It was almost … human… that the moment she began to consider other possibilities, he seemed to have changed his mind.
But, maybe she was wrong about that? Maybe she had completely misunderstood him? It seemed probable that his culture allowed sexual freedom for the men, even if women were chattel as they had been on Earth in ancient times. Maybe he wasn’t looking for, or expecting, anything else? Maybe he wouldn’t condemn her if she indulged her own cravings?
But, what if he did? What if she discovered, as she feared, that she wasn’t allowed to and wouldn’t be accepted by him or his people if she gave in to her own needs?
She had the possibility of making a life with her own people now, though. She didn’t know how likely it was, wouldn’t know until she had the chance to find them, but, if they could go back to the colony and start again, would it really matter what the consequences were in relation to the Zoeans?
That was a lot of ifs, though.
Maybe it would be best just to wait and see?
She sighed. It would be really hard to say no if Kiran offered … maybe impossible.
* * * *
They had been traveling for hours and the sun was almost directly overhead when she saw her first glimpse of the sacred mountain far in the distance. She wasn’t certain, at first, that that was what it was, or if it even was a mountain. It looked more like a heavy purple cloud along the horizon. As the day wore on, however, and their escort headed directly toward it, the mountain became more substantial, discernible from the clouds surrounding it—taller than anything she could remember seeing.
Late in the afternoon, they reached the jumble of rocks at the mountain’s feet and the party halted at last. Tempest wasn’t at all certain she could stand when she was helped down. They’d only stopped twice, briefly, for respite, and she wasn’t accustomed to sitting in one position for so long.
Fortunately, when her knees buckled and she went down, her escort seemed to take it as a worshipful posture. They, too, bowed and worshipped the sacred mountain. When they rose, a brief discussion ensued between Kiran and the leader. Finally, the leader, after glancing at her several times, nodded. Their escort mounted the aquestans once more, turned them, and departed.
“What was that all about?” Tempest asked, watching as they diminished with distance.
“They wanted to wait here for your return. I told them we would not need their escort further.”
Tempest glanced at him. “Wouldn’t it have made things easier if they’d stayed? At least then we could have ridden instead of walking.”
Kiran turned to look at her. “I did not think it wise to chance it. The leader was far too interested in you.”
Tempest’s brows rose. “Really?” she turned to study the retreating Mordunes. She hadn’t noticed. Maybe Kiran was mistaken?
“You regret that he is gone?”
Tempest glanced at him in surprise at his tone, but finally shrugged. “I regret the loss of the aquestans … I think.” She turned to look up at the mountain. There was a steep trail of sorts leading up, or at least something that looked like a trail. She didn’t see any sign of anything that looked like a Temple, though. “How long do you think you’ll be gone?”
Kiran frowned. “We will go together.”
Tempest looked at him in surprise. “I thought you said you had to go alone?”
He glanced away. “I do not trust that they will not return.”
“Oh,” Tempest responded, repressing the urge to smile as it occurred to her that he must be jealous, at least a little, to be so surly about his suspicion that the leader of the Mordunes had been interested in her. “Do you think we can make it all the way up before dark?”
“If we do not linger here.”
Tempest glared at him as he shouldered his pack and strode toward the point where the trail began the climb from the desert. So much for thinking there was any possessiveness in his previous remark. He was all business now. Shrugging, realizing she wasn’t really surprised, Tempest shouldered the water skin and followed him.
Kirry, instead of trailing behind her as she had from the beginning, followed virtually at her heels. Tempest glanced down at the little grat several times uncertainly, wondering if it was really a good thing that the animal was becoming so tame.
It was strange to think the Mordune would consider taming a wild animal as a sign of a deity. As far as she could see, though, that was the only thing it had taken to convince them. Who would’ve thought it?
Kiran hadn’t. She wondered if that meant the Zoeans weren’t as superstitious as the Mordune. Or maybe it was just Kiran? He hadn’t seemed particularly inclined even to look upon her as a woman, much less a goddess, she thought irritably.
She shook her head. It was just so absurd to think of anybody looking upon her as a goddess! Unnerving, too.
The leader of the Mordune had been handsome, not nearly as handsome as Kiran, but very attractive. Under other circumstances, she might have been interested. As it was, she couldn’t get far enough from the Mordune fast enough to suit her. She was just as glad as Kiran to see the last of them, even if she couldn’t help but think it would’ve made his task a lot easier to have the beasts to ride.
She definitely wasn’t cut out to be a goddess! Being around people who thought she was one was probably the scariest experience she’d ever had.
Chapter Ten
Tempest was bored. It had been so long since she’d suffered from that particular malady that it took a while to figure out exactly what the problem was.
Kiran had found a watering hole about three quarters of the way up the sacred mountain and they had set up camp there. He had been distant. She wasn’t certain if it was because he was angry with her still or if it was because he was focused on what he’d come to do, but she didn’t try to slip past the barrier he’d erected. As they settled that night, he’d told her that she would have to remain there until he returned. He had left at dawn the following morning.
Kirry, as it turned out, wasn’t as much company as Tempest had thought she might be. She wasn’t constrained to stay at the campsite and wandered off, leaving Tempest to spend most of the day alone—a good bit of the night, for that matter.
By the third day, Tempest had begun to wonder if something had happened. Kiran hadn’t told her how long he expected to be gone …. Not exactly, anyway, but she hadn’t really believed him when he’d said he might be gone for many days.
What if he didn’t have any vision at all? Would she be stuck here for weeks? Months?
On the morning of the fourth day, Tempest decided she’d had all she could take of sitting around and twiddling her thumbs. Surely it couldn’t hurt to do a little bit of exploring?
It would’ve been easier if she’d known where Kiran would be. Then she wouldn’t risk running in to him.
She decided, though, that she’d just keep an eye out for him and make sure she didn’t bother him. As she neared the top of the mountain, she slowed her steps, trying to move as quietly as possible. She stopped when she caught her first glimpse of the plateau at the top. Coming up on her tiptoes, she surveyed the area as far as she could see. There was no sign of Kiran, but she caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a building cut from the stone in the distance.
She climbed a little higher, searching the area carefully. She was about to move when she heard something, dimly. It sounded like—singing. Chanting maybe? She stopped and looked around the area again.
She saw him then and her heart skipped several beats as she ducked down.
He was standing on the rock above the building she’d seen, his arms outstretched toward the heavens. He was so far away, it took her several moments to realize he wasn’t facing the edge of the cliff he stood on. He had his back to it.
She stayed where she was for some time, watching him, but he was too far away for her to tell what he was doing. She supposed he must be offering up prayers. She could see smoke from a fire and wondered if that had anythi
ng to do with his ritual. It was cool so far up, but didn’t seem cold enough that he would feel that he needed a fire.
Of course, he was much further up than her. Maybe it was colder up there?
He left the edge of the cliff after a while, disappearing from her view.
She frowned, waiting, but he didn’t reappear. Easing up a little further, she looked around the plateau. There were boulders, naturally, but it was surprisingly flat and even and she began to study the rock curiously.
She realized after she’d studied it more closely that it wasn’t a natural plateau. The top of the mountain had been flattened.
When she judged that an hour had passed and he still hadn’t reappeared, she climbed to the end of the trail and began to wander around the summit, pausing now and then to glance toward the cliff where she’d last seen Kiran, stopping to examine the rocks more closely.
The plateau, she finally decided, had been cut away with precision. The stones were all as smooth as glass. Time would have worn away rough edges, she knew, but they looked as if they’d been cut with something like a laser. Moreover, the entire area that she’d paced felt absolutely level. No matter which direction she wandered, she could not sense any dips or inclines.
The realization intrigued her. She felt a surge of excitement at the discovery, certain it must mean that she’d been right when she’d considered the possibility that the civilization on the Niahian world had been plunged backwards by some cataclysm, possibly much the same thing that had happened to Earth.
It could mean anything, of course. She really had no idea of how to go about investigating the intriguing possibility. Finally, it occurred to her, however, that there was at least one thing she could check.
Returning to the campsite, she grabbed up the skin of water and made the climb once more. Pausing to make certain Kiran was still nowhere in sight once she gained the top, she hurried over to the center of the plateau and slowly and carefully poured a little water on the stone, watching it. The water formed a tiny pool, spreading only as she added water. She stopped, watching for several moments, but the water remained where she’d poured it.
Finally, satisfied, she moved to another spot, and then another. In all she tried five separate points. She tried pouring directly onto some of the stones, and between others. The water didn’t run at any point.
Pleased with herself, she sat back and looked around. It was flat. It hadn’t just seemed flat. No way was that a natural occurrence, not for such a large area. The whole plateau, as far as she could tell, was dead level.
Setting the water aside, she turned to study the ‘building’ at the far end speculatively, wondering if she could get close enough to examine it without Kiran seeing her.
He would be furious, she knew, if he caught her. She wasn’t worried about his anger so much as his displeasure, however. It distressed her immeasurably, she’d realized, when he disapproved on her. He believed this place was sacred and had forbidden her to come.
She decided to risk it, anyway once she’d convinced herself that she could get away with it without Kiran ever knowing the difference. She could make her way to it along the perimeter of the clearing. There were boulders large enough that she could hide if Kiran reappeared at the summit.
The circuitous route took more than an hour. She stopped every few minutes to look for Kiran, peering from the cover of first one boulder and then another, but finally she was close enough to see that it didn’t just appear to have been cut from the stone, it almost certainly had been.
She was directly beneath the point where she’d last seen Kiran. Unless he stood on the very edge and looked straight down, he wouldn’t be able to see her now, she was certain. She moved away from the boulders and went to stand directly in front of the structure, studying it.
Ten columns were evenly spaced along the front. Above them was a stone roof facade, which seemed to support the top of the cliff. Each column was set upon a plinth, which in turn had been set upon one huge, smooth stone that formed a sort of porch. A tier of three stone steps, which ran the breadth of the structure, led up to the porch from the plateau where she was standing.
After a moment, Tempest climbed the steps, waiting at the top for her eyes to adjust to the deep gloom cast by the top of the structure. As her eyes adjusted, she realized it wasn’t simply deep shadows that made it hard to see the back edge of the porch. It dug deeply into the side of the cliff, perhaps twenty feet. In the shadowy interior perhaps halfway between the steps and the smooth wall that backed it, a misshapen mass rose from the shadows.
She moved toward it, and as she did, the shape became more apparent. It was a statue, she realized, moving closer and peering up at it. Her heart skipped a beat as her eyes adjusted enough that she could see it more clearly.
It looked like a statue of her.
Startled, she took a step back, wondering if her eyes were playing tricks on her.
She almost chuckled when she realized she’d let her imagination get the best of her. The statue was most certainly of a woman, but it could have been modeled after anyone. It looked like her because she was wearing the exact garments the statue was wearing.
Obviously, this was a sacred place to both the Mordune, and the Zoeans. The Mordune had reproduced the garments of their ‘goddess’ and, apparently believing she was the physical manifestation of their goddess, dressed her accordingly.
There was a plaque near the base of the statue. Tempest crouched, studying the strange writing, but, naturally enough the writing was completely unfamiliar to her. If the Mordune and the Zoeans even had a written language now she would be surprised. It might have been written by the ancestors of either, or another tribe altogether.
She moved back a little to study the statue again. The woman was holding what appeared to be a model of Niah in the palm of one hand. A faint smile curled her lips, the sort of loving, indulgent smile a mother might bestow upon a child.
The woman’s features looked disturbingly similar to her own.
Tempest shivered and turned to glance behind her. The plateau looked almost blindingly bright now that she’d been standing in the shadows for so long. She was relieved, though, to see that she hadn’t been too preoccupied with her discoveries to lose track of time. She must have several hours left before dark.
She had to wait for her vision to adjust again when she turned away from the bright light to study the statue once more.
She could see where the Mordune, and possibly the Zoeans, had come up with the idea of their goddess. To anyone who had no idea what the statue represented, it did appear almost god-like, and the world in the palm of its hand ....
She wondered what it had been originally intended to represent. The structure itself indicated an advanced civilization, as did the plateau. It was possible the statue had only been added for the sake of beauty. Or, maybe it meant something like a global government? Trade center?
It was unfortunate she couldn’t read the plaque. She shrugged. It might be nothing more than the title of the piece or the name of the artist.
She stared at the darkness beyond, wishing she had some way to produce light. Even if it was possible to get inside, she doubted very much that she would be able to do anything but stumble around in darkness. Finally, she decided to at least examine the wall and moved around the statue. As she did, something at the statue’s ‘feet’ caught her eye and she stopped abruptly, staring at it disbelievingly.
A grat, carved of stone, in the ‘attack’ stance of the beast, had been placed at the feet of the ‘goddess’.
She looked up at the statue again, feeling coldness wash over her.
She stared at it for a good ten minutes, but absolutely no explanation came to mind.
Finally, she dismissed it. Unless she just happened to stumble across a book, written in the language of her own world, it wasn’t likely she would figure out the mystery.
Moving deeper into the shadows beyond the statue, she peered up at the wall. Th
ere were grooves carved into it, blind windows of stone complete with casements, a tremendous double ‘door’ near the center. Disappointment filled her when it occurred to her that it looked like nothing more than one giant carving.
She stopped, looking around again, wondering why anyone would build something so huge, and so elaborate, only for decoration. Maybe it was a monument? But, if so, to what? Commemorating the end of a war? Unity?
Maybe the plateau had once been the site of a city, or government center? If that was the case, though, surely there would have been ruins? She’d seen nothing but untouched rock around the edges of the plateau. Surely, even if the Niahians had carried off stones for one reason or another, perhaps to use for something they were building, there would be some traces left of other buildings?
She hadn’t really been looking for such things, she realized.
She decided, once she’d thoroughly examined the structure, she would explore the plateau more carefully.
There were more words carved in the header above the door, she saw. She moved closer, peering at them. Abruptly, a faint tremor went through the stone beneath her feet. Tempest’s heart jerked to a halt. She stopped, looking around a little wildly, wondering if the structure was about to collapse on top of her. The telltale scrape of stone against stone sent a jagged bolt of fear down her spine, made the hair on her neck stand on end. She whirled toward the sound, feeling her knees go weak.
The ‘doors’ were moving. Unable to command her feet to move in any direction, Tempest stared in horror as they moved slowly toward her, her heart hammering so hard in her chest she expected it to burst at any moment.
When they stopped, exposing a black hole, Tempest merely stared at it for some moments, too shocked even to think. Slowly, the terror subsided as her gaze flitted over the opening, studied the doors. A laugh that was part relief, part pure hysteria, erupted, and she clapped a hand to her mouth.
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