James hops down onto the steps and holds the trapdoor open while the young man hops down beside him. Together they lower the trapdoor and are plunged into darkness. James has an urge to create an orb, but resists it. The last thing he wants to do is to let whoever is down here know what he’s capable of. Keeping that information secret has proved beneficial on several different occasions.
Once the sound of the young man moving down the steps comes to him, he slowly follows. Step by step, he descends ten steps before coming to a narrow passage. Keeping a hand on one wall as a guide, he walks forward, all the while allowing the sound of the young man’s footsteps to lead him.
“Where…?” he begins when the young man’s voice says cuts him off with “Keep quiet!” So keeping quiet, he continues to follow him. At one point, the passage they are in makes a sharp turn to the right. James didn’t realize it quickly enough and wound up stubbing his toe on the wall in front of him.
“Shhh!” the young man whispers when James began cursing his throbbing toe.
After that, he kept one hand out in front of him as well as the one to the side. A good thing he did for it saved his toes another stubbing when the passage abruptly curved back to the left. A faint light can now be seen coming from further down this new passage. It steadily grows brighter as they move toward it until James recognizes that the light is making its way through the cracks around a door.
He quickens his pace when he sees the young man is already at the doorway. Light floods the passage as the door is opened and he has to squint for a few seconds until his eyes get readjusted to the light. Moving out of the passage, James enters what appears to be an ordinary cellar beneath some building.
Two other men are in the room, both dressed as slaves. One of them is the same slave as Scar and Potbelly had nabbed keeping an eye on them in the hallway outside their room.
“Go on in,” the slave says to the young man.
Without a word, the young man steps toward the opening on the far side of the cellar. An archway separates the room they are in with the one lying on the far side. Many candles are lit within the next room and as James passes through the archway, he sees a middle aged man lying on a series of cushions upon a rug on the floor.
“I brought him,” the young man says to the other.
“Leave us,” the man on the cushions says.
Bowing to him, the young man backs out through the archway.
Indicating a cushion sitting on the floor near him, the man says, “Please be seated.”
“Thank you,” replies James. Moving to the cushion, he settles down on top of it.
“It’s not often I have guests here,” the man tells him. Lifting up a plate bearing slightly squishy sliced fruit that’s turning brown, he offers it to James.
Really not wanting any of the old fruit, yet not wishing to offend his host, he takes one. Placing it in his mouth, he chews it and can taste the slight rancidity of spoiled fruit. “Thank you,” he says as he tries to swallow without spewing it back up again.
The man smiles and nods. “A pleasure to meet one such as you,” he says.
James arcs an eye questioningly at him. “Oh, I know who you are,” he explains. “James I believe your name is. And a mage of some power.”
James eyes him suspiciously and remains silent.
“Oh you needn’t try to hide the fact,” he says. “But who you are doesn’t really matter now does it? You wanted some information I believe?”
“Who are you?” James asks.
“Ah, that is a question many would like to know,” he replies. “Suffice it to say that I am the Slavemaster.”
“Slavemaster?” asks James.
“More of a title than a profession really,” he says.
“I see,” says James.
Without expanding any further on who he is, the Slavemaster says, “I understand you are planning on entering the temple here in Zixtyn.”
“That’s right,” he says. James is more at ease now. Seeing as how the man knows him and has yet to either dispatch him or turn him in, he doesn’t feel there is any immediate threat.
“Why?” the Slavemaster asks. “You’ll have to pardon my curiosity, but you are the first person I’ve ever met who actually wanted to go into one. Other than Dmon-Li’s priesthood that is.”
James gazes at the Slavemaster and gauges just how much to tell him. “Can you help us gain entry?” he asks.
“Possibly,” he replies. “You see, I’m the only one that I know of who was ever a slave within the temple and escaped. But that was some time ago, when I was a younger man.”
“The one here in Zixtyn?” James asks hopefully.
The Slavemaster shrugs, obviously unwilling to give him that much information about himself. “So why do you wish to gain entry into the temple here in Zixtyn? I assure you, what you tell me will not find its way out of here.”
Deciding to trust to fate, he says, “A friend has been taken to Ith-Zirul. We know there’s a way that the temples, or at least some of them, are connected through magical transportation devices.”
The Slavemaster shakes his head, “Friend, what you plan is nothing short of folly.”
“Be that as it may, that is what we plan to do,” he insists. “Can you help us?”
“Even should you gain the temple and reach the transportation device, you wouldn’t be able to use it,” he asserts.
“Then you know of it?” asks James hopefully.
“Yes,” he says. “I know of it.”
“Can you tell me how it works?” he asks.
“You mean to tell me that you planned to break into the temple and didn’t even know how it worked?” he asks incredulously.
“I have an idea,” replies James defensively.
“You need more than that if you expect to get to Ith-Zirul,” the Slavemaster tells him. “They won’t work for just anyone, you need a key.”
“I have one of those already,” explains James.
“Oh?” he asks. “How would you have gained such an item?”
James then gives him a very brief rundown of finding the medallion in the temple outside of Kern. “I know it activates the dais,” he states. “I’m just not sure how to make it take me to where I want it to.”
“Fascinating,” the Slavemaster says after several seconds of digesting what James had told him. “As to how to make it work, I don’t know that part of it.” When James gets a disappointed look, he raises his hand and says, “That’s not to say what I do know won’t help.”
“Such as?” prompts James.
“You see, each of these keys is set to take you to two different places on their own,” he explains. “I’m sure there’s a way in which to have them take you to specific temples, but I have never been privy to that information.”
“Now, if you are in the home temple of the key, which in this case would be the temple near Kern where you found it, then the teleportation dais will take you automatically to Ith-Zirul. And if you are at Ith-Zirul it will return you to the key’s home temple.”
“But what if you are at another temple?” he asks.
“I believe it will take you automatically to Ith-Zirul,” he says. “And then from there would return you to the key’s home temple.”
James remains silent after the Slavemaster finishes speaking. He remembers the time under the sand at Baerustin when during their fight, he and Jiron had stumbled upon the teleportation dais there and ended up at another place. That other place was cold and had strange little creatures with claws sharper than razors. He recalls the voice in his head that said, ‘You have come, mage.’ They must have been in the High Temple! Only they didn’t realize it at the time. When he and Jiron had fled the place and returned to the dais, it had taken them to the temple near Kern. It all makes sense now.
“Now all there is to do is for us to reach the dais within the temple here in Zixtyn,” James says.
The Slavemaster nods. “That won’t be as easy as you think,�
� he says. “For one thing, the dais is in a secret room in the lowest level of the temple. None but those in the inner circle are allowed there. It’s unlikely you would reach it before being discovered.”
“Could you give me some idea the best way to get to it?” James asks. “Despite the risks we must make the attempt.”
“Yes,” he says. “I can have a diagram made for you that would show the quickest route to the room you have to reach.”
“That would be great,” James says.
“You might wish to make the attempt two nights from now however,” the Slavemaster says.
James looks at him curiously. “Why?”
“In two nights is the dark of the moon,” he explains. “Every temple performs special rites to Dmon-Li when the moon is black. It’s considered holy to them.”
“Killian’s shroud blinds the giant’s eye,” he murmurs.
The Slavemaster hears him and nods. “Yes that’s what some call that time of the month.” When he sees that James is lost in thought, he adds, “The priests will all be in attendance in the sanctum before the altar. However that’s not to say the halls of the temple will be empty. They have over a score of temple guards that will be roaming the grounds, even within the temple itself. You’ll have to somehow get through them without alerting the rest of the temple to your presence. I’ve heard stories of your prowess, but I doubt even you would prevail against a temple’s worth of priests all working in conjunction to kill you.”
“Probably not,” agrees James.
Just then, the young man enters through the archway and whispers something in the Slavemaster’s ear. Nodding the Slavemaster says something to the young man who then leaves the room. “Seems your friends have followed you,” he says.
“Did they?” James asks innocently.
The Slavemaster isn’t fooled. “Don’t worry,” he says. “They’ve been taken care of.”
“What does that mean?” asks James.
“They won’t be bothering us here,” replies the Slavemaster.
“What did you do to them?” demands James.
“Oh, nothing harmful I assure you,” he says.
James meets his gaze for a moment and then gets to his feet. “I should be going now,” he says.
“As you will,” says the Slavemaster. “I’ll have someone drop by sometime tomorrow with a diagram I’ll draw up to help you reach the teleportation dais.”
“Thank you,” he says. Now worried about what may have happened to his friends, James wants nothing more than to get out of there.
The young man makes his appearance and the Slavemaster says to him, “Escort him back out.”
Giving the Slavemaster a slight bow, the young man turns to James and says, “If you’ll follow me?”
James gives the Slavemaster a brief bow then turns to follow the young man from the room. They leave through the same doorway and are again in the darkened passage. They proceed for a ways then James feels the young man’s hand on his shoulder as he directs him to stop and enter a narrow opening. It’s on the opposite side of the passage than the one he trailed his hand along on the way in.
Moving through this new passage which is barely wide enough to accommodate them, they continue for a ways until the passage turns to the right. Then the young man takes him another hundred paces and brings him to a stop.
“Give me your hand,” the young man says.
James holds out his hand and feels the young man take it. Moving it to the side of the passage, he places James’ hand in a recess in the wall. “You must climb this until you get to the top,” the young man says. “There you’ll find a small wooden panel to your left. Push it open and crawl through.”
“What’s on the other side?” James asks.
“A chandler’s shop,” is the reply. “The shopkeeper has already left for the day. Do not touch anything and be careful when you leave not to let anyone see you.”
“Aren’t you coming with me?” he asks.
“No, you go by yourself from here,” he says. “Good luck.”
“Thanks,” replies James. Then he hears the footsteps of the young man moving away in the dark.
Turning back to the wall, he feels around and finds a series of recesses moving from the floor up the wall. Putting his hands in the ones at eye and chest level, he then finds two for his feet. Then very carefully, he lifts one of his hands above his head and feels around until he finds the next one. One by one, he slowly makes his way up the wall in the dark.
After what seems like twenty or more different recesses have taken him over ten feet from the floor of the passage beneath him, his hand touches the stone ceiling above him. Feeling around he realizes that he’s come as far up the wall as he can. Searching to his left, he finds the small wooden panel of which the young man told him. Pressing it outward, he feels it give. Pushing harder, he swings it wide. A small amount of light comes through from the other side.
The light reveals that the opening is going to be a tight squeeze for him. He then moves toward it and reaches a hand in and begins working his body through to the other side. Though it’s small, he manages to wriggle through and comes out beneath a table and finds himself on the floor of the chandler’s shop.
Turning back to the opening, he discovers the outside of the wooden panel has stone attached to it. When he swings the panel closed, it blends in perfectly with the stone of the wall. He then comes out from under the table and scans the shop for the way out. The door opening onto the street is to his right and he makes his way to it. Looking out, he sees the street passing in front of the shop still has people upon it. With it still being an hour until sundown, he’s sure to be spotted quickly if he were to leave that way.
He makes his way through the shop and finds the back door. Opening it slowly, he discovers an alley running behind the shop. He peers out cautiously only to find there’s no one in the vicinity. James then exits the building quickly and shuts the door behind him.
Once out in the alley, he turns down to the right and hurries to the end. Then, walking like he has a purpose, he enters the street and tries to figure out how to get back to the inn.
Chapter Thirty Six
“He’s not in there.”
Jiron quickly turns around from where he’s been watching the guards outside the narrow alley that James and the young man disappeared into some time ago. He and the others had followed them to here, but after James and the slave had passed into the alley, these guards showed up and have been hanging around the entrance to the alley ever since.
When he turns around, you could imagine his surprise when he finds the slave who escorted James into the alley standing there. “What did you say?” he asks.
“Your friend isn’t in there anymore,” the young man replies. “He’s probably back at the inn by now.” He gives them a grin and then makes to move onto the street.
Jiron grabs him by the arm and stops him.
“Take your hand off me or I will scream,” the young man says.
Removing his arm, Jiron asks, “Is he okay?”
“Yes,” he replies. “You really should get back there to him.”
“Why?” asks Miko.
The young man doesn’t reply, instead he steps quickly and is soon out on the street among the people passing by.
“Let’s go,” Jiron says. “Something’s up and we need to get back there fast.” With a last glance to the guards before the alley, he moves out onto the street. Beside him walks Reilin and together they lead the others back to the inn.
Jiron is cursing in his mind the decision of James to go with the young man. He knew there was going to be trouble. Setting a brisk pace, they work their way through the early evening crowd on the street and eventually the inn appears ahead of them.
As they move to the front door, they see James in his loincloth moving toward them from down the street. “What happened?” asks James and Jiron of each other at the same time when they come together.
They
both pause a moment then James asks, “Is everyone alright?”
Jiron nods then begins to ask him a question in turn when Brother Willim steps forward and says, “Maybe we should discuss this inside?”
Glancing around them, they can see they have begun to draw the attention of the other people passing on the street. After all, they are a large group standing in the middle of the road.
Nodding to the inn James says, “When I tried to go up to my room, they kicked me out. I don’t know what they were saying, but it definitely wasn’t nice.”
“Could’ve been they didn’t recognize you,” suggests Stig.
James glances to him and says sarcastically, “You think so?”
“Shouldn’t be a problem now,” Shorty says. “Not with us here.”
“Hope you’re right,” replies James. He then indicates for Reilin to take the lead.
Moving to the inn, they pass through the front door and make a beeline for the stairs leading to their rooms. James sees one of the workers who had kicked him out take note of his presence. Their eyes lock for moment but the worker fails to make any move toward him.
Once at the top of the stairs, they go down to the room where they left Aleya and Aku. When Jiron cracks the door open, he finds them both lying on the bed asleep. Aleya has her arms around the boy. It’s such a tranquil picture that he closes the door and takes the others down to the next room so as not to disturb them.
After they are all in the room with the door closed, James fills them in on his meeting with the Slavemaster. When he gets to the end where the Slavemaster said that Jiron and the others won’t be bothering them, Jiron suggests that he probably meant the guards who had blocked the alley entrance.
“It’s a good thing they did too,” James tells them. “There’s no way you could have followed me through that courtyard where they were loading the wagons. You would have been seen for sure.”
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