“I’m with you,” agrees Miko.
Leaving the room, they go back to the juncture of corridors, and take the one to their right, leaving only the one across from them unexplored.
The corridor quickly ends at a barren room with a mural of what looks to be a depiction of the swamp and the surrounding area.
James brings the orb closer for a better look and points to a spot, saying, “I think we’re here.” Indicating another area to the south, he says, “This looks like where the cannibals’ village had been.”
He puts his finger on the waterway running near where they are and says, “If we can get out of here, it looks like if we follow this river north, it’ll lead to a lake in the mountains.”
“Do we want to go there?” Jiron asks.
“As good a place as any,” replies James. “Elsewhere would put us in cannibal territory or close to the Empire’s forces, I would imagine.”
“Then let’s get out of here!” insists Miko.
They leave the room and return to the juncture of corridors and turn right. Following the passage, it winds first to the left, then the right. After a long straight section, they come to another closed door, locked of course.
Jiron works at the lock and soon has it open. Within are shelves and shelves of crystals of varying sizes. All are the common crystals that Miko had almost been killed over.
“What would they want with these?” James asks as he picks one up. It’s three inches long and one inch wide, well crafted. He puts it in his belt pouch to examine later.
Further examination of the room reveals nothing of interest. James stands there with a confused look on his face.
“What’s wrong?” asks Jiron.
“I thought for sure that there would be another level beneath this one,” he says.
“Maybe there is,” says Miko. “Could there be a secret door? Like the other ones we’d found?”
Nodding, he says, “You’re right, I don’t know where my mind is.” Suddenly, a bubble forms in front of him and begins floating out of the room.
They follow the bubble as it moves down the corridor. Upon reaching the corridor junction, it floats to the left, back toward the stairs to the upper level. Ten feet before reaching the stairs up, it stops and hovers by a section of wall on their right.
“This is it,” announces James as the bubble disappears.
“Where?” asks Jiron. “I don’t see anything.”
Glancing at him, James says, “That’s the whole point of a secret door.”
Smiling, Jiron replies, “Sorry.”
Turning back to the wall, he begins to examine it but is unable to ascertain how to open it. There are no indentations, no markings, nothing that would indicate a way for it to be opened.
Pausing a moment to consider the situation, he paces back and forth and then an idea hits him. Turning back down the corridor, he shuffles along and turns left back at the junction. The others follow behind him.
Entering the room with the beds and chest, he goes over to the mural on the wall. He runs his fingers over it and smiles when he finds a groove. Using both hands, he pushes upon the dark pool and it sinks a quarter inch into the wall.
“Jiron,” he says, “take the orb and run back to see if anything happened.” Continuing to press upon the pool, he waits while Jiron runs back the way to where the bubble had indicated a secret door.
“A doorway is open!” they can hear from down the corridor.
Releasing the dark pool, James turns and makes his way through the dark to where Jiron waits by the opened secret door.
Even before reaching it, the stench coming from the opening hits him like a hammer.
“Gah!” says Miko. “What’s down there?”
All James can do is shrug as he takes the orb from Jiron and begins to descend down the stairs.
Chapter Six
_________________________
The stench only increases as they descend, making their eyes water and bringing them almost to the point of gagging. The bottom of the stairs comes out in a large cavernous room. From the looks of it, the ones who built this place left the cavern just the way they found it with only minimal alterations.
The prickling increases to an almost painful degree as James reaches the end of the stairs. He pauses a moment before entering the cavern, gasping from the effect the area is having on him. Five feet from the end of the stairs, a dark pool begins, the same as had been depicted in the mural upstairs. The light from the orb doesn’t illuminate far enough for them to see to the other side of the dark water.
“This looks just like the pool you pushed in the mural to open the secret door,” Miko says when he enters the cavern.
James nods his head and replies, “That’s what gave me the idea. When I saw the mural, I figured we’d eventually find this.”
“What is it?” Jiron asks as he approaches it for a closer look.
“Don’t get too close,” James warns him.
Stopping a few feet from the pool, he wrinkles his nose as he turns back and says, “It’s the source of the odor.”
James just nods his head as he gazes around the cavern. Increasing the luminosity of the orb, he’s soon able to see to the other side of the cavern where the pool ends. Mirror black, it sits in the center of the cavern without even a ripple. The light from the orb isn’t reflecting off its surface either, more like it’s being absorbed.
Plunk!
A ripple begins to from in the middle of the pool where a stone had been cast into it. James quickly turns and grabs Miko’s arm as he’s about to throw another one. “Are you crazy?” he shouts at him.
Looking guilty, Miko drops the rock and says, “Sorry.”
“James, look!” Jiron exclaims as he points to the ceiling of the cavern, directly over the pool.
A crystal, enormous in size, hangs suspended several feet from the ceiling. It pulses a soft white light, almost like a heart beating.
“What is it?” Miko asks.
“That,” James explains, “is the source of the magic maintaining the barrier.”
“You sure?” he asks.
“Not entirely, as I didn’t create it,” James replies in exasperation. “But I can’t imagine it being anything else.”
“Now what?” he asks.
Turning to him, he says, “Miko, stop asking me questions. I can’t think of what to do with all of your interruptions.”
“Sorry,” he apologizes.
He begins to move around the dark pool as he tries to consider his next course of action. There’s nothing here but the pool and the crystal.
Coming back to where the others are waiting, he says, “Jiron, do you think you could hit the crystal with a stone?”
“Maybe,” he replies as he bends over and picks up a fair sized rock. “Isn’t this going to be dangerous?”
“I hope not,” he says. “I just want to see what will happen.”
He takes aim and then throws the rock toward the crystal with all his might. They watch as the rock soars upward and then is suddenly deflected away by a barrier when it nears the crystal.
“Thought so,” James says when he sees it being deflected.
“Then why have me do it?” Jiron asks.
“Now I know for sure,” he explains.
He stands there, staring up at the crystal as he considers his next course of action. Then from the corner of his eye, he catches a glimpse of a ripple out near the center of the pool. Turning to Miko he glares at him and says, “Stop throwing rocks in the pool.”
“I didn’t,” denies Miko.
Looking to Jiron, he sees him shaking his head. “Then what…?”
They all turn and look out to the pool. Four separate rippling formations can be seen in the water. “James,” says Miko with fear in his voice, “what’s going on?”
Staring out at the ripples, he replies, “I don’t know.” He gestures for everyone to begin backing toward the stairs as the ripples begin moving in th
eir direction.
“James?” asks Jiron.
“I don’t know!” he replies vehemently, never once removing his eyes from the pool.
They pause a moment at the base of the stairs as they continue watching the ripples approaching the edge of the pool. When the ripples are a mere three feet away from the shore, something begins to emerge from the water.
In growing horror, James watches as a headless torso makes its way out of the water and begins shambling toward them. “Run!” he yells as he turns and shoves them, propelling them up the stairs.
Upon reaching the top of the stairs, he pauses as he looks back down and sees the torso, along with others, reach the base of the stairs. Without pause, the lead torso steps onto the bottom step and begins climbing up after them.
“Up to the surface!” he yells as they turn as one and break into a mad dash for the next set of stairs.
They race up them to the upper level and then run down the corridors to the winding stairs which lead to the courtyard above.
Jiron is the first one to reach the stairs and takes them two at a time, Miko follows close behind. James reaches the stairs and begins to follow them up when Jiron stops suddenly and crouches down near the top. As Miko nears him, he grabs him and pulls him down as well.
“What’s wrong?” James asks as he comes up behind them.
Jiron motions for him to move up and join him at the top of the stairs.
He moves past a shaken Miko and settles down next to Jiron. Outside is dark, night had fallen while they were down below.
“Over there,” Jiron says as he points off to the right.
Looking in the indicated direction, James sees a ghostly apparition moving among the ruins. And then he sees another one. Scanning the entire courtyard he sees a dozen or more ghostly apparitions moving about, both men and women.
“What do we do now?” he asks.
Suddenly from behind them, Miko screams, “James!” as he shoves his way between them.
Looking at the bottom of the stairs, James sees one of the headless torsos from the pool. It steps upon the bottom step as it reaches for Miko.
James lets loose with a blast of power which knocks it back but fails to stop it. Blasting it again, he motions for the others to follow him back down. “If there’s only the initial four we saw coming out of the pool, we’ll have a better chance with them, than out there,” he tells them.
Jiron stands up as his knives appear in his hands. He moves down to meet the headless torso where it’s returning to the bottom of the stairs. Fear and revulsion war within him as he strikes out at it.
His knife strikes it, cleaving a long, deep wound across its chest. To his horror, he watches as the wound rapidly closes itself back up.
“They’re healing themselves,” he shouts back to James as he presses on with the attack.
Three more of the torsos come shuffling toward them from down the hallway. “Get back here!” James hollers to him.
Jiron back peddles as he hurries back toward the stairs, just as James lets loose with another bolt of energy which practically sizzles as it passes through the air.
When it strikes the torso, it’s blasted apart. Pieces fly back down the corridor covering a good six feet with torso chunks.
“Yeah!” hollers Miko.
The other three continue to lurch their way toward them. James is about ready to let loose with another of the bolts when he notices the pieces of the blasted torso begin to work their way toward each other. It’s almost like iron being drawn to a magnet. When two pieces touch, they come together and make one larger piece.
“There’s no way to stop them!” he cries, letting loose with another blast that takes out another one. But as with the first one, the pieces begin to work themselves together.
From behind James, Miko screams as he sees a ghostly apparition at the top of the stairs staring down at him.
James turns and sees the man there, his mouth moving as if he’s trying to say something. The apparition reaches out to try to grab Miko.
Miko screams again and loses his balance. He falls and begins rolling down the stairs, knocking both Jiron and James off their feet.
As James falls, he twists and lands on his back with a thud. The medallion bearing the Star of Morcyth slips out of his shirt.
Suddenly, a bright light erupts from the medallion. The shattered pieces of the torsos begin to smoke and then dissolve into nothingness.
Realizing the effect the light from the medallion is having, he grabs it and holds it up high as the light from the Star fills the corridor with a blinding light. The torsos moving toward them down the corridor begin smoking when the light from the Star touches them. Continuing to shamble toward them, the torsos begin smoking more and more. The corridor begins to fill with a nauseating smoke as they dissolve. When the last piece of the last torso has dissolved into nothingness, the light goes out.
“What did you do?” Jiron asks.
“I didn’t do anything,” James replies, staring in wonder at the Star he holds in his hand. “It happened all on its own.”
Miko looks up to the top of the stairs, but the ghostly apparition is gone.
“Follow me,” James says as he gets up and turns to head back into the complex. As he starts to move, Miko asks hysterically, “What’re you doing?”
“If this worked on the torsos,” he explains, “maybe it’ll work on the pool.”
“Will that get rid of the barrier?” Jiron asks.
Shrugging, James says, “I don’t know. Let’s worry about one thing at a time.”
As they proceed through the levels back down to the pool, they come across several other torsos shambling their way along the corridors. Each time, James holds up the Star and each time it blazes forth with life, returning the torsos to nothingness.
Growing in confidence, James hurries toward the cavern. Upon leaving the stairs and entering the cavern with the pool, he again holds the Star up high. Blazing forth with the most intense light it has yet produced, it infuses the entire cavern with its blinding brilliance. As the light touches the pool, the water begins to writhe backward, as if it was trying to get away from intense light. James walks slowly closer to the edge of the dark water, holding the Star out in front of him.
The water of the pool begins to roil and bubble, steam comes off of it, filling the cavern with its horrid odor. The stench, as bad as it was before is nothing compared to what is coming off of it now. Rot, decay, and death seem to fill the cavern as the steam continues erupting from the pool.
The light from the Star seems to keep the steam at bay, dissolving it as it did the torsos. Jiron and Miko stand shoulder to shoulder with James as the lake continues to hiss and boil wherever the light touches it. The steam soon becomes so thick that it’s as if they’re standing in the middle of a fog bank.
Suddenly, a torso lurches out of the fog and reaches out for them, but quickly dissolves into nothingness when the light from the Star touches it.
The Star continues to work its effect upon the pool, the level slowly dropping as more of it steams and dissolves away.
When the pool is close to being empty, from overhead they hear a high pitched noise which is increasingly growing in volume. Looking up through the fog, they see the crystal begin pulsating wildly. And then suddenly, a shattering crack as the giant crystal overhead explodes into a million shards that rain down over the entire cavern.
With the shattering of the crystal, the resistance from the pool vanishes and the light from the Star quickly destroys the rest. Once every last drop has been eradicated, the light abruptly stops and the cavern is once again plunged into darkness.
They stand in the darkness and James is about to make his orb when lights begin to appear all over the floor of the cavern. Ghostly apparitions begin to take shape.
Miko screams and James holds aloft the Star, but nothing happens. The ghosts all look to him, give him a slight bow and then begin to fade away. After the last gho
st had faded away and the cavern is once more plunged into darkness, James creates his orb.
“What was that?” Jiron asks, referring to the ghosts.
“I think they were the souls of the people who had been sacrificed here long ago,” he reasons. “Though we may never know for sure.”
“Let’s get out of here!” Miko says, not wanting to spend another moment within this cavern.
“See no reason to stay,” agrees James. “I don’t feel anymore magic being worked here, the barrier may be down now.”
“Then what are we waiting for,” exclaims Miko as he shoves past James and moves quickly up the stairs to the level above.
Turning, James follows him up the stairs and they make their way back through the complex to the winding stairs that lead up to the surface. He pauses at the top and cautiously peers out into the courtyard. When no apparitions are apparent he motions for the others to follow him. “Looks like the spirits we saw were the ones who had been up here,” he says.
“I hope so,” Miko exclaims. “I don’t want to stay here any longer.”
“I agree,” Jiron says as he moves to the fore and leads them toward the northern skull pyramid they’d attempted to get around earlier.
They glance over to where the large skull pyramid had stood as they make their way through the courtyard. With the shattering of the crystal, it had collapsed and is now only a jumbled pile of skulls. When they reach the northern pyramid, they find that it too had collapsed, the skulls lying in a heap.
Jiron moves cautiously to where the barrier had been and holds his hand out, just in case. When he gets to where it once had been, his hand continues on through. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief and quickly moves to leave this area.
Hurrying on past, they travel through the swamp for an hour before deciding they’ve put enough distance between them and the ruins. Tired and exhausted they make camp and rest. They take turns keeping watch, and manage to make it through the night with no disturbances.
Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three Page 9
