Sydney grimaced at the pain at the back of her head as she woke. When she tried to place a hand to the pain automatically, she found that she couldn't. Her eyes flew open and she looked to her left and right; her arms were straight out beside her, the wrist falling over the side of the table she was on – she was tied to the table at the wrist. Sydney gulped and pulled against the binds that tied her to the table, trying to find some give. When she found none, she let out a noise of frustration. She looked around the ornately decorated room, and what she saw wasn't encouraging.
The decorations were those celebrating the Mayans, an ancient civilization in Columbia who performed human sacrifices, believing in powerful blood offerings to the gods.
"Ahh, you're awake," said a voice to her left. Her head jerked in that direction. Angelo. "Welcome," he said, "to the temple of Buluc Chabtan." Angelo had been one of the locals of the nearby village who had refused to help her and Nigel in their search for a warrior pot. He had warned them to go home and had been frustratingly cryptic about why.
"Yeah, and you know, I'm not loving the interactive part of this tour, can we skip this?" Sydney snarked at him. She pulled at the restraints in emphasis.
Aneglo smiled. "Unfortunately not. You've been chosen as a sacrifice to Buluc Chabtan. Your heart will be removed in his honour."
"That's a sacrifice of prisoners of war, isn't it? To the war god? I'm all about peace," Sydney argued. She tried to twist her arms to see if that would help get her out.
"Are we not in a war?" Angelo said. He walked around her slowly, and his eyes travelled down her body. She felt a shiver go up her spine.
"Last I checked? No."
"Did you not just lose a battle between yourself and my niece? Are we not fighting to honour the gods?" Angelo gestured at the chamber.
Before she woke up here, she had been in a fight with another woman, and had definitely won it – the woman had collapsed on the floor in front of her after a well-placed fist to the face. Then there had been pain, then nothing.
"Are we sure I lost that fight? I was hit from behind, hardly fair."
"That happens in war. One needs to be aware of their surroundings. Now you will be offered to our god in sacrifice. Tyra!" He called out. The woman Sydney had fought earlier entered the chamber. Sydney felt a spark of satisfaction as she noted a nasty bruise on Tyra's face.
Sydney swallowed and pulled again at the ties. Where the hell was Nigel? As much as she abhorred the damsel in distress trope, she was in a bit of a bind.
They stood opposite each other, at Sydney's wrists. Angelo reached above her head and fiddled with something she couldn't see. There was the scratch of a match against the strip on the matchbox and the smell of smoke and Angelo and Tyra began to pray as they started the ritual.
Just as Angelo produced a knife to begin the bloodletting process for the sacrifice, there came an awful sound as though what was left of the temple was collapsing. The chanting stopped.
"What was that?" Tyra asked.
The sound got louder as it sounded like another section of the ruins was coming down.
"The traps! Someone must have set them off!" Angelo exclaimed. With a glance at Sydney he dropped the knife on the table and raced out of the room, and Tyra hesitated for only a moment before she followed.
Great, Sydney figured. If they got caught in the collapse of the building, she'd certainly be left here to rot –
The rest of her thoughts cut off as she heard footsteps approach rapidly. There was no way Angelo and Tyra could have dealt with the destruction of the temple so quickly, and she doubted they'd come back to get her. She watched the door and couldn't quash the feeling of relief at seeing the familiar boyish face and floppy hair of her assistant as he entered the room, dropping his bag by the entryway.
"Oh, Nigel, good of you to drop by."
"Sorry Syd," he said sheepishly as he approached the table. "I had a hell of a time trying to set off those traps." Nigel approached the table, grabbed the knife and began to cut at the cuffs.
"Uhh, Nigel," she said as she saw a figure enter the room again, "you might want to hurry up." Nigel finished cutting the second wrist free, giving Sydney just enough time to grab the front of his shirt and throw him to the side so she could kick out at Angelo as he approached. She dispatched him quickly enough and then Tyra when she was back in the room.
There was another crash, which made Sydney spin to Nigel. "Can we still get the pot?"
"Ahead of you, Syd," Nigel said delightedly. He went over to the backpack and pulled out the pot. "It was just where you thought it would be. I figured I'd better rescue it before I set off the traps. I think I underestimated exactly how destructive they would be…"
Sydney looked at him fondly even as another crash echoed around them. He had learned so much over the years. "Let's get that to the Antioquia Museum as promised.
"What about them?" Nigel nodded at the two bodies on the floor.
Sydney was tempted to leave them, but her morals got the better of her, and gestured to Nigel to take Tyra while she grabbed onto Angelo in a fireman's carry.
Sydney was exhilarated as she led the way out of the temple with Angelo on her back and the stone crumbling all around them. Another hunt done.
