The Genghis Tomb Page 18

  Before them was a square passageway leading straight back into the mountain—one that came to an abrupt end some forty feet in, totally blocked by what all perceived to be a huge, metal door.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  “We’ve actually done it!” exclaimed a stunned Vlad, clasping David’s hand. He grinned at each of his companions, his expression one of amazed delight. “The president will be ecstatic to receive such wonderful news. Zayaa, we must immediately radio our—”

  “Not quite yet,” interrupted David. Long experience as an archaeologist cautioned him against claiming something not yet proven. “I’ve no doubt this is it, my friend, but let’s first try to confirm the full extent of what’s actually in there. We owe the president as much factual information as we can possibly provide before he orders in adequate troops to secure the area. It’s unlikely, but the possibility always exists this might’ve been found and looted sometime over the past centuries. Waiting a bit longer won’t hurt.”

  Vlad saw the wisdom.

  Preparation took but a few minutes.

  Captain Ubur accompanied them inside the dark passageway, two of the other four soldiers ordered to stand watch at the entrance. Everyone carried a flashlight, the exception being Feliks, who instead chose to bring a lit kerosene lamp.

  Which almost immediately came in handy.

  Forty feet in they stopped to examine and then carefully photograph the massive door in the lantern’s bright glow. It was cast in bronze. Unadorned, the dark green patina was indicative of its considerable age. The full weight of it rested on three heavy, iron hinges, each firmly embedded into the right wall. Roughly four feet up on the opposite side was another iron fixture, one that effectively allowed a sturdy door-mounted bolt the thickness of a man’s wrist to pass into the stone, keeping the door closed.

  Essentially a deadbolt.

  That no obvious lock of any sort was present didn’t surprise David. After all, he reasoned, what purpose would a keyed mechanism serve at this point? If past looters had ever got this far, nothing under heaven could’ve prevented them from progressing farther.

  David slid the over-sized bolt back, freeing it from the wall, and then gripped the bronze ring beneath it with both hands. Over his shoulder, he instructed, “To be on the safe side, everyone stand well away. It all looks solid enough, but if the hinges fail and I have to leap out of the way for any reason, I want room to do so.”

  When they complied, he took a deep breath and pulled.

  The expected resistance didn’t materialize.

  Despite the grating noise of the door’s movement in the otherwise hushed silence, the ancient hinges stood up to their task. The great door swung steadily open, its almost perfect balance an admirable tribute to its now long dead creators.

  As if on queue, everyone snapped on his or her flashlight.

  “Whoa . . .!” murmured the women in unison.

  The cavern thus exposed before them was enormous—its actual size such that their collective beams only partially illuminated its farthest recesses. Perhaps fifty feet wide where they presently stood, the concave walls of smooth stone varied only slightly as they meandered ever deeper into the black heart of the mountain. Though the floor of the cave appeared relatively flat, it was apparent to David when he shone his flashlight upwards that all of this was the result of a natural fissure. High above, the inward tilting walls converged into a sharp join, delineating the geological fault line that had doubtless initiated the cavern’s formation sometime in eons long past.

  Elizabeth saw something else of interest.

  “Look at this, David,” she said, focusing her flashlight to their left. She played the beam down the wall to a low section of mortared bricks near floor level. The work appeared to be a successful attempt to close part of the cave’s natural outward continuation. “If the opening they sealed up runs parallel to the passage we just used—then it must come out somewhere underneath that enormous slab outside.” She hesitated for a long moment before speculating, “Think maybe that’s the concealed entrance Genghis found as a youngster all those centuries ago?”

  David found this as good an explanation as any.

  “Seems logical, hon,” he replied. “Once no longer needed, it was probably back-filled with chunks of stone before being sealed off.”

  They soon moved on.

  Roughly sixty feet farther, they found what they were seeking.

  They came upon it suddenly, their only clue that something significant lay just ahead being a wall-mounted metal bracket holding the remnant of an ancient torch. A few feet farther and the wall of stone abruptly swung inward. What Feliks’ lantern now illuminated was a natural domed alcove—but one considerably reshaped by human hands.

  Inside, positioned slightly off-center to the left, was a massive sarcophagus seemingly carved from the cavern’s living stone. Rough hewn, not even the coffin’s thick lid showed any evidence of adornment as they silently approached.

  Yet the simple majesty of its size and construction was somewhat overwhelming.

  If anyone doubted for a moment that here lay the body of Genghis Khan—the remarkable Man of Iron who forged the largest continuous land empire the world had ever seen—it wasn’t evident on their awe-struck faces.

  No one was immune to the historical significance of what they beheld.

  Not David, not anyone.

  However, for Vlad, Zayaa, and Captain Ubur, it was also an emotional experience of major proportions. There were visible tears in Vlad’s eyes as he tentatively extended his arm to touch the thick lid—only to then quickly withdraw his trembling fingers. Here lay the body of their national hero, the revered founder of their nation. As excited as David was, he recognized he could scarcely imagine the wonder they were feeling.

  Giving them their solemn moment, he and Elizabeth stepped away and used their flashlights to further explore the alcove. Oddly enough—and until now completely overlooked—they came upon a small, open niche carefully chiseled into the center of the back wall. As they walked closer, the mystery of this now became apparent, for it contained the skeletal remains of a young child wrapped in tattered and patched blankets of a mean quality. Yet the sculpted niche was carefully—almost reverently—executed, clearly intended to be a place of honor.

  It was a puzzle, making no obvious sense.

  A quick glance back told David there was time for deeper exploration. As they rounded their way out of the far side of the alcove, he instinctively cast the beam of his flashlight ahead of them—then immediately froze in his tracks, feeling as if his heart must surely leap from his chest.

  “My God—!” he breathed in utter amazement.

  Damn if Vlad and Dashiin hadn’t been right all along!

  Dissolving back into the darkness—spaced at varying distances along the entire length of the far wall—was a series of bronze doors. At least eight, for certain, that he could see, all similar in size to the one placed at the cavern’s entrance. As to just who lay behind them, there could be little doubt.

  Genghis didn’t sleep alone.

  All of his successors were entombed here along with him!

  Exactly thirty-six minutes later, Colonel Wu mentally reviewed the contents of the intercepted radio transmission placed to President Dashiin. Despite his pleasure and growing anticipation, he took a few moments to digest the information.

  It appeared everything provided by the naïve Zayaa during their meeting in her apartment had been accurate after all! Excellent! He’d had occasional doubts regarding her reliability over the past several days.

  Now he felt totally confident that his bold gambit was about to pay off. Not only had she supplied him with the correct radio frequency to monitor, but also the prearrange code phrases that verified the successful conclusion of their undertaking. Equally important, the GPS coordinates transmitted to Dashiin put the tomb less than thirty miles due west of Wu’s present position.

  This close proximity was an unexpected b
onus.

  Even better than he’d dared hope.

  Three and a half days earlier, the two military helicopters under his command had flown low and deep into Mongolian territory from China’s Quiqihar Airbase under the cover of night. Confident of avoiding radar detection in such a remote area, they set down just east of the trailing edge of the Khentii range at a pre-selected site, a location known to be semi-desert and largely uninhabited. Once this was accomplished, both aircraft were then expertly concealed beneath green and brown camouflage netting well in advance of the first rays of dawn.

  Wu had given much thought to the force he was now about to deploy, always cognizant of the limited amount of time available to him.

  According to Zayaa, once Dashiin was officially notified of the discovery, a bare minimum of four hours would then be required to chopper in the first wave of security troops. If true—which seemed correct from a logistical point of view—this gave Wu ample opportunity to do what was necessary ahead of their arrival.

  By his calculations, he currently enjoyed at least a three-hour advantage—and he fully anticipated the confrontation with Manning’s group would be fast and decisive. The benefit of surprise and firepower was on his side.

  His lead aircraft was a Mi-24D attack helicopter, outfitted with the new four-barreled JakB 12.7mm Gatling gun. Front-operated from under a stabilized turret, this weapon was capable of unleashing a devastating rate of fire—more than adequate to quickly neutralize any futile attempt at resistance.

  The plan was for the second helicopter to then immediately follow him in once the site was under control. Half again larger, it was a modified Z-11 medium-lift transport, carrying the balance of his twelve, heavily armed troops. Of equal—if not even more importance—it also contained what was necessary to fulfill his task.

  After issuing the necessary orders, Wu watched in satisfaction as the trained soldiers began pulling down camouflage netting and erasing all evidence of their secret camp. At most, he figured another ten minutes and they’d be ready to go.

  There were eleven bronze doors in all, identical in size and configuration. That they led into separate tombs was only discernible by the individual khan’s name chiseled deep into the stone directly above, each recorded in Uighur script.

  While David carefully finished up photographing the final two, Vlad returned from his lengthy absence while performing an additional exploration of the site.

  “Find any more?”

  “No,” said the little man, “but it’s unlikely there would be.”

  He shone the beam of his flashlight above the final door.

  “The occupant of this one is Togun Temurk, the Mongol emperor of the Yuan dynasty driven out of China when the Ming came to power. I was half-hoping perhaps his son, Biligtu Khan, might also be back there. But this appears not the case. He was the one who rallied the Mongols to defeat the first invading Ming army in 1372.”

  He glanced around.

  “So where did the girls go?”

  “Back up toward the front. They wanted to take another look at that child.”

  “Can’t blame them. It’s very curious, isn’t it? And Feliks?”

  “Outside. He went to fill a few more lanterns—plus grab a celebratory coffee and smoke with Captain Ubur.”

  Vlad studied the bronze door in silence for a long moment before saying in a tentative voice, “I—I don’t suppose we could—you know—since the preliminary photographs have been taken, and all . . .”

  David grinned.

  “You mean take a quick look inside? Considering all we’ve been through, my friend, I don’t see why not.” He repositioned the lantern. “Just remember that absolutely nothing can be touched or disturbed, okay?”

  With Vlad’s assistance, David slid back the securing dead bolt; then drew the heavy door slowly outward. When the created gap provided enough room for access, he picked up the lamp, holding it out at arm’s length in front of him as they cautiously stepped inside.

  Their first glimpse of the chamber interior was nothing short of astounding—the hissing glow of the lantern illuminating what hadn’t been viewed in literally centuries. If anything, it was a likely indicator of what probably lay inside the other ten tombs.

  Along the entire length of the far wall were dozens of wooden chests, the contents of which could only be imagined at this point. In the center was a low dais of cut stone roughly twelve feet in length and ten in width. Placed upon it were two rectangular boxes of considerable size, each beautifully lacquered in deep black and bright red. The larger of the two almost certainly contained the remains of Togun Temurk Khan, for the top and sides were emblazoned with a swirling yellow dragon, the traditional Chinese image reserved exclusively for the reigning emperor. The smaller one—not so dramatically adorned—in all probability contained the body of his primary wife.

  Though Vlad instinctively tried to advance farther inside, David restrained his exuberance. There would be time enough to do everything properly over the coming months. However, he couldn’t pass on the opportunity to take several photographs before they withdrew and shut the door.

  “These excavated chambers are even larger than I expected,” he said. “It again raises the question as to just where in hell all that rubble was—”

  “Damn, I almost forgot!” blurted Vlad. “When I was exploring I actually did run across something I think answers this.”

  He snapped on his flashlight.

  “Come on, I’ll show you. It’s not far.”

  After a short walk, Vlad abruptly stopped before a particularly high breach on their right—one that rapidly sloped out and downward in a smooth, rounded curve, its lower edge disappearing from view some twenty feet out. The opposing cave wall appeared far enough beyond this to create a significant gap in the cavern’s floor. How deep this elongated fissure went couldn’t be determined without a better visual inspection.

  Vlad prevented this by grabbing David’s arm.

  “Best go no farther,” he cautioned. “When I found this I almost walked in too far before realizing my mistake.” He paused to play his light across the floor’s tilted arc of stone, illuminating a thin layer of loose gravel and pebbly debris clinging to its surface well before the drop off. “It’s deceptive, not as level as it first appears. The farther in you go the more likely you’ll begin sliding down toward the precipice. Like stepping into quicksand with nothing to grab onto.”

  David recognized the danger, making a mental note to warn the others.

  There was no question that this was where all the rubble was deposited. As proof, he reached down and picked up a fist size chunk of stone still bearing the distinct mark of an ancient chisel. If Vlad was right, one had but to dump such material only a few feet inside the wide opening and let gravity and the natural incline do the rest.

  A little experiment seemed in order.

  David lightly tossed the rock several feet out, watching as it immediately began tumbling steadily faster until finally running out over the edge. They both waited for what seemed an incredibly long time before the distant sound of it striking bottom echoed back up the cavern walls. By David’s rough calculation—and despite the uncounted tons of debris it undoubtedly held—the depth of the natural fissure had to be a straight fall of perhaps four hundred feet.

  “Remarkable,” he said. “We’ll have to get a warning barricade of some sort put in place to make sure no one unknowingly wanders inside. Not just for our group, but for the others soon to come.” A check of his watch told him the earliest arrival of Dashiin’s promised troops was at best three hours away. “Good thing you found this when you did. As a precaution, I’ll leave the lantern directly in front of it. Maybe Captain Ogur will have some ideas.”

  Once Elizabeth had finished taking multiple photos of the huge sarcophagus, she and Zayaa were drawn yet again to the continuing puzzle of the child so carefully laid to rest inside the carved, stone niche. Her best estimate by the size and length of the skeletal
remains was that the youngster was no more than six years old at time of death—approximately Jake’s present age, which only served to sadden her further.

  “A boy or girl, do you think?” she asked. “Can you tell?”

  Zayaa didn’t immediately respond.

  “If I had to speculate,” she eventually said, “I’d say it’s a boy. You really can’t deduce anything either way by visible hair length or adornment. Long hair was the norm in those times. It will take the forensic specialists, I suppose, to make that determination.”

  Elizabeth was curious.

  “Yet you suspect it’s a boy. Why?”

  “A couple of things. First of all, recall what Vlad told us about how Temujen fled for his life in these mountains when he was only an adolescent. One of the few facts the ancient historians apparently agree upon is that he took with him his mother and three younger brothers. To the best of my knowledge, I’ve never once heard any mention of him having had a sister.”

  “One of his brothers?”

  Zayaa nodded.

  “Probably the youngest, though it will take future DNA tests to confirm. My guess is he never survived that long period spent in hiding. What better explains the reverential placement of this niche so close to Genghis’ internment? It was obviously intentional. As to the poor quality of these mended blankets used to wrap him, I can easily imagine Temujen and his mother lovingly did this using the best they had at hand. If true, then it would only make sense Genghis wished that the body itself was never to be disturbed.”

  She now paused, directing the beam of her flashlight onto the upper rib cavity just beneath the child’s folded hands. It was difficult to see because of the frayed cloth, but as the small fingers had inevitably decayed and shrunken over the centuries, so had they released what appeared to be an iron knife now lying free upon the breastbone.

  “That’s another reason I believe this is a boy,” she then added. “It must’ve belonged to him. Perhaps a favorite possession. Not likely something owned by girl, don’t you think?”