Trail of the Gods: The Morcyth Saga Book Four (41 page)

Aleya suddenly stands up, draws back her bow
and lets fly an arrow. A soldier further up the hill cries out as
the arrow impales itself in his side. “They’re coming!” she cries
out as she draws back another arrow and lets fly.

Crumph!

The ground further up the hill by the
advancing soldiers erupts, slowing the advance and filling the air
with a great cloud of dust. “Come on!” James cries out as he
extinguishes his orb and then works his way within the pile of
fallen trees. The others follow and Aleya just clears the outer
edge before soldiers begin racing past.

From their hiding spot, they see dozens of
soldiers running past in pursuit. Holding still and remaining
quiet, they pray the soldiers don’t think to look within the pile.
After the last soldier disappears into the forest, they breathe a
collective sigh of relief.

“Let’s give it a minute before we leave,”
whispers Jiron. “Give them a chance to get further away.”

“Good idea,” says James. He sits there in a
most uncomfortable position as they stare out at the forest, trying
to ascertain if anyone is about. Aleya is between him and the
outside, and again something doesn’t seem right.

Her hair is blowing as if in a slight
breeze, but the pile they’re in should block any breeze from
getting to them. He wets his finger and then holds it out to
determine where the breeze is coming from. In amazement he realizes
the breeze is blowing out from the rear of the pile. Which should
be impossible as the rear of the pile is against the side of the
mountain.

His orb springs to life and he looks closely
at the far side of the pile. The stream is originating from there
as well. Moving carefully, he starts working his way further to the
rear of the pile.

“What are you doing?” Jiron asks as soon as
he begins moving.

“Just wait here a sec,” he tells them. “I
want to check something out.” Moving carefully so as not to disturb
the integrity of the pile of trees, he makes his way further toward
the back. After a few minutes of slow moving, his orb finally
illuminates an opening, three feet in diameter, which is the source
of the water. The breeze which had ruffled Aleya’s hair is also
coming from there as well.

Making it to the opening, he holds his orb
to allow the light to shine in and discovers the opening extends
further back into the hill. The entire length his orb illuminates
is a uniform three feet in diameter and the sides looks to have
been bricked to hold their shape.

He goes back to the others and tells them
what he’s found. “It looks like an outflow for an ancient sewer or
maybe for drainage,” he explains. “There’s a breeze coming out of
it as well, so that means there has to be another opening somewhere
deeper within.”

Just then, another force of soldiers can be
heard approaching and they hold still. Fifty soldiers move quickly
down the hill, following the same route as their fellows had
earlier. One of them lifts a horn and blows a staccato before they
move out of sight.

“You sure it’s safe?” asks Aleya.

“No,” replies James. “And it might not lead
anywhere, but it has to be better than being out there right
now.”

“True,” agrees Jiron. He begins moving to
the rear of the pile and says, “I’ll go first.” Coming to the
opening, he takes James’ orb from him and gets on his hands and
knees as he begins crawling in through the opening.

Once his feet have cleared the opening,
James glances to Aleya and says, “Ladies first.”

“Whatever,” she replies as she gets on her
hands and knees to follow Jiron. Positioning her bow and quiver on
her back and out of the way, she enters the opening.

James waits until she’s disappeared into the
tunnel before he too gets down and begins to enter.

“Jiron,” James says after they’ve crawled
for several minutes.

“What?” he hears him reply from further
ahead.

“Why is it, that no matter where we go, we
always seem to be crawling around in some sewer?” he asks.

His laugh echoes back to him. “I don’t know
man,” he replies. “Just lucky I guess.”

After crawling for what seems like half a
mile, he hears Jiron holler, “I’m through!”

“What’s there?” Aleya asks him.

“I’m in a small room with two feet of
water,” he replies. “Might be some kind of drainage system from the
looks of it. A set of rungs lead up about twenty feet to what looks
like it might be another passage.”

James looks down the drainage tube and sees
the back end of Aleya silhouetted by the light from the orb.
Another minute of crawling soon has both he and Aleya standing in
the room with Jiron, both soaking wet.

The room is about fifteen feet square and
slightly taller. Water pours into the room from numerous openings
in all the walls, save the one with the rungs leading up. The water
itself seems fairly clean.

Aleya checks her bow quickly as Jiron begins
ascending the rungs. “Wait here,” he tells them as he climbs up to
the passage above. Upon reaching the top, he peers over the edge
then turns to them waiting below and says, “Looks like it goes down
a ways.”

“Alright,” hollers James, then to Aleya he
says, “After you.”

Finding her bow still to be in good shape
despite having scraped along the narrow passage as she crawled, she
slings it behind her shoulders and grabs one of the rungs. After
she climbs up several feet, James follows.

When James crests the top, he glances down
the long dark passage that Jiron mentioned. At least this one will
enable them to follow it without crawling. Shivering slightly from
the chill in the air, he indicates for Jiron to proceed.

Holding the orb in front of him for light,
he begins moving down the passage. “Wonder what this place used to
be?” he asks.

“Who knows?” replies James. “Could be
anything.” Taking a closer look at the walls, he adds, “Whoever
built this, made it to last a long time. This stone still looks in
good condition.”

“I doubt if anyone’s been down here in a
long time,” pipes up Aleya.

“I agree,” says James.

The passage they’ve been following suddenly
ends at a stone stairway, spiraling up. Without even pausing, Jiron
takes it with the others following close behind.

The stairs circle around twice before ending
at another passage similar to the one below running left and right.
Jiron glances down both ways then turns back to the others. “Can’t
see anything other than corridor either way,” he tells them.

“Take the right,” suggests James.

“Okay,” he replies before stepping out to
the right. Moving quickly, it isn’t far before they come to another
corridor branching off to the left. “Keep on straight,” he hears
James say behind him. Nodding, he continues on past the new
corridor. He shines the light from the orb down it but doesn’t see
anything of note.

A little further down, the corridor opens up
to a square room. It’s a rather bare room, an old tapestry hangs
upon one wall but is so faded and tattered by time that whatever it
once depicted is now lost forever. On the left side of the room
lies the opening of another corridor.

Suddenly, James starts when he sees a pair
of red, glowing eyes stare at him from the other corridor. Then the
eyes disappear and a rat scurries into the room. His overactive
imagination seems to be working in high gear.

Ever since coming here, he’s had a feeling
of foreboding, though he can’t quite say why. He doesn’t sense
anything magical in nature, no tingling or anything like that, just
a feeling of unease, as if this place doesn’t want to be
disturbed.

There’s got to be a way out of here, other
than the way they had come. Jiron crosses the room to the other
corridor and enters. He continues holding the orb in front of him
as he moves down the corridor. The only thing they encounter is the
occasional rat or other small animal which has made this place
their home.

James is somewhat comforted by the fact
living things have made their home here. If there was a malignant
presence here, nothing living would’ve chosen to stay.

They come across another corridor on the
left again but the light once more fails to reveal anything of
interest. “If we fail to find a way out up ahead,” James tells them
as he indicates the passage they’ve been following, “then we’ll
come back and try the passages we passed by.”

“Good idea,” Jiron says as he continues down
the corridor.

James can’t help but think that if this was
an adventure he was running, the players would never have passed up
anything which might’ve held possible treasures. But this is real
life and he just wants to get out of here. The last time they’d
been in a similar situation, Miko had almost been killed by a trap
set to guard a handful of crystals. That’s the last thing they need
right now.

They pass another passage and again, nothing
could be seen when they shine the light from the orb down it.
Thirty more feet and the left side of the passage opens up to a
room, twenty feet wide by forty feet long. Several rotting tables
sit within the room, the chairs which once sat around them now all
but disintegrated.

Pausing a moment to investigate, James has
Jiron bring the light over to one of the tables and he takes a good
look at it. He reaches out his hand to touch it, and when he
touches it, a section of the table breaks off, falling to the floor
where it crumbles apart. “Rotted,” he tells the others. “Looks like
termites or some other sort of insect’s been feeding off this for
centuries, or used to. There’s no sign of them now.”

“This place must have been here for a very
long time,” offers Jiron.

“I would think so too,” agrees James. “I
would also think that it has remained unknown to the locals,
otherwise it would be used by smugglers and thieves if by no
others.”

“Any idea yet who used to be here?” he
asks.

“Not yet, no,” replies James.

“I don’t like the feel of this place,”
announces Aleya from where she stands at the edge of the light.

Glancing at her, James nods and says, “I
feel that way too.” Then to Jiron he adds, “We better get
moving.”

Nodding, Jiron moves out and they return
back to the corridor and continue down to the left. Just after they
leave the long room with the tables, the corridor opens again on a
room of similar dimensions. This time, the length of the room is
ahead of them rather than to the right.

Two small niches on either side of the room
hold busts of men. Upon closer examination, it’s hard to tell from
what nationality they belonged. At the far end of the room, they
find another winding stairway leading up.

Getting a nod from James, Jiron moves to the
stairs and begins climbing. Just after the first turn, they come
across a human skeleton lying spread-eagle on the steps. The
clothes that the man had once worn have long since disintegrated
into rags.

Stepping carefully, Jiron moves past the
dead man and then pauses when a light blossoms to life behind him.
Looking back, he sees James with another orb bending over and
poking through the dead man’s garments with a knife. After just a
moment, he stands up and shakes his head, indicating he didn’t find
anything.

Jiron turns back to the stairs and resumes
the climb up. At the top, they find another room similar to the one
below, only this one doesn’t have niches with busts of men. Several
worn tapestries hang along the sides of the room, the scene
depicted by one can still be somewhat made out.

Most of the scene has long since faded away,
all that is discernable are two men, kneeling before the figure of
a third. The two men are dressed in rags and shackled, what the man
whom they’re kneeling before is wearing or looks like is distorted
by the tapestry’s poor condition.

Jiron looks to James who shrugs. “Weird,” he
says as he indicates for Jiron to continue.

The only way out of the room is a single
corridor running to the left at the far end. They don’t go very far
down before they come across a cave-in. Partially buried under the
rubble, they discover two more human skeletons. The corridor is
completely blocked by the cave-in.

“Poor guys,” they hear Aleya say when she
sees them.

“I wonder what happened here.” Jiron
says.

“So do I,” replies James. “Guess we’ll have
to go back down. Let’s hope there’s another way out.”

“What about secret doors?” Jiron suddenly
asks.

“With the Empire’s forces above us, I don’t
dare try to find any with magic,” he explains. “I doubt if we would
find one otherwise, though you never know.”

With Jiron leading the way, they return down
the stairs to the lower level. Passing back through the room with
the busts, they take the corridor to their right which they have
yet to explore.

As they move down it, they encounter several
more tapestries, all of which are in such bad condition that
whatever they once portrayed has been lost. They don’t walk far
before the light from the orb illuminates a large door set into the
right wall ahead of them.

“Wonder what’s on the other side?” Jiron
asks as he moves toward it.

“I don’t know,” replies James. “But we
better find out.”

Jiron goes up to it and pulls on the handle.
The door moves only slightly before stopping. “I think it’s stuck,”
he replies as he hands the orb to Aleya.

Taking the orb hesitantly, she takes a close
look at it, almost as if she expects it to burn her palm.

“Give me a hand,” Jiron says to James.

Coming over, he grabs the large handle with
Jiron and they both pull with all their might. A loud grinding
sound of rusty hinges fills the corridor as the door slowly works
itself open.