The name inscribed below the creatures was "leShay." Again, Ususi couldn't place the name. Bother that. The identity and accuracy of the designs were secondary to the magical trap she sensed lurking in the flooring. Behind and above her stretched the winding, stair-strewn path she'd traveled throughout the Imaskaran ruin. The complex beneath the earth was in surprisingly good condition, which was both good and bad. Finding a well-preserved outpost of the Imaskari was good because it meant surviving enchantments might still power a functional gate into the Celestial Nadir. Finding a well-preserved ruin was bad because it meant a higher number of guardian enchantments and traps remained lethal. So progress was slow. For safety, Ususi checked each new section of flooring, walls, and ceiling with a sluggish, low-grade magical charm. Was it a waste of time when going swiftly might spell sudden death? The uskura certainly didn't complain. Ususi nearly smiled at the idea. She unscrewed the tiny cap of the cylinder she'd retrieved from her pack, and let a tiny dollop of red liquid fall onto the hallway floor. It was the last of the dye, and the drop was hardly visible. Ususi eyed the diminutive red dot. Perhaps she'd been too liberal with the dye on the first several traps she'd encountered. By comparison, wide stripes of warning dye painted all the previous traps she'd found in the complex. Sometimes, avoiding a mechanical or magical ambush merely required knowing where not to step. Once a trap's trigger was identified, remembering its precise location was as important as its discovery. She'd developed her warning dye as the perfect visual signal. Ususi had the ingredients to make more dye back in her coach, but she preferred to press forward as long as possible before returning topside. The wizard studied the tiny droplet and judged it a large enough reminder. Its location, coupled with the frieze of Emperors Umyatin and Omanond, would give her warning enough on her way back. On the other hand, if she came upon just one more trap, she'd have to decide whether to return to the coach to make another batch of red dye, or try her hand at deactivating it. Ususi had some experience in the deactivation of nefarious devices, but it was a dangerous business-far better to simply steer clear of the trigger. But some devices couldn't be avoided. For these, deactivation was the only sure method of getting past them. Because of her wizardly talents, ensnaring spells and blasting enchantments were far easier to eliminate than unthinking springs, levers, weights, and winches.
Unfortunately, many traps dispensed with arcana and relied on simple mechanical principles. Confident the hallway before her held no further surprises, Ususi put the empty cylinder back in her pack. She remanded the pack to the invisible uskura and walked down the passage, deftly avoiding the trigger point. The radius of her magical light preceded her, bringing illumination where dark centuries brooded.
Ususi held out her right hand, concentrating on her trap-finding charm. She supposed far more powerful spells might lay bare all the dangers in a large radius, but she didn't know them. She hadn't gone out of her way to find such spells-she preferred to save her greatest strength for potent spells of blasting. If she roused some guardian demon, she was ready, she hoped, to send it back to whatever netherworld had spawned it. A few more paces, and the carvings on either side opened up to reveal a great, rounded chamber. Like the hallway, its periphery was heavily inscribed with images, words, and symbols. Even the ceiling was carved with thick clusters of sigils.
Ususi's breath caught when she spied the central feature of the chamber-a great stone annulus hovering unsupported in the air, measuring some ten paces in diameter. The ring slowly rotated, flipping end over end about once every two or three heartbeats. But the ring was not intact. A section of the hoop lay cracked and shattered on the floor. Two parallel creases appeared on the wizard's brow as she studied the debris. This could be a portal, perhaps leading into the Celestial Nadir, but it was damaged. First things first. Ususi renewed her concentration and scanned the room for traps.
She hadn't come this far so cautiously only to rush into the arms of a slicing blade or to be crushed beneath a ceiling block. The annulus itself could be a devious deception… but no. The room was clear.
Other than the rotating ring, one other exit presented itself. A flight of stairs led upward, the first upward set she'd discovered since entering the outpost. She wondered if it was an exit to the hills outside. It would wait. Ususi stood before the annulus.
Inscriptions crowded the stone circle, many unreadable. One symbol was clear immediately-a ring within a ring, the interior circle slightly off center-one of the symbols associated with the Celestial Nadir! The wizard drew the keystone from beneath her jacket. She held it forth, presenting it to the annulus. As Ususi handled it, the stone flickered and brightened, giving off a glow all its own. Ususi paused. Again, she noticed the hazed darkness at the stone's core. She shook her head slightly, deciding to worry about that later. Ususi let her mind touch the stone, and through its interface, sought contact with the ring.
She sought referents, points of synchronicity, answering reflections-even the smallest connection would be enough for her to try to gain control of the ring and force it open. Assuming it led to the Celestial Nadir. And if it was not broken beyond repair. But no.
"Four dooms and damnation!" she yelled. The annulus was dead. If it had ever been a portal, its functions were stripped. Only residual magic elevated it above the floor. A sudden thud shook her from her anger. Ususi whirled and stared. The light of her delver's orb sent feral shadows fleeing across the chamber. The sound had come from somewhere back along the way she'd traveled. She'd either missed a guardian, and it had roused from agelong quiescence to chase her down, or something or someone else had entered the buried outpost from the exterior. The wizard cursed herself for not securing the entry. Either way… Ususi touched the orb that hovered at her brow and its light died. The radiance of the keystone trickled away, too, as she hung it around her neck, under her jacket. The wizard didn't need light to trace her steps back over her course. She closed her eyes in the darkness and invoked a spell of clairvoyant vision. Beginning with the hallway where the two ancient emperors locked eyes for lost ages, Ususi's wizard sight bloomed, a window of seeing. Through her dark window, everything was blurred and colorless. Details faded and distances were hard to discern. She traced her path, pushing her vision down the inscribed hall and into the square room with the pool of iridescent liquid-water with an enchantment against evaporation.
The chamber was as empty as she'd left it. Farther yet, beyond the pool room, she found a bright red band of warning dye painted at neck height along the narrow passage. Something moved down that passage. It was… what was it? Identification was difficult because the image was blurred-it degraded the farther she forced it along. Whatever it was, it kept low, beneath the warning red stripe she'd placed on the wall. The figure used Ususi's system to its own benefit! She realized she'd marked a trail leading directly to her location. The wizard tensed but concentrated all her faculties on sharpening the clairvoyant image. A human? A man, definitely, but his skin was pale and marbled, not unlike her own. His outfit was familiar. Ususi let out an involuntary hiss and abandoned the vision. A vengeance taker.
After all this time, Deep Imaskar had finally tracked her down. Ususi brushed her orb and light flooded the chamber. The vengeance taker was too close-he would see it! But her wizard vision was too slow and unreliable in an emergency. She had to see in order to escape. "Get up those stairs," she whispered to the uskura. Ususi pointed to the other exit in the chamber. She dashed after her retreating pack. How had they tracked her into this ruin? They must have been looking for her for a long, long time. Ususi reached the archway and had one foot on the lowest step. "Hold, fugitive!" The voice was strong and authoritative. It was the voice of a vengeance taker. It was a voice accustomed to its commands being followed, and for good reason. Ususi darted up the narrow stairwell. The steps were high, shallow, and dusty. She gasped for breath, but the air seemed to have fled the stairway. She slipped and fell on the steps, catching herself with one hand but taking half her weight on the other shoulder. A cry of pain escaped her lips, like a sob. Her mind twirled, images of vengeance takers she had known and stories she had heard of their retribution causing tumult in her mind. She was panicking! This was not her. Ususi Manaallin did not panic. Ususi grasped the edges of her fear, wrenched it into halves, and cast its husks aside. She was a wizard, trained by the Cabal of Purple. A single taker would not bring her down, she vowed. She scrambled to her feet and turned to face down the staircase. Better to confront your enemies than to suffer their attacks at your back, she knew. She counted herself lucky his attack hadn't already sprung. Then she heard a strange, reverberating pulse.