Indiana Jones and the Empire of the Sun

Chapter 6

Alice examines the corpse, careful not to touch it. I look around the room for any clues as to how we get out. On the wall at the other end of the chamber, in the dim glow, I make out the shape of a sun, the same one I saw on the chute. I make note of this, sure that it's a way out.

I walk around the room and notice words carved into the stone in front of the altar. As I get closer to read the script, I sense the power of the bioluminescent rocks.

Marcus has recovered enough to stand, and he crouches next to me, seemingly enchanted by the stones' glow.

"My god, Indy," he says. "Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?"

"I've seen ones like these before. In India. But these...these seem much more powerful."

"Powerful?"

"Destructive," I reply. "I wouldn't get too close."

I try to comprehend the Nahuatl words carved into the floor. As I struggle to remember, the sentence comes together in my head.

Beware...for he...who...disturbs the...holy stones...shall...

"Alice, get away from the body. Put it back."

"What? Indy, I–"

"Put it back now." She does this, sensing the urgency in my voice. Once the slab is back in place, she crouches next to Marcus and me.

"What is it Indy? What does it say?" I take a deep breath before reading the words.

"Beware. For he who disturbs the holy stones shall feel the fiery wrath of the sun." Marcus stands up and backs away from the shining stones. Alice, however, continues to examine the altar.

"How do you know if it's true?"

"Alice, trust me. These things can be incredibly powerful. We shouldn't risk it. I don't think we should be here. We need to get out, now."

But before we can make our way to the exit, Russo materializes in the doorway. He's followed by about a dozen, maybe more soldiers. He examines the chamber in awe, too busy to pay us any attention.

"My god–the royal tomb," he says, seeing the murals on the floor. "These stones–I've heard of such objects. Stones found in the earth which hold immense power." His hungry eyes survey the glowing rocks, stepping closer to the altar.

"Russo, don't get any closer. It could bring the whole place down," I say. But my warning is only met with snide laughter.

"Doctor Jones, glowing rocks are of no danger to us," he snickers. "There is no greater power than our forces, and with these stones, we will dominate the modern world," he says in a showboating tone.

He shouts orders in Italian and several soldiers pull out metal briefcases to place the stones in. While they do this, Russo turns his attention completely to us.

"Ah, you see Doctor Jones, you may have evaded many powerful enemies in the past. But we are not like your other enemies. We cannot be easily deceived or disposed of. This time, you will not escape."

But as the last word escapes his lips, one of the soldiers reaches out to grab one of the stones. As his skin makes contact with the rough surface of the glowing rock, his body burst into a white-hot light. He shrieks in pain, but only for a moment before he's reduced to a small pile of ash on the chamber floor.

Taking advantage of the moment of confusion, I make the split-second decision to force my finger onto the symbol of the sun. Just as I expected, the wall raises to reveal an exit. But by now, we're being fired rapidly. I shove Alice and Marcus through the exit and follow them, but quickly pull out my whip. I turn the corner and, using it, disarm several of the soldiers. I manage to sling one of their rifles into my hands. Satisfied, we make our way out of the exit.

We wind our way through dark passageways, only these are much wider. The ceiling is higher, and there are vines on every inch of stone. Nearly tripping over several, we dodge bullets from behind, missing them only on account of the darkness.

"Keep going, I'll catch up!" I yell at Alice and Marcus when we finally come to a corner. As they reluctantly continue to the left, I turn around the corner and start shooting.

My targets aren't completely invisible. Thanks to the glow of the walls, which is lessened here, I can make out the outlines of my enemies. I fire several shots sure to slow them down a bit. I decide to call it quits for now when a bullet whizzes right past my ear.

I chase after Alice and Marcus, who are far ahead of me. After a right turn, I see a doorway with light from the fires outside the temple at the end of the passage.

The doorway opens up to the exterior of the temple. I'm about halfway to the bottom and see Alice and Marcus still racing down the steps towards the bottom. I quickly catch up with them, taking the stairs two at a time.

By the time we reach the bottom, there's more gunfire coming from behind. From around the corner of a miscellaneous building, I shoot back at our pursuers. I hit a few targets, but much more quickly replace them. Bullets crack into the wall of the building that I hide behind.

But before I can hit any more of my targets, I hear a commotion from behind me. I turn to see that three soldiers have crept up on us from behind, and two of them have grabbed Marcus and Alice. The third soldier is massive.

He has a thin black beard and stands a foot taller than me. His arms are bare and expose his bulging biceps. He approaches me with a look of primitive aggression on his face.

Suddenly, he swipes at my head, but I quickly duck and try to roundhouse kick him in the stomach. But before I can, the monster of a man grabs my leg and twists it, causing me to drop to the ground in pain. I roll over onto my back to stand, but he elbows me in the chest and kicks me in the ribs. Before I can recover, he picks me up by the collar. I'm hovering over the ground now, and his large, smelly face grins right back into mine.

His right fist is raised, about to strike my face, but using his torso, I lift my feet and kick him away from me. He stumbles back, and I'm back on the ground. I quickly jump up in a standing position and kick him in the ribs. He strikes back with another punch, but I divert his fist back to himself. I give him several blows to the face on alternating sides until he falls onto the ground unconscious.

Meanwhile, Alice is fighting back fiercely at her captor, who is unarmed. I'm about to attack him when she jams her heel onto the soldier's foot.

"Let go of me, you prick!"

He screams in pain and in his moment of confusion, Alice swiftly kicks him in in the crotch, definitely incapacitating him. There's not much more to do with Marcus's captor, who (either bravely or foolishly) tries to resist. With a few blows to the face, he falls unconscious and we make our escape.

We find ourselves once again winding through the streets of the city.

"My god, how many damn temples are there?" Alice asks in frustration.

"Can't be certain. There are around 200 Aztec gods," I answer.

We move about in a zigzagging motion with no particular destination in mind. We eventually find ourselves near the temple of the sun again. The buildings closer to the city's centerpiece are taller, so we hope to find better chances of hiding in one of these.

Of course, the walls of this temple are painted over as well. I ignore them for the most part as we make our way into the back of the structure, though I do catch a few glimpses of a feathered serpent on the walls. This gives me enough information as to which god this is a temple for.

In the back, we find a pillar with a ladder carved into it leading down to a lower level. The voices outside are getting louder, so we frantically climb down the pillar.

The chamber below is dark, but there's just enough light to make out the contents. There are many statues of snakes lining the walls, depicting the same feathered serpent in the murals above. There's one particularly massive one spread out against the wall. Through the darkness, I look closer at it and realize the horrible truth.

It's not a statue.