Chapter 4
Tomb of Qualopec
The rock walls began to turn smoother and have more color. Finally it opened up into a magnificent room. There were four doorways, one ahead, one to the left, one to the right, and one she was in. Giant stone columns were in each corner of the room, contrasting against the vibrant orange and red stone walls of the ancient tomb.
"Qualopec went all out huh…?"
She thought, smiling at the well-crafted room. The floor, which was made of patterned stone plates, were done in the same colors as the wall, creating a dizzying effect. Three gates blocked the doorway to the left, each with a symbol on it that matched the three on the outside of the huge doors leading to the caves. She traced a few lines on the first gate, then turned and checked the doorway opposite the one she entered the room through. There was another mesh gate at the top of a ramp. The doorway to the right was the only clearly open one, and she opted to try it out first. Through here, there were three more passages to go through, with each symbol above each passageway.
"They must have some symbolic or ritualistic meaning to Qualopec…"
She thought, glancing at each of the red outlines. She decided to try the one ahead, with the birdlike carving above it. She'd save the Incan face looking carving and the one with the slanted designs for next. In here the walls changed to a more traditional tomb-like stone, with hundreds of ceremonial carvings. More stone columns were in here, but these had faces carved into them. It was also considerable darker, and she lit a flare to see. A switch was made into a small alcove in the wall.
"Ah, this should clear one of those gates for me…"
She thought smiling. She stepped into the alcove-
-and the floor suddenly gave away. She grabbed onto the handle of the switch, but it broke away. A trap! She landed hard after falling several feet. She fell into a pile of some old wood that snapped as her weight crushed it. She looked around and noticed several peculiar pieces. By her hand was a round piece, and she picked it up. Her eyes widened and she dropped it. This wasn't wood, it was human remains! She stood up quickly, dusting the old bones from her cloths and skin. A deep, throaty growl came from behind her, and she froze. She moved her eyes as much as she could, trying to get her peripherals to work in the dim chamber. She then heard a raspy howl and the sound of claws on the floor, and dove to the side.
As she did, a wolf crashed into the wall, followed by another one. She raised her pistols and open fired, sending the savage beasts into retreat. Once they were cornered, she finished them off with several more shots. She reacquired her flare and glanced around the pit she had fallen in. The opening was way too far to reach on her own, so she needed to find a way to get back up there and explore the rest of the area. She looked around and saw that, almost like a grand staircase, there were two ramps on each side of the room, the only problem was they didn't lead anywhere, just to a platform and back around to where she was standing.
The walls were covered in some ancient text, which she could barely make out. She walked to the top of the ramp, eyeing the ceiling and floor closely. Another unexpected fall like that and she might end up breaking something. At the top of the level ledge, she looked around at the wall. There wasn't really anything different to the rest of the wall…except…There was a crack near the ceiling of one section of the wall, and on the other side was another one. It looked deliberate.
She pushed on the middle of this section, and she felt a little give. She smiled, and gave it a swift side kick, her boot making a deep cracking sound in the tiny, dark chamber, with her flare giving her the most of the little light that was down here. She kicked the weak part of the wall several more times, then kicked her flare into the tiny alcove that was revealed. In here was another switch. She reached in without stepping inside and pulled it, then jumped back with her guns drawn.
She heard the sound of metal opening somewhere else and then the sound of stone behind her. She turned and saw a platform rise up from a hidden latch on the floor. She smiled and returned up back into the 3-branched hallway and went through the one that had the slanted designs symbol above it. This passageway didn't go too far, and it dead-ended with nothing along the way. Lara frowned, taking in more of the details. The wall was the same as the last chamber, covered in different designs and ancient text, but she noticed one part of the wall jutted out a little and had the matching symbol of this passageway.
She kicked it, but found by a sharp pain that shot through her leg that it was very solid. She cursed under her breath, and knelt down to examine it for hidden latches. No such luck. This was the times that tomb raiding got frustrating. She enjoyed the thrill of dodging traps and finding the artifacts rather than trying to figure out how to move a wall… Then she noticed the symbol designs also protruded from the wall a little. She traced them lightly with her fingers-
-and the door swung open slowly on hidden hinges. She drew a pistol, looking around. It only opened into a short hallway with a switch in the back of the room. She holstered her gun and started across the floor. Halfway however, she felt the floor rock and start to crumble. Before she could react it broke away and she had just enough time to grab the ledge with one hand. She emitted a loud grunt as she landed roughly with four fingers griping the crumbling stone. She reached with her other hand and grabbed a flare, striking it on the wall. She looked down into the pit and saw that the floor was covered in old, sharp wooden spikes. The bones of some unidentifiable animals were scattered across the bottom of the spike pit. She tossed her flare up then hoisted herself up, brushing off her knees. She pulled the switch, and heard the metal scraping sound again.
"Two down, one to go…"
She thought with a smirk. She carefully hopped over the spike pit and returned to the 3-branched hallway and took the final passageway. This was the largest room yet, with an incredibly high ceiling and two pillars in each corner of the room. At the opposite end was a fairly large opening with spikes at the bottom. The stone walls had faded a little, but were still unusually bright orange and gray. There was a single switch to her right, and she pulled it.
One of the massive stone pillars shifted across the floor from the corner it was in to the opening in front of Lara. She stepped out onto it, then did a running jump over to the other pillar that had shifted, then she hopped over to the opening and pulled the switch in here. This opened the third and final gate blocking the other passageway. She jumped down over the spikes and landed on the floor, sprinted across and vaulted back up to the 3-branched passageway.
She ran back into the main area of the tomb and took the newly opened passage. It turned right, opening up into a grand staircase. It was lined with giant stone warriors, carved from ancient stone. Along the base of the staircase were evenly spaced tubes, no doubt another dart trap. She timed her runs and jumps up the top of the staircase.
The next room opened up in the grandest of ways. The beautiful floor carvings opened up, engulfing a pedestal in the middle of the room. Leading up a short set of stairs opposite the pedestal was a grand throne, and on it was the rotted skeleton of a long ago ruler. Lara saw two mummified corpses on either side of the throne. They were easily nine feet tall, and extremely lean. The eerie tomb cast odd shadows, the steady quietness swallowing her in a vast sense of detachment from the modern world. She turned her attention to the slight glow on the pedestal. Set in a mythical, sparkling holder hovering over the stone monument was a circular item, made from gold. It was rotating slightly, and seemed to be missing some inner parts. Lara reached out and grasped it, pulling it away from the orb of light. A low rumbled shook the tomb, then in an instant everything started to move.
The wall and floor cracked open, and several pieces of stone tiles broke away from the ceiling. Lara jumped to the side, keeping a piece of the relic in her grasp. The rock hit the ground with such intensity that several stone shards exploded, flying across the room. She shielded her face and saw the Golden Gate across the room open. She stuffed the artifact into her backpack and then sprinted across the floor, hopping to the side as more debris fell from the ceiling. As she was running down the ramp, she heard a steady, low rumbling from behind. She glanced back and saw a giant, jagged stone boulder rolling down the ramp after her. It crashed into the wall, sending more of the ancient tomb wall flying. She did a diving roll as she entered the main room of the tomb and started toward the opening leading back to the waterfall and entrance to the Lost Valley.
A thundering boom caused her to stumble, and the entire roof collapsed. She pushed her legs harder, and came into a flying jump and into a roll, crashing against the stone wall opposite the entrance. The boulder stopped, and after a giant crash, the area went quiet again. She stood up, brushing the brown locks of hair away from her face, fixing her belt and holsters. She checked her pistols, then hiked back through the pathway back to the pool of water. She knelt down and cupped some water, then brought it to her lips. She was dying of thirst. She smiled, then wiped her lips. A gunshot rung out, and a piece of the rock beside her exploded. She dove into the water, and came out behind some rocks and drew her pistols.
"Well, you have my total attention now." She said annoyed, remembering their conversation from India.
"I thought archeologist were supposed to preserve the ancient tombs of the world, not destroy them." Came the thick accent of Larson Conway.
"You forget, I'm the tomb raider." She replied "We sometimes get trigger happy after finding lost relics."
"What kinda relics Miss Croft?" He asked with much curiosity.
"Why should you care? I'm only working." She said, keeping her pistols in a tight grip.
"Same here." Said Larson coldly.
"And why does Jacqueline need this round piece of medal?"
"You mean that dribblin piece of the Scion?"
"Yeah. Where's the rest?" She asked.
"Miss Natla put Pierre DuPont on that trail." He said.
Lara sneaked past the rocks and made her way closer to Larson.
"And where is that?" She asked.
"HA! You aint fast enough fer him." Lara frowned, then stood up and fired at him. "So you think all this talking is just holding me up?" He howled in pain, then clutched his arm.
"You shot me!" He called out.
"It's only a graze. You'll live cowboy." Lara replied casually.
"I don't know where his jack rabbit frog legs are runnin' him to! You'll have to ask Miss Natla…" Lara smiled, then jumped out and low kicked him, then uppercutted his jaw.
"Thank you, I will…" She replied. She knelt down and felt through his pockets, and came up with a business card, with the address to Natla Technologies.
