With nothing else to lose, she took a breath and swam forward, her mouth agape as the shock made her gasp for air. She went under and resurfaced and then rolled onto her back and floated as she remembered advice from her childhood. Sixty seconds, she thought as she tried to stay calm: the time it took someone to acclimatise to a sudden plunge into cold water. Lying on her back, she tried not to imagine what might be living in this dark lake, and relaxed until the shock passed and her gasps for air had subsided.
Able to function again, she rolled onto her front and spat out the salty water she now found herself swimming through.
Salt water, she thought, how can that be?
She continued swimming, the sound of her passage sending more ripples washing against the closest wall.
It was still too dark to see with any definition, but she could just make out the width of the corridor through which she swam. It was as monstrously large as the pyramid itself. She looked up as she continued her breaststroke. The ceiling high above glinted like the heavens and she realised the light came from tiny pinpricks of light which resembled the night sky. It was almost as if she swam beneath the stars outside, rather than in the confines of an ancient unopened tomb.
An intersection opened out before her and she found she could go right, left, or straight ahead. She continued heading straight on, as she could just make out more steps leading up out of the water.
Soon, she emerged, shivering from the chill of the underground lake. She struggled out of her clothes and wrung them dry as best she could, lest she freeze to death. But as she set off once more, after redressing, she failed to see her drugs pouch floating at the water’s edge, a pouch which contained the only thing that kept her in the land of the living, and free from a possession which had already seen her savagely murder over twenty people.
♦
Sarah continued up the steep incline, the stone steps unrelenting as she moved ever upwards. The stars which shone on the ceiling still sparkled in the dark, guiding her way through a passage capable of swallowing a large double-decker bus. Still cold, she zipped up her Deep Reach jacket in an attempt to dry it out with her body heat.
A noise up ahead made her pause and then she noticed a small stream of water flowing down the edge of the steps on her right. She moved closer to the wall and realised it was colder than the air around it. She reached out and touched it, and then wiped away a covering of frost to reveal a smooth black surface beneath. It reminded her of the crystal wall she’d seen back in Sanctuary, the same crystal where she’d tried to bring her lost love, Riley Orton, back from the dead. She continued up the stairs, which ended as abruptly as they’d begun. A layer of mist wreathed the dark hall and Sarah wiped away more of the wall frost and stepped back in shock.
A large eye peered back at her from within the crystalline structure. Its massive iris reflected the simulated stars, which shone bright on the ceiling above. Sarah’s heart raced as she moved closer and realised it wasn’t some kind of monster lurking within, but a beast of burden: a large bison. She wiped away more frost to reveal another beside it and another beside that, each time the icy covering quickly re-crystallising to conceal the creatures within. Amazed, she uncovered more animals entombed inside the walls, many of which she knew had become extinct hundreds of thousands of years before.
She came to a crack in the crystal, where a stream of water seeped out to create the tiny river which ran down the steps. The crystal melted from the inside out and the animal closest to it, an enormous sloth-like creature, would soon be exposed to the air.
Another noise made Sarah turn to see a shadowy figure standing sixty feet away, watching her from within the pervasive gloom.
She froze and watched it, as it watched her.
Goosebumps prickled her arms. Is this the thing Avery showed me? she wondered, terrified. Has this place made it real? Not knowing what to do, she somehow mustered the courage to move slowly towards it, but the closer she got the more scared she became. It wasn’t moving and she could see its eyes now, reflecting starlight from the artificial night sky above.
She stopped, not daring to move any closer. It looked human and its breathing sounded as loud as hers, as they eyed each other in silence.
It moved and Sarah jumped back in alarm. And then it backed away and turned and ran. Knowing she had little choice but to follow, she set off in cautious pursuit.
The way ahead sloped upwards and the starlight increased, allowing Sarah to see the being she chased pass through a large stone arch. A moment later she followed it through into a cavernous chamber, five times as high as the immense hallway she’d just traversed.
The width of the chamber narrowed, the higher it went, and Sarah continued to pursue the figure until it slowed to a stop, and then turned to face her.
‘What do you want?!’ it said, its voice echoing through the pyramid. ‘Want ... want ... want ...’
‘Jason?’ Sarah said, moving closer. ‘Is that you?’
The figure retreated. ‘Keep away from me!’
‘Jason, oh, my God, it’s me, Sarah!’
Jason remained where he was and Sarah drew closer still until she could see his face.
‘I said, keep back,’ he said, brandishing a small knife, his face filled with terror.
Sarah held up her hands and laughed with delight. ‘I thought I’d never find you again.’
He slashed the air in warning and Sarah jumped back, the blade just missing her throat.
‘Jason, what the f—’
He was running again, taking the giant steps as fast as he could in a desperate attempt to escape.
Sarah followed; her short-lived relief at seeing her friend replaced by confusion and a sense of dread. ‘Jason!’ she said, unable to keep up. She looked down at her hands which trembled and shook. ‘Not again.’ She clenched her fists and continued her chase, but Jason had disappeared into the gloom and she was forced to stop, her chest heaving as she struggled to breathe.
‘JASON!’ Sarah said, slumping to the ground. ‘Come back.’
Chapter Two Hundred Thirty-Two
Sarah lay shivering on the cold stone staircase, the misty vapour of the Anakim pyramid half covering her body as she gazed up at the starlit ceiling high above. ‘Jason,’ she said. ‘It’s me – it’s me, Sarah.’ She closed her eyes. ‘Don’t leave me here.’
A moment later a shock of pain made her eyes flare open.
Drugs, she thought. I need my drugs! She searched her pockets, but the more she searched, the more frantic she became and the more frantic she became the more she searched. ‘Where is it?’ she said, her desperate need for the drug overwhelming. ‘Where is it?!’
She felt around on the floor and found herself crawling back the way she’d come until her knees hurt and her vision swam.
She ceased her movement and lent against one of the steps in exhaustion. She’d lost the only thing that kept her going. Soon she’d be crippled, with no chance of escape or of finding Jason again.
She still couldn’t believe he’d run from her. You crazy Welsh fool, she thought. Why did you have to run?
But, despite his strange behaviour, just knowing Jason was close gave her hope. If he was here, then Trish couldn’t be far away, either.
But he almost killed you. She remembered the look of fear in his eyes and the knife in his hand. Perhaps he knows I’m a killer, she thought, and then had a horrific notion. Perhaps I’ve killed Trish.
‘It would explain his behaviour,’ said the other voice in her head. ‘And you opened the pyramid’s entrance without the pendant, which means you also opened the frieze.’
Screams of people running and dying flashed through her mind. I killed those people, she thought in horror. I killed them all. I killed Trish!
Sarah closed her eyes and prayed it wasn’t so.
She held her stomach. A deep gnawing pain ate away at her from within, and it wasn’t just the despair that swamped her. She felt hungry, like she could eat for a
week. She thought back to the creature in the wall and imagined eating its flesh. Her gaze drifted down to the wall before her, where a faint light gleamed from deep within.
She sat up. Her eyes narrowed and she climbed to her feet as her tremors subsided. The light moved as she did. The closer she got, the closer it came to the wall, seemingly from within.
‘It’s the same wall,’ Sarah said to herself.
The smooth glass-like surface reflected her image back at her, just like the wall she’d seen with Chen and the Malaysian, Farish. But, unlike the small section which had transformed Farish into a crazed killer, this wall was enormous and ran up both sides of the gallery in which she now stood.
‘A gallery,’ Sarah said. ‘Just like the Pyramid of Giza, but bigger.’ She looked up at the reflection inside the enormous wall, which stretched up over two hundred feet above her. ‘Much bigger.’
The more she thought about her passage through the Anakim pyramid, the more she realised its layout matched its Egyptian counterpart. ‘The source of Egypt,’ she whispered. But what does it mean?
She looked back at her reflection and the dark vapour which writhed over her body. The light came from within her reflection, and now she thought about it, she’d seen the same thing back in the tunnels behind the frieze. Except then, she, Chen and Farish had flashlights, which had suppressed the illumination, which continued to shine from within her image in the mirrored wall.
As she stared, mesmerised by the strange phenomenon, she couldn’t help but wonder if these walls stretched throughout the pyramid and beyond.
The pulsating light continued to swirl inside her mirror image, while the writhing darkness drew her focus down to dark patterns, which eddied and swirled over the white gleaming radiance. ‘So pretty,’ she whispered and reached out to touch it, the compulsion all-encompassing.
An image of Farish slitting Chen’s throat flashed into her mind’s eye and she stopped her fingers short, unaware she’d been reaching out at all.
She looked up at the staircase, dragging her eyes away from the wall. Jason was close and her hope Trish was still alive and with him remained an elusive dream. You don’t have time to dawdle, she thought, trying to clear her head. My seizures could start at any moment. Driven on by necessity, she set off once more, one oversized step at a time, while her reflection followed her every move and the light within grew brighter.
♦
Avery Cantrell wrung out the bottom of his black robes and then followed Major Lanter and his five other Swiss guards as they ascended another set of stone steps, while behind him, Zinetti and Ruben stayed close.
‘Cantrell,’ Zinetti said. He stooped down to pick something up.
Avery stopped to look back.
‘Morgan’s drugs.’ Zinetti threw the pouch to him.
Avery caught it and peered inside and then looked at Ruben. ‘She’s alive.’
‘Or was,’ Zinetti said. ‘She might have drowned.’
Avery shook his head. ‘No, she’s too strong a swimmer. We must hurry,’ – he held up the pouch – ‘before she’s lost to us.’
The Vatican party set off again, their speed increased, but as they hurried up a stone staircase and passed beneath an archway into a large gallery with mirrored walls, the lights from the Swiss guard’s helmets flickered and died, along with Ruben’s flashlight.
Major Lanter tapped some buttons on the side of his helmet, but the lights wouldn’t turn back on, and soon after, his high-tech visor and head-up-display also failed. He raised his visor. ‘Anyone got power?’
His men told him no and Zinetti swore.
‘Use my robe,’ Ruben said, and the sound of ripping cloth could be heard in the dark.
A minute later, a spark of fire ignited a torch Major Lanter had fashioned out of his sword and the rag from Ruben’s habit.
‘I soaked it in oil.’ Lanter held the tip of his sword lower so the five other Swiss guards could ignite their own. ‘It should last us for a while, at least.’
Avery gazed up at the ceiling and the sparkling stars, and then at the mirrored walls. He waved his hand and watched his reflection do the same.
Zinetti moved closer to it.
‘Stay your hand,’ Ruben said, as the Italian cardinal reached out to it. ‘It’s not safe.’
‘And you know this, how?’ Zinetti said, his tone scathing.
Ruben frowned as he studied their reflections. ‘I can feel it.’
‘I’d do as he says,’ Avery said. ‘He has a nose for these things.’
Zinetti muttered a curse and withdrew his hand, and the party of nine continued their ascent, while unseen behind them ten dark figures emerged from freezing waters, their black cloaks clinging to their bodies.
The Knights of the Apocalypse drew their swords with a sibilant hiss and Konstantin motioned for silence and advanced as they shadowed their prey.
Chapter Two Hundred Thirty-Three
Jason Reece looked back the way he’d come. He couldn’t see any sign of pursuit in the faint light cast by the stars on the ceiling above. He pushed at the wall before him and the massive stone slab pivoted at its centre, allowing him to move inside.
The rotational doorway swivelled round to close behind him without a sound.
‘Is she out there?’ a woman said.
Jason nodded. ‘It’s found us.’
Nicola Dowling, the leader of the Vatican’s first expedition, waved him forward.
‘How is she?’ he said, crouching down beside her.
Nicola shook her head. ‘It’s not good.’
Jason reached out and touched Trish’s hand. She looked pale in the starlit glow. He brushed her hair out of her eyes. ‘I told her not to touch it.’
Nicola glanced at the mirrored walls which enclosed the giant chamber located at the pyramid’s heart. ‘It’s a way into the spirit world.’
‘I don’t care what it is,’ he said. ‘We need her back.’ He held Trish’s hand. ‘I need her back.’
‘Do you think she will find us, your friend?’
‘That thing is not my friend,’ Jason said.
‘Then whatever possesses her, then. Did she see you open the door?’
Jason shook his head. ‘No, I scared it off, although—’
‘Although what?’
‘It was different than before.’
Nicola Dowling gave him a strange look. ‘Different?’
‘It spoke to me. It sounded like it was her, really Sarah.’
‘Maybe it was.’
‘Do you think?’ Jason said, his hopes rising.
‘If she was lucid, it won’t last. We both know what she’s capable of. She killed my whole team, tore them apart like an animal.’
‘What really happened before we met?’ Jason said. ‘You still haven’t told me, not completely.’
Nicola looked at him and then down at Trish, the expedition leader’s gaze lost in thought.
‘Nicola?’ he said.
She turned away to stare into the darkness, as she remembered the past. Jason was about to ask again when she said, ‘We’d been exploring the tunnels beneath the plateau for days, searching for clues of Agartha’s whereabouts, which remained elusive. The tunnels themselves were beyond anything we could have ever have imagined. They extended for miles, but all of the lower levels were flooded with salt water, preventing us from descending any further.’
‘Salt water?’ Jason said. ‘Like we swam through to get here?’
Nicola nodded. ‘In prehistoric times, Mongolia was a sea, although it’s strange for it to be found this high up, very strange.’
‘Go on,’ he said.
‘We thought we’d made a massive breakthrough when we found the metal artefact – what I later found out was the reverse of the Anakim frieze – but when the entrance we’d unearthed caved in, I barely escaped with my life and everyone else was trapped inside, with no means of escape.’
She paused in her tale, her expression a mask of regret.
Jason waited for her to continue, but when she remained silent he said, ‘What did you do, then?’
‘I headed for the communications tent to call for help, but Konstantin and his knights had set up refuge just outside the camp, preventing me from reaching it. I considered trying to sneak past them, but it was way too risky, so I decided to go back to the entrance and tried in vain for hours to dig my team out by hand.’ She bunched her fist in frustration. ‘If I could have used the excavator I would have got them out, I know it, but it would have alerted Konstantin and his fanatics to my presence.’
Trish moved and let out a whimper of fear, but didn’t wake.
Nicola stroked Trish’s hair and resumed her tale. ‘It was Konstantin’s knights who caused the collapse.’
‘Didn’t they see you escape?’ Jason said.
Nicola shook her head. ‘I was lucky, it was dark and the dust produced in the cave-in masked me from view. I managed to crawl to safety and by the time they’d gone, I was on my own.’ She paused at the memory and then said, ‘When you and Trish arrived at the dig site, I thought that was my chance to get word to the Vatican.’
‘But it wasn’t, was it?’
Nicola shook her head. ‘No. The knights had left, but I had to make sure I stayed hidden. If the second expedition had found me, Konstantin would have attacked and we’d all have died. They’d stop at nothing to prevent us gaining access to whatever lies buried underground.’
‘And that’s when Sarah found you,’ Jason said.
‘Yes, that night, and when she opened the frieze with her hand, I couldn’t believe it, it was so simple. I was reunited with my team, and then she returned with you and that’s when it happened. That’s when she turned.’
‘I can still hear the screams,’ Jason said. He looked down at Trish and squeezed her hand. ‘Trish suspected something was wrong with her from the start. Sarah wasn’t acting right, she hardly spoke and when she did it was like she didn’t know us, you know?’
Ancient Origins: Books 4 - 6 (Ancient Origins Boxset Book 2) Page 117