Thanks for reviewing, and thanks to WannaPlayKevinBaker for the spelling of Alister. I checked every name for their spellings on the official website … except for his … I think its called sod's law … never mind. I've got the correct spelling in this chapter, but the other chapters will have to cope with the wrong spelling for the moment. Anyway, next chapter, please R&R.
The Golden Dais
Arequipa, Peru
Lara and Amanda awoke at about the same time. It was pitch black, giving them both no idea of where they were, or any sense of navigation. Lara reached for her PLS, and fumbled with the switch to turn it on. Nothing happened.
"Bugger," Lara whispered. Amanda, hearing her, crawled over to her direction. The floor was cold and damp. It was made of flat stones, and was rough. Just like any other temple then thought Amanda.
"Where are we?" asked Amanda. She sounded almost scared. The last time Lara had heard her like that was in Paraíso all those years ago.
"You were damn right when you said that trust was far too rare a commodity these days."
"Sorry," said Amanda, trying to feel around her, trying to find Lara. "Do you have any light?" She asked after a pause. Lara shook her head in the dark, even though she knew Amanda would not see her.
"I would do if we hadn't fallen through that door," Lara paused. "I think that I might have some flares in my backpack though." She carefully took off her pack, and reached inside it. The flares were still there, and had been protected by the pack so had not smashed from the fall. At least some of them hadn't.
"Only two are remaining, the others were smashed," said Lara removing a flare from the pack. She cracked the flare, instantly lighting up the pit. They both hid their eyes from the bright light, and then, after becoming used to the light change, took in their surroundings. It was a long passageway. Roots of both trees and smaller plants clung to the grey, stone walls, with their patterns of ancient gods and beliefs. At least there was only one way to go.
"We'd better get going," Lara said plainly. "We've only got two flares before we're in total darkness again."
Croft Manor, England"You sure are quick with enhancing those videos," said Alister, looking at the large collection of CD-R s around him. Zip smiled.
"I should be, I did design both Lara's headset and the software." Alister looked towards the treasure room, hidden behind the walls in its secret alcove.
"Shall we take the sword out, so that Lara is totally ready when she comes back?" Zip looked at him like he was an idiot. "No, of course not, sorry." Alister had been slightly upset that Lara had suggested not analysing the sword when she was not there, but on the other hand, she had found it, and there was plenty of time to analyse it later.
"I'm gonna get Lara onto her headset, so I can tell her we've finished," said Zip. He typed in his usual array of passwords, and tried to connect to the headset. There was no reply. Zip frowned. That was strange. He tried again. No signal. His frown deepened. Lara would never enter a tomb, or anywhere underground, without contacting him first. And, of course, underground was the only place that the signal never reached the headset.
"Maybe she turned it off for lunch?" asked Alister hopefully. Zip shook his head.
"It's not turned off, just got no signal." Alister sighed.
"Never mind, she's probably just pulled a lever that opened a really large trap door and fallen down to the bottom of a pit." Zip looked at Alister astonished.
"Something like that must have happened! I'll look at the satellite footage to see if anything is different." He opened up the site and studied the image. "Nope everything the same."
"Unless the trap door closed after she fell in," said Alister. "Can you look at previous film from the satellite?" Zip grinned.
"Well," he said slowly. "I could … but …"
"But what?"
"Lets just say that the satellite belongs to the British government, and we were only given permission to study the live images." Zip's grin broadened, as he tried to express his idea to Alister. Alister grinned.
"Right. So we ask the government to give us permission to see all the film … ouch!" Alister rubbed his lower leg where Zip had sharply kicked it.
"I was actually thinking of another way," he said. Alister stared at him.
"Oh, no way, remember what Lara said when she hired you. NO illegal business without her permission. I am NOT going to be caught with you hacking into government computers just to find some images that we could just ask them for!"
"Oh, come on Al!" cried Zip, swivelling his chair. "This is life! You don't always HAVE to do things by the rule book!" He turned his chair around just fast enough to see Alister disappearing up to his study, and a mutter of It's ALISTER!
Arequipa, PeruLara's flares had lasted them longer than expected. They had been walking for five minutes and the first one had only just started to die. Lara looked at the decorated walls.
"They're actually very similar to Bolivia aren't they?" said Amanda, after watching Lara's eyes drift towards them.
"Yes, remarkably similar in fact. Maybe you were right in saying that the ruins were like Bolivia." She smiled. "How ironic." Amanda smiled also before walking forwards.
"I don't know about you, but I think we should keep moving; you know, get around that next corner before the flare goes out so that we may be able to walk for a bit without the help of flares." Lara nodded and hurried forwards to catch up with Amanda.
"So, how did you actually get out of the tomb at Paraíso?" asked Lara. "Did the thing help you to breathe or something?" Amanda shook her head.
"I actually released my foot by myself, and there was a small gap of air at the top where I could breathe." She paused. "But I did use it to blast that hole in the wall. When I found the Queen's tomb, I found my first ever sword piece." Lara nodded. They were walking around the corner of the passageway, and just had enough time to take in their surroundings before the flare went out. They memorised the route and kept walking.
"You do know that I am actually really sorry about Peru, about everything, I didn't mean to do it." Amanda looked at Lara.
"Yes, well it is too late now to save James, isn't it?" They continued walking in silence … until they hit the wall that is. "Ouch."
"Something like that," said Lara, reaching in her bag for the final flare. She lit it and they both looked at each other, rubbing sore noses with their hands. She swept the passageway with the flare, and noticed a door at the end. "That door is nearly exactly the same as in Nepal." Lara said, walking slowly towards it.
"Where your mother went to Avalon?" asked Amanda. Lara nodded, and Amanda felt her heartbeat increase. This truly was ironic. "How do we get in though?" Lara looked around. Some of those roots did not look right. She pulled on it and the door groaned. Just one pulley needed on the other side.
Amanda grabbed it. "Ready." Lara nodded. They pulled on the roots, heaving open an ancient door. Then they tied the roots around rough stone outcrops to keep the door open.
"Not as advanced as some other civilisations of their times," said Lara. She heard Amanda call from inside the room.
"Nope, more interested in treasure." Lara walked into the room. What she saw amazed her.
It was indeed a dais, exactly the same to the other two daises that she had seen, only it wasn't made out of stone. It was made out of gold. The columns surrounding it were delicately carved and the sword sheath itself was beautiful. Lara looked to the top of the columns. Instead of the bright green light that the others contained, huge emeralds hanged from the tall ceiling. It was beautiful. The only shame was that it did not work, it was just purely ornamental.
Lara heard Amanda laughing. It was not an I'm going to be rich laugh, or even a This is great laugh. It was a laughter of disbelief. Why would anyone want to build a sculpture of a dais, if it did not work, not to mention hide it away from the rest of the world? Lara knew she would be coming back her later; there were still things that had not revealed themselves in this place. She heard Amanda call her.
"Hey Lara, this door leads to the outside, lets get out!" Lara turned to see Amanda grinning at her. She smiled then followed her out, and they began to make their way slowly back to the city. As soon as Lara reached outside, she heard crackling from her headset, and heard Zip come into her head.
"Lara, are you okay? We've been trying to get a hold of you for ages. Alister was worried that you might have accidentally pulled a lever and fallen through a trap door into an underground pit or something."
"I did." Lara smiled.
"You did? Oh, okay then. By the way, we've finished enhancing all the footage for the past week, and put it all together. Did you get what you went for, also?" Lara turned to face Amanda. She was gone. Lara sighed before answering.
"No, I didn't have time. But I did discover something very interesting that I might go back to later. I will explain everything to you later, I'm flying home tonight."
"Cool, I'll get all the CD-R s labelled for you then and everything except the artefacts set up. See you soon, bye." Lara heard a scrabbling over the headset, as Zip quickly quit his work at trying to hack into government computers. He sighed. Never mind, there will always be other days, he thought.
"Bye." Lara switched off the headset, before removing it from her ear. True, she had not got the information she needed, but at least her relationship with Amanda had improved slightly. In the distance, she saw the city of Arequipa. It was time to go home.
T.B.C …
Please R&R, as usual!