The Keepers Of The Light (God Stone Book 2)

by Andrew Schafer

  “That actually makes good sense. You don’t think there are big traps, do you?” Janis asked.

  “Yeah, I do, but here’s the thing. Lenny has that staff with him so he can just tap it out in front of us as we go making sure it’s safe. I figure any small traps will likely have already been triggered by the ra—”

  “Dumbass! This is an ancient weapon passed down from Turek himself. I’m not using it to test for traps!” Lenny said firmly.

  Pete rolled his eyes. “Like I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, it’s likely small game like rats have already triggered all but the big ones. We’ll just need to be careful.”

  Breanne followed behind Garrett, with David and the rest of the gang on her heels, as they hiked onward and noticeably downward for another twenty minutes. At least the smell seemed to get better the further they went – that or they were just getting used to it. Finally, they came to a section in the cave about twenty feet long that was covered in standing water. As they scanned their lights across the glassy stillness, they could see the floor rise up sharply out of the water into a single path that narrowed drastically. But that wasn’t all they could see. On the opposite side, two pairs of red eyes flashed as the light passed across them.

  Garrett pointed his flashlight directly at the eyes, illuminating two large rats who didn’t seem to be at all bothered by the light and continued to drink from the stagnant water.

  “This must be it!” Pete said.

  “What about them?! And how deep you think that water is?” David asked apprehensively.

  “David, stay calm,” Breanne said. She could just see this kid freaking out and running blindly into the standing water. No telling how deep it was.

  Paul stepped up next to Garrett. “Look, you been leading for a while, so I’ll go first. I’m not worried about a few rats.”

  Garrett hesitated.

  Paul smiled. “Garrett, a good leader understands that sometimes he has to delegate. Leading doesn’t always mean you go first. Let me take this.”

  Garrett nodded reluctantly. “Okay, but listen, you can’t go into that narrow area on the other side of the water without some way of checking for the traps.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. We also don’t know how deep the water is. For all we know, it could be a mile deep or a shallow puddle.”

  “For all we know, there could be sharpened spears hidden just beneath the surface,” David offered.

  Garrett looked at Lenny, who stood with his weight shifted on the staff.

  “What?”

  Now everyone looked at Lenny.

  “It’s invaluable! It’s the last thing Mr. B gave me!”

  “Lenny, he would want you to use it to keep us safe,” Garrett said.

  Time ticked away as an obstinate Lenny stared back defiantly.

  Finally, under the penetrating glare of the group, Lenny folded. “Fine! But I swear, man, if you trash my staff I’m going to be pissed!”

  “Look, Lenny, I know your teacher gave this to you and it means a lot. I promise I’ll do my best not to trash it, but here” – Paul held out his special knife – “I know it isn’t an ancient staff, but it has been with me for a very long time. Why don’t you hang onto it for me until I get you your staff back?”

  “I’ll take good care of it,” Lenny said in a thick voice as he reached out to take the knife. Then, offering his staff in return, he nodded to Paul.

  Using the staff to test the depth and sweep the bottom as he stepped, Paul crossed to the other side and motioned the others across.

  As Breanne stepped into the water, one of her father’s favorite sayings came to her. Baby girl, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. The stagnant pool, as it turned out, was just a cigar, nothing more than a low spot where water had collected.

  As they crossed, Paul shone his headlamp into the mouth of the narrowed section, calling out that he could see old rusted traps littered with bones. “You were right, Pete. It looks like most of these have been set off already.”

  “Well, keep on the lookout for any big ones that haven’t been.”

  Breanne watched closely as Paul made his way slowly through the tight crevice, the staff held in his right hand, tapping as he went. About halfway through, the staff made contact with something metal just below the surface of the dirt. So far all the traps had been small game traps, all had been triggered, and all were visible, due to having been sprung and thus pulled from their layer of cover. But not this trap. This trap was still covered, hidden under a thin layer of dirt.

  “I’ve got something, guys – stand by.”

  “Be careful, Paul,” Breanne said, trying to peer over Garrett’s shoulder.

  Breanne’s heart started to pound, and she suddenly became hot as she watched Paul attempt to jam Lenny’s staff under the edge of the trap to flip it up and over, away from him. She could see he was trying his best not to set the trap off on the staff.

  “Almost… got it,” he said, heaving the giant hunk of metal over. It was huge. Likely a bear trap. “Guys, there aren’t bears in Illinois, right?” When the trap landed upside down it went off with a loud snap! of cracking metal. The trap lurched upright, its clenching jaws forcing it to buckle upward.

  Everyone startled at the sound and Janis screamed, causing everyone to startle a second time. “Jesus! Sorry, guys. That scared the hell out of me.”

  “It’s fine, guys,” Paul called back to them. “I just set off the trap. We can keep moving.”

  A few minutes later Paul broke clear of the crevice. He stopped there at the mouth, assessing what he saw before him. “Check this out. I think we’re here.”

  Breanne and the others crowded out of the crevice behind him. The space opened up quite wide and, as she shone her light forward, she could see the path ahead dropped away at a gentle slope. Several yards out, the path disappeared into an angled wall. The wall was built of giant stone blocks stacked with perfect precision, and in the center was a large rectangular doorway. The wall around it was perfectly smooth and flat. It looked familiar to her, like the many pyramids she had seen all over the world. “It’s amazing! So beautiful,” she said.

  But then the stone wall was gone as white haze clouded her vision and something else came into focus from the corner of her eye.

  Paul took a single heavy step down the slope, shifting his full weight to his falling foot.

  Breanne’s scream was replaced tenfold by her brother’s, when in a horrible instant, rusty metal teeth snapped shut with all the force of a crocodile.

  22

  Below the Pyramid

  Wednesday, April 6 – God Stones Day 1

  Rural Chiapas State, Mexico

  Gabi, Itzel, and María shared uneasy glances as Gabi’s interpretation of the mural hung in the air between them.

  “Magic?” Itzel said, her face dubious. “Gabi, let’s be logical. Ancient wall paintings tell stories not necessarily meant to be taken literally.”

  “Itzel, I think this is pretty clear,” María said.

  “Really, María?! You too? Are you going to tell me this mural literally depicts giant stone blocks floating through the air using magic?” Itzel asked.

  “No. Of course not.”

  “I should say of course not!” Itzel said.

  “Not magic, but a technology we don’t understand. Something lost long ago?” María said.

  “Oh, come now, I have heard these theories. Objects being lifted with soundwaves or some such nonsense. You can’t be serious!”

  “Look at the wall, Itzel,” María said, pointing. “The blocks of the pyramid are just floating into place. How do you explain it? How do you explain a race of giants? Would you have believed they existed if their skulls weren’t sitting here in front of you?”

  “No. No, I suppose not,” she said quietly.

  The three women approached the wall again, each taking up positions on all sides of the pyramid, their brushes dancing rhythmically as each stirred a tiny cloud of du
st.

  Gabi was on only the second step of her ladder, dusting underneath the painted pyramid, an area she didn’t expect to contain any secrets, but suddenly something began to take shape. She cocked her head to one side as a chamber came into view. It was circular, with a spiral staircase. That’s our chamber, she thought. Below that chamber was a long tube. Sarah’s shaft, she thought, looking back toward the center of the room where her father and Fredy knelt by the hole.

  “Mamá, look at this,” she breathed, barely above a whisper, unsure of what she was seeing. But her mother didn’t hear her. Her own face was creased in concentration as she gazed upon her own work.

  Gabi dusted more, making sure to only apply enough pressure to remove the layer of sediment while trying to make the brush dance like her mother’s. Below the long tube something else was coming into focus – something huge.

  Finally, her mother announced, “Look here!”

  María and Gabi stepped back again to take it in.

  “This shows a single giant coming to this land and tormenting the indigenous people. See here, this looks like women were being dragged off into the jungle… Stolen!” Then she pointed. “This area depicts smaller giants. Two, then – see here? – four, then eight. They are multiplying!” She circled a different area with her brush. “Then, here we see them building this pyramid.”

  “Stealing the women to breed with them? María Purísima, Itzel!” María pointed now further down the wall. “Then later there was a war. I see now, we started at the end, not at the beginning. These skulls are the result of the giants that were defeated. They were placed here,” Itzel said. “But see here, many escaped, retreating, but where to?”

  “Yes, and why put the skulls here at all?” Itzel asked.

  Finally, Gabi spoke up, pointing below the pyramid. “Mamá, look! I think they are here to warn people away from that.”

  They stared at the images below the pyramid.

  “That can’t be real!” María said.

  “No, María? But like you said, neither can these skulls,” Itzel said quietly.

  “Mamá, we need to get Sarah.”

  “Ay, María Purísima… Sarah!”

  23

  Rusty Bite

  Wednesday, April 6 – God Stones Day 1

  Petersburg, Illinois

  “Paul!” Garrett shouted as he ran forward.

  “Garrett, wait! Stop, there could be more traps!” Pete warned.

  Garrett didn’t stop, not until he got to Paul. Lenny and Breanne were right on his heels. Garrett knelt beside him, noticing right away several of the bear trap’s teeth bit deeply into Paul’s leg just above his ankle bone. He sat yanking at the trap trying helplessly to pull it apart. “It’s going to be okay, Paul,” Garrett said unconvincingly.

  “Get it… off me!” Paul groaned, blood flowing freely from the punctures on both sides of his leg, soaking his pant leg.

  Lenny and Garrett nodded at each other, each grabbing one side of the trap.

  “Keep him still, Bre. This is going to hurt like hell!” Garrett said.

  “It’s going to be okay, Paul. You’re going to be okay,” Bre said, her voice trembling.

  “Just do it,” Paul grunted through clenched teeth.

  They pulled. It took all their strength to pry apart the trap and for a second Garrett thought the blood-slicked metal might slip from his grasp.

  Paul growled, sounding more like the animal the trap was meant for as he pulled his foot clear of the steel jaws.

  Pete wedged a chunk of the trap’s chain in between the teeth to allow Lenny and Garrett to free their fingers as they eased the trap closed.

  As soon as Paul’s foot was clear, he began giving instruction. “Lenny, you still have my knife?”

  “Yeah, sure,” he said, producing Paul’s Ka-Bar.

  “Open it… quick.”

  Lenny flipped the tactical knife open with a nudge from his thumb.

  “Good. Now… cut my pant leg… off… above the wound,” he said in short breaths.

  Lenny quickly cut Paul’s pants. The wound was horrible. It looked like he had been attacked by a shark or something equally toothy.

  Garrett’s stomach turned.

  “Oh Jesus, Paul!” Breanne said.

  “Just stay calm. We need… to get this bleeding… under control, before I pass out,” Paul said shakily.

  Garrett wished they had saved some of their black belts, but what they didn’t use they discarded back at the pit. Thinking quickly, he took off his dobok top and tossed it to Lenny. “Use this.”

  “It’s not exactly warm down here, man,” Lenny said.

  “Yeah, so I’ll be cold,” Garrett said, throwing up his hands. “Look, man, the dobok is made of thick material, so it should work, right?”

  “Yeah… it’ll work fine… but hurry… I’m getting really dizzy here, guys.” Paul looked grey as the blood drained from his face. “Lenny, cut the sleeves off and give… back the rest… keep his core warm… Besides…” – he winked weakly at Bre – “I think my sis… likes the show… too much.”

  “How in the hell can you make jokes at a time like this?!” Breanne tried to scold.

  Paul chuckled in response.

  “And how can you be laughing?” she asked.

  Garrett felt a renewed urgency. It had been there all along, but now it was spurring him forward. Everyone else must have been feeling it too because they kept looking back the way they came, as if waiting for Apep to burst forth from the darkness.

  “Pete, take the staff and make sure there are no more traps.” Garrett nodded toward the temple entrance. Turning back to David, he said, “David keep a look out for Apep.”

  Garrett and Lenny wrapped Paul’s ankle as tightly as they could.

  Paul’s eyes rolled back then snapped back into focus. “Okay, now see that keychain looking thing hanging from my pack? It’s a short length of paracord. Uncoil it and cinch it tight around my leg.”

  Garrett uncoiled the tiny cord, wrapped Paul’s ankle, and yanked.

  Paul grunted, “Tighter!”

  Garrett and Lenny each took an end of the knot and pulled together… hard.

  “Ah!” Paul shouted. “That’s good. Help me up! Let’s move!”

  Around the doorway were scattered bones. But these bones looked different from the ones in and around the traps. “We got human bones over here, guys!” Pete announced. “Breanne, can you have a look at these?”

  Paul nodded. “Go on, sis, I’m right behind you.”

  Breanne approached and began examining the bones, entryway, and exposed wall. “These are human for sure and look at the angle of this exposed wall. Interesting.”

  “What are you thinking?” Pete asked.

  “I’m thinking, the pitch of this wall screams pyramid,” she said, running her hand along it. “The entryway too, the way it’s built into the wall.”

  “Are there any more traps, Pete?” Breanne asked, hesitating before walking into the opening.

  “No, well, according to Lincoln’s journal anyway.”

  “Yeah, but it didn’t mention the one outside the gap either, right?” Lenny said.

  “True, but it’s likely after all those years, he simply forgot he had placed one outside the crevice.”

  “Simply forgot? That thing nearly hacked off Paul’s foot! What else did he simply forget?” Lenny asked in annoyance.

  Paul climbed to his feet. “Lenny, it’s not that bad. Let’s finish this, then I’ll get to a hospital and get it all fixed up,” he said thickly, forcing a smile. “You mind if I hang on to your staff a little longer? It makes a good crutch.”

  “No, of course not, bro.”

  Pete stepped hesitantly beside Breanne. “I doubt he would forget a whole other series of traps. I think this was just a one-off but, yeah, we should proceed with caution.”

  “Yeah, then you go first, Pete,” Lenny said.

  Garrett drew his sword. “I’ll go first.”


  Pete nodded and fell in behind Garrett; Breanne and Janis fell in behind Pete, David behind the girls, and finally a hobbling Paul with assistance from Lenny fell in behind the rest. They moved from the cave into the opening. Their shuffling feet echoed off the walls.

  Finally, they were in the temple or pyramid or whatever this place was. The evening had seemed so surreal, but it was all really happening. This place really did exist.

  Garrett’s thoughts were heavy with the tasks the coming moments would require. He let the flashlight beam move across the blade of his sword. He was about to cut off the head of a space alien.

  24

  Temples and Tombs

  Wednesday, April 6 – God Stones Day 1

  Petersburg, Illinois

  Pete broke the soft scuffle of feet with a whisper. “According to Lincoln, we should be really close to the main chamber. In the journal, he mentions a tunnel lined with racks of bones right before the main chamber.”

  “Racks of bones? That’s very strange,” Breanne said.

  “Yeah, well no, not bones, skulls. Racks of skulls,” Pete corrected.

  Breanne flipped her light from the floor to the back of Pete’s head. “Guys, on my Dad’s dig site in Mexico, just before the site collapsed, we found what has to be one of the largest sets of skull racks ever discovered!” Sarah, oh, I wish we could talk, she thought.

  “So, that’s cool. I guess, right? You might find some more here,” Pete said.

  “No, Pete, that’s not what I mean – the site in Mexico has tzompantli, Aztec skull racks. There shouldn’t be any Aztec skull racks here, in central Illinois. The indigenous peoples in this area didn’t make skull racks out of human heads.”

  “Well, maybe that’s not what they are,” Pete offered.

  “Maybe. Yeah, I’m sure it couldn’t be.” She let the subject drop. They were fully inside the opening. As in a pyramid, the corridor was constructed of perfectly cut and stacked stone. The ceiling was high above their heads, and there was plenty of room to walk three wide. “If there are any seams in the stone, I sure can’t see them,” she said, running her hand down a wall.