"Why didn't you go with Roland when he left camp?" he asked as they headed toward the river.
"I didn't feel like it. He's not my boyfriend, you know."
"I wasn't sure. You two have been together all the time."
"That's just it. I'm tired of tagging along with him everywhere, and that's what I told him before he left. I'm sorry if I hurt his feelings, but that's how I feel."
"I was sort of wondering what you saw in him."
"We've been friendly for a while, but to tell you the truth the only reason I came along was because I wanted to see the cave paintings."
When he'd heard that Walcott was bringing a woman from the art history department, Indy had thought the worst. He figured she'd make a fuss about sleeping in a tent and being required to help with the cooking and other chores. But Mara was nothing like his image of an art historian. She was willing to do whatever was required and she hadn't complained once, not even when she'd found a field mouse in her sleeping bag the first night.
"So do you really think we've got a chance of discovering a new cave?" she asked as they hiked along the riverbank.
"I know we'll find a cave. It's just a question of whether anyone lived there ten thousand years ago and left a calling card."
"It would be fantastic if we were so lucky. I'm so glad you let me come along."
Indy smiled, but didn't respond.
"Did you have any trouble getting away from Paris?" she asked.
He shrugged. "I made room for it. I wasn't going to miss this chance."
"No, I mean, that is... I was wondering if you had to leave a girlfriend."
Indy laughed. "Not really."
"What's that mean?"
"There's no one I had to tell I was leaving." The truth was he hadn't given anyone a chance to get close to him, not since he'd become involved with his first archaeology professor, who'd taken him to Greece. But that was nearly two years ago now, and he was starting to look at women in a new light again. He was just waiting to find the right one.
When they reached the base of a hill where the river disappeared into the narrow cavern, Indy sat down on the bank and took off his boots. He glanced at Mara, wondering if she was going to change her mind now that she was here.
But her mind wasn't what she was planning to change. "Don't look," she said, and she moved behind a clump of juniper.
Indy opened his pack and made sure the watertight container with the candles and matches was still secure. The only other thing in the pack was his whip. He didn't like carrying the extra weight, but the others had claimed all of the rope in camp in the hope that they'd put it to use climbing down a hole and into a cave. Besides, the whip was a good-luck piece.
He heard Mara singing softly to herself, and stole a glance over his shoulder just as she tossed her blouse on the top of the bush. He saw arms and legs through the thicket, and then her slacks landed next to her blouse. He smiled to himself as he turned away.
"You're not looking, are you?"
"Of course not."
"I'm glad I brought my swimming suit along," she said. "I thought it was silly at first. But I guess I knew I was going to get a chance to wear it."
"You could've gotten along without it."
"What do you mean by that?"
Indy laughed. "You could've worn your clothes on this swim. The water's cold."
"For a moment I thought... oh, never mind."
He liked Mara more all the time. He was already thinking ahead to when they were back in Paris. He could see them together sitting by the fountain at the Place Saint-Michel, walking through Luxembourg Gardens, or losing themselves in the Louvre.
"Is this going to be like the sewers?" she asked.
"What?"
"You know, les Egouts, the Paris sewers. You have been down there, haven't you?"
Indy admitted it was a part of Paris he hadn't visited.
"Oh, you've got to go. It's like an underground city."
"I'd probably need a guide," Indy said. "Maybe you can show it to me when we get back."
"Indy!" she shrieked.
He leaped to his feet and dashed over to where Mara was pressed against the juniper, her bare limbs rigid, her arms crossed over her chest. "Look!"
A black shiny snake was curled near her feet. Its body was as thick as his wrist and its tongue was flicking in and out. Indy slowly bent down and reached for a rock. The snake turned its head, impaling him with its weird, atavistic eyes. Indy froze; he couldn't pick up the rock. It was as if the snake had mesmerized him. The creature abruptly slithered toward him, over his bare foot, and away.
As Indy straightened up, Mara embraced him. "Oh, my God. You weren't even afraid of it."
His eyes were wide with terror. His heart was pounding. He watched the snake disappear between two rocks. "Not at all. It was just a snake."
"I was scared to death."
Suddenly, Indy was aware of Mara's closeness, of the shape of her body, of her face against his neck. She stepped back, self-consciously pulling up the strap of her swimming suit that had slipped off her shoulder.
"Well, shouldn't we go for our swim?" she said.
She looked great, he thought. "Are you still game for it?"
"You don't think there are any..."
"Snakes in the water? Naw, water's too cold. Snakes are cold-blooded. They get sluggish in the cold."
"Oh, good."
They walked down to the water hand in hand, and Indy was surprised by how easily they seemed to get along, how effortlessly they'd come together. It was as if they'd known each other for years.
Then Walcott crossed his mind again. Indy looked up, scanned the hills, searching for the Englishman. He imagined him somewhere up there staring at them, growing angry and charging down to ruin Indy's plans.
"What are you looking at?" Mara asked.
"Just the hills."
She stuck her foot in the water. "Ooh, it is cold. But I guess that means I have the advantage now."
"Why's that?"
"Don't you know that women have an extra layer of fat that protects them from the cold?"
Indy stepped into the stream. He thought of a response about how she could warm him up, but kept it to himself. "Lucky you." He reached into his pack and took out his whip. "Let's not lose each other."
He tied the end of it around her wasplike waist. "Good idea," she said. "Won't it get all stiff from the water?"
"The whip? I'll oil it after it dries. It'll be as good as new." He jammed the other end under his belt. There was nearly ten feet of whip between them, enough so they could swim without kicking each other. His only concern was that Mara might panic and fight him. In that case, they could both drown. "You sure you can hold your breath for a couple of minutes?"
"I've got excellent lung capacity." She drew in a deep breath and her swimming suit tugged tightly against the swell of her breasts.
"Yeah, I see." They waded into the opening, the stream pulling them forward as the light dimmed. "You think you can swim against this current?"
"Stay there," she said and without another word moved downstream to the end of the whip. She ducked under and disappeared from sight. A moment later, he glimpsed her lithe figure as she wriggled past, then he felt the tug of the whip as she surfaced.
"Not bad. I see why they called you a mermaid."
Beads of water glistened on her arms and legs. "Then let's get on with it."
When they reached the point where the ceiling met the water, Indy signaled Mara and they plunged into the dark waters. This time it seemed to take only seconds before Indy felt air above him and popped to the surface. The first time he'd gone further downstream than necessary, but it was also the knowledge that he'd done it once that made the underwater journey go so swiftly.
Mara bumped into him, then surfaced. "That wasn't hard at all. But where are we? I can't see a thing."
"Right now we're just drifting downstream. Here's the wall. I found a ledge."
&nb
sp; "Where?"
He guided her arm. "Here."
"Got it."
Indy braced himself on the ledge, then reached into the pack and found the soap-dish-sized metal container with the candle and matches. There was no water inside, a good sign. The match roared in his ear as he struck it, and a pellucid light filled the cavern. He lit a candle, passed it to Mara, and lit another one.
"Look, Indy!"
"What is it?"
The ledge was narrow and the ceiling was only a few feet over their heads, but that wasn't what had attracted Mara's attention. Just a few yards away, the stream split into two branches, and the one veering to the left opened into an immense cavern whose ceiling was at least thirty feet above their heads.
"What a difference a little light can make." Indy let go of the ledge and sidestroked into the channel, holding the candle over his head.
He squinted up at the wall, searching for a sign of a cavity. Their best bet was that there were caverns untouched by the water and undiscovered by man since the Ice Age.
"Look up there," Mara said. Indy followed her gaze toward the ceiling. High on the wall was a gap a couple of yards across and half that high.
As Indy moved toward the wall, his feet touched a narrow underwater shelf, and he stood up. He pulled Mara up with him. "You cold?"
She rubbed her arms. "A little. How about you?"
"I'm numb."
She held the candle near his face and touched a finger to his mouth. "Your lips are blue." She leaned forward and kissed him gently.
"I think they're warming up already."
He extinguished his candle, put it in his pack, then reached around Mara's waist and untied the whip. "If it looks promising, I'll help you up."
"It's so steep. You think you can make up it there without falling?"
He coiled the whip and tucked it into his pack. "It'll be a snap. If I fall I'll land in the water." He found a handhold, then a foothold, and pulled himself up.
Slowly, he worked his way up the wall. Finally, when he was within a few feet of the hole, he realized he could see into a cavern without the aide of a candle. The light was faint, but steady, and it meant that sunlight was shining in through another hole. He pulled himself over the lip of the gap and crawled inside.
"Mara!"
"What is it?"
"You've got to see this."
2
Subterranean Treachery
Walcott was ecstatic, simply ecstatic. Possibly the oldest artifact ever discovered was in his hands. The details in the features of the clay bear were incredible. He could see tufts of clay fur, sharp incisors, and even the ripple of shoulder muscles. Its only flaw was the pockmarks on the chest, but those would just attest to its age. Besides the bear, he'd found two clay bisons in the room, and who knew how many more rooms and more figurines were here.
He could thank Jones for pointing him in the right direction. As soon as he'd heard the student's tale, Walcott had realized that the hill must be honeycombed with caverns, and that there was probably a way of digging into one, if he found the right spot. He figured he'd look around and come back on his own as soon as he could. But a rabbit led him to the entrance.
He was poking his walking stick near a boulder when the rabbit darted out of the shrubbery. He pushed his walking stick into a hole, and four half-grown rabbits scrambled out. He pressed again and the stick kept going; he'd found an opening. Walcott briefly considered going back for tools and help, but this was his discovery, his alone. After half an hour of digging with his hands and the stick, he worked his way through the hole and into what immediately struck him as possibly one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time. After all, every major museum in the world wanted authentic relics from the Ice Age, and Walcott knew he could make a fortune.
But now he had to think clearly and make sure that his excitement didn't overpower common sense. He didn't want Jones finding a route into these chambers. He needed to hurry back to camp and tell him that he was not to enter the cave again, that he was lucky he hadn't drowned. Walcott had no idea whether or not it was possible to get here from the underground river, but he wasn't going to take any chances.
He set the bison down and moved into the next room. More exquisite figurines from the Stone Age rested on the floor. He counted two bears, a reindeer, and a bison, and there was still at least one more room leading off this one. If he played his cards right, he was going to be a wealthy man.
As soon as they got back to Paris he'd resign from the university. After that, he'd come back and scour the cave. He'd take out most of the artifacts, but he'd leave one or two intact, just so he could authenticate his discovery. He'd go around to the curators and art dealers and sell to the highest bidder. The Sorbonne might suspect he'd found the cave while he was in their employ, but they wouldn't be able to prove it. He'd just say that he suspected there might be a cave in the area and he had come back to look for it after he resigned.
The walls were covered with paintings of animals, but Walcott didn't pay them much heed. You couldn't scrape paintings off a wall and sell them. Crass, but there you had it. Mara would no doubt be impressed. Maybe he'd still let her in on his discovery. It would definitely impress her. Then maybe she'd make up her mind about him and the offer he'd made her.
He was about to move into the next room when he heard a noise coming from it. He listened and moved toward the doorway to another room. He heard it again. A voice.
The bloody bastard found a way up. And who is he talking to? Doesn't matter. Nobody is going to mess up my plans. I won't allow it.
"What do you think of it?" Indy asked as Mara gazed in awe at forty feet of wall covered with woolly mammoths, deer, bears, and bisons. On the opposite side were more animal paintings, as well as several handprints, outlined in paint, and an array of strange symbols.
"It's fantastic, just fantastic," she replied in a hushed voice. "But are you sure they're really ancient?"
"No question about it," Indy answered. "Enough of these caves have been found around here. You're definitely looking at paintings from the Ice Age."
"Look at the color—red, yellow, brown, black. I want to touch them, but I better not."
"From what I understand the paint was made from natural iron minerals," Indy said.
"I wonder what they used as a binding agent?"
"Probably blood or animal fats."
"Do you think this is a really important discovery?" Mara asked.
"That depends on what else is here. At a minimum, we've found some fascinating Paleolithic cave art that's comparable with what's already been discovered."
Mara moved closer to the wall, and pointed to a four-legged animal that seemed to have a single horn growing from its head. "Look at that one. It's a unicorn."
Indy laughed. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."
"I believe in unicorns," she said quiedy. "They really did exist."
"How do you know?"
Mara moved along the mural, examining the paintings. "I just believe it. You don't think this cave has already been discovered, do you?"
"I doubt it. Even if none of us had heard about it, one of the villagers we talked to in Montignac would've said something about it. They seemed to know about all the other caves."
"I suppose you're right."
"Let's see what else is here," he said.
Holes in two of the walls led to other rooms and Indy headed directly to the brightest one. A short passageway opened into a chamber with more cave paintings. The light entered through a chink in the ceiling in the far corner of the chamber, but Indy's attention was drawn to another discovery. A three-foot clay figure of a bear stood on its hind legs a few feet away, and as he looked around, he saw a couple of other figurines in the chamber.
Mara had already spotted the bear, and squatted down in front of it. "Look at this!"
"Now I'd say we've made a significant discovery," Indy said, dropping to one knee. "That is, if it's a true Stone A
ge relic."
"Too bad it's got all these little holes on the chest," Mara said.
Indy picked up a pointed stone that lay next to the bear. "Look, this stone has been worked. I'd say a shaman crouched here and stabbed at the clay bear."
"Why would he do that?"
"Probably to invoke the death of a real bear. It's sympathetic magic and old as these hills."
"What superstitious people they must have been."
Indy shrugged. "One man's superstitions; another man's religion." He walked across the room and examined the gap in the ceiling.
"Can we get out that way?" Mara asked. "I'm not looking forward to going back into that cold water."
The aperture looked just large enough to squeeze through, but Indy became immediately apprehensive. The dirt on the floor of the cave looked fresh. Then he saw the footprint. His first thought was one of disappointment; the figurines were probably of recent origin. "Someone's been here."
"What? When?"
"Not very long ago."
"And I'm still here."
Indy spun around and saw Walcott standing by the entrance to the next room, pointing a revolver at them.
"Roland?" Mara gasped.
"You won't have to worry about swimming upstream, my dear," Walcott said.
"How did you find the entrance?" Indy asked.
"I'm naturally lazy, Jones. I looked for an easier way in, and as luck would have it, a little rabbit showed me the way."
"Roland, put that gun down!" Mara snapped.
"Oh, Mara. It's too bad about you. I'd hoped things would work out differently."
"Get rid of it, Walcott, or I'll turn you in when we get back to Paris," Indy barked, trying to sound authoritative.
Walcott laughed. "You're such a kid, Jones. Too bad you're not going to get a chance to grow up."
"Roland, please. We haven't done anything," Mara pleaded. "You were here first. You get the credit for the discovery. Not us."
Indiana Jones and the Unicorn's Legacy Page 2
