The trap rumbled back into motion, this time in reverse. The walls pulled apart, the floor slab trundling back into the passage before rising to floor level.
Lights shone at her from the other end. ‘Is it safe?’ demanded Mukobo.
‘I think so,’ Nina replied. ‘I pulled a lever to reset the trap, and it probably locks everything so that other people can come through.’
‘Probably?’ said Brice scathingly. ‘I think someone should test that. And I know the very man.’
Eddie laughed mirthlessly. ‘Let me guess: he’s British, ruggedly handsome, and isn’t a smarmy clag-nut from MI6.’
‘Go through, Chase,’ the Congolese ordered. ‘And do not try to escape at the other end, or I will kill your friends.’
‘I’ll wait for you, don’t worry,’ Eddie growled as he headed into the passage. He hesitated before putting a foot on the slab. The walls and floor remained stationary. He quickly strode through to Nina, who embraced him. ‘Christ, love. For a minute there, I thought you’d been squished.’
‘So did I,’ she replied with relief. They looked back. Mukobo listened to Brice as the former intelligence agent whispered something, both men regarding the couple with unwelcome interest, then the warlord issued an order. The rest of the group began to traverse the defanged trap.
‘Was that it, then?’ Eddie asked his wife.
Nina’s gaze turned to the new tunnel. ‘No. The inscription said Solomon set three challenges…’
17
Luaba was next through the trap, holding Eddie and Nina at gunpoint while the others followed. Mukobo gave the silver tablet a greedy look. ‘I wouldn’t,’ Nina told him as he reached for it. ‘It’s the only thing stopping the rest of your men from becoming chunky salsa.’ He withdrew his hand.
Brice peered down the next passage. ‘Is there another trap down there?’
Ziff, regarding the statue with wonderment, shook his head. ‘I would imagine there’s an inscription before each test of Solomon. A clue as to how you can pass it.’
‘If you’re smart enough,’ added Nina.
‘Well, we have two PhDs, a master’s,’ Brice put a hand to his heart with false modesty before indicating Lydia and Howie, ‘I assume a couple of graduates, the future leader of Eastern Congo, and… well, the rest.’ He gave the members of the Insekt Posse a disdainful look, which finished on Eddie.
‘You’ve got an MA?’ scoffed the Yorkshireman. ‘What in, applied arseholery?’
‘International relations, actually. But I’d hope that amount of brainpower would be a match for someone from the Bronze Age.’
‘We will soon find out,’ said Mukobo, pointing imperiously down the new tunnel. ‘Follow me. And you, boy,’ he added to Howie, ‘keep filming.’
‘Yeah, I will,’ the young man nervously assured him.
The warlord raised a torch and strode into the darkness, the others filing after him. The new passage turned after a short distance, angling downwards. ‘There is another room,’ Mukobo soon announced. ‘Dr Wilde, Dr Ziff — what is this?’
He stepped aside to let the archaeologists past. Nina lifted her flashlight — to see a large and elaborate frieze covering the wall ahead. Four distinct panels each bore a carved scene. ‘Oh, wow,’ she said, impressed.
Every relief was different, but all displayed the same exquisite workmanship. The first was an image of a dead animal lying on a desert plain, insects buzzing around it. The second was a tree in an equally desolate landscape; the third, a muscular bald man holding the carcass of a goat above his head. The final picture showed a field of wheat with more insects — locusts — swarming above. The only thing all four had in common was a circular hole about six inches across set into each.
Ziff hurried to examine the frieze. ‘If this is from the era of Solomon, the style is very advanced for the time.’
Nina joined him. ‘Egyptian or Assyrian influence, maybe?’
‘Perhaps. Or it could be that Sheba had developed similar techniques, but we simply haven’t found any examples yet.’
‘I do not care who made it,’ said Mukobo impatiently. ‘What does it mean? Is this another test — and is it a trap?’
Nina checked the rest of the chamber. On a side wall was another inscription in Old Hebrew, one word in particular given great emphasis by being contained in a block of its own. ‘David, over here.’
Ziff joined her, reading the text. ‘It is another test, yes,’ he confirmed. ‘The first line says, “The Riddle of Samson”. Samson’s name is this word here.’ He pointed out the distinct block.
‘Samson as in, “and Delilah”, right?’ asked Eddie.
‘Unless there’s another Samson I missed in my theology lessons, then I’d imagine so,’ Brice replied. He looked into one of the holes. ‘This slopes downwards into the wall. There’s something at the bottom, but I can’t tell what it is.’
‘I wouldn’t try to find out until we know what we’re doing,’ Nina warned.
‘No, no,’ Eddie countered. ‘Go right ahead, Brice!’
‘I’ll leave it to the experts,’ said the former agent with a sneering smile.
Ziff had continued to translate the text. ‘It’s another message from Solomon,’ he said. ‘He says that Samson has the answer to the riddle that will allow visitors to pass, but only the wise will know where to find it.’
Nina looked back at the carved walclass="underline" specifically, the first panel. ‘Well, that’s obvious enough.’
Ziff nodded. ‘Judges, 14:14.’
‘“Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet.”’
Eddie gave them a bewildered look. ‘Okay, what?’
Mukobo was no more enlightened. ‘Explain.’
‘It’s a riddle Samson set for the Philistines,’ Nina told him, going to the picture of the dead animal. ‘If they solved it, he would give them a reward of thirty expensive garments, and if they didn’t they’d give him the same reward.’
‘They couldn’t answer it,’ Ziff continued, ‘so they forced Samson’s wife to tell them. When Samson realised what they’d done, he went to another town and killed thirty Philistines, then took their clothes to settle his debt.’
‘What, just thirty random people?’ Eddie shook his head. ‘Why is it that all historical figures are actually dicks?’
‘Typical bleeding-heart double standards,’ scoffed Brice. ‘You can’t judge the actions of great men of the past through a politically correct lens. Alexander, Julius Caesar…’
‘You were about to say bloody Hitler as well, weren’t you? Go on, admit it.’
‘So what is the answer to the riddle?’ demanded Mukobo.
‘This,’ said Nina of the carved panel. ‘It’s a lion that Samson killed with his bare hands. When he came back to it some time later, he found that bees had made a nest in its corpse, and there was honey inside it. The lion is the “eater” and the “strong”, and the honey is the sweet thing to eat.’
The warlord nodded. ‘Then to find the way through, we reach into here?’ He pointed at the hole set in the dead lion’s mouth.
Nina and Ziff exchanged glances. ‘I am… not sure,’ said the Israeli.
‘Why? What other answer could it be if it is written in the Bible?’
‘The thing is,’ Nina explained, ‘it’s — well, as a riddle it’s bullshit. It’s impossible to work out the answer based on the clues given, because it’s something that only Samson ever saw in person. It’s the biblical equivalent of asking “What’s in my pocket?” and demanding someone guesses right first time when you’ve got… a clockwork mouse and a pencil sharpener in it, say. It’s a cheat.’