The Doc Justice Files- Scales on Stone part 3
by Direwolf

Chapter 3- A Voice in the Darkness

Justin ran his hands over the inexplicably warm stone. It didn't make any sense. The statue should be cool to the touch, the same temperature as the night air. But it felt nearly as warm as living flesh. Justin realized that the warmth explained the snakes. The reptiles naturally gravitated towards the heat on a cool night like this. But what could cause the stone to stay warm? It couldn't be a lingering effect of the sun, and there was nothing in the temple that could explain it. So it had to come from below.

"Hold the light steady!" Justin said as he crouched down to examine where the statue met the floor.

The open jaws of the cobra that comprised the pedestal jutted right up out of the flagstone floor of the temple. At first, it simply looked as if the snake-shaped pedestal rested on the floor but a closer look showed the truth. The floor stones were fitted around the snake with remarkable precision. And Justin noticed something else. There was a faint, sweet odder to the air, a hint of smoldering incense.

"There is something under the temple!" Justin announced to Mr. Sandu.

"Legend says that this island has a network of caves under it, perhaps it is more than legend," the guide responded.

Justin examined the junction between the carved snake and the floor. There were tiny gaps between the two. The snake-shaped pedestal definitely extended beneath the floor and if he pressed his nose to the junction, he could smell the incense more clearly.

"But how to get down there?" As far as Justin could tell, the statue didn't have any trigger mechanism that would open a hidden door and to fully explore the deep carvings in the temple walls would take days. If there was a way through the temple, it was well hidden.

"Caves you say? I wonder if they open onto the sea?"

Justin raced out of the temple and ran towards the sound of waves. Mr. Sandu followed, the flashlight's beam bouncing wildly as he ran.

The thick undergrowth gave way suddenly to open space as the island met the sea in a line of cliffs. Justin grabbed hold of a tree limb to steady himself. There was a drop of nearly a hundred feet to the Indian Ocean where faintly phosphorescent waves slapped the worn stone cliff. Justin scanned the rock wall, looking for openings. It was hard to spot details in the shadows, but he saw something long, like a log, by one patch of shadows. Then his eyes connected the details. It wasn't a log. It was a boat!

"There!" He said, pointing to the boat, "there has to be a hidden jetty or the boat would have drifted away!"

"But we'll never climb down this!" Mr. Sandu protested.

"No need to, follow me." Justin led the way back to the beach. After making sure the engine had plenty of fuel, he told Mr. Sandu to get in, then pushed the boat away from the beach and climbed in himself. It took only a few minutes to motor around to the beach cliffs. Justin throttled back the engine as he scanned the wave-splashed cliff. It was much harder to spot the tied up boat from the water then it was from the cliff. The flashlight proved its worth again, this time illuminating the floating boat. Justin eased their craft towards it. When the hulls touched, Mr. Sandu grabbed the other boat's gunwale and held the two craft together while Justin nimbly scrambled over.

He was right. The boat was tied up to a nearly hidden jetty that was carved out of the cliff itself and nearly lost in the waves. A narrow flight of stairs led up from the back of the jetty, vanishing into a crack in the stones. Justin took the bowline from their commandeered boat and tied it to a stone knob on the pier. By the amount of erosion to the stone, he suspected the jetty was at least as old as the temple above.

Bahal clambered from the boat to the stone and peered up into the dark crevice. Justin moved silently up the stairs and shone the flashlight into the darkness. The crack in the cliff opened into a sea cave that appeared to have been expanded by human hands. The cave ran about ten feet then cut to the right. Along with the smell of seawater, Justin noticed that same musky sweet incense in the air. And it sounded as if faint chanting was nearly lost in the pulse of the waves.

"Come on," Justin hissed. Somehow, hushed voices seemed called for in this place. He moved carefully into the cave.

The floor was damp with sea spray and smoothed from the passage of countless feet. Doc Collins had to duck low in places, the cave hadn't been cut for someone well over six feet tall. The walls were smoothed from the native stone, and in places niches had been cut to accommodate small statutes. Justin recognized some of them as gods, goddesses and demons from the Hindu pantheon. Others looked vaguely familiar but were a mystery. Though he noticed that serpent and crocodilian motifs seemed prevalent. One looked very much like a Chinese dragon while another appeared to be a feathered serpent from Mesoamerica. And another could well be a representation of Sobek, the pre-Egyptian crocodile god of the Nile marshes.

After the sharp right turn, the cavern opened up into a slightly wider corridor that sloped slightly down. There was a faint glow from ahead and the smell of incense was greater. Justin pressed on. After about twenty yards, the cavern tunnel opened up into a roughly oval camber nearly ten paces across in the center. And in the center, a massive carved stone cobra reared up from the floor, its head vanishing into the ceiling nearly twenty feet above the ground. The coils of the snake held a charcoal fire, the source of the warmth, Justin deduced, as well as the ruddy glow that lit the chamber. Six tunnels branched off of this central room, vanishing into the darkness. Sweet smoke curled up from stone braziers by each of the tunnels, thickening the air.

For a moment, Justin was struck still by the eerie image of the massive carved snake and ceremonial fire. He felt as if he had stepped back centuries to a time when the gods still walked the earth and mankind worshiped in secret temples. This place felt right for dark rituals and hidden wisdom. A shiver traced the young industrialists spine when he thought of Go-on carried down into this place for what he was sure was some dark purpose. This wasn't a stop on the scheduled tour.

"Now which way?" he mused.

Mr. Sandu was silent as Justin moved to each of the corridors and examined them, trying to pick which one to try first. The soft chanting sound seemed to come from all of them, though Justin was willing to bet that was a trick of the acoustics.

At the mouth of one of the tunnels, he thought her heard a voice crying out faintly in the darkness.

"Let's try this, come on."

With the flashlight showing the way, he led into the tunnel. The floor sloped down and in places Justin had to turn sidewise to wedge his shoulders through the narrow passage. But as he went deeper, he realized he was right. There was a voice calling out for help in English up ahead.

After a few more minutes, Justin found a part of the passageway that was lined by low wooden doors. The horse voice emanated from behind one of them. Justin approached cautiously, mindful that this could be some sort of trap. He knocked softly on the door.

"Who's there? Speak up and don't torment me!" the voice from behind the door rasped.

"It's Justin Collins, that you Nigel?" Justin thought he recognized the Army Engineer's voice.

"Yes, by God, and glad to hear you. Do you have Go-on and Howard with you?"

"No, Haven't seen them. I'll have you out in a moment." Justin had discovered the door was simply barred with a sliding bolt. He pulled it back and shown in his light. Looking decidedly disheveled, Captain Brackenberry was sitting by the far wall.

"Good to see you, man!" the captain said, clasping Justin's arm.

"What happened to you?" Justin began to open the other cells doors.

"It's a bit hazy," Brackenberry said. "There was this old fellow in white robes in the village who said he could show us more about the temple. Oh, hello Bahal, thank you for helping Mr. Collins find me!" Nigel paused to pump Mr. Sandu's hand. "Right-o, the old fellow led us off into the forest towards the temple then, in a clearing, he paused to start telling us the history of the temple. All of a sudden I felt very woozy and had to sit down. Same thing seemed to come over Go-on and Howard. Everything was going dark when the forest floor opened up and a bunch of natives swarmed up and took hold of us. That's all I remember until I came too in the darkness. Couldn't have been more than an hour ago or my voice would have given out. What do you know about all this?"

"Not very much," Justin replied. All of the cells appeared to be empty. He gave the captain a quick summary of events that ended with him opening the door to Nigel's cell, freeing him.

"I need to get back," Brackenberry announced. "The royal party has to be wondering what happened to me. I should be able to bring back a squad or two to search this place properly. I hate to think of Go-on and Howard in the clutches of these savages but I think that's our best bet to find them."

Justin thought rapidly. "You may be right. I'll get you back to the boat and you can go for help. But I'm staying. I'll do what I can until you make it back, that way, we save time. Come on, let's head for the jetty."

Justin took the lead back toward the cave entrance. Behind his back, he didn't see the sharp looks Captain Brackenberry and Mr. Sandu exchanged.

The trip back was quick since there were no turns or branches before the fire chamber and Justin knew which way led up from there. On the stone wharf, Justin showed Nigel how to operate the boat engine and pointed to the lights of Calcutta glittering across the harbor.

"Make the best time you can, and there's plenty of extra fuel in those cans."

Nigel clasped his arm.

"I'll be all right, you just see that you act with some measure of caution. I'd hate to have to explain to Go-on that I left his best friend in peril." Brackenberry insisted. "Sure you won't come? The two of us have a better chance of getting a search moving more quickly."

"No," Justin said emphatically. "You need to get back and talk to the authorities. I'll be fine. Just send help as quick as you can.

"I will." The royal engineer tuned to Mr. Sandu. "Stay here and take care of Doctor Collins."

"I will, sahib." Mr. Sandu bowed slightly, and made an odd, ‘S' pattern in the air with his right hand. "Safe journey sir."

With that, Captain Brackenberry got in the boat and started the engine. Justin cast off the bowline.

"Doctor Collins, do watch out for the white robed old fellow!" Nigel called as he pointed the boat towards Calcutta and opened up the throttle.

"Will do!"

Once Justin was sure that Nigel was well on his way, he mounted the steps back into the cavern. "Come on, Mr. Sandu, there must be some clue to the wayward Go-on."

"I'm sure there is, sir."

Something in the guide's voice triggered a mental alarm in Justin. He turned back, swinging the flashlight beam.

Mr. Sandu had just entered that cavern and was in the process of drawing a long knife from a back sheath concealed under his coat. The weapon glinted dully, the ‘S' shaped blade looking like black iron. Justin was sure that if he looked close enough, he'd see the scale pattern inscribed in the hilt and blade.

"Die for the goddess, your blood for the land!" Sandu hissed in Dravidian, slashing with the blade.

Justin didn't have time to reach his gun. He dodged back. The knife cut through his shirt but didn't touch skin. Justin punched but Sandu blocked the blow with his forearm and stabbed for Justin's face. The blade traced a line of fire on the side of his neck. Justin stepped past Sandu, gabbed his coat and used the momentum of the attack to throw Sandu over his hip. The guide smacked into the wall. The blow should have stunned him but Sandu was up in an instant and hissed in anger like a snake himself. The blade darted at Justin like a fang. Justin grabbed the knife hand and locked the other on Sandu's throat.

Sandu reached for the hand on his throat while he fought to bring the knife to Justin's chest. The two men struggled across the spray slick floor. They were evenly matched. Justin was amazed at how strong Sandu was. Doc's strength was considered phenomenal by many, and his physique showed it. But this short, seemingly innocuous man was his equal in raw power. There had to be something else. Justin had heard tales of assassins who used drugs like hashish to make themselves fearless and immune to pain. Perhaps he was dealing with something like that here.

With a burst of strength, Sandu shoved Justin into the cave wall. The blow nearly dislodged Justin and his head cracked painfully against the stone. Sparks seemed to explode behind his eyes. But the impact knocked Bahal's knife out of his hand as well. Sandu twisted and tried to sink his teeth into Justin's hand.

"No you don't!" Justin snarled as the traitorous guide's teeth snapped shut, scraping his skin. He grunted with effort as he squeezed with his right hand, the hand clenched over Sandu's windpipe, and used his superior size to force the smaller man's head back. Sandu fought, lashing out with his feet and clawing at Justin's face with his hand. But Justin's grip was too solid. Sandu's head was forced back.

Muscles screaming in protest, Justin tried to finish the job. He felt Sandu's neck muscles trembling with strain as they fought back. Then, in a move too quick to counter, one of Sandu's legs hooked behind Justin's calves and the dacoit twisted. Justin felt himself loosing his balance. He made one last, convulsive squeeze with his hand as he flew over Sandu's hip. The floor rushed up to meet him.

Even while falling, Justin held on, pulling Sandu down with him. This time, his head hit the hard stone with greater force as Sandu landed on top of him.

"Must...not...let...go..." Justin thought, as a long dark corridor seemed to rush up and engulf him.

To be continued...