“Oh my God,” she whispered and clasped her bruised, bleeding hand over her mouth the moment the words left her lips.
The delicate sprig of purple flowers lay on the cold, desolate floor before her, and it was the most beautiful color she had ever seen in her life. The silky blossoms were slightly wilted, but there was no doubt they were the very same strand that Jake had plucked from her hair and tucked close to his heart before he left her in the clearing.
Surely Jake left this for her as a sign! This must be the way into the ruins.
If she could slip back into the camp and retrieve Cataya without waking anyone, they could take the hidden passage and be free of Britton and his hired group of thugs in enough time to warn Jake of his presence.
Danielle knew it was dark out still and finding the way on their own would be incredibly risky since Britton had the map, though it was a general drawing of the area and she had already seen it once. She and Cataya had one other advantage. They were small and fast. They could move quickly through the tunnels, and it wouldn’t be so easy for the rest of the group. Even a tiny head start would give them a chance to see what was on the other side, and if it looked grim, she could always revert to the original plan and find a place for them to hide.
“Holas?” A quiet voice spoke directly from behind her position, and she froze in alarm with the close proximity of the inquiry. As swiftly as possible she snatched the blossoms from the floor of the tunnel and tucked them inside her shirt where they clung to her damp skin.
A weak beam from a flashlight swept over her head in the dark hole and briefly lit the mist that covered her hands up to her wrists. Knowing the person at the entrance would have seen her she began to back out very slowly, still hoping to find a way to convince them there was nothing back there.
When she emerged from the tunnel she was relieved to see it was merely the guide who had discovered her, and she put her finger to her lips in an effort to silence him while she could explain.
“I was looking for a place to go to the bathroom, but there is a dead end back there. Would you show me another area I can use in private?”
He cocked his head to one side with a curious look on his face, and she was dismayed to realize he probably didn’t completely understand her request. To make matters worse, he followed his gesture with a verbal query in Spanish that carried quite a bit further than she would have liked. When she didn’t answer, he repeated it loudly, and this time she was certain the entire camp would hear. He pushed her gently to the side and cast his light into the narrow crack, and his face immediately took on a look of excitement at the discovery.
He spoke rapidly under his breath, running his fingers over the structure of the walls and following the patterns in the mist as he disturbed the airflow inside.
“Now what is going on?”
Danielle jumped in surprise because she hadn’t heard Britton approach. She had been so caught up with what was going on inside the tunnel that she didn’t notice the sky was lightning to a faded grey and the shadows along the cliff wall weren’t as dark as they used to be.
The guide instantly emerged from the wedge in the rock, panting with excitement and tugging on Britton’s sleeve. The esteemed professor disdainfully removed his hand from his garment as if it were an offensive thing and snatched the flashlight from his other with very little patience.
He turned to the side and slipped his slender figure inside the opening, shining the light as far back as he could see. With a look of smug satisfaction on his face, he turned and looked directly at Danielle.
“See there, I told Anna that we still needed you. Look how helpful you have been to us once again. Now run along and fetch your little friend…We’re going to the lost city immediately.”
She stumbled away from the cliff in disbelief, refusing to believe her actions had led them all this far. Jake had assured her she was an unwitting pawn in all of this and she certainly hadn’t intended enter the city of her dreams for the first time with his arch nemesis at her side.
How do I know this is the city from my dreams?
The camp seemed to spring to life around them, buzzing with excitement as the sun began to rise and burn away the fog which clung to the low lying areas. The bulky hired gunmen sported the greedy, shifty look that all treasure hunters had before a find, measuring each of their companions and wondering how they could increase their cut.
The problem was that Danielle knew Britton Majers wasn’t here for treasure. He was here for some kind of magic artifact that might give him a type of power beyond her understanding. She silently prayed that the only thing he would find was treasure, but she had held the silver mask in her very own hands, and she knew a fraction of the energy that it could import.
If the golden mask was uncovered, and the two were brought together—
Danielle shuddered to what kind of terrible magic Britton might be able to harness if that came to pass. She knew she had to do everything within her power once they were inside to keep him from that eventuality, and was more certain than ever that Jake was doing the same. If given the choice of rescuing her or recovering the golden mask to keep the twisted director from it, she hoped he was in the city already, locating the missing piece. After all, Britton was practically bringing her to Jake, and besides, she was more than capable of saving herself.
She might love him and he very well might love her back, but neither one of them would sacrifice the fate of the world for a chance to be together if there was a madman on the loose and they could stop him.
“I do love him,” she said in surprise, the absolute surety of her thoughts taking her by surprise.
She was in the most dangerous situation of her life, at a place that might as well have been the end of earth and she knew without a doubt she was doing the right thing. It was almost as if she had spent her entire life with him up until that point, and everything she had experienced before him was a fading memory that belonged to someone else.
“At least I can say I lived before I died.”
She nodded to herself and noted with a sense of peace that she didn’t even have any regrets. She would have to decide later if the feeling was brave or foolish. More than likely, later would decide for her.
The passage was narrow, even for her, and she briefly wondered how the porters were able to squeeze along the path with all of Britton’s equipment. If it was difficult for her, it must have been next to impossible for the poor natives who pushed, pried and prodded the bulky cases through the closest points. Some of the larger items were left behind outright, but everyone on the expedition made it into the cleft.
The craggy walls had been dry at first, digging into their exposed flesh, but as they made their way deeper into the niche they took on a darker grey color and developed a filmy coating of slime that she had no choice but to brush up against. The sound of falling water echoed through the passage now, and though she couldn’t see ahead, she suspected a waterfall waited at the end of the tunnel.
Thankfully, the mouth of the cave opened up to give them some room near the exit, though a sheer curtain of water cascaded over the path they had to follow. The sun shone through the veil of water and it sparkled like diamonds as it fell, filling her lungs with an earthy, fresh scent as Britton began to herd the party along the slippery precipice at the edge of the flow.
Danielle was so concerned with the placement of her foot steps on the slick ledge that she kept her head down, guiding Cataya in front of her by the shoulders until they passed the cascade and came out onto a ledge of impossibly soft, emerald green grass.
The cresting sun was blinding for a moment after the dim light in the cave, and she looked with sharp alarm at the porters who dramatically threw their baggage down onto the ground and fell to their knees all around the clearing. They seemed to be praying, or crying, she couldn’t tell which until she cast her glance into the valley below and realized it was both.
What she saw in the early morning light was burned
forever into her memory as her grasp on reality collided with ancient vision before them.
Chapter Nineteen
The rushing water from the falls cut into the mountainside and fell for hundreds of feet before it met with a swollen river which bisected the glorious stone city below them. The lush valley cradled the awe inspiring monuments in a perfect basin, and from that great distance she thought she could see a series of stone canals that ran past the outlying buildings. It must have been some type of irrigation system that stayed in place long after the demise of the ill-fated denizens of the fabled kingdom.
There were two massive and elaborate pyramids on either side of the valley, one on the far eastern perimeter and the other directly west. They were clearly step pyramids, with multiple entrances on each ledge as the square walkways grew smaller when the builders neared the top. Both pyramids had a perfect set of stairs reaching down from the stone plateau on top to the flat square below, and they faced each other. The river ran directly down the middle of the city, and a magnificent stone bridge arched over the tumultuous flow to bring the east and west side together.
Dawnfire and Emberdusk, she thought to herself. Though she tried to retain her composure, the memories of her visions behind the mask began to challenge her perception of reality. She was forced to recognize they might have held more than an illusionary meaning.
“The temple of the Sun and the temple of the Moon.” Britton grasped the map tightly and pointed to each structure in the distance. “Here we have the perfect balance of life and death. Within each of these stone monuments lies the very method I need to control this awesome power and the artifacts necessary to do so. It’s time someone taught the population of this planet a lesson, and I’m just the person to bring about a new world order.”
Danielle thought the guide who led them all to that place had understood her well enough earlier and was probably the only one of the porters who grasped a bit of English now. Her suspicions were confirmed when the color drained from his face.
“Please, I must go.” He knelt at Britton’s feet, crying openly and alarming the rest of the carriers. “I can’t do this thing. It is dishonor for our ancestors.”
“You may leave if you wish, my friend.” The imposing figure spoke down to him, his tone falsely agreeable, and it immediately set off the warning bells in Danielle’s head.
“Thank you, sir. Thank you for your kindness.”
The look on his face was wary, but he stood with visible relief and extended his hand for Britton to shake. After his obvious displeasure when the guide touched only his sleeve earlier that morning, she knew he wouldn’t accept the parting gesture.
Danielle was shocked when the professor gripped it warmly, but noticed he did not let go after a customary amount of time, and it became awkward. In an abrupt and brutal motion, Majers swung the guide to the edge of the green cliff, and the small man dangled over the side with nothing but Britton’s grip to keep him from plunging to his death.
“Try to hold on,” he said sarcastically through clenched teeth while the other members of the party watched in horrified fascination.
Danielle’s entire being was flooded with disbelief and she looked to each face in the group to see if anyone would put a stop to the madness. To her considerable surprise, the only person who seemed to reflect her own urge to intervene was Anna, who stood next to the mad professor.
“You’ve lost your mind, you crazy fool!” Danielle snapped and dove for the edge herself, slipping slightly but grabbing for the man’s free hand as he floundered in mid air.
Britton raised his open hand to strike her, but Anna caught him as he pulled back.
“You said the power ‘you’ needed to control life and death,” she said in an accusing tone. “I thought we were doing this together.”
Anna was a young woman, but she was strong and more than a handful when she was angry, and she appeared to be very upset. Thankfully, Britton was sane enough to realize that he was in no position to fight a battle on three fronts.
“We are doing this together. For the time being, anyway,” he glared at her as he answered, and then turned an accusing eye to Danielle.
“If you drop him,” she whispered so quietly that no one else would hear, “It will shatter what little morale the men have and make your task all the more difficult.”
“I was just illustrating a point.” He sighed with exaggeration and pulled the guide back over the ledge until he could claw for purchase.
“If anyone else wants to leave,” he shouted to the small group who cowered as closely against the far wall as possible, “the only way out is down. Remember that.”
Danielle still knelt near the edge, not sure her shaking legs would support her if she stood at the moment.
“Get up,” Britton said to her caustically. “It will take at least half a day to reach the bottom, so you had better get in line.”
There was very little chatter as they slowly worked their way down the mountainside, which wasn’t surprising after the display up top, but even the macho meat-shields Britton had hired to do his dirty work kept silent. They followed an old culvert that had dried up ages ago, tracing the natural progression the once fluid stream had used as it wound down into the valley.
As they approached the edge of the mythical lost city Danielle was clearly able to identify the outlying fields that had been farmed at one time, their dividing framework still standing after all the passing centuries. From the distance at the top of the mountain she had a difficult time understanding how the elaborate stone blocks of the main square hadn’t been overcome by the outlying greenery in the unexpected oasis, but as they drew near she saw the staggering thickness of each slab. Though many of the pieces were cracked or broken, a noticeable lack of vegetation grew on the ancient rock and a sacred feeling of energy flowed throughout the complex.
There was an implied magnificence about each structure they passed. The architecture was larger than life, and she felt like they were ants crawling along a procession hall built for the gods.
Danielle mentally struggled as they came close to the square because each step took her further from their current surroundings and into the realm of her dreams. She didn’t need anyone to tell her they were heading for the temple of the Moon. Of course it made the most sense. They had the silver mask in their possession and that was where it belonged, but she had walked this way before and she was beginning to lose her present sense of reality.
“I am sorry,” a small voice said behind her right shoulder. It was a quiet apology, but it drew her from her thoughts and brought her back to their situation. The trail guide walked near, his head hung low.
“I am sorry I gave you away, before.”
“I know, and it’s all right. Keep walking or you’ll draw more attention to yourself.”
The party halted at the base of the great pyramid, and as she gazed up at the massive steps along the incline they seemed to reach into the heavens. The afternoon sun was gone so quickly this deep in the valley, and she knew they had spent the greater part of the day getting to the city.
“And now we go up,” Britton said with anticipation, taking the first step himself. The effort it took to climb the procession way was monumental, far greater than the descent they had all faced earlier, especially now that they were fatigued and unsure about what was going to happen next.
The stars came out in the twilight sky before they reached the top, and Danielle knew what they would discover at the peak. The altar still stood, exactly as it had in her dream, the crescent shaped cradle set to frame the silver moonlight that was coming.
Most of the porters collapsed onto the stone surface with their heavy loads, and Britton did nothing to reprimand them. He reverently set the black case with the silver mask on the stone slab and pushed the buttons on each side as if he were going to open it in front of everyone.
At the last minute he hesitated and looked sharply at Danielle before he gestured to Anna.
“Take her to one of the rooms inside the lower levels. Don’t hurt her just yet, though you need to bind her hands and feet securely. We may still need her, but I can’t risk her coming into contact with the mask again.”
The dark-haired girl nodded and clasped Danielle’s upper arms firmly. She led her away from the main gathering, and they moved carefully back onto the steps. She didn’t fight her, hoping for a chance to reason with Anna once they were alone.
She firmly guided Danielle along the ledge one level down until they met with a dark, square opening.
Will this be my tomb? she thought as the girl propelled her inside the black space with surprising gentleness.
The cold air immediately swept over her exposed skin, and she felt an irrepressible moment of fear before Anna sat her down on the hard floor. She switched on a tiny flashlight and held it between her knees as she secured Danielle’s bonds, never meeting her eyes.
“You were very brave at the waterfall,” Anna said finally, pulling the knots tight. “I wanted to stop him, too.”
“You did stop him, Anna. If you hadn’t caught his swing we all might have gone over the edge. You are as brave as I am and you can help me right now if you want to.”
“I thought I knew what I wanted.” She hesitated with her fingers on the rope. “But if another person were to die because of me, how can I justify what I’m doing?”
“What do you mean another person?” Danielle immediately caught her words, and Anna stiffened, briskly wiping the silent tears from her eyes.
She quickly stood and turned her back to Danielle, her distorted shadow stretching across the patch of starlight which came through the opening.
“Stop, Anna. Please help us. If you release me Britton will never know until it’s over.”
She hesitated in the doorway and slowly turned before she walked back to the center of the room.
“Take this. At least you won’t be alone in the dark.”
Through Ancient Eyes (BookStrand Publishing Romance) Page 19
