Page 33

Crypts are Creepy

M eanwhile, down below

When Diana finally reached the bottom of the stairs, she was surprised to discover David hadn’t moved very far. “What’s wrong?” she asked. Although it was warm, it wasn’t nearly as hot as when they had been inside the pyramid at Giza. The air held a slight odor, although it was not unpleasant.

“I thought to wait for you to tell us what we’re seeing,” he whispered. “And which way to go.”

“Why are you whispering?”

“Because of the echo,” Harry answered for David. He joined them, the light from his torch and the other two making it possible to see most of the corridor in front of them. A number of passages led off of it.

As if to reinforce his comment, his words echoed off the hard surfaces.

“Understood,” she replied, keeping her voice low. She lowered her torch to better illuminate the stone floor. “There’s very little sand here,” she commented.

“You were expecting some?” Harry asked.

“More sand would indicate a number of visitors in here. Perhaps the trapdoors have remained undiscovered for a long time.”

“How many of these chambers do you suppose there are?” David asked, holding his torch high. The stone ceiling didn’t include any decoration.

“If they’re all this size... mayhap ten or twelve,” she guessed.

“Mahmood said the trapdoors are usually hidden,” Harry said. “Maybe they haven’t all been discovered.”

“They’re covered with moving stones,” Diana murmured. “But you must know which stones to move.”

“I do wish I could read these symbols,” Harry commented, holding his torch to illuminate a series of bas relief carvings along the wall.

Diana furrowed a brow at seeing a depiction of a pharaoh making what appeared to be an offering of jewelry. “Since we’re below the Throne Room?—”

“Are we?” David asked. “That staircase was... not straight,” he commented.

“True.” She continued down the corridor, studying the carvings. “These are in relief rather than etched,” she commented.

“So?” David replied.

“It’s far more difficult to carve in relief than simply cut into the stone,” she replied. “It’s like a story that just keeps going.”

“Or a series of stories,” Harry murmured.

“I believe these are pharaohs making offerings to the gods,” she said before she turned and went down one of the passageways, the light from her torch showing it was a dead end. The carvings continued on both sides of the wall, though, and she continued to study them.

Meanwhile David headed down another, parallel passageway. When he turned around at the end of it, he let out a shout of surprise.

Harry, who was still out in the main corridor studying one of the walls, stiffened while Diana rushed from the end of the passageway she had been studying. “What was that?” she asked in alarm.

“I have no idea, but I think we are not the only ones down here,” Harry whispered.

“Why do you say that?” she asked. Despite trying to remain calm, she could feel her heart race and hear her pulse in her ears. She glanced in both directions, expecting to see the light from David’s torch. “David?” she called out.

“In here!” he responded from somewhere farther down the corridor. “Don’t move. I’m coming to you.”

She listened intently, sure she heard footsteps, but not from where his voice was coming. Light flickered from somewhere off to her left, and she was about to head in that direction when David’s face suddenly appeared to her right.

Apparently Harry saw him before she did.

“Dammit, Penton, you nearly scared me to death,” Harry scolded.

“David,” Diana whispered. “You look as if you’ve seen a ghost. Where’s your torch?”

“Umm. I dropped it. It... it went out,” he stammered. “There’s someone else down here. I saw a light go by the end of the crypt I was in.”

“It could have been me,” Harry reasoned, “Although...” He allowed his comment to trail off when he realized he hadn’t made it down as far in the corridor as David had.

Diana’s eyes widened, her gaze going beyond David to where the glow from another torch spread from the end of one of the passageways. “It wasn’t you, my lord,” she whispered.

David whirled around and nearly backed into her.

“Careful, or you’re going to get burned,” she warned, holding her torch higher. She immediately regretted the move, for something dark squeaked and sailed over her, casting a shadow on the ceiling.

“What was that?” Harry asked.

Determined not to panic, Diana listened intently. “Flapping wings,” she murmured. “A bird or... or a bat,” she reasoned.

“I wouldn’t mind a bird,” Harry commented. “Not particularly fond of bats, even if they do usually eat fruit.”

She turned around and gave him a quelling glance. “I rather doubt he could survive down here. He obviously came through one of the open trapdoors,” she said. “Probably saw our torchlight.”

“Or his light,” David whispered hoarsely, pointing down the corridor in front of them.

Straight ahead, the silhouette of a man wearing a robe appeared from the darkness.

“Who is that?” Harry asked, his labored breathing sounding loud.

“There you are,” Mahmood called out. He had turned around, his torch now in front of him so he was no longer in silhouette.

“Mahmood?” Diana guessed.

“Yes. I’ve been looking for you. I could hear voices, but...” His gaze raked over David and he sighed. “Your torch has already gone out?” he asked, apparently sorting what had occurred.

“I uh,... I might have accidentally dropped it,” David stammered. “When I saw you. Or your light as you walked by.”

A squeaking sound preceded the reappearance of the bat, which flew over their heads in the direction of the stairway. “I have seen quite enough,” Harry announced.

“Can we get out of here?” David asked.

When Diana’s torch flickered, she nodded. “Although I would love to see more, I fear my torch won’t last much longer.”

“I will lead us to the stairs,” Mahmood said, following the direction the bat had taken.

“I’ll go last,” Harry offered.

They were halfway up when Diana’s torch finally flickered out. Behind her, David cursed.

“Take mine,” Harry offered, holding his torch to the side for David, who was in front of him.

“Please keep it, my lord. It’s lighting the steps for me,” David replied.

“All right.”

At the top of the stairs, Harry’s torch flickered out as he emerged through the trapdoor. “How is that for timing?” he asked rhetorically.

“A clear indication it’s time to get out of here,” David remarked. “I’m hungry.”

Mahmood chuckled softly. “I will close the other trapdoor and meet you at the front of the temple.”

When Diana joined Randy where he stood studying the graffiti on one of the walls, he quickly wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead. “Am I glad to see you,” he murmured.

“What’s happened?”

Randy lifted a shoulder. “Bats,” he replied. “They caused a bit of a stir up here.”

She nodded. “Yes,” she replied. “One did the same down in the crypts, but it was Mahmood who frightened us even more,” she added, grinning.

She opened the satchel hanging from his shoulder and stuffed her torch inside.

“Then my torch went out halfway up the stairs. I thought your cousin was going to suffer apoplexy.”

His eyes rounded before he suddenly barked a laugh. “Let me guess. David’s went out first?”

She nodded as the two made their way to the exit. They paused to allow Tom and Helen to proceed them, his brother having offered his arm to Helen for the walk back to the hantours.

The two glanced at one another and grinned conspiratorially.