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They had to step carefully as they descended into
the cavern. The water-coated
rock was slippery with a film of algae that made footing
treacherous. One of the problems
they were going to encounter was a lack of
light. They had no torches and
there was not enough dry vegetation near the falls to make
any. Still, they reasoned that
someone had probably come this way before and they would probably have had
the same problem. The drenching
mist would have doused any torches in any
case.
The light soon faded but surprisingly, the temperature
did not drop. Although the three
women were surrounded by stark cold rock, and cool splashing water, the air
about them actually seemed as warm or warmer than it had been on the
surface. Fortunately, the robes
they had been given by Khaemhet were soaked through and kept them for being
too uncomfortable.
“There is something strange here,” said
Jia Li. “I understood that
it became colder in caves as one progressed
deeper.”
“You’re right,” agreed
Katie. “This is most
unusual. We’re well away
from the surface and walking beside a stream of cool
water. It definitely should be
getting colder.”
This strange twist of nature had all of the women
worried. None of them, however,
suggested turning back. Only
the desert awaited them the way they had come, and all of them were used
to some privation. Still, they
worried abut the increasing heat as they descended farther into the
darkness. At that point, however,
Amy noticed something. “I
think I see a light.” She
pointed directly ahead of them.
The three women
halted. “Better to go slow
here,” whispered Jia Li. The
other two women nodded, even though in the darkness no one could see
them.
Slowly the women crept
forward. As they did so what
had been just a pinpoint of light grew in size, accompanied by a low rumbling
roar. Suddenly the cave opened
up into an enormous natural cathedral of
rock. The stream they had been
following plunged over the edge creating a large dark
lake. Centered in the centre
of the lake was a huge tongue of flame.
So intense was the heat generated by the giant flare that the surface
of the lake steamed. Eyes wide,
the three women stared in amazement at the most incredible sight they had
ever seen.
It appeared to be a natural phenomenon, probably
a large deposit of methane that had been deliberately or accidentally
ignited. Whatever the source
of the gigantic flame it was most
impressive. It burst from the
surface of the lake with a roar, soaring over three hundred feet into the
air; flaring out where it reached the ceiling of the immense
cavern.
Even at a distance
of several hundred feet the sound drowned out all background
noise. The three women could
barely converse, but just as impressive as the noise of the gigantic flare
was the tremendous heat it generated.
This part of the caverns was
sweltering. It was like being
in an enormous kettle. However,
there was one more aspect of the extraordinary spectacle in front of them
and that had to do with the works of man.
Someone, no doubt at great cost, had constructed
an impressive stone jetty that jutted out into the lake, approaching to within
a few yards of the base of the flame.
“I wonder how many died building that?” said Katie, cupping
her hand to her mouth to make herself
heard. The other two women shook
their heads. They had been both
thinking the same thing.
Jia Li pointed to the far side of the cavern.
Near the altar was a path that
led around the edge of the lake. It
disappeared just below where they stood, but the well worn path they were
on seemed to head in the direction of the
trail. “We’d best get
out of here,” Jia Li said.
Taking her cue the three women began a slow descent of the rocky
path. Their route would lead
them very close to the flame, but there was no other way across.
It took them a good half hour to make their way
down the steep rocky slope to the cavern
floor. All the time the temperature
increased. It had been uncomfortably
hot before, but now the heat was
incredible. Their damp garments
were soaked with the vapor coming off the lake and their bodies were covered
with sweat. Fortunately they
were able to drink as much as they chose, refilling their water bags continually
from the lake surface and splashing water over their heads and torsos to
help protect against the oven-like heat.
As quickly as they
could they followed the trail around the edge of the
lake. Their approach took them
within a hundred feet of the roaring inferno and they were gasping from exposure
to the intense heat by the time they finally gained the stairs and a way
out from the cavern. Without
stopping they hurried up the staircase, following it through a wide doorway
at the top. Gasping in relief
they stopped to catch their breath.
Although only a few feet from the pressure cooker-like cavern, the
shielding rock dropped the temperature several dozen
degrees. It was still hot, but
the temperatures were bearable.
As they left the cavern Jia Li turned to take
a quick look at a strange apparatus that was floating beside the jetty leading
to the flame. It appeared to
be a large water wheel that was kept afloat by a wooden
barge. She wondered what possible
use such a device could have. But
she did not linger long, the heat was too
intense.
“God,” exclaimed Amy, “for a few
seconds I didn’t think I was going to make
it.”
“Yes,” agreed
Katie. “I wouldn’t
want to have to go back into that Hell-hole.”
“It’s still pretty warm here,”
Jia Li said. “I think we
better move on a little farther and see where this tunnel
goes.”
The other two women agreed, and with some caution
the trio moved on. Uppermost
in their minds was the knowledge that someone had constructed the staircase
they were treading. The question
was who, and whether or not any of their descendents still were still
around?
A breath of fresh air swirled into their faces
as they ascended. To the exhausted
and overheated women the touch of the air on their bodies was
heavenly. “Thank
goodness,” breathed Amy.
“I certainly wouldn’t want to go back in
there.”
“You’ll get no argument from me about
that,” Katie agreed.
“I’d just love to have a cool bath right about
now. I wonder where this staircase
goes.”
“It might be wise if we proceeded in caution
and silence,” said Jia Li softly.
“There is no telling what might be waiting for us at the top
of this staircase.”
Katie and Amy nodded, feeling slightly
foolish. Their relief at getting
out of the oven- like cavern had made them
careless. Their situation was
far from secure. They didn’t
even know where they were or how they were going to reestablish contact with
the outside world. Their
circumstances could only be described as perilous at
best. They needed to find food,
proper clothing, and a way back to their own
world. But first they needed
to find out where the stairs went and make sure they were not captured
again. There was always the nagging
mystery as to why their slave master had abandoned in the canyon, leaving
them to find their way to the cavern of fire and
water. There was something more
to their situation than they understood, and it was best to be cautious until
they fully comprehended their exact state of
affairs. Jia Li’s advice
was well considered.
Silently the trio of dangerous beauties stole
up the stairway. As they climbed
higher the stairs widened and they proceeded with even greater
caution. There was a very good
reason for their vigilance. It
had not escaped their attention that the stairway was illuminated by flickering
oil lamps. Someone had lit those
lamps and that someone was not likely to be far
off.
Jia Li who was slightly in the lead held up her
hand. From just ahead of her
came a sound as of many voices speaking all at
once. Slowly the three women
finished their climb to the top of the
stairs. As they did so the area
they approached brightened, indicating that they had regained the
surface.
The stairs opened up onto an impressive colonnaded
balcony overlooking a large natural
amphitheatre. Sheer rock walls
enclosed them on three sides.
Descending several hundred feet from the balcony was a grand staircase
that swept down to the floor of the
amphitheatre. Hundreds of people
thronged both sides of the natural
enclosure. Elaborate stonework
provided an elevated terrace where most of them could stand, leaving a central
corridor where several people stood.
It was a splendid
spectacle. All of the assembled
masses were elaborately costumed, most of them wearing the Ibis headdress
of the Egyptian god Thoth. Thirty
foot statues of the god lined both sides of the
concourse. The eyes of the three
women, however, went to the figures in the centre of the
concourse. There were about thirty
people there lined up in a formal
procession. Most of the figures
formed a hollow square consisting of six ibis headed guards armed with spears
and shields on a side. But it
was the two figures in the centre of the square that caught the full attention
of the three women.
“My God,” Amy exclaimed breathlessly,
“that’s Melissa and Larra!”
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