Return To Primordial Island by Rick Poldark (read my book .txt) 📕

the materials before him. “I’m thinking we need to free the stone tablets under the cave paintings.”

“Yeah, but what do we do with the tablets?” asked Jason. “I think we need to unlock this door here.”

Peter nodded. “Yes, but we won’t just find the key.” When Jason answered his statement with a quizzical look, Peter chuckled. “We’ll have to free these tablets, which we’ll then use to reveal the key to that door. Trust me. I know how these things work.”

Ghenga was inspecting the top of the altar. He ran his clawed fingers across the top.

Peter saw this and joined him. He looked down and saw three depressions matching the size of the stone tablets locked up under the cave paintings. “Here. We have to place the tablets in these slots. That should reveal the key to unlock that secret door.”

Jason looked at the altar and nodded. He then looked around the room. “Got it. What are we looking for?”

“Anything that would reveal a key for one of the tablets,” said Peter.

They each split up, searching a different part of the room. Jason stood over the corpse of the ape man, studying it. Ghenga went to investigate the statue on the pedestal. Peter walked over to get a closer look at the fire bowl.

Peter studied the fire bowl. “This fire bowl is empty. No logs, twigs, or any kind of discernable fuel. Yet, it burns.”

“Maybe it’s a magic fire,” quipped Jason.

“Maybe it is,” said Peter. He placed his right hand out over the fire palm down, and slowly lowered it. He felt heat on his palm. “It’s definitely hot.” He looked around, patting himself down, as if searching for something. He looked over at Jason. “Let me borrow your knife.”

Jason looked over his shoulder, arching an eyebrow. “Why?”

“I want to see if this fire is hot.”

Jason turned away from the curious corpse and handed Peter his hunting knife, handle first. Peter took it and placed the large blade into the fire. Within seconds, the blade began to glow red. Peter removed the blade and quickly touched it with the tip of his index finger. He pulled it away quickly. “It’s definitely hot.” He handed the knife back to Jason.

Ghenga was surveying the statue and the pedestal. Peter turned to see him touch the small figure, and it shifted, but it didn’t move off the pedestal. “Hold on a minute, Ghenga.”

Ghenga backed away, clawed hands up.

Peter crossed the room to get a better look. The statue was squat with curvy features. It appeared to depict large breasts and hips. “It’s a fertility statue,” said Peter. “Many cultures have them.” He cocked his head sideways, studying how it sat on the pedestal. After Ghenga touched it, it sat crooked and something protruded from the bottom. The protrusion appeared to disappear into the pedestal.

“What do you have there?” asked Jason.

“Either it’s going to lead us to a key, or it’s going to trigger a booby trap.”

Jason came over to have a closer look. “It looks like the statue comes off, but it has to be lifted up.”

Peter wiped sweat from his brow that wasn’t entirely due to the heat. His heart pounded inside his chest. “Okay, here goes nothing.” He looked to Jason for any objection, and the hunter offered none. Ghenga just watched them both, standing back.

Peter reached out, grabbed the small fertility statue in his hands, and slowly pulled it up. He winced, anticipating anything from flying spears to poison gas. The statue lifted off the pedestal, revealing a long protuberance underneath its base. When Peter cleared the pedestal, he laughed out loud as he recognized the long, toothed structure beneath the statue. “Ladies and gentlemen, the first key.”

Jason snatched the statue out of Peter’s hands, inverting it so the key pointed up. “Great, let’s open the secret door.” He walked over to the door, lined the key up with the keyhole using the statue as a handle, and attempted to insert the key. He tried to push, pulled it out, studied the key and then the hole, and tried to force the key in again. “It’s not working.”

“I told you,” Peter smirked. He took the key from Jason and walked over to the three cave paintings. He stood in front of the one depicting the female ape. “I bet it unlocks this tablet.” He turned the statue in his hands, lining the key up with the keyhole beneath the stone tablet depicting the Simian female. He slid the key in and turned. The metal clamps holding the tablet snapped open, and Peter removed the tablet. “That’s one tablet.”

“Brilliant,” gasped Jason.

“Thank you,” said Peter, obviously pleased with himself. He walked the tablet over to the altar and lined it up with the slot opposite the cave painting of the Simian female. It fit perfectly. “One down, two to go.”

They all started looking around the room again. Ghenga was particularly interested in the giant hour glass filled with the black sand, but he didn’t dare touch it.

Peter looked between the corpse crumpled in the corner and the apparently magical fire. “We have a corpse, a fire…” he looked at Ghenga, “…and an hourglass.” He looked back at the cave paintings, studying them.

“The young one is holding a torch,” said Jason. “That must have something to do with the fire. Maybe we need to make a torch?”

They looked around the room. “There’s nothing to use as a torch,” said Peter. “No wood.”

Jason snapped his fingers. He ripped the right sleeve of his shirt off and wrapped it around the blade of his hunting knife. He walked over to the fire bowl and shot Peter a dubious glance.

Peter nodded. “Do it.”

Jason placed the blade wrapped in fabric into the fire. His shirt sleeve ignited. He pulled it out and held it up.