Born of the Gods

Chapter Seventeen- Diving to Ruins

I landed on tile covered in sand and broke into a roll. I looked back to see Tarik then Sophia both drop straight down the hole.

"Just falling like that is bad for your ankles," I pointed out. Tarik shrugged and Sophia ignored me.

"Anyone got a torch?" Tarik asked. Sophia pulled a stick from her bag. The end was wrapped in cloth and soaked in pitch. She took out a piece of flint and struck it against her sword until it lit the torch.

"There we go," she said as the flame spread across the tip, casting light across the room. It was a relatively simple place with a statue of a jackal headed god, Anubis, in one end with several broken pots and urns in each corner. Everything was covered in sand and dust. The air smelled of mildew. 

"Where are we supposed to go from here?" I asked confusedly. There was no other rooms or passages.

"Look around, I guess," Sophia said and began to search. Tarik and I followed her and looked around as well. I passed my hands over the walls, searching for hints of a door, tunnel, button, lever, anything.

I looked over at Tarik. He was pushing sand away from spots on the floor. His eye brow seemed to crease more with every second. I disregarded it and continued my search.

"Found anything?" Sophia asked.

"Nothing," I replied, "You?'

"The room seems empty," she said and walked back over to us.

"Give me the torch," Tarik said. He was clearly focused on something. Sophia handed him the burning stick and he thrust it into the sand, extinguishing the flame.

"What the hell?" I nearly yelled.

He ignored me, and I could barely see him as he quickly moved from spot to spot. Tarik stopped, stooped down, and began to quickly move sand away.

"Help me, maybe?" he suggested.

We went over to him and began to toss the sand away until our fingers scraped wood beneath.

"Wood?" I pointed.

"Trap door," Tarik corrected.

"How did you know it was here," I asked him.

"Lucky guess?" he said.

I looked at Tarik strangly before shrugging it off and pulling the door up. It was heavy. "Can I get some help now?" I asked Tarik. He grabbed the other side and we pulled, lifting the thick wooden door up, revealing a pitch black tunnel. It was small, no more than five and a half feet in height and two in width.

I looked over at Tarik and Sophia. I noticed I was only a little taller than Sophia but Tarik was much taller than me. He was about five feet six inches, I was only five feet two inches and Sophia was about five feet one inch. Tarik would have to duck his head to even walk in the hole.

"Did you have to put out the torch?" Sophia asked as she tried to relight it.

"It was making it harder to find the hole," Tarik tried to explain.

"That makes no sense," I said and shook my head.

"It's full of sand, it won't relight," Sophia complained.

"Just keep trying," I told her, "It will eventually." After a few minutes and countless scratches on her sword the torch burst into flame, casting a warm glow on the room once again.

"Ready?" Sophia asked.

"Seems fun," I said sarcastically. 

"Well aren't you optimistic," she said in the same way.