He led them through the narrow alley around the side of the building to a small opening tucked in its side. Jein took the key from Xae and opened the small wooden door before handing it back. Mariah’s head brushed the lintel as she went in behind Xae and the blacksmith, and she realized that Han probably had to duck to get through. The room was certainly not much. A single bed, a trunk, and a small basin and ewer on a table.
“’Fraid the boy’s gonna have to sleep on the floor.” Jein chuckled, pointing to the rush-covered planks. “It’s noisy, but Han’s never minded. At least it’s private. Hard to get that in the city, you know. I used ta have it for my apprentice, but this one lives with his folks nearby, so I started lettin’ it out.”
Mariah paid little attention as the blacksmith told Xae where to get food and fresh water nearby. Her “brother” listened attentively, but her own mind was already back in the castle, wondering if Midelia had found Rose and Jahl yet. Her impatience licked at her, and she was grateful when Jein showed himself out and left them alone.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Cloistered
“Do you know where the temple is?” Mariah asked just after Jein left them alone and the clang of metal on metal started up again.
“Of course. It’s hard to miss.”
“I’d like to go there.”
Xae smirked. “Are you sure? I might never get you out. Remember how you were in Kannuk?”
“Yes, but I’ll be fine,” she replied. She admitted to herself that she had been fascinated by the temple there. Just looking at it had seemed to push all the worries out of her mind, and thinking about it now brought a longing to her soul that she couldn’t quite name. But she promised herself that this time, she wouldn’t let it get to her. It had just been a surprise to her in Kannuk, a little island of pure beauty in a sea of chaos. “I need to leave a message for Tibbot in case he comes here. There may even be a way to send him a message at another temple. He’s probably already been to Kannuk, but there are others.”
They left nothing behind in the little room and departed only minutes after they had arrived. Xae led Mariah down the narrow alley at the back of the blacksmith’s shop and toward the center of the city. When they entered a market and Xae headed toward one of the food stalls, Mariah slapped his arm. “I thought we were going to the temple.”
“We are.” He chuckled. “But it never hurts to fill your stomach, right?”
Mariah shook her head, wondering if he would always think with his stomach first and his head later.
After a few minutes, he handed her a spicy pork pie, and they nibbled as they walked. Well, she nibbled while he inhaled. It was good, though, and she found herself grateful that he had stopped.
True to Xae’s word, before long, a wall of smooth, dark gray stone rose into the pale sky ahead. She recognized the material immediately; it was the same stone the temple in Kannuk had been made of. It didn’t take long for her to see why Xae had said it was hard to miss. They were still a good distance away, but the temple’s circular walls stretched at least three times as high as those of the temple in Kannuk.
When they finally left the narrow road they had been following and spilled out onto the main thoroughfare that circled the temple, she saw that it was much taller and wider at the base than Kannuk’s temple, but it also sported the now-familiar alcoves holding statues of the animal gods all around its circumference.
Outside the dark structure, where she expected to see cultivated gardens, or at least their winter variation, instead, a wooden palisade was erected around the base of the temple, anchored in a muddy mess of what must have once been beautiful flowerbeds.
Xae stopped in his tracks. “What …”
“Shame it is,” a passerby mumbled in response. “But who’s to judge the mind of the king?”
They carefully stepped closer, and Mariah realized that there were papers nailed into the wooden stakes every few feet with the same decree: “Temple Entrance to Citizens Forbidden by Order of the King.”
“I thought the temples were off limits to him. Isn’t that what you said?” Xae asked. “This was open last time …”
When she noticed they were being watched by others nearby, Mariah pulled him away from the wall and began leading him around the outer edge of the road so they could examine it without being so obvious. “Maybe something changed,” she whispered.
She sifted through her memories of Daire and Dennari Denholm, both Keepers of the Temple, but she couldn’t come up with anything that might explain what had changed. Only … Dennari had said that the temples would be protected as long as they did not stand directly against the king. Had they acted against him? Had the temples fallen? If that were true, what of Tibbot? Had he been caught in the middle?
Her heart rate sped, and her breath became shallow. It took all her concentration to bring them back under control. She and Xae continued their circuit of the temple and, on the far side, spotted a small wooden gate. Soldiers stood to either side, guarding the entrance. Xae led Mariah to the mouth of an alley nearby, covered in shadow, where they could observe the gate without being noticed.
“We need to get inside,” Mariah found herself saying. “What if Tibbot has sent messages?”
Yes. The voice pierced her mind. Guard yourself in the temple until you can escape this cursed city. You shouldn’t be here at all.
It was the presence she had felt earlier, the one she had pushed away. Old Cat Eyes. She did not answer him, determined to follow her own path for once. If she listened to him and left the city, Rose and Jahl would be at the mercy of Rothgar forever, something she could not allow.
“Are you sure?” Xae asked, unaware of her internal struggle.
She nodded. “We need to know what’s going on with all of this as well.” She gestured to the palisade. “And find out whether the rest of the temples have been affected.” If they were, the Keepers would be just one more group of people who needed her protection. A part of her wanted to deny them. After all, they had turned Shira’s mother away when she’d needed them, but Mariah knew that not only were the Keepers faithful to the Althamir, but they had helped her in the best way they could. She was still convinced that Daire, with a simple touch, had healed her broken shoulder in Kannuk and allowed her to fly again. “We must help them.”
Mariah! The voice came again, firm and angry, but she steeled herself against it.
Xae stared at her for a long moment, his black eyes all but lost in the shadows. In the end, he nodded, and they waited silently, watching the gate, searching for anything that might give them a clue as to how to get in.
They took turns keeping an eye out, and when Xae took watch, Mariah found a fairly clean spot on the ground and sat, leaning against one of the narrow buildings that flanked the alley and closing her eyes. Old Cat Eyes had finally stopped trying to speak to her sometime during her watch, but she had a feeling he’d be back.
Nonetheless, she decided to rest while she could. It was hard because her mind kept wandering, first to Shira and the others. How far had they gotten on their first day of travel? Then, she thought of Midelia. Had she learned anything about Rose and Jahl? The castle must be a huge place for a creature so small. How long would it take her just to find them? Mariah finally drifted off, thinking of the letter her father had left her, now tucked safely into her tunic pocket, and wondering where he and her mother were.
* * *
Old Cat Eyes was in her dreams. Since she had entered the city, he had been needling her, trying to get her to leave, but this dream was different.
The god in human form didn’t seem to notice her. She was only an observer as he paced the bare, sun-filled stone room, his movements sharp and his jaw tight. He came to attention quickly the moment the door creaked open. He looked younger somehow, although his face still held the ageless quality Mariah had become accustomed to seeing in him.
He had eyes only for the woman who had just entered. His green eyes absorbed every inch of her before he hurried to her, embracing her gently, careful of the swaddled bundle she held to her chest. The woman herself was tall and spare with long, dark hair and was perhaps near the end of her fourth decade. A sparkling white gold coronet adorned her head, and although her clothes were of the finest material, the blue cloth was simple and unadorned. Little gurgling sounds came from the bundle, and Mariah realized that she was holding a baby.
“She is beautiful,” Old Cat Eyes whispered, stroking the infant’s forehead with a finger.
The woman smiled up at him in adoration, but her eyes were filled with tears. “That she is. But I am afraid she is not ours to keep.”
His head snapped up, and his green eyes searched her pale blue ones. “What is it?”
“The Mother came to me as this little one left my body.” Her voice caught on the words. “She must be sent away … and you … you must bow down,” she said, the last words coming out in a choked whisper.
His body suddenly rigid, the god strode away from her. A searing heat and an acrid smell filled Mariah’s nose, as if a pile of stones had been set on fire right in front of her. “I cannot. I will not. You must know that.”
“Then you seal our fate,” the woman replied, looking down at her child. The sadness in the room was palpable. “We will both perish if you cannot lay your pride aside.” Her words were gentle, despite the ruin in them. “Until the Banished One is lifted from obscurity, you must be the king’s faithful servant. It is the only way to protect her, to protect me.”
His responding howl was unearthly, like the roar of a great beast. As the stone cracked beneath her feet and the room began to shudder in response, Mariah jumped as a hand took hold of her shoulder and shook her awake.
* * *
Blinking, Mariah sat against the wall, gasping for breath.
“Are you all right?” Xae crouched before her, still gripping her shoulder.
She nodded, still breathless and shaken from the dream. Concern was evident on the boy’s face, but so was impatience.
“There’s someone at the gate … a Keeper maybe.”
Mariah took Xae’s offered hand and let him pull her up, the dream already fading. She tried to grab at it, but fragments were all that was left. Dusk had begun to fall as Xae pointed toward the palisade gate.
As she focused, she saw two guards engaged in conversation with a dark-skinned woman dressed in white robes and standing just inside the gate. A white scarf covered her head, but long, coarse braids flowed down her shoulders from beneath it. So, the Keepers were still in the temple. Relief flowed through Mariah. It was something at least. A part of her had been worried that the king had imprisoned or executed the Keepers of Glenley.
But this Keeper looked in fine health and in even finer spirits. She carried a basket and smiled at the men, holding it up toward them as she spoke. They nodded to her and accepted the wicker container. A moment later, as both guards stood over the basket, picking at its contents, the Keeper looked up, straight toward the dark alley where Mariah and Xae stood watching. She smiled and pointed a finger to the sky and then to the top of the temple.
Then, she turned back toward the temple and left, and Mariah wondered if she had imagined the whole thing. But the food from the basket that the soldiers were busy eating told her otherwise.
Xae finally turned to her, shaking his head. “Did you see—”
Mariah nodded. “She means us to fly over the fence to the temple.”
“How did she …? But the guards—”
“We should get out of sight,” Mariah interrupted him.
And so they did. Emerging back onto the road while the guards were still distracted, they continued along it until they were back nearly where they had started. Then Xae led them down another alley until they were alone and blanketed in the darkness of the coming night. After a brief check of their surroundings, he said, “Let’s go,” and together, they transformed.
The streets were dark. Mariah followed Xae, pumping her wings as slowly and quietly as she could while still getting lift, as he led them to the top of the nearest building. Far in the distance, the outer walls winked with lanterns at regular intervals atop and along its narrow windows. But here, the black still reigned, and Mariah and Xae took advantage of their obscurity to wing their way to the top of the temple.
Almost as soon as they landed on the round, flat surface, a trap door opened upward, releasing a small flood of lantern light. Mariah danced backward on her talons to avoid getting knocked over. The Keeper they had seen at the gate poked her head up through the door. Relief flooded her features when she saw them, and she greeted the birds with a broad, welcoming smile.
“Come quickly,” she said, and disappeared again, the trap door falling shut behind her.
After sharing a short, surprised look, the two friends transformed and followed the Keeper down into the temple below.
* * *
Mariah went first. Finding an iron ladder below the door, she began to back down. It wasn’t far, and as her boots hit the floor, she heard a voice from below. “Down here, loves.”
She waited for Xae, and as he joined her, she realized they were in a circular room the exact circumference of the temple. It was dark, but a bit of light was coming from below an iron staircase that descended from the far side of the room.
Although she felt a bit anxious following the stranger without even knowing her name, Mariah beckoned Xae to follow.
Less than a dozen feet down, they came to another floor, this one obviously a library of some sort. A few rush lights placed between polished wooden tables provided the light she had seen, and the walls on this floor were covered in bookshelves. Two white-robed Keepers sat bent over books nearby, their backs to the little group. Mariah had never seen more than a few books in one place, so she stood there, awestruck, forgetting their hostess for a moment. A desire to go forward, to examine the tomes, to sit at the tables like the Keepers and get lost in the texts overcame her.
Xae chuckled, putting a hand on her elbow as she started to move forward. “You’ll have to forgive my friend. She’s been a little sheltered.” To Mariah, he muttered. “What did I tell you about the temples?”
Mariah ignored him. Their guide only smiled and beckoned them forward. They descended again and again through the temple, but the other rooms were dark until they finally reached the ground floor, which was well lit although empty of visitors.
Mariah recognized the sanctuary, although this one was laid out in a grand half-circle with a flat wall on one side. The ceilings here were the height of at least three men, and an enormous fountain with a massive statue of the Althamiran gods, this time in only animal form, was the focus point. The benches curled around it so that from any viewpoint, one could sit and watch the fountain, listen to its gentle waters, and ponder the mysteries of the Althamir.
There was another obvious difference in the statue itself. “The Dragon,” Mariah breathed. From her vantage point, she could see the great wings of his animal form rising behind him and curling around the shoulders of the others—the Bear, the Fox, the Stag, and other, smaller creatures.
Xae opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by their guide.
“Just a little bit further,” the as-yet-unnamed Keeper intoned, urging them forward, out of the sanctuary to the hallway beyond, where they descended yet another staircase.
But this time, instead of arriving in another circular room, Mariah found herself in a low-ceilinged, rectangular chamber. It seemed to be a common area of sorts and reminded Mariah of the Sovereign council chamber. Rugs covered the stone floor, and stuffed chairs and wooden tables were scattered about. They were not alone this time. Keepers of all ages in their white robes filled the room, talking with one another and with others in the typical clothes of Gle
nley’s citizens. Thinking of Rose, Mariah wondered if those not in white robes were apprentices. Or were they merely visitors who had somehow managed to get in as they had? Were they Ceo San? Mariah realized with a start that every single one of them was female, as were the Keepers. That made Xae the only male present, and his light blush told Mariah that he had noticed as well.
Many of the room’s occupants looked up as they entered, eyeing the trio curiously. Their guide only nodded to the others and then led Mariah and Xae off down another hallway. A series of wooden doors led off the corridor, and Mariah wondered if they led to the living quarters of the Keepers.
At the end of the long passage, their guide unlocked a polished wooden door and led them into an office of sorts. A dark, polished table that appeared to serve as a desk took up one side of the room, while a spare sofa and several wooden stools around a modest hearth took up the other.
As she shut the door, the Keeper finally spoke again, her tone, like her smile, warm and friendly. “Thank you, Ceo San, for honoring us with your presence. My name is Damaris Denholm, and I oversee this temple. We’ve been waiting for you.”
Before she could respond, a wiry man with orange-streaked white hair emerged through a small door that Mariah hadn’t noticed before.
“Tibbot!” Mariah cried, this time unable to keep herself from throwing her arms around him. “I can’t believe you’re here!”
“Yes, well …” His voice was muffled in her shoulder. “It seemed the place to be.”
She stepped back, smiling at him. “I have so much to tell you.”
“And I you. I see you’ve brought someone along.”
Mariah turned back to Xae and Damaris. “Yes, this is Xae. Xae’s sisters were the children we were trying to free when I ended up in the dungeon with you.”
Xae’s eyes were curious as well. She had told him about Tibbot, but they had never met.
Revelation of the Dragon Page 27
