The Taurus Mountains, Anatolia, Turkey

The helicopter, a streak of silver against the dusty plain of the Taurus, sped on towards its destination.

Inside, Lady Lara Croft, Countess of Abingdon, checked her laptop computer. A digitalised map of the surrounding mountains shimmered on the LCD.

The pilot, wearing reflective sunglasses turned to her 'Are you sure this is where you want to be dropped.'

Lara nodded 'Absolutely. This is almost certainly where our site is.'

'That's right,' cut in Marika, who sat in the back of the helicopter, surrounded by photocopies and pencilled notes 'This is definitely where Kuytu Kale is supposed to be.'

Lara checked her watch 'That's if the one thousand year old Sarmatian silk painting I borrowed from the Georgian National Museum is reliable.'

'I'm pretty sure Lara.'

'As always, I value your expertise.'

The pilot turned the steering column, and the helicopter banked left over a dusty plateau, covered in scrubby bushes.

'Mind telling me what you're looking for?'

Lara looked sideways at Marika, who nodded 'Wrasse is an old friend of my father's Lara. We can trust him about this.'

Lara turned back to Wrasse 'Mr Wrasse, I must insist that you tell no-one about our discovery.'

Wrasse looked into her serious brown eyes, and saw behind them, that levity was not a word currently in her vocabulary.

'I promise.'

'Very well. Kuytu Kale is – or was – the stronghold of the Seljuk Turks in this part of Turkey. Supposedly concealed within the canyons and peaks in these parts, it has remained a mystery until this day.'

'Until you found this painting?'

'Indeed. And after a lengthy translation process, it lead us to the city's location.' She looked out of the window 'Which we should be approaching now I think.'

Wrasse brought the helicopter to a hover, and Lara unclipped her seatbelt and strode into the bay area at the back. Marika looked up as she came out, a young beautiful woman, with her hair in its quintessential plait and wearing khaki shorts and a green top. Her trusty sidearms hung in their holsters, and she was wearing hiking boots.

Lara took down her parachute, and tightened the straps over her arms. She came over to Marika, and gave her a hug.

'I hope you're not worried.'

'About you? Certainly not!'

Wrasse's voice came in from the cockpit. 'I'm ready to open the doors Lara!'

'Good. Tell me when it's safe to jump.'

A large sliding door opened to the hot air outside. Marika's papers fluttered in the gusts of wind.

'Okay, you're good to go.'

Lara waved goodbye to Marika, and leapt.

Lara fell through the heat haze towards the ground. The helicopters rotors roared as it gained height again. She reached round to her rucksack, felt for the toggle and yanked it.

With a creak and a rustle, the blue plastic parachute ripped out of the rucksack, and ballooned into the air. It filled, and, pulled by Lara's weight, floated down like a huge ultramarine mushroom.

Lara slipped off the rucksack and rolled to free herself from the billowing folds.

'Stylish,' said Marika over the headset.

'Thank you. Well,' said Lara, surveying the sheer cliffs that surrounded the plateau 'This is the place, but how do I get in?'

She skirted her way around a few dry bushes, white and desiccated in the sun.

'Maybe there's a door somewhere.'

'That would be a convenience too far. Most ancient civilisations have never taken my views into account by providing a simple door. Anyway, spikes and pitfalls are a lot more fun.' Lara reached the lip of a large round depression in the ground, and slid down into it. 'You haven't got an adventure until you have the spikes.'

Underneath her feet, hairline cracks spread out in the dry mud, criss-crossing the brown dirt with an ominous tone.

Lara, hearing the noise, turned.

'What…'

The cracks fell away as a gaping hole, expanding towards her –

Lara ran, as fast as was possible, trying to further the gap between her and the edge of the hole. The edge of the hollow neared, and she threw herself bodily, hands stretched out to grab the dry earth. She landed heavily, half in and half out of the hole…

Which appeared to be full of water…

Lara pulled herself up out of it, turned around and scanned the reservoir. Lined with stone, carved with elegant spouts that were now dry, the reservoir was full of deep green water. It was so dark that Lara couldn't see it's bottom. She stared down into the depths.

'Could you make it down?' crackled Marika's voice over the headset.

'We'll just have to see?'

'You should be careful. We don't want to have to report your sad death to Winston.'

Lara turned on the PLS that hung across her body on the black strap. 'Well, let's take a look around.'

She dived into the green water. Bubbles swirled around her, cool against her skin. She swam further, until she reached the close-fitting stones of the bottom of the reservoir. There was a tunnel, with a current creating a small rush of the debris that littered the floor. It tugged at her clothes, pulling at her insistently.

She let out a breath, and swam up to the surface. She broke through, gasping with relief. Sculling in the water, she floated on her back.

'There's a tunnel. A current, going deep inside the mountain.'

'Can you manage?'

'Seeing as I didn't bring any diving equipment, I suppose I'll have to.'

'You'd better come out the other side alive.'

'I hope so.'

'Okay. Good luck.'

Lara breathed deeply, and dived again. This time, as she neared the tunnel, she swam right in and with the current, letting it take her to it's natural destination. Carven stones flashed by, her PLS illuminating the tunnel.

In a burst of bubbles, she tumbled silently into a new tank. Lungs bursting, she struck out for the surface, and breathed in gratefully. Then, she looked around.

The tank was huge, at least as big as an Olympic swimming pool. Water gushed in from other tunnels, as she could see from the swirls and eddies on the surface. There was a low lip about thirty yards away, and she swam towards it. She hauled herself out, and stood, looking up at the walls of the chamber.

A huge doorway, with carved pillars and lintel, stood before her. Stairs ran up to a corridor, with impenetrable dark at the end of it.

'What's going on Lara?' Marika asked.

Lara took out a camera and fitted it to her headset. She tapped it once or twice. 'Are you getting a picture?'

'Hang on. Yeah, we have a visual. On you go.'

'In my own time,' Lara smiled.

She walked up the steps carefully. After years in the raiding business, she had learned to watch herself for traps.

But there were no spinning blades, no collapsing floors. Everything was quiet. The light glanced off the stones, the aura of the PLS gleaming softly in the darkness.

Up ahead was a door. Rotten and dusty, it creaked in a slight breeze from what it hid. Lara pulled out a gun, aimed at a few well chosen places. The door shuddered, and collapsed in a heap of broken pieces.

Lara shoved the last few splinters aside, and looked around.

What she saw was incredible. The door was at a vantage point, high above a long cave, down the centre of which, a processional road ran. It was lined with carven columns, decorated with spiralling patterns and letters. From the street ran alleys leading to tiers of houses and markets, shops and mansions. All quiet, and empty. The breeze that she had felt before stirred in the air again.

She looked up, and saw the crack running along the line of the street. Daylight poured in, lighting up the broken roofs and gutted walls of the buildings.

Lara walked quickly down the steps. There was too much here for her to explore on her own. It would take several teams of archeologists to excavate properly. And then only if they had a grant for several years. The stairs lead to the street. The columns towered over her. A huge long mansion took form out of the darkness. Lara paused on the threshold. A bat fluttered out, disturbed from it's rest.

'Strange,' she commented 'There are no bodies.'

'How morbid of you.'

'What I mean is – why is it so empty. There are no signs of anything – no war, no famine. There's nothing.'

She walked into the main chamber of the mansion. A long table stood, some plates and cups remained on it. A child's toy lay in the dust. The chairs were in order, the fireplace set with kindling.

This isn't right, she thought, it doesn't make sense.

She went back outside. Despite her many years in so many locations, and although the occult and the unexplained weren't unknown to her, she felt more than a little anxious.

She continued along the road, keeping her face up to the light. The rows of houses were coming to an end. She came to a huge open plaza, where, in the centre, a mosque stood. It stood in a pool of sunlight, its tall dome dominating her view.