Sam was sure they were not lost. But then again, maybe Herrison's memory wasn't very accurate either.
After a half a day of walking through desert that looked exactly the same, dunes and all, they'd finally reached their supposed destination. Only that it turned out to be more desert that looked exactly the same.
"Now what?" Tom asked.
Sam shielded his eyes from the sun and looked around, hoping to spot something distinctive in the ocean of dunes before them. Sweat trickled down his forehead and his t-shirt already stuck to his back. Herrison had mentioned that the temple was half-buried in sand. Maybe twenty-five years meant it was now completely covered.
Swallowing heavily and hoping he didn't actually have the location wrong, he turned to his twin. "Now we dig."
"Great, we get to experience the thrill of real archaeology," Tom said with his usual half-sarcasm.
But he dropped his rucksack and took out the tiny shovel they were all equipped with. The others treated the matter more seriously and took out their gear sans the witty comment.
"We should spread out as much as possible," Sam instructed taking another look around. "We know it's around here, but around here is..."
"Huge?" Kyle asked, already shoveling sand with impressive speed.
"Exactly." Sam grinned, the pride he felt making the job seem much easier. His team was as proficient as ever, even after a three year adventuring break.
He'd missed this. The historical mystery without shooting and stuff blowing up being involved. They'd had their fill of explosions, and if he'd read the note from Snitch Gravel right, for the first time since the entire jewel-hunting mess started, he wasn't racing them to their target.
Because this time, there was no jewel. At least according to both Herrison and Snitch Gravel.
But what both of them failed to realize was that maybe there were two others left in there that no one managed to find because they hadn't known what they were looking for.
With that thought in mind, Sam started walking around, digging his boots as deep as he could in the dunes, throwing sand in all directions. There was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind, one that had to do with where he'd found the other jewels. Why were they there? What was the pattern? There had to be one, it couldn't be random. There was no such thing as random.
"What are you thinking?" Skye asked, joining him in digging through the sand with the tips of her boots.
A smile tugged at his lips since she already knew he was thinking. "Wondering why the jewels were scattered all over the world like that."
She hummed. "Yes, that is something baffling me as well. What about the temple?"
"I think it's around here, but completely buried."
"What if it's not?" she asked, even if she didn't look particularly worried.
Sam pondered on how to best explain that he never made a plan B in this type of situation unless plan A completely and utterly failed. He was saved the trouble once Skye suddenly stopped and winced.
"Never mind," she said, "I think I found it."
Sam rushed to her and knelt in the sand, his hands already pawing the rough particles out of the way. They went under his nails, in every crevice of his skin... everywhere. But he kept digging until something hard, like stone, scraped his skin. He timed his motions, going around the sharp edge, until a slab of limestone breathed through the desert.
"Congratulations, babe," he said with a grin, "you just discovered the temple."
She grinned back, her eyes twinkling with mad excitement, and dug her hands into the sand as well, clearing the edge of stone. "Ouch!" She lifted her hand and shook it, trying to dislodge the bug that had dug it's tiny pincers into her skin.
"Is that a scarab?" Sam asked, excited. The bug lost grip and flew into the desert before he could get a good look at it.
"Geez, Snowflake, you get excited about bugs now?" she asked, shaking her hand some more.
"Not just any bug. A living, breathing scarab!"
"I wish it were a dead, not-breathing scarab," Skye mumbled, rubbing her hand against her side.
Sam's excitement dimmed. "You alright?"
"It's just a bug bite, but it still stings and I can't put my finger in my mouth because it's full of sand."
Then she laughed and he joined her, because it was exciting and silly at the same time. And once they called everyone over, their work to dig up at least a part of the temple went much faster with seven people working around the edges.
Ten minutes later, Sam abandoned cleanup duty and sat on what he took to be part of the roof of the temple. As exciting as it was that they'd found it, they didn't have the time, tools or patience to dig all of it out. Fortunately, Herrison had mentioned that they could enter from the top, since there were multiple skylights.
Of course, Herrison also mentioned that they'd discovered them by falling through, but Sam wasn't too worried about that. If they could hold all that sand, it meant that the entrance mechanism was not activated by weight alone. As usual, there had to be a combination.
After learning from their adventure in Mexico and India, he already had a couple of different patterns in mind, the sun being the top choice. Herrison hadn't been able to provide the code, because apparently Snitch Gravel had been the one to crack it. Sam's stomach tightened at the thought of a young Snitch Gravel working in the heat, just like he was, racking his brain to figure out ancient codes.
It felt a bit too real, like time was not lost and Sam could lose it and turn into a crazed murderer as well. For the fraction of a second, he was sure Snitch Gravel was there, watching him. Waiting.
"How much do we need to dig?" Angie called.
Sam shook his head to rid himself of crazy images. "I think you can stop."
He returned his attention to the slabs of stone under him and pressed the final squares. He was not disappointed. The slab in the roof trembled, lowered about and inch, and slid aside to reveal a dark void.
"You didn't even wait for us this time," Tom observed, as the other joined Sam next to the hole. "Sun again or did you have to spell out Ra in Egyptian?"
"First off, I would've had to spell out Isis. Second off... Yeah, sun."
"Disappointing," Kyle said with a shake of his head.
Sam raised his gaze to his group. "I know things have gone as planned so far, but this could be Mexico all over again, so I need to know you'll be careful."
Tom and Kyle both gave him a two finger salute. "Yes, sir."
"Damn it, I mean it." Even if he tried to sound chiding, Sam couldn't pull it off. Except for Skye, they'd all been through hell together repeatedly, so they didn't need his nagging. They knew what to do.
"We won't take you seriously unless you say fuck," Kyle said in a sing-song voice.
"I'll probably have a million chances to use it inside," Sam said, taking a roll of rope out of his rucksack. He had to admit he'd missed and really appreciated this Kyle as opposed to the pissed off and miserable one of two nights ago.
So arming himself with his rucksack, a flashlight, a hand drawn map, and tones of hope, Sam sunk into the abis.
The air was musty and filled with the trace of decay. It wasn't as closed as the one in Mexico had felt, but this time it hadn't been that long since someone else had cracked the temple's secrets. He shone his flashlight on the floor, and it seemed clear, but he was very careful applying pressure on the stone slab nonetheless.
It was nothing, but dull stone as he shone his light to the left and right and pinned down his position. Middle of a corridor. He applied careful pressure on the slab to his right, then his left, to make sure there was no danger, then he signaled the others to come down.
While he waited, he shone his flashlight over the walls. There were hieroglyphs there, drawing, but the colors were faded, most likely covered by multiple rows of spiderweb. A sense of giddiness overwhelmed him and the limited light made everything feel surreal. As much as he enjoyed all matter of history, Egypt was still it.
The lighting increased, sending a myriad of dancing shadows over the faces of gods and Pharos past, as the others made their way down.
"Where to now?" Jessie asked, joining Sam next to the wall.
"I'm not sure our drop point is identical to Herrison's," he said, hardly peeling his gaze from the wall. "He mentioned there might be more than one skylight." Which for some reason didn't scare him. "So the only way to tell is by the traps."
"Sounds encouraging," Kay said.
Her voice had been a little muffled, so Sam raised an eyebrow. "You okay?"
"Mostly. I'll be fine."
He didn't necessarily believe her bravado, but Kyle mouthing 'I've got this' convinced him to drop it. After all, Kay was made of the hard stuff. She'd proved it more than once. So he chose to try and go right, stepping carefully. The others let him advance for a few steps before following in a row. They'd learned very well how to avoid getting wiped out.
Every safe slab made Sam more nervous. They had to figure out where they were so that they could refer to the map and avoid murder by ancient mechanism. Plus, as things were, the cars blowing up had completely thrown off his water supply calculations and every moment counted. He also wanted to get back before Jimmy and Jerry returned.
But all those thoughts, all those perfectly legitimate reasons to get out of there as fast as possible faded in the low light of their flashlight and the cobwebs on the walls. Half of him wanted to stop and clear the walls, take in the rich culture of thousands of years ago.
It took three more careful steps until the slab under his foot began sinking into the floor. Well practiced reflexes had his knees bending, and he immediately rolled forward. Something falling from above missed him by half an inch and slammed into the floor with an echoing crash. Before he could turn properly, what looked like a stack of wooden spears retreated back into their hole in the ceiling, living behind just a few splintered remains.
"Holy hell," Skye breathed.
"Impressive reflexes, bro," Tom said, stretching out his fingers and rolling his shoulders like a swimmer about to dive. "My turn."
Before Sam could open his mouth and forbid it, Tom threw himself into a slide across the trap trigger. The ceiling opened up again and the spears crashed half an inch from his head, before pulling back into the void.
This time, Sam noticed that many of them were chipped and some even without their sharp tip, but that didn't make the trap less dangerous.
"Are you crazy?" Angie shrieked at Tom. "That thing fell right next to your head!"
"Nice to see she still cares," Tom mumbled, getting up and brushing the dust off his clothes.
Sam was more concerned by her words and how correctly she'd assessed the situation. This wasn't something everyone could pass by running or jumping, so he scanned the ceiling for something they could tie a rope to for a potential swing across.
As he'd noticed while Tom had activated the trap, the entire slab was the trigger and it was to wide to jump or go around. Which only left... He wasn't sure what.
"I have an idea," Kyle said with a shurg.
"Kyle wait, I'm sure--" Kay's words died in her throat and her eyes widened.
Sam couldn't blame her since Kyle's idea turned out to be walking across the trigger. He stopped in the middle of the slab and lifted his hands. The bundle of spears stopped right above his head as Kyle grabbed two of the blunt ones and stopped their progress. The force of the fall or the fact that a few sharp splinters dug into his arms and shoulders didn't even phase him. Without so much as a grunt, he dropped the spears next to him and pulled on the rope they were tied to until something clanged. Then, as if nothing happened, he let go of the rope and nudged the spears on the floor with his foot.
"I freaking hate you!" Kay moved next to him and slapped his shoulder for each word. "Stop. Doing. Stuff. Like. That."
"What?" he asked with a laugh. "It's just a few scratches."
"Mexico all freaking over again," Tom said under his breath, ripping a spear out. "Maybe we can use these."
"Agreed," Jessie said, ripping one of the sharp ones out herself. "Walking aid and trap checker."
"Potential trap blocker," Skye added, ripping out her own spear. "Kyle, I should have a look at those. Walking with open wounds in this environment is not wise."
"Putting it lightly," Kay mumbled.
"Aw, you're making me miss Jerry," Kyle said with a grin. "His lecture would've been much harsher."
But once Skye approached him with bandages and disinfectant, he didn't complain, which in itself was a huge sign of growth.
"Do you know where we are now?" Angie asked, glancing over Sam's shoulder and once again pretending Tom wasn't there.
"Unfortunately, not really, because this trap may also be found here, and here." He pointed in different spots on the map. "So we could be here, which means the next trap is just a boring trap door, here, where spikes pop out of the floor, or here, where we have something else heavy dropping from the ceiling." Why hadn't anyone thought to add the inscriptions on the walls next to each trap? Sam doubted those repeated themselves.
So before they let, he was sure to mark the writing on the wall on their map. It deserved an upgrade.
Their next obstacle turned out to be the lame trap door, which they could easily avoid, but which also placed them the furthest from their target. Typical. But armed with knowledge, they now knew where to bend to avoid arrows shooting from the walls, where to trigger spikes darting from the floor and step between them, or where a rain of boulders awaited.
If it wasn't for the sand falling out of every ancient mechanism and the spiderwebs, it would've been like Mexico all over again. Their increased experience did seem to made everything a little less exhausting, but by the time they were halfway to their destination, he was dirty, sweaty and just wanted to sit in one place and read the walls for a while.
"Is it even a good story?" Tom asked when they finally sat for a break and Sam mentioned his wish.
"It's one I actually know. The legend of Isis, Osiris and Horus," Sam said. "One of the core myths of ancient Egypt."
He stood and brushed the spider webs off the wall. The colors seemed to explode before his eyes, and the slight flicker of the flashlight made the story come alive.
He reached out his hand and placed it over the drawing of an Eagle. "When Set killed his brother, Osiris, and usurped his throne, his wife, Isis, set out to recover his body and restore it. You see, being buried without the proper rites held Osiris' soul captive between the realm of the living and that of the dead. When Isis finds him, they have Horus who becomes Set's main rival for the throne. The story is filled with so many tropes which stuck around." He moved his hand to an image of Isis. "The faithful wife, the importance of burial rites, the son avenging his father and completing his rebirth. Because without the son, the father would've stayed forever lost. Order and disorder. Murder and chaos. Balance."
Everyone was silent as they stared at the wall and all the symbols Sam indicated which made the story come to life.
"That sounds fascinating," Skye whispered.
"There are a lot of details about that story on this wall," Sam said, his voice low. "Details I don't have the time to study properly. We need to let the world know this place exists."
"Agreed," Kay said. "We should stop hiding these things."
"Stop following orders," Angie whispered.
"Do what we believe is right, not what some idiots tell us," Jessie added.
Sam was a little surprised by their stand. He felt the same, but for him, it had been a lengthy thought process of weighing good and evil. Pros and cons. He'd thought it was something new, not something his entire team already agreed upon.
"We should go," Kyle said, throwing Kay a wary look.
There was a thin sheen of sweat on her forehead which didn't seem to have to do with dodging traps. Kyle was right. They needed to get out of there and fast.
And after that, there were a lot of things they had to set straight. Like what was in that water and if someone spiked it or it was issued that way. And speaking of water, they had to save as much of it as possible.
But for now, they had a lovely new hole in the floor to jump over. Tom did the honors and then found the hidden button which put the floor back for the others.
Sam was so proud how each member of his team had a skill needed to crack a code or beat a trap. It was true that they were still reliant on Kyle and his inability to fall down, but not as much as before.
Another few grueling hours later which included walls crushing together, crawling through an extremely tight vent, and facing a rain of sharp arrow tips, they finally reached a corridor Herrison claimed led to the final trap and the room they needed. It also held no traps for the first half. The second half was supposed to contain the final set of falling spears as well as a slightly problematic set of spikes coming out of the walls to crush them. Sam hated spikes with a passion and hadn't yet figured out how to stop those.
Maybe they could get more spears from the final trap, because they'd used up the ones they had to jam various mechanisms.
"Could Herrison be wrong?" Angie asked, staring at the map over Sam's shoulder. "We haven't traveled this long without something trying to kill us yet."
"Isn't this odd?" Skye said. "As far as I know, Egyptian tombs aren't this booby trapped."
"True," Kay said. "But this is a temple, not a tomb, and if one of those jewels was here..."
"What Kay said," Sam mumbled, double and triple checking the map. "There's only one way to find out if Harrison's right."
He didn't like the idea, though. Not after a another sweep of his flashlight caught something that looked a whole lot like bones. Maybe they were more spears, but the trap was too far away his assumption to be reasonably possible.
"Wait." Kay reached out her arm to stop everyone from moving. She frowned, a look of supreme concentration on her face.
"You alright?" Kyle asked after a few seconds of silence.
"Can't you hear that?" She stepped closer to the wall on the right and leaned her shoulder against it.
"Hear what exactly?" Sam asked, wondering if Kay was hallucinating again.
From the worried looks on Kyle and Jessie's faces, they seemed to believe the same thing.
"Didn't Herrison say that the final trap was a pendulum like thing?" Kay asked, pressing her cheek against the dusty wall, right over a depiction of Isis.
"Yes, that's what he said," Sam muttered. The most dangerous and unpassable trap of all, according to Herrison.
"I think I can hear it," Kay whispered. "Like it's just beyond this wall."
Sam couldn't hear anything and by the looks on the others' faces, neither could they.
"It's not entirely impossible," he said. "I mean, according to the map, once we reach the end of this corridor, we should reach the one with the pendulum which twists parallel to this one."
"We should get to it, then," Angie said, her voice hesitant and eyes still on Kay.
"Sweetheart?" Kyle said.
"No, wait." Kay seemed a little out of it as she moved her fingers against the carvings on the wall. "I think we should do this. I want to do this."
"Kay, really..."
She turned to Kyle and gave him a death glare. "Honestly, Kyle, I haven't lost my mind. Just give me a minute." And she returned to caressing the wall.
That's when Sam realized what she was actually doing. Before he could close the distance between them and help, something clicked and the wall in front of Kay slid open.
An ominous ticking filled the air, proof that the pendulum was truly on the other side.
"Wow," Jessie breathed. "Good job, Kay! You just saved us three more annoying traps."
Not to mention the spikes Sam wasn't exactly sure how to pass. A wave of gratitude rose inside him and he gave Kay a thankful smile.
"Let's get this over with," she said, waving everyone inside.
Sam complied, and smirked once Kyle wrapped an arm around her waist and kissed her cheek. It felt so good to see them like this again.
Unexpectedly, the new door didn't lead right into the final trap, but rather into a small room. Unlike everything they'd encountered before, this one wasn't empty. To their left was a stone table filled with little jars clay.
Dingy furniture filled the back of the room: a small table and three chairs woven out of reed. On the walls, three richly painted sarcophagi rested, all of them open and without any mummies involved.
"I can't believe this," he whispered. They were in an unused burial chamber.
"This is so awesome," Skye said from behind him. "Do you think there are any traps in here?"
"There shouldn't be." He stepped deeper inside the room, pointing his flashlight, taking in every detail.
The walls were an explosion of color as multiple hieroglyphs described the burial rites. Just from a glance, Sam could tell this room had been prepared for royalty. Everything screamed opulence, from the furniture, the gold plated jars and the jewelry strewn around them on the stone table. He walked to the table and took in the jars more carefully. If he wasn't mistaken, they were supposed to be Canopic jars, except they had plain lids instead of the heads of the sons of Horus.
Which meant that this temple was very, very old. Excitement bubbled inside him, and he glanced at the room with new eyes.
He noticed something shiny on the floor and crouched to analyze it. It was a small ring made out of what looked like brass, shaped like an eagle in mid-flight, a rich blue stone which making up the bird's body. He picked it up and turned it over. The craftsmanship was amazing and it was delicate enough that he could tell it was meant for a woman.
"I wondered why we weren't suffocating in here."
Jessie's voice had Sam standing again and turning to the group. She'd moved to the opposite wall where another opening provided the real door into the chamber. He pocketed the ring, made his way to the doorway, and joined the others in lighting up the new corridor.
It was short and narrow. To the right, it ended in a solid wall. To their left, there was also a wall, but Sam could tell there were openings there, on both sides. There was also something glittery about that wall. The ticking of the pendulum was much louder.
"Bright side, shortcut," Tom said. "Not so bright side, we don't know if there are traps."
"How likely is it--" Skye started, but her breath hitched.
Tom had decided the best way to check for traps was to stride down the corridor.
"Idiot," Kyle said between his teeth, rushing out after him.
They all followed and managed to reach the end without anything wiping them out. The event gave Sam a serious case of unease. It didn't work like that for them. Someone should've gotten hurt or killed or--
"Fuck!" Tom said, pointing his flashlight through the opening on the right.
Sam joined him and had to agree. Not only was the shiny stuff on the wall next to then a multitude of tiny metal spikes, but the pendulum itself was one giant stone hammer, the width of the corridor it protected, and much taller than any of them, swinging back and forth with frightening speed.
Once it swung forward, Sam could see the opening and the room they needed to get into. Freaking typical it would be there.
"Sam, look."
He turned at the sound of Skye's voice. The rest of his team was already gazing at a skeleton propped in the corner, just out of reach of the killer pendulum. Much of its clothing was still intact, so the khakis and sandy shirt were discernible.
Sam swallowed heavily. Herrison had mentioned people had died, but he hadn't expected to still find them there intact.
"This is fascinating." Skye stepped around them and walked towards the corpse.
"What are you doing?" Sam asked, alarmed.
She ignored him and crouched next to the skeleton, shining her light on its shoulder. Her hair swished with every new swing of the pendulum.
"What did you find?" Just as insane, Jessie joined her next to the corpse.
Everyone moved forward as much as the small space allowed them and analyzed the dead person as well.
"By the size of the bones, it appears to be male. Maybe early twenties. It looks like his entire side is crushed." Skye indicated the arm and ribs which looked cracked. "But I'm not sure that's what killed him. Without flesh and skin, it would be hard to tell."
"True." Jessie shone her light on the rest of the corpse and suddenly frowned. "Check this out."
Sam hadn't noticed before, absorbed as he was by Skye's ability to determine gender and age by looking at bones, but the dead guy had dog tags. Jessie pulled them off and tossed them to him. He caught them and turned them around. His stomach churn. D. Grant.
"Shit," he muttered. "I guess we found our other long lost uncle. And he didn't die in a car crash like we'd assumed."
"Really?" Tom asked, making his way nearer. "I guess this explains it. He was our former link to the Agency." He glanced at the swinging pendulum which stopped an inch from his face before tracing its way back. "And he failed big time."
For a moment, there was silence. Then, like a sole body, they all turned towards the pendulum. Just how were they going to get past that?
♠️♠️♠️
I swear this chapter was so much shorter before I edited it for posting. Which means that it's not longer half a chapter, but the length of an entire chapter.
Oh well, I hope the content of adventuring and ancient legends makes up for it. Also you get to sort of meet more family members. Was that surprising? And does it explain everything like Tom assumes?
Fun fact: the legend of Osiris, Isis and Horus molds perfectly on a big part of the main plot of the series. It's a little symbolic and there are slight changes (and of course you can't really see it now), but maybe keep this in mind for later?
Anyway, hope you enjoyed and don't forget to vote and comment!