Chapter 61: The Secrets of the Cave: I
The sun blazed overhead, its scorching rays beating down mercilessly on the rocky island. Hidden in the bushes, thousands of grasshoppers chirped in a constant, monotonous drone. Leaves rustled in the hot wind as small lizards with emerald-colored scales darted away from Edmond’s footsteps. In the distance, wild goats leaped gracefully between the cliffs.
Despite all the life around him, Edmond felt utterly alone on this isolated island, as if guided by some divine hand. An inexplicable dread crept over him, the kind of paranoia that makes you feel watched even in the middle of nowhere. The feeling was so overwhelming that just as he was about to begin digging, he stopped. Setting down his pickaxe, he grabbed his rifle and climbed to the highest rock to scan the horizon.
From his vantage point, he could see distant islands and coastlines, but his attention fixed on two ships. One sailing vessel was disappearing into the straits, while another was rounding the far side of a neighboring island. Seeing them sail away brought him relief, no one was coming back anytime soon.
Looking around at his immediate surroundings, he realized he stood on the island’s highest peak like a statue on a massive granite pedestal. Nothing human was visible anywhere, just the endless blue ocean crashing against the rocky shores below. Reassured, he carefully made his way back down, moving slowly to avoid any accidents that might leave him stranded or injured.
Edmond had been following markings carved into the rocks, and they led him to a small, hidden cove that looked like something from an ancient myth. The inlet was wide enough and deep enough for a small boat to enter and remain completely concealed from passing ships.
Following the trail of clues that his mentor, the old priest Faria, had taught him to decipher, Edmond theorized that Cardinal Spada had once sailed into this very cove centuries ago. The Cardinal would have hidden his boat, followed the carved markers in the rocks, and buried his treasure at the end of the trail. This theory had brought Edmond back to examine a particular circular boulder.
But one thing puzzled him and threatened his entire theory: How could this massive rock, weighing several tons, have been moved here without a whole crew of workers? Then inspiration struck. ’What if they didn’t lift it up?’ he thought. ’What if they lowered it down?’
He jumped off the boulder to examine its base. Sure enough, he could see that a slope had been carved out, allowing the rock to slide down until it reached its current position. A large stone had been wedged underneath to stop it, while smaller rocks and pebbles filled the gaps to hide the opening. Over the centuries, dirt had accumulated on top, grass and weeds had grown, moss had spread across the stones, and bushes had taken root. The ancient boulder now looked like a natural part of the landscape.
Edmond carefully dug away the earth and debris, convinced he could detect the clever engineering beneath. He attacked the time-hardened barrier with his pickaxe. After ten minutes of intense work, the wall gave way, creating a hole just large enough to fit his arm through.
He went and cut down the strongest olive tree he could find, stripped off all its branches, and wedged it into the hole to use as a lever. But the boulder was too heavy and too firmly wedged for any single person to move, even someone with superhuman strength. Edmond realized he needed to attack the wedge stone instead.
But how? His eyes fell on a horn filled with gunpowder that his friend Jacopo had left him. A grin spread across his face, this explosive would serve his purpose perfectly. Using his pickaxe like a mining engineer, Edmond dug a cavity between the upper boulder and the supporting stones below. He packed it with gunpowder, then made a makeshift fuse by soaking his handkerchief in saltpeter. After lighting it, he quickly retreated to a safe distance.
The explosion was tremendous, a deafening roar that echoed across the cliffs and rolled out over the sea. The upper boulder was blasted from its foundation by the terrific force of the powder, while the lower supporting stones shattered into jagged pieces that tumbled noisily into the abyss. Clouds of dust rose in choking billows, filling the air with the acrid stench of sulfur.
From the heart of the ruin came a sudden, grotesque stirring of life, thousands of insects poured out of the newly created opening, a torrent of wings and legs fleeing the light. Then, as though the earth itself had conjured a guardian, a massive snake slid into view, uncoiling in dark, sinuous loops before vanishing back into the rocks, leaving Edmond breathless.
Edmond approached the upper boulder, which now teetered precariously toward the sea without any support. The fearless treasure hunter circled around it, measuring its angles like a soldier planning an assault. He wedged his makeshift lever into a crack and threw all his strength into moving the enormous mass. The boulder, already loosened by the explosion, began to wobble dangerously on its base.
Doubling his efforts, Edmond strained like a mythological titan trying to hurl mountains at the gods themselves. Finally, with a grinding shudder, the rock gave way. It rolled over, bounced from point to point down the cliff, scattering sparks as it struck stone, and disappeared with a tremendous splash into the ocean below.
Where the boulder had sat, a circular space was revealed, exposing an iron ring embedded in a square stone slab. Edmond cried out in joy and amazement, never having a first attempt succeed so perfectly. He longed to continue immediately, but his knees were trembling violently, his heart thundered in his chest, and his vision blurred with the dizzying rush of triumph. Gasping for breath, he was forced at last to pause, clutching the rock for support as though afraid the world itself might sway beneath him.
The overwhelming sensation lasted only a moment. Edmond inserted his lever into the iron ring and applied all his strength. The stone slab lifted, revealing steps that descended into the darkness of an underground chamber. Anyone else would have rushed down with shouts of triumph, but Edmond turned pale, hesitated, and stopped to think.