by Anna Hackett
“I hope not.”
They kept moving, heading deeper into the mine. The tunnels changed, the walls and ceiling becoming more regular. Side tunnels snaked off the main tunnel, at regular intervals.
They reached a junction.
“Which way?” he asked.
“That way.” Elin pointed to where the Star of David symbol was carved on the wall. As the tunnel system got more complex, they continued to follow the symbols.
Soon, the tunnels morphed into very straight walls and flat, paved floors, that were definitely man-made. It was amazing to think that thousands of years ago, man had carved these, all in the hunt for gold and diamonds.
“Oh, my God.” Elin hurried forward. “Look at this.”
Her light illuminated a section of tunnel that looked different from what they’d seen so far. These incredible carvings were images, not text. They were all carved deep into the stone, and some had once been painted, though over time the colors had deteriorated from age and the underground conditions.
The two of them slowed their pace, staring at the amazing pictures. Detailed scenes depicted the mining work, carts being pulled, workers using pickaxes. Others showed the smelting of the gold, the molten metal being scooped up from large, stone tubs carved into the rock. Many of the workers resembled the local San people, with small, wiry statures and short hair. But a few of the people also looked a little different—taller with longer hair.
Hale frowned. Were these people the enigmatic survivors of a pre-flood race?
Some images showed the lives of the miners. San families crowded around a beautiful lake and waterfall—people eating, children playing.
It made Hale think of the Okavango Delta in Botswana. It wasn’t too far from here. “This area must have been wetter back then.”
Elin nodded. “Come on. Let’s keep moving.”
They continued through the twists and turns of the tunnels. Hale kept an eye out for any booby traps. He wasn’t expecting rolling boulders, but he’d heard tales of poisoned arrows, and knew the San people were excellent hunters.
He’d expected the place to be better protected…even after being abandoned for centuries.
They rounded a corner and Hale sucked in a breath.
Ahead, part of the tunnel had collapsed. They got closer to the pile of rocks, and Hale studied the roof. “Be careful. It doesn’t look very stable in places.”
Elin cautiously moved forward, lifting her flashlight to shine on the unstable roof.
Then she pitched forward.
In a flash, Hale realized the blackness ahead of her wasn’t a rock wall…it was a huge, gaping hole in the floor.
He lunged forward and grabbed her. As he yanked her back, she dropped her flashlight, and both of them fell to the ground. They watched the glow of her spinning flashlight, as it fell down a huge, cylindrical shaft.
“Thanks,” she said, her voice raspy, her fingers gripping him.
They waited and, moments later, heard a clatter as her light finally hit the bottom. Carefully, Hale moved closer to the edge, and shone his beam of light down.
The giant cylindrical hole speared down into the heart of the mine. He couldn’t see the bottom; the light had been swallowed by the dense darkness. He looked up, and near where part of the roof had collapsed, the rotting wooden remains of what looked like a pulley mechanism was attached to the wall.
“This is a man-made shaft. There’s some sort of lift mechanism there, although it’s mostly ruined.”
She nodded. “Just like a modern-day mine. This would have been the main access, up and down.”
He cautiously tested the edge. “This side of the shaft looks more stable.”
Elin looked over. “Can we climb down there?”
Hale pulled his backpack off. “I have some basic climbing gear.” He always carried his lightweight ropes and harnesses on a mission.
“In your bag of tricks?”
“Yep.”
“Well, we might not need them.” She pointed down one side of the shaft. “There’s a narrow path cut into the side here. It spirals downward.”
“We caught a break.”
“First time for everything.” She started down the rocky path, keeping her hands pressed to the rock wall. “It’s narrow. And crumbling in places, so be careful.”
“Here.” He tossed her his flashlight, and then followed her, carefully placing his boot with each step and testing the rock beneath. He peered down into the darkness. He did not want to fall.
All of a sudden, the sound of rock scraping on rock broke the silence. He looked over his shoulder…
A huge block of rock thrust out of the wall, like a piston, then retracted.
What the hell? He barely had time to comprehend what was happening, before another block rushed out in front of him. It caught his side, knocking him off balance. “Fuck! Elin, watch out!”
He heard Elin curse, but he was too busy teetering on the edge of the path. He felt his weight tip toward the gaping hole of the shaft.
A hand grabbed his arm, yanking him back toward the wall. Hale pressed his body against the rock, sucking in air.
“Okay?” Elin was right beside him.
“Yeah. Thanks.” He blew out a breath. “Don’t move. There’s some kind of booby trap built into the wall.”
She raised the flashlight, and he could just make out the joints showing where the moving blocks were hidden, all along the wall ahead. They ran on into the darkness.
“Dammit,” she muttered. “We can’t play Russian roulette with these traps. We have to find another way.” She aimed the light downward.
“Hey, what’s that?” He crouched, touching just over the edge of the path.
She angled the light better. “It looks like handholds cut into the rock. It’s a ladder down.”
“Right, or another trap,” he said darkly.
“We have to try.” She wedged the flashlight up her sleeve. “I’ll go first.”
Elin went backward over the edge, slotting her boots into the handholds. She moved downward cautiously. Hale unzipped his bag, ready to go for his grappling gun if anything happened to her.
She paused and looked up. “It seems fine. Sturdy, and no signs of any joints that indicate a booby trap.”
Hale grunted. He still didn’t like it. He climbed over the edge and followed her down.
“Now we’ve caught a break,” she called up.
“I don’t recommend saying that.”
“Don’t tell me you’re superstitious, I didn’t—” Her voice broke off.
“Elin?”
“Ah, we might have a problem.”
“What?” He moved down until he was just above her.
“Shit, it’s starting to feel warm.” She lifted one hand. “These handholds are covered in something wet. I thought it was water.” She gasped. “God, Hale, it’s starting to burn.”
He caught a glimpse of dark-green sludge on her hand. “It’s some sort of poison. We need to wash it off.”
The flashlight bobbed. “There’s a ledge just down a bit farther.” Her voice was tight with pain.
Hale watched her climb down and then he moved as far as he could without touching the poisoned handholds, then dropped the last few feet to the ledge, landing beside her.
She was already grabbing her water bottle. She doused one hand. “It’s sticky. It won’t come off!”
Hale heard the strain in her voice. He shoved a hand over his shoulder, and grabbed a cloth from his bag. She held her hand up and he swiped the gunk off and then poured some of his own water over her hand.
“Better?”
“Yes. I think it’s blistering, but it’s not burning anymore.”
Hale fished out his small first aid kit. “Let me see it.” Gently, he studied the blisters and rubbed some antiseptic cream on her skin. He covered them with a bandage.
She looked up at him. “Now what?”
“Now we rappel down.”
She
nodded. “Let’s do it.”
Hale pulled out the harnesses and handed one to her.
She studied the gear. “This is the smallest, lightest climbing harness I’ve ever seen.”
“My own design.” He maneuvered into his. “I wanted basic, lightweight gear I could take on missions. Just in case of an emergency.”
He grabbed his tools and banged hooks into the rock. They double checked each other’s ropes and tied on.
He looked down into the cavernous darkness. “Nice day for a climb.”
She gave a strangled laugh and then started downward, her boots pressed to the rock.
***
Elin had always loved rappelling. Early in her marriage, she and Matthew had taken their gear and headed out to climb in the Shenandoah National Park. She hadn’t been in a long time.
But she couldn’t say rappelling in complete darkness was much fun.
She paused for a second, swiping her arm across her face. The deeper they went, the hotter it got. Her shirt was damp with sweat. And her left hand was still stinging from whatever the hell that poison had been.
Beside her, Hale moved with easy, athletic grace. She hadn’t expected anything less. It was clear he’d done plenty of climbing. In fact, he looked like he was enjoying himself.
“We’ve gone a long way down,” she said.
He nodded. “I still can’t see the bottom, but we must be getting close.”
Good. She didn’t want to run into any more booby traps. They kept moving downward, and Elin hoped their ropes were long enough.
“Let’s take a break.” She hung from her rope and pulled her water bottle off her backpack. She tipped it back and drank. Beside her, Hale did the same.
The flashlight was still tucked in her sleeve and was aiming at the rock wall. She spotted something. Clipping her water bottle back on, she pressed her hand to the rock and pulled herself closer. “There’s something here.”
Hale tensed. “Another trap?”
Frowning, she pressed her fingers into the grooves. “At first glance, I thought they were engravings, but they’re not. I don’t see any poison.” She fingered one. They were a bunch of long lines cut into the rock.
Suddenly, a silver blade flashed out of one of the long grooves. Elin yanked her hand back and darted to the side. She caught a glimpse of a silver circle shoot out into the darkness.
“What the hell!” Hale yelled.
“It was some sort of blade.” God, another booby trap.
Another blade flashed out, catching Elin’s rope. It nicked the line, and she dropped downward a few inches.
“Hold on, Elin.” Hale’s voice was hard and tense.
“Stay away from the grooves.” She swung her flashlight up and her gut cramped. Her rope was fraying.
The rope let go some more and she dropped another few inches. Her rope was almost completely frayed through. She pressed her hands to the rock face, avoiding the blade grooves and looking for a handhold. Anything.
There was nothing but smooth rock. “There’s nothing to hold on to!”
“Hold on, dammit.” Hale was rummaging in his backpack.
Her rope broke. Elin dropped, a scream caught in her throat.
Suddenly, she jerked to a halt, her right arm wrenching. Hale had grabbed her wrist. His face was set in harsh lines above her.
“Hold…on,” he ground out.
Elin tried not to move, but she felt her hand slipping through his. “Hale.” She didn’t want to die.
“Trust me, Elin.”
Her hand slipped some more. Trust was something Elin wasn’t good at. But the time she’d spent with Hale had shown her that he was a loyal man who fought for what was right. “I do.”
Her fingers slipped from his. All the air rushed out of her as she fell, and time seemed to move in slow motion.
She saw Hale lift something. There was a thwap sound, and she saw something streak out over her head.
Then she watched as Hale unclipped his harness and leaped out into the shaft after her.
Horror filled her. “Hale, no!”
His big body slammed into her. She found her face smashed against his chest, one of his arms wrapped around her.
“Hold on!” he yelled.
She did, and the next second, they were swinging across the shaft. Hale lifted his legs and a second later, his boots hit the other wall, absorbing the force of their swing.
They hung there for a moment, both of them breathing hard.
Elin swallowed and looked up. He was holding the smallest grappling gun she’d ever seen. The line disappeared into the darkness above them.
“Well, it worked,” he said. “Shit. Let’s not do that again.”
She gripped onto him, wrapping her legs around his hips. He reached between them, clipping a spare carabiner onto her harness, tying them together.
“Shit. Shit.” He tangled a hand in her hair and pulled her close, his face pressed to the side of her neck.
Elin held on, liking the soothing beat of his heart beneath her ear, even if his heartbeat was racing a little. Her own was jumping all over the place.
“Okay?” His breath was warm against her cheek.
She nodded. “Just need a second.”
His arms tightened on her. “Hell, I need a month or two.”
She managed a choked laugh. “Thanks for catching me.”
“Always.” His hand cupped her cheek, tilting her face up to his. “I’ll reach for you, come for you, rescue you anytime you need it. You need someone to fight by your side, I’ll be there.”
Elin felt something inside her shudder and bloom. When things were good with her ex, it had been fun and companionable, but it was only now she realized Matthew wouldn’t have put himself out for her or risked his life. He wouldn’t have fought beside her, or come for her when she needed him.
She stared into Hale’s handsome, shadowed face and saw a strong warrior who would never let her down. Now she felt something else in her chest…something bigger, bolder, and far scarier than she’d ever felt before.
Hale pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “Ready to keep going?”
She nodded. He pressed something on the grappling gun and they started to lower downward again. It was awkward with them clipped together, but they managed. When Elin’s boots touched a gravelly bottom, she let out a long breath.
They unclipped and Hale retracted the grappling gun rope. She shone her flashlight around. There was an arched doorway set in the rock wall, and below their feet, the ground was damp.
They moved toward the arch. It was cut perfectly into the rock and covered with amazing carvings. More images of the mine workers going about their work.
Together, Elin and Hale stepped into the tunnel, gravel crunching underfoot.
“Wait.” Hale grabbed her arm.
Wary of more booby traps, she stopped.
“There are alcoves set into the wall. Shine the light over there.”
Gold glinted in the darkness. Elin gasped and hurried forward. The alcove was stacked with rough bars of gold. “Oh, my God.”
“These must have been storage areas…for before the gold was shipped out.” He moved to the next alcove. There were more stacked gold bars.
Elin picked a bar up. They were larger than a modern bar and rougher in form. They were stamped with the Star of David. “Just amazing. Some worker dug the gold-laden rock from the ground, smelted it, and made this.”
“You really do care about the history,” Hale said.
She looked up at him. “Of course. My earliest memories are of listening to my mom talk about the history and provenance of the artwork she was restoring. She told me that history shows us where we’ve been, and the heart of who we are. It also gives us hope about where we’re going and who we can become.”
“Sounds like a wise woman.”
Elin smiled. “She’d like you. My mother has a thing for young, hot men.” When Hale’s eyebrows rose, Elin laughed. “Mom would tell
you she has excellent taste in all things.” Elin shone the light closer to his face. “Are you blushing?”
“Ex-Navy SEALs don’t blush.”
With another laugh, Elin headed farther down the tunnel, Hale a step behind her. A moment later, it opened up. She lifted the flashlight. It was a huge, dome-like cavern.
Elin gasped. There was a large lake of water, with a small waterfall running down one rock wall. A carpet of moss-like plants grew along the side of the water. Several cylindrical rock pillars extended up to the roof, many of which were covered in trailing plants.
“How are there plants down here?” she said.
He reached out and touched a vine draped over some rocks. “They look like moss, so they’ve adapted to the low light.” He shook his head. “They must get some light down here. I’ve never seen anything like them before.”
But something else caught Elin’s attention. She strode toward the pool and stopped at the edge, crouching down to snatch up a rock.
It was a white opaque color. And it wasn’t a rock.
She spun. “Hale, look.”
He gripped her wrist, turning it to study the rock in the light.
“It’s an uncut diamond,” he breathed.
They looked around. Similar, opaque rocks of all sizes dotted the gravel floor. All uncut diamonds.
“This is amazing,” she breathed.
Hale gave a shake of his head. “I don’t just think we found Ophir. I think we just found the Bushman’s Paradise, as well.”
Chapter Eleven
Hale crouched and scooped fresh water onto his face and down his arms. Behind him, Elin was pacing.
“The Bushman’s Paradise. Ophir. King Solomon’s Mines. The Lost City of the Kalahari.” She spun to face him. “They’re all the same thing.”
“It’s not surprising,” he said. “All the myths and stories in this one desolate place had to center on something.”
Elin paced again, running her hand through her hair. “And somewhere in here is Solomon’s ring.”
They’d searched the cavern the best they could, and hadn’t found any other ways in or out. They had found rock-cut houses gouged into the back wall, more moss-like plants, and even several small artifacts that proved people had once lived here.
