Restless Soul by Alex Archer Read Free Book Online Page B

maybe they brought the coffins in through there.” Zakkarat pointed halfway up the wall, where a wide cleft in the rock looked like the opening to another passage.
    Luartaro took a picture of Zakkarat pointing, and then snapped several of Annja and the wall of large teak coffins.
    “Let’s hope that’s a passage,” Annja said. She turned away from the coffins and looked back the way they’d come.
    Water was spilling into their chamber, meaning the tunnel they’d taken to get there was completely flooded, and the chamber was going to fill next.
    “All the rain,” she said, her voice cracking with nervousness. “Yesterday, and today. That underground river is rising quickly. We might soon be dealing with a considerable flood.”
    Again she felt for the sword at the edge of her mind. This time its presence offered no comfort. It couldn’t do anything to keep the rising water at bay.

4

    “Up! This is flooding!” Luartaro headed toward a section of the chamber wall that looked the most uneven. “Annja, Zakkarat, come on! Move!” Despite his shouts, his voice registered authority rather than panic.
    Zakkarat began to chatter nervously in Thai.
    It was nothing Annja could decipher, though she felt the fear in his voice. He scrambled toward Luartaro, the light from the lantern he carried bouncing and creating a dizzying effect.
    Annja watched the water.
    It rose noticeably in the passing of a few heartbeats.
    She cursed silently. When she started out that morning, it hadn’t crossed her mind that all the rain would affect her exploration of the caves. She should have considered the possibility. She should have realized there could be flash floods—especially since the cave they visited yesterday had a river running through the middle of it, what the pamphlets called “active.” Being on vacation had made her mind numb.
    They should be reasonably safe, she hoped, as the water likely wouldn’t reach the top of the chamber—the roof was so high. Nevertheless, she knew they must look for a way out just to be certain. There was no telling how long the water would remain high and keep them prisoner.
    She heard a scuffing sound and turned around.
    Luartaro was climbing up the wall toward the dark cleft. The muscles in his back and arms strained and rolled. He glanced back and called to her again.
    She looked at the nearest coffin, then back at the water.
    The river could conceivably reach the coffins or perhaps completely cover them. Would it damage the ancient teak?
    Annja winced at the thought. They should be all right, she decided. No doubt this chamber had flooded in the past, what with the annual rainy season and the monsoons. Perhaps all the rising river was the explanation for no bodies—the water had washed them away and left behind only the heavy teak coffins and the most cumbersome pieces of pottery. Maybe the water had even rearranged where the coffins had been originally placed.
    Free me.
    She hadn’t imagined the voice. She distinctly heard those two words now. They hadn’t come from the coffins, though. It was as if they’d traveled through the very stone of the cave and seeped into her head. It echoed like a child calling down into a canyon.
    Had Luartaro heard it?
    “Lu, did you hear—”
    “Annja! Now! We have to get out of here!”
    The water swirled around the soles of her boots.
    Zakkarat continued to babble in Thai, his words laced with anger.
    There was another scuffing sound, and a heartbeat later Luartaro’s hand touched Annja’s shoulder. He’d climbed back down to get her.
    “Annja, we have to leave. It isn’t safe here, and that tunnel’s flooded. I used to free dive, but not even an Olympic swimmer could hold his breath long enough to get back out that way. Come! The water isn’t going to bother the coffins. No doubt they’ve been flooded before.” He shook her. “Please hurry.”
    She focused her thoughts and turned to face him.
    The light was low, as Zakkarat had set his