The Hunt For Atlantis

“Nor am I,” said Kari. “But I know we can do it. How much time?”

“Forty-six minutes.”

“Okay, then. Let’s see what the Challenge of Skill involves.”

They walked cautiously down the new passage, which turned several times before the sound of their footsteps was joined by something else. Chase directed the light ahead. The corridor opened out into a larger chamber. “Water,” he said.

“Inside the temple?” Nina asked.

“You said it’s the temple of the sea god…” They increased their pace. “Definitely running water. Maybe that little river we saw by the village goes through the temple as well.”

His theory was proven correct moments later as the narrow passage widened out. The trio found themselves on a platform along the long edge of a giant rectangular pool of brackish green water. The ceiling above the platform was at the same claustrophobic height as the passageway, but the chamber over the pool was far taller.

Chase directed the light at the water, rippling reflections crawling over the chamber’s walls. The pool, at least a hundred feet long, was about twenty-five feet across. Spanning it was what Nina at first thought was a rope until she realized it was actually a narrow wooden beam, little more than an inch wide, supported along its length by poles emerging from the pool. The beam was two feet below the level of the platform-and only six inches above the sluggishly flowing surface of the water.

“Okay, now what?” Chase wondered.

Kari pointed across the channel. “What’s that?”

The flashlight revealed a glinting golden dagger, resting point-down inside a shallow recess directly above the opposite end of the beam. About ten feet above that was a ledge running along the far wall, but there didn’t appear to be any way up to it. “Well, that’s the Challenge of Skill,” said Nina, moving to the edge of the platform and crouching for a closer look at the wooden beam. “You have to balance on this thing and walk across to get the dagger.”

Chase found something else of interest, at one end of the pool against the stone wall. “And then that comes down so the others can get across.” On the far side was a narrow drawbridge, held up by ropes. He traced an arc from its upper end with his forefinger, all the way down to the edge of the platform on which they stood.

Nina looked more closely at the pool. At each end of the chamber she could just about make out the arched top of what she assumed was an aqueduct, channels for the water to flow through. “Why not just swim across?” she wondered aloud. “I don’t know how deep it is, but-”

The dull green surface of the water suddenly exploded into life. A set of gaping jaws burst out of it, lunging at Nina-

Kari seized her by her collar and yanked her backwards as the caiman’s mouth snapped shut where she had been a moment earlier. The twelve-foot predator thrashed and clawed at the side of the pool, trying to pursue its quarry, but was defeated by the vertical stone wall. Unable to gain traction, it dropped back into the water with an evil hiss.

Nina was too shocked to speak. “Are you okay?” Kari asked as Chase let out a considerably louder shout of “Jesus!”

Her voice returned. “Oh my God!”

“That’s why you can’t swim across,” Chase said. “Wouldn’t surprise me if there’s piranhas in there too.”

“How did that thing get in here?” Nina yelled, her whole body shaking. “We’re in a five-thousand-year-old fucking temple!”

Chase warily examined the pool, watching the ripples subside. “Same way the traps still work-those bastards outside.”

“Nina, it’s okay, it’s okay,” said Kari, trying to comfort her. “Mr. Chase, can you see anything else?”

Keeping his feet a cautious distance from the edge, Chase leaned out over the pool, shining the light up at the ceiling. “There’s something up here, over the beam, but I can’t see what it is. Like a recess in the wall.”

“Can you reach it?”

“No, it’s too high… Oh, I get it. To get a proper look, you’ve got to cross the pool to where the dagger is.”

Kari let out a long breath. “Okay. Then I suppose I’m going to have to go and get it.”

“You?” Nina objected. “But you’re hurt!”

“You sure?” Chase asked. “I mean, it’s a narrow beam, but I could probably make it…”

In reply, Kari effortlessly cartwheeled into a handstand, holding herself on just her uninjured right arm before flipping back elegantly onto her feet.

“Okay,” said Chase, nodding. “So you go and get the dagger…”

Nina looked at the pool, worried. “Kari, are you sure? If one of those things sees you…”

“We don’t have a choice,” Kari said, going to the end of the beam. “How much time have we got?”

“Forty-one minutes,” Chase told her.

“Then I’d better hurry.” She stepped down carefully from the platform onto the wooden beam. It creaked, flexing slightly. Chase held up the flashlight to illuminate her path. Composing herself, Kari slowly stretched out her arms for balance, holding in a little moan as pain jabbed through her injured arm. “Okay. Here I go.”

She took a first step. The beam creaked again, more loudly. To everyone’s alarm it also wobbled, the supporting poles swaying in the water, causing ripples.

Other ripples appeared in the pool, near the aqueduct at the downstream end of the chamber. The sinister eyes of a caiman broke the surface, the rest of its long body barely visible beneath the algae-filled water. “Kari…” Nina warned.

“I see it,” she said, returning her full attention to the beam as she advanced, step by careful step. She was at a point halfway between two of the support poles, and the beam was sagging alarmingly, only a couple of inches above the water.

The caiman moved, its tail undulating sinuously from side to side as it drifted towards her.

Kari ignored it, concentrating solely on keeping her balance. The next support pole was now almost beneath her. That stopped the beam from sagging-but the whole affair was still wobbling. It took all her effort to keep upright.

A soft splash made Nina look around to see a second caiman surface at the other end of the chamber. It was even larger than the first, and seemed unconcerned about remaining unseen, floating on the surface like a log.

A log with teeth. It lazily opened its mouth, letting out a malevolent hiss.

Kari increased her pace. She was now halfway across, the beam drooping again under her weight. Every step made it sway a little more.

She could see the dagger clearly now. Its tip rested in a little metal cup that seemed to be connected to something behind the shallow recess. Another booby trap?

There was also a very narrow ledge just above the end of the beam, so thin she hadn’t been able to spot it until now. It was under a meter across and barely a centimeter deep, just enough to provide a toehold. It had obviously been placed there deliberately by the temple’s builders, but for now their reasoning remained unclear, and Kari had the distinct feeling she wouldn’t like the answer when it revealed itself-

The beam wobbled.

Her attention had been diverted by the mysterious ledge, just for a moment-but a moment was all it took for her to lose her balance. She tried desperately to straighten up, but her weight had already shifted too far over. In a second, she would fall into the pool, into the jaws of the waiting caimans-

She threw herself forward, grabbing the beam with both hands as she landed on her stomach. The narrow wood slammed against her like a truncheon blow. She clamped her knees around the shuddering walkway, trying to stop herself from rolling into the pool.

“Kari!” Nina screamed.

Chase pulled off his jacket, ready to jump in after her. “Shit, she’s not going to make it!”

The caimans, attracted by the noise, closed in.