"Morning wasn’t much better than the day before. We all ate our breakfast in silence. Von Schlange smiled at us; his cold eyes gleaming in the harsh glare of the flashlight beams. I felt sorry for his mom.
We marched along for about twenty
minutes. Jason was recovering swiftly; he didn’t limp as much and his breathing
was a lot better. I, however, limped heavily, favoring my swollen ankle. Jason
glanced back at me often. Finally he stopped, turned around and stepped towards
me. Without saying a word, he leaned down, took my hand, draped it over my
shoulder and picked me up.
“Put me down!” I hissed at him.
“Fat chance.” He pulled me closer
to himself. I shifted, trying to get down.
“You’re gonna end up hurting
yourself!”
“You’re the one hurting me right now,
with all the wiggling. Be still and hang on.”
I obeyed, but couldn’t help asking.
“How are you not hurting? Your ribs aren’t healed. Why are you doing this?”
I could only see the faint outline
of his face because the tunnel was so dark, but I could tell that he looked at
me. I stared straight back, waiting for an answer.
“I am hurting, Diana, but it’s not
worth complaining about, because it isn’t that bad. Seriously, it’s just
bruising. I promise, if it starts hurting too much, I’ll put you down.”
“Promise?”
“Yup.” He looked straight ahead
again.
“You still haven’t answered my
question.” I wasn’t about to let him get away without giving an answer.
“We’ve got to survive right now,
get the job done. Everything else can wait.”
“Very good answer, sir. Now shall
we continue?” Von Schlange’s accent filled the cavern, coming from right behind
us.
“Fine…” Jason and I both sighed simultaneously.
We kept going. Occasionally we
stopped and read a message etched into the cave wall or studied a picture that
gave directions. Von Shanks wasn’t thrilled with these pauses, as he couldn’t
read the ancient language, and neither of us had seen it in a while, if at all.
I was better at Greek, while Jason was proficient in Latin, and it seemed like
some strange mixture of the two. At one point, Von Shanks got so mad at the
speed of our deciphering that he slapped me again, then said we could halt for
a spell.
I hunted around in my backpack for
some dinner. That’s when he decided to be all nice and everything again. Bleah.
I told him I was just fine by myself, thanks, and didn’t need any help. I
rummaged through my bag, searching the contents for some jerky. He snatched the
bag out of my hands and set it behind him. I was miffed, and told him to give
it back.
“Sorry. You won’t be able to do a
very good job of getting cleaned up. The sooner you scoot over here, the sooner
you can eat or whatever. Cause, ya know, you’ve got lots of time to yourself
and tons of things you could be doing.” His tone was sarcastic, and he looked
at me with a raised eyebrow.
He had me beat. I figured that it
would probably be best to get my suffering over with as quickly as possible.
Cautiously I scooted over next to him. He took my hand that held the leftover
scraps of makeshift bandages and chose the largest square, setting the rest in
his lap. Then he took a canteen and soaked a rag and motioned me closer.
“Oh no you don’t.” I said, trying
to grab the cloth away from him. “I’ll wash my own face, thank you very much. I
don’t need to be babied.” He held the
cloth out of my reach. I went at it again and he grabbed my wrist.
“The more you struggle, the more
pain I’m in, so just hold still, won’t you?” That caused me to hesitate a
minute. Even though he probably got me into this mess, I didn’t want to hurt
him. “There you go,” he said. “Sit still and take your medicine.”
I frowned
at him but remained still and let him clean my wounds. He was gentle and I
hardly felt a thing as he washed out the scrapes from my fall the other day and
the cuts from Von Schlange. I noticed that he frowned as he started cleaning
off my cheek.
“Am I
squirming too much?”
“No...it’s
your face. He keeps hitting you.”
“So?” I
shrugged. “You’ve gotten it worse than I did.”
“He didn’t
have any reason or right to hit you.” Jason still sounded puzzled.
I shrugged
again. Then I found a spot on my shorts that was very stubborn and proceeded to
attack it for all I was worth. I was so focused on the dirt on my shorts that I
was jolted back to attention only when he poked my forehead.
“Huh?”
“I just
said that even though that one cut is deep, don’t think it’ll scar.”
“Oh.” My
gaze dropped to my lap again.
“Stop
fidgeting. I’m almost done.” I sat motionless, dying inside. I had to get away
to restore my dignity somehow.
Finally he
was finished with my face and I tried to slide away. But I wasn’t quite fast
enough. “Nuh-uh, come back.”
“Why? My
face feels great. Your job’s done.”
“No, it’s
not. I still need to look at your shoulder and your ankle.”
“They’re
fine,” I said. “Look!” I put almost all of my full weight on my foot as I tried
to get up – and nearly killed myself. My ankle gave out and I plopped down
ungracefully on my hind end. I started blushing furiously.
“Yes, it
looks absolutely fine from here,” Von Schlange butted in from across the
tunnel.
I glared at
him and limped back to Jason, swallowing my pride and sitting down gingerly,
setting my ankle in front of him. Gently he untied my boot and tugged it off. I
choked off a gasp. Pain shot through my ankle and I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Sorry,”
said Jason. I looked at him in surprise and he met my gaze steadily.
I looked
back at my ankle as I muttered “S’okay,” He pulled my sock off and started to
probe my ankle.
“Does this
hurt?” he asked.
I couldn’t
lie very well under these circumstances. “Yeah.”
“How about
this?”
I pursed my lips. “Mmhmm.”
“Well, your ankle’s pretty well
sprained.”
I slipped my sock back on.
“I’d recommend that you stay off it
for a couple days,” Jason glanced at Von Schlange, “but since that won’t be
happening, I’ll help you.” He slid my boot on.
“Help me? You can barely help
yourself. In fact, I’ve been carrying you most of the way through here.”
“No you haven’t.” He tied the
laces.
“Yes, I have! I wouldn’t even be
here in this cave, with this bum ankle or messed-up face, if it wasn’t for
you.”
He said nothing and silence
stretched between us. I regretted my harsh words almost immediately, but I
certainly wasn’t going to be the first one to apologize.
“We can talk about this later,”
Jason’s reply was barely a whisper.
I nodded my head. “Yeah, we will,”
and marched around to my backpack, ignoring the screaming ankle and throbbing
shoulder. I took out some crackers and some jerky and ate my meal in silence,
never once looking in Jason’s direction, even when I tossed him some food.
After eating, Jason lay down and tucked his arm under his head. He was asleep
immediately. I frowned at him, jealous, and prepared to go to bed myself.
Thankfully, I too soon fell into a restless sleep using my backpack as a
pillow.
Breakfast the next day was
excellent for thinking – nobody spoke. We got started hiking again; but pretty
soon it became clear that Diana’s ankle wasn’t acting right. I carried her for
a while, which she didn’t appreciate too well.
“Put me down!” she complained.
“Fat chance.” I snapped back. She
tried to squirm away.
“You’re gonna end up hurting
yourself!” It was a pretty good argument she had there. But this wasn’t really
a good time to practice formal logic.
“You’re the one hurting me right
now, with all the wiggling. Be still and hang on.”
She frowned, but did as I said.
“How are you not hurting? Your ribs aren’t healed. Why are you doing this?”
I stared at her for a minute,
trying to think of how to answer that question.
“I am hurting, Diana, but it’s not
worth complaining about, because it isn’t that bad. Seriously, it’s just
bruising,” I stretched the truth a little, yeah. But some hockey-like injury
deception was allowed “I promise, if it starts hurting too much, I’ll put you
down.”
“Promise?”
Didn’t I already just promise her
that? Fine… “Yup.”
After a minute, she spoke up again.
“You still haven’t answered my question.”
…Now how am I supposed to answer
that? I mean, seriously….The safest route be to avoid that path altogether. And
besides, it seemed like something MacGyver would say in this situation.
“We’ve got to survive right now,
get the job done. Everything else can wait.”
“Very good answer, sir. Now shall
we continue?” Oh, great…Von Schlange was eavesdropping again. I rolled my eyes.
“Fine...” Me and Di both agreed unenthusiastically, seeing as there
wasn’t any other choice out there.
So we kept trudging on, pausing for
breaks to puzzle out a hieroglyphic road map set into the wall, and every once
in a while there was a message etched into the rock. There were only maybe two
times this happened, I think – things are a little hazy at some points, for
obvious reasons. They didn’t seem all that relevant to our search, but you
never know with things like this, so we attempted to puzzle them out. It was
some strange mixture of Greek and Latin, with maybe some Spanish thrown in
there as well. Besides, these reading breaks gave us a chance to catch our
breath; back in school they probably would have called it “an act of civil
disobedience” or something. At one point Von Schlange blew up (has anyone else
noticed that this happened often?) and slapped Diana – hard, but not connecting
very well – and then announced that we could halt for a while.
I offered to give her some of my
dried apples. She snapped that she didn’t need any help and was doing just fine
on her own. She dug some beef jerky out of her pack, and I swiped it away,
plunking it down behind me. She decreed that I better give her meal back.
“Sorry,” I not-really-apologized.
“You won’t be able to do a very good job of getting cleaned up. The sooner you
scoot over here, the sooner you can eat or whatever. Cause, ya know, you’ve got
lot of time to yourself and tons of things you could be doing.”
Diana sighed and carefully came
nearer, and I took the bandage scraps out of her hand, picked out the
most-useful looking piece, and soaked it with some of my canteen’s water.
“Oh no you don’t,” she tried to
snatch the cloth away from me. “I’ll wash my own face, thank you very much. I don’t need to be babied.”
I kept the cloth out of her reach,
and she swiped again after it unsuccessfully. Playing Keepaway really hurt;
more than I expected. I clamped onto her wrist.
“The more you struggle, the more
pain I’m in, so just hold still, won’t you?” Diana hesitated a minute, weighing
her options. “There you go. Sit still and take your medicine.”
She frowned and didn’t look too
happy with me, but she let me clean the grime and gunk away from her wounds,
washing the scrapes and cuts. I didn’t want to say anything, but her face was
worrying. Not her actual face, you understand – but the wounds on it from
repeated slappings.
“Am I squirming too much?” she
asked, seeing my expression.
“No….its your face. He keeps
hitting you.”
“So?” she shrugged it off as
unimportant. “You’ve gotten it worse than I did.”
“He didn’t have any reason or right
to hit you,” I tried to figure out why this seemed so wrong. Maybe some of that
medieval chivalry code rearing up and objecting, not that anyone paid much
attention to stuff like that any longer. And I sure couldn’t explain this to
Di, who would go into one of her polar freezes if I brought the subject up.
(This I knew from experience.) She was ineffectually and industriously trying
to clean a mud splotch off her shorts with spit, and it wasn’t going too well.
She wasn’t listening to whatever I would say, so I could basically say anything
I wanted.
“That cut’s pretty deep, but it
probably won’t scar permanently.” That wasn’t it.
She kept scrubbing. I watched,
amused, for a spell. I’m easily entertained. Finally I poked her forehead. She
jumped.
“Huh?”
“I just said that even that one cut
is deep, don’t think it’ll scar.” I grinned.
“Oh.” She went back to her
cleaning.
“Stop fidgeting. I’m almost done.”
I instructed.
She froze, tense all over like a
prowling cat. That made the wound-cleaning a bit easier, although she tried to
bolt before I was quite through.
“Nuh-uh, come back.”
“Why? My face feels great. Your
job’s done.”
No, it’s not…last time I checked,
we were still inside a cave with a maniac who could kill us. And besides, we’ve
got to find that mask and hang on to it; it’s why we’re both down here in the
first place. So, no, my job isn’t done yet, Di.
“No, it’s not. I still need to look
at your shoulder and your ankle.” was all I said.
“They’re fine,” she said a little
too convincingly. “Look!” She proceeded to put almost her full weight on her
foot and instantly bit the dust as her ankle collapsed from the pressure. It
was hard to tell with the lighting keeping everything pretty dark, but I was
pretty sure she was blushing from anger.
“Yes, it looks absolutely fine from
here,” Von Schlange lobbed in from across the cave. Wasn’t he asleep yet?
Didn’t he have better things to do than eavesdrop on his prisoners’
conversations?
Diana glared at the world in
general and surrendered to more care. I untied her bootlace and tugged the
heavy footwear away. She yelped and squinched her eyes closed. I was probably
getting very well cussed-out right about now.
“Sorry.” I apologized. She looked
surprised, and then awkwardly inspected her ankle as if it held the secrets of
the universe inside. “’S’okay,” her acceptance of my apology was hardly
whispered.
I pulled off her sock and began to
probe the ankle joint. “Does this hurt?”
“Yeah.”
“How about this?”
She bit her lips hard. “Mmhmm.”
I nodded while delivering my
unscientific diagnosis. “Well, your ankle’s pretty well sprained. I’d recommend
that you stay off it for a couple days,” I stared pointedly at Von Schlange at
this point. “but since that won’t be happening, I’ll help you.” She’d
maneuvered her foot back into the sock, and I began sliding her boot back on.
“Help me? You can barely help
yourself. In fact, I’ve been carrying you mot the way through here.” She
snapped.
“No you haven’t.” I finished tying
the laces.
“Yes, I have! I wouldn’t even be
here in this cave, with this bum ankle or messed-up face, if it wasn’t for
you.”
It’s a weird fact, and I’m not
quite sure why it works, but usually when people are stressed or surprised they
say their real motives or attitudes
without any of the typical shades or back-door escapes they usually put
up to keep that knowledge from being generally known. This was one of those
times, and I wasn’t going to dig any deeper just then; I’d already had a
struggle just to get this far. She probably wished she could apologize or take
those words back, but her pride wouldn’t let her back down first.
“We can talk about this later,” I
really thought I just said that in my mind, but Diana nodded and stated that we
would before hopping regally to her pack and eating her meal. As an
afterthought, she condescendingly tossed me a bit of her food, which I ate to
be polite. Then I fell asleep for the night.
The underground tunnel fanned out
from the pyramid. By lunchtime we’d walked nearly twenty-five miles, and the
tunnels’ width and height were still impressive. Whatever natural formations
must be at the end would be spectacular. Von Schlange barked that it was time
to eat and motioned us with his pistol to sit down on the ground facing him.
Jason gently helped me to the ground and sat down near me.
I tried to be discreet as I glanced
at his muscular frame and face for signs of pain or any further injury. His
eyes caught mine and he gave a half-smile. I quickly looked away, ignoring the
embarrassment of being caught as recollections of my attitude flooded back. I
dug around in my backpack for some more jerky and some dried fruit. Von
Schlange offered me a sardine by silently holding out his can. I ignored him
and took a gulp of water from my canteen – which was almost empty. Over the
edge I saw him smirk and swallow another sardine. Sardines were slimy and
nasty. Just like him. I suppressed a shudder.
It was a tense and silent affair
until Von Schlange announced that he was feeling “slightly fatigued from the
strain of hiking such a tremendous distance.” I rolled my eyes. He was as fit
as I was.
“Whatever. Don’t bother with that
whole ‘I am a light sleeper with a happy trigger finger’. We got that speech
already.” This was true, much to my chagrin. It was also slightly scary,
especially when he shot the gun especially close to my right foot.
“You are a good student,” Von
Schlange smirked. “But then, I am a good teacher, no?” He brought his blanket
around him and said “We make a fine team together.”
Before I could say a single word of
my sharp retort, Von Schlange cocked his pistol and rolled over, effectively
closing any discussion. “Now I would suggest you two get to work on finding my
treasure.”
I snapped my mouth closed and
glared at his back. I hoped that he could feel the daggers I imagined drilling
into his spine.
Since Von Schlange had said to get
to work, I began recording the recent events into my journal. That probably
wasn’t what he’d meant, but I was happy to follow the letter of his law.
Besides, it was good therapy.
Jason sidled over to where I was
sitting. He whispered into my ear, “Let’s not disturb him.” As much as I
loathed his presence invading my personal space, I was thankful I wasn’t facing
Von Schlange alone. In all honesty, Jason’s presence disturbed me on a more
personal level than anything. He just got under my skin, and I hated that.
“Hey, are you okay?” Jason sat down
across from me.
“Uh, yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?” I
raised an eyebrow. My guts were twisting inside.
“Just making sure. Sorry about
earlier.” Jason shrugged. I crossed my arms over my chest. And then winced. I
tried to hide it, but the shock of pain in my shoulder was unpredictable and
caught me off guard. Of course Jason
saw it and his brows furrowed in concern.
He reached for my arm, but I leaned
backwards.
“It’s fine, okay? Just don’t mess
with me.” I whipped my pack in between us and started rummaging through its
contents.
“I was just trying to help,” he
said.
“I don’t need your help, Jason. So
far this trip, your ‘help’ has only caused me more problems than I need.”
“I didn’t ask to get kidnapped by a
German drug lord either. It’s just –“ he sighed. “One of those job hazards that
come up.”
I couldn’t deny this. “Well, yeah.”
“So….we all need some help
sometimes, all right?”
“Oh, really? And when, exactly, did
you give this help that I never asked for?” I hissed at him. “Because the last
time we worked together, you ran me over with a dromedary.”
“Camels are really hard to drive.
And running you over was totally an accident.” He held up his hands in front of
himself cautiously. “I’ve been assigned, to kind of….protect you, several times
for the last couple several years.”
I don’t know how he expected me to
react, but all I did was sit there in a mystified stupor.
“I need to explain some things,
Diana.” He took a deep breath and ran his fingers through his hair. Then he
rearranged his long legs to sit cross-legged. “That time in Armenia…”
I humphed. “As I recall it, that
was where you nearly killed me, yes.”
“Look, just listen without
interrupting, okay? This won’t take too long.” He settled back against his
backpack and began. “While you were on that dig, the only reason I was there
was because I was tracking down the man who nearly killed me seven months
earlier. I’d been searching for an old Celtic relic – Beowulf’s sword, to be
exact. Von Schlange had heard of the same sword as I had, and he wanted it.”
I couldn’t let this go. “Whoa, whoa
– hold it. That was a joint project between our museums. And Von Schlange
nearly killed you, while searching for Beowulf’s sword? What does that have to
do with snakes? Why would he be wanting it?”
“It…yeah. I don’t know what it had
to do with snakes, maybe something to do with Grendel, I don’t know. He’s a
maniac, who can tell what’s going on in there?”
I humphed again. “Fair enough. Keep
going.”
“His eyes lit up and sparkled in
the flashlight as he held up his hands. “I actually found it. It was in a cave
in the middle of Wales. I was holding it with my own two hands! I couldn’t
believe it. Von Schlange was waiting for me at the mouth of the cave. He knifed
me in the side when I came out, and as I lay there in the mud, he stood over me
and said, ‘Another for my collection.’ And then he handed it off to one of his
cronies like it meant nothing. He was walking away and I heard him talking
about a golden treasury and a mask and that the only one who could find it was
his father’s rival’s granddaughter. I passed out pretty soon after that, but
when I woke up in a shepherd’s hut, I knew immediately who he was talking
about.
“Everybody knows that you’re your
grandpa’s protégée. And that your grandpa’s greatest adversary was a nasty
French guy who dealt with the Nazis. Apparently, he passed down his grudge. I
knew you had to be warned. There was also that city in Armenia that the
higher-ups were planning on digging into, and so I kind of pleaded my way onto
the dig. My group’s trucks broke down in Egypt, which is where we met up with
your group. So I was right behind you once you reached Armenia. And so was Von
Schlange. From there, things got hectic and I lost control of the situation.
His moles, working as pottery-washers, heard you muttering to yourself about
the treasure’s location and beat you there.
“Long story, but I hired a camel to
stop him from getting the treasure, and hopefully to get my revenge. Well, I
didn’t know that camels are really hard to drive….I lost control as we started
racing out of town, and I couldn’t stop it. We ran over a young woman, and I
turned to look and recognized it was you. Tried waving my apologies, but that
darn camel was about to buck me off. I didn’t even think that you might’ve been
hurt. We eventually got to the dig site, but Von Schlange was already leaving
with his booty. Odd word, isn’t it, booty?” Jason paused.
I shrugged. “Never really thought
about it before.”
“Well, anyway, I heard Von Schlange
yelling over the wind, ‘You are challenging me for Diana’s treasure? She is
lucky that she isn’t here, otherwise, this would not be the only thing which I
would take! I have a score to settle with her grandfather, and if I ever see
her, that score will be settled.’ He raced off on a motorcycle and I knew that
he’d be looking for you.
“This was my chance. He’d be
wherever you were, if you were traveling. If I could stick near you, then I
could wait for him to pop up. When I found out you were in the hospital, I was
going to explain everything. Your reaction kinda changed my mind.”
He raised his eyebrows and grinned.
Thought and memories were clamoring inside my head, and I remembered throwing a
vase off the nightstand at him. Thinking back, my actions were mortifying. “I
am so sorry. I should’ve let you explain. I just jumped to conclusions,
and….I’m really sorry.”
Jason shrugged, nodded his head and
accepted my apology. “’S’okay. Your aim wasn’t that great anyway, it was easy
to duck. So, anyway, I talked to your bosses, and they enlisted me to kind of
be a hidden bodyguard for you whenever you went somewhere after that.”
“Your emails said you were doing
research.” I challenged.
“I was. Those times when you were,
too.”
I scowled. That would explain why
they were being so unreasonable and obstinate about funds for new expeditions.
Large-scale, important ones, anyway.
“I had to stay incognito to stay
out of your line of fire, and also keep you out of the line of fire.” He
half-smiled and I turned red from embarrassment. “So I’ve kind of hung around,
making sure you didn’t get in over your head. Sometimes I actually jumped in on
whatever skirmish you’d gotten yourself into.”
I jumped as a memory exploded from
the mess in my head. “Were you that ninja guy in Turkey with his face covered,
with native clothes and a curved sword? Some idiot had accused me of theft and
was about to come after me?”
“Well, yeah. That sword was hard to
use. Made for an interesting escape. But you couldn’t have recognized me…?”
“Your eyes weren’t covered,” I
interrupted. “I wondered about that for several days, but then I guess I just shrugged it off as a
coincidence. Remember, I didn’t get a good enough look to be sure.”
“So you knew my eyes, huh?” Jason
chuckled. “There wasn’t time to get contacts. What else do you remember?”
“Everything.” I thought. He isn’t necessarily an easy guy to forget.
Instead of saying that, I just raised an eyebrow and rolled my eyes. “So…if you
were the guy in Turkey, that means you were also that hiker in the Alps, the pearl
diver in Hawaii, and that tour guide in Australia, correct?”
“Don’t forget the deckhand on that
ocean liner in the Atlantic.”
I was floored. “That was you? But he had a beard!”
“Thought you’d like that.”
I tried to look annoyed, but I
couldn’t keep myself from blushing. To turn the conversation, I commented that
I guess he’d gotten to know me pretty well.
He nodded seriously. “Yup. You
always acted tough as nails when you got scared or unsure or annoyed. But there
were plenty of times I saw you make jokes with the native mothers or babysit
the little children you came across. You could actually be caring and
compassionate.”
I noticed his sarcasm, but
refrained from snapping him off. Instead, after trying out some humility, I
agreed. “I guess I’ve kept hold of anger for losing that haul, it was kind of
misguided, I guess. But I had the Maltese Falcon in that wagon! So….yeah, I was
mad. You’ve just been…really kind, and I haven’t been able to figure it out.
It’s been annoying, and I probably should have thanked you earlier for being so
selfless.”
“You’re pretty selfless, too,
Diana. Why else would you come back up those steps?”
I could only shake my head.
“Probably because I couldn’t have gotten this far without your help? And
besides, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself without you to torment.”
Jason reached out and settled a
hand on my shoulder. “Everybody has issues they struggle with. You are a caring
and very courageous person.”
“Well, isn’t this the most touching
thing? It’s like one of your American soap operas!” Von Schlange had woken up
from his nap. “It is a shame that we must pause the program. Let’s get a move
on! Up, up!” He gestured with his pistol for us to stand up.
“There’s more ground to cover.”
Jason stated.
“Yep. Not there yet.” I replied. We
heaved the backpacks onto our shoulders and started our journey farther back
into the obscure chasm stretching in front of us.
By the end of that day, we were
exhausted. The monotonous walking through the damp passages was wearing on our
mentalities.
“Where do we get there?” asked Von
Shanks.
“Honestly,” I huffed. “I. Don’t.
Know. All the evidence I found for this temple didn’t any anything about it
covering a cave, or how far we’d have to walk. We’re running low on water, and
it wouldn’t be wise to keep going much farther without –“
A jab in the back with the lip of
his pistol shut my mouth. “I make the decisions in this situation. We keep
going until I say stop. Keep your thoughts to yourself, or I may settle the
score with your grandfather.”
“Quit that!” Jason slapped Von
Shanks’ hand away. “No one’s scared of you or your threats.” In a flash, Von
Shanks whipped his hand back, the butt of the gun connecting to Jason’s temple.
Jason’s head whipped sideways, and he collapsed.
“Temper, temper,” Von Schlange
muttered. He looked at me and said pointedly, “’But at least his is real.” The
jab hit its mark, and my stomach clenched at its impact. I looked down at
Jason’s crumpled form. He had already taken a terrible pounding, and I didn’t
know how much longer his beaten body was going to hold out. Kneeling beside
him, I checked his pulse. It was strong, but slow. I took out my canteen and
splashed a little water on his face. His eyes opened slowly, and their blueness
was dulled with pain.
I was scared, but I looked up at
Von Schlange. Our gazes clashed, and I rose to face him head-on. Jason lay
between us, and I stepped over him to stand in front of Von Schlange. The whole
situation was so wrong and unfair.
“This is ridiculous!” I cut the air
between us with my hand. “You’re pushing too hard. We’re both physically to the
breaking point and I will not stand for it! This is just absolutely wrong.” I
pointed to Jason and demanded, “We take one full day to rest. He needs time to
heal.” I might have been afraid of Von Schlange, but either he needed to be
stopped or I needed to figure out a way to keep us from traveling. I shimmied
my backpack off my shoulders. I’d need freedom of movement if things got nasty.
Hopefully, Von Schlange would realize that I meant business and that I was at
the point of doing something insane if he made the wrong move.
“We don’t have time, sweetheart.
I’ll just do him a mercy and put him out of his misery, yes?” He was calling my
bluff. He took the pistol and pointed it past my knee at Jason’s head. Jason
closed his eyes and laid his head back, accepting his fate.
“If you do it you’ll have to shoot
me, too,” I said. “It’s both of us or neither one of us. You can kiss the mask
goodbye if you shoot him, ‘cause there’s no chance I’m gonna help you get it.
And, let’s face it, you need my help.”
Von Schlange just smiled at me.
He moved his thumb, cocking the
gun. I instinctively shoved his arm away and it discharged. The flash blinded
me and the explosion was so loud that I only heard a high-pitched ringing in my
ears. The thought that Jason still could have been hit raced through my mind.
“It’s too late for him if he did,”
I thought. My gut clenched again in horror and I furiously charged at Von
Schlange and rammed him in the gut. He dropped his flashlight and it rolled
away and the darkness cloaked us.
I tussled Von Schlange to the
ground. We fought for control of the gun. He held it in a firm grasp far away
from me in his right hand as I straddled him. I reached for the gun with one
hand while pressing my other forearm against his neck, trying to cut off his
windpipe. He gasped and sputtered, but was taller and twice as strong. Fear and
anger gave me some strength, but not enough. With his left hand he grabbed my
injured left shoulder and squeezed. I let out a cry but didn’t let up pressure
on his neck. Searing pain fanned out of my shoulder as high as my jaw. I was
beginning to panic – I had no idea what to do from here and the pain was
clouding my thinking. I figured I had has wrist well-pinned to the ground, but
it was his dominant arm against my weaker one. He yanked his wrist out of my
desperate hold and drew the butt of his gun to the side of my head.
The force of the blow threw my head
back, and I saw flicks of light bobbing up and down in the darkness around me.
I was thrown off balance. My mind was reeling, and the pain was way off the
charts. He shoved me off of his stomach and threw a leg over me. Our positions
were now reversed; he was leaning above me, pinning my arms above my head with
just one hand. He relaxed some, and laid his hand holding the gun on his thigh.
I squirmed and struggled, but it was pointless. I looked to Jason for help, but
he was still on the ground, a lifeless silhouette. A faint light illuminated
blood pooling from his head.
“He’s dead!” I thought. “Von
Schlange killed him. I couldn’t stop him.” I began to feel sick as the will to
fight began to seep from me.
I groaned as I gave one last heave,
but in my weakened state, it was pointless. Von Schlange was on top of me,
breathing heavily. His breaths sounded raspy, but I took no satisfaction from
it. He just looked down at me. Time slowed to a stop and I was convinced that
this was the end of the line for me. I waited for the final shot. What is it
like to die? Will it hurt? Dread wrapped around my heart.
“Just make it quick and get it over
with,” I said. “I’m useless to you now, so shoot.” I was exhausted at this
point, and I could only look back at him. Von Schlange weighed heavily on my
abdomen, and I struggled for each breath. I didn’t know what else to say to
him. I had lost the fight, and fear had a vise around my heart, and I could
barely keep my wits together.
Von Schlange looked to Jason, to
me, to the gun in his lap, and then his eyes met mine again. In a swift
movement he holstered his weapon and just sat staring at me.
“Congratulations,” he said in an
odd tone, releasing my wrists. “You have won a day of rest.” He stood up and
walked away, wiping sweat and dirt from his forehead. Je picked his flashlight
as if nothing had happened and went to sit against the tunnel wall.
I laid there in the dirt,
astonished and drained of all energy. My skull screamed for a reprieve, joining
the other aches and injuries in a chorus of calls for relief. All I could think
about was being still, to rest and collect myself. I had fought with Death, and
I had come out of it alive. I didn’t lie there for too long, because with a
start, I remembered Jason lying in the dirt only a few feet away.
I got up slowly, favoring my hurt
joints. Standing, I took a few unsteady steps. I felt nauseous, and had to bend
over and rest my hands on my knees to steady myself. I closed my eyes and
counted to ten steadily to regain my balance. I was able to walk the rest of
the way to Jason without too much trouble before slowly letting myself down to
kneel next to him.
His flashlight was still lying next
to him, where he dropped it when Von Schlange had hit him. I picked it up,
stalling. I didn’t want to look at him – I could only imagine what terrible
shape his face was in. I took a deep fortifying breath and shone the light on
his face. I had expected a number of horrifying things too terrible to mention,
but I was surprised to see that he looked very peaceful. He looked like he was
just taking a nap on his side.
I reached over to examine the grave
wound. I bent close, and I couldn’t find it. Confused, I looked for the source
of the blood pool. It wasn’t as big as I’d first thought it was, and I noticed
for the first time that the source was the large gash on his temple. My hands
trembled as I checked for the pulse under his jaw. It took time to locate it,
but then I felt it. It seemed slow at first, but then began to pick up.
My heart raced and my head spun.
Could it actually…? I cupped his face with my hands.
“Jason,” I whispered. “Listen to
me. Can you hear me?” I searched for any sign that he was okay. The dim light
illuminated only half his face and highlighted his facial features. I saw his
eyebrows draw together in a wince.
“Oh my word!” I exclaimed. “You’re
alive!” Relief swept through me and I sagged backwards.
“Shh,” he said. “I have a pounding
headache.”
“Sorry,” I whispered.
“’S’okay.” He brought his hands to
his face, trying to block the light from his eyes.
“Hey, let me help you out.” I
maneuvered his backpack off his shoulders as gently as I could. Hopefully he’d
be a little more comfortable on his back. I rummaged through the black pack,
grabbed a rag and dampened it with water. Our supply was running really low,
and I hesitated before soaking the rag.
I moved his hands off his face and
laid the rag across his eyes. He was tense, but I saw his shoulders relax
somewhat and I concluded that the pain had subsided a little bit. Wetting
another rag, I held it to the laceration on his temple. It wasn’t bleeding as
much, so I just tied a little strip of cloth around his head to hold the
bandage in place.
“You sure look rough,” I teased. He
gave me a half smile; evidently his headache was going to stay around for a
while. So was mine, come to think of it. “Don’t worry about a thing, though.
Just rest, ‘cause we have the day off.”
He tilted his head in my direction.
“How’d you manage that? Last thing I remember was you shouting at Von Schlange.
Guess I must’ve passed out.”
“I’ll tell you all about it later,”
I said. “Just lay there for a bit and work on getting rid of that headache. I
don’t have anything to help it, so you should probably just take a nap.”
I got up. “I’ll be right back.”
I walked around Jason to my backpack,
safely where I’d dropped it earlier. I dug around for some snacks and my
bedroll. It needed a good washing, but it would have to do. Besides, I’d seen
worse. I spread my blanket over Jason and sat down nearby to eat.
I was starting to get really achy as
I finished eating. The side of my head was starting to pound painfully,
matching the sharp staccato in my ankle. I reached up to massage the sore area
on my head and winced. A huge knot was forming just above my left ear. I
figured it was a small price to pay for a whole day of rest. I sprawled out on
my stomach a short distance from Jason. He seemed to be resting okay, so I
clicked off my flashlight, closed my eyes and dozed off.
That pyramid was obviously just the
start of this cave. Soon after we left the maze of stairs and passages in there
the walls turned more natural-looking, things became rougher and not as
polished. For a while, there were still designs or pictures along the walls,
and then it lessened to the previous day’s messages and pictures. By lunchtime
we’d walked nearly twenty-five miles, and the tunnels were still impressively
large and passably wide. Von Schlange announced it was time for a lunch break
and motioned with his pistol for us to sit down facing him. I helped Diana to
the rocky floor, then dug around for some food. She was studying me intently. I
caught her eye and grinned, she quickly looked away and pretended it never
happened. Von Schlange offered his can of sardines around, but we both passed.
Things were pretty quiet and on
edge. So, basically, it was just a typical family meal around the dinner table.
Von Schlange gave an exaggerated yawn. “I am feeling slightly fatigued from the
strain of hiking such a tremendous distance.”
Diana snorted in disgust.
“Whatever. Don’t bother with that whole ‘I am a light sleeper with a happy
trigger finger’. We got that speech already.” That was true, we had. And Herr
Viper had let loose once with a bullet too close for comfort. On the other
hand, he surely didn’t have an unlimited supply of ammo down here, could he? So
it was one less bullet to worry about.
“You are a good student,” Von
Schlange smirked at her. “But then, I am a good teacher, no?” I was about to
reply, but he kept going. “We make a fine team together.”
Yeah, well, you got that
right….we’re something else, that’s for sure.
“Now I would suggest you that you
two get to work on finding my treasure.”
Diana glared at him for a while,
then got tired of that and started writing in her journal. I sat and stared at
my flashlight, then began organizing the stuff in my backpack. It was kind of a
mess, and it would be easier to haul around knowing the contents were in order.
Once I got through with that task, I cautiously approached Diana. “Let’s not
disturb him.” She looked annoyed to be disturbed, but not enough that she was
going to bite my head off or anything.
“Hey, are you okay?”
“Uh, yeah. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Okay, maybe I was wrong the whole “no biting” thing…
“Just making sure. Sorry about
earlier.” I shrugged. She crossed her arms and then immediately regretted it.
Pain lit up over her features. I reached for her arm, but she leaned backwards.
“It’s fine, okay? Just don’t mess
with me.” Diana whipped her backpack in the space between us and began going
through whatever she’d stashed in there.
“I was just trying to help.” I
tried to explain.
“I don’t need your help, Jason. So
far this trip, your ‘help’ has only caused me more problems than I need.” Her
tone was almost colder than the cave we were in.
“I didn’t ask to get kidnapped by a
German drug lord, either.” I sighed. “It’s just…one of those job hazards that
come up.”
“Well, yeah.”
“So…we all need some help
sometimes, all right?”
“Oh, really? And when, exactly, did
you give me this help that I never asked for? Because the last time we worked
together, you ran me over with a dromedary.” She was really not in the mood to
be messed with.
“Camels are really hard to drive.
And running you over was totally an accident.” I held up my hands in self-defense,
afraid she’d fly into me or something. “I’ve been assigned, to kind of…protect
you, several times for the last couple several years.”
She frowned, curious.
“I need to explain some things,
Diana.” I took a deep breath and ran through my hair; it was one of those
things you do when you need to calm down. Then I rearranged myself to sit
Indian-style. “That time in Armenia…”
She humphed like Kipling’s camel.
“As I recall it, that was where you
nearly killed me, yes.”
“Look, just listen without interrupting,
okay? This won’t take too long.” I was getting really mad by now, it was
getting harder to keep my temper. I leaned against my backpack because it was
more comfortable. “While you were on that dig, the only reason I was there was
because I was tracking down the man who nearly killed me seven months earlier.
I’d been searching for an old Celtic relic – Beowulf’s sword, to be exact. Von
Schlange had heard of the same sword as I had, and he wanted it.”
She jumped on that instantly.
“Whoa, whoa – hold it. That was a joint project between our museums. And Von
Schlange nearly killed you, while searching for Beowulf’s sword? What does that
have to do with snakes? Why would he be wanting it?”
Too many questions all at once! I
tried to carefully answer them all. “It…yeah. I don’t what it had to do with
snakes, maybe something to do with Grendel, I don’t know. He’s a maniac, who
can tell what’s going on in there?”
Diana humphed again. She was going
to get a humph of her own if she wasn’t careful. “Fair enough. Keep going.”
I started gesturing with my hands;
I do that a lot when I’m talking about something interesting. And it helps for
those times when you’re in a different country and don’t speak the language. “I
actually found it. It was in a cave in the middle of Wales. I was holding it
with my own two hands! I couldn’t believe it. Von Schlange was waiting for me
at the mouth of the cave. He knifed me in the side when I came out, and as I
lay there in the mud, he stood over me and said, ‘Another for my collection.’
And then he handed it off to one of his cronies like it meant nothing. He was
walking away and I heard him talking about a golden treasury and a mask and
that the only one who could find it was his father’s rival’s granddaughter. I
passed out pretty soon after that, but when I woke up in a shepherd’s hut, I
knew immediately who he was talking about.
“Everybody knows that you’re your
grandpa’s protégée. And that your grandpa’s greatest adversary was a French guy
who worked with the Nazis. Apparently, he passed down his grudge. I knew you
had to be warned. There was also that city in Armenia that the higher-ups were
planning on digging into, and so I kind of pleaded my way onto the dig. My
group’s trucks broke down in Egypt, which is where we met up with your group.
So I was right behind you once you reached Armenia. And so was Von Schlange.
From there, things got hectic and I lost control of the situation. His moles,
working as pottery-washers, heard you muttering to yourself about the
treasure’s location and beat you there.
“Long story, but I hired a camel to
stop him from getting the treasure, and hopefully to get my revenge. Well, I
didn’t know that camels are really hard to drive...I lost control as we
starting racing out of town, and I couldn’t stop it. We ran over a young woman,
and I turned to look and recognized it was you. Tried waving my apologies, but
that darn camel was about to buck me off. I didn’t even think that you might’ve
been hurt. We eventually got to the dig site, but Von Schlange was already
leaving with his booty. Odd word, isn’t it, booty?” I paused, wondering how
that word came to mean treasure. It’s one of those ugly words, like damp or moist.
Diana shrugged. “Never really
thought about it before.”
“Well, anyway, I heard Von Schlange
telling over the wind, ‘You are challenging me for Diana’s treasure? She is
lucky that she isn’t here, otherwise, this would not be the only thing which I
would take! I have a score to settle with her grandfather, and if I ever see
her, that score will be settled.’ He raced off on a motorcycle, and I knew he’d
be looking for you.
“This was my chance. He’d be
wherever you were, if you were traveling. If I could stick near you, then I
could wait for him to pop up. When I found out that you were in the hospital, I
was going to explain everything. Your reaction kinda changed my mind.”
I raised an eyebrow and grinned.
She’d fired a vase from the nightstand at me. She looked embarrassed. “I am so
sorry. I should’ve let you explain. I just jumped to conclusions, and…I’m
really sorry.”
I shrugged and nodded, accepting
her apology. “’S’okay. Your aim wasn’t that great anyway, it was easy to duck.
So, anyway, I talked to your bosses, and they enlisted me to kind of be a
hidden bodyguard for you whenever you went somewhere after that.”
“Your emails said you were doing
research.” She rallied back, trying to find a hole somewhere.
“I was. Those times when you were,
too.”
She scowled. I was probably getting
cussed out again.
“I had to stay incognito to stay out
of your line of fire, and also keep you out of the line of fire.” She blushed;
this was kind of fun. Kind of like playing with dynamite, but… “So I’ve kind of
hung around, making sure you didn’t get in over your head. Sometimes I actually
jumped in on whatever skirmish you’d gotten yourself into.”
Diana jumped visibly. “Were you
that ninja guy in Turkey with his face covered, with native clothes and a
curved sword? Some idiot had accused me of theft and was about to come after
me?”
“Well, yeah,” I chuckled at the
memory. “That sword was hard to use. Made for an interesting escape. But you
couldn’t have recognized me…?”
“Your eyes weren’t covered. I
wondered about ta for several days, but then I guess I just shrugged it off as
a coincidence,” she explained. “Remember, I didn’t get a good enough look to be
sure.”
“So you knew my eyes, huh?” This
was funny. “There wasn’t time to get contacts. What else do you remember?”
She raised an eyebrow and rolled
her eyes. “So….if you were that guy in Turkey, that means you were also that
hiker in the Alps, the pearl diver in Hawaii, and that tour guide in Australia,
correct?”
She was sharp. “Don’t forget the
deckhand on that ocean liner in the Atlantic.”
Her jaw dropped. “That was you? But
he had a beard!”
“Thought you’d like that.”
She blushed again, and failed at
scowling my direction in an aggravated manner. Much like you’d talk about the
weather at an awkward pause in a conversational lull, she commented that I’d
probably gotten to know her pretty well.
I nodded. “Yup. You always acted
tough as nails when you got sared or unsure or annoyed. But there were plenty
of times I saw you make jokes with the native mothers or babysit the little
children you came across. You could actually be caring and compassionate.”
“I guess I’ve kept hold of anger
for losing that haul, it was kind of misguided, I guess. But I had the Maltese
Falcon in that wagon! So…yeah, I was mad. You’ve just been…really kind, and I
haven’t been able to figure it out. It’s been annoying, and I probably should
have thanked you earlier for being so selfless.”
“You’re pretty selfless, too,
Diana. Why else would you come back up those steps?”
She shook her head. “Probably
because I couldn’t have gotten this far without your help? And besides, I
wouldn’t know what to do with myself without you to torment.”
Feeling bold, I set my hand on her
shoulder. Her good shoulder, I was careful to make sure. “Everybody has issues
they struggle with. You are a caring and very courageous person.”
“Well, isn’t this the most touching
thing? It’s like one of your American soap operas!” I really wanted to kill Von
Schlange right about then. “It is a shame that we muse pause the program. Let’s
get a move on! Up, up!” Nobody’s favorite kidnapper waved his gun for emphasis,
telling us we needed to get up.
“There’s more ground to cover,” I
stated, as if agreeing with Von Schlange, but hoping Diana would catch my
meaning.
“Yep. Not there yet.” she played
along beautifully. We slung on the heavy packs and kept plowing ahead into the
nightscene.
It. It was. It was a. It was a long
and dreary day. We were exhausted, and I really just wanted to lie down and
sleep.
“When do we get there?” asked Von
Schlange.
“Honestly,” Diana exploded. “I.
Don’t. Know. All the evidence I found for this temple didn’t say anything about
it covering a cave, or how far we’d have to walk. We’re running low on water,
and it wouldn’t be wise to keep going much farther without –“
Von Schlange’s pistol jabbed into
her back pulled her monologue up short. “I make the decisions in this
situation. We keep going until I say stop. Keep your thoughts to yourself, or I
may settle the score with your grandfather.”
“Quit that!” I slapped the
serpent’s hand away. “No one’s scared of you or your threats.” Von Schlange’s
arm coiled back, then sprang; and my temple was again hammered in by his gun. I
went down.
“Temper, temper,” I think I
remember Von Schlange saying. “But at least his is real.”
The world was spinning, and I was
just landing the river ride at an amusement park when I opened my eyes again
and Diana was leaning over me, looking scared.
They moved around, looking as tall
as those giant sequoia trees in California that they must make the
river-ride-boats out of. Lots of heated voices all sautéed together and
angry-sounding noises like a catfight.
“We don’t have time, sweetheart.
I’ll just do him a mercy and put him out of his misery.” Von Schlange was
pointing his gun at me? Were they dating now? And I’m not a horse. A pack mule,
maybe, but….it was just too much effort to try to think about anything. I
closed my eyes.
I was in an operating room, or was
it a dentist’s office? Either way, it was painful and unpleasant. “Jason,” I
heard a voice whispering. “Listen to me. Can you hear me?” I don’t remember
being scheduled for any surgeries recently, and it wasn’t time for get my teeth
worked on. Unless I needed braces again, some people had to have them twice.
Braces hurt. But dentist’s offices weren’t usually this dark. Maybe it was the
eye doctor. “Oh my word!” some girl shouted. Girls are always so noisy and loud
and talk about stupid inconsequential stuff....wait, that voice seemed
familiar. “You’re alive!” the voice squealed again.
“Shh. I have a pounding headache.”
“Sorry,” the voice whispered. That
was better. Wait – that was Diana. And I was in – a cave, yes, and it was all
because of that Mufusa mask – no, Medusa, Greek monster. There was that
intolerable light shining in my face. I tried to block it away, but that didn’t
work that well.
“Hey, let me help you out.” Diana
smiled. At least, it seemed like she smiled, from the way she said it. Still
couldn’t see all that well. She shuffled my backpack off my shoulders and
turned me over on my back. She took a wet cloth and laid it across my eyes.
That felt good. It was cool, and helped a little, the pain didn’t seem as tough
to deal with. She then messed around with something on my head, tying a
bandanna or something to cover a cut above my eye.
“You sure look rough,” she teased.
I gave her a weak smile, wanting to say that she did, too, but I didn’t have
the energy just yet. “Don’t worry about a thing, though. Just rest, ‘cause we
have the day off.”
I tilted my head, trying to
understand this information. “How’d you manage that? Last thing I remember was
you shouting at Von Schlange. Guess I must’ve passed out.”
Something like a laugh, or maybe a
desire to cry, passed through her eyes before she answered. “I’ll tell you all
about it later. Just lay there for a bit and work on getting rid of that
headache. I don’t have anything to help it, so you should probably just take a
nap.”
She was really good at this nursing thing."
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