Silver and Gold
Lara continued swimming down the mysterious tunnel, hoping that it would lead her to somewhere of interest. The water was cold and dark, and Lara almost had trouble remembering which way she had come from, which made it rather scary. However, with her lungs full of air, she was able to carry on without any problems...at least for another minute or so. She took a flare from her bag and was able to light it without any problems. Now Lara was able to see much more easily where she was swimming to. At the end of the downward sloping tunnel, Lara came to a T-intersection and swam to the right through an upward sloping tunnel and emerged into a flooded room with numerous square pillars. She began to panic as she searched for a place to surface and catch her breath as her lungs began to burn with the build-up of carbon dioxide. The last thing she wanted was to drown while in search of one of the most important discoveries in the history of mankind.
Come on, girl! You can do this! Lara thought to herself as she started swimming around the room. The more bubbles that came out of her mouth, the more air she lost from her lungs and the closer she was to death. Lara was really starting to panic. Suddenly, she spotted a light coming from the upper right corner of the room relative to where Lara entered the flooded room and swam toward it in a last attempt to save her life. To her amazement, there an opening up above and she wasted no time in catching her breath.
"Ah...air!" Lara said as she looked around what appeared to be another room. Lara climbed out of the water and saw numerous works of ancient Incan pottery scattered all over the wooden floor. Only a few of the ancient workings were broken. There was also a nearby wall switch where the floor was slightly raised just to the right of a small doorway where a stone door blocked access to the area beyond. Lara pulled the switch and the stone door opened back to the room with the central pool right next to the small set of stairs just beyond the area where Lara had entered the city. In other words, she made a full circle.
"Well, that should make for a shorter return trip!" Lara said. "I don't think I'll find the key in that flooded room, but it's always worth looking again."
Lara turned around and jumped back into the water with her flare still in hand and started exploring the flooded room with several pillars. She swam around every corner, scanning the floor for any glint of reflected light that the flare might reveal. However, Lara was unable to find anything that could be useful, so she surfaced back into the small room, climbed out of the water and walked back into the large room with the pool.
"Now to see where the other tunnel takes me." Lara said. "Hopefully I don't find myself in another scary situation…"
Lara jumped back into the cold water and backtracked her way down the sloping tunnel before returning to the underwater T-intersection. This time, Lara swam to the left down the other tunnel, which seemed to go straight to a dead end, until she noticed that there was another opening to her left leading up to another area. Lara swam her way up the tunnel into what appeared to be an ancient swimming pool with an intricate mosaic at the centre made up of faded blue, dark blue and yellow tiles and fragments that was outlined by a large yellow-tiled line with brown fragments forming a complicated zigzag pattern. The submerged walls of the ancient pool sported the same design of blue and yellow stones. Lara surfaced for air and swam to the edge of the pool to climb out.
"This place is rather interesting." Lara said. On one side of the pool, Lara could see four scary-looking lizard statues that had rubies for their eyes. The other side boasted two carved square pillars. The walls of the room sported carved bas relief patterns made up of thick perpendicular lines with tiny circles inside them, which ran chiefly along the bottom portions of the dark walls. Lara walked around the room until she came to a small opening in the wall just behind one of the square pillars that dominated the room. She walked into the dark area and found that it opened into an empty cave area that contained nothing of interest. Lara looked around for any items, but she was disappointed.
"Well, that was not was I was hoping for." Lara said as she walked out of the small cave and into the pool room. "I guess I'll try the door with the switch now. Hopefully I have better luck there."
Lara jumped back in the water and swam her way back through the underwater tunnels and back up to the central plaza of Vilcabamba. After she climbed out of the cold water and fixed her braid, Lara walked over to the building that had the carved door and pulled the switch next to it to open it. Lara entered and discovered what looked like the remnants of old Incan living quarters. In the centre of the room was a square pit with stone lining it; more than likely the remnants of old fire pit that was used to cook meals. To the right of the pit were a few wooden poles with horizontal ones situated between them and fastened together with dead vines to create a drying rack. Old, hand-woven and patterned fabrics worn by centuries of battering from the elements were still hanging from the drying rack. In the corner of the room, hanging from another wooden fixture was a large and severely decayed animal skin. Lara figured that the skin was more than likely a wolf since the tail was still present.
"Wow." Lara said, looking around the empty 'cabin'. "I'm actually getting a glimpse into the life of the Incas that lived here in this city! I wonder what caused all of them to just get up and leave…Was it too many animal threats? Was it disease? Or was it something completely different? I might find something as soon as I open that other door. But first, I have to find that bloody key!"
There was a set of wooden stairs leading up to what may have used to be a second floor balcony inside the building. However, the wooden stairs only went as far as the opening in the building wall that overlooked the hallway Lara ventured past before arriving at the grand hallway with the locked door. Looking to the other side, Lara could now see what was through the other opening and inside the other building. The far wall was completely covered with tiny skull carvings and in the wall was a small opening with a platform just in front of it.
"Something tells me I need to be careful when I go in that building." Lara said as she readied herself for a jump. After she took a step back, Lara ran to the edge of the opening she was in and jumped across the hall into the other building. Now the wall of skulls was easier to see and Lara was able to look down into the room below. The room was really plain, with dark walls in the bottom half of the room that contained the same perpendicular line pattern scheme as the room with the mosaic pool. The upper half of the room was made of lighter stone bricks and the ceiling was, surprisingly enough, made of wooden beams. Below, the ground was made of dirt and loose stone chunks and small, unstable-looking platform was resting just below where Lara stood in the opening. She dropped down onto the platform and felt start to crumble underneath her. Suddenly, the whole platform gave away and Lara fell onto the ground below, landing in a somewhat 'reclining' position.
"Damn it!" Lara said as she pushed the loose stone fragments off of her. "I think I really bruised myself that time. Ouch…that hurt."
Lara stood back up and started looking around the room and noticed that one section of the wall looked different from the others. It was plain and was a lighter grey colour and it looked as though it was never intended to be there. Upon closer examination, Lara could see through the tiny cracks around the grey section that light was coming through from what looked like another room where sunlight was making its way in. The only way she could really know for sure is if she moved the block section out of the way.
"There has to be a way for me to move this section of the wall." Lara said. "I wonder if I'm strong enough to push it. There's only one way for me to find out…Here it goes."
Lara backed up from the wall block just before unleashing her strength on it, not knowing whether or not she was strong enough to push it. To her surprise, Lara was able to push the block with ease and was able to push it down a small hidden hallway before emerging into another ancient living quarter. The wall scheme was very much the same as in the previous room: dark floor with line patterns in the bottom half and lighter grey stone bricks on the upper half of the large cabin, which to Lara's surprise had a second floor but with almost no way to get up. The roof ceiling and floorboards of the second floor were all made of rotting wood, yet they looked very much stable for their old age. On the left side of the narrow bottom floor 'hall' which lead to a slightly higher room with a low wooden ceiling, Lara caught sight of more ancient pottery that was still intact.
"This is even more incredible!" Lara said as she walked around the open-ceilinged part of the bottom floor. "I'm not even at Qualopec's Tomb yet and I've already found what I consider my next great discovery, the lost city of Vilcabamba! Natla better be happy when she hears about all of this, because I've already gone through too much trouble just to find this! I can't wait to get back into my hotel bedroom and rest!"
Lara walked into the next room with the low wooden ceiling and found even more pottery that was still in great shape and turned right to find a small closet-sized space that had small skull carvings all over it. Inside, Lara found something on the ground that made her eyes widen. It was a beautifully engraved Incan idol artefact that resembled a person, but that was not the thing that caught Lara's attention right away.
"Is this made of pure gold?!" Lara asked in a stupefied tone. She immediately grabbed her canteen and sprinkled the artefact with a little water to get most of the dirt of it. Sure enough, when Lara brought the idol into the sunlight that was pouring down from the roof in the main area, the light reflected off of it in a bright flash of yellow.
"This is incredibly beautiful!" Lara said. "I wish I had some jewellery like this! But then again, I don't wear pendants and amulets very often…I'll take it anyway."
Lara put the artefact in her backpack and went over to the left side to of the room to find another closet sized space. The walls were plain and dark, but it had its own surprise for Lara as well, a pleasant one for that matter. On the ground next to her feet was a large key that had a skull design on it. She took some water from her canteen and washed it a little and saw that it was made of pure silver.
"Could this be the key that unlocks that door at the end of that hallway?" Lara asked. "I have a really good feeling about this! But how am I going to get out of here?"
Lara looked around the room and noticed that large stone block that she pushed into the room. She saw that it was pushed next the wall where she could easily jump and pull herself up to the second floor. Lara wasted no time and eagerly climbed onto the block and then jumped up and grabbed the wooden edge of the second floor 'balcony' before pulling up onto it. Suddenly, a huge swarm of bats started flying at Lara from all directions, so she quickly drew her pistols and shot down the swarm before they had the chance to give her any nasty diseases that they may carry.
"Trying to slow me down, huh?" Lara said as she caught her breath and took a drink from her canteen. "I think not."
Before Lara ran over to the 'window' leading back out into city, Lara took a few moments to admire the furniture that was housed on the second floor of the ancient building. There was a table and a couple of chairs that were carved from wood that were still in great shape as well as more pottery, but as much as Lara wanted to admire it, she had more important things to do. She quickly ran over to the opening in the wall, standing on the floor that bordered the low-ceilinged room below, and climbed into it before dropping down from it and back into the hallway over by the cave area next to the entrance of the city. After that, Lara backtracked her way through the central plaza and headed straight for the grand hallway with the two tall statues in front and made her way back to the locked carved door and the silver keyhole that guarded its secrets.
"I hope this works!" Lara said anxiously as she took the silver 'skeleton' key from her backpack and brought it up to the keyhole, which to her surprise fit the key perfectly. She turned it and heard a loud click and the door opened up to reveal new areas for her to explore.
"Now, I'm really getting somewhere!" Lara said as she took the key back out and put it in her backpack. "I think I'll keep these artefacts as part of my souvenir package for Winston. He'll certainly be pleased when I show him all of these valuable treasures!"
Meanwhile, back outside the city entrance, Larson was having a hard time trying to keep up with the progress the British aristocrat had already made. He was on the high balcony opposite to the balcony where Lara found the pulley to open the large double doors. It was not hard finding the path Lara had taken, for he had already counted many dead wolves along the way. However, at the same time, Larson was not as athletic as Lara, especially since his discharge from the military, which made it difficult for him to traverse obstacles that Lara found easy. Nevertheless, Larson knew that he was hot on Lara's trail.
"You can run, but you can't hide." Larson said. "When I find you, Lara, I'll be sure to get the Scion before you do!"
Hey, everyone! I told you it wouldn't be long before I updated again! Now that I'm really getting into this, I think writing this story will become a habit :)
Lara has now found both the Silver Key and the Gold Idol (hence the name of the chapter) and has already used the key to unlock the door to the next area of the city. As I said in the previous chapter, I was planning on breaking the second level into three chapters. This will be my second chapter covering the City of Vilcabamba. One more to go before the Lost Valley! See you in the next chapter, and don't forget to review :)
saturn95