Ch7
Before them was what appeared to be a huge head made of natural stone? The 'beast's' lips open wide, and it's teeth connected top to bottom leaving four gaps to get through. Behind each opening appeared to be a different path. Zul surfaced first followed by Sadie.
"It looks like we have found the entrance." Zul said.
"Yes I agree, but now we have a problem. Which path do we take? ...'The light will show you the way.' A flashlight certainly would not last underwater. And they did not exactly have them in the 1500's."
Sadie paused a moment, a smirk reaching her face.
"I wonder if they had glowing water."
"Nice. I guess we are going to have to wait till nightfall." Zul replied.
As the sun began to set, they rechecked and waterproofed their supplies, then entered the water. They swam above the mouth.
"Once we go down try and stay as still as possible so we do not create more light, which might be the key."
"I agree." said Zul.
The water began to glow faintly at first then it grew brighter and brighter. They both submerged underwater. They could see the four entrances in front of them. They both became as motionless as possible. It happened almost immediately. They could see where water was slowly being pushed out of one of the entrances. The light really did show them the way. Sadie pointed up and they surfaced from the water and went to shore.
"We should probably have some space between us as we enter. Say ten seconds apart?" Sadie said.
"Fine, I will go first." Zul smiled.
"Oh no you're not."
"But it is my map."
"Fine let's flip a coin to see who goes first."
"Certainly, but I will do the flipping."
"You have no faith Zul."
"I have quite a bit of faith, Sadie. That is precisely why I will be the one to flip the coin."
Sadie smirked, but relented. She reached in her pocket and pulled out some change. She handed Zul a quarter. But when he flipped the coin in the air and his eyes followed it, Sadie dove under the water to the entrance. Zul dove after her but he had just enough time to see her smile back at him before pulling herself into the opening, and then she was gone.
Sadie swam and swam. The tunnel seemed like it would never end. She knew she could not panic because it would make holding her breath harder. So she calmed herself. She knew Zul would not be far behind her. Her lungs began to burn for oxygen, but she finally was relieved to find the small tunnel open up into a pool. Sadie broke the water gasping for air. Luckily she was able to stand up here. She quickly looked back for Zul, but he did not come through. Sadie counted to ten, and he still did not show. Sadie began to panic and just as she prepared herself to go back into the tunnel to find him. His head broke the surface. Sadie dropped to her knees, all the tension had left her weak.
"Oh good grief, Zul, you scared me!"
"And you tricked me."
"Yes. Yes I apologize. Now are you alright?"
"I am fine Sadie. Look." He pointed behind her.
Sadie stood and turned. They were in a cave with water pouring down the walls only broken by roots that had worked their way through. It was dark, but the water gave them some light. On a raised platform on the ground before them, was a rather large gold crucifix upon a stone alter. Surrounding it were candles and melted wax. Sadie and Zul climbed out of the water and stood before the crucifix.
"It is beautiful." Zul said.
"Think it is ok to light the candles?" Sadie asked.
"I think so."
Neither of them moved. Finally Sadie stepped forwarded, lighter in hand, and lit the first one, and paused.
"First one lit…And nothing happened…Good." Sadie spoke to herself.
She then lit all the candles.
"This cannot be the treasure, though I will not complain if it is. What is the next part of the riddle?" Zul said.
The crucifix shined more brightly in the candlelight's glow.
"'If God favors you, you will be light on your feet.'" Sadie recalled.
"But how do we know if God favors us?" Zul asked.
"Well… If our Spanish pirate was religious, then chances are he was Catholic."
Zul walked around the room. He noticed one wall in particular. It had been cut into, to allow for climbing.
"Look at this Sadie."
She broke her train of thought long enough to go look at what he was talking about.
"This must be our exit." Sadie responded.
Zul climbed it, but stone blocked his way. He felt around the edge checking for any traps, but not finding anything he pushed upon the stone slowly. It moved effortlessly. When nothing happened he pushed it open all the way. Poking his head through he saw a tunnel that went on about 30 feet and opened to the outside. He climbed back down.
"There is an exit about 30 feet through a tunnel on the other side." Zul call back to Sadie.
Zul approached the golden treasure. And reached out for it, but Sadie stopped him.
"If our pirate friend was Catholic then we should kneel as in prayer."
"You think so?" asked Zul.
"What could it hurt? I rather be safe than sorry."
The both took a kneeling position, and it was then they could see under the edge of top of the alter. They saw that the cross went through the top and was connected to a small chain. Sadie and Zul got up and walked around the alter and tried to follow the chain but it disappeared through a hole in the stone of the floor.
"It appears the crucifix is an anchor of some sorts. I can see the chain is pulled through a thin loop in the base of the cross. But gold being as soft as it is it would be easy to break. That is the meaning of the clue though. 'If God favors you, you will be light on your feet.' I suppose God would not favor someone who stole a crucifix from an alter."
"I say floor drops out from under us."
"Agreed." Zul replied
They both look at the floor, then back to the cross. Zul pulled out several feet of rope from his bag. Carefully he tied it around the golden treasure.
"We will likely have one try at this. You climb up first and make your way out of the tunnel."
Sadie began to protest.
"Sadie, I am not one of your amateur chums. I am quite capable of managing this trap."
Not seeing anything she could comeback with she climbed her way out. Zul took the other end of the rope and climbed through the hole in the ceiling. After seeing that Sadie was safely clear he pulled the rope taught. He looked around once more and wrapped the rope around his arm and jerked hard. He heard the snap of the gold giving way and the distinct sound of the chain falling through the floor. Something below the floor groaned. Zul quickly reeled the cross in. Another groan came from the side followed by one in the roof. The ceiling began to crack; water came rushing down slamming hard into the floor and filling the pool. With a grinding noise the floor began to tip on its side. More chucks of ceiling came down and Zul pulled the crucifix in and made his way through the tunnel. Water poured in behind him and he was more being pushed through the tunnel then actually crawling. The water got faster and stronger. Just as he got to the edge he saw there was no ground outside the tunnel, and he was going to be pushed to a long drop. Suddenly out of nowhere an arm grabbed his and pulled him to the side. Sadie had managed to pull him to a ledge. He was now pressed up against her both panting from the excitement.
"I am sure glad you listened for once." Zul smiled down to her.
"I thought you could manage this trap?"
"I did. I had you wait for me outside didn't I?"
"Your incorrigible!" She laughed up at him.
It was then Sadie realized how close they were standing to each other. She discreetly pried him off of her and inched further away along the ledge.
"Did you get it?" She asked to distract him.
Zul opened his bag. The crucifix shined even in the dark.
"Did you have any doubt?"
"Nice Job Zul! Now we just need to make our way down this cliff."
They climbed down, found a small clearing and made camp for the night.
