During the altercation, a small but stable slab of rock had slid out from below their position and completely crossed the abyss. It had imbedded itself into a small slot on the opposite side.

No one wanted to go first, so Gillian looked at them in disgust, muttered the word 'wimps' and leapt onto the path. Within a few well-balanced and steady steps, she had made it to the other side assisted by a sudden rush of adrenaline. It had only just occurred to her that this adventure was almost over. That the secret they had been searching for was less than a few feet away. They were on the verge of a momentous discovery and she was excited.

'Come on,' she gestured and was soon joined by two equally enthusiastic men.

CHAPTER FORTY FIVE.

Adam gazed at the pattern in the wall in absolute trepidation. It was an identical imprint to the disk that he carried with him from his home in Australia, the one handed down to him by his grandparents and possibly his grandparents before that. He had no idea what this meant for him or even how his family had gained access to the treasure in the first place, but he had a distinct feeling he was going to find out.

'Come on, Adam,' Gillian urged as he reached in and pulled the disk from its box.

Samuel also looked on and in normal circumstances, he would have feared his inclusion, but his demeanour had changed considerably since he had declared himself Gillian's brother. Adam knew by his expression that it had been the truth and even though he still grappled with the dramatic turnaround from murderer to family relation, he had been convinced that Samuel meant no harm. If anything, he had proved himself by saving their lives on more than one occasion.

Adam turned to the task at hand and raised the glittering disk up to the wall. He aligned it with the imprint and pressed it firmly until it was securely imbedded in the plaster.

Nothing happened, so Adam looked to Gillian for advice.

'I can't see how this would have activated anything anyway. After all, its only plaster,' mused Gillian as Samuel interceded.

'I think we need to press harder!' and before they could protest, Samuel forced the disk inward with such power that the plaster began to crack.

'Not only have we ruined the wall, but you have also damaged the disk,' grumbled Adam, stopping midsentence as a reverberating click could be heard from behind the plaster.

This was followed by the sudden appearance of a centre block which projected out from the middle of the disk. It then rotated to the right before ejecting a further five posts which fastened to the fascia of the disk and drew it backwards into the damaged plaster. Within moments delicate, spider-like fissures developed into large fractures and the entire wall appeared in imminent danger of collapse.

It all happened so quickly that Gillian barely had time to scream 'run' as they jumped backwards, restricted by the gaping chasm behind them, leaving no choice but to bear the full weight of the plaster that rained down upon them.

'That's the second bloody time today,' cursed Adam as he wiped the powder from his face and clothes, stopping only when dust cloud cleared and they were able to see what stood between them and the promised treasure.

Adam gasped as did Gillian and Samuel.

The outer edges of the wall had remained untouched, providing a stark contrast to the elaborately carved centrepiece. In the tradition of the great Egyptian statues, two glorious life-size sculptures stood tall and proud! They were meticulously carved from stone and positioned inside two custom-designed, gold-coated niches. Each niche was arched and the entire fascia of the external wall was covered from top to bottom in Mayan hieroglyphics.

Adam moved toward the statues, noting that one to the left was female and the one to right was male. They were facing each other with their arms outstretched and within their grasp was Adam's disk.

'Wow! This is absolutely amazing. I haven't seen anything quite like this since my last trip to Egypt. It's quite evident that Kinix drew on his experience with Mshai to create this masterpiece!' said Gillian.

'Who do you think they are?' queried Adam.

Gillian laughed. 'Adam ... come on ... you should know. After spending so much time with me, it should have been immediately evident.'

Adam studied the figures. The male had an arrogance that was mixed with pride and authority. The woman was a gentle, delicate beauty dressed in an elaborate costume. They were clearly royalty, but it was the adoring expressions on their faces that gave away their identities.

He was Kinix and she was his Butterfly, Lady Tikal.

'Kinix and Lady Tikal,' said Adam as Gillian nodded.

'It is my guess that the two statues are guarding a joint treasure, something that was important to both of them, and these hieroglyphs seem to confirm my thoughts,' said Gillian as she ran her hand over the precise carvings.

'What do they say?' asked Samuel.

'There are three sentences,' replied Gillian as she translated them in the order in which they were illustrated: "The real treasure depicted in this box belongs to my true heir. The one I cannot claim as my own although he is of my blood.

If the gods allow it, it is my hope to hold the one who looks so much like me.

My heart aches for those I do not have, but I can leave this for the ones born from my own"

'They are familiar,' concluded Adam.

'Yes. Each obsidian box we discovered had one of these phrases engraved on the inner lid.'

'It sounds as if this person had an illegal child,' laughed Samuel.

Gillian did not laugh and neither did Adam. What Samuel said made sense. It tied in perfectly with the last portion of Kinix's diary where he referred to his affair with Lady Tikal.

Kinix had a secret and this room held the truth.

Adam moved towards the disk that was now firmly embedded in the grasp of the two statues. 'Now what?' he asked more to himself than to receive an answer from Gillian.

'Twist it clockwise, Adam,' ordered Gillian.

'Are you sure?'

Gillian sighed. 'The disk is the key. Its insertion activated the projection of the centre bar and if you look closely, it is held by a rotating base. The hands of the statues are only supporting the outer shell and have nothing to do with the workings of the disk.'

Adam required no further prompting. He grabbed the disk and twisted it as far as he could. At first nothing happened, so Adam used his remaining strength and tried again. It moved gradually, almost an inch at a time until it seemingly locked into position and remained motionless for a moment whilst everyone drew their breath in anticipation.

They did not have to wait long as the disk quickly developed a life of its own. It began to spin, slowly at first but then quite quickly until it reached the required rotations and stopped. This action seemed to set off another mechanism behind the disk which made a series of clicks and loud scraping sounds.

Adam gasped, looking hurriedly for the reason behind the scraping noises until Samuel shouted.

'The statues! They're moving!'

Sure enough, both statues were sliding away from each other until they left a gap of a foot between themselves and the centrepiece containing Adam's disk.

Adam grasped Gillian's hand, neither of them able to move in anticipation. This was the pinnacle of their journey and they longed to savour every moment.

The centre wall slid slowly to its immediate left until it had reconnected with the female statue, leaving a gap of three feet on its right, a space just wide enough to walk through.

Adam looked at Gillian and Samuel, trying to determine who should go first.

'Gillian should be the one,' offered Samuel as Adam patted her gently on the shoulder in agreement. 'We will follow.'

With absolute trepidation, Adam took up the middle position and followed Gillian to the gap. With their torches blazing, they stepped inside.

Adam inhaled deeply. He was not sure what he was expecting, but this was certainly not it. His mind had been filled with imaginings of great treasure, of gold, jewels, statues and rare pottery, of a discovery equal in size to that of the Tomb of Tutankhamen. He had been anticipating this moment for a long time that he was extremely disappointed by the outcome.

Not so for Gillian, though.

The room was approximately fifteen feet square with every available space covered in elaborate paintings. The floor was made of intricate coloured tiles to represent all facets of the Mayan world, but it was not this that drew Gillian's attention.

She was standing over a small table that was positioned in the centre of the room. Adam hurried over to take a look.

'This room may not contain mounds of gold or jewels, but what we have here is far more important,' she said.

Adam gazed at the items on the table. There were six various sized obsidian boxes which Gillian had already opened. One contained a giant red ruby which he recognised as the jewel given to Kinix by Bahlum Paw Skull on his deathbed. Four of the smallest boxes held a tiny obsidian container sealed by tree sap in a bed of jaguar fur and the largest box revealed another diary.

Adam looked to Gillian for answers and it took a moment before she spoke.

'The four obsidian containers hold the life flow of the people whose names are inscribed on the lid. That would be Bahlum Paw Skull, Lady Tikal, Kinix and Bird Claw. As we know the Mayan ch'ulel or life flow is actually human blood. To the Mayans, this was the most important substance of them all and to Kinix it was his connection to his family. My only question relates to the last one which I presume was his child, but I would imagine that his diary will clarify that. However, what fascinates me the most is this diary. If you look at the cover, it is quite significantly different to the previous three with the most distinguishable feature being the perfect rendition of your Mayan disk,' said Gillian, referring to the disk Adam had used to open the small room. 'There is an unusual sentence below the picture in Medieval Latin that has taken me by surprise.'

Adam and Samuel looked over her shoulder and shook their heads.

'Well, you'll have to translate,' said Adam as Gillian began to read: "To the child of my child, this book contains the teachings of our people and the place where my family has met the gods. It is meant for you only, for you were the one entrusted with my key. My true blood!"

'So, what does this mean?' asked Samuel as Gillian laughed.

'Adam will tell you. He has uncovered enough Kinix riddles to comprehend what it means.' she said.

Adam felt faint and overwhelmed. The meaning was almost too much for him to come to terms with.

'Kinix is telling us that he has left this book for his direct descendant, "the child of my child". It contains his and his family's final resting place and the answers to many Mayan mysteries.'

'So, the possibility of a tomb full of treasures still remains?' asked Samuel.

Adam nodded in confirmation as he continued: "The child of my child is to be recognised as the one who has the key which is represented on the front of this book."

Gillian looked at Adam. 'Do you know how the disk arrived in your family?'

Adam shook his head. 'I was told that it was a family heirloom, passed down through the eldest child for many centuries.'

'So, you could be Kinix's direct descendant,' blurted Samuel as Adam nodded.

'It seems to be.'

'The only way we can find out it is to perform a DNA match,' suggested Gillian.

'And how do we do that?' said Samuel as Gillian frowned in disgust.

'We have four vials of blood which we can compare to Adam's.'

Samuel laughed. 'The irony of it all. My father groomed me to be a Mayan prince, yet here I am in the company of a real one.'

Adam did not reply. It was all a little too much for him at the moment. He really needed a warm shower and a comfortable bed.

'Come on, let's get out of here,' said Gillian as she placed the obsidian containers in her bag and passed the book to Adam. 'This is yours.'

Adam smiled and took hold of his treasure. It was Gillian's as much as his.

He gave her a gentle kiss which she happily returned.

CHAPTER FORTY SIX.

Two weeks had passed since Gillian, Adam and Samuel were pulled to the surface, dirty and bleeding but victorious after battling the trials of Xibalba.

Their rescue was received with great joy although Samuel was the beneficiary of scepticism. His past actions bred doubt and it took some convincing for everyone to believe that he had saved Gillian and Adam from an assassin without having his own agenda. Thankfully they were eventually persuaded, but the tension between Samuel, Georgio and Dale increased with each passing day.

Samuel also had trouble coping with the expectations placed on him to conform to the requirements of normal day-to-day living and he often reverted back to old habits to escape his confronting emotions.

Quite frequently Gillian caught him burning his blood to please the gods which often placed her on the wrong side of his explosive temper. Unfortunately this also put considerable pressure on their already tenuous relationship.

The other issue surrounding Samuel was the possibility that he would be called to testify against his father, the stress of which would undoubtedly ruin all of the progress he had made.

The only thing in their favour was that his survival remained a secret, so it was for this reason that they decided it best to reunite him with the remaining community in Tajumulco.

Samuel was delighted, but his departure was bittersweet. On one hand, Gillian was adapting to his company and felt a slight stirring of sadness, but on the other hand it removed the reminder to the one topic they all avoided their mother!

Gillian knew who she was, but Samuel had not come in contact with Reynata to confirm her suspicions, although this suited Gillian.

She was not ready to confront the many issues surrounding the subject. There were simply too many questions which she feared, if answered, would open a can of worms and cause an irreparable rift between herself and her beloved father. There was no way that Gillian would accept anything that may compromise her feelings for him. To his credit, Dale had tried to bring up the subject on a number of occasions, but Gillian simply told him the same thing: 'Now is not the time.' She would deal with the issue when she was ready although she felt the time would come sooner rather than later.

Her father had feelings for Reynata and unless she wished to stand in the way of his happiness, she could not avoid the problem forever.

Imagine dinner parties together. She was at one end and Reynata at the other, not talking to each other. It would be incredibly uncomfortable for all concerned and it would be her fault.

Gillian sighed loudly and Adam laughed.

'Family problems?'

She nodded.

'I've had them for years,' replied Adam.

'And it seems as if you are going to have new ones. What will you do if these DNA tests prove you are the descendant of Kinix. It will mean that your father is also a relative.'

Adam squirmed. 'Gees. My parents will think they are a king and queen for real. I couldn't stand it.'