Guardian (The Tower Saga, Book 1)

Chapter 12 - The sword and the sticks

Indy scanned the room and noticed one other thing had changed. 

The stairs leading up to Hanks store were gone, covered over by a newly appeared section of wall. Indy ran over to where the doorway had been and pounded hard. "Hank! Hank!" 

"It's no use that wall is too thick. I can't hear anything but my hands hitting the stone. At least the lights are still working, I am surprised that the cables weren't severed," Indy said.  

Joslyn looked at her friends and motioned them to follow. "So down it is then. I guess opportunity just came knocking." 

Indy laughed. "Ok but let me lead. If there's anything down there, chances are it can't hurt me." 

"Oh, my hero," she teased and batted her eyelashes.  

"Cut it out. Let's get going," Jon said as he shoved Indy into the lead. 

The stairs curved down to follow the walls gentle curve. It dropped down over fifteen feet to the floor of the next level. 

They made their way down and stopped on the last step. The room was dark and silent. 

"See anything Joslyn?" Indy asked over his shoulder. 

"Nothing," she said. "Wait...nope, just your big head," she laughed. "Would you hurry it up and get down there. The lights are starting to glow. I can see vines and patterns again." 

"Any apples?" Jon asked. 

"Nope," Joslyn said as she peered around. "Nothing else is lighting up but I can see dark shapes all over the room." 

"Ok, let's look around real quick and if we can't find anything we can go back and wait for help by the sinkhole," Indy said, as he made ready to leave the stairs. 

They didn't have to worry about the lights. As soon as Indy's foot touched the floor, electricity filled the air. The vines Joslyn had been talking about lit around them like a fuse. The light from the vines spread through the room lighting ever surface with brilliant light. 

This time, they all could see the lights. Around them, the room was full of random things, armoured dummies, racks of swords and other martial weapons. Small statuettes and chests were scattered over several tables and shelves. The biggest thing in the room was a large box at the center of the room. 

The box was wrapped in the same pulsing stone vines as the rest of the room. One golden apple was carved into the top of the box. 

Indy walked over to it and looked around it. He put his hands on it and shoved. It didn't even budge. "It looks like it is part of the floor. The vines in the floor continue up the sides of the box and then back down again." 

They all walked over to stand beside the vine-covered box, Joslyn with eyes closed and Indy with his eyes open. They were all transfixed by the large carved box.