Rogue Angel - The Spirit Banner Part 34

"That whole ledge is going to go soon," Annja pleaded. "You've got got to jump." to jump."

Annja thought he was going to argue with her again, but the sudden s.h.i.+ft of stone beneath his feet for a second time prompted him into action.

Pus.h.i.+ng off the wall with both hands, he threw himself toward Annja.

She caught him with open arms and the two of them slammed to the ground.

"Thank you," he told her, his face only inches from hers. His body covered most of her own as a result of their fall and she could feel herself wanting to maintain their closeness.

"Don't mention it," she said with a smile.

The sound of clapping reached them from the other side of the tunnel and they climbed to their feet amid hooting and cheering from Williams and Vale. They stood on the other side of the now-obvious tiger trap, next to a quite visibly annoyed Davenport.

"How the h.e.l.l are we supposed to get over there now?" the millionaire asked, gesturing at the twenty-foot-wide gap that separated the two groups.

Several ideas were floated out but most of them seemed impractical or excessively time-consuming. Knowing that Ransom was actively hunting for them made every wasted moment seem precious and they didn't want to do anything that might significantly slow their progress. In the end, it was decided that Vale, Williams, Davenport and Nambai would work to construct a bridge across the gap while Mason and Annja continued on without them.

No one was thrilled with the idea, least of all Davenport, who was crushed with the thought that the pit might keep him from being in the advance party that would be the first to lay eyes on Genghis Khan's resting place. Still, like any good leader, he recognized what needed to be done and ordered the others to make it happen.

New torches to replace the ones they had lost when the trap was triggered were tossed across the gap and, with their companions' shouted warnings to be careful echoing off the stone around them, Annja and Mason continued on.

They pa.s.sed through the door at the other end of the corridor and into another room similar to the first, except in this chamber the paintings depicted scenes of conquest from Genghis Khan's long military career. There were paintings of the seasons of intertribal warfare, as Temujin united the steppes peoples into a cooperative nation. There were paintings of his alliance with the Uighurs and of the marriage of the Khan's daughter to the Uighur khan. The taking of Beijing and the defeat of the Jin Dynasty occupied one entire wall, showing its importance by the artist. One particularly brutal painting showed the city of Nishapur just after its people had revolted against Mongol rule and killed the husband of the Khan's daughter. In retribution, the daughter asked that everyone within the city limits be killed, and the Khan acquiesced to her wishes.

"Nice guy," Mason said, turning away from some of the more brutal images.

Annja couldn't say much. Her years of working with ancient cultures had given her a bit of distance on her perspective. And after all, the twentieth century really hadn't been that much different than the thirteenth, she said to herself. Genghis Khan had twenty years or so of warfare. We had World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Six Day War, the Falklands, the revolutions in Nicaragua, El Salvador, Colombia, tribal warfare in places like Somalia and Darfur; she could go on for hours. In eight hundred years only one thing was certain-the veneer of civilization wasn't so thick, after all.

They noticed there was a door at the far end of this gallery, just like the one before, and beyond, another short tunnel with a third door at the far end.

Having been fooled once, they didn't take any chances this time. Mason used the stock of his weapon to test the way ahead, banging it against the stone hard enough to be certain it was going to hold their weight before they stepped forward and tested the next area.

In that fas.h.i.+on, they crossed the entire length of the pa.s.sageway and finally stood in front of the door. The light from their torches fell on a bas-relief carving above the lintel displaying the face of a Mongolian warrior. His eyes seemed to gaze down at them in judgment. So strong was the illusion that Annja half expected it to open its mouth and ask what they wanted.

Beneath the figure was a set of Mongolian letters carved on an ivory disk about two feet in diameter, the white of the ivory contrasting sharply with the dark stone in which it was set.

"What do you think that's for?" Mason asked.

Annja shook her head; she didn't know. She eyed it suspiciously and then turned and looked at the empty corridor behind them. An uneasy feeling was building in her stomach.

After the collapsing tunnel trap, this pa.s.sage had been too easy.

She'd missed something.

She turned back to see Mason reaching for the door, intending to push it open.

Warnings ran through her head. "No! Wait!" she cried.

But she was too late.

B ACK IN THE TUNNEL ACK IN THE TUNNEL behind them, the others quickly worked out a plan. Because they had the most climbing experience, Vale and Williams were given the task of rappelling back down the cliff and cutting down three to four reasonably straight trees that could be used to bridge the gap. Davenport and Nambai would use their position to play guard during the process, alerting the others if there was any sign of Ransom or his men. After stripping the branches off the trunks, Williams and Vale would drag the trees over to the base of the cliff where Davenport and Nambai would haul them up into the tunnel with the extra climbing ropes they still carried in their packs. behind them, the others quickly worked out a plan. Because they had the most climbing experience, Vale and Williams were given the task of rappelling back down the cliff and cutting down three to four reasonably straight trees that could be used to bridge the gap. Davenport and Nambai would use their position to play guard during the process, alerting the others if there was any sign of Ransom or his men. After stripping the branches off the trunks, Williams and Vale would drag the trees over to the base of the cliff where Davenport and Nambai would haul them up into the tunnel with the extra climbing ropes they still carried in their packs.

With the four of them together again in the tunnel, they would push the trunks across the gap, then bind them together to create a makes.h.i.+ft bridge.

They knew there was a considerable amount of work ahead of them, but after coming this far, none of them, Nambai included, wanted to miss out on the final discovery.

Selecting the trees was the easy part, as the area below the cave mouth was full of reasonably straight conifer trees. With only small camp hatchets available for use, it took the two men some time to cut down the trunks and trim off the branches. Once they had, they carried them to the base of the cliff and tied one of the climbing ropes to each end of the first log.

At the signal from Williams, Davenport and Nambai hauled each log up the side of the cliff and set them down inside the cave mouth.

Once all four logs had been brought up, Vale and Williams rejoined the others inside the cave.

The foursome took a short break, eating some food and drinking a lot of water to replenish what they had sweated out during their efforts. In the midst of their meal a sudden booming sound reverberated through the cavern.

The same thought went through all of their minds.

Another trap!

Their meal forgotten, they jumped to their feet and began pus.h.i.+ng the logs out over the gap, working as quickly as possible to complete the bridge and go to the aide of their companions.

M ASON'S HAND PUSHED ASON'S HAND PUSHED against the door, but it didn't open as expected. Instead, it sank several inches into its frame and then stopped. against the door, but it didn't open as expected. Instead, it sank several inches into its frame and then stopped.

"What the heck?" Mason said, more to himself to Annja.

Annja wasn't listening to him, however. She'd already turned to face the corridor behind them, every muscle tensed as she waited for whatever was coming.

And come it did.

A low grinding sound filled the corridor and the bottom edges of the left- and right-hand walls fell backward, revealing a long, narrow opening running the length of the pa.s.sageway.

Water began to pour out of those openings with a loud rus.h.i.+ng roar, and in less than a minute both Annja and Mason were standing ankle-deep in freezing-cold water as more flooded into the room by the second.

"The other door!" Annja shouted above the din.

They rushed for the entrance they'd pa.s.sed through previously, their feet splas.h.i.+ng through the water that was rapidly flooding the pa.s.sageway around them.

Before they had even gone halfway down the tunnel a stone slab slid down from a hidden recess in the ceiling and blocked the door.

Mason continued running and threw himself at the barrier. Maybe he was hoping he could shatter it or something; Annja didn't know. What was clear was the water was still rising, up to midcalf now, and it would probably continue to do so until it reached the ceiling.

If they were still here at that point, they would be beyond caring.

Mason tried again, slamming himself against the stone wall, but it had as much effect as a mosquito would to an elephant.

He looked back at her, his expression clearly letting her know his efforts were futile.

They weren't getting out that way, that was for sure.

Annja spun around, taking in everything in the corridor, looking for the solution, the way out. Her gaze fell on the carving of the Khan and the ivory wheel beneath it. Her rudimentary knowledge of the Uighur script, which was used to write the Mongolian tongue, told her that the arrangement of letters on the wheel translated into gibberish.