Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three (24 page)

“They’ll be on us for sure, now,” Jiron says
as he once more spurs his horse onward, the others following suit.
They continue to follow the river as it meanders its way through
the hills.

As they ride, the ground begins to change
from hilly grasslands to more of a desert, like what they
experienced when they were searching for Miko. Another horn rings
out, James glances behind and spies another scout. Several more
riders suddenly appear alongside him.

“We’ve got company!” he hollers.

Spurring their horses on to even greater
speed, they fly alongside the river. The hills on either side of
the river begin to rise and James realizes they’re entering a
canyon of some kind. Not as big as the Grand Canyon back home, but
large. As the sides of the canyon continue to rise, he’s quick to
realize that if they sent forces to the other side, they may very
well be trapped.

The ground becomes rockier and less stable
the further into the canyon they move, forcing them to slow their
speed. Behind them, the foot soldiers have entered the canyon as
well and are following about a mile away.

Progressing still further into the canyon,
they come across a series of wooden stakes with wooden crossbeams.
Skulls and bones hang from them as well as pieces of leather, which
James thinks might be skin.

“What is that?” Jiron asks.

“I’m not sure,” James replies. “It can’t be
good though.”

As they pass the structure, James begins to
see others scattered about the floor of the canyon as well. Some
not very large, though a couple are even bigger and more complex
than the first one they encountered.

“This might be a burial ground of some
sort,” he tells them.

“Burial ground?” Miko asks.

“Yeah,” he says. “It just feels that
way.”

Nervous, Miko looks around.

“James, look,” Jiron says, directing his
gaze back to the soldiers following them.

James glances back and sees the soldiers
have stopped at the first of the stakes and skulls.

“Seems as if they are reluctant to enter,”
Jiron observes.

“Hope so,” James says.

“Maybe we shouldn’t be here either,” Miko
says as he glances around the canyon nervously.

“We have no choice,” James tells him as they
continue on further into the canyon.

They keep glancing behind them and still the
soldiers remain there at the stakes, unwilling to enter the canyon.
The further into the canyon they move, the more of the burial sites
they see. Some now actually have full skeletons laid out upon them.
All the bones are human.

Miko is getting more and more nervous the
further they go. The canyon is absolutely silent, not even the
familiar sound of birds or animals can be heard, only the rush of
the river flowing by makes any kind of noise. But even that has a
hushed quality to it, as if it dares not disturb the peace of this
place. With the sun already having moved past the lip of the
canyon, the lengthening shadows give the place an even more eerie
feel.

They proceed onward, further into the canyon
for another hour or so when James decides to pause a moment to dig
out a pool by the river to look for pursuit.

“Do we have to stop?” asks Miko, who is
getting very jumpy.

“Yes,” replies James. “It will take just a
moment. I want to do it before it gets dark and I’ll no longer be
able to see anything.”

Once the pool is filled and the surface has
stilled, James begins to see what the forces behind them are
doing.

The image shimmers a moment and then they
see themselves by the river. He scrolls the image south until the
soldiers who stopped at the boundary are in view. A large force of
foot and horsemen are gathered together. Bringing the focus closer,
they are able to see two men arguing animatedly. One of them is
Abula-Mazki.
What I wouldn’t give for a little sound.

The two men are obviously at odds over what
they should do. From the way Abula-Mazki is gesticulating, it would
seem he wants them to follow into the canyon. The other officer is
adamantly refusing.

In an enraged fit, Abula-Mazki stretches out
his hand and they see the officer fall to the ground. Abula-Mazki
then turns to the others assembled there and begins talking. The
death of their officer must have given them the impetus they
needed, for they begin to hesitantly move into the canyon.

“They mean to follow us then,” Jiron says
from over his shoulder.

“It would seem so,” agrees James.

“What’s at the other end of the canyon?”
Jiron asks.

The image moves quickly until it reaches the
northern end and they see another large force of men waiting there.
They seem to be settling in and preparing defenses. Tents and
campfires have sprung up throughout the assembled forces.

“They plan to force us north and then get
hammered between both armies,” guesses Jiron.

“Yeah, and with his magic to counter mine,”
James says, “we’re dead.”

The image disappears as they stand up. Jiron
looks around them, then up at the canyon walls.

“You aren’t serious,” asks Miko when he
realizes what Jiron is thinking. “We can’t climb that far.” He
looks up at the imposing sides of the canyon, in some places the
surface is almost vertical.

“We have several hours before the southern
force gets here,” Jiron says. “It’ll be a hard climb, but we seem
to have little choice.” He walks over to his horse and takes his
things.

James follows suit. When he sees Miko just
standing there, he says, “Come on, we can do this. We have a better
chance of scaling the walls of the canyon than surviving the battle
that’s to come.”

Coming over to his horse, Miko gets his
things. Then he looks dubiously at the canyon wall above them.
“Couldn’t we just scare them like we did to that bunch earlier?” he
asks.

“I thought about that,” James tells him. “If
it were just the men, then sure, I’d try it. But not with that
warrior priest with them. He’d for sure see through the illusion
and most likely counter it.”

“Oh yeah,” he says, disappointed.

“We need to hurry if we’re to beat the
failing light,” Jiron says. Then he moves away from the river and
begins to ascend to the top of the canyon.

Miko starts to follow him but then pauses
when James hasn’t moved. He glances back and sees him staring
intently at the horses. Suddenly, the horses begin whinnying in
fear and bolt along the river to the north.

James then turns to follow Miko and Jiron.
When he sees Miko looking at him, he says, “Didn’t want them to
find the horses and know where we’d started climbing up. It might
give us more time.”

Miko just nods slightly as James joins him.
He turns back and resumes following Jiron as he hunts for the way
up.

At first, the way is fairly easy and not too
steep. The sides of the canyon are composed mostly of shale and the
ground is covered in loose rocks. This makes for an unstable
surface which causes their feet to at times slip out from under
them.

The canyon continues to darken as the sun
sinks further to the horizon. The sun is still hitting the far side
of the canyon and Miko keeps glancing over to it, dreading the time
when it’s no longer there.

Jiron has gotten a ways ahead of them up the
side of the canyon, James and Miko are staying fairly close
together, helping each other. The way is beginning to get steeper
and the loose shale is starting to cause them to slip more and more
often. Once, Jiron starts a small landslide which pelts them with
rubble and coats them with dirt.

“Watch it!” James hollers up to him.

“Sorry,” they hear from up above.

After climbing what seems a very long time,
James looks down to the river, but is unable to see it. The bottom
of the canyon is hidden in shadows with the setting of the sun. It
no longer shines on the opposite wall of the canyon.
Hope
they’re not below us yet!
He looks again but cannot make out
anyone or anything down there in the dark.

Ahhhh!

Suddenly from up above them, they hear Jiron
cry out. James looks up but other than some shale falling along the
side of the canyon doesn’t see anything.

“Jiron!” James cries out. “Are you alright?”
When no answer is forthcoming, he doubles his speed, sending a
cascade of rocks down below him. Miko hurries along beside him.

When they near where they believe Jiron had
been, they see a darker shadow ahead of them in the shadows. He
quickly realizes that it’s a hole in the side of the canyon.

“Miko,” he says to him where he’s climbing,
“stay there. It looks like he may have fallen into a hole.”

“Okay,” Miko replies as he comes to a halt,
maintaining his balance on the unstable surface.

James moves to the edge of the hole and
peers over the edge but all he can see is blackness. “Jiron!” he
whispers down.

“James,” he hears him reply from down
below.

“You okay?” he asks, concerned.

“Yes, I only fell about fifteen feet,” he
tells him. “Help me out of here, will you?”

“Sure,” he says. He creates his glowing orb
so he can see how to get him out.

As the orb begins shining, it reveals the
face of a corpse only inches from his own. James screams and jumps
back in panic, the light from the orb disappearing when his
concentration is broken. He loses his balance and tumbles down the
side of the canyon for twenty feet before coming to a stop. His
heart beating wildly, he picks himself up just as Miko reaches his
side.

“What happened?” Miko asks, eyes wide with
fear.

“Thought I saw something,” he replies.

“What?” he inquires with a quaver in his
voice.

“A dead guy,” he replies.

“Dead?” Miko asks, in a fearful tone.

“It’s probably just someone who had been
buried here,” he explains. “It just took me by surprise is all.”
Getting back to his feet, he climbs back up to the hole.

“James!” he hears Jiron yelling as he again
approaches the hole. “Where are you?”

He comes to the edge and says, “Sorry, got
startled and lost my balance.”

“You okay?” Jiron asks from the dark
below.

“I think so,” he says, “maybe some
scratches. I think you may have fallen in someone’s burial
mound.”

The orb once more springs to life and he can
see what had startled him. On the right edge of the opening, a
corpse is lying on its back and its face had been only inches from
James’ when he made the orb.

He looks down to see Jiron standing in the
middle of a circular room with several resting places for the
deceased set in tiers along the walls. The whole room looks to be
rather crudely done, the biers just dug out from the walls and the
dead placed within.

“How are we going to get you out of there?”
James asks. “We’ve got no rope.”

“I could try climbing up along the walls,”
he says, indicating the biers where the corpses are resting.

“Alright,” James says. The whole place gives
him the creeps and the corpse that’s lying exposed next to him
seems almost to be looking at him. But he’s sure that’s just his
overactive imagination.

He watches as Jiron begins to climb up the
biers. He’s being careful not to disturb the dead any more than is
absolutely necessary.

Suddenly, from behind him, he hears Miko cry
out as the earth beneath him gives way and he falls. “James!” he
screams as he drops below the surface.

“What happened?” Jiron asks from where he’s
climbing up.

James looks back to Jiron and says, “Miko
just fell through, this whole place must be riddled with these
things.”

“James!” he hears Miko’s panicked cry.

“Just hold there a moment,” he says to
Jiron. “I need to check on him.”

“Don’t take too long,” he says from halfway
up the side of the biers.

James moves over to where Miko had fallen
through and when he reaches the side of the hole, the ground
beneath him caves-in as well, and he lands upon a bier. “YAAAA!” he
cries out when he feels the bones of the dead under him and rolls
off the bier, falling another few feet to the floor.

He feels a hand on his shoulder, “James, you
okay?” Miko’s voice quavers in fear and worry.

The orb blossoms into light again and Miko
cries out in shock when he sees the dead lining the walls around
him. One corpse lies in a heap in the middle of the floor, most
likely the one James had landed on when he initially fell.

“Calm down!” James exclaims commandingly,
trying to halt the panic he sees trying to consume Miko.

He gets up and grabs a hold of him and
shakes him slightly. “Miko!” he cries, trying to get him to focus
on his face.

Miko’s eyes slowly relax as they focus on
James standing there in front of him.

“Relax,” he assures him, “you’re okay.”

“Where are we?” Miko asks when he gets the
panic under control.

James glances around the small burial
chamber and says, “I think we’re in a burial mound.” He sees an
opening in the side of the chamber and moves toward it, “Looks like
it might be part of a catacomb.”

“What’s that?” asks Miko, keeping very close
to James.

“A catacomb is a place where people are
buried,” he explains. “It’s usually associated with a church or a
religion.”

“Jiron!” James hollers out the opening.

They hear some movement coming toward them
and are relieved when they see him move into the orb’s light.

“You both okay?”

“Physically we’re fine,” replies James as he
nods over to Miko.

Nodding, Jiron understands when he sees the
frightened look on his face. “What are we to do now?”

“I think we’re in a catacomb,” James tells
him. “If so, it must lead somewhere. Maybe we could follow it and
find the way out.”

Miko’s eyes widen when he hears that. “Are
you crazy?” he asks. “We should leave, this is no place for the
living.”