Andy McDermott - The Tomb Of Hercules

Among it all glittered precious stones of every color imaginable, scattered like snowflakes. While the tomb was smaller, the value of the treasures within outshone by far the Temple of Poseidon that Nina had discovered a year and a half earlier. She couldn’t begin to work out how much it would all be worth. Billions of dollars, easily.

Footsteps echoed behind her. She turned to see Sophia and Corvus leading the group into the tomb, their expressions turning to utter astonishment as they took in the sight.

“My God,” breathed Corvus, “it’s more than I ever imagined. Look at it!”

Even Sophia, for once, seemed overawed. “Real treasure,” she said softly, moving for a closer look at a nearby golden pile. “Real wealth.”

“Nina!” Chase pushed past Komosa and ran to Nina. She threw her arms around him. Chase returned the gesture, holding her tightly. Komosa regarded them coldly and looked to Sophia, but she was too engrossed by the riches of the tomb to care what her ex-husband was doing.

“My God, oh my God!” said Nina. “Are you okay?”

“Bit burned, but that doesn’t matter,” Chase told her. “Main thing is, you’re all right.”

Still holding him, Nina took another look around the tomb’s interior as Corvus’s remaining men spread out, flashlight beams dancing over the golden hoard. Her eyes widened in amazement as still more treasures were revealed. “Jesus, this is incredible!” She released Chase and turned to take in the entire space, almost skipping with excitement. “My God, look at this! This… this practically rewrites ancient history! The Tomb of Hercules, almost completely intact. And look at all this treasure! This is probably the biggest find ever!”

“You can’t take it with you,” Chase said, “but Herc had a bloody good try.”

“He might not even have known about it. This is all tribute, gifts from a grateful people to honor their hero.” She raised her flashlight and led him to one of the ramplike sloping walls. Komosa followed a few steps behind, gun in hand. Running along the wall was an elaborate frieze made from thousands of small colored tiles, forming a series of pictures. “See, these are all scenes celebrating his life and his adventures.”

Chase examined them. “So we’ve got Hercules killing some bloke, Hercules killing several blokes and a couple of dogs, Hercules in…an orgy.” He looked more closely and raised an eyebrow. “Kind of a gay orgy.”

“Hercules had as many male lovers as female,” Nina pointed out. “And yes, he did kill an awful lot of people, often quite casually. He also played a major part in the sacking of Troy and the massacre of its inhabitants, and that was just one of his campaigns. One civilization’s legendary hero is another’s marauding psychopath.”

“Funny how they didn’t show any of that in the Disney version, isn’t it?”

“So where is Hercules himself?” Corvus asked, finally tearing his gaze away from the treasures around him to address Nina. “If this is his tomb, then where is he?”

Nina pointed to the plinth between the four pillars. “There, would be my guess.”

On the plinth was a golden sarcophagus; at its head a statue, again in gold, of a man.

Hercules.

The mythological hero in physical form, tall and muscular, head raised in triumph. In one hand he held a large club, and draped from his shoulders was a cloak. At his side was a quiver of arrows. All three golden accessories were inset with thousands of gemstones, on the club lined up to resemble grained wood, on the cloak more randomly like the rawness of animal hide, each arrowhead made from a single large gem cut to a sharp point.

Nina also noticed that they were separate entities, removable from the statue itself…

She looked up at the sloping wall. At its top was a dark alcove in the corner of the ceiling, an object lurking inside. The outer edges of the ramp were raised, as if to guide something down it.

“Eddie, look up there,” she whispered, aiming the light upwards. The circle of light briefly passed over the alcove before moving on, Nina not wanting to draw attention to her discovery. Within it was a thick stone disc, easily weighing several tons, balanced on its edge.

“Booby trap?” Chase whispered back. Nina nodded slightly, pretending to examine the gilded decorations on the ceiling while actually illuminating each of the ramps in turn. They all had discs poised at their tops.

As Corvus walked towards the sarcophagus, Nina placed the final page of Hermocrates under the red plastic sheet and scribbled down the last letters that were revealed. Her eyes widened slightly as she read the words, then she whispered to Chase, “Get ready.”

He nodded, taking in the positions of everyone else in the tomb.

“Those are representations of Hercules’s cloak, arrows and club,” Nina said loudly when Corvus reached the plinth. Everyone turned to her as she walked towards him, Chase gradually falling behind as she continued her lecture. “As much as his physical strength, they were the symbols of his power. The cloak could fend off any blow, the arrows penetrate any hide or armor and the club crush any enemy. I’d imagine that of all the treasures in the tomb, those three have the highest individual monetary values in terms of the craftsmanship that went into them and the materials used. If you take their value in a historical context into account as well, each of them could be worth more than the Mona Lisa or the mask of Tutankhamen.” She stopped near Corvus, Chase now several feet behind and not far from Komosa. “Imagine holding something that valuable in your hand. It must be an incredible feeling.”

The greed in Corvus’s eyes was plain. “It must,” he agreed. He climbed up onto the plinth and walked around the sarcophagus, gazing up into the face of the statue for a moment before reaching out to take one of the arrows-

Sophia’s sharp command of “Stop!” and the click of her gun as she thumbed back the hammer and pressed it against the side of Nina’s head came simultaneously. Corvus froze.

With her other hand, Sophia took Nina’s notebook. “Nice try,” Sophia told her coldly. “But just because I said ancient Greek wasn’t my speciality doesn’t mean that I didn’t pass it. I can translate the word ‘trap.’”

Corvus flinched back as if he’d received an electric shock. “What?”

Sophia stepped away from Nina, keeping the gun trained on her. “She’s absolutely right that those are the most valuable items in the entire tomb-which makes them the perfect final trap. No thief would be able to resist them… but taking them triggers the last booby trap and brings down the entire tomb! Look at the top of the ramps.” Flashlights snapped up to light the alcoves. “If those stones roll down, they’ll smash the support pillars and the roof will collapse.”

Corvus wiped his brow. “My God! She would have killed us all!”

“Oh, I think she was more hoping that we’d be distracted long enough for them to run for the exit. Look at how Eddie was trying to sidle close enough to Joe to take a swing at him.” Komosa looked at Chase, then whipped up his gun and jumped back with an almost outraged expression.

Chase shrugged nonchalantly. “Ah well. Gave it our best shot.”

“I think ‘shot’ is the right word,” said Corvus angrily. “Kill them!”

His men raised their guns-

“Oh really, René,” Sophia said with a mischievous smile, waving at the gunmen to stand down. They paused midmotion, weapons raised but not aimed. “Aren’t you at least going to tell them why you’ve gone to all this trouble to find the Tomb of Hercules? It would be terribly disappointing if they died thinking it was merely about money.”