"No," said Mike, "What if any of us gets lost?"
"I don't like this place." Said Doubar.
"Well, what do we do?" Sinbad looked at Tessay.
Maeve said, "there's evil here."
"Aye," said Tessay, "I can feel the energy of the pearl along with Taita's. We just have to trace where it is coming from."
Maeve nodded. She started with the passageway on the right, while Tessay started with the left.
Mike whispered to Duraid, "What is Lynn doing?" he knew what Tessay was doing but he was surprised at what Maeve was doing.
"No idea." Shrugged Duraid.
They went in each passageway and allowed their minds to reach out to magic. They kept 'feeling' each passageway. When they were finished the men saw the confused looks on them.
Tessay said, "It is everywhere."
"What?" they all asked.
"The pearls powers are going haywire," said Maeve, "there is equal power coming from each passage."
"So what do we do?"
Maeve took out her book to see if anything was there. She flipped through the pages and said, "here, Juan says, 'The passages that lead to the crypt also lead directly to a way out. An opening in the pyramid which leads to the outside world. This opening is the source of ventilation in the pyramid. There are two such passages...one is a series of passageways, the other a direct route.... That's all about the passages."
"Well, what do we do?" said Bacheet.
"We find one that leads to an opening." Said Sinbad.
"And how do you propose to do that? There are seven passageways, captain." Mike said, with a touch of sarcasm that Sinbad chose to ignore.
"Well...I figure...since we can't split up, since it'll be too dangerous, we might as well go through the first passageway that leads to an opening," said Sinbad.
"And what if we get lost in that passageway?" challenged Mike, "and how do you propose to find either passage...this isn't the sea, you know."
"I don't see you coming up with better ideas." Sinbad retorted.
"At least that is better than dumb ideas...." Mike started.
"Mike..." said Bacheet.
But Sinbad was ready for arguing...both men were sizing each other up. Maeve was getting really annoyed at this.
"Well," said Sinbad, "do your own sleuthing."
"I think I will... you know, it's true what they say, A dog maybe able to swim, it cannot catch a bone in water"
"Michael..." Tessay warned.
"And I guess what they say is also true, empty vessels make the most noise."
Suddenly they heard a slight noise of burning fire, and the temperature seemed to have gone up a bit. They turned to see Maeve raising her eyebrows at them, with a HUGE fireball in her hand. She tossed it from either hand and hissed, "I'LL find the passageway."
Mike, Duraid and Bacheet's eyes popped out and jaws dropped at what they saw…this was the first time they saw her use magic. Sinbad and the crew gulped, because from the way she was looking at Sinbad, it seemed like she was going to aim that fireball at him. Tessay giggled at the men's faces. Maeve walked up to each passageway starting from the one on the extreme left and held out the fireball…She allowed it to diminish into a flame. She held her hand out with the flame, as if expecting something to happen. She moved from each passageway to the other. She reached the third passageway from the right and held out her hand. The flame blew out. She turned to the men and Tessay, and said, "This is one of the passageways."
Firouz, when he realized what she did, grinned, "Genius! Pure Genius!"
Mike who was still in shock said, "Fireball…Heh! Heh! You lived up to your name!"
Maeve said with an evil grin, "there's more."
Mike, Duraid and Bacheet gulped. Sinbad said, "Maeve, how do you know that, that is one of the passageways?"
"Sinbad," said Firouz, "Since the passageways lead to the primary source of ventilation in the pyramid, the air that travels extinguishes…" at their dazed looks he trailed off, shook his head and said, "the air that comes from the opening blew out the flame. So we know it leads to that opening." He looked at Maeve and smiled, "where did you learn that?"
Maeve looked at Dermott, and smiled sadly, "A very, very close friend of mine told me." She looked into Sinbad's eyes and turned to Tessay.
The older woman smiled and said, "we'll take that passage."
Maeve nodded and looked at the others. Sinbad smiled faintly and headed first followed by the crew and Mike and his men. Tessay and Maeve moved last.
The passage was broad enough for 3 people to walk in line with each other. Sinbad and Doubar walked ahead of the group. The torches of light lighted up the darkness. Mike fell in line with Maeve and said, "since when did you know magic."
"I told you I had to go meet a sorcerer in Baghdad, didn't I?" said Maeve.
"So you went to learn magic."
"You could put it that way."
"Why didn't you tell us this, when we met?"
Maeve shrugged casually, "you didn't ask." And she walked ahead to talk to Sinbad.
Tessay shook her head; Mike asked her, "Did you know she was a sorceress?"
Tessay smiled, "Hales and I sensed her powers, when we first met her."
"Why didn't you tell us about it?" asked Mike, piqued that he had been left out.
"Well, as Maeve said," Tessay smiled mischievously, "you never asked."
Mike made a face while Tessay laughed.
As they cautiously, walked along they came across a wall and a turning to the left. They turned to go into the passageway when Maeve and Tessay both stopped. Tessay said, "That is not the way."
"But it is the only way." Said Duraid.
"No," said Maeve, "I cannot feel the power of the pearl coming from there."
Dermott squawked in agreement.
"Then where do we go?" asked Doubar, he did not like the place one bit.
Maeve closed her eyes and 'felt' around the place, Sinbad groped along the edges of the wall and said, "I can feel air coming from the edges…there must be something behind it."
"The power the pearl emanates seems to come from behind that wall." Said Maeve.
"That means," said Firouz, "there must be a lever or something that can push the wall back."
Rongar motioned for them to look at something. It was a hieroglyphic sign on the right wall. Maeve peered at it and said, "I am positive it means passage or door." Tessay looked at it and said, "We have to push it…it might activate something."
"Doubar…" said Sinbad. Doubar pushed at the sign, but it wouldn't budge and nothing seemed to happen.
"Hey," said Bacheet, "there is another one of those signs here" he was pointing to a sign on left wall. Maeve said, "maybe if we pushed both together, we can activate it."
Duraid nodded and pushed at the sign while Doubar did the same. Suddenly, the panels on which the sign was on went in. They heard a rumbling as the front wall, slid up, revealing a chamber. They could see that the chamber was brightly lit.
They slowly and cautiously, walked into the chamber. They were surprised to see that there were a large number of candles, placed on platforms on either side that lit up the spacious chamber. The only entrance and most probably exit was the one they came through. Maeve walked in along the aisle. She frowned and said, "The pearl is not here…but we are in the right place."
"Great!" said Sinbad sarcastically.
Maeve glared at him and said, "There is some part in this chamber that leads to the crypt of Horus."
"Well…how are we to find it?" said Duraid.
"The same way you find anything," said Tessay, "search for it."
The men made faces while Tessay laughed, she said, "Maeve and I will search for the direction of the pearls powers…I suggest that…Bacheet and the captain, search the left side…Duraid and Firouz, search ahead…and Michael and Doubar the right. Beware of trapdoors and stuff like that."
She motioned to Maeve and said, "Maevey, come to the middle of the room. We must trace it…Dermott," she called to the hawk, "see how you can help the boys."
Dermott screeched and flew around the place…trying to trace any source of magic.
Maeve and Tessay stood at the middle of the room, back to back and raised their hands reaching out to their powers.
For two hours they searched the chamber. They could not find any door of panel or any clue. Maeve and Tessay seemed exhausted from the tracing they did.
"It's as if the pearl is everywhere." Said Maeve when she could not go on anymore. Exhausted they all sat down on the ground.
"Maybe this is not the right place." Said Duraid.
"No." both women said in unison, while Tessay added, "This is the right place…but we are missing something."
"There is nothing in the book mentioned about this place." Said Maeve as she leaned slightly on Mike. Sinbad chose to ignore what she did.
"What time is it?" said Doubar
"By my calculations it should be noon, soon." Said Firouz.
"Great!" sighed Sinbad; "It's noon already."
Maeve suddenly frowned, she quickly opened the book and flipped through the pages. She smiled a bit as she exclaimed, "Here! Juan says that at noontime when the sun is directly over head, the rays fall on the apex causing an adjustment in the pyramid. This adjustment is mainly in the chamber of lights…I think this is the one. A trapdoor opens in the ground leading to the final part of the pyramid…the crypt."
"That's good!" said Mike, "But where is this trapdoor?"
Maeve crawled over to where Sinbad was sitting since he had the water, and said, "I don't know…but we'll soon find out." said Maeve.
Suddenly they felt tremors in the ground, "umm…" said Firouz, "I think you said that a little bit too soon."
Maeve and Sinbad tried to stand up, when suddenly the ground gave away under Maeve.
"Sinbaaaad!" she yelled as they realized the trap door was under her.
"MAEEVE!" Sinbad dived and caught her hand just as she would have fallen in.
"Lynn!" Mike and Duraid helped Sinbad pull her up.
However how much either party tried, it was as if something was sucking Maeve in. A sort of vacuum.
"Let go of me," said Maeve.
"NO!" Mike and Sinbad yelled in unison.
"You'll be sucked in too…" she said while struggling to pull through.
"Forget it." said Mike as he and Sinbad together pulled her up. Doubar and Rongar pulled Mike and Sinbad, so that the latter two could pull her up.
Tessay tried to fight the force with her power.
"LET ME GO!" yelled Maeve, "You'll be pulled in too."
"NO!" they all yelled.
They tried with all their strength but an equal strength pulled her down.
Maeve's hand was slipping.
"Maeve, hang on!" said Sinbad…his heart pounded against his chest at the consequences of losing her. The opening seemed like a bottomless pit.
Maeve was scared, for her own life and the thought of Sinbad and Mike being pulled in. She would not let either man die…but she was afraid of death herself.
Her hand was slipping from theirs. "Maeve," said Sinbad, "Hang on."
"I…can't…" she hauled herself with all her strength up, but it was to no avail.
Her body was giving up on her, but her mind refused to quit. She finally managed to pull herself up, when there was a burst of wind, from below, and sucked her in.
"Maeve!"
"Lynn!"
All they could hear was a fading, "Sinbad!" as she was pulled in.
"NO!" Mike and Sinbad yelled.
Sinbad tried to go in after her but Doubar pulled him up saying, "no! Let her go."
"NO! She can't be gone…I know it, she isn't gone." Said Sinbad as tears threatened to overwhelm him.
Mike did not say anything. He just stared at the open trapdoor. From the looks of it, it was deep, and no one could survive that fall. He bit his lip at the thought of Maeve being somewhere down there hurt and in pain.
Sinbad buried his face in his hands. The crew and Mike's gang just silently watched the two of them. Doubar shuddered at the thought of what would happen to Sinbad. Maeve meant a lot to the young captain, and this was not the first time Sinbad had lost his love. He also could not imagine the ship, the world, without Maeve, without his little lass. Duraid could not fathom what would happen to Mike. Mike always was a different person around Maeve, a good man…her loss would turn him into something they did not want to think about. Tears slipped down Tessay's cheeks as she thought of Maeve…this girl with so much passion for life could be taken away from it so rudely. They all knew that NO ONE could survive that fall. If they did, they would be hurt so badly, that death would be inevitable.
Dermott was just perched near Sinbad who was crying silently. The hawk did not move or do anything, as if it were in shock itself. Sinbad could not believe what happened…everything that he had shared with Maeve, all the passion, the love, and the happiness, the feeling of home and contentment…it disappeared in less than a second. When they finally admitted their love for one another, they were wrenched apart. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he thought of going back to the ship without her at his side. He would be so empty…
Then his head shot up as Dermott squawked in agreement. He felt sad, and depressed, but NOT empty. He did not know what it meant until Dermott said, that feeling is her…she is alive…I can sense it, too.
Sinbad looked at Dermott and said in his mind, I feel a pain in my head…is that her pain?
I hope not Sinbad, because I can feel it too…I know this…she is alive…I cannot reach out to her for some reason. I find only darkness.
Sinbad tried to reach out to Maeve, Dermott was right, he could only find darkness. What does this mean?
I think she is unconscious.
Sinbad looked at Tessay. She had heard the mental conversation, and she nodded with hope in her eyes.
"Men," said Sinbad to the others, "We don't know that Maeve is dead."
"Sinbad…" started Firouz.
"NO!" yelled Sinbad, "I am NOT crazy…I know Maeve is alive…she might be hurt."
"She meant a lot to me too, captain," said Mike for the first time, "but no one could survive that fall."
"Michael," said Tessay, "Maeve is alive…trust me on this one."
"But…"
"Mike, whether she is alive or no, Maeve told me she wanted to restore the pearl…said Sinbad angrily, "I am not going to leave this place until her wish is fulfilled…so I am going to find that idiot Taita and get the pearl back anyway. He is the reason for this whole mess…I will personally see that he is fed to the vultures if Maeve is not. However, I KNOW she isn't dead."
Dermott cackled, and Sinbad said, "see."
The men took a deep breath and agreed. If they couldn't find Maeve, they would find the pearl. But they had their doubts about her living.
When We Were Thieves - Part 15
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