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

“Hold it in front of the painting of the youth,” said Peter.

Jason nodded and stepped in front of the painting. He held the torch up. “Now what?”

Peter got right in front of the painting, investigating it up close.

“What are you doing?” asked Jason.

“I’m looking for hidden writing.” Peter pored over the cave wall, but there were no hidden messages revealed by the torch light.

Jason adjusted his grip on the knife handle as the fabric burned away, falling away from the blade. “Hurry, it’s burning out.”

Peter stepped back, getting a different perspective on the painting of the ape youth. “Hmmm…I don’t see anything…”

Jason let the charred sleeve fall off the blade to the stone floor, where the fire extinguished, leaving behind a small puff of black smoke. “That’s it. Want me to make another one?”

 “Hold off,” said Peter, scratching the stubble on his chin contemplatively. “I need to figure this one out.”

“While you do that, I’ll try and figure out the other clue.” Jason stepped in front of the center painting depicting the Simian King. He scratched his jaw, deep in thought. “There’s a corpse and a giant hour glass. Nothing in the paintings indicates time.” He walked back over to the corpse and squatted on his haunches. He inspected the ape warrior’s armor, made from bamboo. He fingered the individual shafts, searching for one that resembled a key.

Peter momentarily regarded the corpse, but he saw Jason searching it. So, he turned his attention to the hour glass. “Time…” he muttered to himself. “The passage of time…”

Jason stood up and moved the corpse. It was surprisingly light, after who knows how many decades or centuries of desiccation. There was no key behind the body. He stood back, stroking the stubble on his jawline, deep in thought. “There’s something wrong with his jaw. It looks crooked.”

Peter, lost in his own ruminations, ignored the observation. Jason unsheathed his hunting knife and slid it into the ape’s mouth. It hit something hard inside. He smirked and pushed the knife in deeper, twisting the blade. He pried the mouth open, revealing sharp canine teeth, and reached inside. He pulled out a metal key. “I’ve got it!”

Peter was jerked out of his private calculations. When he saw his friend holding the key, he smiled. “Nice work.”

Jason brought the key over to the painting of the Simian King and inserted it into the keyhole beneath its corresponding tablet. He turned the key, and the metal brackets holding the tablet below snapped open. He grabbed the tablet and held it up. “Eureka.”

“Put it in the middle slot on the altar,” said Peter, allowing his friend to do the honors.

Jason strode triumphantly over to the altar and placed the tablet with the carving of the Simian King in the center slot. “Perfect fit.”

“That leaves one more key for one more tablet,” said Peter. “The only clues remaining are the fire and the hour glass.”

Peter and Jason stood over the hour glass. They each studied it from a different angle, while Ghenga looked on. Peter wondered how intelligent this ‘thinking’ lizard man actually was, as he didn’t offer much in the way of help in solving the puzzles.

“Time,” said Jason. “Something the young have plenty of.”

Peter looked him dead in the eye. “Do you think we should turn the hour glass over?”

“I think we have to,” said Jason. “It’s a big hour glass. Maybe there’s a key in the sand at the bottom.”

“I just hope it doesn’t set off a trap,” said Peter.

“It’s not connected to any mechanism,” said Jason, lifting it off the altar.

“Yeah, but that doesn’t rule out magic,” said Peter.

“I don’t think we have any other option,” said Jason. “Unless you have any other ideas…”

Peter shook his head. “Go ahead. Do it.”

Jason sighed deeply, steeling himself, and turned the hourglass over as Peter grimaced and Ghenga cringed. The black sand began to run down. Jason placed it back on the altar and stepped away.

They waited as the sand fell.

“Do you really think this is going to take an hour?” asked Jason.

“Possibly,” said Peter.

“That’s a long time to wait,” said Jason. “Meanwhile, the girls are in danger.”

Suddenly, Ghenga lunged forward, grabbed the hourglass, and smashed it on the ground. The glass shattered, and the black sand spilled out onto the stone floor.

“What the hell are you doing?” shouted Jason, reprimanding the lizard man.

Peter pointed at the broken time instrument on the floor. “Look.” He squatted down, sifted through the sand, and produced a key. He stood, using the altar for support, and held the key up. “The final key.”

Peter unlocked the brackets under the painting of the ape youngster and removed the tablet with the carving matching the painting. He walked it over to the altar and placed the tablet in the only vacant slot directly opposite its corresponding cave painting.

There was the grinding of stone coming from the front side of the altar. Peter, Jason, and Ghenga all backed away from it as the stone façade slid slowly into a slot in the floor just big enough to accommodate it, revealing a relief of a great flame with a large key floating above it. Behind the key and fire was a representation of the hidden door in the wall, the edges forming the exact same shape. The grinding stopped, and nothing else happened.

“Well, there’s our key,” said Peter.

“It’s a carving of a key,” said Jason. “Can’t use that to open up the secret door.”

Peter scrunched his nose and scratched his head. “I know. This must be a clue to finding the key that unlocks the door.”

“I don’t get it,” said Jason, crouching to get a closer look at the relief. “It references the fire again.”

They all turned to look at the mysterious fire