Kiss Of The Butterfly Part 21

When they reached the second level Stojadinovic turned off his flashlight and motioned for them to do the same. They stood in the dark for some time, until he mumbled something to himself and then turned on his flashlight. 'Did you hear anything?' he asked.

The four shook their heads.

'Sometimes people come down here with a mind to do mischief. I've never had any problems, but its better we surprise them than they surprise us. You'll notice there's no light here whatsoever.' He motioned for them to follow.

They now felt the temperature drop substantially and they could see the vapor from their breath waft across the beams of their flashlights. Then they descended another level, or so Steven a.s.sumed, because of the blue lettering on the tablets.

'Ow, my ankle,' Tamara cried, stopping to lean against the wall.

Steven shined his light at her feet to see that the floor was no longer smooth, but was now littered with wet, slimy bricks, strewn haphazardly. As they proceeded, cobwebs clung to their faces and hair, as the ceiling lowered, forcing them to stoop in places.

'This is gross,' Vesna said, wiping grey cobwebs from her mouth.

'Anyone ever play Dungeons and Dragons?' Steven asked.

'Yeah.' Bear's voice came from the front. 'I'll buy a scroll of mapping.'

'I'll sell you mine.' Steven answered with a chuckle.

'You're such geeks,' said Tamara.

'The bricks,' Stojadinovic interrupted, 'are here because of the French.' He stopped to check that everyone was still there. 'During the Napoleonic Wars the Austrian Emperor sent the Imperial Treasury here to prevent Napoleon from stealing it. To this day rumors persist that it's still hidden under the fortress. People come seeking gold...they tap on the walls, and when they hear what sounds like a hollow spot they tear out the bricks in hopes of finding the Austrian Imperial Treasury. Of course it's silly, but this leads to tunnel collapses and cave-ins and is slowly undermining this magnificent fortress.'

The journey seemed to lack direction, and lacking outside reference, time lost all meaning as they followed Stojadinovic down galleries and pa.s.sageways, all intersected at angles by other tunnels that mimicked the star-shaped fortress' geometry. At one point Stojadinovic stopped and again motioned for silence. He shined his powerful flashlight down the corridor to their rear, but there was nothing to be seen except the empty tunnel trailing off into darkness.

After resting, they continued past pa.s.sageways leading off at regular intervals. In one gallery, miniature stalagmites rose from the floor: in another, a small stalact.i.te drooped from the ceiling. A rustling from the inter-floor ventilation shaft drew their attention to a family of bats, hanging upside down.

'Bats give me the creeps,' Tamara moaned. 'Let's keep moving.'

'Wouldn't it be cool if there are vampires here?' Bear asked. 'Wouldn't this be the perfect place for them?'

'Bear, stop it right now or Vesna and I will leave!' Tamara said her voice trembling.

'Stefan stinks so badly of garlic that he's scared off every vampire within a kilometer of us,' Bear said. Vesna and Tamara laughed a little too heartily, trying to cheer themselves up.

If they only knew, Steven thought to himself as he felt the stake through his backpack, then pressed Katarina's cross to his throat.

'Shhhh.' Stojadinovic motioned once again for silence and doused his light. The others did the same and they all heard a faint noise behind them, possibly emanating from one of the side tunnels. All held their breath and waited in a total absence of sound: but the noise was gone. Stojadinovic exhaled and whispered 'I think we're being followed. Let's wait just a bit longer.'

They sat, and as they became accustomed to the stillness they heard water drip. Vesna cuddled closer to Steven and laid her head on his shoulder, while Bear and Tamara began kissing. After what seemed like hours, the professor switched on his light. 'Let's go,' he said. 'We're getting closer.'

They followed him down one more level where the lettering on the tablets changed to black. 'Is this the fourth level?' Steven asked.

'Yes. Stay together,' Stojadinovic answered brusquely, turning and looking back to make certain everyone was there.

Steven touched a wall, felt the damp and slime: dripping water and mold. His light revealed several flooded side-tunnels, some to a depth of only a few inches, while others sloped downwards until the ceiling descended below water-level. They then entered a part of the tunnel that had been widened into a tiny chamber with pointy Gothic arches. Stojadinovic examined a ma.s.sive wooden door set on barrel-hinge posts that jutted from the stonework and tried it, but it was locked.

'This is strange.' Steven said, pointing to the arches. Their lights revealed a chamber that had once been blood-red, but was now faded orange, discolored by streaks of black mildew running down the walls. 'Why the Gothic arch and red walls? So far everything's been white plaster or red brick,' he said.

Stojadinovic answered: 'That's a good question. Some think this section of the tunnels, which is the deepest, is also the oldest. Yet that would be unusual, when you think that they typically dug the tunnels from the top level down. Why would this have been built first? Steven, I think we may have found answers in the archives, and they lie with the Fourth Imperial Grenadier Company. This may be their handiwork.' He withdrew a large iron skeleton key, slipped it into the lock and pulled the heavy gate open to reveal a tiny faded-red junction chamber with Gothic arches and iron hinges, pa.s.sages branching off to the left and right. He shined his light on a marble plaque with black lettering: IV/500 Kom. Gall., Communication Gallery 500, level four. The marble plaque on the intersecting corridor read IV. H.G. 507., Listening Gallery 507, level four. But Stojadinovic continued forward.

'Professor, isn't this the tunnel with the cross?' Steven asked.

Stojadinovic spun around and walked back to look. He shined his light on the hand-drawn diagram and the marble signs. 'I haven't been here in many years and all the tunnels start to look the same after a while. I do believe Steven is right. Is everyone here? Yes? I shall go first.'

Stooping, the others followed him down the low tunnel to the left, trying to avoid small piles of bricks and shallow puddles of water that dotted the muddy floor. As they climbed over several mudslides flowing from side alcoves where treasure-hunters had removed bricks, they became increasingly muddy.

After 25 meters, Stojadinovic illuminated a red stone Maltese cross embedded in the right hand wall between two small round stones. 'I believe this is the famous lock we have heard so much about. The problem is to figure out how to open it. Of course, after all these years, and with all this water, it's probably rusted or jammed. Or it may not be the lock we are looking for. Steven, would you care to try it?'

Steven squeezed around Vesna, Tamara and Bear and approached the cross. 'Don't break it,' teased Vesna.

He pushed the upper tip, which gave way slightly, stiffly. 'It moved!' he cried excitedly. He began pressing each end of the cross, upper, left, right, lower, and each gave way slightly, only to pop back. Nothing else happened.

'Use a hammer,' Bear joked.

'Be gentle,' Vesna whispered playfully.

Steven pressed slowly at the very top of the cross, then the very bottom, then on the tip of the left arm, then the tip of the right arm. Then he pressed the middle. Then he pressed the round stones on either side, simultaneously. A loud pop from the pa.s.sageway's end caused everyone to jump. Vesna and Tamara both yelped and grabbed Bear's arms, while Stojadinovic shone his light in the direction of the noise. 'Be careful, we don't wish to disturb anything or cause a cave-in. If this is the oldest section of the fortress, then it may be fragile. Everyone, please stay behind me.'

With the professor in the lead, they walked bent over until they met a solid wall.

'Where'd the sound come from?' Bear asked.

'From here,' Stojadinovic tapped the wall. It sounded solid, but as he pushed it, it gave way slightly. Everyone gasped. He pushed again, and this time it opened further. 'We've found something,' he said excitedly. We've really found something.' His face glowed animatedly.

Steven's heart raced. Would the seals be intact?

The professor pushed once again, and the wall swung completely open to reveal a stairwell, broader than the pa.s.sageway, descending in a spiral to the right. They all crowded into the opening and Stojadinovic led them cautiously down the stairs, one hand on the faded blood-red wall.

'This is a major discovery,' Stojadinovic exulted. 'I must return with a camera.'

Tamara gazed intently at the plaster. 'Allegorically, the color red makes it seem as though we're making a descent into h.e.l.l, sort of like Dante's Inferno.'

'There you go again...too much literary criticism,' teased Bear. 'Read something worthwhile, like comics.'

As they wound their way down, their flashlights reflected off a pool of still crystal water that covered the steps, blocking further progress. 'Flooded, d.a.m.n it!' the professor cursed loudly.

Steven let out a heavy sigh of relief. No vampires today, he thought. The seals are under water.

'I wonder where it leads,' said Tamara.

'Obviously there's a fifth level to this fortress,' said Stojadinovic. 'And I think there might be another way to get there.'

A different way? Steven felt an uncomfortable sensation in the pit of his stomach. Neither Slatina nor Mrs. Lazarevic had mentioned another entrance.

But Steven followed Stojadinovic as they returned to the top of the stairwell and pulled the wall shut. 'We don't want someone else finding this and vandalizing it,' Stojadinovic said.

They returned to the red Gothic junction chamber and followed Stojadinovic left about a dozen meters down Communication Gallery 500 until they came to a depression in the floor where the earth dropped several inches.

'Everyone stand back,' Stojadinovic warned them. 'This is where the floor dropped out on my group in '83. It's fragile and could collapse at any time.' As they shone their lights at the spot, the earthen floor turned suddenly to nothingness as gaping darkness spanned the width of the tunnel. Crossing would be difficult, if not impossible.

'It's much larger than I remembered,' Stojadinovic said. 'Let's lower the rope and see what's down there.' He returned to the junction chamber and tied the rope around an iron barrel-hinge post protruding from the stone door frame, unrolled it until it reached the hole and then tossed it into the darkness. After about six seconds they heard a splash echo back and forth from below.

'Whatever's down there, it's wet,' Stojadinovic said. 'I can't climb down with my back. Who would like to go see what's down there?'

Steven suddenly found himself volunteering. 'I'll go.' Only he knew the secret of the chamber and he felt responsible for the others. 'I did this all the time in Utah...rappelling, rock climbing, you know...it's no big deal.'

'I'll go too,' Bear chimed in. 'Girls, do you want to come with us?' Both shook their heads.

'Are you certain you know how to do this?' Stojadinovic asked. 'I don't want you getting injured down there.'

'It's okay,' Steven answered.

Vesna hugged Steven. 'Be careful, Stinky,' she whispered worriedly in his ear. 'I'll be up here waiting for you.'

Steven adjusted his backpack tightly around his shoulders, clipped his flashlight to a lanyard around his neck, grasped the rope firmly in both hands and approached the opening head-first, peering slowly over the edge into the darkness below. He shined his light into the hole: 'It looks like a large room,' he said. 'I can't see much...there's water at the bottom...it's at least seven or eight meters down, maybe nine, I think...there's a bunch of large rocks in the water.'

Rocks? Or were they coffins? The hair on the back of Steven's neck stood on end. The chamber was breached! Had the eleven escaped? What if the vampires were still inside? Was Slatina's journal still there? He shined his flashlight around the chamber, uncertain whether to proceed further. His small light illuminated only bits of the murky void, but curiosity and a sense of duty drove him on. 'Bear, you better stay and protect the ladies,' Steven said, only half joking.

He swung around and lowered himself feet-first down the rope, his flashlight hanging from his neck. 'Can you shine your lights down here?' he called. 'It's hard to see.' The others obliged. Steven slid down the rope into a large, round domed chamber.

He shinnied further, his legs wrapped tightly around the rope, his flashlight shining downward. A drop of water fell and hit his head. He looked up and saw Stojadinovic, Vesna and Bear looking into the hole after him. He stopped and looked directly down. 'It looks shallow,' he called up to them.

'Be careful in the water,' Stojadinovic called back. 'It may be muddy or there may be a hole. You don't want to slip and drown.'

Steven lowered himself until the soles of his boots were just above the surface. The water was perfectly clear and absolutely still, except for small ripples sent out by the rope wiggling serpent-like in the water. Again he inched down the rope until his boots entered the water; then his jeans. He immediately began to shiver.

'It's cold,' he called up. A few more inches and the water reached his crotch, just as his feet touched a solid surface.

'I'm on the bottom,' he called. He let loose the rope and unhooked his flashlight from the lanyard. He breathed rapidly, his heart pounding from the adrenalin and cold.

Steven shined his light around the chamber's dome and walls, which seemed uneven, undulating. It must be the gloom, he thought, as he gazed at the mold-darkened crosses jutting in ragged relief from the red-orange plaster walls, interlaced with splotches of white hedgehog fungus and long, thick mushrooms, their shafts dangling downward from the ceiling like tumescent phalluses.

As Steven waded, his feet stirred up a thin layer of silt from what appeared to be a paved stone floor. Close by a reddish-black cross rose straight from the chamber floor. He could see that mold obscured an inscription of some sort.

Bear splashed down loudly beside Steven, sending waves through the chamber. 'd.a.m.n, its cold!' he said. Both looked up at the professor. 'You should see this!' Bear called up with excitement. 'It's amazing'!'

Stojadinovic smiled. 'What do you see?'

'Coffins,' Steven said loudly. 'Eleven coffins. And a large cross.'

'Coffins?!' exclaimed Tamara. 'We should leave. Bear, come back. Right now! I want to leave!'

'Don't panic. We're okay,' Bear a.s.sured her. 'We're just going to look around a little.'

Steven's heart quickened as he approached the first coffin. Through its partially open lid he saw it was empty, save for the skeletal remains of numerous rodents. As he approached the next coffin he felt a grotesque crunching underfoot as though treading on egg sh.e.l.ls. He shined his light in the water and saw dozens of rodent skeletons on the chamber floor.

'There're rat bones everywhere.'

'Yeah, here too,' Bear called from the next coffin. 'This is gross.'

After the eighth empty coffin, Steven waded over to examine the large cross, relieved that Mrs. Lazarevic was right and that the vampires had indeed gone.

'No vampires down here,' Bear called up to the girls. 'Just empty coffins and lots of dead rats.'

'Ooowww, that's sick,' Vesna said, her voice echoing off the water.

Steven rubbed at the mold on the cross with his sleeve. 'There's an inscription... it's in Latin,' he called out. 'It says... wait... something... something... miseri... Deus... tus... et... ius...Okay, I got it.' He continued rubbing at the mold. 'It says O quam misericors est Deus, Justus et Pius.' Steven didn't say that it was the motto of the Order of the Dragon.

'Interesting,' Stojadinovic said.

Steven walked around the backside of the cross and glanced up. High in the center of the cross-piece he found what he had come for: a small votive statue of St. George. He stood on tiptoes, reached behind the statue and felt a waxy package. Was it Slatina's journal?

'Have you found anything?' Stojadinovic called.

Steven hesitated. 'Trust no one,' he told himself, once again repeating Mrs. Lazarevic's advice. 'Nothing,' Steven said.

'Hey, look at this,' Bear said from across the chamber. 'There's a cross here that looks just like that secret lock.'

'What kind?' Stojadinovic called, shining his light towards Bear.

'Maltese, just like the other one.'

While the two were distracted, Steven quickly removed the package. The waxed surface was slick and it slipped from his fingers, bounced off his chest and fell. He bobbled and caught it quickly, just before it hit the water's surface. Making sure no one was looking, he slipped it in his backpack.

'This water's freezing',' Bear said with a shiver.

'Bear, come back now!' shouted Tamara. Her voice was panicky. 'I'll warm you up. Hurry!'

'How about you Stefan?' Vesna called. 'Do you need warming up?'

Steven noticed one coffin riding lower in the water than the others, its lid still in place. Was it still occupied? If so, was it a vampire? His stomach churned. 'Bear, give me a hand,' he called. Steven pulled the stake from his backpack as he approached the coffin.

'What the h.e.l.l is that?' Bear asked as he waded closer, sending small waves through the water, rocking the coffins. 'Did you come to kill vampires?'

'Pull back the lid,' Steven said brusquely.

'I'll give you some light.' Stojadinovic's voice echoed down from above. Then he saw the stake in Steven's hand: 'What are you holding, Steven?'

'Just a stick I found.'

Bear wrestled with the lid, trying to get a firm grip on the slick, moldy wood while Steven's adrenal glands kicked into high. Bear pulled the lid back suddenly with a single powerful movement.

Steven looked into the coffin, doubled over and began retching in the water.

'Stefan, are you all right?' Vesna shouted.

'Bear, what's going on? Answer me now!' Tamara's voice screamed.