“Shellfish are unclean,” Dima said. “But I don’t see any trap door.”
Maddock had a feeling he knew what to do. “Blood is the key.” He reached for his knife, but Bones stopped him.
“Let me do it this time.” Bones drew his own blade, made a small cut on his forearm, and held his arm out.
The moment the first drop of blood hit the stone, it sizzled. They all took a step back and watched as the sculpture turned a deep shade of scarlet. The cavern began to shake, and Maddock feared they had just made a big mistake. Then, with a sharp crack, a huge section of rock broke free and slowly tipped backward and crashed down with a hollow thud.
Silence reigned as they stood enraptured by the secret they had just uncovered. It was hardly the first hidden door Bones and Maddock had discovered, but there was something about what they knew lay behind this one that made it different.
“I think,” Maddock said, “we found it.”
Chapter 44
Maddock could tell the moment he stepped through the doorway that he stood inside a massive space. He swept his light in a circle, revealing a mammoth cavern a good two hundred paces in diameter. All around, alcoves had been walled off with planks, creating makeshift stalls. In some places, the formations created by the magma formed ramps that led up to more alcoves. In total, three levels of irregularly spaced stalls and pens were set in the cavern walls. Water dripped from the ceiling and gathered in a huge pool that took up nearly half the floor space.
“It’s incredible.” Dima uttered the words in a soft, reverential tone typically reserved for sacred spaces.
“This must be where Noah tended the animals until the flood waters subsided,” Maddock said.
Bones walked over to the closest stall and tested one of the boards. “Sturdier than I expected. I wouldn’t put any weight on it, though. Where do you think they got the wood?”
“I don’t know, maybe from that big wooden ship they floated in on?” Maddock said.
“Fair enough. Excuse my slow brain. This is freaking awesome, so I’m a bit distracted.”
They rounded the pool, inspecting the stalls, but all were empty. No artifacts, no animal remains, only bare stone.
“Where do you think we are?” Bones asked. “Inside the mountain?”
“Somewhere far beneath it, I’ll wager,” Dima said, taking out a camera and snapping pictures.
“Deep enough for water to filter down, probably from the lake.” Maddock took one more look all around. “Since there’s nothing but stalls here, Noah and his family must have lived somewhere else. Let’s try the upper levels.”
Since not all the levels were connected with one another, it took a while to cover them, but after some searching, they found a passageway on the third level that led out of the cavern. The way was barred by a wooden gate that shattered when Bones tried to open it.
“Sorry. I thought I was being careful.” The big Indian eyed the ceiling of the passageway. “Watch your heads. Lots of low-hanging lava formations here. I wonder if Noah was pint-sized, like Maddock.”
“You know Maddock’s not short,” Dima said, smiling.
“It’s my thing. Don’t ruin it for me.”
“You seem to have a lot of ‘things’,” she said, ducking down to follow Bones into the tunnel. “Like collecting women?”
“Where did you get that idea?” Bones glanced over his shoulder at her and managed to crack his head on a low outcropping. “Crap! See what you did?”
“Sorry. I just wanted to see how you’d react.”
Bones winced and rubbed his head. “Let’s just say I’m capable of change if someone gives me a good reason.”
Maddock cleared his throat. “If you two would take a break from your episode of The Bachelor, you’d see what’s through that doorway.”
They’d come to the end of the passageway. Beyond it lay another cavern.
Bones turned slowly, careful not to hit his head again. “Whoa!”
This cavern was easily as large as the one from which they’d just come. Here, too, water dripping from the ceiling formed a pool in the center. Up above, the slow flows of magma formed twisted, bulbous shapes like deformed fingers interlaced. Six large, evenly-spaced alcoves stood around the perimeter. Inside those closest to them, Maddock saw signs of habitation: roughly-hewn furniture, stone bowls, and stone and iron implements.
“This is where they lived,” Dima said. “It’s hard to believe we actually found it.”
They took a few minutes to examine the living quarters up close, Dima recording it all with her camera. The furnishings and implements were crude, but their age and the history behind them made them remarkable. Maddock felt dizzy looking at evidence that Noah had, in fact, lived, and that the ark story was, at its essence, factual.
Bones picked up a stone knife and ran a finger along its edge. “I gotta say, this never gets old. I’m always blown away by what we find.”
Smiling, Dima reached out and gave Bones’ hand a squeeze. “What do you know? You do have a soul.”
Something about the shape of the cavern gave Maddock pause. He moved toward the center, stopped at the edge of the pool, and looked around. And then it struck him.
“All the alcoves are triangular,” he said. “They’re all about the same size and spaced evenly.”
“So?” Bones asked.
“Picture a floor plan of this space. What would it look like?”
Dima gasped. “A six-pointed star! Do you think this place was the original inspiration for the Star of David?”
“Could be. If Noah and his family found shelter here after the flood, this cavern with its safety and fresh water must have seemed like a gift from God. That would explain why Noah carved the shape on the altar stone.”
“Speaking of the altar stone,” Bones said, “that thing is huge. How do you think they got it from here to there?”
“I don’t know,” Maddock admitted. “Maybe the answer lies through there.” He aimed the beam of his light toward another passageway to their left. “I think we should give it a look.”
Up ahead loomed a high, arched opening. Tyson held up a hand, signaling for the others to stop. He could tell by the shape that this was an actual doorway, not another of the many tunnels through which they’d passed. It had taken a bit of trial and error and two more lost mercenaries for him to intuit the meaning of the symbols above the passageways, but he’d finally gotten them here.
Ahmed sidled up to him and craned his head, trying to peer into the darkness. “Do you think this is it?”
Tyson flashed an angry look at Ahmed. “If it is,” he said in a voice that carried only to his comrade’s ear, “let’s not announce our presence to anyone who might be inside. Understand?”
Duly chastened, Ahmed nodded and took a step back.
Tyson turned to face his men. He held a finger to his lips to indicate they should remain silent, and then he turned, moved to the doorway, and listened. He heard nothing, save dripping water. He doused his headlamp, moved forward a few paces, and listened again. Still nothing. Tyson considered this. It was possible that Maddock’s party had wandered down the wrong passageway and fallen prey to one of the same traps that his own men had, but he doubted it. Zafrini was brilliant and Maddock and Bonebrake had proven themselves to be resourceful. Tyson had to assume his quarry waited somewhere up ahead. He would have to take a chance.
He turned on his light and stepped out into a cavern. He could tell immediately that this had been a barn of sorts — the place was filled with pens and stalls, with a pool suitable for watering livestock at its center. His heart raced at the thought that thousands of years ago, Noah had tended animals here, and had probably guided them down the very tunnels up which Tyson and his men had come before releasing them into the world.