The Last Queen of Lemuria by Gloria Mur Page A

will tell you with pleasure. You have all brought things from Lemuria. You, for example have a carpenter's tool," explained Samir.
    -         "But, it's so big!"
    -         "The Lemurians were giants."
    -         "And what do I have?"  asked Andrei, "what is this?"
    -         "That is a means of transportation."
    -         "A boat or something?"
    -         "A vimana.  Nastia has a box for transporting live creatures, and Marina has part of a belt, used by pregnant women for decoration."
    Marina gently patted the pearls.
    -         "Let's begin. Stand here, take the exhibits in your hands and look at me," said Samir, and drew a circle on the floor with charcoal.
    Nastia's knees were trembling, a chill crept up her spine. She was mad at herself for her baseless fear.
    -         "It's not so easy to hold a box like this," smiled Nastia. This was the last thing she would say.
    Samir, in a magician's gesture, took a glass flask from his sleeve and threw it on the floor. The flask broke, the liquid hissed, and the cave filled with a greenish fog. It began to smell of wormwood, they all began to have a bitter taste in their mouths. They had a buzzing in their heads, their tongues became heavy, their bodies became stone. Samir placed a golden circle with a stone on his head, and raised his right hand:
    -         "Circle of oblivion, close up!”
    Nastia saw his face beginning to age before their eyes. She wanted to turn to Margo, but was unable.
    -         "Circle of oblivion, close up! Memory Ray, appear!" whispered Samir. A gray patch appeared in his black hair, his skin became wrinkly and the veins on his neck bulged.
    -         "Circle of oblivion, close up! Memory Ray, appear!" repeated Samir for a third time, almost soundlessly. A light lurched from the band on his head. The light divided into five rays. The rays raced towards the exhibits in the hands of the participants in the "experiment."
    Nastia began to feel that the box in her hands was vibrating. Her fingers gave way, and opened. The silver clanged loudly to the floor. Just then it began breaking down, the dark blue ray, extending towards Nastia was extinguished. Samir the old man, covered in sweat and barely able to stand, stared into the box. The heavy exhibit took flight like a piece of paper. As soon as it had touched Nastia's hands, the ray of light returned..
    Within a second, the girl lost consciousness.
    Samir, barely alive, whispered:
    "What have I done? The Memory Ray broke. She will remember..."
 
 
Chapter 8. Lemuria
     
    Nastia opened her eyes. Her head was ringing. Having sat up, she determined that she was lying on a bed in an unfamiliar room. She listened. There was not a sound, only a light breeze fluttering through the curtains on a high window. Opposite the bed, a portrait hung on the wall. A young, beautiful lady with quizzically raised eyebrows looked down from the wall. Nastia jumped up and looked around. There was no one there. There was a wide bed, laid out with the finest linens. The room was filled with the smell of lavender.  She passed her hand over the sheets. They seemed to be made of silk. And her clothes too. Wearing a stranger's shirt, in a stranger's bed. She began to think what may have happened while she was passed out, and her skin began to crawl. Someone had dressed her in these clothes and brought her here... She had become involved in a crime. Why did she agree to that experiment! “I should have followed my intuition!   Where are the others, where is Margo?”  Trying to be silent, she stole away to the exit. She pushed at the door. The heavy wooden slab, inlaid with silver stripes, didn't even budge.
    It's locked. Where was she? Stone walls, vaulted ceiling. The floor is covered with a fancy carpet. Under the ceiling there were flat oil lamps. The sun was playing on the silk-covered walls. The furniture was ancient. There were silver figurines