The basin was plunged into shadow. Banna joined them, drawing in a startled breath. ‘It is alight!’
A faint shimmering glow came from the water, reflecting off the precious metal lining the basin. ‘Just like the Alexander Romance described it,’ said Nina. ‘It looks like it’s flashing like lightning, don’t you think?’ She hesitantly put her fingers into the bowl. The initial electrical tingle made her flinch, but she held firm, lowering them into the water until she touched the silver containing it.
It was mostly smooth… but as she slid her fingertips around, she felt faint impressions in the surface. ‘There’s something here.’
Eddie leaned closer. ‘I don’t see anything.’
‘Hold on.’ She switched the flashlight back on and directed it at the basin, but the reflected glare obliterated any detail. ‘Ubayy, hold this, but don’t point it at the water. Aim it over there.’ She indicated the far wall.
Banna did so. The light was now more diffuse — providing just enough relief for her to pick out shapes imprinted into the metal. ‘Here, look,’ she said, running a finger over one of the oval bowl’s long sides. ‘There’s a little ledge here, just under the surface — and another opposite, like something’s meant to rest on top of it.’ A probe uncovered a third at the narrow end beneath the spout, but this was different: a tiny metal protrusion, square in cross-section, set between two indentations. ‘And this looks like it fits into something…’
Zane returned, an agent called Haber following. ‘I’ve got the explosives,’ he announced, three blocks of yellowish C-4 in the crook of one arm. The other man put down a pack and took out several more. ‘We don’t have time to plan a proper demolition, so we’ll have to collapse the ceiling.’ He set down his cargo and took out a string of detonators.
‘Wait, not yet,’ said Nina, alarmed. ‘I’ve found something — I think it’s part of Andreas’ challenge.’
‘I don’t care,’ Zane replied as he pushed the detonators into the soft bricks. ‘Making sure the Nazis don’t get the water is all that matters now.’
‘But this might not be the only source,’ she protested. ‘The text said that once you reach this place, the fish will show you the spring — the fish!’ she cried in sudden realisation.
‘Christ, what about it?’ Eddie demanded. ‘Only way I’d get that excited about a fish is if it came with chips.’
Nina pulled the artefact from her rucksack. ‘Ubayy, the light!’ The excitement in her voice captured even Zane’s attention.
‘What is it?’ Banna asked as he redirected the beam at the basin.
‘Look at the bowl — the shape and size of it. It’s a hell of a lot like this!’ She held the bronze relic above the water, revealing that they were a very close match in dimensions. ‘The upper and lower fins should fit perfectly on these little notches along the long sides — and as for the mouth…’
She carefully aligned the twin curves of the fish’s lips with the carved recess beneath the spout. They were a perfect fit — and the metal nub slotted neatly into its mouth. ‘The fish goes into the basin,’ Nina explained as she prepared to seat the relic upon the other indentations. ‘Do what Andreas did, put it in the water, and…’
She lowered it into place — and jumped away in shock as it moved.
‘What the fuck?’ Eddie said. The fish’s tail had started flapping the moment it was laid fully flat in the water, kicking up little splashes. ‘How’s it doing that?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Nina, watching in amazement. ‘Something to do with the charge in the water, I guess. Maybe some kind of primitive motor?’
‘A motor?’ said Zane, incredulous. ‘I thought this thing was two thousand years old! They didn’t have motors back then.’
‘All you need to make the simplest kind of motor is a wire and an electrostatic charge — that’s been known for centuries. And there have been plenty of cases where relatively advanced technology and ideas were lost or forgotten for long periods before being rediscovered. Andreas was well travelled and lived for hundreds of years, thanks to this water — that was plenty of time for him to combine different pieces of knowledge.’ She looked more closely. Glimpses of a moving mechanism were visible inside the slot along the relic’s back. ‘He had a sense of humour, too. According to the Romance, he discovered the spring when he dipped a preserved fish into it and it jumped back to life. Probably galvanic response, the electrical charge making the fish’s muscles twitch, but by making this fish do the same, it brings everything full circle—’
The flapping abruptly stopped. Simultaneously, a deep clunk came from the chamber’s rear. Zane snatched up his Uzi. ‘What was that?’
Nina took the flashlight from Banna. ‘Something just released…’ She directed the beam into the shadowed corner.
Where one of the reliefs had previously been flush with its neighbour, there was now a small gap, a line of blackness an inch wide separating them. Nina scurried to investigate. ‘There’s a passage back here!’ she announced.
Banna lifted the fish, which gave one final jerk of its tail before falling still. ‘Nina!’ he said, feeling the protrusion under the spout with his little finger. ‘Something was turning in its mouth. This spike must have fitted into it like a key.’
‘The fish unlocked it when it moved… and showed us the Spring of Immortality. Just like Andreas said,’ said Nina, going to the crack. ‘It’s still here — inside the mountain. Give me a hand.’
Eddie and, after a moment of reluctance, Zane helped her to pull open the secret door. The flashlight revealed a narrow passage beyond, angling steeply upwards. Banna joined them, and they stared into the darkness.
‘So are we going up it?’ Eddie asked, breaking the silence.
‘Are you kidding?’ replied Nina, starting through the opening.
‘Wait, wait!’ snapped Zane. ‘What about the Nazis? If they come back while we’re in there, we’ll be trapped — and we’ll have led them right to the spring! We’ve got to destroy this.’
Nina stopped and rounded on him. ‘After everything we’ve been through, we’re right on the doorstep of something amazing — and you want to blow it up?’
‘He’s got a point,’ said Eddie. ‘If those bastards leave here with a tanker truck full of magic water, then they’ve won. And everyone they killed will have died for nothing,’ he added, with considerable meaning.
Nina regarded them both for a moment. ‘Then blow it up,’ she finally said. ‘But I’m still going inside. No matter what.’
‘No you’re not,’ her husband said firmly.
‘Then why am I even here? Eddie, I told you: this is more than just what I do — it’s who I am. You of all people should know that by now. I might be dying, but I’m still not going to give up a foot from the finish.’ She turned to Zane. ‘Even if you blow up this room, the Nazis’ll just dig it out again — having the Mossad destroy it will prove to them that the spring’s really here. But if you destroy the source of the spring…’
‘We brought cyanide — a contingency plan,’ the Israeli admitted. ‘If we poison the water, it might kill the Nazis and their backers…’
Eddie was now faced with options he disliked from both sides. ‘You’re not going up there,’ he told Nina, ‘and you,’ he said to Zane, ‘you’re not poisoning Iran’s water supply with fucking cyanide — that kind of thing counts as an act of war! Just blow this place up and let’s get out of here.’ He looked back at Nina. ‘Please?’
‘Eddie, she’s right,’ Zane was forced to admit. ‘Andreas and his followers dug all this out by hand — even if we destroy this room, it won’t take long to clear it with power tools and explosives. We’ll only delay the Nazis, not stop them. And if we leave here, we’ll lose track of them.’