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Bones thrust the frightened woman into Jessie’s arms, and took off down the tunnel, grabbing a shovel as he went. He didn’t know what had spooked the woman, but if it was alive, it was about to get a spade across its head. He just hoped that would do the trick. He was otherwise unarmed.
Ten feet in, he came to a light. It was mounted on a stand and pointing down so people didn’t trip over its base. There was another light ten feet further along, and then another. After the fourth such light, Bones saw that he had reached the end of the passage. He slid to a halt, gripping the long handle of his shovel.
He was in a circular chamber, almost like the one behind him. The biggest difference was that this one was perfectly preserved. Statues of giants—vaguely human figures with smooth features that looked uncannily like C-3P0 from the Star Wars movies—encompassed the space, surrounding the center of the room like a family of watchdogs. Three other passages, each pointing in a cardinal direction, were visible in the low light.
North, south, and further east.
Six lights were situated along the outer wall, one in front of each statue. A seventh light at the center illuminated what lay there.
“No way...”
It was another sarcophagus, just like the one in the other chamber, except this one was open, the lid resting off to the side. But that wasn’t the only difference.
“Holy crap,” he said aloud, peering down at the cadaver nestled inside. “It’s real.”
“She, actually.”
Bone whirled about, shovel raised like a club. Luckily for the man who had startled him, Bones didn’t swing. Nevertheless, the diminutive figure let out a yelp of alarm and sprang back.
“Dr. Santi?” Bones asked.
“What is wrong with you?” he shouted in thickly-accented English. He had wisps of his thinning hair dangling over his eyes as he spoke. “You could have killed me!”
“Sorry about that,” Bones said, “but you nearly gave me a heart attack. One of your people came running out of here, hollering like a Howler monkey, so I came in ready to swing.”
Santi huffed but composed himself as Rose and Jessie arrived.
“Yes, well only a few of us have seen her so far.”
Rose went straight for Santi and Jessie headed for Bones. She only made it halfway. When she saw the corpse, she ground to a halt.
Like the archaeologist said, it—she—was most definitely a female. Her curves were obviously those belonging to a woman. Even hidden beneath the mummy-like wrappings, that much was obvious.
Bones patted Santi on the shoulder and stepped towards the body. She was easily ten feet tall but was proportionately built. Her bone length and muscle girth was as if Jessie increased in size without losing anything anywhere.
“Who is she?” Bones asked, looking back to Santi.
“We do not know,” he replied, combing his hair back with his hand and replacing his hat. “There are symbols on the pedestal, but they’re unlike any language I’ve ever seen.”
Bones knelt and inspected the writing. He didn’t recognize a lick of it.
“What happened to the lid?”
Santi crossed his arms in frustration. “Who exactly are you?”
Bones stood. “Someone with a lot of experience with this kind of stuff.”
Santi didn’t respond.
“You can trust him, Doctor,” Jessie said. “Believe me, he’s seen a thing or two.”
“And why should I trust you so easily, Ms. Archuleta? I’ve only just recently met you as well.”
Rose stepped forward. “Because I can vouch for her.” She looked at Bones. “Him, I don’t know about, but he’s got a reputation for knowing about...unusual archaeological finds,” she said begrudgingly.
The archaeologist looked uncomfortable but answered. “We think that the queen was only just recently buried.”
“Queen?” Jessie asked.
“Recently?” Bones asked.
Santi looked at Jessie. “It is what we are calling her.” Then to Bones. “The corpse is extremely well preserved. There’s hardly any decomposition. If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think she was laid to rest only a few weeks ago.”
“No freaking way,” Bones said, looking at the body.
He leaned in close and looked at the shape of her face, following it down to her shoulders and chest. The wrappings were opaque but thin, and clung tightly to the corpse like a second skin, leaving very little to the imagination.
“That’s a whole lot of woman.”
“Yes, she is,” Santi agreed.
Bones’ eyes flicked to Jessie and he waggled his eyebrows. She frowned and shot a meaningful glance in Rose’s direction. Her meaning was clear.
Rose just vouched for you. Now is not the time to act like an assclown.
“The wrappings appear Egyptian,” Jessie said, moving in for a closer look at the dead woman.
Santi shrugged. “It’s not entirely unheard of for the practices and traditions of one major civilization to spread to other regions and be absorbed by other cultures.”
“It’s only a hop, skip, and a boat ride across the Mediterranean from Egypt to here,” Bones added, earning a nod from Santi. “You can see the influence of Egypt all around the world.”
“The Washington Monument,” Jessie said, “Paris and the Vatican too.”
“Bingo,” Bones said, giving her a smile. “And Vegas.”
Santi gazed up at Bones and managed a smile. He held out his hand. “Dr. Valentino Santi, mister...”
Bones shook the hand, careful not to crush it. “Bones Bonebrake, but everyone just calls me, Bones.”
“His real name is Uriah,” Rose quickly added, knowing exactly how to get under his skin.
Santi must’ve seen his reaction to hearing his birth name and didn’t repeat it. “So, Mr. Bones, what exactly is your field of expertise?”
“Marine archaeology is my trade, but I’ve been on my share of digs.Let’s just say I’ve got a knack for finding unusual things. Some of them valuable.”
“A treasure hunter?” Santi looked skeptical.
Bones nodded. No point in lying. “Among other things, yes. But I take my work seriously. I’m not a tomb raider.” That wasn’t always true, but this wasn’t a time for splitting hairs. He clapped Santi on the back. “But I’m on your side, Doc. I didn’t come here to steal your thunder.”
“Why are you here then?” Santi asked, turning to him. Bones wondered if he grilled all his volunteers like this and decided to be upfront with him.
“She invited me.” He nodded at Jessie, who blushed.
Surprisingly, Santi smiled. “Oh, I see.”
“Dr. Santi,” a voice called from down the tunnel. “The mayor wishes to speak with you.”
The archaeologist removed his hat and brushed back his thinning hair. “Just wonderful.” He glanced up again at Bones. “Mayor Leonardo Giolito. He likes to check up on us. He is disappointed that he cannot get any more involved, so instead he makes a nuisance of himself.”
“Why’s that?” Bones asked.
“We labeled this as an offshoot of the original Giants of Mont’e Prama discovery and took control of it for conservation purposes.” He pointed to the encompassing statues. “See their faces—the circular carvings on their cheeks?”
He looked and, for the first time, saw them. “What’s so special about those?”
Santi shrugged. “No one knows, but the Prama sculptures have them too. We named this ‘Site B.’ The mayor was none too pleased with it.”
“Why would it matter?” Jessie asked.
“I was hoping that the findings here would tell me,” Santi said, “but, so far, we’ve come up with nothing. I think the people in town know something, something in their traditions, but no one will answer any of my questions—very uncooperative people around here.”
“I kind of got that impression from the sideways glances we got coming in,” Bones said. “They don’t like outsiders.”
“You think this site is the reason?” Jessie asked.
Santi just scratched his chin, squinting at Bones. The project leader was called for again and he cursed under his breath and headed for the tunnel. “We shall continue this conversation over drinks tonight. Signorina Pacheco, you will arrange everything, si?”
Rose nodded at the man but looked annoyed.
“Later, bro.”
Santi stopped. “Bro?”
Bones waved him off. “Whatever, dude, I’m not drawing a check or nothing. We’ll just see you later.” Without a word, Rose left with Santi, heading back the way they’d come.
Bones turned to Jessie. She looked worried.
“If someone in Cabras knows the real story about this place,” Jessie said. “They might be willing to cause trouble to keep it from getting out. We’ll need to be extra careful.”
He nodded, thinking the same thing. “Whenever there’s a sacred tomb, hidden from all mankind, there’s always some whackjob who’ll stop at nothing to keep it that way.” He recalled the people staring at them as they walked through town. “Maybe more than one whackjob.”
Maybe an entire townful...