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“It may have just slipped,” Remi said

They crept back to the platfor Avoice: “Lower me down”

“Damn,” Sam muttered

The voice was unmistakable: Hadeon Bondaruk

“How long do we have?” Remi asked

“He’ll have more people Twenty, twenty-five minutes”

“He ht track,” Remi said “He’s come to claim his prize”

At t

hat moment there was only a handful of people who knew this cave was the likely hiding place for the columns: Sam and Remi, and Bondaruk and whoever ith hiet out alive

Sa to be disappointed Come on”

They zigzagged their way through the stalagmites to the opposite wall and checked each tunnel in turn Down the first tunnel and thebut darkness The third one jogged left after six feet Saed back and said, “Coin toss”

They slipped through the fissure and followed the bend Re her knee Sam helped her up “I’m okay,” she said “What was that?”

An object on the floor glittered in her headlaht, narroord about two feet long Though heavily tarnished, spots of bright steel showed along the blade

“This is a Xiphos, Remi It was carried by Spartan infantrymen My God, they were here” He shook himself from his reverie and they continued on

The tunnel continued on for another fifty feet, turning this way and that untilwith a three-way intersection “Left is the middle tunnel, I think Leads back to the cavern,” Sam said