Princess in Peril. Rachelle McCalla
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the still air. Footsteps? And muffled voices.
“Search every corner.” The command rose above the sound of footsteps—many sets of footsteps. Someone was in the mausoleum looking for them!
Isabelle grabbed Levi’s arm and whispered, “What are we going to do now?”
“The footsteps are all coming from the same direction. We need to run the other way.”
Isabelle raised her hand to open her phone again and light their way, but Levi’s fingers quickly closed over hers.
“No. No light.”
“I can’t see where I’m going.” Isabelle protested in near-silence as Levi tugged her along beside him.
“No light,” Levi repeated. “It will lead them straight to us.”
They shuffled forward, and Isabelle couldn’t help but wonder if they weren’t leaving a trail of footprints for their pursuers to follow. But tourist groups went through the mausoleum several times a week, if not several times a day. Hopefully their footprints would blend in.
For a few moments they bumped along in darkness, here and again meeting the rounded sides of cold stone statues or the walls themselves. Then Isabelle’s peering eyes were shocked as the bulbs that ran along the central hallway illuminated.
“They’ve turned the lights on,” she whispered softly, her words nearly drowned by the echoes of boots on stone floor and the muffled shouts of the approaching men.
Because the branching crypts weren’t lighted, she turned toward the light of the central hallway.
Levi pulled back on her arm. “They’ll see you.”
“But we’re sitting ducks in here. There’s no way out of this chamber unless we get to the main hallway.”
Already the boom of footsteps pounded closer. She didn’t know how thoroughly the men were searching the sprawling chambers, but they were closing in on them.
“We’ll have to hide.”
Isabelle looked around. The life-size statues were almost big enough to hide behind.
Almost.
“Where?”
Levi’s fingers grasped the edge of one of the many marble slabs that rested on the raised ledges of the burial chambers. Isabelle watched as he slid back the solid stone slab.
“In here.”
The boom of footsteps echoed nearer.
“No.” Isabelle shook her head. “Not with the bones.”
Levi pulled an object from the vault. “They’re not bones.” He held out an ancient piece of wood for her to see.
“It’s a shuttle,” Isabelle realized. She recalled from her long-ago tour that the burial chambers were interspersed with vaults containing items important to the deceased. Since weaving and textile work had long been the basis for the Lydian economy, many weavers treasured their looms and shuttles—even to the point of being buried with the objects that had been an integral part of their livelihood.
Realizing the chamber Levi had opened didn’t hold any bones, she relented to hiding inside. Levi guided her feet-first through the opening.
“Hurry!” he encouraged her as the echoing footfalls drew closer.
“Did you hear that?” A deep voice echoed down the corridor.
“This way!”
The boom of boots on stone grew louder and faster as the men hurried toward them.
With a repentant gulp, Isabelle ducked into the hole, regretting that her hesitation had wasted precious seconds.
“Up ahead!” the men’s voices called, nearer this time. Almost upon them.
Isabelle shuffled her head around so she could look out of the opening. Levi’s face flashed across her line of vision. “Are you coming in?” she whispered.
“No time,” he mouthed, shoving the stone slab nearly shut, leaving her with just a slice of light before he spun around.
THREE
Levi ducked instinctively as the bullet ricocheted through the stone chamber. He gripped the shuttle he’d pulled from the chamber, its ancient wood petrified with age. It wasn’t much of a weapon, but it in the enclosed space it would be far more useful to him than the gun in his holster.
“Don’t discharge your weapons inside the mausoleum!” The commanding voice Levi had heard earlier now sounded like it was just around the next corner. “The bullets could bounce back and hit one of us.”
The sound of footsteps drew nearer and flashlight beams danced through the relative darkness of the side chamber. Levi leapt back, hiding in the shadow of a large statue nearest the opening of the chamber on the side from which the voices approached.
He gripped the shuttle as the footsteps boomed nearer.
The instant a shadow fell across the opening Levi leapt forward and struck with the petrified rod. The man crumpled to the floor with a hollow groan.
“What—” The next soldier stepped forward, and Levi hit him, a glancing blow across the back of the head, which appeared to stun him only slightly. He grimaced and gathered himself, but Levi caught him under the jaw with his other fist. He slumped over his fallen comrade.
Two down. How many more to go?
With a shout, another solider leapt over the two unconscious figures. Levi swung with the shuttle, but the man’s hand clamped his wrist. A high round kick cleared the two motionless men below them. He caught his attacker under the ribs.
He heard the air rush from the man’s lungs as the soldier leaned forward, his grip easing on Levi’s wrist.
Jerking his arm free, Levi caught the man in the back of his head before he straightened.
Just in time.
The soldier went down as another leaped forward. At the rate he was going, Levi would soon have the entrance to the side chamber blocked by the unconscious bodies of his attackers. This soldier’s feet hadn’t yet hit the floor when Levi caught him under the chin with a grunt, with the same motion heaving his body onto the growing pile.
He panted, trying to catch his breath. His singed hands stung. How many more soldiers were there? How many more could he hold off?
The crackle of a radio told him someone was about to give away his position.
Vaulting the heap of men, Levi knocked the radio from the man’s hand before the soldier could call in reinforcements. Grabbing his head by the helmet, Levi rammed the man face-first into his knee.
Three soldiers were still standing.
The nearest one spun sideways, clipping Levi in a blow to the chest.
Levi grasped the shuttle with both hands and brought it down on the man’s head.
The soldier shuddered and went down.
“Alec?” The next guy looked at him in confusion.
Levi didn’t recognize the young man. “Sorry,” Levi apologized as he slugged the soldier across the jaw.
Before he had time to pull his arm back, the next man was on top of him, knocking him flat. Levi just managed to catch himself enough to avoid hitting his head too hard against the stone floor, but he wasn’t quick enough to avoid the blow aimed at the side of his head.
Stars flashed across his field of vision, obliterating all else. Levi shoved back, trying to push the man off of him, to roll sideways, anything. But he was exhausted from what had already been a long fight against overwhelming odds, and this attacker was enormous.
The man on top of him had every advantage.