Ancient Origins: Books 4 - 6 (Ancient Origins Boxset Book 2)

by Robert Storey

  Nicola nodded. ‘We were lucky to find our way here, or she’d have killed us, too.’ She gave Jason a shy smile. ‘And you’ve kept us alive ever since.’

  Jason smiled in return, not for the first time noticing how attractive she was. ‘It was nothing.’ He looked down guiltily at Trish in case she’d seen the exchange, but his friend and one-time lover remained in her unconscious state.

  Nicola touched his arm and then stood up. ‘I better see if I can block that door.’

  Jason gave a nod and watched her walk away in the gloom, his eyes straying to the seductive sway of her hips. He shook his head and returned his attention to Trish. ‘I’m not that guy,’ he whispered to her. ‘I still love you, I do, but it’s not my fault if you don’t love me back.’ His eyes drifted back to Nicola Dowling, the woman he’d grown to depend on in their short time together, and wondered if he might have a better chance with her than he’d had with Trish. What are you thinking? he thought, remembering Sarah was close by. We’ll be lucky if we make it out of here alive.

  Chapter Two Hundred Thirty-Four

  Sarah continued her ascent up the steps, her body resisting the exertion while her mind willed her on. She came to a stop. The way ahead was blocked by a solid wall. But she knew Jason had come this way and he couldn’t have got past her. I would have heard, wouldn’t I? She knew she would have. Then, where is he? she wondered.

  ‘Think, Sarah,’ she told herself. ‘Where am I? A pyramid. And not just any pyramid, but one that matches the one in Giza.’ She thought back to her time in the Vatican and recalled what Cardinal Zinetti had told her was written in the Golden Scroll.

  ‘The scroll talks of a land mirrored by Egypt,’ Zinetti had said, ‘or perhaps another translation would be the Source of Egypt.’

  She looked at the gallery’s walls and their strange reflective properties.

  She looked closer and saw the reflection of the wall, which blocked her path, didn’t resemble what she saw in reality. There was something different about it she couldn’t quite place. She looked back at the real-life object and ran her hand over the sculpted relief adorning it: an Anakim woman holding her hands aloft to the heavens. Similar to the image she’d seen on the floor of the mountainside cave, where she’d opened the pyramid’s entrance, this image contained no circle indentation indicating it could be activated.

  She looked back at the mirror image and saw what had caught her eye. The woman’s hands were facing backwards in the real world, but were turned outward in the mirror. This was strange in itself, another visual oddity produced by the strange wall. Sarah suddenly had a thought and looked in the wall opposite and its mirror image. Again, the difference was subtle, but obvious when you knew what to look for. In this wall the Anakim woman’s hands were turned on their side.

  ‘Three positions,’ Sarah murmured to herself. She copied each position of the hands with her own. Facing out, facing sideways and then facing back. She did it faster and realised it produced a turning motion and that’s when the second thought hit her, The Pyramid of Giza was reported to have a swivel door at its entrance!

  ‘It’s the same as the one in Egypt,’ she said to herself. ‘Just like the gallery and the passages leading up to it. Or rather,’ – she felt the wall with her hands – ‘a pyramid mirrored by the one in Egypt.’

  She placed her hands against the sculpture and pushed, and ever so slightly, the wall moved.

  Chapter Two Hundred Thirty-Five

  Sarah pressed harder against the wall, but it moved no further. She looked up at it in frustration, until a light reflecting from its surface made her turn around.

  Avery, Zinetti, Ruben and six Swiss guards stood on the steps below her, one of them being Major Lanter.

  ‘Sarah?’ Avery said, looking up at her. He moved closer. ‘Thank God, are you okay?’

  Sarah looked at him and then to Ruben. She turned back to the wall. ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘I’ve found your drugs,’ Avery said, touching her arm. ‘You should really take another shot, it must be a while since you last took one, isn’t it?’

  Sarah accepted the pouch and noticed her hand shook as she pocketed it.

  ‘She’s not taking it,’ Zinetti said, sounding scared. ‘Why isn’t she taking it?’

  Two of Major Lanter’s men pointed their sidearms at her and Ruben looked equally wary.

  Sarah frowned and then took a step towards them and everyone backed away.

  Oh, my God, Sarah thought, they’re terrified of me.

  ‘Take the drugs,’ Major Lanter said, his hand straying to his own weapon. ‘Or we’ll do it for you.’

  Sarah knew they weren’t messing about. Something had them spooked, if they weren’t already and she half guessed it was her ability to activate the entrance to the pyramid. Not to mention her visions and other damning evidence, which all pointed to her being possessed by something which had used her to butcher over twenty people.

  She withdrew the pouch, her longing for the drug returning with a vengeance. Her hand shook as she opened it and Avery said, ‘Here, let me help you.’

  He took her wrist and injected the vial into the vein in her arm. She sighed in relief as the pleasure increased and the pain eased. ‘And another one for good measure,’ Avery said, slipping in another vial and depressing the plunger before she had the chance to resist.

  Her pupils dilated and she gasped as the second dose intensified the euphoria beyond anything she’d ever felt. She slumped against him and he patted her back. ‘There, there, my dear,’ he said. ‘You’ll be okay now. You’ll see.’

  Avery let her go and Zinetti said something to her.

  She blinked and turned her attention to Major Lanter and his five men, who each held a burning torch that fluttered and flared in the dark.

  ‘Wonderful,’ Zinetti said, as Sarah stared into the flames. ‘She’s in the land of the fairies.’

  ‘If she’s of no use to us,’ Lanter said, ‘we should tie her up. Or ...’ He held up his gun.

  ‘She’s always of use,’ Avery said, annoyed. ‘You both know how precious she is, why do you persist in trying my patience?’ He put his arm around her protectively. ‘And no one hurts so much as a hair on her head – do you hear me?’

  Zinetti and Lanter said nothing and Sarah stumbled round to look at the wall and then pushed feebly against it.

  ‘There’s no way through,’ Lanter said. ‘Why build a staircase to nowhere?’

  Sarah looked at the wall in confusion. The drugs had taken their toll and she was having trouble concentrating, let alone speaking. It doesn’t lead nowhere, she thought, it’s a door.

  ‘We have to go back,’ Zinetti said.

  Avery sighed. ‘Maybe you’re right. We should try going left where the passages converge.’ He took Sarah by her arm and led her away.

  They all turned to leave, but Avery stopped and looked back at Ruben who remained staring at the wall.

  ‘I don’t think they did,’ Ruben said.

  ‘Did what?’ Avery asked him.

  ‘I don’t think they did build a staircase to nowhere.’ He looked at the mirrored wall and the reflections within.

  Sarah tried to speak, but it came out in a slurred mess.

  Ruben looked back at the wall, which Sarah attempted to reach, despite Avery pulling her away.

  ‘I think it’s a door.’ Ruben touched Sarah’s arm. ‘Is that what you’re trying to tell us, it’s a way through?’

  Sarah looked at him and nodded.

  Ruben braced himself against it, pushed and the wall gave an inch.

  ‘Major,’ Avery said. ‘Your help, if you please.’

  Major Lanter handed the cardinal his sword, strode forward and joined Ruben at the wall. They pushed together and the wall inched back. Two more Swiss guards moved to assist and a gap appeared, and then something gave and they stumbled forward as the wall spun round. Avery dragged Sarah forward, and Zinetti and the other soldiers dashed after them, the door closi
ng behind them all with a muffled whisper.

  ♦

  Major Lanter reclaimed his torch and held it aloft to reveal the wall, which was now behind them. It gave no clue as to the mechanism inside, its seamless edge indistinguishable from the walls around it.

  ‘More weird walls,’ Zinetti said, noticing the mirrored surfaces matched those in the gallery they’d just left behind.

  ‘What’s that?’ Avery said, pointing.

  The Swiss Guard raised their torches higher to illuminate a vast circular chamber which housed a pyramid at its centre.

  ‘A pyramid within a pyramid,’ Avery said.

  ‘Is it the gate?’ Zinetti said.

  Avery motioned the soldiers forward and Major Lanter raised his sword higher to light their way down another staircase.

  ‘Who are you?!’ said a voice.

  The Swiss guards spun round with a whoosh of flame and sidearms drawn.

  ‘Reveal yourself!’ Lanter said, squinting into the dark.

  Two figures moved forward into the light.

  Avery stepped forward. ‘Ms Dowling, is that you?’

  ‘Cardinal Avery?’

  ‘It is you!’ He walked forward and embraced her. ‘Thank the stars!’

  ‘I feared no one would ever come,’ Nicola Dowling said.

  Avery looked at the man standing next to her. ‘Who’s your friend?’

  ‘Jason Reece,’ Jason said, looking at him with suspicion.

  ‘Sarah’s friend?’

  Jason didn’t reply as his eyes widened in fear. ‘Oh my God, you brought her with you!’ He pulled Nicola Dowling away and Avery turned to look to where Sarah stood, just behind Ruben and Zinetti.

  ‘He knows,’ Zinetti said. He moved away from Sarah as everyone turned to look at the monster in their midst. The monster they all knew by the name of Sarah Morgan.

  ♦

  Sarah gazed up at the ceiling’s sparkling stars, her mind a blur of drug-induced wonder.

  ‘So pretty,’ she murmured, before raised voices made her look towards Avery, and then she saw Jason, who stared at her in horror.

  ‘Jason?’ Sarah said, taking an unsteady step forward. ‘It’s me. I’ve been searching for you.’

  Jason brandished his knife. ‘Stay away!’

  Sarah tottered towards him in confusion. ‘But you’re my friend.’ She looked past him to where Trish lay on the floor. ‘Trish!’

  Sarah stumbled forward, but Jason shoved her back.

  ‘Stay away from her!’ he said, and then looked at Avery. ‘Keep her away! What are you doing? Don’t you know what she is!?’

  Avery motioned to Major Lanter, who moved to shepherd Sarah away from her friends.

  ‘She’s fine,’ Avery said. ‘We’ve administered drugs to suppress her urges. She’s no threat to you.’

  ‘Fine?’ Jason looked at him in distress. ‘Fine? You have no idea what’s she’s done.’

  ‘We do,’ Zinetti said. ‘More than you know.’

  Jason looked to where three other Swiss guards, bedecked in their gleaming red armour, kept their guns firmly trained on Sarah.

  ‘You know?’ he said, shocked.

  ‘She’s still your friend,’ Avery said, ‘but she’s fighting a losing battle.’

  Jason didn’t look convinced.

  ‘Did you want to speak with her?’

  Jason gazed at Sarah. ‘Trish said we couldn’t abandon her, that she was still our friend – that she was still in there, somewhere.’

  ‘But you thought differently?’ Avery said.

  Jason nodded. ‘Trish didn’t see what I saw. Sarah gutted someone with her bare hands and broke another’s neck like a twig. She’s strong, really strong. I was lucky to escape with my life.’ He looked at Nicola Dowling. ‘We all were.’

  ‘He’s right,’ Dowling said. ‘If we want to survive, she needs to be dealt with. And if not now, when?’

  They all looked to where Sarah stood, her expression one of longing as she stared at the friend who’d spurned her.

  ♦

  ‘What do we do?’ Zinetti said.

  ‘Just keep her away from me.’ Jason backed away, and they followed him to where a woman lay on the floor.

  ‘Trish Brook, I presume,’ Avery said, looking down at the feverish woman.

  Jason nodded and wiped the sweat from her brow.

  ‘What’s wrong her?’ Ruben said, crouching down next to her.

  ‘We don’t know,’ Jason said. ‘She touched the wall and then collapsed soon after.’

  Nicola Dowling put her arm around him. ‘We’re safe now,’ she said. ‘Cardinal Avery will help us, you’ll see.’

  Jason nodded and stood up. ‘We need to get out of here. And Sarah can’t be in here with us, she’s too dangerous.’

  ‘Because of what she’s done?’ Avery said.

  ‘You found my team, didn’t you?’ Nicola Dowling said.

  Avery nodded.

  ‘Then you know what she’s capable of,’ Jason said.

  ‘What do you suggest we do?’ Zinetti said. ‘We can’t kill her. We need her to open the gate.’

  ‘Gate?’ Jason said. ‘What gate?’

  ‘I think I’ve found it,’ Nicola said. ‘I’ve been studying the pyramid’s texts and it mentions it by name.’

  ‘You’ve found it?’ Avery said, looking excited.

  Nicola Dowling smiled and gave a nod, then gestured at the pyramid in the centre of the chamber. ‘Shall I show you?’

  ‘Wait,’ Jason said. ‘Leave one of your soldiers with me.’ He looked to where Sarah stared back at him from within the darkness.

  Avery motioned for a Swiss guard with a torch to remain guarding Trish and Jason, before following Dowling down the steps to the chamber’s centre.

  ♦

  Sarah looked at her friends through the gloom and felt a deep sense of loss. She’d put so much effort into trying to find them, and now she had, they hated her like everyone else did. She glanced at Avery. Well, not everyone, she thought. She looked back to where Jason crouched down next to Trish, his arm held protectively over her as he threw Sarah furtive glances filled with fear.

  It was then she realised she had to prove to Jason she wasn’t the monster he thought she was. But how can I do that? she wondered, as her mind regained some of its capacity for thought. I am the monster he thinks I am.

  Not now, you’re not, she told herself. I’m here, now, as me, I don’t want to hurt anyone. I never want to hurt anyone. She recalled Ruben’s words: Our beliefs create our reality. It was a powerful concept and if her belief did become her reality, then she knew she had to believe she was not evil, like they all thought she was, which meant whatever was inside controlling her had to be removed. But how? she thought. How can I remove something I can’t see?

  How did anyone?

  Chapter Two Hundred Thirty-Six

  Cardinal Avery Cantrell, dressed in his favoured black robes, surveyed the three-sided stone pyramid before him, its pockmarked surface wreathed with cracks. ‘It’s big,’ he said, looking up at the dark structure which loomed high above him.

  ‘About a hundred feet,’ Nicola Dowling said, the leader of the previous Vatican expedition equally as enthralled by the ancient monument.

  ‘How did you decipher it?’ Avery said, inspecting the Anakim script which ran around its base. ‘So far we’ve been relying on Sarah to interpret the text, although we’re reluctant to take it as read.’

  ‘She can translate it, too?’

  Avery nodded, and looked at Sarah, who’d rejoined them.

  Nicola Dowling looked disturbed by the notion. ‘We were getting close, before ...’

  ‘Before your team were killed?’ Zinetti said, making sure to keep his distance from Sarah, his blood-red cassock appearing as black as Avery’s in the gloom.

  Dowling nodded. ‘It took this place to finally reveal its secrets.’

  ‘How so?’ Zinetti said, also peering at the stone pyramid.

/>   ‘I found these inscriptions on one of the walls.’ She removed a device from her trouser pocket and showed them the photos she’d taken. ‘They’re a form of proto-hieroglyphic inscription that matches stone tablets found in Turkey in 2032. They’re what we were searching for, for all these years: a new Rosetta Stone. Whoever came here ten, fifteen, maybe twenty thousand years ago knew the Anakim language, or at least a derivative of it.’

  ‘Doesn’t that mean ...’ Avery said.

  ‘Yes, it means either the language had somehow survived, or ...’

  ‘Or what?’

  Nicola Dowling looked at him. ‘Or the Anakim still lived at that time and were able to pass on their knowledge, or what little they had left. We suspect the last of their race would have lost most, if not all, of the secrets they’d once held.’

  ‘Time steals from us all,’ Avery said, gazing up at the twinkling stars above them.

  ‘It’s just like our informants described in Sanctuary,’ Zinetti said, also looking up at the ceiling’s starlit phenomena. ‘Do you think when Morgan activated Sanctuary’s ceiling, it also activated other Anakim structures?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ Avery glanced at Sarah, who appeared unaware she was being discussed. ‘Her interrogations by Dagmar Sorensen were a revelation, but it left much unanswered.’

  ‘Whatever powers this place must be immense.’ Zinetti looked at the mirrored walls and their strange three-dimensional depths.

  Avery thought it was like looking into another world, except that his and everyone else’s reflections were distorted by an undulating black vapour that concealed an ethereal light beneath.

  ‘The gate?’ Avery said. ‘Where is it?’

  Nicola Dowling waved Major Lanter forward so she could see by the flame of his flickering torch.