“Stop! You’re going to destroy it! There is nothing of value here. They’re just made of marble and granite. We can search around. Maybe we will find something valuable.”
Carlos put the rock down, saying, “okay lady we look around. Don’t you do anything stupid. I will not think twice to kill you.”
Helen then convinced him that as long as nobody destroys anything, she will keep her word and not try to make a run for it.
The jungle outside was becoming colder by the minute. Jason and Danny were still pushing forward as fast as they could. They had at least another twenty minutes before reaching the entrance to the tomb. Danny wondered if they were still heading in the right direction. He thought twice about asking Jason, so he kept up his pace walking behind him.
Not too far away, Danny heard rustling among the bushes. He directed his flashlight to see a pair of ghostly eyes staring back at him. He was not sure if it was human or some wild animal following them. He kept quiet, not wanting to tell Jason for fear it was just something harmless.
Helen proceeded to the outer perimeter doorways she had seen. Carlos and Diego followed her with deep interest. The flamed torch she was holding lit up the entrance to a small passageway leading them into a twenty foot square room. In the middle of the room was what seemed to be a sarcophagus made entirely of granite. The lid was covered with Mayan inscriptions.
Carlos said, “we find gold inside coffin yes?”
Helen reads the hieroglyphs. “It seems to be the burial chamber of one of the high priests. This is old, very old, dating back to the ancient Mayans. It could be hundreds, even thousands of years old.”
Carlos pushed her aside.
“We open up, see if gold is inside.”
The sarcophagus itself was not very large since the Mayan people were a small sized race. The lid was about two inches thick and did not seem to be that heavy to move. It slid open quite easily despite being untouched after all these years. Helen made sure the two men were careful not to break anything. Once the coffin was open, she held the flamed torch over the open sarcophagus. As expected, there lay the bones of a high priest. Placed around the skeleton were small marble figurines and jade beads, which were used as an offering to pass over into the underworld. Carlos picked up some of the items but threw them back inside.
“No gold! There is nothing of value here,” he said.
Carlos then grabbed Helen by the neck.
“You find us gold! Or I kill you right now!”
Helen tried to explain to him that gold was not considered valuable to the Mayan people. It was just another item like jade, marble and obsidian which was one of the mostly used minerals of the Mayan civilization. Helen encouraged them to close the sarcophagus and continue their search for something of value.
They Left the high priest’s burial place and entered the next doorway only to find a sarcophagus of another high priest with the exact items inside the coffin. Helen saw where this was going. She was convinced the remaining burial chambers all contained generation after generation of high priests. So as like before, no gold was found in the coffins, and Carlos was becoming impatient.
“Lady! Your time is up. We find no gold so now you die!”
He reached for his gun, pointing it to Helen’s forehead, forcing her to her knees.
“Wait! Please stop!” Said Helen, begging for her life.
Click… click, Carlos cocked the firing pin of his gun, ready to press the trigger. With her arms stretched out as if to block the bullet, she said, “you saw twelve identical burial chambers, but I saw thirteen. There could be one more sarcophagus left that we haven’t opened.”
Carlos looked over to Diego, who shrugged his shoulders as a gesture to think twice and check out the remaining burial chamber. He lowered his weapon and lifted Helen to her feet. She stumbled over, still shaken by her assailant’s actions.
“Get up! Lead us to the remaining burial chamber,” said Carlos.
Helen managed to gain some strength and got to her feet. She led the way back out and into the large cavern. They went past the statues and up to higher ground. Carlos immediately grabbed her by the arm.
“Where you go? Why we are going back out?”
Helen pulled her arm free from his grip and continued walking towards the cavern entrance where the flamed torches were lit. She then looked down over the large cavern area, pointing to the far end.
“There! Over there on the opposite side is another doorway. It’s separated from the others, which must mean, whoever is buried in there must have been of great importance.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Jason was having second thoughts to whether or not they were in fact, going in the right direction, when he noticed the rock that Helen had sat down on.
“We made it! See Danny we found the site. Hurry! Before something happens to Helen!”
They entered through the hanging moss and began the descent down the stone steps.
Danny said to himself, “here we go again.”
Helen knew she was in trouble if they did not find gold soon. They made their way to the last burial chamber. She could hear Carlos breathing deeply behind her. This was her last hope once they passed through the doorway. With her flamed torch held out in front, they walked for five minutes through a passageway taking them upwards. When they came to the chamber, Helen saw right away that this room was not like the others. The room was much larger and had Mayan inscriptions and drawings on all four walls. The sarcophagus was also much larger, with clay pots filled with colored beads and small figurines and daggers made of obsidian laid all around it. The sarcophagus lid was painted with liquefied gold. Carlos was anxious to open the coffin, but Helen stopped him.
“Wait! I want to see who lies here before we disturb it.”
Helen read the inscriptions and after a few seconds her eyes sparkled with delight.
Carlos said, “what is it? Who is buried inside?”
She ran her fingers over the inscriptions.
“This is the burial chamber of a king who ruled nearly two thousand years ago. He must have been a well-respected ruler for him to have a chamber of this size, and with so many offerings.”
The men pushed Helen aside ready to open the lid to the sarcophagus. Helen was the first to take a look inside. What she saw astonished her. It was not a skeleton that lay in front of her, but a body having skin and facial features still intact. This king was amazingly well preserved. The sarcophagus must be airtight, keeping the body from decomposing. The body was decorated with a necklace of golden beads and bracelets with precious gemstones. Across the chest lay a breastplate of solid gold, decorated with emeralds. The Mayan people secured their king’s spirit a certain passage into the spirit world.
Carlos and Diego went for the gold, filling their rucksack to the fullest.
“At last we found treasure! Now we must get out of here before your two friends arrive.”
Helen moved back a few steps.
“I found you gold! You can let me go now. That is what we agreed.”
Both men looked at each other laughing.
Carlos said, “no Missy, that is not what we agreed. You find gold, you do not die, that is what we agreed. Now you come with us.”
She made a dash for the exit, but Carlos was quick enough to stop her. He grabbed her by the arm, twisting it, forcing Helen to shout out in pain.