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// 8 - What Treasures 
// Story: The Unpublished Origin of Daring Do 
// by David Silver 
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She pulled the pieces out with a frown. They all fit in, but nothing opened. She examined them intently, taking mark of their patterns and the wall before slowly putting them back in with a new configuration and trying to match the wall behind them.

Nothing.

She began plucking each back out with a soft sigh. "I will not be defeated by an ancient lock." Back in they went. She went for the opposite method, clashing as much as possible with each piece she put in.

A new click sounded. A panel fell open revealing a round but damaged shield. It had a copper rim on the outside, but the inside was far more interesting. It depicted a light colored kirin in mid leap in a circle, a stick with budding flowers clasped in its jaws. Opposite it was some dark creature with bright white eyes, with a blue mane and wisps of flames. It was hard to make out all the details with the dust and restoration it obviously needed taking care of. "But it is a fine catch," she sighed out, reaching for it carefully. "We will preserve your history."

With the shield tucked onto her back, she started to consider leaving. Even if she found more things, she wouldn't be able to carry it all through the jungle, in one piece, without becoming dinner. Ah! Caballeron and his goons were surely valid hooves to help carry more. Maybe they'd even found other wondrous things on their own. She got to trotting out of the closet.

Behind her, she heard the pieces she'd inserted get pushed out onto the ground, raining down in a soft clatter of stone against stone. The panel sealed itself with a soft rolling grind. She considered collecting the bits of that key. "Mmm..." Back around she went, scooping them up. They were small and interesting and into her bag they went.

"There you are!" Caballeron stood at the entrance to the small closet. "Taking as much as you can carry, without us, I see."

"I was just looking for you." A.K. folded her left wing over the flap of her bag. "Have you been looking around? This place has more treasure than we can even bring back."

"More treasure than you can bring back, perhaps." He snorted softly, leaning to the side to peer at the closed flap of her bag. "What is it you have already found?"

"A little statue, a battered shield," she casually downplayed. "Some bits of an ancient key. The historical value should be considerable, in the hooves of a proper researcher."

"Pah. Where is the gold and silver?" He turned away, walking into the room with the altar. "Like that." He pointed at the great statue looming over things. "That would surely sell for a small mountain of bits."

Amy frowned at that, emerging from the closet to look once more. It reminded her of the shadowy figure on the shield, she realized. Perhaps it was a dark god, something feared? But if they feared it, why erect such a large statue in reverence to it? So many questions she wanted answers to... "You may damage it trying to move it. It's very large."

"That is why you bring large help." He clopped his fore hooves together and his goons came rushing in. "I want to see that outside!" He thrust a hoof at the statue. "Yesterday!" As they hurried, he glared at A.K. "And do not think you are getting a share of this."

"That one is entirely yours." She silently hoped it wasn't damaged in the effort as she began wandering away down a new hallway. "I'm going to keep looking around."

"Maybe you'll find something better than beat up things," he taunted as she left, a smirk on his face.

A.K. kept her own smile hidden until she was around the corner. Let that goon struggle with that huge statue. The little one she had was clearly worth more, and she'd get it where it needed to be instead of... What was Caballeron even doing? She shook her head softly, putting him out of her head for a moment. "I have enough, maybe I should--"

Her words were cut off when the ground beneath her quaked violently, throwing her to the ground. She could hear something massive crashing, back in the direction she had just come from. Scrambling back to her hooves, she hurried back to see a great hole beneath where the statue once was. Caballeron was nowhere in sight, but his goons were there, peering into the great hole in the thick stone floor.

"What happened?" she gushed out as she joined them in peering into the depths.

"Yeah, the boss saw somethin'." The skinnier one pointed into the air. "Went climbin' fer it an' the whole thing came down with 'im."

She slapped her right hoof to her face. "This is an ancient temple, not a jungle gym." She coiled on herself and pulled out a rope from her bag. "Do you see something to tie this onto?" The larger of the two rushed forward, grabbing the end of the rope in his mouth and soon attaching it to one of the stone pews. "Very good." She flicked her head, tossing the rope into the dark. "Caballeron, can you hear us?"

The skinnier of the two suddenly jumped down, grabbing the rope in their teeth along the way and sliding rapidly out of sight. The larger one shrugged. "Gotta go after 'em." And down he went as well, leaving Amy behind.

She considered her option. Caballeron seemed like a questionable archaeologist, at best, still... Leaving a hurt pony like that wasn't a good thing, right? She heaved a suffering sigh and descended as well, plunging into darkness. After a short moment of sliding, she thumped right on top of a pony. The larger goon? She got out her flashlight and clicked it on.

There he was, just under her, and now looking up at her. "Do you see the boss?"

"Over here!" The skinnier one was seated on his haunches and tossing bits of stone aside.

Amy's heart sank, realizing at last one of those heavy rocks was what was left of the grand statue, now pulverized in the fall. "Is he alright?" She hopped down from the larger of the two. The statue wasn't alright. It never would be...

A pained grunt came from the pile, the pinned doctor climbing free when enough rocks were moved. "That was most unexpected, but I have good news!" He reached a hoof into his shirt and pulled out something that glinted in the dim light of her flashlight. "Worth it!"

Worth it? Amy cringed at the idea. "Are you alright?" she repeated. "That was quite the fall."

"It will take more than that to take down Doctor Caballeron!" He dusted himself off, though it didn't help as much as he had wanted, covered in the dust of the destruction he had helped cause. "Still, I thank you for bringing my stallions to me."

"That's her rope, Boss." The skinny one pointed to the dangling rope. "How we got here so fast."

"I could hear you." He casually bopped his lackey on the head. "Even if I couldn't move. Now, this is a new room. Get out your torches and let's begin searching.

Amy shied back, leaving her rope behind. As the two lit their torches, she turned her light away and vanished down a new hallway. Her interest in being around the doctor worn thin.

"Where are you going?" His hoof came down on her shoulder. "This temple is quite dangerous, as I just proved. We should not separate. What if you somepony is pinned again, or worse? Do you wish to be alone when that happens?"

She tensed before sighing. "You have a good point there. I suggest we look a little more, get what we can, and get out of here with our hides intact."

"I thought you were Daring Do. That is not being of the very brave of you." He turned away, barking a command at his minions before glancing back. "If you wish to run away, I will not stop you."

She lifted a hoof only for it to fall again, her steps halted, frozen.  She wasn't a coward! How dare he say that! But there she was, ready to run away with her tail between her legs, happy with what she got and leaving an entire temple to sink into the ground, never to be seen again.

A low growl rose in her throat, stepping from hoof to hoof as she shook her head. "Alright! Alright." She trotted back into the room she had just left, turning her eyes to the rubble and what was around it. "The odds that you fell into an empty room are low. What did you land on?" She dusted the lighter stones away, kicking up dust in a small cloud as she worked forward slowly. "Let's find out."

"Now you are speaking more of the sense." Caballeron nodded. "Help her. Let us see what there is."

Both saluted and joined in clearing out the debris of the smashed statue. What they found were equally pulverized portions of tables. Between two of them, a box. Caballeron shoved the larger of his goons out of the way when they found it. "Yes!" He reached for the top to throw it open, only to hesitate. "On the second thoughts, why don't you?" He looked to A.K. with a bright smile. "This was your idea, was it not?"

Her ears danced. That felt nicer than he had been up to then. "Thank you. We'll share what we find though." She jostled her bags as she approached. "I have almost as much as I can safely carry anyway." Examining the box, she could see where falling debris had bashed and chipped at it, damaging the frescoes that had graced it. Like the tables, it was damage that was unlikely to be undone.

Still, what was inside could be safe, sheltered by the stone of the box. She reached for it and ran a hoof along the lip, feeling where one stone touched the other. Amy lifted it an inch, the hinges squeaking, but still turning. "Nicely made," she complimented as she carefully slid it--

She staggered back, an arrow protruding from her chest. Why would they put a trap on a random box?! The indignity of the thought did nothing to stifle the pain as she fell back, breathing raggedly. She could dimly hear the others. They were not tending to her. They were looting the box, taking whatever was inside. She couldn't focus properly through the pain, and soon she was alone with only the light of her dropped flashlight for company.

She brought up her hooves, both shaking and clopped them in on either side of the arrow. Clenching her teeth firmly against the pain, she began to jostle it carefully, working the arrow out as carefully as she could manage through the blinding pain without tearing herself any more open than she already was. Tears streamed down her face and she wanted to scream, but who would she scream at, or for. Caballeron had shown how little he cared about her pain.

With a last pull, she let the arrow fall to the ground, glinting with her own blood. "That was... bad..." She was certain she needed to be seen by a doctor. No, not that doctor. A real one, in a hospital preferably. Playtime was over. The expedition was over. Brushing away tears that refused to stop flowing, she grabbed her flashlight and lifted into the air, ascending up along her rope even as her chest throbbed with agony with every flap. She had to get somewhere safe. Archaeology could wait. 

What was the point of learning of the dead if she rushed to become one of them, perhaps buried in one of their own buildings alongside them?