"Could we stop and explore?" Laura asked hopefully.
"If you like. It shouldn't be hard to get up there." He turned his horse from the road and began working his way through the light undergrowth, the packhorse behind and Laura bringing up the rear.
A few minutes later they were at the foot of the cliff. Laura scanned the sheer face, then pointed. "The kite vanished over there, in the clump of boulders below the darker rock."
After they had ridden the last few hundred yards, Ian swung from his horse and tethered it. Face set, he said, "If you keep an eye on the horses, I'll see what I can find."
Laura bit her lip as an unwelcome thought struck her. "We can skip this, Ian. Having spent a couple of years in a prison, you probably don't share my enthusiasm for caves."
"For God's sake, Laura, I'm not so incapacitated that I can't make myself enter a cave," he snapped.
It was the first time Ian had been short-tempered with her, and Laura guessed that his anger confirmed exactly how difficult it would be for him to go underground. Yet though she could understand, his words still stung.
Her reaction must have shown, for Ian's voice softened. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have barked at you. You're right. Caves used to interest me and now I loathe the very idea of them. But better to face fear than run away from it."
"You're hard on yourself."
"Scottish Calvinists usually are." Expression tight, he stare at the tumbled boulders. He seemed to be drawing in on himself, marshaling his strength. She guessed that his ability to make himself do what must be done had kept him alive.
He set off on his search and was lost from sight. A few minutes later the kite erupted into the air with an indignant shriek, the limp body of some small creature in its claws.
Ian called out, "The kite has shown the way. There's a cave, all right, and the entrance is large enough for a person to enter." He emerged from between the rocks. "Of course if a man can enter, so can bats, leopards, hyenas, snakes, and so forth."
Laura made a face. "Wouldn't there be signs of that?"
"There are no signs of larger beasts. The snakes and bats I can't vouch for. Just a moment while I get a couple of lanterns." He went to the packhorse and rummaged through their store of camping equipment. Because of Ian's dislike of sleeping in the dark, they were well supplied with lamps and oil.
Laura was disconcerted when he pulled his revolver from his holster and offered it to her, butt first. "Remember how I just said that you never can tell when you might need a weapon? It's wise to be armed when going into an unknown cave that might be inhabited by hungry or angry animals."
"Even when you're just a few feet away?"
"Even when I'm just a few feet away," he repeated. "Danger can come from nowhere in an instant, and there is no substitute for being prepared."
She put her hands behind her back and stared at the revolver with acute dislike. "If you insist I go armed, give me the shotgun. That doesn't require much aiming and a face full of buckshot should discourage even a hyena."
"Fair enough, if you don't mind carrying the extra weight." He loaded the shotgun and handed it to Laura.
Carrying the weapon gingerly in her left hand, she followed Ian through the rocks to the cave entrance, which was about a yard across and almost six feet high. There was a small open space in front of the dark cleft, but all around were massive boulders. "It's interesting how well hidden the entrance is," she said. "Unless one is exactly in this spot, it's invisible. If I hadn't seen that kite, we'd never had known there was anything here."
"Interesting indeed," Ian murmured, a thoughtful expression on his face. "I wonder if it is entirely an accident." Without further comment, he ducked his head and disappeared into the passage. A minute later, he gave a soft whistle of astonishment, the sound echoing from the walls of a substantial chamber.
Eagerly Laura followed, shotgun in her left hand and lamp in her right. The entryway was a dozen feet long and curved to the left with a surprising amount of uniformity. The bend blocked natural light, and when she emerged into the chamber the only illumination was from their lanterns. But that was enough to reveal a sight that made her gasp in blank astonishment.
It wasn't a cave that they had found. It was a temple.
Chapter 12
Enthralled, Laura turned in a slow circle. The chamber was perhaps twenty feet wide and twice as long, with a ceiling that arched well over their heads. A double row of pillars carved into lacy filigree ran the length of the temple. The far end was shadowy, but she could make out the contours of a statue that was larger than life size. Every inch of the walls was covered with paintings that showed vivid color even in the lamplight. "Magnificent," she breathed. "How old do you think this is?"