Lost Ruins: The City Of Gold

Chapter 1: Old Friends

    England, March 5, People everywhere are excavating some kind of underground site. Among them is archeologist Dr. Olivia Saga. She is in her early forties, has shoulder length brown hair pulled in a tiny ponytail, hazel eyes, pale skin, she is five feet five inches tall, skinny, and nerdy. She is wearing short brown shorts, big brown boots and a blue flannel shirt. She is covered in dirt, but she enjoys it. She is digging away in front of her, very focused, determined, and careful. She wipes the sweat from her forehead, leaving a trail of dirt on her. As she digs some more, she suddenly hears a clank,her eyes widen and she lets out a soft gasp. She pulls out her tools: a tiny hammer and chisel and different brushes. Carefully, Olivia uncovers an old steel lock and her eyes open wide and her smile spreads across her face. She quickly climbs up a ladder and looks at a man thirty feet away.
"Dr. Walters! Dr. Walters!," she screams, but he doesn't turn around. Dr. Walters is a tall lanky man in his fifties with a British accent, glasses, short white hair, and a small mole on the side of his face. Olivia picks up a rock and throws it at him. "Scott!," she screams again, and the man turns around. "I found Something!" They get their best people and excavate around the lock. They uncover a door of steel bars.
"Dr. Saga you found it! You found the entrance to the catacomb," Dr. Walters exclaims. They get the door open and walk in the dark, eerie passage into the catacomb. Only their flashlight illuminate the dusty air. "Ugh! The stench is terrible," Dr. Walter says.
"This is amazing," Olivia says with excitement. Nothing but bones and coffins fill the area. They brush away cobwebs and turn the corner to find a room with nothing but a single stone coffin in the center, Olivia comes to the coffin and pulls out her brush. She carefully brushes away dirt to reveal the name chiseled on it.

Scotland, March 10, A man in his early forties is running with earbuds in his ears, and beautiful trees, mountains, and an orange sunset surround him. His name is Arthur. He has brown hair buzzed on the sides and long brushed back top, green eyes, semi-tan skin, he is six feet tall, muscular, and has a sarcastic personality. He comes to his small yet beautiful home that overlooks the mountains and walks in. Breathing heavily, he grabs a water bottle from his refrigerator, drinks some and pours some on his head. His phone rings and he answers,
"Hello," Arthur says into the phone.
"Hey Arthur it's Olivia," she says to him.
"Hey! How are you?" he asks, "How England?" Arthur and Olivia have been great friends since High School. No matter where each other end up, they remain in touch.
"I'm okay, England is okay, Raining here now, but you know I like the rain," Olivia replies.
"So whats up?" he asks. "I need to visit again, it's been almost a year."
"Well, that's why I'm calling actually. I just got back from a dig on the outskirts of England and I was wondering if you would come over for the weekend. I miss you and I have something I need to talk to you about," Olivia tells him.
"I miss you too Liv, but it is really short notice," Arthur says sadly.
"Oh come on! What else are you going to do? You will work out, go for a run, shoot your guns, and pass out to a bottle of whisky and a movie," she grumbled.
"You know me all too well Liv," Arthur said with a smile on his face. "But hey, how do you know I don't have a date tomorrow this weekend."
"It's you Arthur. No woman will put up with your sarcastic remarks and cocky attitude," Olivia said. "So come on. Come see me."
"Alright! Since you are begging to see my handsome face I'll see you Saturday by dinner time," he told her. "Just not too much nerdy talk. Last time my head almost exploded when you gave me a lesson on Greek and Norse Mythology."
"Hey! That stuff is very interesting!" yelled. "Did you know that my last name...."
"Bye Liv," Arthur interrupted. "I'll see you Saturday!"

Saturday Olivia is getting things ready for Arthurs visit. Olivia's house a beautiful mansion filled with all kinds of artifacts, ld photos, and old books. Her house almost looks like a museum. She doesn't spend much time there, because usually she is off on some archeologist event or excavation in another country months/years at a time. There is a knock at the door and Olivia answers it. "Did someone order a stripper?," Arthur asks jokingly.
"You're an ass!," Olivia says while laughing. "Come on in." Arthur looks around and lets out a whistle.
"Did this place get bigger? Oh goody it's filled with a lot more old stuff," he says mockingly. He starts touching things.
"Don't break anything Arthur. Everything is very old," Olivia sighs.
"Relax. Oh this is cool!," he says excited. Arthur picks up a strange knife.
"That's what they used to castrate men in Medieval times," Olivia tells him.
"Ew!," he shouts. He holds the knife with two fingers and sets it down gently. Olivia laughs at him.
"Let's eat!," She orders nicely. They sit at her dining room table that looks as if its never been used. The two of them laugh and talk about old times in high school. "We were inseparable in high school!," Olivia says.
"Yeah and I was always getting you out of trouble," Arthur says.
"What do mean?," she asks with a guilty smile on her face.
"Your curiosity would lead you on a little adventure and you would get yourself in some kind of bind, and I would have to get you out of it," he replies while laughing.
"Speaking of adventures, I asked you here to talk about something," she says seriously.
"Oh no, what is it?," Arthur asks.
"Let's sit in the living room and talk," she exclaims. They sit on her leather couch and drink red wine."So speaking of adventures, while I was on my dig in England, we found a catacomb. In the catacomb was the body of Sir Walter Raleigh. With his body was his journal and in it he wrote of a map that lead too...," Arthur interrupts her and puts his hands up in a structured form.
"Beginning, middle, then end," He says sarcastically. Olivia gives him a look. "Sometimes you start talking about things I know nothing about, especially history."
"Okay, okay. Have you ever heard of El Dorado?" She asks.
"Yeah, the city of gold or whatever," he replies.
"Well legend has it that the chief of the Muisca people covered himself in gold jewelry and gold dust. He then dove into Lake Guatavita so that all that gold on him would wash into the lake. He did this as an offering to the water monster that lived in it. The water monster thought the chief gracious and built him a city of gold," She tells him.
"El Dorado," Arthur says.
"Yes! Now the Spanish conquistadors then found the tribe and killed them in search of the city of gold, but never found it. Many men made expeditions to find El Dorado, and among these men was Sir Walter Raleigh. He made two expeditions to find it. After his second expedition, Raleigh returned to England claiming that he had found the city of gold. The people say he went mad with obsession and King James had him beheaded and his body was never found until a few days ago," Olivia explains.
"So what was in his journal you found?," Arthur asks.
"He had written and made a map to the map to the city of gold and ths map he made, leads to a tomb in South America. And I know how to find it," She replies.
"So you had me drive all the way here to tell me about a map to map?," Arthur says with a grin. "Why are you telling me all this?"
"My colleagues think I'm chasing fairy tales, but I know this is real!," She exclaims. "I need your help Arthur."
"What? You need me for a treasure hunt?," he asks.
"Archeological find!," she says correcting him.
"Treasure hunt," Arthur says again. She gives him another look.
"You are part The Black Watch of the Royal Regiment of Scotland! You know how to track things, rock climb, survival techniques, fight, and shoot! I need you!" She explains.
"Shoot?," Arthur Yells. "Liv, what kind of trouble are you in?," he asks in a very worried tone.
"Well," she grumbles out and explains the rest of what happened.

-

England, March 5. She carefully brushes away dirt to reveal the name on it. "It's Sir Walter Raleigh!"
"Holy shit," Dr. Walters states. The two open the dusty stone coffin with all their might. Musty old air plumes out. Olivia examines every inch of the body with her eyes and runs her fingers lightly over the medallion on the rotting corpse which has had its head severed. In the hands of the corpse is some kind of book or journal.
"Let's have a little read shall we," Olivia says to him with excitement.
"Yes, lets," he responds eagerly. They carefully move the bones to reveal the book. Olivia, an extremely fast reader scans every page. "Well, what's it say," he asks as he moves closer to her.
"This is his private journal! He writes of a map to El Dorado!" she shouts with a smile.
"Hogwash, El Dorado is just a fairy tale," he mutters.
"Dr. Walters, this journal explains things no one could possibly know. I think there may be some truth to this!"
"No," he says sternly. "Lets go. let the rest excavate this and no more talk of El Dorado" he insists. They continue to walk out as Olivia keeps reading passages from the journal out loud. They reach outside the catacomb.
"But Scott, there is a drawing here of a map that leads to something in South America that will lead to El Dorado," she shouts.
"Enough!" he yells. Olivia stops in her tracks and sees two armed men pointing guns at her and puts her hands up with the journal still in her right hand.
" Scott, what the hell," she asks nervously. Olivia scans the pages the journal is open to for her photographic memory. Dr. Walters suddenly He rips the journal from her hands.
"You are done with this excavation, no more talk of El Dorado. Go home immediately take some time off."

-

"I'll kill him! No one pints guns at you. Why would he have armed security at an excavation anyway?
"I don't know, but something is not right. Which is why I need your help," she explains desperately.
"Those days are behind me," Arthur says seriously.
"Please Arthur. I can't do this on my own. I know how far fetched a city of gold sounds, but I know there is some truth to it. I need you. Just one adventure, just the two of us." Olivia begged, "Just like old times, but with more danger and hopefully a large reward." Olivia looks up at Arthur.
" Oh, don't give me the puppy dog eyes! .......Alright. I'll help you," Arthur regrettably exclaimed.
"Yay! Thank you!," she beamed.
"But, when it comes to survival and our safety, you listen to me and do exactly as I say. No questions, no arguing. If that's possible for you Liv," he remarked.
"Yes! of course!," she responded. "We should get to the British Museum ASAP!"
"Why? I thought we had to go to South America?" Arthur asked.
"Well, with Raleigh's body was this golden medallion. According to Raleigh's journal, we need it to enter a tomb," she answered.
"Oh okay so we can just go and get it. Right Liv?" Arthur smirked.
"Well, technically it belongs to the British Museum now so they wouldn't just let me take it. So, we have to steal it," Olivia replied.
"You have got to be kidding me! Nothing is easy with you is it?" he said to her.
"It won't be difficult I promise. The medallion won't be on display in the museum yet. First it's analyzed, then recorded, photos are taken, then put somewhere safe before it's put on display," she told him. "And if I know my colleague Dr. Walters, he would want to analyze it on his own so it should be in his workstation at the museum. And since I was on the excavation but banned from helping any further, I have security access, but I can't be seen. But I have a plan you can help me with," she remarked.
"Great!" he said long and sarcastically. "I'll call in a few favors from my military buddies. I can borrow a plane and I'll get military clearance so we don't have to go through customs and I'll keep you safe," he said with a smile. "So What is this plan of yours to retrieve the medallion?"