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tamingthemuseTitle: Chakravartin
Rating: PG13
Prompt#423 chakra
Wordcount: 720
A/N: another treasure hunting story because those are my life.
The room was thouroughly empty, and its only opening was the one we had just used. What a disappointement.
"Look at this! Those carvings are really well preserved, it's wonderful!", Julia cried out delightfully. She was already examining the walls, all engraved with characters and letters I vaguely recognized as Indian. Of course, where I saw an empty chamber, she saw a room full of treasures engraved in rock. Complementary skills and all.
"Well... yes, I guess it's pretty", I replied without conviction, stepping in the middle of the room. Maybe there was another entryway that I hadn't spotted from the door...
"Pretty? It has nothing to do with beauty", Julia said. I could hear her eyeroll, even with her back to me. "Try archeological marvel instead."
"I don't really do "archeological marvel" well, you know", I pointed out. Sometimes, she seemed to forget she wasn't in an archeological team anymore. She had spent a few years surrounded by like-minded people, who would have jumped with excitement at the sight of such a room. I wondered if she regretted those times. I hoped not, or at least not enough to be willing to go back. I wouldn't compete with your passion for the past, and I didn't want to.
"I know", she smiled, turning around on her heels and stopping her gaze on me. "But all those wonderful carvings might have something you want."
I turned toward her, one eyebrow raised in my best Jaffa imitation. I did pick up a few things from her general archeology passion, but not what she had hoped for.
"There might be an explanation to access the treasure chamber somewhere in this", she added, gesturing broadly at the walls, "and it's so well preserved it will be easy as cake to read it."
The proud look she wore on her face was priceless. And she was right; I tended to forget that ancient scriptures were not always nothing but intellectual entertainment. I smiled back at her :
"Well, let's get to work, my lady."
I was expecting to be waiting for hours before having any solution. It lasted days.
In the end, Julia had to put her books down and admit that there was nothing of interest on those walls. And she had translated them all. It was disheartening.
"I'm sure we're near the solution", she sighed, sitting on the floor, her back against one of the walls, where she was less likely to cause great damages to the carvings.
"Maybe the indications were bogus to begin with", I tried, not willing her to think she was the one responsible for this job's failure. It wasn't even a lie; sometimes, a treasure map is nothing but a forgery, created for fun by some long dead asshole.
"Maybe", she responded, not too convinced. She stayed silent for a little longer before asking: "Can I see the text again?"
Without a word, I passed her the paper on which sat her translation of the enigma that had led us here. She looked at it for a second, then added: "Do you have the original?"
"I must have a copy somewhere", I replied, looking through our documentation. I passed her the black and white photograph as soon as I found it. For me, it was nothing more than a bunch of pretty foreign letters on a palm leaf, but she could find something more in it. She looked at it thoughtfully, and got up.
"You see", she said, looking up for the picture, "many sanskrit words are actually a composition of two words with a special meaning. What we have translated as "emperor" literally means "the one who makes the wheel spin"."
She took a few step until she reached a big carving representing a man surrounded by different things. She looked at it for a second, and put her hand on something that could indeed represent a wheel.
"Maybe it was more significant than we previously thought."
She pushed the wheel a little, and it went back into the wall with a scrapping sound. I got up too, eyes scanning the whole room to find any change. I didn't see anything at first, and suddenly, the floor begin to lower itself with little jerks. I crossed Julia's eyes, glittering with anticipation.
"Well, now, that is something."
Rating: PG13
Prompt#423 chakra
Wordcount: 720
A/N: another treasure hunting story because those are my life.
The room was thouroughly empty, and its only opening was the one we had just used. What a disappointement.
"Look at this! Those carvings are really well preserved, it's wonderful!", Julia cried out delightfully. She was already examining the walls, all engraved with characters and letters I vaguely recognized as Indian. Of course, where I saw an empty chamber, she saw a room full of treasures engraved in rock. Complementary skills and all.
"Well... yes, I guess it's pretty", I replied without conviction, stepping in the middle of the room. Maybe there was another entryway that I hadn't spotted from the door...
"Pretty? It has nothing to do with beauty", Julia said. I could hear her eyeroll, even with her back to me. "Try archeological marvel instead."
"I don't really do "archeological marvel" well, you know", I pointed out. Sometimes, she seemed to forget she wasn't in an archeological team anymore. She had spent a few years surrounded by like-minded people, who would have jumped with excitement at the sight of such a room. I wondered if she regretted those times. I hoped not, or at least not enough to be willing to go back. I wouldn't compete with your passion for the past, and I didn't want to.
"I know", she smiled, turning around on her heels and stopping her gaze on me. "But all those wonderful carvings might have something you want."
I turned toward her, one eyebrow raised in my best Jaffa imitation. I did pick up a few things from her general archeology passion, but not what she had hoped for.
"There might be an explanation to access the treasure chamber somewhere in this", she added, gesturing broadly at the walls, "and it's so well preserved it will be easy as cake to read it."
The proud look she wore on her face was priceless. And she was right; I tended to forget that ancient scriptures were not always nothing but intellectual entertainment. I smiled back at her :
"Well, let's get to work, my lady."
I was expecting to be waiting for hours before having any solution. It lasted days.
In the end, Julia had to put her books down and admit that there was nothing of interest on those walls. And she had translated them all. It was disheartening.
"I'm sure we're near the solution", she sighed, sitting on the floor, her back against one of the walls, where she was less likely to cause great damages to the carvings.
"Maybe the indications were bogus to begin with", I tried, not willing her to think she was the one responsible for this job's failure. It wasn't even a lie; sometimes, a treasure map is nothing but a forgery, created for fun by some long dead asshole.
"Maybe", she responded, not too convinced. She stayed silent for a little longer before asking: "Can I see the text again?"
Without a word, I passed her the paper on which sat her translation of the enigma that had led us here. She looked at it for a second, then added: "Do you have the original?"
"I must have a copy somewhere", I replied, looking through our documentation. I passed her the black and white photograph as soon as I found it. For me, it was nothing more than a bunch of pretty foreign letters on a palm leaf, but she could find something more in it. She looked at it thoughtfully, and got up.
"You see", she said, looking up for the picture, "many sanskrit words are actually a composition of two words with a special meaning. What we have translated as "emperor" literally means "the one who makes the wheel spin"."
She took a few step until she reached a big carving representing a man surrounded by different things. She looked at it for a second, and put her hand on something that could indeed represent a wheel.
"Maybe it was more significant than we previously thought."
She pushed the wheel a little, and it went back into the wall with a scrapping sound. I got up too, eyes scanning the whole room to find any change. I didn't see anything at first, and suddenly, the floor begin to lower itself with little jerks. I crossed Julia's eyes, glittering with anticipation.
"Well, now, that is something."
