The Forbidden Tomb

17

The need for fresh water has always been a vital concern for the people of Alexandria. Most of Egypt is barren desert with few natural springs, and the ancient inhabitants of the city had no means of utilizing the salt water of the Mediterranean.

Fortunately, the Nile River has provided an inexhaustible source of drinkable water. With the help of man-made canals, the waters of the Nile were diverted into cisterns located throughout ancient Alexandria. There, the sediment slowly sank to the bottom, leaving clean, palatable water that could sustain the population.

The earliest cisterns were little more than square chambers cut into the sandstone, but when the Romans arrived in the second century BC, the simple stone pits were replaced by elaborate works of masonry. Before long, private reservoirs built of hand-fired bricks were the standard throughout Alexandria.

The following centuries brought a steady rise to the city’s population, and with it came the need to move away from the shallow cisterns that could only serve a few families each. The newer cisterns near the outskirts of the city were designed with entire communities in mind. They consisted of a series of grand chambers that penetrated more than three stories into the earth. These cavities were reinforced with a honeycomb of massive stone pillars connected by elaborate marble arches. Much of the stone had been repurposed from the ruins of ancient buildings and temples, which gave the underground vaults a grandiose, almost majestic feel.

All told, the network of cisterns was a colossal undertaking that was unrivaled in its day — not only as a feat of engineering, but for the sheer beauty of its design. And yet thanks to the destructive nature of the Fools of Alexander, most of it was hidden from the general public.

Jasmine didn’t know what she would see when the video from Cobb’s and Sarah’s flashlight cameras started to appear on her computer screen, but she wasn’t expecting the system to be so impressive. ‘Oh… my… God. It’s amazing.’

Sarah had to agree: there was something awe-inspiring about the scene. Those who had constructed this vast system of water collection had done so with the same pride as those who had built the grandest of cathedrals. She found it hard to believe that something so majestic could be hidden away just below the surface of the city.

She looked at Cobb. ‘What now?’

Cobb shrugged. ‘Beats the hell out of me.’

She laughed at his honesty.

They swung their lights around the space and tried to solve the riddle. There were no walkways or stairs. And as far as they could tell, the only way to navigate across the cistern was to shimmy along the narrow arches, hugging the wide pillars that blocked their path. One slip, and they would fall thirty feet to the bedrock below.

‘Any suggestions?’ he asked.

‘Maybe we can jump.’

‘To where? The floor?’

‘No. One level down.’

He grimaced and shined his light on the walkway below. It sat on top of a row of arches that sat on top of another row of arches that seemingly grew out of the floor itself. From this distance, there was no way to gauge the strength of the ancient stonework. It looked solid enough, but there was always a chance that the whole structure would simply collapse if they leaped to the arches below. Still, they needed to find a way down to the bottom level. That’s where they would find the tunnels that once allowed water to flow from one chamber to the next. According to the map, the tunnels would grant them access to the entire network of cisterns and the foundation of the ancient city.

‘Jasmine,’ Cobb said via his earpiece. ‘Do you see another way down? I don’t want to test the strength of this stone if we don’t have to… Jasmine, are you there?’

Transfixed by the images on the screen, she took a few seconds to snap out of her daze. ‘Sorry about that. According to my research, there should be a ladder carved into the wall itself. Look at the base of the ledge you’re standing on.’

As promised, he found a series of notches that descended to the floor below. Unfortunately, they were more worn than he had hoped, having eroded considerably over the centuries. Any shallower, and there would be no way for him to get a toehold.

He made a mental note to bring climbing gear on their next visit — if there was a next visit — because climbing thirty feet in both directions on the strength of his fingertips was a daunting prospect. He glanced at Sarah, wondering how she felt about the notches. ‘You’re the expert. What do you think?’

Sarah grinned and leaped off the ledge, catching herself on the first rung. From there she scurried down the wall like a gecko, as if her hands and feet could actually stick to the surface of the rock. For her, the depth of the notches posed no challenge at all.

Cobb knew she had skills, but seeing her in action gave him a new appreciation of her abilities. Unfortunately, it also served as a tough act to follow.

She looked up at him from the safety of the chamber floor. ‘Your turn.’

He grimaced with determination as he slid off the ledge. His fingers strained and the toes of his boots dug into the rock, but the wall held firm under his weight. Methodically he lowered himself down the row of notches. His descent was nowhere as graceful as Sarah’s, but it was equally effective.

‘That was fun,’ he said at the bottom, though his tone suggested it was anything but. He took a moment to catch his breath. ‘You find a passageway?’

‘Nope. I found two.’ She shined her light to the north, revealing two entrances that stood side by side. ‘Which one should we take?’

Jasmine studied the map and relayed her thoughts. ‘Actually, I think they go to the same cistern. I think it’s one tunnel that was reinforced in the middle, cutting it in half.’

Cobb stepped toward the right as Sarah headed toward the left.

She smiled. ‘See you on the other side.’

‘Yeah, that’s not ominous at all.’

Fortunately, her prediction came true moments later when they entered a cistern that looked remarkably similar to the one they had just left. Same stone pillars. Same magnificent arches. Same ominous sense that it might collapse at any moment. In fact, the only noticeable difference was that the next set of passageways was not ahead of them, but on opposite sides of the room: one to the left and one to the right.

Sarah shined her light at the first tunnel, then spun toward the second, then back to the first. ‘Call me crazy, but I don’t think these go to the same place.’

Cobb glanced at her. ‘Thanks, Josh.’

Sarah laughed at the remark.

‘I heard that,’ McNutt grumbled in the café.

Jasmine’s mood was not as playful. ‘And neither one takes you in the right direction. You want to push north. Those tunnels take you east and west.’

Cobb motioned toward the east. ‘No worries. We’ll see where this goes, then we’ll come back and explore the other one.’

Sarah glanced at him. ‘Why not split up? We’ll cover more ground that way.’

Cobb shook his head. ‘I’m not worried about covering ground. I’m worried about covering each other. If we find trouble down here, we stand a better chance of dealing with it together.’

‘Exactly what kind of trouble do you expect to find down here? Mole men? Sewer rats? Overgrown goldfish?’

He stood his ground. ‘Whatever we find, we’ll confront it together.’

She shrugged and followed him through the east tunnel.