Michael Belmont and the Tomb of Anubis (The Adventures of Michael Belmont) (30 page)

"Why'd you do it?" Liam demanded.
 
"Why did you kidnap my father and the Belmonts?"

"My, my, kids
are
getting stupid these days, aren't they?
 
Don't you see?
 
All of this was just part of the plan to recover Anubis’s staff.
 
I needed it, and I had a hunch that the two of you could get ahold of it for me.
 
You humans are so predictable.
 
I even knew you'd come back here to Horus’s crypt to look for me."

Michael glared at him.
 
So this was the tomb where Horus had been laid to rest.
 
He felt as though Zuriel defiled it with his presence.

"You
used
us?
 
Used our parents because you knew we could find the staff?
 
But how could you know that?"

"Well, I'd had a hunch about where the staff was hidden.
 
I was able to track it, you see.
 
It took me a while to figure out that those filthy lycans were in possession of it, but by the time I got there, Shamus McGinty had beaten me to it.
 
I was unable to enter the castle to search for it though, that place is well protected from people like me."

Michael pulled Abigail in close.
 
He and Liam looked at each other in disbelief.

"There's a song that some of you humans are fond of, something about 'getting by with a little help from my friends?'
 
Well, that's exactly what I did.
 
I had an old friend of mine, one who was able to discover some of the secrets of the castle, lure you down the corridor to see the painting."

"You mean the piper of Argyll?
 
That was all a set up?"

"Yes, but it wasn't the piper of Argyll, just a petty daemon who owed me a favor.
 
Unlike me, he was able to infiltrate the castle's defenses and discover the painting of Conan MacFarlane.
 
Ingenious, wasn't it?"

"But if you knew where the staff was, why didn't you just tell us how to find it?"

"Well I didn't know exactly where it was, in fact I still don't know all the details of how you managed to get your hands on it.
 
I just thought if I could draw you to the painting, it might point you in the right direction.
 
To be honest, I thought it would probably just lead you off to some painful death.
 
I didn't expect you to survive the MacFarlane clan.
 
I actually thought I had a better chance of getting information about the staff by interrogating your parents, but they didn't seem to know anything about it.
 
I never put all my eggs in one basket."

He turned to Liam.
 
"Your father wouldn't talk, even when I exposed him to hellfire from the nexus.
 
You see, I've been successful in re-opening the crack in that gateway, but I haven't been able to fully activate it.
 
However, you'll be happy to know that I'm getting close.
 
I have a good feeling about it."

"And WHY are you telling us all of this now?" Michael screamed at him.
 
"Why not just kill us and get it over with?"

"I have no desire to kill you, any more than a car has the desire to kill the bugs that hit its windshield while it speeds down the road.
 
Besides, I figure I owe you one for getting ahold of the staff for me.
 
At any rate, I have work to do, so if you don't mind, I'm going to have to ask you to leave now.
 
Run along, and try to find your parents before they starve to death."

Michael stood there defiantly, clenching his fists so tightly that his fingernails dug into his hands.
 
He’d never wanted to hurt someone so badly.

"Better get going, before I change my mind."

They backed away, watching him carefully while heading for the door.
 
They slipped out of the chamber, and ran.

The tomb of Horus fell further into the distance as the children bolted through the catacombs.
 
They slowed only after putting a good deal of space between themselves and the man they'd been so eager to find.

Stopping to catch their breath, Liam opened up the map inside of Shamus McGinty's diary, looking for a safe place to hide while they studied it further.
 
They hoped that Zuriel would consider them too little a threat to bother with, but decided to be careful just the same.

"What was it he said?" Liam asked.
 
"He mentioned your parents being held in a chamber beneath us, and said that we'd never be able to get ourselves past the traps to help them."

Abigail nodded.
 
"It was something like that.
 
Look, this map shows a series of caverns directly below the ones we're in."

They examined the map together for a few moments.

"I don't see anything that looks like a holding cell on here," Michael growled.
 
"I mean, I know these maps are just rough sketches, but it looks like all these chambers and passageways are opened up.
 
Here's a tunnel to the level we're on, and over here's another to the caverns two levels below ours.
 
We could head down there and start taking a look around."

"Wait," Abigail hummed thoughtfully.
 
"What's this symbol here?"

Michael squinted to get a better look at the smudged symbol near the edge of the map, which was placed over a hallway that led into a large cavern.
 
"It, it kind of looks like a triangle with an exclamation point in it."

"That's a symbol for danger," Liam said.
 
"I've seen it before on warning signs."

Michael scratched his chin.
 
"Hm, well, that's probably a good place to start.
 
Good eye, Abby."
 
She smiled at them proudly.

Having agreed upon it, they headed for the tunnel that descended to the level beneath them.
 
They moved cautiously, doing their best to keep quiet and remain out of sight.
 
Michael knew that Zuriel's word could not be trusted, for all they knew he was right around the corner, waiting to skin them all just for the sport of it.
 
However, they soon made it safely to the place where the map had shown the danger mark.
 
At the end of the hall stood a large brick wall.
 
This wasn't some ancient structure; it looked fairly new.

Michael gave it a few light whacks with his fist.
 
"I wonder if this was built when your uncle was working down here," he said to Liam.

"It might have been," he shrugged.
 
"It makes sense, especially since that symbol on the map points to danger.
 
They might have bricked it up to prevent anyone from getting hurt while working nearby."

Abigail ran her fingers along the bricks.
 
"So what do we do now?"

Liam took off his shoe to drop out a pebble.
 
"We passed a pile of mining tools a few minutes ago.
 
I noticed a pick and hammer there, maybe we should retrieve them and knock this thing down."

"But, they put this wall up here for a reason," Abigail reminded them.

Michael nodded.
 
"That's true, but this is our best lead at the moment, we need to find out what's behind this thing."

After going back to get the tools, they began their work.
 
They tried to remain quiet at first, but soon gave up and focused on bringing the thing down as quickly as possible.
 
Abigail kept watch down the other end of the passageway.

After a few minutes, they'd made a good sized opening, and were hot and sweaty by the time they'd finished.
 
Michael climbed in first, Abigail followed, and then Liam slipped through.

For a while, the tunnel continued just as it had on the other side of the wall, but Michael suddenly stopped, throwing his hands up to stop Liam and his sister when he noticed that the path ended abruptly at the large cavern they'd seen on the map.
 
The danger came from the fact that the passageway dropped off suddenly at the edge of steep cliff, to which Michael could not see the bottom.
 
In fact, he couldn't see much of anything, except for a length of the cavern wall which stuck out on his right side, about fifteen feet away.
 
Apart from that, the darkness seemed to swallow the light of their lanterns and flashlights.
 
There didn't appear to be anything for the light to bounce off of.

"Abby, hand me some rocks," he said.

She gathered up a number of small stones and handed them over.
 
He dropped one, and they stood still and listened, never hearing it strike the bottom.
 
Michael took another stone and threw it straight out in front of them, but once again, they never heard it strike.

Abigail shuffled back and forth nervously.
 
"I have a very bad feeling about this."

"So, what do we do now?" Liam asked.
 
"Can you see anything at all, Mikey, or should we just turn around?"

"Actually, I think I do see something."
 
He was looking straight up above them.
 
"There's some kind of platform up there."

It was about twenty-five feet above them, and barely visible under the light of Michael's lantern.
 
Liam held out his lantern as well.

"Yeah, I think I see what you're talking about."
 
Abigail pointed up into the darkness.
 
"And LOOK, there's a cable or something going off into the distance ahead of us."

Michael peered around the corner to his right.
 
There was a ledge about eight inches wide, hidden in the shadows against the wall.
 
He could see a very thick, but old looking rope hanging down from the ledge above.
 
There were knots tied every two feet or so going all the way up.
 
He pointed it out to Liam, who glanced at it and trembled.

"You
can't
be serious!"

Michael's hands were sweating.
 
"It's the only way, from what I can see," he responded nervously.

Abigail, who was terrified of heights, looked as though she might burst out and cry.

Michael took her by the shoulders and looked hard into her eyes, "Abby, you need to go back and tell Uncle Link about everything that's happened, and let him know where we are."

"I'm not going to leave you two," she said, tears beginning to run down her cheeks.
 
"Besides, I don't want to go alone.
 
I…I'm scared, okay."

"I know you want to come with us, but the most important thing you can do right now is go and bring back help.
 
We've really made a mess of things by giving Zuriel that staff, and we need to alert everyone about what he's doing."

He reached into Liam's backpack.
 
"Here, take the journal and maps, I don't think they're going to help us now.
 
You can tell Uncle Link where we are, and if you can't find him then look for Aiden Osiris or Minister Khalil."

For a moment, Abigail looked like she was going to protest, and Michael could almost see the gears grinding in her head.
 
She knew they needed to get help, and there was no way she wanted to climb out on that ledge.
 
She got a determined look in her eyes.
 
"But…just promise me you're going to be okay," she told him.

"We'll be fine, I promise.
 
Just be careful to keep out of sight on your way out.
 
Go back the same way we came in, and hide if you hear anyone coming, at least until you see who it is."

She nodded.

He zipped up her backpack.
 
"I'm sorry you have to go alone, but it's the only way."

"I know, and I'll be careful.
 
And I'll bring back help as soon as I can.
 
You be careful too, okay?"
 
She hugged each of them fiercely, and Michael dried her eyes.
 
They watched apprehensively as she scampered off into the darkness.

Michael strained to pull himself up the last stretch of rope and onto the wooden platform.
 
Relief spread over him as he realized he'd made it all the way up without the thing snapping.

"Okay, I'm up," he called down to Liam, who then started up the rope.
 
Michael sat by the ledge and gazed down as he climbed.
 
Liam was a little heavier than he was, and he actually felt more nervous for him than he had for himself.
 
The rope creaked and strained beneath the load as Liam worked his way up, but eventually, he made it to the top, and Michael grabbed his arm and helped pull him onto the platform.

They were on something that looked like a boat dock, which protruded from a passage in the side of the cavern wall.
 
Boulders and heavy rubble blocked off the opening, which had obviously collapsed long ago.
 
The cable that Abigail had seen, which now hung about eight feet above them, came out of a hole in the wall above the blocked tunnel and extended off into the darkness as far as the eye could see.

Scanning around, Michael took note of a lever sticking up out of the platform, but apart from that, there was nothing else around.
 
He and Liam looked down at the lever, and then looked at each other, wondering what would happen if they pulled it.

"Well," said Liam, "we didn't climb all the way up here for nothing.
 
Besides, I really don't want to have to go back
that
way."
 
He pointed with his thumb to the rope, which hung behind him.