After regrouping and putting themselves together as best as they could, the smaller band of explorers retired to the drill site. They ate sparingly of the few sandwiches and crackers that they had. They drank a little from the water and chai jugs. They plotted a course of action.

Hunter conjectured, “We will find something behind that display. Cerberus guards things. He guarded something back there. With him dead, we can find out what.”

“We’ll find something alright,” Tiyana replied with a gloomy twinge of sarcasm. “but I say we check it out anyways. Hunter had a point earlier about the rescue operation topside. They might miss us altogether with their exploratory hole. Also, who knows how long it will take to find a decent percussion drill and get it here? We can’t take the crew though. Too many people died already.”

Hunter spoke up, “You’re right, too many people died because of our pursuits. This is our problem not theirs. I’m going to get the rest out safe and sound if it kills me. We go it alone from here on out.”

“Agreed.” Said Hongo.

All three of the leadership trio’s hearts sunk as they watched their crew nibbling on bread and crackers, stoically bearing their grief at the loss of their companions. They spent another night in the labyrinth getting poor sleep and having gruesome nightmares. The next day, the trio offered the most comforting words they could muster to the crew and departed for Cerberus’s lair. Before leaving, they tended to Shenouda’s injury. Shenouda looked worse as time went on. Tiyana saw beads of sweat drip down her forehead. Shenouda’s skin took on an ugly pallor. Tiyana could tell that she had a fever, but she told no one except Hunter. They had no antibiotics.

“We will get her out of this mess as soon as possible.” Was all that Hunter knew to say.

At the former lair of the great worm, they found a chance to peruse the writing covering the walls.

“I don’t understand any of this.” Said Hunter. “How about you Hongo?”

“Nothing Mr. Price. I do not even think this is an African language.”

“Well, I’m not the linguist of the family, but I’ll just start reading, looking for patterns, see what I find.” Remarked Tiyana.

They all studied the walls. Hunter got distracted first.

“Hey, there’s no writing on this wall, behind ol’ Hades. You know where the ice melted.”

Tiyana did not turn her head from the cryptic petroglyphs, “Yeah?”

“Yeah, I’m going to check it out.”

“Alright.”

Hongo eventually got bored as well and started gutting and filleting the snake that he had killed the day before. Many of the live snakes died with the beast, but the rest vanished.

Tiyana said, “Hunter, there’s so much writing here, it would take ages to decipher any of it. I’m not a linguist.”

From inside the former display case Hunter said, “Sweetheart, there’s about a two by two foot box of sand in here. It’s right in front of this wall.”

“Really?” Tiyana said as she walked over and looked at it. “Strange how it is just sitting there in the middle of all this rock. The edges of the box are too straight for it to be natural. Someone made that sandbox.”

“But what’s it for?” Asked Hunter. Just then they heard a loud crash of rock on rock.

“Hey Hongo, what are you doing back there, bwana?” Hunter yelled.

“I just took this statue to hold the snake down. When it came off the base the pedestal came up a little bit. Then that thing fell.” Hongo said as he pointed at Hades’s right arm. The head of the dual-pronged scepter that had broken the display case had fallen to the ground. Hunter walked over and picked it up.

“The staff of Hades. Huh.” He said as he looked at Tiyana and shrugged.

She shrugged back and said, “Don’t ask me, I’m going back to looking at the writing. I might have a Ph. D. in Chemistry, but today I’m a cryptologist.”

As the hours passed, Hunter poked the walls with Hades’s staff, Hongo milled about, and Tiyana reviewed line after line of the writing.

Hongo spoke up first, “I think that I will go back to the crew and check on them. We might just have to wait for a rescue. If we try the utility room again, maybe we can get the machine to work.”

Hunter glanced at his wife, “Well dear, before we give up, have you got anything?”

“Not really, just an observation.”

“Ok, let’s have it!” Hunter said enthusiastically.

“Look now, it’s not all that exciting. It’s just that there’s this palindrome that shows up from time to time. It’s either at the beginning or at the end of the line.”

“Palindrome. It’s the same backwards as well as forwards?”

“Well, I don’t know about phonetically, but, well, come look at this symbol.”

Hunter walked over to read the line.

“Interesting.” He said as he looked from the line to the staff then from the staff to the line and back again. “You know the two prongs on this staff would be perfect for drawing that symbol, or phrase, or whatever it is.”

“Yes, I suppose it would.” Tiyana said as they both looked at the sandbox.

The two-pronged fork was difficult to life due to its size, but Hunter sketched the symbol into the sand. A minute went by as the trio stared into the sand at Hunter’s creation. Then, they heard the now-familiar sound of gears turning. They felt the earth shake ever so slightly as part of the rock wall in front of them began to descend into the ground. Soon, they stared down a long, narrow hallway where something shimmered at the end.

“It’s another trap.” Hongo said as they stared into the new hallway.

“Probably, you two stay here.” Said Hunter.

“John Terrance Price, you be careful.” Tiyana commanded with all the authority she could muster. She knew that she could not stop him, but she could not stand the thought of losing him.

“Here goes nothing.” Hunter said as he braced himself and slowly walked down the hall. As he neared the end, he threw the staff out into the room to check for more booby traps. Nothing happened.

As he emerged from the hall, Tiyana and Hongo heard him exclaim, “Holy mackerel… you all have to see this! Come on, quick!”

Curious and excited, Tiyana and Hongo rushed to Hunter’s side. They looked around and found themselves in another vast chamber with a massive pointed arch ceiling.

“This must be five times the size of the last room.” Tiyana almost whispered.

“At least.” Replied her husband.

“Ma Ang’o.” Exclaimed Hongo.

In stark opposition to the gloom of the prior chamber, this palatial chamber glittered and shimmered from pile after pile of lavish treasure.

Hunter asked his wife, “Yana, is that…?”

She picked up a shining Egyptian face mask and replied, “Yes, I think so… it’s certainly heavy enough. Hongo, could I see your knife?”

“Yes, here.” Hongo stared in awe as Tiyana pointed the knife downwards, cocked her arm back, and struck it just about as hard as she could against the mask.

She held the mask up to her face and examined it closely before speaking, “It’s dented. This mask is made of a heavy, malleable, brilliant, yellow metal. I think it’s solid gold.”

Hunter had climbed to the top of a fifteen foot tall pile of artfully-rendered precious metals and jewels. He shouted down at his wife and the bewildered Hongo. “If this is all gold then we found the mother lode. It’s like El Dorado down here. What do you say Hongo?” Hunter asked with a grin.

Hongo spoke up, “I do not know if we will get out of here, but if we do, I am going to retire.”

“Ha ha!” Hunter laughed triumphantly as he surveyed the room from the top of the pile. He saw pile after pile of treasure.

“There’s swords, masks, statues, helmets, armor, jewelry, decorations, staffs, tiaras… and who knows what else down here.” Tiyana remarked as she surveyed the area.

The beautiful and majestic qualities of gold captivated the Price family about as well at it captivated anyone. Hunter, however, took a much greater interest in the historical and academic significance of their find. Hunter came from a long lineage of old money. Money, consequently, did not get his heart pumping.

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