Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three (9 page)

James also tries to run, but on his injured
leg, realizes he’s unable to move quickly enough to stay ahead of
the charging rhino-lizard.

He turns to face it and in a flash, releases
the magic.

Crumph!

The ground in front of it explodes upward,
startling it. Roaring loudly, it comes to a stop. Taking advantage
of its startlement, they move further away and hide behind some
trees. They wait for several minutes in their hiding place but fail
to hear any noise that might indicate it had come their way.
Looking out from behind the trees, Jiron says, “I don’t think it
followed us.”

He motions for them to remain there as he
gets up and moves back toward where they encountered it. Returning
quickly, he says, “I can’t see it anywhere. It must have gotten
scared when the ground erupted and ran back to the others.”

“Others?” asks Miko, nervously.

“Yeah, there were several of them over
there,” he tells him. Looking to James he says, “We can’t go that
way either.”

“Now what?” asks Miko.

“Seems we are faced with several unpleasant
choices,” he says as they gather around.

“East are the rhino-lizards, west is the
river which may or may not have those flesh eating fish in them,”
he says. “South are the natives, and I’m sure they’ll not welcome
us back. Finally, to the north is that odd pyramid of skulls that
feels like it’s radiating magic in some way.”

“South and east are definitely out,” Jiron
says. “We could never survive unscathed if we take either of those
routes. Not in our present condition.”

Nodding, James says, “I’d have to agree with
you there.”

“Not the water!” pipes up Miko. “I couldn’t
go in there!”

Sighing, James says, “Then we must chance
the pyramid and whatever lies beyond it.” He glances at each of
them before continuing, “This could prove worse than any of the
other choices, you know.”

Shrugging, Jiron replies, “We don’t know
that for sure. Until we do, it’s our best route.”

“Alright then,” James says as he gets up and
readies his stick for travel. “Lead on.”

Taking the lead again, Jiron takes them back
toward the pyramid of skulls. Worry and dread fill their hearts as
they make their way through the dead and withered trees. The ground
around them seems almost grey in the light, the grass and bushes
upon it are twisted and warped, just like the trees. When they can
at last see the pyramid ahead of them once more, Jiron pauses for a
moment. Glancing first to James and then Miko, he gathers his
courage before continuing down toward it.

When they are but scant feet away from it,
Miko gives James a weird look. This close to the skull pyramid,
even the other two are able to feel the magic of it. Miko stays as
far away from it as the ground will allow him. Any further and he’d
be in the water.

Jiron reaches out to touch it as he passes
by, but before his hand can connect with it, James cries out,
“Stop!”

Startled, as though he didn’t even realize
what he was doing, Jiron snatches his hand away and quickly hurries
past. “Thanks,” he says. The others step lively as they too pass
the pyramid. As the pyramid disappears behind them, the vegetation
slowly begins to regain some life, but none of it looks remotely
healthy.

The telltale prickling of magic subsides,
but doesn’t disappear altogether. Even when they’ve put distance
between them and the pyramid, far enough so he shouldn’t have been
able to feel anything, still the sensation remains with him. James
comes to the conclusion that there may be other sources of magic
here other than just that lone pyramid. Keeping his eyes open, he
follows Jiron as he continues his way north.

Everyone is on edge while they make their
way through such a desolate locale. “Something’s not quite right
here,” says Miko in a hushed whisper.

“I agree,” states Jiron.

James begins to notice that there are no
animals here, not even birds high in the trees. Never in all the
time since being washed upon the shore have the trees been silent,
there has always been a bird or some other kind of animal calling
out. This eerie silence just makes his anxiety grow.

Jiron suddenly comes to a stop ahead of
them.

“What’s wrong?” James asks when he and Miko
come to where he’s standing. Looking over Jiron’s shoulder to what
lies before them, he says, “Oh.”

The gnarled and withered trees end a short
distance ahead at a large clearing. In the middle of the clearing
sits a large complex of buildings which have long since fallen into
ruin. Portions of some of the buildings remain intact, while others
have collapsed completely. Several of the buildings look to have
once stood over two stories tall, sections of some still do. The
buildings form a semicircle around a weed infested courtyard. All
the vegetation within the clearing and bordering it show the worst
signs of the withering.

Within the center of the courtyard sits a
larger pyramid of skulls, two, maybe three times the size of the
one they’d encountered earlier. Looking at it makes James’ skin
crawl. “Looks like we may have found what’s killed all the trees,”
he says.

“What should we do?” Jiron asks him, not
once taking his eyes off the scene ahead. Unconsciously, he’s drawn
a knife and is holding it ready in his right hand.

“Can we skirt around this place?” James
asks.

Jiron looks around and then nods his head as
he begins to move to the right.

James and Miko stay right with him as he
slowly makes his way around the area, remaining within the
vegetation.

Miko suddenly trips on an exposed root and
looses his balance. Trying to remain upright, he ends up stepping
out of the vegetation and finally falls upon the ground within the
clearing, coming to land a couple feet from the edge of the
vegetation.

As soon as Miko’s foot first steps into the
clearing, the prickling sensation suddenly spikes. James’ attention
is drawn to the large pile of skulls and it almost seems as if he
can see an enormous pulse of energy suddenly erupt from the
pyramid. Moving fast, the wave washes over them as it moves away
into the swamp.

“Miko!” he cries. “Get out of there!”

Getting up lightning quick, Miko scrambles
back over to them as he quickly looks around for the reason for
James’ warning. “What’s wrong?” he asks, not seeing anything
threatening.

Both he and Jiron look to him as he replies,
“When you stepped into the clearing, I felt and I think, saw, a
pulse emanate from the pyramid.”

“A pulse?” Miko asks, eyes widening in
fear.

Nodding his head, he says, “Yeah. It seemed
like it fanned out, moving out into the swamp.”

“What does that mean?” asks Jiron,
nervously.

“I don’t know,” he says. “I’ve never
encountered anything like this before.”

“Well, let’s not wait here and find out,”
Jiron says, as he looks around. “Let’s move!” Without waiting for a
reply, he heads out and they make it around the complex, everyone
taking extra precaution not to step within the clearing.

Upon reaching the far side of the clearing,
they put it behind them as they move quickly away from it and the
ominous pyramid of skulls. As they leave it behind, the vegetation
begins to improve slightly, though only for a while.

Soon, the vegetation once more begins to
show drastic signs of withering and decay as they see another of
the smaller piles of skulls appear before them. The prickling
sensation grows as it did before when James approaches it.

As Jiron begins to pass the midpoint of the
pyramid, he suddenly cries out as he falls backward into James,
knocking them both down.

“What happened?” James asks as he picks
himself up.

“I ran into something,” he says.

“Let me see,” James says as he cautiously
approaches the pyramid of skulls. Holding his hand out, he walks
slowly toward it. He moves around the skulls to the right, still
holding out his hand. When he comes next to the pyramid, his hand
touches a barrier.

Stopping, he places both hands upon it and
pushes. It feels solid, smooth. He runs his hand along it as he
walks several feet to his right. Pausing, he takes his hand and
moves it along the barrier as high as he can reach. Unable to find
an end, he turns back to the other two. “I think when Miko tripped
and fell into the clearing, it activated some kind of barrier,” he
explains.

“What do you mean?” Miko asks, confused.

James places his hand against it and says,
“Come here and feel it.”

Hesitantly, Miko comes and places his hand
upon it, eyes widening. “What is it?”

“Some kind of force field I’d imagine,” he
explains. Then he turns to Jiron, “Kind of like the dome I used to
keep the sandstorm out, remember?”

Nodding his head, he says, “Yeah, I
remember.”

“What does it mean?” Miko asks.

“It means we’re trapped inside,” explains
James.

Miko and Jiron have been sitting back from
the little pyramid while James has been attempting to breach the
barrier. After standing motionless in front of it for several
minutes, he cries out as he stumbles back away from it.

Coming to him, Jiron worriedly asks, “What
happened?”

Losing his balance, he sits down abruptly.
James shakes his head as he tries to clear it and then says,
“There’s too much power here.” Resting his head in his hands, he
tries to still the aching in his head.

“Can you get us out?” Miko asks.

James glances over to him and says, “Not
like this. Every time I try to do something, a surge of magic would
come and counter whatever I tried.”

“What now?” Jiron asks.

Thinking a moment, he says, “I suppose
there’s a chance there could be a spot where the barrier isn’t
working, where we could slip through. But I doubt it.”

“How would we know?” Jiron asks him.

James thinks a moment before replying, “Only
one way to find out. Someone has to walk along the barrier all the
way around and feel it with their hand as they go.”

Getting up, Jiron says, “Then I better
hurry, it’s going to be getting dark in a couple of hours.” Then he
walks over to the skull pile and places his hand against the
barrier. Moving slowly, he begins walking along the barrier, away
from the skull pile. He moves his hand up and down the barrier in
the hopes a breach may be found.

“No telling what could happen here when
night falls,” James mumbles to himself.

“What?” Miko asks as he continues watching
Jiron until he disappears in the withered vegetation.

“Nothing,” he replies, not wanting to give
him anything more to worry about.

They move back a ways from the pyramid,
finding a spot where they can sit and wait for Jiron’s return. A
half hour later, they hear him approaching from the other
direction. As he nears the pyramid of skulls, he begins looking
around. When he sees them there waiting for him, he leaves the
barrier and makes his way over to them.

“Well?” James asks.

Shaking his head, he says, “It’s solid all
the way around. There were two spots I had to leave to avoid
entering the water, but other than that, it’s solid.”

“Now what?” asks Miko looking as if he’s
about ready to panic.

“We go back to the clearing and the large
pyramid there,” he tells them, glancing from one to the other.
“That’s where the pulse originated from, so it stands to reason
that is where we could possibly remove the barrier.”

“How?” asks Jiron.

Getting up, James says, “I haven’t the
faintest idea. But there’s only one place where I might be able to
figure it out.”

“Back at the clearing?” Miko asks voice
quavering.

James nods his head as he says, “Back at the
clearing. Maybe getting a closer look at that pyramid will give me
some idea on how to bring it down. Or perhaps there may be
something in one of the buildings that will do it. Won’t know for
sure until we look.”

“Let’s get going then,” Jiron says. “We’ve
only got a couple hours left until dark.”

As they walk back, James asks, “How many
pyramids were there along the barrier?”

“Five all together,” he replies. “Why?”

“Just curious,” he explains. “I doubt if
that would have any bearing on anything though.”

Upon reaching the clearing, James grabs
Jiron’s arm before he leaves the trees and indicates that he should
be the first to enter. More than happy to comply, Jiron steps back
as he allows James to precede them.

Stepping slowly into the clearing, he braces
himself for another energy pulse from the large pyramid. He’s quite
relieved when another pulse fails to materialize. With Miko and
Jiron right behind, he makes his way over to the large pyramid.
It’s similar to the other one at the barrier, a tiered pyramid of
human skulls. He closely examines it, but doesn’t see anything that
might help in bringing down the barrier. The thought occurred to
him to smash the pyramid, but was afraid of the repercussions that
might ensue.

He glances over to the other two and shakes
his head, “Better try the ruins.” Turning his attention to the
collapsed structures for a moment, he starts walking over to the
one on the far right.

“Something there?” asks Miko hopefully when
he sees their destination.

James glances back at him and replies, “No,
just being systematical is all. It’s as good a place to start as
any.”

This building had been a single story
structure at one time. The roof had fallen in so long ago that
small trees have begun to grow among the rubble. He walks through
an opening in what’s left of the wall and looks around.

He gives the interior a quick once over as
he moves around within the building. Poking through the rubble, he
finds nothing but stone and a wooden crossbeam, which looks to have
once been used to support the ceiling.