AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Nevertheless, Frankie had no trouble guessing what he had intended to say, and the rejection pierced her heart. It shouldn't have, not after all the self-talk of convincing herself that she was just having a shipboard fling.
Swallowing, she affected a nonchalant tone. "What is it? Why did we stop?"
"Take a look." Dagor tapped the shoulder of the Guardian blocking her view.
As the guy moved aside, Frankie gasped.
Ahead, the tunnel turned into a wide corridor that was lined with statues of fierce warriors, each gripping a weapon and poised for battle. The detail was extraordinary, making the statues look eerily lifelike. Each held a different battle pose as if they had been frozen mid-movement.
Kalugal pulled out his phone and started snapping pictures, but he didn't move from his spot, and soon everyone else was following his example and taking photos, including Frankie.
If she didn't transition, would they erase the pictures she'd taken on the trip as well?
Probably. But maybe she could convince them to just alter her memories so she wouldn't remember anything about them being immortals or gods but could retain everything else.
"These are the guardians of the treasure," Kalugal murmured while snapping away. "I bet that this corridor is booby trapped."
His matter-of-fact voice echoed through the gallery, breaking the oppressive silence that emanated from the frozen statues. He was right about suspecting the significance of their battle-ready poses. They were a warning as much as a threat.
"The floor tiles have a pattern," Jacki said. "Some are a little elevated compared to the others. The question is whether we should step on the elevated ones or avoid them."
"Most likely, we should avoid them." Kalugal crouched to observe the floor. "The elevated stones probably house pressure-sensitive triggers."
"Let's test it." Negal moved forward with his pickax. Crouching, he reached with his tool for the nearest elevated stone and tapped it.
Nothing happened.
"Apply more force," Kalugal said. "It's supposed to respond to a person's weight."
"Right." Negal lifted the pickax, turned it to its blunt side, and brought it down on the stone with enough force that dust rose from it in a billowing cloud that blocked Frankie's view.
At the same time, a swishing sound was followed by a thump, and when the dust settled, she saw an arrow embedded in the head of the statue nearest the stone.
"As I said." Kalugal rose to his feet. "The elevated stones have triggers. But I think some of the others do, too." He lifted his flashlight to the face of the warrior whose bow had released the arrow. "His eyes are trained on the stone Negal activated, and so was his arrow before he fired it. I bet that's true for the other statues as well."
He turned to Rufsur. "I need some chalk."
When his second-in-command handed it to him, Kalugal extended his hand to Negal. "I also need that pickax."
"What are you going to do?" Negal asked as he handed it to him.
"I'm going to tap the stones that I think are safe, step on them, and mark them so the rest of our group can cross safely."
"I can do that," Negal offered.
Kalugal hesitated for a moment before nodding. "You need to avoid the ones that are in the statues' direct line of sight and where their weapons are pointed. Those are the rigged ones."
"Got it." Negal took the chalk from Kalugal and proceeded to tap the stone next to the one he'd activated a moment ago.
Frankie held her breath as Negal tested one stone after the other, marking a zigzagging pattern for the rest of them to follow. It took him a long time to mark a path across the corridor, or maybe it just seemed like that to her.
"Breathe," Dagor murmured. "Negal is a god. Even if he gets hit with one of these arrows or javelins, it's not going to kill him."
"I know. But I don't want him to get hurt." She looked up at Dagor's gorgeous face. "You feel pain the same way as humans do, right?"
He nodded. "Yes, we do."
Dagor
