The Secret of the Stones by Ernest Dempsey (reading fiction .TXT) 📕

appeared to be clutched in the bird’s claws. “Looks like some kind of branch.”

“That’s it!” Sean exclaimed.

“What’s it?”

“It’s an olive branch. In the flood story from the Bible, Noah released a raven and a dove from the ark. The raven came back. At first, the dove did as well, and when it did, it carried an olive branch. A week or so later, Noah sent the dove out again; the second time, it did not return.”

Sean knelt down at the base of the stone dove, examining it closely. With both hands, he reached around the bird’s head and pulled. The sculpture gave way to the force of Wyatt’s hands and bent forward. A deep grinding sound reverberated through the ancient passageway, and the dusty floor beneath them shook violently as the huge stone wall began to rise slowly. All five of the visitors could not help but stare at the site of the heavy door being lifted. Even Ulrich looked a little shocked by the power that must have surely been required to move such an enormous weight.

Not surprisingly, a tremendous amount of dust hung in the air after the huge stone’s journey had finished at the top of the portal. Ulrich motioned for the prisoners to go on through to the other side. Beyond the cloud of debris in front of them, more darkness awaited.

Sean stepped cautiously across the threshold, hoping there weren’t any crazy booby traps like he’d seen in so many movies. In his experience, he’d only come across a few things like that. For the most part, though, measures that were set up thousands of years ago to prevent intruders had long since rotted away or lost their effectiveness. Still, better to be safe than sorry.

“Move,” Ulrich insisted with a nod.

“It’s imperative that we be careful here. You don’t want to end up with a dart in your eye or something.” Sean said sardonically.

Ulrich wasn’t fazed by the comment, but the guard looked around, his eyes filled instantly with paranoia.

They were all safely on the other side of the wall when Allyson spoke up. “Do you guys smell that?”

“Yeah,” Tommy agreed. “It smells like some kind of gas.”

Flattop’s head darted left to right, up and back, panic all over his face. It was easy to tell the man was not comfortable being in a place so far under the ground. It probably didn’t help that they had no idea what was waiting for them down there.

“Anyone got a match?” Sean requested.

“You’re not going to light a match down here, are you? You guys just said you smelled gas. Are we going to just blow ourselves up?”

Sean smiled at her. “No one’s going to get blown up.” His light pointed to a torch hanging on the wall in a sconce that appeared to be carved from the same rock as the wall. “Why would someone put a torch there if something was going to explode?”

She supposed he had a point. Ulrich flicked a small book of matches at him, hitting Wyatt in the chest. Sean snatched it out of the air before it could fall to the ground.

A few moments later, the tightly wrapped rags on the piece of wood were burning brightly. Sean pocketed the matches, figuring the German wouldn’t care, and gave the flashlight to Tommy. He purposefully took a few more steps forward and stopped. The hallway where they’d been for the last ten minutes opened up into an enormous, square chamber. In the center, rising up from an inset lower floor, a pedestal stood as the only furniture in the room.

The most striking thing about the room, though, wasn’t what stood in the center of it. It was the fact that the chamber was empty.

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“Where is it?” Ulrich demanded loudly. “Where is the gold?!” He grabbed Tommy by the shirt and pressed the gun deep into the skin underneath his jaw.

“I don’t know,” Tommy stammered. “This should be it.” Something in his eyes said that he was telling the truth.

Ulrich released the gun from his hostage’s neck and carelessly pushed him away. “Is this it, Thomas? Is this your golden chamber?”

“I don’t know where the gold is. Maybe someone beat us to it. It should be right here. Let’s just look around. If we’re lucky, we might find a clue as to where it went.”

Sean stepped down into the center of the room, lowering his light to get a better look at the pedestal. It was a simple design: a perfect, rectangular stone cube. Unlike the blank walls surrounding it, the plinth was covered in hieroglyphs, not unlike what they had just seen on the colossal door a few moments ago. As Sean drew closer, he noticed an object resting on the top of the platform. His eyes widened in realization.

“Schultzie,” his voice was firm, trying to contain the excitement. “You might want to come take a look at this.”

“Is that what I think it is?” he blurted out, nearly missing the step down into the lower part of the chamber.

“Yeah.”

They both stare at a stone disc of nearly identical size to the one Sean had in his pocket. The medallion was lying on one side, a picture of an odd-looking spider carved into it. Both friends looked at each other quizzically, unsure what to make of the piece.

Ulrich and the guard ushered Allyson over to where Tommy and Sean were standing.

“What is it?”

“I think it’s the clue to the next chamber,” Tommy replied.

“But where is the gold?” Ulrich had had enough of the games and riddles. “This was supposed to be a GOLDEN chamber. Not an empty one!” His voice echoed off of the solid