Seven Ancient Wonders Part 38

West tested the lake on either side of the path-and found only inky quicksand of uncertain depth.

'Looks like we found the pathway,' he said.

After a quickly-sketched copy of the safe route was made and left for the rear-guards, the group ventured gingerly out across the sand-lake, led by West.

They followed the map, seemingly walking on water, on nothing but the flat surface of the wide quicksand lake, heading way out to the left, then stepping along the left-hand wall, before cutting back toward the centre of the lake and arriving at the central gazebo.

The Gazebo

The 'gazebo' structure surprised them all.

For, unlike the hidden path, its floor was not not level with the surface of the lake. It was sunken twelve feet level with the surface of the lake. It was sunken twelve feet below below the level of the lake, a stone rim holding back the sea of quicksand around it. the level of the lake, a stone rim holding back the sea of quicksand around it.

It was also solid as h.e.l.l-thick-walled and st.u.r.dy.

A short and narrow flight of stone steps led down into this pit- which like the gazebo itself was also six-sided, with doors cut into every one of its sides. The structure's thick stone roof loomed over it all, a few feet above the rim, resting on its pillars, like a dark thundercloud just waiting to do its worst.

Curiously, just inside inside the walls of the hexagonal pit, forming a kind of inner wall to the structure, was a cylindrical bronze cage- also twelve feet high, made of imposing vertical bars, and criss-crossing bars across its top. the walls of the hexagonal pit, forming a kind of inner wall to the structure, was a cylindrical bronze cage- also twelve feet high, made of imposing vertical bars, and criss-crossing bars across its top.

But while the pit had six doors, the circular cage had only one: which currently opened onto West's entry steps, allowing entry to the pit.

'Ah, a rotating cage...' Zaeed said. 'Once you enter the pit, the cage rotates, and you have to pick the correct exit door. But entering the pit will trigger the trap-hence you must survive the trap in order to cross.'

'Like that drowning cage in Tunisia,' Pooh Bear observed.

Last of all, in the exact centre of the pit, mounted on an ornate podium, stood a magnificent statue carved out of black limestone.

It was a statue of a winged lion, depicted on its hind legs in mid-spring, both forepaws raised high, it wings flared out behind it. It stood five feet tall, and its angry eyes were made of dazzling red rubies.

'The Well of the Winged Lion...' Zaeed said to West. 'The n.a.z.i knew of this, too.'

They found the applicable page in Hessler's notes: 2ND INSCRIPTION FROM THE TOMB OF IMHOTEP III:ONLY THE BRAVEST OF SOULS.

SHALL Pa.s.s THE WELLS OF THE WINGED LIONS.

BUT BEWARE THE PIT OF NINGIZZIDA.

TO THOSE WHO ENTER THE SERPENT-LORD'SPIT, I OFFER NO ADVICE BUT THIS:.

ABANDON ALL HOPE,.

FOR THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM IT.WINGED LIONS. COMMON a.s.sYRIAN STATUE FOUND IN COMMON a.s.sYRIAN STATUE FOUND IN.

PERSIA/MESOPOTAMIA.

NINGIZZIDA: a.s.sYRIAN G.o.d OF SERPENTS & SNAKES. a.s.sYRIAN G.o.d OF SERPENTS & SNAKES.

POSSIBLE REF TO THE HG OF BABYLON???.

'The n.a.z.i was right,' Zaeed said, 'it was was a reference to the Hanging Gardens-' a reference to the Hanging Gardens-'

Suddenly, a burst of gunfire rang out from the Giant Stairway Cavern behind them.

'Sir! The first American squad has reached the Stairway!' the rear-guards reported. 'Holding them off but more are on the way- and we can't hold them back forever.'

'Delay them as long as you can, Shamburg,' Avenger said. 'We still need the time.'

He turned to West. 'What is this trap?'

West hesitated. 'I think Zaeed is right. The cage moves in a rotating circle, bringing its gate into alignment with the correct exit door of the pit, which according to the map, is that one directly opposite us-'

'Find out,' Avenger said, shoving West forward. 'Schaefer, go with him. Cover him.'

Covered at gunpoint by the Israeli trooper named Schaefer, West stepped cautiously out from his steps, through the cage's gate and onto the sunken floor of the gazebo's pit.

Imhotep's ancient warning about the well repeated over and over in his head: only the bravest of souls shall pa.s.s. only the bravest of souls shall pa.s.s.

And then suddenly, four steps in, just as West and his companion stepped out into the centre of the pit beside the statue of the lion, the well's lethal mechanism sprang into action.

What happened next happened very, very fast.

Screeeeech!-with an ear-piercing shriek of metal on metal, the circular cage suddenly started turning, turning, revolving laterally within the larger hexagonal pit, thus exposing its lone gate-for brief moments-to all six of the stone doorways surrounding the pit. revolving laterally within the larger hexagonal pit, thus exposing its lone gate-for brief moments-to all six of the stone doorways surrounding the pit.

But then came the worst part.

Shhhhh!-thick gus.h.i.+ng waterfalls of quicksand started pouring pouring into the pit from above! Channels in the pit's rim had opened, allowing the quicksand lake above it to invade the pit. The pit began to flood, the quicksand level quickly rising to West's knees ...and continuing to rise! into the pit from above! Channels in the pit's rim had opened, allowing the quicksand lake above it to invade the pit. The pit began to flood, the quicksand level quickly rising to West's knees ...and continuing to rise!

And instantly, with the turning of the cage and the influx of quicksand from every side, West lost his bearings.

Which, he realised, was precisely the intent of the trap.

You were meant meant to panic, you were to panic, you were meant meant to be disoriented ...and so exit via the wrong doorway, where presumably worse things awaited- to be disoriented ...and so exit via the wrong doorway, where presumably worse things awaited- His Israeli companion panicked.

As one of the revolving cage's gates came into alignment with one of the pit's stone doorways, the frightened Corporal Schaefer raced through it- -into a narrow stairway similar to the one they had descended to get into the pit.

Only this narrow stairway went nowhere. It had no stairway.

It was just a tiny s.p.a.ce, barely bigger than a coffin standing vertically.

Then, with shocking suddenness, an eight-foot-high bronze plate, fitted with a barred grille at head-height, slid across into into the doorway behind Schaefer, sealing him inside the narrow s.p.a.ce ...and suddenly a special waterfall of quicksand began to flood into his tight vertical coffin. the doorway behind Schaefer, sealing him inside the narrow s.p.a.ce ...and suddenly a special waterfall of quicksand began to flood into his tight vertical coffin.

As the sand rained down on his head, Schaefer screamed. It only took seconds for his little s.p.a.ce to fill, and West watched in horror through the little face-grille as the sand consumed Schaefer, filled his screaming mouth and swallowed him whole.

The screaming stopped.

Now completely alone, West breathed, 'f.u.c.k me ...' me ...'

The wider pit continued to fill with sticky quicksand-rising past his waist.

And seeing Schaefer die had made him completely lose his bearings. He didn't know which was the right exit door. He was starting to panic himself.

Only the bravest souls ... ...

Only the bravest ... ...

Don't panic, Jack. For G.o.d's sake, don't panic- And then he heard Lily scream.

He spun, saw her behind the bars of the moving cage-Avenger and the others had retreated back up their entry steps, but Lily was crouched on the stairs, peering through the doorway, trying to see West.

'Daddy ...no!' Lily yelled.

And suddenly, amid all the mayhem, all the pouring sand and the turning of the cage, time stood still for West.

Daddy?

Did she just say 'Daddy'?

And in that single flas.h.i.+ng instant, a wave of adrenaline surged through him-a feeling that he had only ever felt once before, inside that volcano in Uganda, exactly ten years previously, when he had held her in his arms as a crying baby.

I ...Am ...Not ...Going ...To ...Die...

I am not going to let her down.

Clarity returned.

Only the f.u.c.king bravest ... ...

And it hit him: Brave men don't panic. They remain calm in the face of danger. Brave men don't panic. They remain calm in the face of danger.

Right.

He spun, his mind now hyper-alert, thinking not panicking, no longer rattled by the elaborate deathtrap he found himself in.

No sooner had he done so than the answer came.

In fact, it was Lily's shout that provided the answer.

According to the map, the correct exit door was the one directly opposite her her door. door.

Lily, West realised, was his advantage. Most tomb robbers would not leave someone behind in the entry doorway-they'd all walk into the pit together, go for the rubies on the winged lion, trigger the trap and lose their bearings, and then die.

'Don't give up on me, kiddo!' he called. 'I'm not dead yet!'

He started wading powerfully across the pit, past the lion statue, over toward the stone doorway opposite Lily's door. He arrived there as the swirling pool of sand reached his chest.

The cage rotated, bringing its gate into alignment with that door.

Gate and door became one.

West surged through it, pus.h.i.+ng through the quicksand, and found himself standing in a tight coffin-sized s.p.a.ce just like the one Schaefer had entered-and in a single horrifying instant, he knew that he'd made a terrible, terrible mistake.

No, he hadn't.

It wasn't an enclosed s.p.a.ce at all-there was just a sharp right-angled bend in the pa.s.sageway here, a bend that led to a set of narrow steps which themselves led ...upward!

West clambered up those steps, out of the deadly pool of quicksand, and emerged in open s.p.a.ce, on a low path again, safely on the other side of the well. safely on the other side of the well.

As he crawled onto the path, he must have depressed a trigger stone that reset the trap, because suddenly the cage rotated back to its original position and the pit drained of quicksand.

Across the top of the well, he could see Avenger.

'You're all going to have to come across!' he called. 'It'll seem disorienting, but I'll stand at the correct door. Just come to me.'

And so the rest of the group all crossed the well safely.

It took two trips, and each time the pit filled with quicksand and its cage revolved dizzyingly, but knowing the correct exit they all just forged across the quicksand and exited the pit before it had even risen to knee-height.

When she emerged out the other side, Lily leapt up into West's arms and hugged him tightly.

'Don't leave me,' she whispered.

He held her firmly. 'No matter how bad it gets, kiddo, I'll never leave you. Always remember that.'

Thus reunited, they pressed on and, following the submerged path on the other side of the gazebo, they arrived at the ziggurat that lay in the very centre of the supercavern.

And there, looming above the ziggurat like some kind of otherworldly s.p.a.ces.h.i.+p, suspended from the cave's ceiling, impossibly huge, was the great stalact.i.te that was the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

They climbed the ziggurat quickly.

Very quickly. In fact, there was not a single trap on the structure's ceremonial stairway.

At first, West was surprised by this, but then he realised that this was the first Ancient Wonder they had actually entered entered on this mission. on this mission.

All of the other Pieces they had encountered so far-those of the Colossus, the Pharos, the Mausoleum, the Statue of Zeus and the Temple of Artemis-had been removed removed from their original structures. They had all been guarded by trap systems built from their original structures. They had all been guarded by trap systems built after after the original structures had been lost or destroyed. the original structures had been lost or destroyed.

Not so the Gardens.