Nina was pulled out of the vision too soon, hearing a rumbling, grinding sound that made the very floor shake and dust fall on her from overhead.
But she had been there, in that other vision again…
… somewhere so very high up, an impression of being inside the eyes of a giant, a colossus wading into the sea. Looking down over churning waves and boats of all sizes traveling below.
Her arm hurts, as if struggling to keep something raised high.
And then she senses two children, as if perched on her head, clinging to her hair, staring down in awe and excitement.
And then she was ripped out of it and saw Alexander standing a little wobbly as he pulled his hand away.
“The door,” he whispered. “It’s already open.”
Nina stood before the mausoleum entrance. She held her head, dizzy, and glanced around. “Where’s Montross?”
Set in the walls, across each of the eight sides of the chamber, hooded brass lamps came on, their lights dim in the glare of the flashlights.
“Turn off your lights,” came Montross’s voice.
Behind him, Nina and Alexander switched off their flashlights. Oil lamps, set in horizontal runners, sparked to life, flickering and then illuminating a cathedral-like interior with a high apex at the crest of the dome overhead.
“Wow,” Alexander said. “Freakin’ wow.”
The glow extended and the chamber began to breathe a sound like an exhalation, as if a giant had been holding his breath for centuries and only now let it escape. Everything scintillated with gold; it was plated onto the floor, pounded into the walls, ringing the base of the dome. In marvelous artistic design, beautiful tiles created the shapes of zoological creatures, familiar species and some far more fanciful beasts, all composed of gold, with gems for eyes. They crawled across the floor, scaled the walls, bridged the gap and stretched onto the dome above. Sapphires and rubies blinked in the spreading dawn, and night-black mouths yawned. Oxen frolicked with elephants, reindeer with tigers. Polar bears swam in the night sky over giant scorpions while centaurs rode the backs of sea turtles and gryphons carried immense spiders in their talons.
“Look at that,” Alexander said, pointing here, then there, walking around open-mouthed. “I guess some of the treasure’s right here.” He hadn’t gotten his fill of the designs and the artwork yet when the centerpiece of the otherwise barren chamber caught his eye and held it fast. An interior tower, a minaret without doors, windows or stairs of any kind, stood in the center of the room like a rocket in a silo. It was plated with gold, ringed in silver highlights like stars in a golden night sky. But at its top, just below the domed roof and level with the sole open window, was a flat surface. A plateau instead of a point, supporting what looked like a coffin made of dazzling gold and surrounded by nine banners. But from this angle, it wasn’t possible to see if the lid was open or closed.
“We’ve found it,” Montross said. He still held his sketchpad in one hand, the Emerald Tablet in the other.
Nina caught her breath. “How did you get in?”
Montross’s gaze remained fixed on the pedestal. “I just opened the door.”
“What?”
“It wasn’t locked.”
“Then why did you-?”
“Have you focused on it? Frankly, I wanted you thinking about something else. Clearly Alexander’s mind is still elsewhere. With you assisting, I figured you might learn something that could help us later on.” He turned now, lowered his head and fixed her with his steely blue eyes. “So, did you?”
“I saw something.” Nina shook her head, but pulled her eyes away and looked at Alexander. “I don’t understand it yet.”
Montross pointed to Alexander. “What about you, nephew?”
Alexander shrugged, still blinking at all the gold. “I don’t know. I just got this weird feeling of height. Like I’m floating or flying. And there are these two kids.”
Montross tilted his head. “Interesting.” He gave Nina a long look, uncertainty and distrust flashing in his eyes. Then he continued to the base of the narrow tower and looked up.
“Wait.” Alexander pointed to Montross’s sketch pad. “What did you draw?”
Montross tore off a sheet of paper, folded it four times and then, after putting his pad back in this pack over his shoulder, gave it to Alexander. “Look at that later.”
Alexander reluctantly put it in his pocket. “When?”
“You’ll know when.” He sighed and returned his attention to the tower and the crypt at the top. “Why don’t you two figure out how we get up there?”
Nina glanced around, scouting out the walls and the floor, looking for anything out of place. “There’s got to be something that would lift us up there.”
“Or,” said Alexander thoughtfully, “bring it down here.”
Montross clapped his hands. “Now that sounds more like it.” He considered the walls, the dome, thinking. But Alexander was ahead of him.
“The animals,” he said, pointing to the base around the minaret. He turned on his flashlight again to get a better look. “The creatures nearest the tower? In the first row, they’re all set up inside circles, see? And I noticed when I stepped on this dragon-creature here, the floor dropped slightly, and I heard a click.”
He stepped away, and it slowly rose back up with his weight off it. “See?”
“We see,” Nina said, turning on her light and shining it around the other animals, then to the walls. “You look for those stepping stones, I’ll look for the traps that waste you when you step on them in the wrong order.”
Montross stepped back, watching his footing. He thought for a moment, and then set down the Emerald Tablet, pulled out his necklace, so it dangled down his chest. It seemed to be vibrating, tugging alternately between the floor and its brothers, higher above. “We’re almost there. Hurry.”
He closed his eyes and winced. Held his head as he shook it. “Still there, damn it. Still there.”
“What?” Alexander asked, distracted as he moved around the tower.
Montross trembled, then waved a dismissive hand. “Something in the future.”
Alexander poked his head around the tower, then disappeared again. “Is it where you’re killed?”
“Of course. But this one in particular, this death…” Montross was still shaking his head. “It’s not cleared yet. I had hoped it would be, just by getting this far, but now it seems there’s more to do. It won’t be enough to find all the keys. We have to use them somehow.”
“I got it!” Alexander yelled. In a few seconds he appeared again. “At least, I think I do.”
“Do you or don’t you?” Nina snipped. “Did you RV it? Because if not, I’d rather you didn’t guess.”
“I didn’t, but I don’t think I need to. Look,” he insisted, “I might not have seen all the clues back at our lighthouse, but it’s like it was made for a young boy. A kid like me.”
“How so?”
“The animals, there are nine “normal” ones. You know, a monkey, a giraffe, a horse and a rhino.”
“Yes, normal,” Nina said, “if you’re in the zoo.”
“Well, normal compared to three creatures that I’d say don’t belong.”
“Three?” Montross perked up.
“Yup.” Alexander rubbed his hands. “See, it’s also almost as if he knew we’d be coming, and that there would be three of us. Just like the three keys.”
“Or,” said Montross, “he knew it would take a different form of three to do what has to be done after gaining these keys.”
“The three brothers,” Nina whispered. “So where are these three special creatures?”
Alexander shrugged. “Well, there’s the dragon, which I already found. And then there’s a gryphon and a centaur.” He looked up sharply. “Hm. So, if they’re supposed to represent the brothers, I wonder which one you are? And which one’s my dad?”
Montross smiled. “Well, since I’m the only one here, I’m picking the one I like.” He circled around until he found the centaur and stood on it. “Nina, be so kind as to set your feet upon the gryphon. And Alexander?”
“The dragon, I know.”
“So we’re sure about this?” Nina asked, standing outside the boundary of the gryphon, its forepaws raised up in attack, its jaws wide.
“Sure about nothing,” Montross said, “except that I don’t die in the next few hours. If this doesn’t bring down Genghis Khan, then we’ll need to think of something else.”
“But what about me?” Alexander asked, suddenly shivering. “Will I die?”
Montross shrugged. “No, only one of us will, and very soon.” He shot a glance to Nina.
“Yeah, I’m ready. Ready for this too.” She took a step, then brought both feet onto the gryphon’s body. It dropped, then all three circular stones turned.
Suddenly, they were all facing outward, and there was a wind, a rush of air-and all the lights went out except their two flashlights.
The main door slammed shut and something slid across it with a grating sound.
The tower rumbled and shook. Then it began to lower into the floor.
They ducked and winced, afraid of being hit by some kind of protrusion as the tower descended. It fell with incredible speed, grinding through the hole.
Shielding his eyes, Montross looked up, keeping his attention on the golden centerpiece as it roared down to their level.
I hope it stops, he thought, just as the entire structure jarred to a thundering halt. About six feet of structure remained, six feet of the tower structure until the apex upon which lay the glorious funeral barge under an open tent of white cloth. The coffin itself was more like a curved boat, carved with circles and sun-wheels and crescent moons, but no text.
As for the body that lay regally upon it, all Montross could see from this angle was an array of extravagant silk coverings and the shadowy silhouette of armor made of leather and fur, a helmet containing a grizzled face gazing skyward.
On the side he was facing, he saw three vertical indentations. Footholds.
“Nina. Now’s the time. Take your position.”
“Can we step off the circles?”
“I believe so.”
“Let’s try,” Alexander said, moving off it. In a moment, he and Nina were together with Montross.
“It’s not rising,” Nina said.
Montross set one foot in the lowest groove. “It doesn’t appear so. Maybe it was only designed to descend once. But one thing is for certain. Come with me, Alexander.” He pulled himself up to the second rung, then reached out a hand to the boy.
“I’m not going up there.”
“Yes you are. And I’ll tell you the one thing I have seen for certain.”
Alexander took his hand, and Montross pulled him up. “When I take these keys, when I lift the body of the great Genghis Khan to retrieve them, a door will open and we’ll see your father again. Along with a lot of trigger-happy soldiers.”
Nina walked away, into the deeper shadows against the farthest wall, taking from her pack the sniper rifle and night-vision scope.
And a lot of ammo.