“The Pillars of Iram,” Nate whispered under his breath.
The columns were reminiscent of Greek design, larger on the bottom and tapering as they rose toward the top. They were capped with smooth, round capitals that would have been called Doric in the Greek order of architecture. They seemed strangely out of place here in this cavern and would have been more at home adorning the Parthenon in Athens.
Nate was beginning to understand a larger implication of what they were on the verge of discovering. He had imagined a lost city, built by massive wealth along a previously unknown ancient trade route through the desert. What he was seeing now was evidence of an ancient city that predated some of the more classical civilizations in history, yet contained aspects of those cultures. Depending on the date of the city, they could be rewriting history with this discovery.
“Pillars aren’t the only thing to see,” Tim said, and pointed at the ground.
Repositioning the beam from the flashlight, it took Nate several seconds to realize what he was staring at. A body lay curled up at the edge of the subterranean lake, half-sunken into the silt. Leathery fragments of skin were attached to the upper arm and rib cage, dark and wrinkled like ancient parchment. The skull was crusted over with a thick layer of calcite, which reflected the light from the SureFire, the eyes long since decayed. Atop it, pale strands of hair clung to the scalp, fragile and wiry with age. Faint traces of woven, colored cloth wrapped around the pelvis, partially fused to the bone.
“Whoa!” Shane said. “This guy still looks like he has some life in him… metaphorically speaking.” Tim gave him a look, and he shrugged.
“It must be the cave,” Nate said. He wasn’t well versed in forensic archaeology and would have expected a skeleton. But these remains appeared mummified.
“Millennia of being sealed off from the outside world without fresh air, mixed with the humidity from the underground water. It seems to have preserved the body in an almost mummified-like state,” he said out loud, talking it through.
“How many more do you think are down here?” Ana asked.
“No idea,” Nate answered. “I guess it all depends on where the road leads.”
“Well, it disappears under the water here,” Wally stated, and Nate looked away from the preserved corpse and followed the road with the beam of the flashlight.
“So where does the road go in the other direction?” Shane asked.
Nate turned around. “Let’s find out.”
He led the way, new pillars coming into view. He absently reached out and placed his hand on one of them. It was cool to the touch. He observed it, noting how it was perfectly constructed. The creases where the individual cylinders were fitted atop one another were barely perceptible.
“The craftsmanship is incredible,” he noted.
“Marble,” Ana added, placing her hand alongside his. “Where would they have gotten marble from?”
“You forget,” Nate responded, “this was the only trading post for hundreds of miles. The people of ‘Ad who made Ubar their permanent residence were obsessed with building an opulent city. It’s the reason Muslims believe Allah destroyed the city, for their greed. They would have gone out of their way to acquire the finest materials and would have been willing to transport them a long way.”
“Looks like a dead end up ahead,” Tim said.
They moved through the pillars and arrived at what appeared to be a wall of solid rock.
“This isn’t right,” Nate said. “The road wouldn’t lead to nowhere.”
He stepped forward and examined the wall more closely, and Ana joined him.
“It isn’t rock,” she said, touching it.
She looked around and spotted a large stone nearby. She walked off the road into the dirt and picked it up before returning to the wall and chipping at it with the rock. A large chunk of caked-on dirt broke away. She repeated the effort several times, and a flat surface materialized underneath. Nate walked up and put his hand through the hole and could feel solid sandstone.
“It’s a wall,” he said, and pointed the flashlight toward the top. The wall must have been at least fifty feet high, but he could just barely make out the top.
“Too bad we don’t have a rope,” Tim said.
“No,” Nate said absently, “we shouldn’t need one.”
He moved back onto the road and examined the wall. This should have been an entrance. He pulled out his Yarborough knife and began chipping away as Ana had, and the caked-on layer began to fall away in a similar fashion. This time, however, his knife struck a surface that made a dull thudding sound.
“I think it’s metal under here,” he said in surprise.
He pried off several more pieces and directed the flashlight into the hole he had created. The light reflected back onto him and he had to look away, momentarily blinded. Slowly he returned his gaze, looking at it from a different angle.
“Gold,” he said emphatically, staring at the shiny yellow material. “It’s gold! This must be a gate of solid gold!”
