“Man, something’s messing up my phone,” Bones said, holding up his cell phone. “I wanted to take a picture. Bummer.” He looked down at a pile of Egyptian artifacts that had spilled down from somewhere up above and lay strewn haphazardly across the bottom level. “This must be how that ranger found his ankh, and Justin found his treasures. They washed down the channels and eventually made their way out.”
“Let’s see what’s in the transepts,” Jade whispered, using the name of the side chambers that gave cathedrals their cruciform shape. She took Dane’s hand and led him forward. The left transept was shallow, perhaps forty feet deep, and held no treasure, but at the far end, perched atop the seventh tier, stood a golden lampstand larger than any Dane had ever seen. Three golden arms curved up on either side of its central column, and its solid base was inlaid with rubies. Jade squeezed his hand in a crushing grip. “Dane! It’s the menorah! The menorah!”
“I can’t get my camera to work either,” Amanda said as she and Bones walked up behind them. “It’s almost as if…” She stopped in mid-sentence as her eyes fell on the menorah. “I can’t believe it. I thought the Romans took it.”
“That was the one that was made after the Babylonian Exile,” Jade said, her voice soft with reverence. “This must be the original. Many believe that the shape of the menorah is influenced by the Aten symbol.”
“So what’s in the other transept?” Dane found that he could not bring himself to speak above a whisper in the face of such a holy sight. Moving as one, they all turned slowly about, and again were stunned by what they saw.
This transept, too, held no treasure save what stood at the end.
“I have to get a closer look at this,” Dane whispered. He leapt across the center channel, the others following behind, all in rapt silence. The steps of this chamber were lined with white marble, and the walls were lined with cedar. On the bottom level of the left side of the transept, spaced at three-foot intervals, stood a line of twelve golden lions. On the right, facing their counterparts, were twelve golden eagles. Each step at the far end of the transept was also flanked by a golden creature: A lion facing an ox, a wolf and a sheep, a tiger and a camel, an eagle and a peacock, a cat and a cock, and a sparrow opposite a dove.
“Six steps lead up to…” Jade whispered.
On the seventh step stood a throne of such magnificence that it almost hurt to look upon it. The seat was made of ivory, its frame of gold. Atop the seat stood a golden candelabra topped by a golden basin. Twenty four golden vines entwined above the throne, and topping it all was a dove clutching a tiny hawk in its claws.
“…Solomon’s throne.”
Dane dropped to his knees, and the others did the same. He took Jade’s hand in his left and Amanda’s in his right, who in turn took Bones’ hand. They remained there, in reverent silence, gazing upon what, until now, had only existed in memory and legend.
“I don’t understand,” he finally whispered.
“Understand what?” Jade asked, turning to stare at him.
“There are more clues,” he said, unable to take his eyes off the throne of the greatest king in Hebrew history. “This isn’t the end. But what else can there be?”
Bones stood and one-by-one hauled everyone to their feet. He looked at Dane with an unreadable expression.
“As to that question, my friend, there’s only one way to find out.”
Chapter 30
At the far end of the chamber, the steps led to a simple doorway, so out of place amongst the splendor of the treasure that surrounded it.
“In the sepulchre, in the third course of stones,” Amanda read. “Is that a sepulchre?”
“In ancient Hebrew practice, a sepulchre was usually carved into the side of a hill,” Jade said. “Perhaps that’s what the simplicity is supposed to symbolize.”
Golden statues of Anubis guarded the door, each holding a spear. Bones paused for a closer look.”
“Hey! They come out!” he exclaimed, removing one of the spears and hefting it. “It’s heavy!”
“Put it back,” Amanda said, as if speaking to a child.
“You’re no fun,” Bones said, but he returned the spear to its proper place and followed her up the steps.
The chamber they entered was nothing more than a perfect square carved into the rock. Down the center of the room stood a line of seven piles of loose rock. Dane and Bones immediately set to moving the third pile of stones, and soon they uncovered a manhole-sized cross and clover disc. Together, they lifted it from its place and moved it to the side. Dane could hear the rush of water down below, and another sound he recognized immediately.
“Get out of here!” He shouted, pushing Jade toward the door and drawing the .22. A dark blur burst from the hole, snarling with unearthly rage. Dane pumped three rounds into the beast, but when it hit the ground, it turned toward him and tensed to spring. Before it could leap, Bones blew a hole in the back of its head with his Glock. They weren’t out of the woods yet, as two more of the beasts clambered out of the hole. Dane emptied the .22 into the first, then drew his knife, and backed up to the door, ready to protect Amanda and Jade. Bones put four rounds into the second beast, then moved cautiously to the hole and peered down inside.
“Here, kitty, kitty,” he called. No sound came from the hole save the steady flow of the underground stream. “Hopefully that’s it,” he said. “What are these things?”
In the light, Dane could clearly see the beasts for the first time. He squatted down next to the nearest of the fallen creatures. Amanda and Jade returned to the room, Jade clutching her knife and Amanda holding one of the Anubis’s spears. Amanda shrank back from the dead creatures, but Jade dropped down on the balls of her feet next to Dane.
The creature’s body was long and sleek, with a broad chest and a sturdy rib cage. It was hairless, its flesh a mottled, dark green and as tough as old leather, with a pronounced spinal ridge that jutted up like the plates of a stegosaurus. Its haunches were so thickly muscled that they reminded Dane of a kangaroo. The front legs were also short and powerful. Jade lifted one of the padded front paws and squeezed it, causing its wicked, black claws to extend, and retract when she let go. The head was vaguely catlike, save for the long snout, with oversized ears and large, black eyes. Its mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth, two of which extended below the lower jaw line like fangs.
“Chupacabra,” Bones whispered. “It’s got to be!”
“Choo choo. Justin was trying to warn me of the chupacabra. He must have seen one sometime, and it scared him enough to draw those pictures. Unbelievable.”
“So, do we go on?” Bones asked. “There could be more, and I don’t have many bullets left.”
“There could be more behind us as well,” Jade said. “I didn’t come this far to stop now. I vote we go on.”
It did not escape Dane’s notice that Jade was no longer taking the lead, but treating everyone as an equal member of the group. This was no longer her expedition, but a shared experience.
“Me too,” Amanda said. “Let’s finish this.”
Dane went feet-first through the hole, landing on a stepping stone inscribed with the symbol that had become so familiar. He was in the middle of a fast-moving underground river. Stepping stones like the one on which he stood were set at three-foot intervals in five rows running the length of the passage all the way to the end, where another arched doorway waited. He was about to hop onto the next stone when something caught his eye. He stopped himself at the last second, almost losing his balance and flailing his arms as he fought to keep himself from tumbling into the fast-flowing current.