Curse of the Pharaoh: A Brock Stone Adventure

The network of caves was dark and chilly. The cool air felt downright frigid to their sunbaked skin. After a series of twists and turns, they entered a large chamber where the floor was dotted with holes.

“It looks like Swiss cheese,” Constance said.

“Stay right behind me,” Hawk told them.

Hawk took a slow, meandering path through the cave. Stone felt as if he were walking across the surface of a frozen lake, waiting for the ice to break. They had nearly reached the other side when Constance cried out.

“Get back here, you stubborn creature!” The mule she was guiding had strayed off the path.

“Constance! Let go of the lead!” Stone yelled.

Too late. Cracks formed around the mule’s hooves and then the bottom fell out. Constance shrieked as she was pulled into the hole.

“Constance!” Alex made a dive for her, and she managed to grab ahold of his hook just in time. He pulled her up and she latched onto him. “Are you all right?”

In reply, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him thoroughly. Stone and Trinity politely looked away, but not Hawk, who leered and gave Alex a thumbs-up.

“Nice job with that hook,” Hawk said. “If I ever lose a hand, you’ll be the first person I call.”

Something caught Stone’s attention. A soft, scuffling sound coming from down below. “Do you hear that?” Stone asked. Everyone fell silent.

“I hear it,” Hawk said. “We should keep moving.”

They had only gone a few paces when Trinity let out a yelp. “Look there!”

Emerging from a hole in the floor was something shiny and black with giant claws and a huge stinger. It was a scorpion the size of a horse, and it was coming for them. The floor cracked beneath its weight but it did not give.

“Everybody move!” Hawk shouted.

“I’ll cover you.” Stone handed the lead of his camel to Alex, drew his Webley, and took careful aim. The first shot struck the scorpion on the head and deflected off its hard carapace. Undaunted, it continued to pick its way across the floor.

Stone glanced back. The others were almost out of the chamber. As the scorpion came closer, he could see its chelicerae — the spike-filled mouth that looked like something out of a Boris Karloff film.

Stone focused, became one with his weapon. He squeezed off another round. This time it struck the giant arachnid right in its mouth. The scorpion let out an angry clicking sound and took a few steps back.

“You’re not the only one with a sting!” Stone shouted.

The scorpion raised its tail, tensed. And then Stone remembered some scorpions could spray venom.

“Oh no.”

The scorpion swung its tail from right to left, spraying venom in a wide arc. Stone rolled behind a pile of rubble as the deadly fluid spattered the ground. The scorpion was coming again. How could he stop it? The thing was like a tank.

A loud crack echoed through the corridor, then another. Cracks spread out beneath the scorpion’s legs as it crept forward. The floor was so close to giving way!

Stone stood, chose his target carefully, and fired at the floor in front of the scorpion. Shots pinged off the rocky surface. More cracks appeared, spreading out like cobwebs across the dark surface.

“Come on.” He squeezed off round after round. The floor kept cracking, but it held. He had one bullet left. He chose his spot carefully and fired.

No joy.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Angry and frustrated, he picked up a football-sized rock and hurled it at the beast. The scorpion batted the rock down with one of its claws. The rock struck the floor with a sharp crack — and then the cracked floor shattered beneath the creature’s feet. With a loud clicking, it plunged into darkness.

“That was close.” Breathing a deep sigh of relief, Stone retrieved his lantern and took off after the others.

Interlude 6

Stone felt like he was slowly being crushed beneath the foot of a giant. He lay underneath a pile of rubble. His ears rang and every inch of his body hurt. He touched his hand to his head, and it came away wet with blood. Anger burned through him.

“She set me up. She warned me of every booby trap except this one.”

The pieces fell into place. Rose was a double agent for the Illuminati. That was how she knew the location of their headquarters. The ‘midnight rendezvous’ was a meeting to hand over the thing they had found. His watch read eleven o’clock. He had one hour to escape the catacombs and find the “life-giving waters”.

He wobbled to his feet, picked up his flashlight, and proceeded down the passageway. Soon, he heard traffic above him. And then he caught a whiff of freshly-baked bread. To his left, a series of rungs led up to a trapdoor in the ceiling. No telling where it went, but it was the first possible way out he had seen.

He climbed up and pushed on the trapdoor. It didn’t budge. He gave it a harder shove and it swung open with a crash. Stone poked his head through. He had upended a cart on which balls of dough were rising. He was inside a bakery.