The Battle for Sanctuary: The Titan's Legacy: Vol: 2 (Volume 2) (29 page)

“
So,
I'm guessing that it was Richard who fixed me up?” Dominic
asked.

“
Yeah,
he was amazing, Dom,” Jason replied enthusiastically. “He
sat beside you for an hour trying to heal you up.”

Dominic looked intently at Richard, who reddened a bit.
“Thank you, Rich,” Dominic said earnestly. “I owe
you my life. I'll never forget that. Ever.”

Richard shook his head vehemently. “You did most
of the work yourself, Dom. I just aimed your energies to where they
would do the most good.”

“
Yeah.
Well then, I thank you for having a great aim,” Dom said with a
broad grin.

Everyone laughed, including Richard.

“
Now,”
he said. “About that plug of rock in the doorway?”

“
Oh
right,” Maria answered. “It was Justin's doing. We had a
um, visit from some friends of Dominic's.” At Dom's confused
look, she added “The long skinny ones with scales?”

“
Snakes?”
he gasped. Maria nodded. “Damn it, they followed me!”

“
Not
to worry, Dom. They're gone,” Justin told him. “So relax,
you two, and get your strength back.”

Once Dominic and Richard had eaten and rested a bit,
Justin decided that it was time to find out what had gone wrong.

“
So,
Dominic...” he began, but Dom cut him off.

“
I
know what you're going to ask, Justin. What happened and how did I
get bitten.” He took a deep breath and drank a bit of water.
“Okay,” he continued. “This is how it went.”

Dominic sat back on his heels, then he dipped his
forefinger into his water flask and began drawing lines on the stone
floor. “Okay, so this circle is this room. The hallway outside
turns left and right. I checked the right hand hall first. It splits
at a t-junction but the hallway simply turns four corners and meets
itself. However, here in the farthest part of the corridor is a
room.” He drew a line square off of the hallway. “It's a
lot bigger than this place. I think we should move there first chance
we get.”

“
Why?”
Maria asked curiously.

Dominic grinned. “Well, for one thing, it doesn't
have big hole in the middle of the floor leading to a four hundred
foot drop.”

“
Good
point,” Aaron murmured. The others nodded.

“
Also,
it has a door.” Dom glanced at the plug in the doorway again.
“A door that locks. And finally there are several smaller rooms
inside the big one; maybe sleeping quarters once, but they aren't
used anymore. And,” he grin widened, “there's a small
fountain in the far corner of the room...that's still working! The
water's fresh and clean too.”

There was a general cheer at this news. All of them were
pretty dirty and gritty from their escape from the desert below. And
their water flasks would need to be refilled soon.

“
Excellent
news, Dominic!” Justin said with approval. The others
concurred.

And then Dominic became more serious. “Well, that
was the good news. Now for the rest.” He wet his finger again.
“The left turn out of this room leads to another t-junction.
The right turn goes down a long way but then just stops. Maybe they
were planning on building something later. Dunno. But it's a dead
end. To the left is where the action is.”

He kept drawing and a map began to take shape in front
of them.

“
If
you follow the corridor in that direction, there are a bunch of small
rooms. None occupied, none being used, as far as I can tell. And
then,” he started to draw a series of crescents, each one
bigger than the last, wider than they were tall; each one next to the
last. “Then we have the main level.” He looked directly
at Justin.

“
It's
huge, Justin. And it's not like anything we've been in before.”

“
In
what way, Dom?” Justin asked.

“
Well,
for one thing, the ceiling is hundreds of feet high, like the others
we've seen, but it's raw stone, not smooth and sealed like the rest.
There are huge pillars, also of natural stone, that seem to be
reinforcing the ceiling, helping to hold it up. And the lights aren't
on the ceiling. Instead they are scattered around on the walls and on
small posts, just like the lamp posts you'd see in a city or town.”
He glanced at the others. “And it's sort of set up like a small
town too.”

“
A
town?” Maria sounded puzzled. “You mean with houses and
stores and all that?”

Dominic shook his head. “No, no. Nothing like
that. I mean, it has like little streets, or wide paths. That's where
these lamp posts are, lighting the way down these paths. And these
here,” he pointed at the crescents on the map, “are
raised terraces. Each one has a central fountain surrounded by
gardens full of small trees and flowers.” He looked away for a
moment. “It would be beautiful if it wasn't for the snakes.”
He stopped talking and seemed lost in his unpleasant thoughts.

“
Um,
Dominic?” Justin said loudly, to get his attention. “Yeah,
about the snakes?”

“
Oh
right, yeah. The damned snakes.” Dom sighed. “I was doing
really well, you know. There don't seem to be a lot of these gorgons
around. Maybe there never were; maybe they're dying out. No idea. But
I counted no more than twenty in all. All different colors, some with
green or yellow bands of color in their skins; one was pure black,
evil color and all of them just sort of slithering around, stopping
to chat with each other, tending the gardens, all that.” He
looked at Justin. “Sorry, but there was no pattern to their
movements that I could see, Justin. They each have a small sort of
house along the edge of the town. They seem to disappear in them
occasionally, maybe to eat or sleep. Not sure.” He hesitated
for a moment, then hurried on.

“
At
the top of the terraces, here,” he pointed to it on his map,
“is a round enclosure. I managed to dodge some of the gorgons
and get another peek inside.” Now he swallowed, looking a bit
sick. “That's where I saw the body the first time, Justin. This
time, I took a good look. And there's more that just the dead woman
in there. There were animal carcasses in there as well, but I
couldn't tell what they were. They must get them from some other
level. Maybe they have a herd of cattle somewhere. I don't know. But
it was a slaughterhouse. Blood all over the floor, leading from the
bodies into drains in the middle, heaps of skins that looked like
they came from cows, piles of bones. It really was like something out
of a nightmare.”

Everyone looked shaken and Julia and Yolanda looked like
they might be sick. Justin hurriedly asked a question.

“
Dominic,
you said they stopped to chat with each other. We never saw under
Ghelena's veil. So what did they look like?”

“
Oh,
sorry. I should have mentioned it. They were all veiled as well. I
guess they enjoy wearing them for fashion or something, because each
one was different. Some were embroidered with gold or silver thread
with intricate patterns on them. Some veils were red, some blue, all
different colors. But all of them have that long blonde hair flowing
way down below their shoulders. And all of them have the snakes.”
Dominic shuddered with revulsion.

Maria looked at him curiously. “What do you mean,
all of them have snakes?”

“
I
mean they wear them, like clothes, or carry them as pets, I don't
know. But they crawl on them, under their robes, on their arms, but
mostly they're in their hair, sticking up and hissing or crawling in
and out. Disgusting!”

“
Wow,”
Justin said thoughtfully. “I wonder if that's why mythology
described gorgons as having snakes instead of hair, because of these
pets?”

“
Don't
really care, Justin,” Dominic said emphatically. “I just
know that they're gross. So, to finish my story on a down note; when
I had really checked out that central chamber, and managed not to
puke, I decided to head back. I kept in the shadows and none of the
snake ladies saw me. But as I was leaving the area, I slipped under a
small tree and brushed against one of the branches. And guess what
was hanging there having a little nap?”

“
Ugh,”
Richard said. “So that's how you got bit.”

Dominic sighed heavily. “That's right, Rich. And I
had almost made it back to the hallway leading out of there too.
Anyway, I shook off the snake and managed to slip into the shadows
again. Don't remember much after that, but I made it back and
obviously the snake and some friends managed to find me.”

Justin shook his head. “Not quite, Dominic. They
followed your path somehow, true. My guess is by scent. But they
passed by the room here and left eventually, so we should be safe
now. Like I said earlier; they are only snakes after all.”

Dominic stared at him a moment, then reached out and
slapped his shoulder.

“
Thanks
Justin,” he said, sounding more cheerful. “I lost sight
of that for a moment. They are just cold-blooded reptiles. The brains
are the gorgons and I'm pretty sure none of them saw me or knew I was
there.”

“
Exactly
my point, Dom,” Justin agreed.

“
Well,
now that we know what happened to Dominic, and that he and Richard
seem to be okay, I suggest that we should get some sleep.”
Maria stood up and stretched. “But that room that Dom mentioned
sounds a lot more comfortable than this place, and personally I'm
constantly afraid that I'm going to fall asleep and roll over and
through that hole.” She glanced at it for a moment, then turned
and looked at all of them. “If we think it's safe to move?”

“
I
haven't heard at thing for ages, guys,” Jason said from his
post at the door.

“
Okay,”
Justin said and walked over to the blocked doorway. “If we're
agreed, I'll take down the plug.”

Everyone seemed to agree, but Justin could feel their
apprehension. He was nervous as well. Here goes, he thought. This
time, all he had to do was put a hand on the mass of stone and think
about it crumbling back to its original bits and pieces of stones and
pebbles. He opened his eyes in time to see the entire thing fall
apart with a loud crash. The air was full of rock dust and he backed
away, waving his hands and coughing furiously.

“
Well,
the door's open,” he coughed, tears leaking from his eyes.

“
You
don't say, Just,” Aaron said with a grin. He walked toward the
door.

“
Hang
on, Aaron,” Dominic spoke up. “Before we go out there, I
think I should just take a quick scout down the hallway; make sure
it's clear.”

“
You
feel up to it, Dom?” Richard asked with concern in his voice.

“
No
problem, Rich,” he answered. “You do good work.”

“
Okay,
Dominic. Go ahead and check it out.” Maria walked over and
grabbed her pack, looking through its contents. “We'll make
sure we're all packed and ready to go by the time you get back.

He nodded, walked to the shadow under the debris-choked
doorway and faded from sight.

“
Everyone,
get your stuff together. Dom shouldn't be long.”

Justin and the others went through their packs and
checked the area to make sure nothing was left behind. By the time
they were done, Dominic had returned and sounded the all clear.

“
Great,
Dom,” Maria said. “Now, can you take us to this room with
the fountain?”

“
For
sure, Maria,” he answered with a grin. “Just follow me.”

The trek to the new room only took a few minutes. They
all walked as quietly as possible, just in case, but there were no
surprises on their move.

When they arrived, Dominic touched a rune to the side of
the door and it slid back to the right. He went in first, took a
quick look and pronounced it safe. The tired teens trouped in, closed
the door behind them and looked around.

The ceiling was about a dozen feet high and lit by rows
of dim, pale lights. The room was ten times the size of the entry
room and the floor was covered by multicolored tiles laid out in
interesting, geometric patterns, though they were caked with dust.
Along both sides of the room were small alcoves with open doorways
leading into them. But what drew cries of pleasure from the entire
group was a fountain that sat near the middle of the far wall, water
cheerfully burbling down three tiers into a wide, bottom pool.