How would you feel if you were confined in a millenary labyrinth tomb, no exit and full of mortal traps and enigmas? Would you feel suffocated? Scared? Buried? That´s not much! And if - on top of - if you have to run away crazily to escape from a double-your-height-lion-body-woman-face creature, which target is to chase you to devour? Ten people go into an archeological expedition in Egypt in current days. One of them revives the mummy of the sphinx - the Thebes mythological monster - and the only one way to avoid being shattered and devoured is deciphering its riddle. Who will survive? This story mixes action, adventure, thriller and suspense to hold you from the first up to the ending page, inviting your intelligence to conduce the characters to the final conclusion: "Decipher me or be devoured"
The Enigma Of The Sphinx
By Paul CaetanoAuthorHouse
Copyright © 2012 Paul Caetano
All right reserved.ISBN: 978-1-4772-0462-7Chapter One
The Curse
Henry leafs through the book up to find the page and starts reading:
"Year 370 B.C. Thebes. One of the largest and successful state-cities of the ancient Greece, in alliance with Sparta in the Peloponnesus War. prosperity and culture were spread over where. Its hills were crowd of grapevine, main source of the city commerce and wealthy.
One its king was Laius, son of Ladbaco, death by bacchants to revenge against his restrictions to Dionisio's celebration. As Laius was very young, the throne of Thebes was given to Lico, his uncle that governed the city up to be killed by Anfian and Zeto, the tyrants. Thebes went under their devil kingdom.
The Laius prince had, then, to scape and exile to the Phrygia in the kingdom of the King Penelope, which son was Crisipus, young, strong and handsome.
Laius felt in love by him, the prince and built a plan up to seduce him, offering himself to escort him up to Nemea, a city closed to Phrygia and where Crisipus was going to play athletics in the Olympics games.
However, during their return to Phrygia, Laius kidnapped Crisipus and run off to Thebes, where he intended to recover his father's throne back. There, he rapped the young prince.
Furious, the King Penelope sent his army to Thebes, but Crisipus, ashamed and afraid of his father's punishment and urged by this false and ambitious brothers Atreus and Tieste, suicide throwing himself down in a dark and deep well. Due the loss of his favorite and dear heir-prince, Penelope quilted Laius and threw over him a terrified curse: Laius would be killed by his own son and his descendants would suffer tragic consequences.
In the Olympus, the gods followed this tragedy and betrayal. Hera, the wife of Jupiter and God of the Revenge, came in the presence of his husband, sitting in his gold and ray-circle throne. The all other gods were among him.
She makes a reverence and says:
- Great Jupiter, God of the Goods, powered and supreme!
- What do you demand, Hera, mother of my sons?
- Did you see the betrayal of Laius, son of Ladbaco, King of Thebes?
- What does happen in the mortal Earth that I do not know?
- You are the Omnipresent and Omniscient, oh powerful Jupiter!
- What do you want to be done?
- The Kind of Phrygia deservers a revenge. His curse must be put in place so hardy and bleed that the Thebans citizens will never forget his King`s dirty—says Hera, stretching her eyes and with a cynic smile.
- When you do this look ... what are you thinking to do?
A small silence. All other gods look at her.
- I want you set free ... The Sphinx!—rays blowing out her devil eyes.
A thunder echo throughout the Heaven. The gods shudder and start murmuring each other. Aphrodite sends a claiming look to Jupiter.
He shakes in himself:
- Don't you think this curse is too devil to city?
- Devil King, deviant's citizens!—state the Queen
- But the Sphinx has been asleep in ethiopia for long time ... it is terrific and invincible!
- I don't care—insist Hera—Wake it up!
Jupiter is balanced. He doesn't want to destroy the city `because Laius' fault, but he also cannot disobey his wife's order. He tries to negotiate:
- What about the phoenix? Or the Hydra? Hera became frustrated and angry. Jupiter ... set the Sphinx free!
- But she will need an undecipherable enigma!
- Don't worry. I give one to it.
- But ...
She throws a you-know-the-ways-to-convince-you-I-have look and says:
- Set ... The Sphinx ... free!
He sighs. All other gods understand".
* * *
Thebes city, some nights later.
Two great columns flanking the portal of the city can be made out in the light from the moon and stars.
A middle-age merchant, wearing a long and colored tunic and tired from a long trip in the desert, walks along the road pulling a heavily-laden camel. As he approaches the gates, a thick voice from behind one of the columns bids him halt:
- Who approaches?
The voice is so rough that the man does not respond. He hears the question again:
- Who approaches of the city at this late time?
Starting get him self under control, the merchant moves on steps right and sees a shadow behind the column. He answers:
- Marcus, a poor merchant coming from a long trip back home. Who speaks?
A shadow emerges from the darkness into the moonlight. A terrific image appears. It has a lion's body, two great eagle's wings and a woman's face. Its face is ugly and terrifying: gray eyes, medium length blond hair, a small nose and enormous mouth, filled with extremely sharp teeth. It is twice the size of the man.
- I do!
The merchant is mortified with the view. After some seconds, he can recover his own and asks:
- In name of Jupiter? Who are you?
Proud of itself, the monster raises its head and smiles, showing its knife teeth:
- The Sphinx, creature created by the goods to terrify the earth habitants!
The camel is scared and forces the merchant sets the wire. It runs away. The man turns to flee, but it quickly blocks his path.
- Let me go!
- No.
- What do you want from me?
- Decipher me or be devoured!
The terror makes his brain still slower. He tries do run, but its pawn stakes his tunic.
- Decipher you? What do you mean?
- What has one voice, is four-footed in the morning, two-footed in the afternoon and three-footed at night?
- An animal that uses four, two and three legs? Impossible! This is a riddle ... I don't know—the poor man is now crying of terror—Please, let me go!
- Decipher me or be devoured!
The Sphinx bears down on the man. He runs into the darkness and the Sphinx follows him.
From the darkness, his scared shouts are heard:
- No! No! please, no! Aaaaaarrrrrrgh! help! Somebody help! Aaaaaarrrrrrttthhh!
His desperate bloodcurdling screams are muffled by lion roars. A large blood line trickles across the ground ...
* * *
"From that day on, the beast spread terror among the people of Thebes. It devoured all those who ventured beyond the city gates, a bloody and cruel death. No one was able to decipher its riddle. Thebes was isolated: no traveler had the courage to enter; no citizen had the courage to leave. Food and water were rationed.
With the citizens' uproar and fear, Laius, the king, sent in more forces and weapons, but no solution emerged. The army was sent in, but each soldier was killed like a rat. They sent for the stronger gladiator from the Greek empire, but no trace of his body was ever found. The Sphinx reigned supreme and could only be destroyed by someone who would be able to decipher the riddle. But who?
Some years later ...
The wood nearby Thebes was green in the just coming Sprinter. Single flowers tried to born between the cypresses roots and the humidity of the recent rain is still felt in the weather. Sun rays drill the trees tops, making the ground clear and fresh.
In spite of this beautiful scene, no birds, no butterflies, no wild animals are seen running or flying in their innocent life. No wind. Nothing moves. everything is calm, silenced, and mysterious.
This immobile environmental is broken suddenly. Bushes make movements. Three men's faces appear among the leaves. As nothing seen, they continue to hurry along a sandy path in the woods, looking around warily.
They walk around a big grey stone and hidden behind it. They look around and see all...
