Part 20 (2/2)

Its base was the Seventh Piece of the Golden Capstone.

But there was a second monument standing proudly atop the platform-next to the Mirror, on the right-hand side.

It was a huge octagonal marble pillar, standing upright, perhaps eight feet in height and seven feet in circ.u.mference. Its upper portions had long since been hacked away, but its lower section was perfectly intact.

And just like the Mirror, its base was trapezoidal.

It was another another Piece of the Capstone. Piece of the Capstone.

'Oversized octagonal pillar...' Zoe said, her mind racing. 'Only one ancient structure was known to possess oversized octagonal pillars-'

'The Mausoleum at Halicarna.s.sus,' West said. 'Lily hasn't been able to read its entry yet, but I bet when she does, the Callimachus Text will say that its Piece is with the Pharos Piece. When you find one, you find the other. Zoe, we just hit the jackpot. We just found two Pieces of the Capstone.'

'We have to do something!' Pooh Bear growled.

'What can can we do?' Stretch sighed. 'They're done for. This mission is over. I say we save ourselves.' we do?' Stretch sighed. 'They're done for. This mission is over. I say we save ourselves.'

They were still in their sentry tower, having watched Judah's force enter the Refuge.

'Typical of you, Israeli,' Pooh said. 'Your first instinct is always self-preservation. I don't give up so easily, or give up on my friends so easi-'

'Then what do you suggest, you stupid stubborn Arab?'

But Pooh Bear had gone silent.

He was staring out to the left of the fortress, out towards the high multi-arched aqueduct that spanned the channel on that side of the Y-junction.

'We cross that,' he said determinedly.

In the holy chamber, West approached the central island.

In addition to the two priceless treasures standing on it, one other thing was visible atop the raised island: a seventh n.a.z.i skeleton, lying all on its own, curled in the foetal position on the topmost step.

Unlike the others, this skeleton was not deformed in any way. It was whole and intact, still wearing its black SS uniform. Indeed, its bones were still covered in decaying flesh.

West approached the island and its flight of steps cautiously- the whole flight was probably just one great big trigger stone.

He scanned the skeleton.

Saw a pair of spindly wire-framed gla.s.ses still sitting on its nose, saw the red swastika armband, saw the purple amethyst ring on its bony right hand, the ring of a n.a.z.i Party founding member.

'Hessler...' he gasped in recognition. It was Hermann Hessler, the n.a.z.i archaeologist, one-half of the famed HesslerKoenig team.

Oddly, the skeleton's right hand was outstretched, seemingly reaching reaching down the steps, as if it had been Hessler's last earthly movement, grasping for... down the steps, as if it had been Hessler's last earthly movement, grasping for...

...a battered leatherbound notebook that lay on the bottom step.

West grabbed the notebook, flipped it open.

Pages of diagrams, lists, and drawings of each of the Ancient Wonders stared back at him, interspersed with German notes written in Hermann Hessler's neat handwriting.

Suddenly, his earpiece roared to life: 'Jack! Zoe!' Wizard's voice called. 'You have to hide! Judah's going to be there any moment now-'

West spun, just as a bullet sizzled out of the entry tunnel behind him and whizzed over his head, missing his scalp by centimetres.

'You two, that way!' he ordered Zoe and Lily to the left side of the doorway, while he himself scampered to the right of the stone doorframe, peered back, and saw dark shadows rising up the tunnel, approaching fast.

Decision time.

There was no way he could get to the podium containing the Lighthouse's Mirror and the Mausoleum's Pillar before Judah's force arrived. No way to allow Lily to glimpse their carved incantations.

His eyes scanned the chamber for an escape.

There was some open s.p.a.ce on the far side of the island, but it offered no escape: only the wide granite dam that held back the pool of superhot mud lay over there-presumably waiting to be set off by the trigger-stone steps.

And in an instant, it all made sense: the rising tunnel with the clumps of dried mud at its edges, the guttered path in the hall below and the similarly gutter-lined stairs down at the Great Arch: this molten mud, when released from its dam, would flow around around the raised island containing the Mirror and Pillar and then down through the Refuge, all the way to the water in the chasm, killing any crypt-raiders in the process and protecting the two Pieces. the raised island containing the Mirror and Pillar and then down through the Refuge, all the way to the water in the chasm, killing any crypt-raiders in the process and protecting the two Pieces.

The half-bodied n.a.z.i skeletons, melted at the waist, now also made sense: they'd been killed trying to outrun the mud. Hessler himself must have been trapped atop the podium as it had been surrounded by the stuff. He had then died in perhaps the worst way of all-of starvation, in the dark, alone. His buddy, Koenig, must have escaped somehow and trekked across the desert to Tobruk.

Among the many statue alcoves that lined the circular wall of the chamber, West also saw two smaller openings on either side of the main entry doorway.

They were low arched tunnels, maybe a metre high-and elevated slightly above the floor of the chamber by about 2 feet.

West didn't know what they were, and right now he didn't care.

'Zoe! That little tunnel! Get Lily out of here!'

Zoe swept Lily into the low arched tunnel on their side of the doorway, while West himself charged over to the right-hand one and peered down it.

The low tunnel disappeared downwards in a long dead-straight line.

'No choice,' he said aloud.

He ducked inside the little arched tunnel-just as Zoe and Lily did the same on the other side of the chamber-a bare second before Judah's force swept into the holy chamber.

At that exact same moment, four tiny figures were hustling across the superhigh aqueduct bridge that spanned the left arm of the Y-junction.

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