Path of Destruction
Part Three: Into The Dungeon
Lara Croft dangled high above the ground suspended from the lengthy plummet only by the tips of the fingers on her left hand. Just moments before the indoor aqueduct that she had been exploring gave way underneath her. It would have been a quick end to her adventurous lifestyle had the treasure hunter not caught a small notch with in the wall.
She hastily pulled herself upward placing her feet firmly against the wall. The explorer pushed off of the wall with all her might. She gracefully flew through the air over the deep abyss below her landing carefully on the other side with the ease an Olympic gymnast.
The tomb raider stood motionless for a moment staring at the rock underneath her feet. To her surprise the structure stood firm below her. She cautiously peered behind her at the gaping hole. A small pile of rubble had formed on the floor far below. "That was too close," she said as she blew a stray hair out of her eyes.
The aqueduct stretched along in front her like a huge stone drainage gutter. The outer rim stretched up on her left nearly to the explorer's hip. It stood at just the right height that she nearly prevailed upon it for a short sit but considering the condition of the area behind her rejected the proposal and decided instead to continue on her way.
Moving cautiously the treasure hunter proceeded along the dry aqueduct towards the troublesome wooden section. Each step was planted gently and deliberately so as to not upset the structure's delicate balance once more. The whole journey took nearly an hour to complete and when it was done Miss Croft's normally steady nerves had ever so slightly began to fray.
Lara gingerly kneeled down and examined the wooden plank before her. To her surprise it had not rotted nearly as much as she thought it should have. More over, there were no signs of damage left by insects either.
Gazing over the side she could see the rope still attached to the upper portion of the aqueduct. The small cup, however, was almost totally obscured and it was this that the explorer wished to examine.
Bringing herself back inside the Roman water device she attempted release the wooden section in front of her. This task was attempted in a number of extraordinarily different ways. At first the relic hunter attempted walk across the board hoping it would crack underneath her weight. When that and more scientific methods had failed Croft employed the use of her pistols. Strangely, these did not have the effect that they should have. More specifically they left hardly a mark on their target.
More perplexed than ever the relic hunter knelt down and began to inspect the piece of lumber even closer. It was now even more obvious than before that the wood that the treasure seeker was dealing with was not to be considered, by any standards, normal. This was further confirmed when the young woman finally resorted to the small lighter in her pocket. For several seconds she held the flame up next to the plank attempting to set it ablaze with no positive results.
"Well, this is certainly odd," the trekker said to herself, perplexed. The next few minutes were taken up by a great deal of thoughtful consideration on the topic. When she finally came to the obvious conclusion that mere speculation on the subject was useless and although the discovery was quite meritorious her present mission was a matter of a far more pressing nature.
That being the case Lara traversed the remainder of the aqueduct in the faint hope of detecting some thing or another that would assist in solving her present predicament. To her dismay there was no such discovery. Instead, the ditch was designed to channel the flow of water through a very small crevasse in the wall.
And so it was that young Miss Croft was left with only one solution to her predicament. It was a solution she did not care for in the least for it involved trusting the ancient structure to hold her weight from below. Never the less the explorer was willing to attempt such a feat and so proceeded on her way.
A few moments later Lara was hanging from the wooden plank far above the floor. Holding on tightly to the piece of lumber she swung herself forward in an effort to grab the attached rope with her foot. Gracefully, she flung herself forward stretching her leg out to its maximum length placing her foot directly below the rope. The makeshift trapeze artist quickly flipped her foot forward just capturing the rope. But, as she began to swing backward the loosely hanging lariat slipped off.
Not deterred in the least by this failure she flung herself forward once again and once again the object of her pursuit slipped from her grasp. Holding tightly onto the wooden portion of the aqueduct the explorer endeavored yet again to grasp the line. At last the rope wound its way somewhat securely onto the woman's foot. Steadying herself Lara secured the rope by pulling her feet together. She gently moved her lower section upward. On the other end she released her grip with her left hand. The treasure hunter winched as all of the weight shifted onto her right arm. She reached down with the other and quickly grabbed the line from her suspended legs. As she did her lone support strained under the pressure until it was enough to cause the hanging maiden to let out deep cry.
Feeling that she may be losing her grip Lara heaved her left hand, rope and all, back onto the platform. This relieved a good deal of the pain in her arms yet the thought of nearly plummeting to the ground began to vex her. Due to that one thought she decided it best to take a momentary furlough from her present activities before continuing on to phase two of her plan.
This being the decision, Croft pulled herself upward onto the indestructible plank she was hanging on. Here she sat down and relaxed for a moment while she reeled in length of rope that she had just captured. When it had been successfully and totally retrieved, the line was studied thoroughly for defects.
Special notice was taken of the end where it had snapped before. It was a clean break, almost too clean. It was as though someone had cut through the rope with a knife. The treasure hunter carefully weighed the possibility of this and was soon forced to concede that it was almost impossible. She was the only one in this place. The others would not enter it until morning and then only when their hangovers had eased up enough to allow them to once more be in the presence of sunlight. There was, of course, the option that the line could have been cut two thousand years earlier. This, however, left multiple questions such how and why.
Fearing that such idle speculation upon the subject would only serve to slow her down the explorer gave up on the mindless pursuit and turned her focus back toward the issue at hand.
Gripping the rope tightly the armature daredevil stood upright and took a deep breath. She stared down at the stone floor. It stared back ominously as if it were waiting patiently for her, defying her courage and abilities.
Lara's face became grim and stern as she gathered all of her strength together in preparation for her next task. With out hesitation the young women then leapt off of the precipice. When it had reached its full length the line jerked to a sudden stop. This was followed an instant later by a second jolt as the trap door violently swung open.
For a moment Croft hung in mid air underneath the aqueduct. She gazed across the room with eagle eyes attempting to discern the result of her exploits. On the opposite side of the room she discovered what she was looking for in a dark corner. A small gap was now visible in the stone floor. From where she was, however, she could not see where it led. Obviously, she would have to get closer.
Hastily the explorer ascended the rope back to the wooden plank. From there she shimmied upward to the aqueduct and pulled herself up. Wasting no time she sprinted across the aqueduct to the place where she had first entered.
As she ran her mind was affixed solidly in wonderment about what awaited her in the new chamber. This was so much the case that she nearly forgot about the wide gap that had formed underneath her a short time earlier. It was not until she felt a slight rumbling underneath her did she recall certain previous events at which point the young woman's flight came to a sudden and abrupt halt.
She stood motionless for what seemed to her like an hour considering the possibilities for her next move. Staring ahead of her she could see the giant hole she had made in the stone structure. Just beyond was the rope and lever that she had used to ascend to the lofty height she now at. This scene drew forth a plan in her head. "Well old girl," she said to herself in preparation, "this will probably kill you but it's than staying here."
With that she took off once again across the unstable plane. The rock structure crumbled just inches behind her. When she had reached the edge of the original hole Croft leapt into the air just as the final pieces of stone fell to earth depositing herself in the exact situation that she had occupied when she had first made it to the top of the aqueduct.
The explorer hung for a short time far above the floor grasping tightly with both hands to the small notch in the wall. She was now totally committed to her plan. The stone edifice on her left had now completely disappeared. The only evidence of its existence at all was a large pile of rubble that littered the stone floor. On the other side of her the gap extended for nearly three feet at the end of which was attached the lever and rope.
Once again she pulled her legs upward underneath her dangling body. She fixed her feet tightly against the wall. The woman took a deep breath and without further ado preformed a backward flip through the air concluding with her clutching tightly to the rope that had caused all of this trouble in the first place.
Without so much as a pause to collect herself the air born treasure hunter shimmied expeditiously down the rope and sprinted across the room to the new opening in the floor. Staring into it she was confronted by an awesome blackness. It seemed to swell and churn like an ocean storm. Even the glow of the torches, which lit up most of the chamber, did not penetrate the darkness within the pit. Cautiously, Croft ignited a flare and tossed it into the abyss.
Its flight hardly lasted a moment before bouncing off of a large boulder and rolling down a small embankment. When it had finally come to rest it created a clear visible image of the area around it, which happened to be a rather large cave. The light of the flare extended out as far as it could yet no wall was visible. Beyond that the blackness loomed overwhelmingly in the air.
Seeing no other course of action Lara courageously hopped through the opening into the cavern. "Which way to go," she asked herself picking up the flare. Her voice seemed to echo far through the cavern. She smiled slightly at the sound. It reminded her a game she used to play with Von Croy in her youth.
Such reminiscing only lasted a moment, however, for it was far over shadowed by the state of her current mission. Such things would have to wait for another time.
Leaving her memories behind she turned her attention back toward the cave. She spun completely around holding the flare out in front of her. There was no sign of any clue that would indicate which direction to take. This situation, though not foreign to the explorer was, to say the least, annoying. With the lack any better plan, therefore, she chose a direction at random and heaved the flare in that direction.
The light whizzed through the dark cave like a firefly until its path was finally interrupted by the ceiling whereupon it fell to earth with a thud. Lara could now see a small portion more of the cavern. The land between her and the far off light appeared to be quiet flat. Stalagmites and stalactites appeared from time to time but nothing else. The floor was coated with a gray sand of some sort that seemed to crunch under the woman's feet.
Seeing that there was not a great deal of obstacles in her path the young trekker lit a second flare and proceeded forward. By the time she came upon the first flare it had already began to flicker and die. She hardly took notice of this, however, because as she approached it her ears picked up on the faint sound of water moving somewhere far off.
She moved on through the dark in the direction of the sound hoping that it led her to somewhere useful. Ten minutes later she found herself standing in front of a slow moving river. The light of the flare gleamed brightly off of the water like a Christmas tree. It danced merrily from here to there as the water rippled swiftly over the rocks that lined the bottom of the river.
As spectacular as the site was it failed to hold the attention of the relic hunter for any length of time. Instead she turned and began to intently follow the river down stream.
She hadn't gone far, however, before she spotted something that peaked her curiosity. In the furthest light of the explorer's flare a crude ditch could be seen on the opposite side of the waterway. From where she was it didn't appear to be anything special, just a hole in the earth sitting perpendicular to the river. What caught the explorer's eye was space between the water and the empty trench. Just above the water line the very edge of a brick was visible.
Lara raised an eyebrow. For quite some time she had been wondering if there was any real reason for her to be where she was. Up to this point she had seen only the natural formations in the cave. Now there was a sign that man had influenced the landscape in someway.
The relic hunter moved to ford the waterway. As the water moved upward over her foot and onto her ankle she felt a chill shoot through her body. Instinctively, she jerked backward removing her submerged appendage from the river.
The event took the young woman completely by surprise. So much so that she forgot herself and let out an uncharacteristic giggle. The effect of this was a small portion of embarrassment. She was greatly relieved when she realized that she was alone.
Once she had recollected her wits she placed her foot into the cold water yet again. This time the icy chill did not take her by surprise. Its only adverse effects were the goose bumps that appeared up and down her arms. Within a matter of minutes she had traversed the river.
As the explorer pulled herself from the arctic like water she gazed down at the protruding brick that she had noticed before. It was her first real clue that she was going in the right direction. Upon further examination she found that the large ditch beyond was the rivers original route. At some point in history someone or something must have changed the course of the waterway.
Sitting down on the edge of the old waterway the young lady marveled at the site with great awe. She felt privileged to be in the midst of something that no one else had seen in two thousand years. It occurred her that this was the reason that she started raiding tombs.
It also occurred to her that the last meal she had eaten was her lunch nearly eight hours earlier. Even at that it was by no means anything resembling a real meal, only a small pastry. Just thinking about it caused her stomach to rumble.
Croft removed her backpack and set it on the ground in front of her. Reaching inside she pulled out a ham sandwich from inside. It wasn't the sort of meal that she would have preferred at the time but she embraced it as though it was the last food that she would partake of.
Sitting her flare aside she made herself comfortable by pulling her legs up closer to her. She was now set to enjoy her food but before she could consume even a morsel of it she was disturbed by the distant sound of rustling sand. Curious, she put down her sandwich and listened intently. It happened again.
A wave of curiosity and apprehension washed over the lunching explorer. Within ten seconds everything was packed up and back on her back. Holding a flare in her left hand she drew one her pistols with her right.
She moved forward quickly and quietly searching for the perpetrator that had disturbed her dinner. The flare's light stretched out in front of her like a blanket pushing back the dark cloud that surrounded her.
That's when she saw what she was looking for. At the very edge of the light stood the dark figure of a man. It was there only a moment, though, for it promptly ducked back into the darkness when it noticed that it was visible.
Miss Croft raised an eyebrow at the shadow. She quickly heaved her flare at the dark figure in front of her. Unlike before it flew its total distance and skidded to a halt in the sand catching only a glimpse of the shadow as it scurried away.
Wasting no time the young lady pulled out a new flare. Gun in hand she pursued the figure through the darkness. By the time she made it to the shadow's last location it had disappeared completely leaving only a flickering flare. Near by was a set of indentations in the sand, which the treasure hunter deduced to be the footprints of her prey.
The predator trekked forward following the sand prints for what seemed to her like nearly three miles. The entire time she peered out of the corners of her eyes in case the strange figure decided to attack her from the shadows.
Her fear in this matter came to a head a short time later when the tracks came to a sudden stopped without warning. Confounded, the tracker lifter her flare high into air. It's light stretched over the floor illuminating a great deal more of the cave. Nowhere could she see a second set of footprints.
Out of Curiosity Lara flung her hand through the space above the last set of prints and back again. As she had suspected the figure was not invisible, which left her with the feeling that she had either crazy because of the surrounding darkness or she was dealing with something unnatural.
That being the case any normal human's thought process would have been halted then and there resting their conclusion firmly on the former. Miss Lara Croft, however was no ordinary human and, relying on what she had seen in the past, began to contemplate some rather unorthodox scenarios.
While her mind flew through the possibilities the explorer continued on her way. Not far away she came across the cave wall. Just to the side was a small opening in the rock. She slid around to opening of the crevasse. She gripped her nine millimeter tightly and cocked the hammer back incase the shadowy figure was hiding within.
Her heart began to pound ferociously inside of her chest. It seemed to echo through the cave like sonar. It beat with such fervor that sweat began to form on its owner's brow and stream down her face. The treasure hunter's eyes narrowed focusing her attention on the hole next to her.
At length she swung around thrusting her gun forward expecting to be attacked immediately. And she was, from behind. Within seconds the relic hunter found herself face down on the ground. Wasting no time she rolled onto her back just in time to see a flash of metal coming down on her in the flare light. The flash of a sword.
To be continued...
Part Three: Into The Dungeon
Lara Croft dangled high above the ground suspended from the lengthy plummet only by the tips of the fingers on her left hand. Just moments before the indoor aqueduct that she had been exploring gave way underneath her. It would have been a quick end to her adventurous lifestyle had the treasure hunter not caught a small notch with in the wall.
She hastily pulled herself upward placing her feet firmly against the wall. The explorer pushed off of the wall with all her might. She gracefully flew through the air over the deep abyss below her landing carefully on the other side with the ease an Olympic gymnast.
The tomb raider stood motionless for a moment staring at the rock underneath her feet. To her surprise the structure stood firm below her. She cautiously peered behind her at the gaping hole. A small pile of rubble had formed on the floor far below. "That was too close," she said as she blew a stray hair out of her eyes.
The aqueduct stretched along in front her like a huge stone drainage gutter. The outer rim stretched up on her left nearly to the explorer's hip. It stood at just the right height that she nearly prevailed upon it for a short sit but considering the condition of the area behind her rejected the proposal and decided instead to continue on her way.
Moving cautiously the treasure hunter proceeded along the dry aqueduct towards the troublesome wooden section. Each step was planted gently and deliberately so as to not upset the structure's delicate balance once more. The whole journey took nearly an hour to complete and when it was done Miss Croft's normally steady nerves had ever so slightly began to fray.
Lara gingerly kneeled down and examined the wooden plank before her. To her surprise it had not rotted nearly as much as she thought it should have. More over, there were no signs of damage left by insects either.
Gazing over the side she could see the rope still attached to the upper portion of the aqueduct. The small cup, however, was almost totally obscured and it was this that the explorer wished to examine.
Bringing herself back inside the Roman water device she attempted release the wooden section in front of her. This task was attempted in a number of extraordinarily different ways. At first the relic hunter attempted walk across the board hoping it would crack underneath her weight. When that and more scientific methods had failed Croft employed the use of her pistols. Strangely, these did not have the effect that they should have. More specifically they left hardly a mark on their target.
More perplexed than ever the relic hunter knelt down and began to inspect the piece of lumber even closer. It was now even more obvious than before that the wood that the treasure seeker was dealing with was not to be considered, by any standards, normal. This was further confirmed when the young woman finally resorted to the small lighter in her pocket. For several seconds she held the flame up next to the plank attempting to set it ablaze with no positive results.
"Well, this is certainly odd," the trekker said to herself, perplexed. The next few minutes were taken up by a great deal of thoughtful consideration on the topic. When she finally came to the obvious conclusion that mere speculation on the subject was useless and although the discovery was quite meritorious her present mission was a matter of a far more pressing nature.
That being the case Lara traversed the remainder of the aqueduct in the faint hope of detecting some thing or another that would assist in solving her present predicament. To her dismay there was no such discovery. Instead, the ditch was designed to channel the flow of water through a very small crevasse in the wall.
And so it was that young Miss Croft was left with only one solution to her predicament. It was a solution she did not care for in the least for it involved trusting the ancient structure to hold her weight from below. Never the less the explorer was willing to attempt such a feat and so proceeded on her way.
A few moments later Lara was hanging from the wooden plank far above the floor. Holding on tightly to the piece of lumber she swung herself forward in an effort to grab the attached rope with her foot. Gracefully, she flung herself forward stretching her leg out to its maximum length placing her foot directly below the rope. The makeshift trapeze artist quickly flipped her foot forward just capturing the rope. But, as she began to swing backward the loosely hanging lariat slipped off.
Not deterred in the least by this failure she flung herself forward once again and once again the object of her pursuit slipped from her grasp. Holding tightly onto the wooden portion of the aqueduct the explorer endeavored yet again to grasp the line. At last the rope wound its way somewhat securely onto the woman's foot. Steadying herself Lara secured the rope by pulling her feet together. She gently moved her lower section upward. On the other end she released her grip with her left hand. The treasure hunter winched as all of the weight shifted onto her right arm. She reached down with the other and quickly grabbed the line from her suspended legs. As she did her lone support strained under the pressure until it was enough to cause the hanging maiden to let out deep cry.
Feeling that she may be losing her grip Lara heaved her left hand, rope and all, back onto the platform. This relieved a good deal of the pain in her arms yet the thought of nearly plummeting to the ground began to vex her. Due to that one thought she decided it best to take a momentary furlough from her present activities before continuing on to phase two of her plan.
This being the decision, Croft pulled herself upward onto the indestructible plank she was hanging on. Here she sat down and relaxed for a moment while she reeled in length of rope that she had just captured. When it had been successfully and totally retrieved, the line was studied thoroughly for defects.
Special notice was taken of the end where it had snapped before. It was a clean break, almost too clean. It was as though someone had cut through the rope with a knife. The treasure hunter carefully weighed the possibility of this and was soon forced to concede that it was almost impossible. She was the only one in this place. The others would not enter it until morning and then only when their hangovers had eased up enough to allow them to once more be in the presence of sunlight. There was, of course, the option that the line could have been cut two thousand years earlier. This, however, left multiple questions such how and why.
Fearing that such idle speculation upon the subject would only serve to slow her down the explorer gave up on the mindless pursuit and turned her focus back toward the issue at hand.
Gripping the rope tightly the armature daredevil stood upright and took a deep breath. She stared down at the stone floor. It stared back ominously as if it were waiting patiently for her, defying her courage and abilities.
Lara's face became grim and stern as she gathered all of her strength together in preparation for her next task. With out hesitation the young women then leapt off of the precipice. When it had reached its full length the line jerked to a sudden stop. This was followed an instant later by a second jolt as the trap door violently swung open.
For a moment Croft hung in mid air underneath the aqueduct. She gazed across the room with eagle eyes attempting to discern the result of her exploits. On the opposite side of the room she discovered what she was looking for in a dark corner. A small gap was now visible in the stone floor. From where she was, however, she could not see where it led. Obviously, she would have to get closer.
Hastily the explorer ascended the rope back to the wooden plank. From there she shimmied upward to the aqueduct and pulled herself up. Wasting no time she sprinted across the aqueduct to the place where she had first entered.
As she ran her mind was affixed solidly in wonderment about what awaited her in the new chamber. This was so much the case that she nearly forgot about the wide gap that had formed underneath her a short time earlier. It was not until she felt a slight rumbling underneath her did she recall certain previous events at which point the young woman's flight came to a sudden and abrupt halt.
She stood motionless for what seemed to her like an hour considering the possibilities for her next move. Staring ahead of her she could see the giant hole she had made in the stone structure. Just beyond was the rope and lever that she had used to ascend to the lofty height she now at. This scene drew forth a plan in her head. "Well old girl," she said to herself in preparation, "this will probably kill you but it's than staying here."
With that she took off once again across the unstable plane. The rock structure crumbled just inches behind her. When she had reached the edge of the original hole Croft leapt into the air just as the final pieces of stone fell to earth depositing herself in the exact situation that she had occupied when she had first made it to the top of the aqueduct.
The explorer hung for a short time far above the floor grasping tightly with both hands to the small notch in the wall. She was now totally committed to her plan. The stone edifice on her left had now completely disappeared. The only evidence of its existence at all was a large pile of rubble that littered the stone floor. On the other side of her the gap extended for nearly three feet at the end of which was attached the lever and rope.
Once again she pulled her legs upward underneath her dangling body. She fixed her feet tightly against the wall. The woman took a deep breath and without further ado preformed a backward flip through the air concluding with her clutching tightly to the rope that had caused all of this trouble in the first place.
Without so much as a pause to collect herself the air born treasure hunter shimmied expeditiously down the rope and sprinted across the room to the new opening in the floor. Staring into it she was confronted by an awesome blackness. It seemed to swell and churn like an ocean storm. Even the glow of the torches, which lit up most of the chamber, did not penetrate the darkness within the pit. Cautiously, Croft ignited a flare and tossed it into the abyss.
Its flight hardly lasted a moment before bouncing off of a large boulder and rolling down a small embankment. When it had finally come to rest it created a clear visible image of the area around it, which happened to be a rather large cave. The light of the flare extended out as far as it could yet no wall was visible. Beyond that the blackness loomed overwhelmingly in the air.
Seeing no other course of action Lara courageously hopped through the opening into the cavern. "Which way to go," she asked herself picking up the flare. Her voice seemed to echo far through the cavern. She smiled slightly at the sound. It reminded her a game she used to play with Von Croy in her youth.
Such reminiscing only lasted a moment, however, for it was far over shadowed by the state of her current mission. Such things would have to wait for another time.
Leaving her memories behind she turned her attention back toward the cave. She spun completely around holding the flare out in front of her. There was no sign of any clue that would indicate which direction to take. This situation, though not foreign to the explorer was, to say the least, annoying. With the lack any better plan, therefore, she chose a direction at random and heaved the flare in that direction.
The light whizzed through the dark cave like a firefly until its path was finally interrupted by the ceiling whereupon it fell to earth with a thud. Lara could now see a small portion more of the cavern. The land between her and the far off light appeared to be quiet flat. Stalagmites and stalactites appeared from time to time but nothing else. The floor was coated with a gray sand of some sort that seemed to crunch under the woman's feet.
Seeing that there was not a great deal of obstacles in her path the young trekker lit a second flare and proceeded forward. By the time she came upon the first flare it had already began to flicker and die. She hardly took notice of this, however, because as she approached it her ears picked up on the faint sound of water moving somewhere far off.
She moved on through the dark in the direction of the sound hoping that it led her to somewhere useful. Ten minutes later she found herself standing in front of a slow moving river. The light of the flare gleamed brightly off of the water like a Christmas tree. It danced merrily from here to there as the water rippled swiftly over the rocks that lined the bottom of the river.
As spectacular as the site was it failed to hold the attention of the relic hunter for any length of time. Instead she turned and began to intently follow the river down stream.
She hadn't gone far, however, before she spotted something that peaked her curiosity. In the furthest light of the explorer's flare a crude ditch could be seen on the opposite side of the waterway. From where she was it didn't appear to be anything special, just a hole in the earth sitting perpendicular to the river. What caught the explorer's eye was space between the water and the empty trench. Just above the water line the very edge of a brick was visible.
Lara raised an eyebrow. For quite some time she had been wondering if there was any real reason for her to be where she was. Up to this point she had seen only the natural formations in the cave. Now there was a sign that man had influenced the landscape in someway.
The relic hunter moved to ford the waterway. As the water moved upward over her foot and onto her ankle she felt a chill shoot through her body. Instinctively, she jerked backward removing her submerged appendage from the river.
The event took the young woman completely by surprise. So much so that she forgot herself and let out an uncharacteristic giggle. The effect of this was a small portion of embarrassment. She was greatly relieved when she realized that she was alone.
Once she had recollected her wits she placed her foot into the cold water yet again. This time the icy chill did not take her by surprise. Its only adverse effects were the goose bumps that appeared up and down her arms. Within a matter of minutes she had traversed the river.
As the explorer pulled herself from the arctic like water she gazed down at the protruding brick that she had noticed before. It was her first real clue that she was going in the right direction. Upon further examination she found that the large ditch beyond was the rivers original route. At some point in history someone or something must have changed the course of the waterway.
Sitting down on the edge of the old waterway the young lady marveled at the site with great awe. She felt privileged to be in the midst of something that no one else had seen in two thousand years. It occurred her that this was the reason that she started raiding tombs.
It also occurred to her that the last meal she had eaten was her lunch nearly eight hours earlier. Even at that it was by no means anything resembling a real meal, only a small pastry. Just thinking about it caused her stomach to rumble.
Croft removed her backpack and set it on the ground in front of her. Reaching inside she pulled out a ham sandwich from inside. It wasn't the sort of meal that she would have preferred at the time but she embraced it as though it was the last food that she would partake of.
Sitting her flare aside she made herself comfortable by pulling her legs up closer to her. She was now set to enjoy her food but before she could consume even a morsel of it she was disturbed by the distant sound of rustling sand. Curious, she put down her sandwich and listened intently. It happened again.
A wave of curiosity and apprehension washed over the lunching explorer. Within ten seconds everything was packed up and back on her back. Holding a flare in her left hand she drew one her pistols with her right.
She moved forward quickly and quietly searching for the perpetrator that had disturbed her dinner. The flare's light stretched out in front of her like a blanket pushing back the dark cloud that surrounded her.
That's when she saw what she was looking for. At the very edge of the light stood the dark figure of a man. It was there only a moment, though, for it promptly ducked back into the darkness when it noticed that it was visible.
Miss Croft raised an eyebrow at the shadow. She quickly heaved her flare at the dark figure in front of her. Unlike before it flew its total distance and skidded to a halt in the sand catching only a glimpse of the shadow as it scurried away.
Wasting no time the young lady pulled out a new flare. Gun in hand she pursued the figure through the darkness. By the time she made it to the shadow's last location it had disappeared completely leaving only a flickering flare. Near by was a set of indentations in the sand, which the treasure hunter deduced to be the footprints of her prey.
The predator trekked forward following the sand prints for what seemed to her like nearly three miles. The entire time she peered out of the corners of her eyes in case the strange figure decided to attack her from the shadows.
Her fear in this matter came to a head a short time later when the tracks came to a sudden stopped without warning. Confounded, the tracker lifter her flare high into air. It's light stretched over the floor illuminating a great deal more of the cave. Nowhere could she see a second set of footprints.
Out of Curiosity Lara flung her hand through the space above the last set of prints and back again. As she had suspected the figure was not invisible, which left her with the feeling that she had either crazy because of the surrounding darkness or she was dealing with something unnatural.
That being the case any normal human's thought process would have been halted then and there resting their conclusion firmly on the former. Miss Lara Croft, however was no ordinary human and, relying on what she had seen in the past, began to contemplate some rather unorthodox scenarios.
While her mind flew through the possibilities the explorer continued on her way. Not far away she came across the cave wall. Just to the side was a small opening in the rock. She slid around to opening of the crevasse. She gripped her nine millimeter tightly and cocked the hammer back incase the shadowy figure was hiding within.
Her heart began to pound ferociously inside of her chest. It seemed to echo through the cave like sonar. It beat with such fervor that sweat began to form on its owner's brow and stream down her face. The treasure hunter's eyes narrowed focusing her attention on the hole next to her.
At length she swung around thrusting her gun forward expecting to be attacked immediately. And she was, from behind. Within seconds the relic hunter found herself face down on the ground. Wasting no time she rolled onto her back just in time to see a flash of metal coming down on her in the flare light. The flash of a sword.
To be continued...