“Indeed.I was curious as to how precise the blocks were cut.They are exceptionally well fitted,” she claimed.“But inside?—”
“They are not,” he finished for her, his lantern illuminating some blocks to prove her point.“I suppose they didn’t need to be.”
They remained silent for the rest of the climb, conserving their breath until the floor beneath their feet suddenly flattened and the walls of the passage disappeared.
“We’re in a chamber,” he said in a quiet voice, his words echoing.Even the sound of his breaths seemed to resonate off the smooth stone walls.
“The burial chamber,” she agreed, rushing forward.Her boot steps echoed loudly on the stone floor, and she didn’t stop until her lantern lit a rectangular stone box.
“Is ...is that a sarcophagus?”David asked, his excitement evident.
“Such as it is,” she replied, lowering the lantern into the hollowed out block of granite.There was no lid, and one corner at the top had been damaged at some point—probably when the lid had been pried off.Knowing the lid would have been slid into place along a series of grooves and held in place with pegs pounded into holes, she swept her light around the upper edge, pausing it upon finding the pegs broken off.“Damn tomb robbers,” she whispered.
David chuckled at hearing her curse, watching as herfanoosshowed the inside bottom corners to be straight and square.
“There’s no decoration on this at all,” David said, using his lantern to illuminate the exterior of the coffin.“And the marks from chisels and drills are definitely evident.”His disappointment sounded in the tone of his voice.
“It was probably quite beautiful at one time,” she guessed, sighing as she held out thefanoosand walked the perimeter of the chamber.Although the sound of her sigh was amplified inside the empty chamber, only gray stone walls showed in the light.
Gray stone walls and a human face.
Her gasp of surprise and David’s mighty yowl of fright echoed off the walls.
