Canyon of the Sphinx (21 page)

She put a dirty hand to her
forehead. "Like I’ve been hit in the forehead."

"Can you stand?"

"Sure."

He helped her to her feet.
Everyone was standing around, looking at her, waiting for lightning bolts to
shoot out of her eyes at any moment. She noted their expressions and started
laughing.

"What? You've never seen a
woman fall and make a fool out of herself before?"

Marcus glanced at the others.
Kathlyn obviously had no idea of what had occurred. "Sweetheart, I'm not
sure how to tell you this, but you fell into a trance and started speaking in
tongues."

She looked at him, not
particularly surprised. "I did? What did I say?"

"Lots of weird things."
He peered at her. "You don't remember anything at all?"

"No. What did I say?"

"You were coherent for the
first few phrases," Christopher said. “Then you spoke some odd language...
honestly, I think it was Zapotec.”

Kathlyn turned around to face
him. "Zapotec? Are you sure?”

Christopher nodded. “The language
literally hasn’t been a spoken language for centuries. I can’t be sure, but I
thought you said Niguiiu naguchi. It literally translates to ‘Yellow Man’.”

“Yellow man?” Kathlyn repeated.
“Now, that is strange. I wonder what that means?”

Christopher didn’t have an
answer. "I wish I knew. But one thing is clear; you have a special gift,
Dr. Trent."

"You already knew
that."

"Psychic."

"Not really. I just get
impressions. Sometimes I see things, but not too often. It's rare."

"I think you can add
channeling to your list of talents."

Her eyebrows rose. "Channeling?"
She looked between her husband and Dr. Murphy. "Look, one of you had
better tell me what happened."

Christopher answered. "You
said, 'Walk the path of Homestone. Enter ye, the Chosen One. In your…
your...."

He couldn't remember the rest and
Marcus picked it up. The man had a photographic memory. "'... In your
death shall be Life.'"

Kathlyn just stared at the two of
them. "What kind of weird stuff is that?"

Marcus lifted his shoulders.
"You called yourself Dj-ni-xian. Are you sure you don’t recall any of
this?”

Kathlyn just stared at him; a
strange feeling swept her as she repeated the name over and over in her mind,
as if there was something she should remember but couldn’t quite grasp. "I
think I should, but I don’t. What does it all mean?"

"I'm not sure," Marcus
replied, glancing at Christopher. "But if you really want my opinion, I
have a bad feeling that my and Dr. Murphy's theories have just been shot to
hell."

CHAPTER
TEN

The night was brilliantly lit by
the full moon. Hanging low over the tree-tops, it gave the land a ghostly,
surreal quality. The air was still, humid, only the sounds of the nocturnal
creatures making soft waves through the leaves.  At the end of the long and
eventful day, Dr. Murphy's camp was sleeping like the dead.

They had made it back from Site B
before sunset. After Kathlyn's episode and the inability to find the sphinx,
Murphy decided to head back and try again on the morrow.  He was disappointed
but tried not to let it show. Kathlyn, nursing the onset of another migraine,
didn't argue his decision to return to base camp, and neither did Marcus.

  Snoring could be heard all over
settlement. Marcus, who didn't usually snore, was rattling the windows. He was
exhausted. But Kathlyn had so far slept through it, remarkably.  He was on his
side, his right arm thrown across her abdomen and his right leg across her
hips.  They were in the VIP cabin along with Debra Jo in the other bed and Mark
on a cot near the wall. Dennis was passed out on the floor on some old pillows.
Between the three men, it was a noisy chorus.

Kathlyn didn't know how long she
had been staring at the ceiling, but it suddenly occurred to her that she was
awake. The snoring hadn't awoken her; she wasn't sure what had. But she was
suddenly awake with thoughts on her brain of a golden city with step pyramids
and painted sphinxes. Somewhere in a dream she had seen this city, plain as
day, and she knew she hadn't conjured it up. She though it was an impression of
a time long past, like impressions she had had before.  It was a real place, or
at least it had been at one time. The whole thing made perfect sense to her and
she gently removed her husband's arm, slipping out of the bed.

Kathlyn put on her clothes.
Marcus, Dennis, Mark and Debra Jo slept through her movement. She wasn't quite
sure where she was going, but it was like something, or someone, was calling to
her and it was difficult to resist the urge. Dj-ni-xian. She couldn’t shake the
name and the odd feelings it provoked. She pulled her boots on and silently
slipped from the cabin.

It was cool and moist outside.
Kathlyn walked across the compound, smelling smoke in the air as cooking fires
died. A picture was in her mind, growing stronger by the moment, and the pull
to seek out the alluring voice was stronger than she could bear.  She found
herself taking the trail to the southeast, the path they had followed to Site B
earlier that day. She was running by the time she hit the jungle.

Christopher had been awake as
well. His thoughts had been swirling around the missing sphinx most of the
night and try as he might, he couldn't seem to sleep. He was just dozing off
when he heard the boot falls across his camp, passing in front of his door. He
got up and went to the window in time to see Kathlyn running into the thicket.
Thinking there was something amiss, he threw on his jeans and pulled on his
shoes, yanking on a dirty tee shirt as he bailed from the cabin.  But he didn't
see Burton, or any of her other cronies, and he was puzzled.  If something was
wrong, where were the troops that usually stuck to her like glue? He knew one
thing for certain; she shouldn't be in the jungle alone and he raced after her,
if only to figure out what in the hell she was doing.

She had a good start on him, but
he caught up to her in short order. She didn't even notice him; her long hair
hung down her back, un-brushed, and she wore wrinkled shorts and a shirt. Her
big black boots weren't even tied.

 "Dr. Trent?" he asked.
"What's up? Where are you going?"

She suddenly stopped and he
bumped into the back of her. Turning to look at him, she had a very thoughtful
expression on her face. "I need to check something out."

She began walking again.
Christopher reached out to grab her.

"Hold on," he said.
"Whatever it is can wait until daylight. It's dangerous around here in the
dark."

She pulled her arm free.
"There's no danger. And it can't wait."

She started to move again. This
time, he grabbed her with both of his massive arms. "Dr. Trent, you're not
going anywhere by yourself. We're going to go back to camp and get your husband
if it's that important. I can't let you wander around out here alone."

Kathlyn had a look on her face
that suggested confusion and outrage. It was, frankly, difficult to tell if she
was even in her right senses. Murphy thought she might have even been
sleepwalking from her strange expression.

"I'm not going back,"
she said. "I have to check something out. You can either come with me or
you can wait here."

"You're not going anywhere
right now. Come on; let's go back to camp."

She began to struggle away from
him. "Let me go. I have to see something. It's important."

Murphy's grip was like iron. She
was no match for him physically, but he didn't want to hurt her as she
struggled.  "We're going back."

"No!"

She threw her knee into his
abdomen. Off guard, Christopher grunted as she knocked the wind out of him. The
shock caused him to lose his grip and she was off, running down the trail like
a madwoman. Murphy tore after her.

Kathlyn may not have been faster
than Christopher, but she was smaller and, by virtue of her size, more agile in
the confined environment. Murphy was banging himself on branches and bushes as
he ran, whereas Kathlyn wasn't. His progress was slowing and hers was gaining.

 The site was a three hour hike.
Christopher knew he couldn't run the entire eleven miles and he doubted she
could either. All he had to do was keep pace until she exhausted herself. But
it was more difficult than he thought and he wondered, intermittently, why he
was chasing this crazy woman through the jungle when her husband should be the
one doing the chasing.  Selfishly, he was glad to be doing the running because
his infatuation with her was growing.  He knew it was a horrible, unhealthy
thing, but he couldn't help himself.  As long as he kept it to himself there
was no harm done.

***

"El Dr. Trent y el Dr.
Murphy se ejecutaban abajo del camino. No sé adónde iban!"

Marcus had rolled his big bulk
out of bed when he heard the pounding at the door, but Mark beat him to opening
it.  Mark understood Spanish far better than Marcus did, but the dark little
man was speaking so quickly that it was difficult to understand at all.

"Desaceleración," Mark
said in his heavy American-accent Spanish. "Dónde usted vio al Dr. Trent y
a Dr. Murphy?"

The man was agitated.
"Ejecutándose abajo del camino, el que eso conduce a la barranca de la
esfinge."

It took Marcus all of one second
to realize his wife wasn't in the cabin and that the old man was talking about
her.

 "Kathlyn's gone," he
stated the obvious. Having fallen asleep in his jeans, he reached under the
bed, grabbing for his shoes. "What's he saying, Mark? Where's
Kathlyn?"

Mark put his hand up to quiet the
old man. "He says that he saw Kathlyn and Christopher running down the
path towards Site B. He said they were heading for the Canyon of the
Sphinx."

"What the hell for?"

Mark turned to the worker.
"Usted sabe por qué?"

The man shook his head. "No,
señor.  Hablaban en alta voz.  El luchar, pienso."

Mark rolled his eyes and turned
back to Marcus. "He doesn't know. But he said they were talking loudly,
possibly fighting."

"Damn." Marcus pulled
on his second boot and went hunting for his smelly shirt. "What about
now?"

The worker grabbed Mark on the
wrist, his manner growing more intense. “Es peligroso. No los persiga. Espere
hasta la mañana.”

Mark waved a hasty hand at the
man, unconcerned. But Marcus wanted to know what had the man so troubled.
“What’s wrong with him now?”

“He said to wait until morning
because it’s dangerous.”

“Bullshit. We go now.”

The native worker could see that
the entire cabin was up and moving, preparing to follow. His eyes widened.
“Usted no puede ir. Los diablos le obtendrán.”

Mark peered at him. “Devils? What
devils?”

The old man shook his head,
obviously terrified. “Los diablos que comen a hombre.”

Mark looked at the old man as if
he had lost his mind. “Gracias, señor, gracias,” he brushed him off and turned
to the room. “Well, he’s sure all worked up.”

Debra Jo was up, throwing a
jacket on. "What about?”

“Something about man-eating
monsters in the jungle.”

“He must mean Kathlyn.”

Marcus found his rotting shirt.
“Very funny. I’m still in the dark about why she would go out there in the
first place. And why is she picking fights with Murphy in the middle of the
night?”

Debra Jo pulled her sneakers on.
“You know how she gets, Marcus. She's probably got a bee in her bonnet about
something and Murphy just doesn't understand."

Marcus pulled the shirt over his
head. "Yeah, well, I don't understand, either. Why didn't she wake me if
she wanted go out traipsing around?"

"Maybe she couldn't wake you
through all of that snoring you guys were doing," Debra Jo mumbled.
"It sounded like a trio of buzz saws in here."

Marcus cocked an eyebrow at her.
"You. Mouth. Quiet."

Debra Jo had known Marcus as long
as Kathlyn had. He had been so rigid and humorless when they had first met that
they all swore the man had been born without a funny bone. But he had loosened
up so much with Kathlyn around that he could truly be hysterical at times. She
giggled at him.

"You. Man with smelly shirt.
Find your wife." She pointed a long finger at the door. "There's no
telling if she and Murphy have come to blows. You'd better go save him."

Marcus sniffed his armpits as he
walked to the door. "I think my nose has been cauterized by my own noxious
odor. I can't smell anything anymore."

"We can," Debra Jo assured
him.

Dennis and Mark had no comment,
but they snorted. The old man had run off and Marcus bolted from the cabin, his
wife's flashlight in hand.  He jogged down the path leading from camp, hearing
Dennis and Mark behind him. Debra Jo was in the process of waking up the rest
of the team.  He wasn't particularly concerned, but he was curious as to why
she was out wandering in the middle of the night. But, then again, nothing she
did surprised him anymore. More often than not she had a logical, perfectly
reasonable explanation for her actions. He found he was much more patient with
her than he used to be.