The Seven Princess and The Gates of Hell

by Steve Wharton

  *****

  Three days more passed before the boxes arrived from San Diego that Jim had sent, he had to pay a larger sum then normal for the replacement weapons because of the rush that he needed them. Ryan was feeling better every day and had began his workout regiment again and his sword workouts as well. Ryan told Maria he was ready to reenter the fight against the fallen.

  While Ryan was laid up recovering he and Maria decided to fine the temple of Regina. It is believed to be located in the ancient city of Nippur. This ancient city would be close to the current city of Chard. It would be around a two hour drive from Bagdad so they decided to set out early in the morning.

  Ryan and Maria departed Bagdad at five in the morning and made their way to Chard. The drive took just over two hours. They had found the site of the ancient city of Nippur and it was another thirty miles north west of Chard. When they arrived at the location of Nippur they found just some old half torn down walls and a few destroyed buildings. The remainder of desert was flat except for the one of the only lakes in western Iraq. Off in the distance Ryan saw what looked to be a small village so they decided to head for to the village and see if they could find out any information. They got into the SUV and made the short drive across the soft sand to what could be best described as a small tent community more like a campsite. There were maybe ten huts and a few tents that made up the community. Maria got out and started talking to an old woman and she just pointed to the lake.

  “What did you ask her?” asked Ryan.

  “I asked if she knew of the old city and she just pointed to the lake.”

  “What, it’s in the lake?”

  “That’s the impression I got from her.”

  “That means a dive, I only have one take in the Hummer. While I’m down there go back to the room and get two more sets of tanks. Is there some way we can find the depth of this lake. It doesn’t show up on our maps.”

  “Let me check the earth maps it may show the lake and it’s depth.”

  Maria got out her laptop and clicked on the GPS function and it located them right away and showed the lake on the map. She typed in some more information and the lake its self showed on the screen and it gave various depths of the lake. The maximum depth showed at sixty feet. She showed the information to Ryan, and he nodded as he finished putting on his wet suit and the rest of his dive gear. Ryan headed to the edge of the lake as Maria got into the SUV and headed to the motel. Ryan put the regulator in his mouth and tested it to make sure he was getting air and he waded out until the water was waist deep. He put his fins on and he dove under the water, Ryan was surprised how clear the water was his visibility was very good and he swam along the bottom. He had thirty minutes of air in his tank, he hopped he would get lucky and find what he was looking for quickly. Ryan was under the water almost fifteen minutes when he spotted a opening between some rocks. He swam over to the opening and discovered that it was a cave.

  Ryan checked his watch and air and estimated he had about half of his air supply left, that would give him seven minutes to explore the cave and seven minutes to return to the surface, He entered the cave and was surprised at how fast and how large the cave opened up, he swam for a few minutes and noticed that the bottom was rising. He followed the bottom and he surfaced looking at the temple.

  Ryan took off his air tank, mask and fins and set them on the shore line, he then removed his weight belt and took out the waterproof package he had attached to his belt. He removed his nine millimeter and extra clip of ammo and set them aside.

  Ryan then pulled out his small buoy and attached the rope to its bottom, he found a rock and tied the other end of the rope to the rock. He had a hundred feet of rope and the depth of the water was fifty-eight feet when he entered the cave. He sat the buoy on the shore and he would take with him when he returned to the surface so he could mark the spot where the cave was so he didn’t spend much time finding the cave again.

  Ryan picked up his pistol and ammo and headed for the entrance of the temple. The temple was larger than the last one and it looked like it had not been used in years. There were cobwebs all over the doors of the entrance and Ryan cleared them away and tried the levers that served as doorknobs. To his surprise the doors opened very easy and he entered into the temple.

  Ryan’s little penlight didn’t provide much light so exploring the temple took time. Ryan finally checked his watch and saw he had been inside the temple for more than three and a half hours, He was surprised that he was still in the first room he had entered. He had not found a door or a passageway that led off the main room. Ryan needed to get back to the shore line and put his gear back on and return to where he had entered the water and wait for Maria to return.

  Ryan found his way out and went to the shore line and put all of his dive gear back on. He wadded back out into the water and found the cave tunnel easily. He swam the short distance and came out of the cave and he dropped the rock he had tied his buoy to. He slowly fed the rope out and watched as the buoy rose to the surface, once the rope stopped going up he dropped the remainder of the rope and followed the rope to the surface. When he broached the surface he removed his mask and looked around and he spotted the SUV and Maria standing at the edge of the shore. He waved but Maria didn’t see him, he started swimming towards Maria and it took about twenty minutes for him to reach her.

  Maria didn’t wait for him to come out of the water, she rushed into the water and was in about waist deep when Ryan stood up and she grabbed Ryan and hugged and kissed him. “I was worried about you. When I got back you were nowhere to be found and no sign that you had come back here. I thought something had happened to you!”

  “I’m sorry I worried you, but I found the temple and I was exploring it. That thing is huge.”

  “Are there any demons or other living things down there?”

  “I can’t answer that question, I never got out of the main room of the temple but from what I did see no there wasn’t anything down there.”

  “How soon do you want to go back down?”

  “As soon as you can get changed we can head back down there.”

  “How far down is it?”

  “Almost sixty feet so I want you to stay close to me.”

  “Ok give me some time to change.”

  “Not a problem, I need to pack some things up that we will need or may need down there.”

  Ryan went to the back of the SUV and got out the backpack, he started putting in C-4 along with the detonators, extra ammo and the nine millimeter pistols. He also packed a few hand grenades once he was satisfied he had everything he sealed the pack and then wrapped it in plastic and then put it into a water tight bag. By the time he finished with the pack Maria was ready. Ryan picked up her air tank and set it on her back and he strapped it up. He did the same with his air tanks. Once Ryan was satisfied that everything was ok with the dive gear they headed off into the water. They swam to the buoy and mad their dive from there it took less than fifteen minutes to reach the cave.

  Ryan and Maria walked up the stairs to the temple and Ryan opened the doors. They both had high powered lanterns that lit the room up like daylight. They were in awe at the ornate objects around the room. All were made of gold and shined though this room and not been opened in a very long time. The cobwebs were thick all over the room and a layer of dust sat on all horizontal surfaces. Ryan was surprised that he had not found the three passageways leading off from the main room when he was here before.

  Ryan moved down the first passageway and it led to what was sleeping quarters. He searched the bedroom and didn’t find anything of interest that might useful. He left the bedroom and went down the second passageway it slopped down and was a very long hallway. Maria found that there were torches on the wall but all were dried out from years of non use. The hallway finally ended at a door and it looked like it had not been used in a long time. Ryan tried the door handle and it moved but the door would not open. Ryan put his weight and the door budg
ed a bit. It opened enough that the door did not latch again. Ryan backed up about ten feet and ran at the door and hit it with his shoulder. The door flew open and Ryan tumbled to the ground. Ryan lay there in pain forgetting he had the wounds that were not completely healed yet and a couple were on the shoulder he had just hit the door with. Maria came running over to Ryan and made sure that he was alright.

  Maria helped Ryan to his feet and she picked up the two lanterns that they were carrying and she gasped at what she saw. “My god I can’t believe that they would leave all of this behind.”

  “I can’t believe my eyes,” Ryan said.

  They stood there in shock looking at rows upon rows of gold bricks lined on the shelves in the room. Ryan walked over to the closest shelve and picked up one of the bricks. He guessed the brick weighed a pound. He made several trips and took twenty bricks of the gold each time and carried them back to the main room and placed them in the pack.

  He moved down the last hallway and it ended at another door. This door opened easily and Ryan and Maria walked into the room. This room was empty except for a row of beds along the back wall. This looked to be servant quarters. There was a door on the far wall.

  Ryan tried to open the door it did not move, he put more force but the door still did not move. He reached into his backpack and took out a brick of C-4 he pulled off pieces and rolled it between his palms making what looked like big worms. He pushed the long strips of the C-4 against the door and the door jamb he did this until he had made a complete loop around the door. He pushed a detonator receiver into the C-4 and moved back outside the room. He took the wireless transmitter and pushed the button, the C-4 exploded in a controlled blast that knocked the door completely away from its foundation. Ryan walked back into the room and was happy to see the door was no longer there, he walked thru the door and was shocked to see that there were more doors leading off this room.

  This room was empty except for a small table, and the other thing Ryan noticed was this room was clean there was no dust anywhere. Ryan senses became very alert see this room, he carefully opened the door to the right side of the room and found it empty, he tried the center door and found a long hallway. He started to make his way down the hall and found that it emptied into another great room standing there behind ten demons was Regina. The moment Ryan walked into the room Regina said, “so you are the slayer that has everyone so upset.”

  “I guess that would be me.”

  “I wonder how Lucifer will reward me for bringing in your head.”

  I don’t think you will ever find out Regina, I plan on ending your perverted existence right here and now.”

  The demons started forward toward Ryan and Ryan drew his pistol, Regina laughed and said “You fool don’t you know that a gun cannot kill me.”

  “I know that very well but it will kill your demons and Ryan fired his pistol ten times that sounded as though it was one shot. The ten demons that were protecting Regina burst into flames and disappeared, Regina pulled her sword out and challenged the slayer.

  Ryan held up his hand and the Angel Sword appeared, Regina laughed and asked, “what is that the so called angel sword that does not exist?”

  “Why as a matter of fact it is the Angel Sword.”

  “Fool it does not exist, it is nothing more than a myth.”

  “Ask your dead brothers and sisters if it is a myth.”

  Regina charged Ryan and swung her sword and the blade hit Ryan and sliced his arm. Ryan spun around and brought his sword to bear and cut Regina across her back. Ryan stopped and brought his sword into a block of Regina’s swing. Sparks flew when the two blades met and pulled across each other. Regina spun and tried to thrust her sword into Ryan, he blocked the thrust and made a back handed swing and cut Regina across her arm. Regina tried to do a roll and come up next to Ryan but he spotted what she was trying to do and when she came to her feet Ryan was holding his blade at her neck, she tried to kick him but Ryan drew the blade of his sword across her throat and her head rolled off of her shoulders and onto the floor. She burst into flames and disappeared.

  Maria and Ryan returned to the main room and Ryan took out all the C-4 and detonators that he had and a timer. He went back down all the hallways and placed C-4 in all the rooms and returned with five more bricks of gold. He figured that it was a even swap one hundred bars of gold for two hundred bricks of C-4.

  When all the detonators were in place he met Maria back in the main hall and the headed for the shore. They got back into their dive gear and just before they reentered the water Ryan set the timer for forty-five minutes. More than enough time to get back to the SUV and change. They got back into the water and swam back to the beach where the SUV was parked. The stowed their dive gear and changed clothes. The moved off a little farther and waited for the blast. Ryan checked his watch and saw that he had five more minutes before the C-4 went off. Ryan got out the map and checked for the city of Nami which was near the ancient city of Nineveh they would find the temple that belonged to Amy there.

  Ryan had just found the city of Nami on the map when the ground shook and Ryan looked up just in time to see a geyser of water spray fifty feet into the air. Ryan looked at Maria and smiled and said “scratch another fallen’s temple.”

  They climbed back into the SUV and drove back to their motel in Bagdad. They would take the rest of today and tomorrow off and head for Nami. When they arrived back at the motel they both showered and Maria treated Ryan’s wounds with antibiotic cream and they both turned in for the night.

  They were woke the next morning by a pounding on the door. Ryan got up and answered the door and standing there was a Iraqi police officer.

  “Sir may I speak with you for a moment?”

  “Yes officer please come in.”

  The officer walked in the room and sat on the couch and asked, “Sir were you in Chard yesterday?”

  “Yes sir we were. We spent the day by the lake until the ground shook and a geyser blew out of the water. Scared the heck out of us.”

  “So you admit to being there?”

  “Yes sir we have nothing to hide.”

  “Did you do any diving there?”

  “No sir, I don’t know how to dive.”

  “Some local people said they saw you diving at the lake there.”

  “There were some people that were diving there but not us.”

  “Ok sir thank you for your time.”

  “You’re welcome sir.”

  Ryan showed the officer out and shut the door. He looked at Maria with a frown on his face. “I wonder what is going on. Maybe we need to lay low for another day or two.”

  “I am guessing that someone reported us to the police and said we caused the ground to shake and the geyser.”

  “Makes me glad I emptied the Hummer last night,”

  “Me too.”

  “Maybe we should take another day off tomorrow instead of going to Nami.”

  “I really don’t see any reason too, they took your story and they don’t have the time like our police do at home. They are still trying to recover from the Gulf war.”

  “That is true. Then we can leave in the morning as scheduled.”

  They decided to do some sightseeing while they were here. The last time Ryan was here he was still in the Navy. They spent the day walking around the city of Bagdad and taking in the sights. They planned on getting on the road around six in the morning and make the hour and a half drive.