other side of the wall from Lourds. His flashlight tracked slowly. “They had the Olympic Games here. Maybe they needed the extra water.”
“And maybe it was to mark a hiding place.” Exultation flooded through Lourds as he shone the light on a stone on the back wall.
“Did you find something?” Marias joined him.
“In addition to the Helm of Darkness and a three-headed pup named Cerberus, what else was Hades known for?”
“I do not remember anything else.”
“Do you remember the legend of Minthe?”
Marias thought for a moment. “She was a nymph. Hades saw her and was attracted by her beauty. She, in turn, was attracted to him. Before anything could happen, though, Persephone arrived and turned the nymph into a plant.”
“A mint plant. You know how I know this?”
“No, nor do I know what all of this has to do with anything.”
“The myth of mint was on the placard at Café Trident. I read it while you were telling the story of Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus splitting up the world.”
Marias sighed. “You’re as attentive as my students.”
“More so. I remember what was on the placard.”
“Enlighten me.”
“Do you know why the nymph was so attracted to Hades?”
Marias frowned and shook his head.
“Because in addition to the Helm of Darkness and a pup named Cerberus, Hades also had a chariot of gold that was drawn by four black horses. She was reportedly dazzled by the chariot.”
Corporal Rahimi laughed. “It is always about the ride.”
Lourds chuckled as well. “In this case, I think it really is about the ride. Do you know what else Auriga is known for?”
Marias pulled at his goatee for a moment then shook his head. “No.”
“He’s credited for inventing the chariot. In particular, he’s remembered for inventing the quadriga, the four-horse chariot that he used in battle to gain the throne of Athens.”
A smile framed Marias’s lips. “Hades drove a quadriga.”
“Exactly. And look what I found.” Triumphantly, Lourds pulled aside dead grass to reveal the small carving of a four-horse chariot in one of the stones on the left side of the wall.
Cautiously, Lourds put out a hand and pressed on the stone.
Nothing happened.
He hooked his fingers around the edge and tried pulling.
Nothing happened.
“Perhaps it is just a stone.” Marias leaned in more closely.
Frustrated, Lourds bunched up a fist and banged on the stone.
Still nothing happened.
He stepped back and sighed in disgust. “Either that’s a smokescreen, or there is a trick to it.”
“Perhaps if the mortar around it were loosened.” Fitrat produced a wicked-looking knife and stepped forward. Carefully, he chipped away the mortar from the stone.
For a few long minutes, the sounds of the chipping and of the men breathing echoed faintly within the well. Thunder crackled overhead, and a lightning bolt sizzled across the dark sky. The wind picked up and blew dust down into the well.
Finally, Fitrat stepped back to observe his handiwork. “All the mortar around the stone is gone.”
Lourds kept his flashlight trained on the stone. “Press it. Let’s see what happens.”
Fitrat pressed and pulled and tried to wiggle the stone, all to no avail. He stepped back again and shook his head. “It is just a stone with an engraving. A decoration.”
“In an undecorated well?” With grim determination, Lourds looked around the well. They were missing something.
On the heels of another burst of thunder, the ground trembled and something shifted behind the back wall of the well. Lourds tried the marked stone again.
“Hey.”
Everyone turned to look at Corporal Rahimi.
“I was just thinking. If you believe that wall is some kind of door, and if the mechanism that is supposed to open it is stuck, why not just take the door apart?”
Lourds and Marias and Fitrat swapped looks.
Lourds shook his head and sighed.
***
Closer now, Linko studied Lourds and his team in the well. The colonel hadn’t known the structure was a well until he’d heard Lourds talking to the Greek professor earlier. To Linko, they simply looked like shallow holes in the ground.
Light rain fell, pattering against the leaves of the tree whose shadows he hid in. The shadows had almost faded now, absorbed by the coming night and the darkness of the storm.
Then he noticed movement on the hillside. Shifting his binoculars, he tracked the movement and saw a small person, dressed in robes, scurrying toward the well.
***
Thousands of years had stripped the mortar of its vitality, and it crumbled beneath the concerted efforts of the picks the team had brought in their equipment bags. Lourds and Fitrat attacked the wall, quickly discovering the