Thanks to Hoang Pham for permission to use his gorgeous “Ancient Ruin” as a prompt!
“I’m fine,” Teresa reassured Jacob.
“This is good – I can jump off and climb back on with your help. Tie me off and
come down here so you can see all this!”
She swung in gentle circles while
he descended. Her eyes kept returning to the giant carved stone circle in the
wall at the far end of the cavern. She’d never seen anything like it. She
couldn’t resist a moment’s thrill for Jacob. This was the archaeological
find of a lifetime. Her student, her partner was about to become a superstar.
Her very own Indiana Jones. She almost giggled as she watched him swing toward
her.
She pointed to the
circle, and Jacob swung toward her to grab her in an exuberant hug. He held her
hand as they jumped to the floor, a patchwork of small carved stones. Standing
in awed silence, they looked around, pointing out details to one another.
The stone was
carved in classic Đông Sơn drum
patterns, the giant 14-pointed star ringed by concentric patterns Teresa
couldn’t quite identify from this distance.
“Why do you think there aren’t any vines on that wall?” Jacob asked. Teresa couldn’t think of a natural answer, and that gave her a chill. She shrugged it away. They walked closer to the circle, and despite Teresa’s fears, nothing happened. Jacob approached but did not touch it as he looked closely at the carvings.
He pointed to the
lower right corner and turned back to Teresa. “Look, sweetheart, there must be
another opening behind here. Look at the light shining through.”
Teresa saw the soft
light glowing through the lines in the carving. As she watched, the light
spread farther across the surface of the stone. She looked up to the hole where
they’d come down, then at Jacob, and felt a surge of fear. “Jacob. There’s no
light from the surface. That’s under the mountain. Look, the light is getting
stronger!”
The light flared in
a blinding white, and Teresa screamed and covered her eyes. She saw it fade and
lowered her hands, looking around while her eyes still recovered from the
shock.
“Jacob?”
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Dogs in house
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Houdini, Brindle
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Music:
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U2, “A Sort of Homecoming”
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Time writing:
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50 minutes, plus research
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July word
count:
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3,096
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