Thin red carpet covered the rock-hewn floor. Daniel and Ben walked to the edges of the chamber and started rolling the carpet back as Tenzin hovered over them.
“Here.” Daniel spotted the seam in the rock before Ben did. “I can feel it. There’s a passageway beneath us.”
It would have taken a pretty decent fulcrum and a long lever for humans to pry up, but Daniel popped the carved stone off like he was opening a soda can.
Ben could see the vampire’s excitement taking over.
“Do you generally need help on these treasure hunts of yours?” the man asked.
Tenzin said no at the same time that Ben answered, “Fairly often.”
“Well that’s clear as mud.” Daniel disappeared down a steep set of stone steps. “It’s open.”
Tenzin shot Ben a look as he started walking down. “You explore,” she said. “Tell me if I need to follow.”
Ben nodded. He followed Daniel to the chamber underneath the church, noting two areas of darkness where it looked like tunnels branched off.
“Tenzin not coming?”
“I asked her to keep watch in the church.” Ben knew why Tenzin was avoiding the tunnel, but Daniel didn’t have a right to her secrets. She’d already pushed herself to the limit that night, walking through the stone passageway that connected the two churches. It was rock instead of earth, but he could feel her uneasiness in his blood.
“There are storage chests down here,” Ben said. “But they look fairly modern.”
“Check them anyway.” Daniel put his hands against the stone walls, searching for hidden niches. “I’ll inspect the walls.”
Their voices bounced off the stone cavern, making the chamber feel bigger than it was. In fact, it was probably no bigger than fifteen by thirty feet.
Ben opened a storage chest, but the only thing he found were old ceremonial clothes, more rope candles, and a simple wooden cross. The next chest revealed a collection of books, but they were new, printed within the past century if he had to guess. The last chest was a collection of old ceremonial instruments and more candles.
“Nothing in the chests.”
“And no hidden niches,” Daniel said. “Let’s take the first tunnel.”
They started with the one the earth vampire said ran under the holy of holies. Ben had no idea how he did it. Without the sky overhead, he felt completely lost. He was starting to understand Tenzin’s reluctance to be underground when Daniel came to an abrupt halt.
“There’s another set of steps.”
Ben looked around and saw the short set of steps that seemed to lead straight into rock. “Can you push it up?”
“Yes, but we have no idea what’s on the other side,” Daniel said. “Can you feel anything?”
Ben put his hands on the wall and searched for a feeling of emptiness on the other side, but the stone was thick and there was no sense of air seeping through the rocky seam.
“I can’t feel anything other than space. A lot of space.”
Daniel looked at him and raised an eyebrow. “Wish me luck. If this ends up leading into a nun’s bedroom, I will not apologize for my scream of terror.”
“Are nuns scarier than Arosh?”
Daniel began to steadily push the stone up. “I’ll have to consider that one carefully.”
Ben had been braced for anything…
Except a narrow wash between two hills with banana plants and palm trees in the distance with a clear sky overhead.
“Well,” Daniel said, kicking back some of the loose soil he’d disturbed when he lifted the stone portal. “That’s rather anticlimactic, isn’t it?”
“Should we search the other tunnel?” Ben pointed to the stairs.
“It doesn’t seem quite as scary now, does it?” Daniel grinned. “When you know it’s probably just a way the altar boys escaped when they grew tired of Sunday service.”
Ben climbed back into the tunnel. “Let’s just hope the other tunnel leads somewhere slightly more interesting.”
They made their way back to the main chamber under Bêta Merkorios. Ben popped his head up into the church to check on Tenzin. He could feel an odd sensation from her. Not exactly concern, it was curiosity tinged with impatience with just a hint of worry.
The worry made him smile. “Tenzin?”
She was leaning against a wall, staring at a burning candle. “Did you find anything?”
“A nice escape route, but nothing scroll related. There’s another tunnel, and we’re checking it now.”
She never looked away from the candle. “Okay.”
Her obvious fascination gave him pause. “Please don’t set anything on fire.”
She looked up. “Inside the church?”
Ben opened his mouth. Closed it. “Why don’t we wait to set any fires until we get back to the compound?”
She shrugged one shoulder. “If you like.”
With that less than reassuring concession, he ducked back underground.
“Let’s not take too long on this one,” Ben said. “She’s getting bored.”
“Is that dangerous?” Daniel started into the second tunnel.
“It can be.”
32
The second passage beneath Bêta Merkorios proved to be as fruitless as the first, though it did lead to another tunnel that Daniel hadn’t mapped yet. By the time they returned to the compound that night, Ben was mentally exhausted.
And Tenzin was bouncing out of her skin.
“How many more churches are in the second group?” she asked. “Three more? It was three, right?”
“We checked Amanuel and Merkorios.” Ben sank into the couch in the living room of the main house. “Daniel wants to check Abba Libanos tomorrow night. He says there are quite a few tunnels he can feel in that area that aren’t on any maps.”
Giovanni poked his head in from the kitchen. “Warning, Sadia is awake and wandering, and so apparently, is Arosh.”
Ben sat up straight. “Arosh?”
“Doug received information from someone he won’t name that Arosh and his people are approaching Lalibela.”
“For?”
Giovanni’s grim expression was the only answer Ben needed.
“So our theory isn’t as niche as we thought,” Ben muttered. “Great.”
“I’m not surprised,” Tenzin said. “Arosh isn’t an idiot.” She raised her shoulders. “A bit overconfident in his sexual prowess, but not an idiot.”
Ben stared at her. “I’m… I don’t know how to respond to that.”
She frowned. “Why do you need to respond? It wasn’t a question.”
Okay, he couldn’t argue with that.
“Just wanted to make you aware,” Giovanni said. “I’m going to try to get Sadia back to sleep. She’s escaped her room again.”
“Are you sure?” Tenzin looked ready to go hunting.
“Dema is searching outside even though the guards say she didn’t leave via any doors. I know she’s around; I can smell her somewhere in the house.”
Tenzin relaxed and Ben allowed his mind to wander.