like we will. Or maybe it will just sit here for another ten thousand years until the entire city collapses on it.”
Thunder nodded. “I’ll take the crown.”
“Fair enough.” Lightning reached down, carefully retrieving the sword. This was not the way he had imagined it would feel to discover treasure. Part of him felt as though he was stealing from the former inhabitants of the palace. He knew he wasn’t, but it was a hard feeling to shake. He decided to treat the sword as an artifact from an ancient civilization rather than pillaged treasure, and that made him feel better.
Thunder was ecstatic over his new crown. It was quite spectacular, with eight gleaming golden spires equally spaced around it, each with a uniquely colored gem mounted on top. Thunder immediately put the crown on his head. “Bow down before the great and terrible King Thunder!” Unfortunately, the crown was extremely large and slid down onto his shoulders, diminishing quickly his intended dramatic effect. “Creek
ers, these Mintarians had big heads!”
Bartholomew, Oliver, and Edmund stepped around the two marble thrones. Even Oliver laughed at the sight of Thunder wearing the huge crown on his shoulders. “Ah, a kingly figure if ever I saw one.”
Bartholomew grinned, turning to face the towering golden doors behind the two thrones. “I think this is it. It only makes sense that these doors lead to the Queen’s Treasure Chamber. It also makes sense that gaining access to the Treasure Chamber will not be a simple proposition.” He backed away from the doors and held out one paw, a pale green ray scanning across them. Then a brilliant red beam shot out, holding steady on a single point for almost half a minute. Finally, a massively powerful white beam streamed out from both his paws, blasting the door head on. The doors glowed brightly for a moment, but were otherwise unaffected. Bartholomew frowned. “Nothing. The doors are impervious to shaping – they simply absorb the energy.
Edmund tried next with equally disappointing results. He pushed, pounded and even smashed into the door at a full run with no effect. They tried blasting through the surrounding walls of the chamber and again were unsuccessful. The walls were as impregnable as the doors.
Bartholomew stood in front of the chamber scratching his head. “Wait, I have an idea. I can use the Traveling Eye to enter the chamber and examine the inside for structural weaknesses.” It was an excellent plan but proved as unsuccessful as the others. Even when he was a field of conscious energy his passage through the doors was blocked. He returned to his body and stood up. “Perhaps we should look around the palace for clues. I can’t think of anything else to try right now.”
Oliver studied the doors for a while then headed off with Edmund to explore other sections of the palace. He hoped they might find some Mintarian or Anarkkian technology on the lower levels which might be of use to them, or even a secret passageway leading into the Queen’s Chamber.