The Buried City
"Come on, come on, pick up" Anna muttered as she paced up and down the length of their buggy they had parked at the base of a large dune.
Ahead of her, Elsa was lying in a prone position near the top, peering over the edge through a pair of binoculars as she observed their competition in front of them. Dozens of Westguard mercenaries had set up shop outside a large rocky plateau, partially covered in sand. Armed men milled about through hastily erected tents, unloading supplies from two other helicopters that had already landed or were setting up various equipment. They were preparing some sort of staging ground on top of what had evidently been the last stop of the lost Nazi expedition that had been swallowed by the desert. Older Trucks and other vehicles lay half-buried beneath the sands where they were abandoned for whatever reason. It was a curious juxtaposition in comparison to the modern equipment that was being set up around the remnants from the past.
"Kristoff!" Anna exclaimed in a hushed voice as he picked up the line on the other end. "We've got trouble. Hans is here!"
"Same story here. I'm outside some kind cave system. Bunch of mean looking dudes clearly here on some kind of business," Kristoff replied.
"Do you think they've found the grail?" Anna asked.
"I don't know. I'm gonna try and get a closer look," Kristoff answered.
"Well, shit, that's not a very good plan."
"Do you have a better one?"
"No," Anna shook her head and kicked at the sand. "Alright, we're gonna try and find the secret entrance that those notes mentioned. Be careful."
"You too," Kristoff said, then the line clicked dead.
With that, Anna put away the satellite phone and went up to the dune where she went on her hands and knees as she crawled up next to Elsa. "What are we dealing with here?" she asked, squinting her eyes to study their new foes.
"Nothing good. Take a look," Elsa replied as she passed the binoculars over to Anna.
Anna glassed the situation below them. Westguard men were still moving about, darting in and out of tents or towards the plateau ahead of them.
"That looks like an entrance, right there," Elsa said as she pushed the binoculars up while Anna still held them to her eyes.
They settled over an opening in the side of the plateau, distinctly marked by two large sandstone columns and a staircase that led into the rocky formation. Just then, a loud explosion echoed in the distance as a cloud of dust burst out from the entrance.
"Those idiots are blasting their way in!" Anna cursed. "If they keep it up, there won't be anything to find!"
A sudden rush of movement caught her eye as two figures emerged from the tent closest to the entrance. Anna shifted her focus and settled the binoculars over one tall auburn haired man dressed in light gray fatigues, and a smaller grey haired man dressed in slacks, a light blue shirt, and a tan safari vest. From their wild gestures and spastic movements, it was obvious that they were engaged in a heated argument.
Anna narrowed her eyes as she recognized them. "Of course," she sighed.
"What's wrong?" Elsa asked.
"Hans and Weselton. They're here," Anna replied as she passed the binoculars back to Elsa. "See for yourself."
"How?" Elsa frowned as she held the binoculars to her eyes. "How could they have beat us here? How did they even know where we were headed?"
"They must have had more of their men search the bunker after we left. Either that, or they must be tracking us somehow," Anna muttered, pressing her forehead against the warm sand as she struggled to think of a solution to their predicament. "What's the play here? They have to know we're coming, they must have spotted us from their helicopter."
Elsa slid down and chewed her lip in thought as she considered their options. "Let me think," she said, as she rested her chin on her hands and peeked over the dune.
... ... ...
At the other site, Kristoff was in the midst of getting a closer look at his situation.
He crept along the rocky outcropping that jutted out from the cave system a few dozen meters ahead of him. Using the rocks and partial shade they offered for cover, he inched his way forward to gain a better vantage point. He surmised that the mercenaries must have arrived before he did earlier in the day and had been evidently searching for the grail, yet it remained unclear if they had found it. Kristoff's plan was to sneak in and gather more information. If they had already found it, he'd improvise a way to intercept it. If they hadn't, he decided he would let them do the hard work for him until they turned it up or determined that the grail was not at this location.
It wasn't a great plan but he couldn't think of any other options either, and he had come too far to just sit aside and do nothing. By now the sun had nearly reached the horizon line, beginning the slow descent into nightfall as the sky darkened and the shadows lengthened. The advancing darkness offered excellent cover, allowing Kristoff to close the remaining distance between him and the helicopter without being noticed. Not that anyone was keeping a watchful eye out, preoccupied as they were with plundering the remains of a cave system that possibly contained an ancient treasure trove.
Kristoff crouched low and pressed himself up against a rock a few meters from where a helicopter lay parked. Faintly, he could make out the sounds of some voices as they drifted in and out of the mouth of the cave. Ahead of him, a single mercenary, the leader by the looks of him, emerged from the mouth of the cave and proceeded towards the helicopter.
"Alright, pack it in, boys!" he shouted to the other men. "There's nothing here. Radio the boss and tell him we didn't find it. We'll meet them at the other site!."
"Well, how 'bout that" Kristoff whispered to himself. He eyed the helicopter as he began to form a foolish plan in his mind.
... ... ...
Elsa and Anna skirted the edges of the perimeter around the base camp that Hans's mercenaries had set up in front of the entrance to Sarras. Using the tall dunes for cover, they offered excellent vantage points for which the two sisters could discreetly survey their competition below them as they searched for the alternative hidden entrance to the city.
They made it to the far side of the rocky plateau and climbed up the side of a steep cliff until they stood upon the flat surface on top, overlooking the encampment below them. Far to the west, the sun was dipping below the horizon as the last fading rays of blood-orange sunlight bled away before the encroaching evening. Far out of earshot, Elsa and Anna were able to converse freely.
"How long do you think they've been here?" Anna asked, crouching near the lip of a cliff as she observed the movement below them.
Elsa, who was crouching beside her, rose and backed away from the lip as she gazed at the stars that were beginning to kindle out of the darkness of the sky. "Hard to say, but it looks like they still haven't found it yet."
"Well," Anna sighed. "At least we've got that going for us," she backed away from the cliff edge and joined Elsa at her side. "Looks like they're searching in the wrong place too, so that oasis should be all ours."
"That is, if we can find it," Elsa said as she withdrew the note she had taken from the bunker. "Seek passage beyond the city," she scrunched up her face in thought.
"Beyond the city," Anna repeated. "Then we must be heading in the right direction, right? I mean, we didn't pass through any canyons on the way here."
"Let's hope so," Elsa said as she folded up the note and tucked it away.
Behind them, a distant but loud explosion split the silence of the night as it boomed and echoed from deep beneath the earth.
Anna scowled as she cast a glance behind her. "We better get a move on then before those idiots blast the place to bits," she said.
Together they set off across the plateau at a quick and steady pace. They made fast progress, despite the uneven and rocky ground. At several points, they had to leap over or pass around large crevasses and cracks in the surface of the plateau. Deep and dark as they were, especially with nightfall upon them, Elsa and Anna were extra careful not to fall in one.
"Hey I got a joke for ya," Anna started as they passed over a large rock.
Elsa groaned. "Oh, here we go."
"What do you call a witch who is stranded in the middle of the desert?"
"What?"
"A sand-witch!" Anna broke into a fit of hysterical laughter. "Get it? Because of all the sand?"
Elsa sighed deeply as she pretended not to enjoy her joke.
Anna continued to laugh gleefully to herself. "Oh, I love that one," she snorted and wiped her eye.
A few more minutes of walking passed in silence as the pair continued forwards, approaching a large rise.
"Beyond the city… through the canyon," Anna recited the description to herself, looking around for signs to indicate their direction of travel.
"And in the hidden oasis," Elsa finished, then ran a hand through her blonde hair as she mulled over the description again. "We've got to be in the right place," she said as she looked all around at their surroundings.
Anna continued walking past Elsa. "Right, but we haven't even seen a canyon yet, let alone a hidden oasis. I mean, what are the odds that-" she shrieked in fright as she took one step too far and teetered on the edge of a steep canyon that had suddenly appeared before her. "Never mind! Heh, found it!" she laughed nervously.
Elsa caught Anna by her shoulder and pulled her back. "I'll say," she quipped.
Anna chuckled sheepishly, then peered down into the tall and narrow slot canyon she had nearly fallen into. From above it appeared inconspicuous enough, but due to its subtle profile and Anna's angle of approach from atop, she hadn't noticed it until it was almost too late.
"I'd say we're on the right trail now," Elsa kicked a rock down into the canyon.
Anna whistled as she looked down and was a bit surprised when her echo whistled back. "Well, now that's what I'd call a canyon," she said. "But, how do we get down?"
Elsa scanned the walls of the canyon and the sandy bottom until she spotted a dip in the ground a short distance away to their left. The slope there was gentle enough to walk on, and the section of rock was short enough to drop down into the canyon without injury.
"Over there," Elsa gestured to the dip and made her way over to it.
She descended first, grasping the lowest edge and easing her way down by bracing her legs against the side of the wall. Elsa hung there until she settled as low as she could go, then turned her upper body halfway around and released her grip. Pivoting her torso and lower body as she fell, she landed gracefully and then paced away a short distance. A sudden crash and thud came from behind her.
"Oof!" Anna yelped as she landed in a heap behind Elsa. She quickly rose and then dusted herself off, flashing a bright grin at her older sister. "What? It was faster to just jump down," she shrugged.
Elsa rolled her eyes. "So graceful, dear sister."
"Don't tease. Sarcasm is a terrible look on you," Anna chided as she walked past Elsa.
Elsa blew a tuft of her blonde hair off her forehead as she followed behind Anna.
Together, they pressed deeper into the canyon. The walls pressed in tighter in some areas and widened in others while twisting and turning here and there. Above them, the stars and moon cast just enough light to see by so that Elsa and Anna weren't stumbling blindly in the dark. Eventually, the way before them widened outwards as the canyon stretched away into a large and open clearing that held a shimmering oasis. A small copse of palm trees surrounded by tall grass hugged the edges of the water, and the pool of crystal clear water was fed by a waterfall that spat out from a hole in the rockface directly ahead of them. The oasis was a tiny lush paradise virtually untouched by the ravages of the desert as it was shielded by the canyon walls.
Elsa gasped in awe as she stepped forward into the shady cool air and gazed all around her. "Wow," she muttered softly as she drank in the sights.
Meanwhile, Anna sidled up against a wall furthest away from the water as she stared resolutely at the night sky, determined ,not to look at the water. "Hidden oasis, okay, cool. And water, I should have expected that. At least I can see the… bottom," she swallowed a lump in her throat. "You don't uh… you don't suppose the entrance is… underwater do you?"
Elsa looked back towards Anna and felt a pang of regret as she noticed the anxiety etched into her features. "It's okay, I'll take a look around, alright?" she placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
Anna glanced down at Elsa and nodded before turning away to study the very interesting rocks by her feet. "Okay," she mumbled.
Elsa lingered a moment longer then turned around and explored the oasis. She walked the perimeter of the pool of water, assessing its depth as well as its source a few meters above where it gushed out continuously. This close, she felt the mist on her skin and Elsa delighted in its cool kiss. The surface around the base of the waterfall tossed and roiled relentlessly, but evened out by the time it reached the furthest edges of the oasis. Thankfully, as far as she could tell, there was no hidden entrance underwater.
From there, she paced towards the waterfall, eyeing the surface of the rockface around it as she searched for any openings or other clues that might suggest another entry. Finding none, she shifted her focus closer to the ground and found what appeared to be a small cave sitting a small distance away from the edge of the water alongside the waterfall.
Elsa walked towards it, pushing aside a stand of tall grasses that partially concealed the mouth of the cave. She withdrew a flashlight from her belt and shined it into the darkness. The passageway before her struck ahead and sharply turned away as it sloped downwards into the dark. It was certainly promising, so Elsa retreated out of the cave and jogged over to Anna, who had busied herself with cleaning her gun and removing the sand that had accumulated on it.
"Find anything?" Anna asked without looking up.
"Well the good news is, you won't have to get into the water," Elsa said. "There's a cave over there that leads further underground. I think that's our way in," she pointed over to the stand of tall grasses she had emerged from.
Anna stood up and inserted her weapon into its holster. "Hmm, a secret entrance by a waterfall. How cliché," she said. "Well, lead the way, ma cherie. Treasure awaits!" she grinned as her eyes lit up in anticipation.
Elsa couldn't help but smirk as well, finding that Anna's excitement was highly contagious.
Together, the two sisters pressed forward and entered the cave, descending once again into the depths of the unknown.
... ... ...
"I thought you said I wouldn't have to go into the water," Anna muttered disdainfully as she sidestepped a large puddle.
The interior of the narrow passageway they were traversing dripped water from the ceiling, gathering in tiny pools of water or running over top of the rocky ground in rivulets. It was much the same every where they looked, so, walking required some tricky maneuvering just to stay dry.
"I'm sorry, Anna," Elsa apologized honestly as she paused and looked backwards.
Anna jumped over a small stream and landed squarely on a patch of dry rock. "It's okay," she placed her hand on Elsa's shoulder. "Jeez, would you stop apologizing for everything?"
"Sorry," Elsa muttered again, then stopped when she was arrested by Anna's quirky gaze. "Not sorry," she corrected.
Anna nodded in satisfaction then fell in step behind Elsa as they continued deeper underground. They proceeded carefully, sticking to dry patches and sidestepping puddles and streams as they lit the way before them with their flashlights. The passageway expanded further out around them as they rounded a wide bend and came upon a large sealed door made of stone.
"Oh! Ooh, I know this one!" Anna skipped up the door. "Speak friend, and enter," she laid a palm flat against the seam and lowered her voice to a deeper register.
Elsa paused next to Anna and placed her hands at her hips as she stared at her in confusion. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"Come on! It's from Lord of the Rings! When they get to the mines of Moria?" Anna asked, facing Elsa. "You have seen Lord of the Rings, haven't you?"
Elsa shook her head and shrugged.
Anna scoffed and visibly recoiled, regarding her as if she had said something heinously offensive. "You've never seen Lord of the Rings?"
"No."
"Are you serious?"
"Yes."
"What?!"
Elsa sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Let's focus on getting through this door first, then you can lecture me."
Anna scoffed again and turned away as she shook her head. "Never seen Lord of the Rings. How can someone from my own family say something so horrible?" she muttered to herself in disbelief. "Unbelievable, honestly. Ridiculous."
Meanwhile, Elsa scanned the doorway. "There must be a way to open this," she paused when she spotted two small openings carved into the wall on either side of the door. "Ah, here we go," she approached the one on her right and examined it more closely.
The opening was small and square in shape, just large enough to allow someone to fit their arm through. Inside there appeared to be a lever. Tentatively, Elsa reached in towards the lever to grab it.
"Elsa, wait!" Anna turned around to see what she was doing and stopped her just in time.
"What is it this time?" Elsa paused.
"Just… be careful."
"It's a lever, Anna. What's the worst that could possibly happen?"
"Maybe lose your arm?"
"Why would you say that to me now?!"
"I don't know! Why haven't you seen Lord of the Rings?!"
Elsa rolled her eyes, then took a deep breath. "Well… here goes nothing," she said as she pulled on the lever.
Nothing happened, and Elsa withdrew her arm easily as she stepped back.
"Huh," Anna scratched her head.
"Maybe it's something we both have to do at the same time?" Elsa suggested as she pointed towards the mechanism closest to Anna.
Anna shrugged and stuck her arm in confidently, assured that no harm would come to her after Elsa had done the same without any issue. "Worth a shot. Are you ready?"
Elsa approached her lever and assumed the same position. "On three. One-"
"Wait, wait," Anna waved her free hand around. "Is it one, two, three, go? Or are we going on three?"
"Going on three," Elsa said. "Now, can we do this?"
"I just want to make sure," Anna muttered as she faced the wall in front of her. "Alright, let's do this."
They both nodded to each other, then started counting down in unison. "One... two... three!"
Immediately afterwards, they both pulled on their lever at the same time. Seconds later, a loud rumbling followed by the grating of stone on stone echoed loudly as the ancient doors slid apart and permitted entry.
Anna bounced up and down in excitement next to Elsa as they waited for the doors to fully open. After another moment, the rumbling settled and the passageway continued on before them.
"After you, mademoiselle," Anna bowed and gestured for Elsa to proceed.
They rounded another corner and just as they did, Elsa stopped dead in her tracks at the edge of a tall cliff, halted by the sudden drop as well as the sight before her.
"Careful here, An- whoa!" Elsa warned before Anna stumbled into her from behind.
"Gotcha!" Anna said as she caught Elsa by her waist and pulled her back. "Guess that makes us even now, don't it?" she peeked over Elsa's shoulder down to the drop beneath them.
"Even? You nearly pushed me over!" Elsa said, then looked down to see that Anna's hands were still around her waist. "Um, Anna, you can let go of me now," she cleared her throat nervously as she flushed with embarrassment.
"Hmm? Oh! Right," Anna chuckled as she released her hold on Elsa and backed away.
They were standing upon the ledge of a tall cliff, overlooking a sprawling underground city. Far ahead of them, a waterfall spat out of the cave walls and emptied into a rushing river far below. Situated on either side of the river were all manner of buildings, crisscrossed every which way by wide streets and narrow alleys. The ground was uneven, and stone houses were nestled all around dips and rises or even partially embedded in the walls as they rose up and away from the city. Inns and storefronts surrounded market squares that were dotted throughout, as were chapels and other places of worship. Sporadically placed throughout the city were three massive rock pillars that stretched up from the ground all the way to the ceiling, supporting its immense weight. Deep cracks and crevasses in the surface of the ceiling let in pale shafts of moonlight from outside, illuminating the city as the light rays bounced off of reflective metal surfaces placed all over.
"Oh, I'm so making you watch Lord of the Rings after all this," Anna breathed as she took in the empty, ancient city.
Elsa's eyes were wide as saucers as she drank in the seemingly impossible phenomenon. "It's incredible," she whispered.
"A city on an ocean of sand… hmm, more like under," Anna quipped. "How do you think they built all this?"
Elsa shrugged. "Maybe this cave already existed and they just started a settlement here, expanding as necessary. This whole place must be fed by an underground spring, there's no way they could have survived out here without all this water. It must have taken them a really long time to-"
"God, Elsa, it was a rhetorical question," Anna grinned. "Come on, let's go take a closer look!" she said as she bounced away.
The path they followed hugged the side of a tall rockface to one side and ended in a sheer dropped on the other. It was wide enough to allow two people to walk abreast comfortably with one another, though Elsa and Anna still preferred to walk single file closest to the wall.
"I suppose railings weren't invented yet," Anna remarked as they sidled along.
"Clearly, this place wasn't built to code," Elsa added just as she paused before another sudden drop.
Anna came up next to her side and scratched her head in thought. "Oh, no, it was," she looked at Elsa with a deadpan expression. "The knight's code."
Elsa arched an eyebrow.
"Get it?" Anna snorted and fell into a giggling fit. "Because we're in Sarras, and that's where King Arthur's knights went."
"Yes, I get it."
"And knights have a code, and you said this place wasn't built to-"
"Yeah. Yep. Got it."
"It's funny."
"I'm sure it is," Elsa pointed to their path in front of which had been destroyed. "But can we turn our attention back to the matter at hand?"
In front of them were the collapsed remains of staircase, which had fallen into a small chasm. Above them was a landing where they could continue ahead, but first, they would have to find a way to navigate this obstacle. On the opposite side to them was a wall that was pockmarked and cracked all over, offering a way to climb up.
"Well, you're the oldest, you go first," Anna took a few steps back from the ledge.
"So courteous," Elsa muttered sarcastically.
She retreated a few paces then inhaled and exhaled in rapid succession before sprinting forwards and leaping over the gap. She reached upwards with her hands and caught a solid edge of rock jutting out from the wall, then dug her feet in as she launched herself upwards and climbed the rest of the way up to the landing with ease.
"Alright, come on!" Elsa yelled down to Anna.
Below, Anna was already sprinting forward and crossed the gap easily. She made her way upwards, setting one of her hands on a loose stone. As she hoisted her weight upwards, the stone chipped and fell away from the wall.
"Crap!" Anna exclaimed, hanging from her one hand as she regained her footing on the wall.
"Anna!" Elsa knelt down and reached for her sister.
"It's okay! I've got it totally under contr- oh shit!" Anna yelped as another rock came loose in her grasp and tumbled down.
She started a small rockslide wherever she attempted to find purchase as more stones loosened and fell away. A large crack formed just above her as a section of the wall groaned and buckled beneath her weight.
"Crap, crap, crap! Not good!" Anna exclaimed as she clambered upwards.
As that happened, Elsa went down on her hands and knees and reached out towards Anna. More pieces of the wall were coming loose now, and Anna was leaping from one to the next just as quickly as they were falling. When she was close enough to the top, a large chunk of rock was jostled loose, forcing Anna to climb up and over it until she could find her footing.
"Jump!" Elsa yelled, reaching out as far as she could. "Take my hand!"
Anna leapt off the falling piece in time and caught Elsa's hand. As she hung in the empty space, she looked below her as the rocks shattered against the slope and splintered into dust. Elsa lifted Anna up and fell backwards, pulling her as far back from the edge as possible. Together, they laid on their backs, catching their breath.
"That was…" Elsa panted.
"Wicked!" Anna exclaimed. She rose to her feet first and held out her hand to help Elsa up.
Elsa looked sidelong over the gap and sighed, accepting Anna's hand as she stood up. "Let's try not to do that again shall we?"
Anna nodded enthusiastically, and then glanced over the edge. "Guess we aren't going back this way then."
"Let's keep moving," Elsa said.
Moving forward, they passed through a long series of earthen hallways and corridors until they reached a partially caved-in section. There, they crouched as they moved slowly, careful not to disturb the rubble that diverted them into a sort of crawlspace tunnel. They shuffled along on hands and knees until they reached a portion that appeared to run beneath another hallway, covered by a thick metal grate.
"Maybe we can get up through here?" Anna suggested.
"Help me lift it," Elsa said as she squatted and placed her hands on the metal grate, pushing upwards.
Anna copied her movement and attempted to lift the obstruction. Together they both strained and grunted with effort as they tried to lift the metal grate, though it was far too heavy and quite stuck in place.
"It's no use, we're gonna need a blowtorch to get through this," Anna panted from the exertion.
Elsa sank back to her knees and exhaled. "It keeps going that way, maybe we can find another way ou-"
Just then, the sound of a metal door rang out as it slammed against stone, and two distant voices became audible.
"Quiet!" Anna hissed as she pressed herself against the shadows.
Elsa did the same as the two fell silent and hid themselves from sight.
"That one sounded close by! There will be nothing to find if's all buried beneath rubble!" shouted one voice as the pair drew closer.
"My men have been a bit careless with the dynamite, I admit. But, if we had gone at it with picks and shovels, we'd be here for weeks. We don't have time to be careful, not with the competition we have now" the other voice replied.
"That meddlesome pair, damn them! For all we know, they could have already found the grail by now and gotten away with it!"
Two familiar figures rounded a corner and were pacing along the length of the hallway to where the sisters were hiding just beneath. Hans walked forward at a brisk pace while Weselton had to nearly jog just to match his speed due to his height.
Elsa and Anna glanced at one another, sharing the same look of recognition and revulsion.
Hans made a dismissive gesture as he shook his head. "There's no way they could have beaten us here, and my men are on full alert. If they were here already, we'd know about it."
"That damn family," Weselton grumbled. "First their irksome parents and now this? They've been a thorn in my side far too long!"
"Would you relax? We've made it into the city, and my men are searching it top to bottom as we speak. We'll find your precious artifact."
"Good. With any luck we can make this city their tomb as well."
Shortly afterward, Hans and Weselton passed out of sight and beyond earshot. Elsa and Anna released the breath they were holding and turned to each other.
"That was close," Elsa sighed. "Weselton's out for blood."
"He's welcome to try, the little weasel," Anna spat.
"At least it sounds like they still don't know where exactly to start looking, so that should buy us some more time."
"Right, we better keep moving."
Alone again, the pair started their way down the crawlspace and delved deeper into the bowels of the buried city.
