Sydney couldn’t help but notice how drastically the temperature had dropped in the past half-hour. She fell back enough to walk beside Nigel, allowing Cameron some time alone with Mark up ahead. The young woman gave her a knowing wink, saying ‘thanks’ as she happily grabbed onto her boyfriend’s arm. Meanwhile, Nigel was trudging along like a trooper, his clothes hopelessly wet and muddy, but unlike the rest of them, he was unusually quiet. She walked closely to him and surreptitiously coaxed his eyes to look in her direction.
"What do you think?" She quietly asked, gesturing up to Cam and Mark with her telling eyes. "Didn’t that sound like too much like a cock and bull story to you?"
He nodded. "Well, as much as I want to give him the benefit of the doubt, I can’t Syd. Something’s telling me we aren’t the only ones he’s lying to." He felt awful for even suggesting it, but it made a lot of sense. Poor Cam, he thought. "I’ve got a sinking feeling about this. We’ll be at the site before dark, what are we going to do then?"
"We’re going to recover that pearl, then wait and see..."
"This is it!" Cameron called out. All four converged on the small opening of the cave. It was almost hidden by three centuries of moss, ferns and rocks. You could see the spot where Mark and Cam were digging before, but they hadn’t been able to get very far without the proper tools. It was a fluke that they found the necklace at all. No one noticed Nigel as he set down his pack and started to rummage through it.
"Here we go!" He pulled out a book and laid it on his lap. "Before we dig into anything I want to read you what the legend says." He placed his glasses on his nose, looking up once to be sure he had everyone’s undivided attention.
"Spit it out professor!" Mark snapped. "We don’t have all day!"
"Very well then..." He cleared his throat and began. "From the pieces I was able to put together, it states that the Loht’a princess was so grief stricken, when she hid the necklace she removed the pearl from its setting. After concealing it deep inside the cave where her beloved lost his life saving hers, she erected a wall to keep all others from suffering their fate. That means inside there are a maze of tunnels and dead ends. It also insinuates that she was determined to prevent anything from disturbing her prince. Now, I’m not an expert on the symbolism of this particular tribe, but it appears that the girl worked day and night for several weeks creating this elaborate tomb. She was no slouch. Expect that there may be some tricks to thwart even the most determined of grave robbers."
Mark was painfully aware of the legend’s warnings about mazes and this was his prime motivating force for getting Sydney and Nigel here in the first place. It was very seldom that Sydney Fox returned unsuccessful.
It took until dusk to uncover the entrance enough to gain proper access. Tired and hungry, Cameron sat against the stone face and examined her rough, dirty hands. This was definitely not ladies work, she thought, and reached for her canteen. "So, I guess we’ll be setting up camp right about now? It’s getting awfully cold Mark." She was beginning to feel the effects of the cool arctic wind, and she pulled her fur lined hood up snug about her neck.
"There isn’t any time, we have to keep working!" He answered roughly, not taking his eyes from the task at hand.
"Wait a minute..." Nigel sat beside her, amazed she could work so hard under these conditions. "I think it would probably be in our best interest to finish this in the morning. It’s dangerous to go in there now."
"Nigel’s right Mark, we all need to get some rest and some food into our systems. Especially you Cameron, you’re eating for two now!" Sydney resolved, and got up from the rock pile herself. She was just as mucky as everyone else was, and with the back of her hand wiped a thin layer of perspiration from her brow.
"We need to go in tonight!" Mark’s tone was threatening and insistent, daring anyone to go against him.
Cameron, thoroughly confused, walked up to him and placed her hand on his arm. "Listen, honey... I know how important this is to you, and I realise that they may be following you, but we can’t work around the clock. I’m sure it will be okay if we wait until morning."
Nigel looked over to Sydney, very worried. He didn’t like the change, however slight it may have been, in Mark’s demeanour. Sydney shrugged. She was at a total loss and hated to get in the middle of anyone’s relationship.
"Come on Mark, you’ve been through a lot the past few days, and obviously working far too hard..." Cam said, trying to coax him into calling it quits for the night. "You’re exhausted."
"No," he reached inside his hunting vest and pulled out a small revolver, pointing it at her, "you tell your friends to get back to work. If we don’t find that pearl tonight, someone's gonna die."
She almost fainted. This had to be some kind of joke, or a dream. "Mark?"
"Do it!" He screamed at her, and waved the gun towards Syd and Nigel. "Hurry it up you three, I have a buyer for this pearl, and I’ll be damned if anything is going to prevent me from making this sale." He looked over at Cam, who by now had realised what a fool he’d made of her, and her expression said it all. "Get moving, everybody inside!"
Go to Part Nine.