Disclaimer: The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest and all of its characters are copyrighted by Hanna Barbara. I do not own any of the characters from this show.
Note: The ancient abandoned city of Bhangarh in Rajasthan, India does exist. However, much of the information I'm using for this story is either fictional, or has been put together based on Google Earth Maps (e.g. the geography of the surrounding area), such as the layout of buildings and the presence of different levels of buildings. Please humour any mistakes I may make with regard to accuracy.
Note: Continuation from Dino Quest and Desert City storylines. The kids are on summer vacation and Dr. Quest decides to utilise this time to show them more exotic parts of the world that they haven't visited. Set a few days after The Lost City.
The Story of the Ruins
It was a clear night. A small group of 9 men approached the structure, which was situated at the base of a mountain. Some of the men were walking confidently into the entrance of the building, while others looked frightened. The group consisted of 6 men, dressed in light brown cargo pants and similar brown shirts. They were followed by 3 men, who appeared to be locals of Rajasthan. The locals were carrying the bulk of the equipment. "Francis" one of the men called out in a German accent. The leader of the group turned around to face the man.
"Are you sure this will be safe, Francis?" he said. His voice appeared to be trembling, as if he expected something to go wrong with the group very soon. The other men had stopped by this point, waiting intently for the response. The main group looked to be impatient with the distraction. The locals however, looked terrified beyond belief. They didn't seem to understand the conversation. They didn't need to. There was something about the building in front of them and the ruins around them which seemed to collectively send shivers down their spines.
"Don't be a fool, Wilhelm" Francis replied harshly. He was now standing in front of the main entrance. "There is nothing to be alarmed about here" he said. Francis had barely finished speaking, when the wind picked up. Suddenly, a hideous sound pierced the air. It echoed around the ancient walls and structures surrounding the group, only appearing to intensify with each echo.
The sound was a shrill shriek, followed by booming laughter, coming from the same voice. It seemed to come from a woman, but the high volume and odd pitch made it sound barely human. It seemed to be coming from inside the fort. Before anyone else from the group could react to this startling occurrence, the local guides dropped the equipment they were carrying and ran straight down the road they had taken to reach the ruin, while screaming feverishly to each other in their native language.
"Cowards" Francis declared. He appeared to be disgusted by the men's actions. Some of the other men looked like they were just about to follow suite and run, when Francis harshly added, "All of you will follow ordersor you're not getting paid". There was a short grumble of discontent from the group, but they picked up their equipment and followed. Francis walked into the dark building, his men directly behind him. As he entered a large hall, he ordered them to stop and start setting up.
"Take cameras and cover every door and in every room possible. We will not leave till I have found proof of the paranormal!" Francis exclaimed loudly.
The men took out a number of hand held cameras and flash lights which they had carried with them and set off in groups of 2. "My group and Rahul's group will take the inside. Vincent and Wilhelm, you will cover us from the outside" Francis said, before setting off. The others did as they were told.
Rahul's team walked through dark corridors, before walking into something they didn't expect to find at all. They walked through the ruined inside of the fort and found themselves following a tunnel. They emerged on the other side of the tunnel and appeared to have gotten out of the fort, into a covered garden, somewhere else in the abandoned city. Rahul and the other man slowly crept out of the tunnel, stunned by what they were now seeing in an apparently abandoned town. What caught their eye was a figure which appeared to be seated in the centre of the garden, on a bench. It appeared to be a woman, dressed in white. Rahul looked at his teammate disdainfully. It was obvious that the other man was in shock. "It's just a woman, imbecile" he said to the other man. "Wait here. I'll find out who she is".
He walked towards her with confident strides, until he was standing directly behind her. "Excuse me madam" he said. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but you must vacate this area at once" he said. Seeing no response, he gently put his hand on her shoulder, while his teammate watched on, still barely able to move. As soon as he tightened his grip, the woman swung around. She appeared to have once had beautiful features – however now was not the same case. Her eyes were sunken into the back of her head and were barely black slits. Her face was almost skeletal, but still appeared to be etched with hatred. Rahul barely had time to scream. There was a swishing sound, as the creature swung a blade it had concealed at the man. Time seemed to slow down for Rahul's teammate, as he saw a sudden flash of steel and saw his leader slump down onto the bench, nearly or already dead. Before he could react however, the creature turned to him. The ceiling of the garden directly above the man gave way, crushing him, as he screamed for help. A sick smile appeared across the face of the abomination. It had done its job.
Meanwhile, Francis and his team member were too far away to hear the ceiling collapse. They walked along a narrow corridor, with rooms and doors on one side and windows lining the other. Francis was walking swiftly, with the team member a few paces behind, struggling to keep up. However, unknown to them, something appeared to emerge from one of the rooms they passed and started following them. A withered hand fell upon Francis' teammate's mouth and dragged him into another room. Francis, not hearing anymore footsteps, assumed that the man had stopped to rest. "Come on, you useless ape, keep moving" he growled, turning around to face his team member. Instead he was met with a sight that practically made the marrow in his bones freeze. Before Francis could even scream, he stumbled, falling straight out of the window. He gave a cry of horror, as he tumbled to his demise.
Meanwhile, Wilhelm and Vincent walked around the outside of the fort. "I wonder what's happening inside?" Wilhelm said, standing outside the main entrance.
"They're probably fine" Vincent replied, nonchalantly. Before he could add any more however, they both heard a loud creaking sound. The stone pavement they had just been standing on seemed to slide and fall away from under them. Before they knew what was happening, they found themselves falling into a pit. The last this either of them saw were rows of razor sharp spikes, which gave them more holes than a pin cushion. A figure watched the pit form the top of the tower. It was dressed in black and watched as the men fell to their demise. "Everything went according to plan" it said, laughing at the end of the sentence.
1 week later...
"I can't remember the last time Race took some time to relax" Jonny said, smirking. It had only been 2 days since the Quests had returned to Maine from their trip to Mohenjo-Daro in Pakistan. Before they had time to rest, Dr. Quest was already making them pack for a trip to Rajasthan, India. Race and Jessie stayed with Estella at the Maine Compound, to help her recover fully from her ordeal as a captive or Mr. Henri.
"I think their family needed to take some time off together" Dr. Quest replied. "Besides, this trip to Bhangarh is only a side trip. We'll drop Hadji off at Bangalore after we're done here. We'll meet up with them soon" he said confidently. This summer holiday seemed particularly busy from everyone's stand point. Dr. Quest had decided to take the family to exotic parts of the world that they hadn't yet visited and had planned out the entire summer. They started with a trip to meet his late friend, Dr. Larson (Dino Quest), which ended under severe circumstances that nearly saw his son taken from him. This was followed by a more conventional, yet still dangerous and exciting trip to Pakistan (the Desert City). Now they were in western India, in the province of Rajasthan. Little did he know that this may end up as one of their most intriguing adventures of the summer.
Hadji did not seem to share the same enthusiasm as Dr. Quest or Jonny for this trip. "Dr. Quest, I am a bit confused" he said, appearing to be deep in thought. "When I spoke to my mother earlier, she said that there were far more beautiful places in Rajasthan, some with a much greater history than Bhangarh. Why is it that we are going to this place?".
"Well Hadji, there is a simple reason for that" Dr. Quest said, as he drove along the road. On the right side, there appeared to be some distant farmland, along with a range of hills and short mountains, whereas the land on the left was desolate. But the real eye catching feature of the land was the mountain directly ahead of them. It wasn't exceptionally large – the group had seen far more majestic and challenging peaks in the Himalayas, but it appeared to be around 2 kilometres tall, allowing it to tower over the landscape.
"The reason we're going to Bhangarh is because it is reputed to be one of the most haunted places in India" Dr. Quest replied, keeping his eye on the road. "I've been asked by an old friend working there to help him with his research into paranormal events that occur there" he added.
Jonny's expression betrayed a sense of excitement after hearing those words. Hadji, on the other hand, had a much more guarded expression. He did seem to flinch when he heard Dr. Quest's reason for visiting Bhangarh. "Dr. Quest, I don't mean to alarm you, but the last time we visited a reputedly haunted place, we were nearly devoured by the walls" Hadji said. His voice seemed to tremble as he completed the sentence.
"Yes Hadji, I do remember" Dr. Quest replied gravely. "However, this situation is different. I've known the man working at this site for a long time. Besides, we'll have to leave Bhangarh before nightfall to keep up with our schedule" he replied, sounding a little more cheerful.
"Don't worry Hadj, what could possibly go wrong?" Jonny asked, grinning. All of them knew perfectly well what could go wrong, but he decided to try to comfort Hadji instead of stating the obvious.
Before Hadji could get started on his list of potential debacles which could affect this trip, Dr. Quest noticed a road sign in the distance. "I believe we're here" he said, as they passed a road sign announcing the start of the ancient ruin. However, the sign also presented them with a message that made Hadji shift uncomfortably.
"Entering the borders of Bhangarh before sunrise and after sunset is strictly prohibited" it stated clearly.
They drove along a road, surrounded on both sides by derelict structures, as they neared the main fort. The fort appeared to be destitute. There were a series of structures, some of them quite grand including the weathered remains of a palace. However, the building to which the group was automatically drawn was the ruin of the fort. It stood right at the foot of the mountain, which rose steeply behind the structure. A balding man, with a short white beard was standing at its entrance. Dr. Quest parked near him. The group had barely gotten off their vehicle before he the man approached them.
Dr. Quest was first off the land cruiser. He approached the man. Jonny and Hadji followed. "Benton!" the man exclaimed, grabbing the Doctor's hand and shaking it vigorously. "It has been a long time, my friend!" he said.
"I'm very glad to meet you too, my friend" Dr. Quest said. "Jonny, Hadji, meet Dr. Manish. We've known each other since university".
"It's good to have you here Benton. I really needed your help in this matter" the man said. He knew that Dr. Quest had previous experiences with the paranormal and was sure that if anyone could help him, it was the Doctor. "I'll show you around this wretched place and introduce you to the rest of my team" he said. There was a sense of disgust evident in his voice when he mentioned the town. He started walking around the walls of the main fort and gestured for the others to follow.
"I was wondering if you could tell us a bit about the history of Bhangarh" Dr. Quest asked Manish.
"Well Benton, the town was originally established under the rule of Raja Bhagwant Das, for his son in 1573. The city appeared to be doing reasonably well, until the famine of 1783. Legend has it that a princess from the city rejected a marriage proposal from a man well versed in the occult. The rejection resulted in him cursing the city, resulting in its destruction. I believe that it's been considered haunted ever since then" he finished.
"So, have you found anything in your time here?" Dr. Quest asked.
"Well, I've only been here a few days" Manish said. "The other 3 came here around a month ago. This place used to be popular with day trippers, but ever since they started seeing strange 'occurrences', they stopped coming" he finished.
Jonny was curious about the matter and the lack of other people at the town. "I would have thought that these occurrences would attract some amateur ghost hunters".
"Well, they did" Manish said, the volume of his voice dropping slightly. "Until a group of ghost hunters disappeared without a trace last week" he said, almost in a hushed whisper.
The Quests listened intently. The matter appeared to be much more serious than they had previously thought.
"What did the police find?" Hadji asked, sounding concerned about the matter.
"They found the local guides that the hunters had used, hiding in a nearby village, but there was no sign of the hunters" he said, gravely. "The police approached the town, but apparently they left when they were frightened off by terrifying shrieks" he added, in a slightly mocking tone.
"Did you or any of the others see anything?" Jonny asked Manish. He felt excitement surge through his body. He had not expected to find much to interest them at Bhangarh before. However, this mystery had just made their trip there worthwile. Jonny glanced at his father he could sense the man wasn't going to leave yet. Although there are some differences between Jonny and Benton, both have one thing in common. Both of them are walking queries. There is not a problem that they will not attempt to solve if it is presented to them, regardless of what it is, although their methods of solving problems may sometimes differ drastically.
"The others spend their nights in a nearby town so they had no way of hearing anything" Manish said. "I was sent by the Government of India after the disappearance to keep an eye on this site. I stay nearby, but I haven't seen anything myself" he added. Suddenly, the man's shoulders stooped. His expression changed, almost to one of grief. He looked like a broken man. "Benton, I can't make anything out of this matter" he said, wearily. "There is no concrete evidence that anything occurs here, but too much happened here for me to just leave" he said.
Dr. Quest looked sadly at the state of his friend. "Don't worry Manish, we will find out what's going on here, even if we have to spend the night in this cursed place" he said, confidently.
Manish became more relaxed after hearing his friend's assurance. "Thank you, my friend" he said. The group turned around a corner of the fort and found themselves in a campsite. There was a young woman seated at a table, typing on a computer. She had a thin figure and appeared to be a little shorter than Jonny, which was considerably tall, as he was now nearing 6 feet. She had long, black hair, which seemed to sway in the dusty breeze. She looked up at the group when she heard them talking. Apart from her, there were 2 men standing at another table, chattering away excitedly. They appeared to be standing over a piece of paper, examining it. When they noticed the new arrivals, the taller of the 2 swiftly wrapped up the paper and held it under his arm.
"This is our campsite. Let me introduce you and the boys to the rest of my team" Manish said. He pointed to the two men. "These are the 2 brothers, Dr. Abhijeet and Dr. Ramesh Kapoor". Abhijeet the taller of the 2, dark skinned and appeared to be only a little less in age than Dr. Quest himself. Abhijeet nodded towards the group, but appeared to disapprove their presence.
"Forgive me, but we are very busy. We must get back to work" Abhijeet said, in an unfriendly tone. He turned towards one of the fort's entrances and walked in, with the paper still under his arm. The second man looked to be a shorter version of Abhijeet, only with a moustache. Ramesh didn't even seem to acknowledge their presence. He just walked off. Manish seemed to be unsurprised by the reception his team had just given to their visitors.
"And here is our last team member, Naila Singh" he said, introducing them to the woman. She was definitely younger than the men. Jonny estimated her age to be somewhat similar to Hadji's.
Jonny's first impression of her was that she was physically attractive. He also felt her to be much friendlier than the two men they had just met. She approached the group, with a smile on her face. "Welcome, all of you" she said graciously, as she stepped towards them.
"Thank you Naila" Dr. Quest said, shaking her hand.
"She's one Dr. Abhijeet's students, at university" Manish said. "When he requested volunteers to come here, he said that she was the only one brave enough to volunteer".
The girl smiled as she heard the comment and started blushing slightly. Jonny sensed a familiar feeling had overtaken his brother. He looked towards Hadji and could tell from the look in his eyes, as he gazed towards Naila. Hadji was smitten.
"Pleased to meet you" Hadji said to the girl, as soon as she looked towards him. "I am Hadji Singh", he mumbled, still appearing to be slightly dazed.
She looked over the man and noticing his gaze, blushed even more and started giggling. "Hello, Hadji Singh" she replied, still smiling. "Would you like to talk?" she asked, shyly.
Hadji was unresponsive. Jonny grinned at his foster brother's reaction and lightly elbowed him in the ribs, knocking him out of it.
"Of course" Hadji finally blurted out. She took his hand and guided him over to one of the benches, a short distance away from the others. Both didn't seem to be able to take their eyes off each other.
"Well, this is odd" Dr. Quest whispered, almost laughing, as he watched the young couple.
"I know" Jonny said, in his lowest manageable voice. "She doesn't even seem like the usual murderous girls he tends to fall for".
"What do you mean?" Manish asked, curiously.
"It's a long story" Jonny said, grinning. A thought suddenly occurred to Jonny. Something he wished he had enquired about earlier. "By the way Dr. Manish, I noticed Dr. Abhijeet carrying a sheet of paper around with him. Do you know what it was?" he asked, curiously.
"Actually, I'm not aware of what it was. But he does seem to carry quite a few documents and papers around with him" the man admitted.
"I'll go in and find out" Jonny said, starting to run into the fort.
"Just be careful, son" Dr. Quest called out from behind as Jonny ran into the fort. "Let's follow him in" Dr. Quest said almost mischievously, as he looked towards Manish. Dr. Quest seemed a lot younger for a second. He almost looked like his son, when he came up with his own half baked schemes. "He's been following me around for years, I thought I might return the favour" Dr. Quest added, playfully.
Dr. Manish seemed to utter "I'm getting too old for this" before following his friend into the fort.
Hadji momentarily turned back to see his family scurrying into the fort. Sighing, he turned to Naila. Before she could say anything, he took her by the hand and they ran in after the others.
The fort was built in such a way that it remained well illuminated from the inside, as long as there was still some sunlight present. It was late in the afternoon, but there was more than enough light for them to navigate around the fort. Jonny was moving stealthily through the corridors of the fort, relying on training Race had given him in the past to escape from tight situations. He heard voices coming from around a corner. He peaked around and saw the 2 brothers arguing in a room. As they were speaking in Hindi, he was unable to understand them completely, apart from a few words he had picked up during his travels to Bangalore. He noticed the paper was placed on a small table in the room and appeared to be unravelled. He knew that somehow, he had to get to the sheet. Jonny held his cell phone in his right hand. He took a deep breath and crept into the room, crawling on the dusty floor to avoid detection. He was barely 5 metres away from the brothers. When he had reached the paper, he was nervous. He thought he could even feel the men's hearts beating. He reached up to the paper with both hands. However, before he could grab it, he felt a strong grip on his wrist.
"What are you doing here?" Abhijeet asked, nearly yanking Jonny up. This was quite an achievement, considering Jonny's own muscular physique and Abhijeet's age. The man appeared to be much stronger than he looked.
"We could ask you the same question" a voice at the door said. The 2 men in the room turned to see Dr. Quest and Manish standing at the entrance. Abhijeet loosened his grip from Jonny's wrist, allowing him to free himself.
"Tell that accursed boy of yours to stop meddling in our business" Ramesh growled at Dr. Quest. The Doctor took a step forward, almost as if he was about to punch the man.
However, before a fight broke out, Naila rushed in with Hadji and separated the groups. "Stop it, all of you she exclaimed. The men stepped back. Abhijeet quickly grabbed the map and walked out of the room in a huff. His brother followed.
"It's okay dad, let's just go" Jonny said, sensing that Dr. Quest was not going to leave the men alone after this episode.
Although surprised by his son's decision, Dr. Quest heeded him and walked out of the room and the fort with his sons, Naila and Manish. As they walked out, he looked around to make sure they weren't being followed, before turning to his son. "Jonny, I don't normally see you walk away when someone treats you like that. I appreciate your new found maturity, but are you feeling alright?" his father asked, slightly worried.
"I'm fine" Jonny replied, perkily. "I just didn't want those clowns to know that I got what we needed". He held up his phone, revealing he had taken pictures of the entire sheet of paper the 2 men had been protecting.
Dr. Quest and Manish were impressed. "Well done, son" the Doctor said, examining the images closely. "I'll upload these on my laptop and we'll put them together" he said. "It appears to be a map of some sort".
"Do you know what any of this might mean, Naila?" Hadji asked her.
"Well" she started cautiously, "I have seen the 2 of them playing around with a map, but I'm sure it's nothing of interest" she said.
"Well, I think we should come back in the night and find out what's really going on here" Jonny said.
"I agree" Dr. Quest said. "There's something strange about this whole issue".
"But don't you think we may get into trouble?" Naila asked, sounding worried. "The town is rumoured to be haunted".
"I have a hunch that those 2 know more about these hauntings than they're telling us" Dr. Quest said.
"Then I will stay in the town" Naila announced. "I do not want to spend the night in this place". She turned to Hadji. "Hadji, please, listen to reason. People have disappeared here before. Please, don't come back at night" she pleaded.
Hadji turned to look at his father and his brother. He instantly knew what he had to do. "I'm sorry" he said to the girl. "But I will not let my family come here without me. Not when they may need me" he said in a hushed whisper, his head drooping slightly.
She looked at him for a second. There seemed to be tears forming in her eyes. "If that is what you wish" she mumbled, walking towards a car parked at the edge of the site. She momentarily turned around. "I will be a short distance away if you decide to change your mind" she quickly added before getting in the car.
Dr. Quest wordlessly walked up to his foster son and placed a hand on his shoulder.
Jonny broke the silence after a few moments. "So, what's the plan?" he asked.
"We'll drive back to the airport" Sr. Quest said. "We can pick up some equipment from the Dragonfly. By the time we're back, it should be nightfall."
The group walked back to where the Quests' land cruiser was parked. They collected a number of things which Dr. Quest deemed necessary. Dr. Quest hastily packed a rucksack with various pieces of equipment he felt he needed. He packed the spray guns, which had come in handy when rescuing Jonny, Jessie and Estella form Zin's robot spies. He also took the pictures of the map his son had taken and put them together, to form a new copy which he printed out. He also took a grappling gun along as well.
He also handed the other team members a set of goggles and took 4 guns out. Jonny and Hadji were shocked. They had rarely even seen their father hold, much less use a handgun, but decided that their questions could wait. Before anyone could ask what the goggles and the gun were for, Dr. Quest insisted that it was getting dark and that they leave as soon as possible.
The group went back into the land cruiser. They drove towards the town, but upon reaching the sign announcing its start, Dr. Quest veered left. When asked where he was going my Manish, he reasoned that they should approach from the back end of the town and fort, to avoid suspicion.
They used the mountain as cover and went alongside it, getting off from the land cruiser as they neared the fort. The fort was clearly in view, just around the corner of the mountain. It was almost pitch black now.
Dr. Quest started handing out the goggles. Before anyone had a chance to ask him what they were for, he broke into a simple explanation. "These are the new multi-purpose goggles I've been working on" he said, briskly. "You can switch between regular vision, night vision and heat vision" he said.
Everyone seemed impressed, but Hadji just had one question on his mind. "How do you switch between the different viewing options?".
"It's commanded by your voice" the Doctor replied. He handed each of them one of the guns he had taken earlier. "These are my new stun guns" he said. "They fire a gas pellet, which release a knock out gas" he said. His sons were relieved that the Doctor hadn't brought anything exceptionally lethal. The Doctor grabbed the grappling gun he had also brought along.
They switched their goggles to heat vision and, not noticing anything exceptionally strange, moved swiftly, but silently towards the fort. As they moved, they passed a small building. It appeared to be a small, covered courtyard of some sort. Little did they know, this was the same place where Rahul had met his demise previously. As they moved past it, Manish glanced towards the building. He noticed that there appeared to be a flash of heat inside one of the windows, which appeared for a moment and then vanished. It looked almost like a human figure. He stopped moving for a second. Jonny noticed this and surveyed the area. Seeing nothing himself, he grabbed the man's arm and pulled him towards the fort. "Come on Doctor, we need to move" he said gruffly. Dr. Manish brushed off what he had just seen as a figment of his imagination and followed the boy.
The group stopped outside the wall of the building. Dr. Quest fired the grappling hook into one of the windows and after checking if it was safe to use, started to climb and motioned for the others to follow. Hadji climbed next, followed by Manish and Jonny.
Once they were all up, Dr. Quest examined the map. "It appears to lead us to a basement level" the Doctor said. "We just need to find a..." before he could finish, Hadji saw something in the corner of his eye. He looked towards a doorway, where the goggles picked up a figure. It was hard for Hadji to make out what it looked like, as he could only see part of it, but he took note of its withered looking hand, as it reached out, as if to pull on a lever. There was a sudden creaking sound, as the ceiling of the corridor they were in collapsed directly above Dr. Quest.
"Look out!" Hadji exclaimed, as he grabbed the Doctor's arm and pulled him to safety. The ceiling had nearly crushed him to death. Hadji looked towards the room where the strange figure had just been, but found his path to it blocked by the rubble from the ceiling.
"Dad, are you alright?" Jonny asked, as he and Manish crouched over Dr. Quest.
"I'm fine Jonny. Thank you, Hadji" he said, looking towards his foster son. But Hadji didn't seem to be listening. "I saw someone" he said excitedly. "There is someone here trying to kill us".
Jonny stood up. "Well, they got close, but not close enough..." just as he finished his sentence, the floor underneath them slid open. It collapsed into a slide, dropping all 4 of them down onto the bottom floor and then dropping them into the basement level.
"Is everyone alright?" Dr. Quest asked, as he looked around. They appeared to have fallen into some sort of safe. There were tube lights on the ceiling, allowing them to see without their goggles. They noticed a number of large boxes in the corner of the room.
"I see that you have all survived your fall" a voice rang out in the room. A man dressed in a black cloak walked out of the shadows of the room. It was the same man who had looked on in glee, as the ghost hunters perished. He dropped his hood and grinned at the group.
"Abhijeet" Dr. Manish said the man's name threateningly. "What the hell is going on around here?".
Jonny and Hadji quickly withdrew their stun guns and pointed them at the man.
He just looked at them and laughed. "Put your toys away, kids" he said. The door to the room opened. Ramesh walked into the room, removing a pair of gloves which had the appearance of withered hands. In one hand, he held a pistol, which he aimed at the Quests. What had occurred was only starting to dawn on the group.
"We'll tell you what's going on here, Dr. Manish" Ramesh said, laughing. "Before you arrived here, my brother and I had discovered a map. It was in a bad state, so we photocopied it. It was the same sheet your wretched child had shown such interest in" he said, grinning.
Abhijeet now spoke. "It led us deep into the lower levels of the fort, where we uncovered stashes of priceless artefacts which appeared to belong to the last Queen. We've kept it secret even since, with our so called 'ghost stories', and booby trapped the fort to take care of people like you, but some came to close to finding out our secrets" he said, his face breaking out into a wry smile.
"So you murdered them" Dr. Quest growled. He stared at the brothers with hatred in his eyes. However, before he could say anymore, he noticed movement behind Ramesh, outside the door.
Before the Quest team's very eyes, the ghostly woman who had killed Rahul earlier, moved slowly and menacingly into the room, with a dagger in its hand. Abhijeet looked towards his brother as he saw the creature. His face broke out into a smile. The woman walked right past Ramesh, stunning the entire Quest team.
"Who are you?" Hadji asked, now pointing his stun gun to the woman.
She smiled at him, and then put her hand on her face and pulled off a mask. It was Naila.
Hadji dropped his stun gun from shock. "Naila?" he said, sounding shocked. Dr. Quest, Manish and Jonny still had sights on Ramesh, as he pointed his pistol at them. She just smiled at him. "Not again" Hadji muttered, as he found out what had happened. He had been fooled yet again.
"I'm sorry, Hadji but I did warn you" she said, almost apologetic. The whole event seemed to carry on in slow motion. "Come on girl, cut it!" Ramesh yelled impatiently. Seeing his chance, Jonny fired many rounds of the stun guns at him. The pellets seemed to take immediate effect, knocking the man out. Dr. Quest, seeing what Naila was about to do and noticing that Ramesh was now unarmed, moved quickly in her direction. Dr. Manish, still needing to release his frustration and anger tried to reach for Abhijeet's throat.
"I'm sorry for breaking your heart" she said, as she raised her dagger.
"Oh, believe me, I've heard that before" Hadji replied, mechanically. Before Dr. Quest or Hadji could stop her, she cut a rope, which caused a section of the room's wall to collapse, trapping the Quests behind it.
Abhijeet saw a chance to escape. "Come, hurry!" he shouted at Naila. "We have enough in the car already" he said, running towards to exit. He hopped over his incapacitated brother, but before he could make it out, he was struck on the head with a rock. Naila had betrayed him as well.
"Sorry Doctor, but if I'm going to betray my love, I might as well keep the extra treasures" she said bitterly, as she walked out of the room.
Meanwhile, behind the rocks, the group was getting restless. "We've got to get out and stop them" Jonny grunted, as he tried to shift the rocks. Dr. Manish stared at the wall of rubble in front of them, trying to figure a way out.
"I'm with you, my friend" Hadji said, going up to Jonny and moving aside rocks with them. Dr. Quest was rummaging in his rucksack, finally extracting 2 spray cans of liquid.
"Step aside, boys" he said to Jonny and Hadji. Both moved aside. The Doctor proceeded to spray the rocks with both liquids. The others watched in awe as the remnants of the wall melted away.
"Nice one, dad" Jonny said, as he ran out of the gap in the rocks, followed by the rest of the group.
As they got back into the main section of the room, they saw the 2 brothers lying unconscious on the ground and Naila gone.
"I was a fool for trusting her" Dr. Manish said, in anger as he saw that the girl who he had always seen as innocent, was perhaps the most cunning of the entire group. "We may never find her now" he said.
"Actually, I think we can locate her quite easily" Hadji said, with a smile.
"And how will we do that, Hadj?" Jonny asked.
"Well, you remember when we first left the campsite?" he asked.
"What about it?" Jonny asked confused. Even Dr. Quest and Manish were now listening intently.
"Well, I actually gave her my watch, as a gift" Hadji said. "I wasn't sure whether to trust her, judging my past experiences with women who seem to be a bit too forward, so I turned on the tracking device, just to know where she would be" he added, slyly.
Jonny and Dr. Quest were surprised. They knew Hadji probably had a genius level IQ, but they had hardly expected him to show the level of cunning he had just displayed.
"I'll call the police here" Manish said, excitedly. "We can locate her later" he said, as they ran out of the fort, hoping to avoid any further traps.
After Manish had made his call, a number of policemen rushed to the area. Although they were reluctant to come, once Manish had convinced them that the Quests had neutralised those who were pretending to be spirits, they had come to the scene. The policemen dragged the 2 brothers out of the fort and into waiting vehicles.
"It's good to know this case is finally closed" Manish said to the team. "But what about Naila?" he asked.
Dr. Quest was on his laptop. "I've tracked her to a part of the desert, not far from here" he said. "She seems to have stopped moving.
As the last of the policemen emerged from the fort and stood around their vehicles, Jonny and Hadji stared quietly at the ruins. "So, I guess all those ghost stories about this place were a bluff" Jonny said.
"It appears so" Hadji replied.
Suddenly, the wind picked up. Everyone in the surrounding area started to grow uncomfortable, as the air got considerably colder.
Jonny and Hadji glanced at each other and then saw something that nearly made their blood freeze. A nearly transparent figure of a woman was staring blankly out of one of the many windows, as policemen and the Quests looked on in shock. It seemed to glance towards them and grin. Then it disappeared as soon as it arrived.
"I think we spoke too soon" Hadji finally blurted out.
Meanwhile, further on in the desert...
Naila sat in her car, as smoke rose from the front. It had stopped dead. "Work, damn it!" she shouted at the vehicle. "I don't want to be out here alone!" she yelled.
Suddenly, a voice came from behind here. Almost whispering, it said; "You're not alone".
She froze for a second. Then, she turned her head around. She was met with a site she had never expected. Rahul, the man she had stabbed to death before, was sitting right there, the bloodstain still visible on his chest. He was transparent and had a look in his eye, which all pointed to one thing. He was not alive anymore. Next to him, was the same woman Jonny and Hadji had just seen at the fort. Only now, instead of smiling, her face had an expression of hatred on it.
Naila was still frozen with fear, when the female spectre told her who she was. "I am the Queen of Bhangarh" she said, in a feint whisper. "You stole my treasures!" It shouted suddenly at Naila. Naila screamed as the 2 spirits slowly moved closer to her. When the police finally found her the next day, she was unable to speak a coherent word of any language. For reasons that no one in the closest mental hospital could fathom, she had lost her mind.
Manish had finally completed his task and the Quests departed for Bangalore on the same day. After a couple of days rest, Jonny and Dr. Quest returned to Maine, while Hadji stayed back for a month.