Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three (11 page)

Shrugging, James says, “Not really sure. I’m
hoping to find something or some way to turn off the barrier so we
can get out of here. This place gives me the creeps.” And the
constant prickling of magic has become decidedly annoying.

“What’s in that other room?” Miko asks,
indicating the doorway they haven’t gone through yet.

“Let’s see,” he says as he moves in that
direction.

A solid wooden door stands open and they
pass through into another room, this one having shelves of books
upon them. When James touches one, it crumbles into dust.

“Must’ve been here a long time,” Jiron says
when he sees the book crumble.

“Perhaps,” James says, “or it could be the
result of being exposed to magic for a long time.” He turns to
Jiron and admits, “I’m not sure.”

Not finding anything of use here, they
return past the ‘boardroom’ and hurry along the hallway until they
come to the intersecting corridors. Continuing straight this time,
they follow the section they haven’t been in yet.

Forty feet down, they come to a door on the
left while the corridor continues past. James tries the door but it
doesn’t open. He turns to Jiron and says, “Locked.”

Moving out of the way, he watches as Jiron
comes and inspects the lock. Pulling out a knife, he sticks the
point within the lock as he begins manipulating the locking
mechanism. Suddenly, a ‘click’ can be heard and he swings the door
open.

On the other side is a flight of stairs
leading down. He starts to move down them when James stops him.
“Let’s continue with the search of this floor first before we
continue down,” he says.

Knowing James to be the expert here, he nods
his head as he follows James further down the corridor.

Another fifteen feet and the corridor turns
to the right and the prickling sensation begins to grow. James
slows his speed as he moves cautiously closer.

“What?” asks Miko when he sees him slow.

“I feel magic ahead,” he whispers back to
them.

“Bad?” Miko asks fearfully.

Shrugging, he replies, “Don’t know.” A
little further more and the corridor again turns to the right where
it ends after another ten feet. It opens upon another room.

As they move closer to the room, the
prickling becomes more intense, like ants crawling all over his
skin in spiky shoes. When the light from the orb illuminates the
interior of the room, they can see another of the pyramid of
skulls, similar in size to the ones on the perimeter.

James catches his breath for he can almost
see the magic moving upward from this pyramid. “I think we’re under
the main pyramid of skulls that was in the courtyard.”

“What makes you think that?” Jiron asks.

James steps into the room and replies, “I
can feel, almost see, the magic flowing upward from this pyramid.
It would just make sense for the magic to be going up to the other
one.” He turns back to them and adds, “My guess would be that this
is the source of the magic keeping the barrier in place.”

“This pyramid here?” asks Miko.

Shaking his head, he says, “Probably
something further down, I would imagine. Though, who knows?” He
reaches his hand toward the flow of magic and pulls it back
suddenly when his hand begins to burn like he’d stuck it in a
fire.

“Damn!” he curses.

“What?” asks Miko excitedly.

“That burned,” he says as he looks at his
hand but doesn’t see anything out of the ordinary.

“Let’s go back to those stairs leading
down,” Jiron says.

Nodding, James turns and follows him back.
Once at the stairs, he again takes the lead as they proceed down to
the next level.

At the bottom of the stairs, a corridor runs
to the left and right. Pointing down to the right, he says, “My
guess would be another pyramid like the one we just saw lies down
there.” Turning right, he follows the corridor as it turns right
and then after thirty feet, right again. Sure enough, they come to
a room containing another pyramid.

“Why would they have another one here?”
Jiron asks.

“Maybe to help in the flow of magic from its
source below,” he offers. “Won’t be able to fully understand it
until we get there.”

As they turn to head back down the corridor,
Miko asks, “Do you think it’s dark outside yet?”

“If it isn’t, it’s not far off,” guesses
Jiron.

Following the corridor, they return to where
the stairs go back up and then continue on down the corridor in the
other direction. Not very far, they come to a junction of corridors
and James turns to follow the left one.

Twenty feet brings them to another room,
this one larger than any so far. The room looks to have been a
barracks of some sort, six beds are lined up in two rows of three.
The bedding has long since deteriorated and at the foot of each is
a chest.

As Jiron goes over to the chests, James
says, “Be careful, they may be trapped.”

“I realize that,” he replies.

James moves around the room and discovers a
mural painted on the wall. Though faded with time he can still make
it out. Several figures stand around a dark pool, they look to be
executing someone. He takes a closer look at the pool and sees
headless bodies floating within.

Barely perceptible lines are drawn, as if
some invisible force rises from the pool.

Crash!

Turning around suddenly, he looks to see
Jiron removing his foot from a crushed chest. Coming over, he can
see something sparkle from within. Ten gems lie upon the bottom,
Jiron reaches down and scoops them up.

Smiling, he holds one up and says, “Not bad,
these will fetch quite a bit.” Nodding to James, he places them
within his belt pouch.

Seeing the treasure that Jiron had found,
Miko goes and smashes one open too and is disappointed when he
finds his to be empty.

“I thought we were going to be careful,”
reminds James as he stands there next to Jiron.

“Couldn’t get it open,” Jiron explains, “so
I kicked it. I really didn’t figure there to be a trap or anything
bad.”

Shaking his head, James says, “There may
only be one in a group. One on the edge that, once everyone is
lulled into complacency by not finding any in the others, the
would-be robbers will rush headlong into.”

“I don’t really think there’s any reason
to…”

Just then they hear Miko kicking in another
chest when…
Kaboom!

They turn to see Miko sailing through the
air as he smashes into the far wall. Rushing over to him, James can
see one of his feet is smoking slightly as he lies there
unconscious.

Kneeling down next to him, he gently shakes
him, “Miko!” he cries.

Eyes fluttering open, Miko looks at them
standing over him. “What happened?” he asks, dazed and
confused.

“You okay?” Jiron asks.

“I think so,” he says as he starts to sit
up. “Ah!” he says as he reaches back and feels a goose egg sized
knot on the back of his head from where he’d hit the wall.

“Let me see,” James says as he closely
examines it. “It doesn’t look too bad, there’s no bleeding.” Coming
back in front of Miko, he says, “It’ll probably hurt for a
while.”

Turning to Jiron, James is about ready to
say something when Jiron says, “Okay, okay, I understand now.”

“Next time be careful, someone could’ve been
killed,” scolds James.

Miko gets up and goes over to the chest that
nearly killed him and says, “Hey, look at this!”

They turn to see him reaching in and pulling
out a handful of clear crystals. Coming over to Jiron, he says
excitedly, “How much are these worth?”

Taking one, Jiron examines it closely and
says, “Nothing. They are just common crystals.” As Miko’s excited
smile begins to fade, he adds, “You could probably get something
for them at a market, but they really are not that
spectacular.”

Looking upset, he says, “Then why did they
have an exploding trap that almost killed me?” Throwing them down,
he says, “Stupid crystals.”

James comes over and bends over, picking one
up. Inspecting it, he says, “Why indeed?”

“Are they magic?” Miko asks, seeing James’
curiosity.

Shaking his head, he says, “No, thought they
might’ve been, but there’s not a trace of magic about them now.”
Tossing the crystal back down, he says, “Let’s go. It’s almost
night outside and I’d like to get out of here by then.”

“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.

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.