They continued downwards, reaching the first of the terraces running the cavern’s width. It seemed like a village, dozens of small buildings packed tightly together. They had the feel of barracks, or dormitories; basic living quarters for those who worked at the bottom of the mine. Another flight of steps descended to the next relatively flat area. The structures here were larger, but squeezed just as closely together.
Nina wanted to explore the buildings, but suspected Solomon’s treasure would be in the grandest edifice below — and that Mukobo would not indulge her professional urges. Instead, she pressed on. A broad staircase led to the lowest terrace.
The large structure she had seen from above took on form ahead. It was semicircular, the flat wall facing her and the curved one overlooking the bottom of the chasm. A wide doorway had Old Hebrew text above. ‘David,’ said Nina, pointing it out.
Ziff went to translate it. ‘This is it,’ said the Israeli. Despite the tense situation, he couldn’t keep excitement from his voice. ‘Whatever Solomon was protecting, it’s in here. This is the Chamber of the Shamir.’
‘What’s that noise like now?’ Eddie asked Lydia.
‘Very strong,’ the New Zealander replied. She crouched and put a hand to the stone floor. ‘I mean, you can actually feel it through the rock now.’
‘She’s right,’ said Brice. ‘Philippe, I’d recommend caution. We don’t know what we’re dealing with.’
‘Scared, are you?’ said Eddie.
‘Pragmatic,’ the former agent shot back. ‘I never get into a situation without having a way out. And since we don’t know what’s in there…’
‘We will see now,’ Mukobo said firmly. ‘Boy! Come with me. Film everything.’ He signalled for Howie to follow him into the building. The expedition members went with him, Luaba summoning some of the Insekt Posse as extra guards while the others remained outside.
Within was a large chamber. Openings in the curved wall provided a panoramic view over the bottom of the cavern. But all attention went to the room’s contents, not what lay in the darkness beyond. ‘Look at this!’ gasped Ziff. ‘This Hebrew word, it’s a name — Makeda! This is the Queen of Sheba!’
Nina joined him to examine a statue, a tall, athletic African woman with her hair in long braids down her back. ‘Wow. After three thousand years, we finally find out what she looked like…’
‘Impressive — and I don’t only mean the quality of the workmanship,’ said the old man with a small but cheeky smile as he admired the figure.
‘It is just stone,’ said Mukobo dismissively. ‘But this — this is real treasure!’ He went to a pedestal across the chamber. On it sat a bust, the head and shoulders of an unknown man cast in gold and inset with threads of silver and precious stones.
Nina gave it an analytical look. ‘It’s probably a relic of the city’s original inhabitants. The art style is a lot like the statue at the end of the first challenge.’
‘I do not care about that. But it must be worth millions of dollars. And it is mine!’ He indicated other wonders nearby. ‘And so is this — so is everything here!’ He turned to Brice. ‘They will give the LEC the money to buy more weapons, powerful weapons. You and your people can provide them?’
The Englishman nodded. ‘Of course. I can arrange for someone with the right contacts to appraise these.’ One of the Insekt Posse poked at a ruby, seeing if it was loose; Brice clicked his fingers to draw his attention, then shook his head. ‘There are collectors who will pay much more for ancient relics than you could get for the raw gold and gems,’ he told Mukobo. ‘A little patience will get you a lot more money.’
The warlord seemed conflicted, but greed won out over expediency. ‘Laissez-nous seuls,’ he barked. The man hurriedly withdrew.
Nina went to one of the windows. The pool lay beyond the mine workings, its surface rippling. Numerous streams trickled down the rock walls into it, but its level was holding constant rather than rising with the flow. ‘This must be what’s feeding the waterfalls,’ she said, remembering the cascades falling from the promontory. She aimed her light around the water’s edge, spotting openings in the walls. ‘Looks like they dug flood-control shafts so this place always stayed above water level.’
‘The fresh air must be coming through them,’ said Ziff, joining her. He redirected his beam to the excavations. ‘What were they mining?’
‘I don’t know.’ Their lights picked out a dense vein of some glinting greenish mineral in the exposed stone. ‘Jade, maybe? Or malachite?’
‘Jade would be valuable, but so valuable that Solomon built all this to protect it?’ He shook his head.
Eddie, meanwhile, had gone to the room’s centre. A broad stone plinth was home to a dull grey box, easily overlooked amongst the glinting treasures around it. ‘What’s in this?’ he asked.
Nina followed him. The box was about two feet long and a foot wide and high, its top held in place by bronze clasps. ‘There’s nothing on the box itself, but it’s been given pride of place… and it’s made of lead,’ she said with sudden realisation. ‘David — a lead box. What does that sound like?’
Ziff hurried over. ‘This is the Chamber of the Shamir, so — could it be?’ He reached for the container — then hesitated. ‘If it is, then opening it could be dangerous.’
‘What do you mean?’ demanded Mukobo.
‘According to Hebrew mythology,’ Nina told him, ‘King Solomon kept the Shamir in a lead box, because it was the only thing that could contain its power.’
‘Let’s not forget that the Hebrew mythology about King Solomon also features talking eagles and magic carpets,’ said Brice, scathing. ‘I doubt we have to worry about the wrath of God if we open it. After all,’ he added to Nina, ‘you yourself opened the Ark of the Covenant without being struck dead.’
‘Yeah, but lead?’ said Eddie. ‘I know we did that test with the camera, but it still says one thing to me, and that’s radiation. I wouldn’t want to be the bugger who opens it.’
‘That’s a shame,’ said the ex-MI6 man. ‘Because it’s an excellent suggestion.’
Mukobo exposed his teeth in a humourless grin as he raised his gun. ‘Open it, Chase. When the rest of us are outside, of course.’
Eddie sighed. ‘Me and my big fucking mouth!’
The others hastened to the entrance, Mukobo keeping his weapon aimed at the Yorkshireman as he retreated. ‘Do it now, Chase,’ he ordered.
Nina watched over the warlord’s shoulder. Eddie gave her a look that was part-way between reassurance and resignation, then released the clasps and opened the lid.
To his relief, he didn’t instantly vaporise or explode into flame. He raised the lead slab higher.
‘What is it?’ Mukobo demanded. ‘Chase! What have you found?’
‘If your idea of treasure is big green pointy stone things,’ Eddie replied, ‘then it’s your lucky day!’
Puzzled, the Congolese returned to the chamber, Nina and the others behind him. The metal casket was lined with the desiccated remnants of a rough fabric. Laid amongst them was exactly what Eddie had described: a horn-shaped piece of glittering greenish mineral about eighteen inches in length. ‘It’s the same stuff they were mining,’ she said.
‘It’s more than that,’ said Ziff, awed. ‘It’s the Shamir! The lead box, the wool — it’s exactly as described in the Babylonian Talmud.’
‘I thought the Shamir was a little worm,’ said Eddie.
‘That was Solomon’s Shamir. But there were supposedly others — Moses used one to engrave the names of the high priests of the twelve tribes of Israel into gemstones. This one, though… it is much bigger. Maybe it is the “Mother of the Shamir”?’