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Larra bit down hard on the leather strap,
trying to stifle her cries. Her
breath came in sharp short gasps.
Droplets of perspiration poured off her naked
body. Her hands were pressed
hard against her distended belly and her legs were spread
wide. She was experiencing more
pain than she cared to think about.
She had been in labor for over eight
hours. Her day and night of passion
with Tabin had had not unexpected
results. Now she was struggling
hard not to scream from the acute pain of
childbirth. Mongol women were
expected to endure labor without
complaint. For Larra it was doubly
important that she make no sound.
Her status in the Mongol community was at
stake. More importantly, however,
there was a Japanese patrol only a few hundred feet from where she lay hidden
in a small patch of scrub.
The Mongol tribe had been on the run from the Russians and Japanese for the
last few weeks. Heavy Russian
patrols, backed up by Mongols loyal to the new communist regime in
And so Larra clenched her strong white teeth on the leather strap, fighting
back the almost irresistible urge to
scream. It was a warm August
day and at her insistence, her Mongol midwives had removed most of her
clothing. Even so, the exertions
of childbirth had caused her to break out into a heavy
sweat. She tried to control her
breath, focusing on ignoring the pain and trying to direct her thoughts
elsewhere. She drifted back to
the day after she and Tabin had first made
love.
Larra and Tabin had ridden back to camp from the
hotspring. Upon their arrival
Larra had taken up residence in Tabin’s
yurt. No one in the tight knit
Mongol community questioned the fact that Larra was now Tabin’s
woman. Nor did anyone think that
a formal ceremony celebrating their union was
necessary. For hundreds of years
it had been Mongol custom to raid neighbors for women, adding them to their
households. As far as the rest
of Tabin’s followers were concerned Larra fit into that
category.
Despite her new relationship with Tabin, Larra was still mindful of her
mission. She knew that she was
in the area of the tomb of Genghis Khan, but exactly where it might be in
this wilderness region she had no idea.
During her excursions into the area around Tabin’s village she
had seen no sign of any marker or any other indicator that something as important
as a tomb might be nearby. But
of course, it might well be that the great khan’s tomb was so carefully
hidden that there might not be any marker showing its
location. Still, Larra was convinced
that there must be something in the area to show where such an important
site would be. It was just a
matter of finding it.
Whenever she was able Larra rode out into the area around the Mongol
camp. As she covered the ground
closest to the camp, she widened her
search. Eventually she found
herself riding quite far from the camp.
Often she went alone, and on one of these occasions, she found that
she was close to the hotspring where she and Tabin had first made
love. Larra smiled to herself
as she approached the entrance to the steaming
canyon. This place held pleasant
memories. She rode into the canyon,
cheered by the warmth of the vapors.
It was about
Larra was entranced. She had
never before encountered such extraordinary
beauty. She rode farther into
the canyon looking with awe and wonder at a sight she might never see
again. Unexpectedly, her eye
caught something that seemed out of place in the natural
landscape. It was a faint scratch
on the surface of the canyon wall.
It was something that she would normally have ridden right by had
she not been so fascinated by the astonishing display of light and
color.
Curious, Larra dismounted. Up
close the scratch turned out to be Mongol script that had been cut painstakingly
into the rock. With a sense of
growing excitement, Larra scrambled
closer. She had learned enough
about the Mongol language to be able to read a little of
it. Unfortunately, her Mongol
language texts had been with the equipment that the Japanese had taken from
her. Painstakingly, she copied
down the script, using a piece of charcoal she had taken with her from the
campfire, and a piece of birch bark.
It was the best she could do, as all her writing materials had been
lost as well. Perhaps
there would be someone in Tabin’s camp who could decipher it for
her.
Having finished copying the script, Larra moved a little farther up the
canyon. Perhaps there was more
writing farther in. Sure enough,
there was more writing a few yards farther
along. Dutifully, Larra copied
this script as well, and then moved a few steps more into the narrow
fissure. There was still more
writing deeper in the canyon. It
was almost as if the ancient script was leading her up the
valley. Finally she reached the
hotspring itself. She could go
no further without getting wet.
“Well, why not?”
Larra murmured to herself. “I need a
bath.”
Larra quickly stripped off her heavy winter garments and eased herself into
the steaming water.
“Ohhh, that feels good!” she
murmured. Wading farther out
she rolled over on her back and glided toward the far side of the
pool. She closed her eyes as
she floated, reliving her first sexual experience with
Tabin. That had been a remarkable
day and night. She wished that
he could be here with her now, but he was away on one of his
expeditions. This time he was
leading a raid against the Russians.
She worried about his safety, but there was little she could do to
discourage him and she would not have tried in any
case. He was a Mongol after
all.
Larra was approaching the far side of the
hotspring. The water temperature
here was very hot. Thick clouds
of vapor blotted out the far wall.
She swam as close as she could before the intense heat forced her
to swim to cooler depths. But
in the few seconds she had been close to the wall she had seen something
that intrigued her. She could
not be sure, but there appeared to be a narrow ledge cut into the far wall
of the pool. The trick was how
to get close enough to be sure of what she had
seen.
“I don’t want to get boiled,” she thought, “but maybe
I’m just going to have to chance
it.” Quickly she swam back
to the edge of the pool and pulled herself
out. Then she walked back toward
the entrance of the canyon. The
air cooled rapidly as she left the area of the hot
spring. Soon she had reached
an area where the ground was still covered with
snow. Larra let the frigid air
envelop her. She stood there
for a full minute, until the effects of the hot spring had worn off and she
was beginning to shiver, then just as quickly she ran back toward the pool
and dove in immediately.
The momentum of her dive carried right across to the far side of the
pool. The heat welled up around
her, but the cold air had done its work.
For a few seconds she was able to withstand the hot
water. That gave her enough time
to reach the far wall of the pool.
There, as she had guessed, was a small ledge just above the water’s
edge. Hastily she scrambled up
on it, before the heat of the water got to
her. Once there she pulled herself
to her feet. She immediately
noticed that the same sort of inscriptions were carved into the rock above
the ledge. The ledge was so narrow
that she was forced to press her body to the rock wall in order to fit on
it. Larra looked to her
left. The ledge seemed to peter
out; she couldn’t go that way.
She slowly edged along to her
right. In this direction the
ledge was wider. Soon she was
able to turn and walk normally.
Moving carefully in the thick clouds of vapor, Larra slowly moved
along the ledge. A shape loomed
before her. She moved closer
and saw that her way was blocked by a wooden door set into the
rock. The ledge had come to an
end, but obviously continued on the other side of the
door.
Larra ran her hands over the rough wood.
The door was constructed of heavy planks bound with iron
bands. From the corroded appearance
of the iron it appeared that the door had been there a long
time. Set into the outside of
door was a heavy iron ring. Larra
grabbed the ring and twisted it.
With a grinding sound, the ring slowly
turned. Then there was a sharp
click and the door slowly swung open, screeching mightily on its rusted
hinges.
The open doorway revealed a cave, but that was
all. Stygian darkness greeted
her. She could make out almost
nothing inside. Cautiously she
began to step forward. As she
did so she noticed that the floor of the cave was made of
wood. She
stopped. “That’s
curious,” she muttered. “Why build a wooden floor in
cave?” She waited a few
minutes allowing her eyes to adjust to the
dark.
“I really need an electric torch,” she
thought. But the Mongols had
no equipment like that. She was
going to have to make do. Perhaps
she could make some sort of torch of her own from pine
boughs.
By now she could see a little of what was in the
cave. Across from her was what
appeared to be a torch set in a wall
sconce. Maybe she
wouldn’t have to make her own torch after
all. She would just have to get
some matches from her saddle and light the one in the
cave.
Larra stepped onto the wooden floor and reached for the
torch. As she did so the floor
gave way beneath her feet. She
was being dropped into some sort of deep pit!
Only her lightning reflexes saved her.
As she dropped into the pit, Larra threw her right arm out and caught
the ring of the open door. For
a person of normal strength it would have been a wasted effort, but Larra’s
finely tuned muscles arrested her fall.
For a second she hung perilously by one arm over the black hole and
then swinging her body around she seized hold of the ring with her left hand
as well and then pulled herself back out of the
shaft. Breathing heavily, she
reflected on her narrow escape.
Picking up a pebble she tossed it into the deep
opening. There was no
sound. It seemed to have no
bottom. A drop far that would
have killed her.
Larra shuddered. In all the
literature she had read on archeological sites she had never come across
any mention of a site that was
booby-trapped. And yet, clearly
this was such a trap. Apparently
the literature needed some updating.
She would have to be careful.
Where there was one trap there might be
another.
Larra knelt and checked the floor that had given away beneath
her. She could see now that there
was a locking mechanism built into the floor that when engaged would prevent
it from opening. She pulled the
trap door up and locked the lever into
place. Then she turned and dove
far out into the pool. A minute
later she was back with her box of
matches. She waded as far into
the pool as she could and then tossed the box into the open
cave. She had to wade quite close
to the hottest part of the pool to do this in order to make out the cave
entrance through the dense clouds of water
vapor. The temperature here was
almost scalding and Larra could feel herself turning lobster
red. Quickly she retreated to
the cooler parts of the hotspring.
Climbing out of the pool, she used the same technique as before to
cool herself off and then made another swimming dash to the
ledge. This time she made it
without getting quite so overheated.
She was getting better at this sort of
thing.
Larra reentered the cave. This
time the floor held firm. Removing
the torch from its sconce, she examined it
carefully. The cave was dripping
with moisture and there was no guarantee that the torch would light unless
it was formed of some extremely flammable
material. She held the torch
to her nose and sniffed deeply.
There was a strong smell of pine
pitch. Whoever had designed the
torch had been well aware of the conditions that it would have to operate
in. Larra struck a match and
held it to the torch. For a few
moments it merely sputtered and then it
caught. Greasy black smoke rose
into the thick air of the cave as the torch flared to
life. It crackled and spat as
it burned, but it gave off quite a bright
light.
Stepping cautiously, Larra moved farther into the
cave. She felt a little silly
walking naked as she began her exploration, but realized that it did not
make much difference as no one else was around and the air was very
warm. She suspected, however,
that the air would cool as she moved farther from the hotspring and then
it might be useful have some warmer
clothing. In the meantime she
needed to proceed carefully so as to avoid any more
booby-traps.
She was now about 50 feet into a long passage that led from the
door. The flickering light of
the torch revealed nothing special.
And then she came to another
boardwalk. “Another trap?”
wondered Larra.
She examined the boards painstakingly.
One curiosity was the fact that the wood had not rotted away after
so many years. She noticed that
all of the boards were stained a peculiar greenish
color. Perhaps there was some
sort of natural preservative in the water that dripped from the roof of the
cave.
The boards she was examining seemed to be laid directly on the stone floor
of the passage. There was no
pit beneath them, but it was still
strange. Why build a wooden sidewalk
where none was needed? Gingerly,
Larra put her weight on the first board.
Nothing happened. She
shifted her weight forward and took another
step. As she placed her full
weight upon the walkway, the second board sank beneath her
feet. There was a sudden noise
to her right, as off something heavy sliding on crude
runners. Acting almost on instinct,
Larra jerked back. With a crash
a horizontal portcullis slid across where she had stood a split second
before. If she had not lurched
out of the way it would have crashed into
her.
Larra examined the barrier that now blocked her way down the
passage. It was very similar
to a medieval portcullis in a castle gate, except that instead of sliding
vertically it had slid horizontally across the
passage. Its heavy wooden slats
were held together with wooden pegs and iron
nails. The right side of the
gate protruded from the wall. The
left side was pushed hard against the left wall of the
passageway. The bars on that
side ended in sharp points. If
it had hit her she would have been impaled as the gate slammed into the
wall.
Larra shuddered. That had been
a close call. She wondered if
it was worthwhile continuing. She
was alone and naked in a dark tunnel that went who knows
where. And a booby-trapped tunnel
at that. If she had been caught
in any of the traps there would have been no one to help her if she
survived. She was being
foolish. Logic dictated that
she turn back and return better prepared and with a few
helpers. But Larra did not feel
like being logical. Instead she
checked the gate to see if she could get past
it.
She found that where wooden pegs had been used the horizontal and vertical
slats were still firmly held together.
The iron nails however, had been severely corroded and many of the
bars were loose. With a little
bit of effort Larra was able to work a couple of the bars far enough apart
to squeeze her body through. By
now her torch was burning low. She
would soon have to turn back if she did not find
another.
The boardwalk continued for as far as she could
see. She would have to be very
careful.
Almost tiptoeing, Larra glided down the passageway, testing each board before
she placed her weight on her forward
foot. It was beginning to become
quite cold in the passage now. She
was well beyond the influence of the hotspring and the temperature was dropping
rapidly. That was another reason
for returning and coming back better
prepared. But still Larra pressed
on, even as goosebumps appeared on her satin skin and she began to
shiver.
“Just a few steps more,” she thought, as her teeth began to
chatter. The passage made a right
angle turn. Larra peered into
the gloom. She could make out
a heavy wooden door similar to the one that had led into the
cave. In its center was set a
large iron ring identical to that of the outer
door. The wooden walkway led
all the way to it. Larra temporarily
forgot about the cold and the dimming light of her
torch. Perhaps she had reached
the end of her search. She stepped
up to the door and turned the iron ring.
The ring refused to move. Using
all of her strength, Larra heaved on the heavy metal ring, but she could
not budge it. “I need more
leverage,” she thought.
Turning, she quickly retraced her steps to the heavy
portcullis. Seizing hold of one
of the loose bars she had squeezed past, she began to work it back and forth,
hoping to snap the remaining nails that held it in
place. In a few minutes she had
worked it free. She looked at
her dimly burning torch. She
estimated that it might burn for another ten
minutes. She would have to act
fast.
This time she almost ran down the
passage. Reaching the heavy door,
she inserted the heavy wood slat into the ring and then heaved on
it. The ring moved, but so did
something else.
The sound came from behind. Larra
turned her head. She was just
quick enough to catch a glimpse of a massive object swinging toward her from
the roof. With nowhere to go,
she had just enough time to drop flat.
The massive deadfall skimmed over her, removing a few shreds of skin
from her bottom and her back. Larra
pressed herself to the floor as the deadly device swung back and forth above
her, gradually slowing to a complete halt just above the small of her
back.
For a few moments Larra just lay there in pitch
darkness. Her torch had gone
out when she had dropped to the floor.
Then slowly, she edged herself out from under the
trap. She felt around her in
the darkness. She had brought
the box of matches with her.
Finally her hand landed on it.
She took out a match and struck it.
The deadfall was a nasty object consisting of a long pendulum-like lever
that descended from a gap in the ceiling, and a heavy wooded T-bar at the
bottom. The T-bar was studded with iron spikes, a single one of which would
have killed her it had struck her.
Larra fumbled for another match and lit it before the first one
died. She turned toward the now
open door. Raising herself she
tentatively stepped through the doorway.
The first thing she saw was another torch in a wall sconce directly
in front of her. Quickly she
lit the torch before her match died.
The torch flared to light, and Larra looked around
her. What she saw took her breath
away.
She was standing in a large room hewn out of solid
rock. Dominating the center of
the room was a mounted man astride a typical Mongol
pony. He was dressed in full
Mongol armor and outfitted in every sort of Mongol
finery. The horse too was decorated
with a highly ornate saddle and silvered
trappings.
Wary of further traps, Larra approached the mounted
figure. “Could it be the
Great Khan?” she wondered. She
held the torch close. In the
dim light the horse almost seemed alive, even though she knew it could not
be. Lifting the torch high, she
saw to her disappointment that the helmeted head was
empty. The armor had been placed
on a framework in a manner intended to simulate a real
man. Carefully Larra walked around
the impressive mannequin. The
guttering light of the torch threw bizarre shadows on the wall giving the
entire tomb a ghostly aspect that sent chills down her
spine. Stacked neatly about the
interior walls of the vault were all of the articles that might be of use
to a Mongol warrior in the afterlife.
Many of the items were a mystery as they had been packed in heavy
sealed boxes. But those that
were in plain sight included a complete yurt, swords, bows, arrows, quivers,
lances, shields, and numerous other pieces of gear intended to aid a warrior
from the steppes. From an
archeologist’s standpoint it was a treasure trove of unparalleled
proportions.
Larra completed her circuit of the crypt.
Everything needed to maintain a Khan in the hereafter was present,
but one very important item was missing.
Where was the body of the Great Khan
himself? She was now aware of
the fact that she was shaking from the
cold. Over in one corner of the
tomb she spied a dark red hanging.
She draped the material about herself, amazed that it had lasted so
long. It helped to insulate her
from the cold of the crypt, but she knew that she would have to leave
soon. She realized that she should
not be in such a rush. After
all, it had taken Howard Carter months to remove all of the items from the
tomb of Tutankhamen. Why should
she expect to find everything in only fifteen
minutes?
Wrapped in the drapery, Larra continued to pace about the
tomb. There had to be more than
this. Where had the tomb-makers
hidden the body? Suddenly she
had a flash of inspiration. Getting
down on her hands and knees she explored the floor around the horse and
rider. Her heart
leapt. In the floor was a crack
that went clear around the mock horseman.
There seemed to be a chamber beneath it. Larra followed the crack
all the way back to her starting point without finding any sort of lever
or handle. She would have to
move the horseman to see if there was an entrance
underneath.
Larra realized that she could not do much more than she
had. She would need help to move
the horseman, and she had already stayed too
long. Even draped in the cloth
she had found, she was beginning to shake
uncontrollably. She was right
on the edge of hypothermia. Also,
her torch was almost at an end. She
needed to get back to the hotspring fast.
The walk back was uneventful. But
Larra barely made it. Her naked
body was shivering so violently that she could hardly
walk. She had cut her excursion
too fine. A few more seconds
and she would have been unable to make it
back. Reaching the edge of the
hotspring she hurled herself into the steaming
water. She immersed herself to
her neck, allowing the penetrating heat of the hotspring to revive
her. “D..D..Damned goo…
good th… th… thing th… this w…w…was h…here!”
she stammered through chattering teeth.
Without it her disregard of her own safety would have proved
fatal.
Slowly the heat of the pool put life back into her
limbs. After a long soak, she
climbed from the pool. It was
now dark and too late to return to camp.
Pulling on her clothes she made ready to spend the night in the
canyon. The heat of the hotspring
would keep her comfortable through the
night. She would just have to
cook herself a meal and prepare a bed.
An hour later Larra was sleeping peacefully, exhausted from her
day’s adventures.
The next day Larra rode back to camp.
Tabin had been somewhat concerned about Larra’s absence, even
though he knew that she could take care of
herself. Larra explained what
she had found. Strangely, she
found that Tabin was not quite as enthusiastic as she was, but he listened
politely while she babbled about her discovery.
The next day Larra, Tabin, and a few other Mongol warriors rode out to the
hotspring. They were fully equipped
to explore the tomb properly. While
they rode Larra and Tabin discussed her find and Larra discovered why Tabin
had been somewhat reserved when an overzealous Larra had arrived back in
camp, bursting with the news of her
find.
“I admire your accomplishment,” Tabin said. “It is something
no one else could have done, but what you have found is a part of the heritage
of my people. I am not sure that
we should be disturbing the resting place of the Great
Khan.”
“I understand,” said Larra, “you are concerned that I might
desecrate the tomb.”
“Yes, I know that you have lived for just such a discovery, but I am
afraid of what might happened if the Khan’s resting place is
opened.
“I think you may be right,” Larra replied. “That is why I
do not intend to reveal the location of the tomb to anyone but
you.”
‘Then how will you profit from the discovery?” asked Tabin,
mystified.
“With this,” said Larra, holding up a Japanese
camera. “I found it in our
yurt. I expect you had forgotten
about it. I have enough film
and flashbulbs to record what is in the tomb without disturbing
it.”
Tabin looked relieved. He had
no wish to quarrel with this strange and beautiful
woman. She was unlike any woman
he had ever met. Not only was
she incredibly beautiful, and a wonderful lover, but she was as tough as
any Mongol warrior. She needed
no protection from him or anyone else.
Although that gave her an attitude of independence that he was not
used to, he had grown to love her deeply and did not want to lose
her.
They rode on into the canyon of the
hotspring. The pool of hot water
was not deep and it was not difficult for the crew that Tabin had brought
with him to construct a crude bridge over to the ledge that Larra had
found.
Fully equipped with torches and tools Larra and Tabin made it to the crypt
without difficulty. Larra had
found all of the booby-traps and it was a simple matter of dismantling the
portcullis to allow all of the party to enter the
tomb.
Larra and the Mongols entered the vault in reverent
silence. All of the Mongols
immediately dropped to their knees upon entering the tomb, leaving only Larra
standing, but even she bowed her head in
deference.
Eventually all of the Mongols rose to their feet and the exploration of the
tomb could begin. Larra began
to snap pictures, choosing her shots carefully so as to preserve precious
film and flashbulbs. Eventually
they had to decide whether or not to move the horse and
rider. Would such an action be
considered sacrilege? The decision
finally came down to one of satisfying their
curiosity. All of the party wanted
to see what the slab beneath the horse and rider
hid.
It was but the work of a few moments to move the mounted replica out of the
way and reveal a large stone slab set with four iron
rings. A man grabbed hold of
each ring and heaved mightily.
Larra held her breath in anticipation of what she might
see. The heavy slab was slowly
pulled away from its position in the
floor. Gradually a dark opening
revealed itself. Larra leaned
forward. She was almost beside
herself with excitement. Slowly
the straining men pulled the slab clear.
It was no easy task as the huge piece of stone was about four inches
thick.
With a grinding crunch the slab moved away from the
opening. With a sense of
disappointment Larra saw that all that was revealed was a set of stone stairs
descending into darkness. She
had so hoped for a spectacular discovery.
Tabin sensed her disappointment and put his arm about
her. Larra gave him a brief
kiss. “I guess we’ll
just have to check this out,” she said.
Without waiting to see what the others wanted, Larra took the
lead. Holding her torch high
she made her way down the stairs.
The stone steps went down about ten feet and then ended in another
long tunnel. Larra moved very
cautiously. This seemed like
the perfect place for another booby-trap.
The tunnel floor was quite wet, and Larra guessed that they had descended
below the water table. Still,
the water was only about an inch deep and seemed to be running off through
cracks in the rock so it should not present a serious
problem.
They proceeded slowly down the dank and dark tunnel, the continual sound
of dripping water sounding in their ears.
Somewhere up ahead must be the tomb of the Great
Khan. Larra could hardly stop
herself from breaking into a run, but she knew that could be
fatal. She had found three traps
so far. It was more than likely
that there were a few more up ahead.
Larra stopped. The floor
had changed. Just before her
was a raised slab of rock, almost like a small wide
step. It was about two inches
high and three feet across. Was
it the release lever for another gravity-based
trap? The others crowded up to
her. Larra spread her arms warning
them back. “What is it?”
Tabin whispered.
“I’m not sure. I have
already triggered three traps. I
want to check out why this stone is
raised. It does not seem to be
a natural irregularity in the floor.
The question is to determine why it was
made.”
One of the Mongol warriors accompanying them pressed
forward. “Careful,”
Larra cautioned. She looked up
to see who it was. Larra saw
with some annoyance that it was a warrior called
“Nayan.” He
had been one of the few members of Tabin’s followers who seemed to resent
her. Although Nayan would not
confront Tabin over the issue, Larra was sure that he resented the fact that
a woman had so much influence over Tabin.
Larra had always tried to be diplomatic about the situation, but the
underlying resentment was always there.
Now he was challenging her authority by placing himself in possible
danger.
Nayan lifted his foot as if to place it on the
slab. “Don’t,”
Larra warned, “you could trigger a
trap!” In answer, Nayan
jumped completely across the slab, landing lightly on the other
side. For a second, nothing happened,
and then Larra saw that the floor was settling slightly under Nayan’s
weight. It was not the slab that
was the trigger, but the floor on the other side of
it! Larra shouted a warning,
expecting something dramatic to happen, but other than the slight settling
of the floor under Nayan’s feet nothing
happened. Relieved, but puzzled
Larra held her position. Then,
she became aware of a rumbling sound coming from behind
her. She turned and saw a massive
block slowly descending into the passage about thirty feet behind them. Too
late she realized that they were now trapped in the dark
tunnel. Then from the direction
they had been moving came another sound and a second massive slab began to
move downward into the tunnel about twenty feet in front of where she
stood.
Seemingly paralyzed by the unexpected events the others of her party merely
stared about them in bewilderment, but Larra sprang into
action. Leaping past Nayan she
dashed toward the descending block and thrust her torch under
it. She was not a second too
soon. The massive slab crunched
against her torch, snuffing it out and partially splintering the
wood. Larra knew that it could
not hold for more than a few seconds.
“Quickly,” she screamed, “Get under
it!”
Tabin was the first to react.
Rushing forward he dove headfirst beneath the
stone. Following his example
the others dashed up and scrambled under the
stone. Now only Nayan and Larra
were on the other side.
“Hurry,” she shouted, “The torch won’t hold much
longer.”
As if to add emphasis to her words, the stone lurched down a few more inches,
only the fact that Tabin had jammed his own torch under the slab on the other
side kept it from coming down all the
way. Now too, Larra became aware
of another complication. The
water in the passage, which had barely come over the bottom of her boots,
was now rapidly rising. There
was one more element to the trap, that of cold rising
water!
Nayan still held back. “It
will fall on me!” he said,
tremulously.
“If you stay here you will drown!
Hurry!”
Nayan seemed transfixed. Larra
could wait no longer. Dropping
into the water, she half crawled, half paddled under the
stone. The water was rising faster
now. It did not appear that they
had much time. They had to find
a way out of the passage before they
drowned. Larra pulled her feet
clear of the slab. A second later
it splashed down into the water, leaving Nayan trapped on the other
side.
The situation on the their side of the slab was not much
better. Their torches had gone
out when they ducked under the stone.
Soaked with water they were now useless as sources of
illumination. As a result, they
now stood in pitch darkness. The
water was now up to their knees and rising at an alarming
rate. Ahead of them in the darkness
they could hear the sound of falling
water. It roared into the passageway
with the sound of a small waterfall.
“We cannot stay here!” Larra
shouted. “Follow
me!”
Holding her hands in front of her Larra felt her way
forward. The water was now up
to her waist and the pressure from the water flooding into the chamber attempted
to push her back. Together, the
remaining members of the exploration party, five in all, pushed their way
toward the sound of the waterfall.
Larra knew that it was critical for them to escape
quickly. The water swirling around
them was frighteningly cold.
Hypothermia would set in unless they got out
soon. Eventually, they reached
the site of the falling
water. Feeling about her Larra
was able to determine that it was a solid column of water about two feet
across. It was falling with such
force from the top of the passage, that it would be impossible to boost someone
into it. “Let’s try
farther on!” Larra
shouted.
Grabbing Tabin’s hand she pushed on up the passage, feeling before her
with her other hand. The water
was now level with her breasts and rising
quickly. Soon it might be necessary
to swim. The water was so cold
that Larra’s breath came in gasps.
Suddenly she bumped up against a solid stone
wall. Feeling along it she found
that she and Tabin had reached the end of the passage, and that there was
no exit from the trap they were in.
Thinking quickly, Larra gathered the members of the expedition about
her. There was only one chance
to escape and it was a slim one.
Hastily Larra explained her plan, pulling off her sodden clothes as
she did so. Within a minute she
had stripped naked. She retained
only the camera, which hung by a strap about her neck. The water was now
so deep that she was forced to swim, as were the other
members. Unfortunately, two of
the Mongols did not know how to swim.
Screaming in panic they thrashed about in the freezing
water. Grimly Larra and Tabin
swam back toward the incoming water.
There was nothing she could do to help
them. Treading water, she and
her remaining companions waited as the water rapidly
deepened. In a short time it
should be deep enough to test her plan, provided that they could survive
in the chill water that long.
The water was now almost at the ceiling of the
passage. When only a couple of
inches was left Larra took a deep breath and swam into the
waterfall. The force of the plunging
water suddenly diminished. As
she had hoped, once the passage was filled the water draining into it would
lose its impetus. Now she and
the others would be able to swim into the chamber from which the water had
entered. If they were lucky there
might be a way out.
Groping her way upward Larra swam into the upper
chamber. She hoped that the others
were following. Swimming as strongly
as she could Larra stroked upward.
She desperately needed air.
For what seemed like an eternity she rose through the frigid
water. Just when she thought
her lungs would burst, her head broke through the
surface. Gasping in great gulps
of air, Larra treaded water and looked about
her. She seemed to be in the
middle of some sort of underground lake, but she was no longer in complete
darkness. From somewhere light
was percolating into the chamber giving her enough illumination to see where
she was.
Tabin’s head broke the surface beside
her. “Come on,” Larra
yelled, and stroked toward the shore of the
lake. They had to get out of
the water before they became too cold to
function. Together, they managed
to make it to the edge of the water and pulled themselves
out. Naked and shivering they
clung to each other by the side of the
lake. There was no sign of the
remaining Mongols. Larra felt
a deep sense of guilt. It was
her curiosity that had resulted in their
deaths.
Larra looked about her and saw that they were in a large cave by a subterranean
lake. About a hundred yards away
light was streaming into the cave from a large
opening. She forced herself to
get to her feet. It would be
so easy to stay where they were and slowly freeze to death, but she knew
they had to find some way to warm up.
Tabin already seemed to be going into a sort of stupor, one of the
first signs of dangerous hypothermia.
Larra hauled on Tabin’s arm, forcing him to his feet, and dragged him
toward the cave entrance. They
had to save themselves quickly. As
she neared the cave entrance Larra saw that the opening was partly screened
by a grove of willows and aspens, which were now devoid of their
leaves. Perhaps they could get
some wood and make a fire. Tabin
seemed unable to go much farther and he was slowing Larra
down. His steps were irregular
and staggering. He leaned more
and more on Larra for support.
Suddenly, Larra spotted a possible solution to their
predicament. Over the years the
wind had blown all sort of debris into the cave, including many leaves from
the aspens and willows. They
were piled in heaps among the rugged stones near the cave
entrance. Directing Tabin over
to one of these heaps of leaves, she lay him down and then piled leaves over
his naked body. Then she snuggled
herself in beside him. She was
rewarded with a feeling of heat, as the insulating property of the leaves
allowed her body to warm up.
Larra awoke. It was dark once
again. She must have slept for
hours. Beside her she could feel
Tabin’s warm body. He was
breathing deeply but peacefully.
Gently, Larra stroked his hair and
face. He gave a little grunt
and rolled over, presenting the front of his body to
Larra. Enfolding him in her arms
she pulled him close and planted a long kiss on his
lips. Tabin opened his
eyes. He had been sleeping
deeply. His last memories had
been of stumbling confusedly behind Larra as she dragged him
along. He realized that this
luscious woman had saved his life.
“My beauty,” he said, “I’m glad I found
you.”
Larra did not answer, shifting her body she nestled even closer to him, reveling
in his warmth. The sensation
of her body so close to him was amazingly
erotic. Fumbling through the
leaves he cupped her left breast in his
hand. She arched against him,
pushing her pelvis close to his stiffening
shaft. Soon their straining
bodies were locked in tight embrace as they made passionate
love. Larra’s incoherent
cries echoed out of the cave opening.
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