AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I'll be damned," Rufsur murmured. "Frankly, I did not expect that."
Kalugal chuckled. "Neither did I."
The entrance was small, barely large enough for one person to squeeze through, and the darkness beyond was so complete that even his immortal eyesight couldn't penetrate it.
Reaching into one of the many pockets of his vest, he pulled out a flashlight and pointed the beam into the opening.
The walls of the passage were lined with the same stones that the exterior of the structure had been built from, and it sloped down.
"I'll go first," one of the Guardians volunteered.
If Jacki weren't with him, Kalugal would have scoffed at the suggestion and gone first, but he wouldn't risk his mate, and there was no way she would let him go ahead of her.
"Thank you." He stepped aside and let the Guardian through.
A moment passed before the guy called out the all-clear, and the rest of them followed inside.
"At least it's cool here." Jacki pushed a strand of hair out of her face. "It's a relief to be out of the sun."
"I'm surprised at the technology," Edna said. "This guarded the secret of the site from the uninitiated for centuries. I assume that only the priests knew the right combination to enter the underground complex."
"Correct." Kalugal turned his flashlight on the walls, searching for writing or drawings, but they were devoid of decoration. "Given the unadorned walls, I suspect that we are heading to some kind of storage facility. It doesn't seem like this passage was used for ritual purposes."
Dagor
Dagor made sure that he and Frankie were walking in the center of the group, which was the safest spot in case they encountered booby traps. He also held her tucked close to his side, almost carrying her, because he was worried about her inappropriate footwear that left her toes vulnerable.
He was starting to realize that keeping a human safe was a full-time job. It wasn't that he minded being Frankie's protector. In fact, it filled a void in his soul that he hadn't been aware of having, but he was very much aware of how impossible their relationship would be if he wanted it to continue past the cruise.
His decision to keep it casual had been sound, and he needed to stick to it even if it was getting harder and harder to do.
As his arm around Frankie tightened further, she chuckled. "Do you want me to just hop on your back?"
"That's a fantastic idea."
She was so tiny that holding an arm around her and propping her up wasn't comfortable. It would be much easier for him to just carry her.
He was about to swing her onto his back when she stopped him with a vigorous shake of her head. "Don't even think about it. I was just teasing. Trust me. I'm not as fragile as you think I am."
She was, but arguing with her about it was futile. He admired her spunk and her fearlessness, and he didn't want her to lose her confidence, but she was much more fragile than she thought.
At the front, Kalugal stopped. "Houston, we have a problem."
As far as Dagor knew, none of the people in their group were named Houston.
He leaned to whisper in Frankie's ear. "Who is Houston?"
She smiled up at him. "It's a quote from a movie. People say that when they encounter an obstacle that is difficult to overcome."
When those ahead of them split down the middle to allow everyone to see what had caused the halt in their progress, Frankie gasped. A deep chasm split the passage ahead of them, its depth hard to measure since its walls plunged into the darkness.
Dagor craned his neck as Kalugal shone his flashlight into the void and then on the walls around it. The gap was too wide to jump even with his superior abilities. He might have been able to use the small crevices in the rock walls to climb across, but it was too dangerous for Frankie and probably the other ladies as well.
A treasure hunt wasn't worth anyone getting injured.
"Can we make a bridge?" Kalugal's mate asked.
He shook his head. "The gap is too wide, and the edges are crumbling. Even if we had the materials and tools to build it, I wouldn't trust it to carry us over safely."
