Sam nodded. “I guessed that might be the case. What else do you know about Merlin?”
Faulkner said, “Merlin was originally a blacksmith, but so much smarter than those that he served that he was said to have been born in the completely wrong time altogether. He built weapons that no one could defeat. But weapons weren’t the only thing he built. He was more of an engineer. He’d tinker. He’d design and build complex machines. In fact, he was so good at it, he developed the nickname of, Master Builder.”
“What did you say?” Sam asked.
“He was so ahead of himself that he developed the nickname of Master Builder.”
“Could it be possible?” Sam asked to himself. “Merlin was a Master Builder?”
“Yeah, that’s what I said.” Jason stared at him. “Are you all right, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“It’s nothing,” Sam said. “What were you saying?”
Jason smiled, as though he was enjoying himself. “Merlin wouldn’t let any strangers accidentally walk into his most precious grotto.”
Sam asked, “How did Merlin keep it so well hidden all these years?”
“The same way anyone keeps treasure hidden.”
“And what’s that?”
“He keeps the entrance secured under lock and key, making it impossible to access.”
Sam frowned. “Great. So, we’re back to finding an ancient key?”
Jason shook his head and revealed an enigmatic key carved out of a piece of black obsidian. His face was lit up with enjoyment at Sam’s reaction.
Jason grinned. “Fortunately, I have the key.”
Chapter Seventy-Seven
Sam introduced Jason to Tom, Genevieve, and Guinevere.
They retrieved dive equipment and returned to the gates to the Dragon Caves. Genevieve made short work of picking the locks.
They headed down into the enormous cavern, past the flag-shaped stalactite, the snow-covered stalagmite, the deep blue Lakes of Diana, and down to the end of the path, where the boardwalk turned into the jetty of Martel’s Lake.
All five of them donned their SCUBA equipment. According to Jason it was only a short tunnel. They could probably swim through holding their breaths once the keystone was removed, but the SCUBA gear made it easier and safer.
They then rowed along the underground lake.
About a mile in Jason said, “Stop. Here.”
Sam looked at him. “What’s here?”
“The keystone.”
Tom asked, “How does it work?”
“Like any other key.” Jason handed him the strange stone key.
Tom took it. The key had been intricately carved into the shape of an ornamental key. Only in this case it was made of obsidian. Tom said, “It doesn’t feel very strong. Are you sure it won’t break as soon as we try and turn it?”
“None of us are strong enough to snap that key,” Jason assured him.
Tom handed the key back to him. “I’ll let you do the honors.”
They tied the rowboat to a large stalagmite, and one by one, dropped backward into the crystal-clear waters of the Martel Lake.
Jason led the way.
They reached a natural crevasse where two independent pieces of limestone formed a bridge together. At the far end there was a slight crease in the stone. The only sign of previous chisels used in the area.
Sam fixed his flashlight on the keyhole.
Jason inserted the obsidian key.
He turned it to the right and backed away.
A moment later, the stone on top floated to the surface.
It wasn’t limestone as it appeared to be. Instead, it was a thoroughly porous form of pumice, which was naturally buoyant. The stone had been weighted down using rocks, and the obsidian key merely released their grip on the giant pumice stone.
With the larger stone removed, it revealed a narrow passageway.
All five of them swam through the opening, coming out into a large grotto on the other side. Sam surfaced. A faint blue glow resonated through the grotto giving it a mysterious and almost magical feel. It was bright enough that they were able to switch off their flashlights.
A set of obsidian stairs climbed onto a small island at the center of the grotto.
Sam took those to the top.
Out of the water, he removed his SCUBA gear and swept his new environment with his eyes. The place seemed mostly innocuous.
A stone pedestal adorned the center of the island. Upon the top was a large papyrus book. Sam took in a deep breath, reverently.
It was Merlin’s SPELL book.
He turned to Jason. “Is that what I think it is?”
Jason grinned, his eyes wide. “Yes. Merlin’s SPELL book.”
“If your team has been here before, why didn’t you take the book?”
“We did.”
Sam face twisted into a wry expression. “And then you returned it again?”
Jason nodded. “Yes. The SPELL book only works while it’s in here. It has something to do with the natural glow from the ceiling.”
Sam stared at the speckled blue stars and smiled. “They’re glow worms?”
“Yes, but not natural. Not the kind you find in Australia or New Zealand. These are chimeras, genetically engineered by Merlin, to develop a very specific type of bioluminescent light. Without that light, no words are visible on the book, and no SPELLS can be cast.”
Guinevere gasped.
Sam asked, “What is it?”
“Look at that!” she said.
Sam shifted his gaze to the bottom of the stone stairs inside the underground lake. There was a stone on the lakebed. He switched his flashlight on and focused it on the stone.
The rusty hilt of a sword hung from the stone, its blade permanently sealed inside.
Sam said, “That’s Excalibur?”
“Yeah,” Jason confirmed. “I bet you were expecting something… shinier?”
Sam nodded. “I suppose so. In the medieval legends, the sword is supposed to glow like fire and be a radiant beacon of the king’s power.”
Jason nodded, knowingly. “Yeah. I was surprised, too, the first time I saw it.”
“But?”
“According to Merlin’s SPELL book, when the sword is withdrawn from the stone, it begins to glow. The rust disappears, and the weapon becomes one of the greatest powers on Earth.”
“So why don’t we just pull it from the stone?”
Jason rolled his eyes with incredulity. “You think any one of us have the strength to draw that sword?”
Sam made a half-grin. “Are you telling me, when the best minds of MI-6 explored this cave, no one was able to engineer a mechanical device to extract the sword?”
Jason laughed. “You have no idea what we’re dealing with here, do you?”
“Not really,” Sam admitted. “But I guessed that it couldn’t take that much to draw a thousand plus year old sword from a stone. I mean, why not remove the stone from the cave, then in an engineer workshop somewhere, use a diamond tipped drill — the same sort of thing they use in the mining industry — to remove the stone.”
“First off, that stone’s not going anywhere. It’s fused with the grotto’s floor. And second, we’ve already tried diamond tipped drills. More than twenty-four hours, and it didn’t even leave a scratch.”
“Wow. All right. Then how do you suggest we fuse King Arthur’s original sword?”
Jason said, “With the Serpent’s eyes.”
Chapter Seventy-Eight
Sam stood next to Merlin’s SPELL book, where it rested on the stone pedestal.
Jason Faulkner quickly flicked through an array of unique weapon designs, science experiments, and prototypes. The entire book reminded Sam of reading Leonardo da Vinci’s Engineering Journals. There were engineering designs for weapons and machines that reigned throughout the ages, including weapons that weren’t developed until centuries after Merlin had died, with some still unachieved.