Flint nodded.
I turned back to the central pool. It was time for the past to go. I approached the circular central pool.
"I hope you can hold your breath for a long time Flint."
There were several stones lying on the ground and I started to pry several of them up. Pulling them free revealed carved out stone handles on the undersides.
Glancing up at Flint I said, "With the weight you're carrying you'll probably not need a weight. In the old days they wore so much golden jewelry that they didn't need a weight either."
I held a stone in each hand and stepped into the water and kept stepping down, hyperventilating slightly. Flint, with a slight pause of hesitation, followed. Once he was all the way under the water he saw more clearly for himself the spiral stone staircase that we were walking down.
Memories of my first time walking down these stairs began to flood into my mind as I walked down into the crystal clear water. I had been so in awe of the Candace and this descent into the water had only helped to reinforce how cool she was.
Thirty feet down the stairs ended at a door and I pushed a series of stone panels and the door opened to a dark void of yet more water. Only queens knew the combination. I waited for Flint and grasping him firmly I made sure that he came through the door with me. We stepped down into something dark and I made him sit down.
Nothing happened for a moment and then a series of groans sounded as the stone weights began to depress and our barge began to move. It moved quite fast into the dark void we were in and, as always, my lungs had begun to burn in need of air.
Apparently holding ones breath for a long time hadn't been much of a problem for my ancestors, but for me it was. Just when I thought I would take a gulp of water and drown, the barge surged up to the surface and I opened my mouth gulping in air. Flint was doing the same.
"I've been on some death defying theme park rides, but this one takes the cake!" Flint huffed out.
I couldn't disagree with him there. I didn't bother telling him that if the wrong combination of panels was punched in at the door the barge went somewhere else entirely. More people than he knew had found the treasure over the years, but they'd fallen prey to the clever door mechanisms of the Queen's Gate.
My father knew of the door, but not the combination to open it. I stood up and walked the length of the barge to the stairs at the other end in complete darkness, as my feet knew the way by faith. My hands found the twin pedestals that marked the landing of the Queen's Haven and I reached for levers to either side and pulled.