Chapter Two
Kinabalu

The muffled hum of the helicopter filtered into Chloe's earphones and pulled her deeper into a relaxed state. She closed her eyes and focused on the sound, trying to forget the world. Flynn's voice ruined the illusion, and she opened her eyes again.

"What?"

"I said we're here. Were you dozing off again?"

"Just resting my eyes."

"Well I hope they've rested enough," he said, "because you're not going to be able to close them once you get a load of this."

Chloe shifted in her seat and looked out the cockpit. She was less than impressed. "You've seen one jungle, you've seen them all," she replied, bored. "We didn't come here for a tropical vacation anyway."

"You're no fun."

She laughed.

They rode in silence for several more minutes before the helicopter started its descent. The landing went smoothly enough that she wasn't forced to cling to something for dear life, and it comforted her to know that Lazarevic had sprung for mercenaries who were actually competent, unlike a lot of warlords she'd encountered. Chloe removed her earphones and grabbed her gear, then hopped out the open door.

"Did you bring a map?" Flynn shouted over the helicopter as he landed beside her.

"Actually, I brought something better." She produced a GPS and began walking. Once they were far enough away from the overwhelming roar of the blades to speak normally, she continued: "Now, if Marco Polo is to be believed, the ships crashed somewhere near Mount Kinabalu." She circled that region with her finger. "Which means we just need to keep heading toward it. Once we find the ships, we check our coordinates and radio back to Lazarevic."

"Well then what are we waiting for?" He started running into the forest. Chloe chuckled, then put away the GPS and followed.

The brush was not very thick, given their altitude. She caught up to Flynn without a problem, and kept pace for a few meters before they both slowed down. She pulled out the GPS again.

"We should be no further than a few kilometers from the base of the mountain," she said, focusing on the screen. "So if we just keep going we should be able to—whoa!" The ground beneath her disappeared and Chloe started to tip forward. A hand grabbed her waist just in time to stop her from plummeting a good five meters. The GPS was not so lucky. She saw it shatter against the hard stone below and winced. "Well that's not good."

"No worries," Flynn said, pulling her back up. He dug something out of his pocket. "Because I brought a map."

"We already know where we are, genius," Chloe snapped. "The GPS was so we wouldn't have to do advanced mathematics to determine our coordinates."

"Well lucky for you, I happen to know some old school mapping techniques," he replied with a smirk.

"I'm going back to the helicopter."

He grabbed her arm to stop her from leaving. "Look, I took a few courses on geography in Uni and I learned how to determine geographic coordinates. Mount Kinabalu is located at six degrees, five feet zero zero inches north, one hundred sixteen degrees, thirty three feet zero zero inches east."

"That supposed to mean something?"

"To a navigator, yes. You should never rely too much on your equipment."

Chloe crossed her arms. "This from a man who brought a backpack full of supplies to a museum heist while his partner brought only his wits."

"And look who came out on top. Although now that you mention it, this might help too." From somewhere in his pockets, he produced a flare gun.

"Okay, that does make things a bit easier."

He smirked. "Now are you coming or not?"

"Lead the way, Tarzan."

Flynn chuckled, then put away the map and flare gun before stepping off the cliff, turning around quickly to grab the ledge. He started climbing down.

"Shouldn't we be using a rope or something?"

"Left it back on the ship," he called, still descending. "Besides, who would collect it once we're done climbing down?"

"I was thinking we might need a way back up."

Flynn let go once he reached the bottom, landing on his feet with a grunt. "Oh, shut up and jump, Tinkerbell. I'll catch you."

"I can climb too, you idiot!" she shouted. "I'm just trying to think of how we're going to get back."

"We don't need to. Lazarevic will be bringing his helicopter to wherever the ships are. Now come on, jump. It'll be faster."

"I swear, if you drop me…."

"I won't. Now come on!"

Chloe grumbled before leaping off the edge. She landed in Flynn's arms a moment later, and just as promised, he didn't drop her. He didn't release her at all, actually.

"Alright, you can let go now," she told him, glaring. He just smirked. She grumbled a second time and put her feet on the ground. "Let's get moving."

The ground was fairly flat down here, without much in the way of underbrush, and they were still at a high enough altitude that they didn't have to wade through any swamps. The trees were also fairly far apart, which made navigation very easy. She could see the peak of the mountain from here. After about a kilometer or two, they faced another cliff.

"Well, shit."

"Oh, don't be so down," said Flynn. "We can climb this."

"Maybe with a rope, which you forgot to bring. There's no handholds down here."

"There's one over there," he replied, pointing to the right. "And there's a few leading up from there. You should be able to reach it if I give you a boost."

"Well how are you going to get up?"

"You see that tree over there?" He pointed to a tree with a large branch that seemed wide enough for a man to stand on. "How much you want to bet I can jump from that branch over to the cliff?"

Chloe crossed her arms. "You can't be serious."

"You're really high maintenance, you know that? Drake never complained this much."

"Then perhaps you shouldn't have left him behind," she snapped.

He scowled. "Just let me boost you up there." He walked over so that he was underneath the handhold, and held out his arms. She placed her foot in his hands, and he hefted her up. She grabbed onto the handhold. "You got it?"

"Got it."

He let go. Chloe scrambled to get her legs against the cliff face and held on tight. She started climbing.

"Alright, I'm going to climb this tree over here." She heard him moving away from her, followed by grunting a few seconds later.

She continued to climb. Once she reached the top, she pulled herself up and turned around, trying to find Flynn. He was still on the branch. "Are you coming or what?"

"Slight problem here." She followed his eyes to the other end of the branch and saw what he meant.

"What is that?"

"Bornean Clouded Leopard," he answered, not moving. Across from him stood the animal in question, with its teeth bared and heckles raised. "Apparently I just woke it up from its nap."

"What do you want me to do?"

"You have a gun, don't you?"

Chloe pulled her .45 out of its holster. "Well yes, but it's designed for people, not leopards."

He rolled his eyes. "You don't have to kill it, just scare it away!"

"Right." She aimed at the tree branch just below the leopard and fired. It flinched, but did not back down. She fired again, and the same thing happened. "It's not doing anything!"

"Well then hit it! Give it a few wounds before it does the same to me!"

"Okay!" She adjusted her aim and fired a few slugs into the leopard's body. It gave a fierce yowl, but it still did not retreat. In fact, it started heading towards…. "Harry!"

"What the hell did you do?"

"I don't know! Just jump!"

"Right!" He turned and leaped from the branch, just barely avoiding the leopard's pounce. He managed to grab the handhold with one hand, struggling for a few seconds before he managed to bring up the other one. He started climbing.

Meanwhile, the leopard was preparing to leap at him again. "Harry, look out!"

"Wha?" his eyes widened as he realized what was happening. "Shoot it again!"

She fired a few more shots at the leopard, but missed most of them in her panic. Flynn scrambled up the cliff. The leopard jumped after him, catching one of his pant legs. The fabric gave way almost immediately and the leopard fell back down to the ground, where it landed on its feet. It started to pace.

By this time Flynn had reached the top of the cliff, and Chloe clasped a hand around his wrist and helped pull him up. Once there, he collapsed on the ground.

"Are you okay?" she asked, kneeling over him. "Did it get you?"

He winced and pulled up his shredded pant leg, and Chloe saw where the leopard's claws had made several cuts. She cringed.

"Okay, it's not that bad. Good thing one of us remembered to bring bandages, huh?" She began rooting through the pack on her hip, producing styptic, antiseptic and the aforementioned bandages. She applied the styptic first. "Okay, this is to stop the bleeding. Keep your leg elevated."

He waved a hand. "Like you said, it's not…" He winced as she spread the styptic over the wound. "…that bad."

"All the same, you don't want to lose any blood out here. Otherwise you'll attract more of those things." Once she finished applying it, she grabbed the antiseptic. "Now, this is to prevent any infection she might have given you."

Flynn hissed when it touched his skin. "What makes you think that thing was a female?"

"Look." She pointed to the base of the cliff. Two cubs had come out of hiding to join the leopard. "That explains why she was so persistent. She was protecting her young."

"Well how very good for her," Flynn deadpanned. "Now would you finish patching me up?"

"Always impatient," she sighed, grabbing the bandages. She started wrapping them around his calf.

"Well that was fun," he said breathlessly, collapsing onto the ground. "Let's not do that again."

"I agree." She pinned the bandages in place and pulled his pant leg back down. "Are you going to be able to walk?"

"Yeah." He stood up without her help. "Just a scratch."

"Okay. Now let's keep moving, but we need to do it slowly. I don't want you putting too much stress on that leg."

"You worry too much," he insisted. "I'm fine."

"For now, maybe. But let's try and avoid any more run-ins like that."

"Don't need to tell me twice." He started walking.

"Yeah," Chloe muttered once he was out of earshot. "You're welcome."

It was about half an hour later when Chloe finally started to realize that she had no idea where they were. Flynn had produced a compass in addition to the map and they were following that, but she had gotten so reliant on GPS technology that it was difficult for her to follow. Now she understood why school teachers taught children how to do math instead of just handing them calculators.

"Are we there yet?" she muttered.

"Hard to say," Flynn deadpanned. "Do you want me to pull over to a rest stop?"

"Very funny." She looked around them. "I just feel as if we're missing something."

"We probably are. Good news is we're close to the mountain."

Chloe decided to voice a doubt she had been having for the last half hour. "You know what's strange?"

"What?"

"That parchment we got said that Marco Polo was stranded on the west coast, and I'm pretty sure there was an X on the map where they went aground dozens of miles from here. Maybe we're looking in the wrong spot?"

Flynn shook his head. "No. The drawing was obviously St. John's Peak. That's on Mount Kinabalu. We're in the right place."

"Must have been one hell of a tidal wave."

"Or they traveled this far after being shipwrecked," he suggested. "All I know is that he put that landmark on there for a reason. I just can't figure out what it is."

"Maybe we could ask Nate," she replied. "Oh wait, we can't! That was a real smart move, leaving him to get captured like that."

Flynn stopped so abruptly that she almost bumped into him. He turned around with a scowl on his face. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that maybe you should have kept him around a little bit longer. He's the one who told you about the ships in the first place. We're lost without his input."

"Oh please, I knew about the ships from the beginning. Any idiot could have figured that out. I only needed him to get into the museum. He was the only one who'd ever gotten in and out of that place."

Chloe crossed her arms. "Come on, Harry, you know that's not the truth. Drake's always been better at solving puzzles than either of us. With him here we probably would have found the ships by now."

"And Lazarevic would be after our heads!" he shouted, pointing in the direction of the sea. "I had to double-cross somebody, and I was not going to take my chances with that raving lunatic!"

"See, that's your problem!" she yelled back, throwing her arms in the air. "You always assume that everybody's either going to betray you or murder you and you think you have to beat them to it! You won't let yourself trust anybody!"

"And it's kept me alive so far," Flynn rebutted. "Don't pretend like you're any less shrewd. You always have to watch your own back in this line of work."

"Yes, and you also have to know when to let somebody else watch it," she said. "Or do you not trust me either?"

He looked utterly shocked that she would ask that. He didn't answer.

"Just like the old saying, isn't it?" she continued. "No honor among thieves."

He scowled again. "I'd trust you more if you weren't acting like the head of Drake's bloody fan club."

She glared back. "Just forget I mentioned it. Now let's get going. We have some ships to find." She started walking past him.

Flynn caught her arm, and she glared at him again. He held up the map and shook it. "I'm leading, remember?"

"Fine." She jerked her arm out of his grip and waited for him to move before she followed. "I just hope you know where you're going."

"Oh, I do," he answered, pulling out the compass as well. "Trust me."

"This is the last time I let you lead me anywhere."

"Oh, quit complaining. It's just a momentary setback."

"It's a hundred meter cliff!" she shouted, gesturing downward. "There is no way in hell we're going to be able to climb that far, even if you had thought to bring a rope! There's no way around, either!"

"I know that!" He looked down at the map again. "We don't need to climb down here, we just need to find the ships. This is a vantage point."

"Well I don't see any damn ships," she said. "I'm starting to think they're not even here. What the hell is so important about this mountain?"

"I don't know!" He continued staring at the map. "I'm trying to make sense of it, I just need some time to think!"

"Fine." She crossed her arms and leaned against a nearby tree. "Take your time."

They stood in silence for a few minutes. Chloe looked out over the jungle, hoping to spot the ships. Nothing.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you," she revealed eventually, having abandoned her search.

"Be out with it, then," he replied, not looking up from his map.

"Lazarevic was willing to pay us a lot of money just to get him that clue. We could have just taken the money after we gave it to him. We didn't have to come here at all."

Flynn looked up and stared at her, but said nothing.

"And then you insisted that the two of us scout ahead for the ships instead of bringing the rest of his crew with us. I mean, we could have just stayed in the helicopter. We didn't have to search for them on foot."

"You're forgetting about the Bornean government," Flynn replied. "Lazarevic is still a wanted war criminal. This way we can sneak past the border defenses and search for the ships without anybody knowing."

"Except that NATO already thinks he's dead and nobody ever comes this far in the jungle. There are a number of easier ways we could have searched for the ships. Why are you insisting on doing things the old fashioned way?"

He didn't answer.

Chloe had to cover her mouth to stop her laughter when she realized the truth. "Oh my God. You're trying to prove you're better than Drake."

He raised an eyebrow and looked confused. Either he was trying very hard to deny it or he hadn't even realized it himself. "What?"

"That's what this whole thing's been about, hasn't it?" she continued. "You left Nate behind in the museum because you wanted to prove you could outsmart him. Then you brought us out here so you could find the ships without him in order to show the world that you're better. Only that's not happening."

Flynn stepped forward and jabbed at her accusingly with his finger, causing her to stumble back. "Do you honestly think I'm so insecure that I feel the need to prove I'm better than that whiny piece of shit?" She tried to regain her balance but only succeeded in pushing herself further towards the edge. "I'm here because I want a share of the treasure. That's worth way more than whatever Lazarevic was going to pay us. So just shut your mouth and—"

She missed his next words as she tumbled off the edge.

"Chloe? Chloe!"

It took about two meters for Chloe to reach out and grab a handhold, by which point she had no means of returning to her previous position. She felt her shoulder jerk as her fingers found purchase, grunting with effort as she brought up her other arm. Her feet dangled helplessly for several seconds before she found a place to put them as well.

"Chloe, are you alright?" she heard Flynn shout from above.

Tapping on her headset, she answered: "No thanks to you."

She heard a sigh of relief on the other end. "Sorry about that. Got a little angry."

"Well, it's a good thing I'm such a great rock climber," she quipped, still annoyed. "And might I just point out what a fine idea it was for you to leave the damn rope behind."

"Again, I'm sorry about that. Can you climb back up?"

"Don't think so." She looked around for a few seconds, spotting something of interest. "I think I see a cave entrance a little further down. Might lead somewhere." She started moving toward it.

"That wouldn't happen to be the same cave I noticed just before we started arguing, would it?"

Chloe rolled her eyes. "You mean I could have avoided tumbling off a mountain and still ended up in the same place? Good to know."

"Look, I said I was sorry. I think I can get to where you are from here. Just meet me there."

She clicked off her headset and continued heading for the opening. "Fucking idiot."

It took a couple of minutes for Chloe to work her way down to the cave entrance. She let go of the cliff, landing on the small ledge below. It immediately gave way beneath her.

"Shit!" she yelled, pushing off the crumbling rock towards safety. She struck the floor belly-first, then pushed herself up and patted the dust off her clothes. 'Well, no way to go but forward.'

Switching on her flashlight, Chloe ventured further into the cave. A few meters in she had to duck to avoid a flurry of wings, taking a sharp breath and holding it as she reminded herself that they were just bats, not subterranean demons here to chop her in half and carry her torso off into eternal darkness. Once they had passed, she squeezed her body through a small opening just barely wider than her, which the bats had been using as a nest. Her hands pressed against something moist. "Ugh, guano."

After using her trousers as a makeshift napkin, she scanned around for a way out, but saw only rock. "Great. Trapped in here with no one to talk to but myself." She rolled her eyes. "Now what would Nate do to get out of this?"

She sighed. Nate. That was the last thing she wanted to think about right now. Even locked up in a Turkish prison he was still making her life more complicated than it had any reason to be. Sure, she had gotten herself into this mess, but it was as if his involvement had escalated it into a catastrophe. Chloe knew from experience that it was only going to get worse. She'd been through it before.

Chloe shook her head. That was another thing she didn't want to remember right now.

Growling at nobody in particular, she brought her foot up and kicked the nearest wall with all her might, as though taking out her frustrations would actually solve her problem. A few pebbles fell from above, and she looked up.

Above her was a loose collection of crumbling stones, presumably left there to trap intruders in this chamber. She barely leaped back in time to avoid the debris as it crashed down to the floor. As the light from above started to leak into the tiny cave, she smirked to herself.

"Now who said brute force never solved anything?"

Leaping forward, she kicked off the wall in front of her, turning around in midair to grab the ledge above. She pulled herself up with little effort, then looked around. She was in the middle of a long corridor, the walls of which were considerably straighter than she had expected. The sconces on the wall had been lit, suggesting someone came through here recently. Clicking off her flashlight, Chloe stepped over the hole she'd made and continued moving further into the mountain.

As she walked, Chloe took note of the walls around her. They were almost completely straight, and she noticed a set of stairs just ahead. It wasn't in very good condition, but everything suggested that this was man-made. She proceeded further down the hallway, eventually coming out into a larger room. As the details started to arrive at her brain, her feet were rooted to the spot and all she could do was stare in amazement. "Whoa."

The room was enormous. Resting on a high pedestal in the center was a giant tree, kept nourished by a complex irrigation system as well as the strategically placed windows to outside, which presumably also functioned as the temple's ventilation. The tree itself was unreachable from here, suspended high above the floor in order to soak up the light. However, it looked as though the irrigation channels that watered the tree could be used to reach it.

The cold gray of the stones gave the room a somewhat bittersweet atmosphere, as though more than just the temple had been ruined by time. At the same time, the still-running water combined with the vegetation that was almost as lush as the jungle surrounding them filled the place with a different sort of liveliness, suggesting that nature was slowly prevailing.

Chloe groaned out loud at the flowery symbolism her mind was creating. This wasn't an adventure novel.

Looking to her right, Chloe spied a series of ledges that seemed to have been put there to allow maintenance to the system, though several hundred years had left them slightly decayed. Surprisingly, the irrigation channels themselves were still in magnificent shape, despite logic dictating that the water should have eaten away at them long ago. A number of plants had started to grow from the sides of them—mostly various forms of algae, though there were a few species of vine as well. None of them had particularly strong roots, which Chloe suspected was the reason the channels were still intact.

Water ran in channels along the floor as well, collecting in a reservoir to be recycled. There were several exposed gears located throughout the room, at various levels. Chloe was at a loss as to what they actually did, but supposed that she could figure it out given enough time.

"Impressive, isn't it?"

Without even pausing to gasp in shock, Chloe spun around and punched Flynn directly in the face, knocking him to the floor. He had the audacity to look surprised.

"Chloe, it's me!" he shouted, holding up his hands as he supported himself with his elbows.

"I know it's you!" she hollered back, infuriated that he hadn't understood why he deserved that punch. "That was for knocking me off a bloody cliff!"

Flynn rolled his eyes. "You're still on about that?"

"It was less than ten minutes ago!"

"Oh, well then I guess I should apologize a fourth time."

"You only apologized twice," she corrected. "The third time was you telling me you already apologized." She stamped her foot. "And that's not the point! I could have died!"

He looked hurt. "You think I don't realize that? I would never want to lose you. I just forgot we were next to a cliff is all."

"Oh, you just forgot that I was only inches away from falling to my death," she echoed, throwing her arms into the air and beginning to pace. "I'm sure that would have meant a lot at my funeral."

"Look, I already apologized, and you already got your revenge. Can we please move on?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. What do you make of this place?"

"Well," he replied, grunting as he lifted himself off the floor, "The tree is obviously the centerpiece. That means it's important somehow. We should probably have a closer look at it."

"I already figured that out," she remarked. "If we can reach those channels, we should be able to walk right over to it."

"Easier said than done. How are we supposed to get to those?"

She pointed to the right. "Those ledges seem like a good place to start." They walked over and climbed to the next level.

"Hold on." A hand moved in front of her to halt her progression, and she resisted the urge to shove it aside and keep walking. "What's that there?"

Using her hand as an impromptu sun visor, Chloe peered up to where he was pointing. "It looks like a lever."

"Exactly. Think I should climb up there and pull it?"

"Just don't get mauled by any leopards this time."

"Ha," he deadpanned. "Give me a boost, will you?"

"Are you sure it shouldn't be the other way around?"

"What?" He smirked. "Don't think you can lift me?"

"No, I'm just concerned about you getting attacked by various forest creatures. You never know what could be up there."

"Well, better me than you, right?"

Chloe chuckled and held out her hands, then hoisted him up to the next ledge. He pulled himself up with little difficulty, which didn't surprise her in the slightest. After a few more leaps, he reached the lever.

"Here goes nothing!" he called before pulling with all his might.

The room immediately sprang to life, and the gears let loose a powerful series of percussions as the elevated channels rearranged themselves. At the same time, the water flow increased dramatically, sending a torrent into one of four basins that ran along the side of the center pillar. The pressure caused the entire structure to lower a few meters, though it was still nowhere close enough to make her way to from here.

The last step in the overly intricate reaction brought a channel to rest directly in front of where she stood, and she followed it with her eyes to see that it led to a ledge with yet another lever. "I think I see how this works!" she shouted, then walked along the channel like a balance beam.

"Don't fall, don't fall, don't fall," she muttered to herself, since she clearly couldn't refrain from looking down. After a few moments she arrived at the next lever. "Let's see what this one does."

The gears exploded into motion again, and the pillar was brought lower once more by yet another powerful stream. This time the bridge was extended to Flynn, who hesitated for only a moment before crossing it to the next lever.

"I like this puzzle!" he shouted. "Bring the tree to us instead of going to it for a change!"

"You don't have to explain everything like there's a bloody camera crew following you around!" she hollered back, more out of a pathological need to tease him than anything else.

"Maybe I'll just start hosting my own television show after I get rich! Call it 'Man versus Temple!'"

"I don't think there's a very wide market for that sort of thing!"

"Whatever!" He pulled the lever, which set off yet another unnecessarily complicated chain of events that ended with a bridge in front of her.

"Looks like we're almost there!" she called as she began to cross. "Stay where you are!"

"Not like I can really go anywhere, sweetheart!"

The final lever produced the most exciting spectacle, which culminated in the tree being brought down to ground level. All four channels beat down on the pillar, two of which ran directly below the ledges on which they currently stood. Chloe tread carefully down hers, while Flynn simply exploded into a full gallop and executed a swift shoulder roll when he reached the bottom. Her eyes followed his example for what seemed like the millionth time.

"This had better be good," she muttered as she approached the tree.

"It's just a sodding tree," Flynn remarked with barely concealed disappointment. "We did all that just to get a closer look at the local vegetation. Stupid tribespeople and their rituals."

"I don't think a tribal society could have built this," she corrected, gesturing at the vast temple surrounding them. "It had to have been more organized. I mean, those mechanisms are still in working order today. That takes some serious engineering power."

"Yeah, well all it got us was a close-up of some tree bark. So pointless."

"I wouldn't say it's a total waste of time. For one thing, the bark isn't very thick on this tree, which is probably what led them to carve those symbols on it."

Flynn blinked and took a closer look at the tree he'd merely glanced toward before dismissing. "What symbols?"

"I said the bark wasn't very thick. That doesn't mean several hundred years of growth won't affect it just a little bit."

He groaned out loud. "Great. Maybe if we'd gotten here a few centuries earlier we could have read what it says."

"It's not impossible to figure out," she insisted, leaning closer. "Just have to look at it the right way." She squinted but could not discern what was written despite her protests to the contrary.

"Wait a minute," Flynn muttered, turning his attention to the two metal torches that flanked the tree. Bending down, he scooped what appeared to be a few handfuls of blue resin and placed them in each before pulling out his lighter. "Let's see if this helps."

"I don't really think we need more light," she deadpanned, gesturing to the massive windows above them.

"I don't think you understand," he insisted, pushing the fire closer. "This is what I would have done in Lazarevic's office if I'd only thought to take some with me." She saw what he meant when the resin burst into flame, casting a bluish tint over the immediate area. He repeated the process with the other torch, and then the most remarkable thing happened.

"Incredible," she breathed, watching the symbols blaze like burning sapphires.

"Isn't it? This is much more impressive than a stupid map." He squinted. "Though I still can't make heads or tales of this rubbish."

Chloe sighed. "Can you read any foreign languages at all? How do you stay ahead in this game?"

"By backstabbing translators," he replied dryly. "Can you read it?"

"Are you kidding? I'm from Australia, remember? The South Pacific is where I got my start."

"So you can read it?"

"Of course. Just stand in front of me while I do it." She smirked when he looked at her in disbelief.

"I didn't mean—"

"Of course you didn't." She leaned closer. "It's written in script used by the Kadazan."

"The who now?"

"It's a basic Malaysian language," she clarified. "It's a little harder to read in this format since it's gotten so many loan words in recent years, but I think I can work out what it's saying." She chuckled. "Actually, that language is where Mount Kinabalu gets its name."

"Hm?"

"Historians think it came from the phrase 'Aki Nabalu,' which means 'revered place of the dead.'"

"Sounds pretty foreboding."

"Well, it's not the only theory," she admitted while continuing to decipher. "The other one is..." She paused as she started to recognize that the words were telling her a story she'd heard before.

"The other one is what?"

"Carved into this tree," she finished, somewhat numbly.

"Okay, you've lost me."

"Just listen to what it says: 'Long ago, there was a great storm. It brought a wave of vengeance upon the land, but when the water departed, it left behind something far more terrible.'"

"Are you embellishing or does it seriously say that?"

"Please, since when have I ever been dramatic about anything?"

"My nose seems to recall a certain incident not ten minutes ago."

"Well, you deserved that," she replied. "Now shut up so I can keep reading."

He said nothing.

"'A man arrived in a village one day soon after the storm. He had been a sailor, and the wave had carried his ship inland. The people asked for his name, but he would not tell them what it was; only that he had been treated as a Prince in China.'" She paused for a long time while she let that sink in. "Oh my God."

"What now?"

Chloe chuckled as she explained: "This is talking about Marco Polo."

"Okay, now you've really lost me. Since when does it say that?"

"Marco Polo's fleet was washed inland by a giant tsunami," she reminded him. "And he was an official in Kublai Khan's court."

"So? That says he was a Prince."

"Well, you know how legends change over time. Besides, Marco was well-known for embellishing things."

"Yes, so well-known for it that most historians think his book is just fiction and he never travelled to those places at all."

"Except we've got several journals and a map that say otherwise," she pointed out, then continued. "'The Prince was nursed back to health by the kind people of the village, and was eventually accepted as one of their own. He married a local woman and they lived happily for several years.'"

"Oh, how very sweet. What does that have to do with anything?"

She ignored him. "'Eventually the Prince grew homesick and wished to return to China. So he set off to reclaim his title. Once there, his parents forbade him from bringing his Bornean wife with him, and set him up with the Princess of a neighboring kingdom.'"

"That, or he spun some carefully crafted bullshit so she wouldn't find out what a huge liar he was," Flynn suggested.

Even though she agreed with that sentiment, Chloe still rolled her eyes at his knee-jerk cynicism. "'The wife had supreme faith in her husband, and often watched the shore to await his return. It soon proved troublesome to make such a journey every day, since he had left her with several children. So instead she decided to climb to the top of the tallest mountain, where she could easily see all the ships that returned.'"

"Yes, because that's easier."

"'But her husband never returned. She perished on the top of the cold mountain after many years. The spirit of the mountain was touched by her devotion and turned her body into the highest peak, so that she could forever await her husband's return. The people heard this and were touched, naming the mountain 'Kinabalu,' or 'Chinese widow.' She stands today as a symbol of the loyalty and devotion that should be taken as an example by all women.'"

"Well, that's a very cute story but what the hell does it have to do with the damn ships?"

Chloe sighed and shook her head. "Always impatient. 'Before he left, the Prince entrusted the people with this temple, and the treasure it contains.'"

"Treasure?" He started looking around. "What treasure? I don't see any bloody treasure."

"'We have left you with this record so that the treasure may go undisturbed. Just as the widow awaits her husband, the spirit of the mountain will forever keep watch over this root of Shambhala.'"

"It's talking about the tree, then? The tree is the fucking treasure?"

"Well, it doesn't seem to be a breed that grows naturally in Borneo," she admitted.

"Does it say anything else? About the ships, maybe?"

"Nope." She stood up straight. "If the tsunami was that big they probably got annihilated. They might not even be recognizable."

"Well, it's good to know we wasted this entire trip for nothing."

As if that was the cue for some impossible coincidence to happen, the torches chose that exact moment to stop burning. Not a moment afterward, some unseen mechanism was triggered and the water ceased its flow. The ground beneath them started to shake as they rocketed towards the roof of the temple.

"Oh, of course!" Flynn called out sarcastically. "Now it's going to smash us against the ceiling. Can't let anybody find out a secret like that and live to tell about it." He shrugged. "Although I suppose Zoran would have killed us anyway."

"How many times do I have to tell you to quit being morbid, Harry?" she mumbled. "Look."

The ceiling of the temple was opening above them like the doors of a nuclear silo, revealing nothing but the sky. The pillar slid into place as soon as it breached the mountain, leaving them with a perfect view of the valley below.

"There they are," Flynn announced as he looked through his binoculars. "Right there."

Chloe felt a sudden urge to kiss the man in celebration, but her frustration with him allowed her to restrain herself. It would only encourage him anyway. "So that's it, then. We've done it."

"Yes we have."

"So now we walk all the way down there?"

"Oh, hell no." He reached into his pocket and produced the flare gun. "After a hard day's work, I think we deserve to arrive at our destination in style."

He raised the gun in the air and pulled the trigger, sending a single red beacon rocketing into the sky.

Author's Notes: It took me an embarrassingly long time to finish the puzzle scene. I honestly have no idea how the folks at Naughty Dog come up with these brain-bending puzzles that shame other games that are centered exclusively around puzzles. I originally planned for something much more complicated, but in the end it just didn't come across well in written format so I shortened it considerably from my original idea.

Another problem I ran into while I was preparing this after working on other projects for so long is that I can see how my writing style has evolved over the course of writing those stories, and I just could not quit tinkering with the narrative. The dialogue was already pretty much perfect, since that's always been a strength of mine, but tweaking the description is another thing that slowed me down.

The Kinabalu story is based on a real legend. I've tweaked it a bit for my purposes, but then the Uncharted series has always played it fast and loose when it comes to folklore. I'm also aware that I probably fail geography forever, but that's another area where the series doesn't let a maniacal obsession with accuracy get in the way of a good story.

One more chapter to go.