But Ollinearn in the City of Light had found a passage which told the birth place of the last High Priest had been in Saragon. From that time, he knew he would be going there. Somewhere in that town there has to be a clue or something to reveal where they went.
When the sky begins to lighten with the coming of the morn, a large city appears out of the distance before them. A formidable wall encircles the city, several sections or which having been reduced to rubble during an earlier battle. The city itself sprawls across several hills to the north of where two rivers meet. It looks to be entirely in the crook made by the meeting of the two rivers. From where James sits, it looks to have once been a very defensible area. The Empire must’ve brought in mages to take the walls down, that’s the only explanation.
“This must be Saragon,” states Jiron.
“I would tend to agree,” adds James.
Coming to a halt at the top of a hill overlooking the town, they scan the horizon for enemy forces. Between them and the town lies an encampment of several hundred men, riders can be seen going from one point to another.
“I sure hope you can find that entrance,” Jiron tells him. “I don’t think we would have much luck making it past all those men.”
Nodding in agreement, James indicates they should get down off the hill before they’re spotted. Moving back down to the bottom, he dismounts. Jiron follows suit.
“The man said the entrance was two miles to the north of Saragon, hidden in amongst a pile of stones by the river,” he says. “I would think that other river over there would be the one he mentioned. The one we’ve been following is more to the west.”
“That would stand to reason,” he says. “Maybe we should leave the horses here and work our way through the hills over to the river.”
“In broad daylight, that’s going to be chancy,” James replies. “But sitting here for hours would be just as bad.” Walking his horse over to a nearby tree, he secures the reins to it. Jiron brings his over and secures it as well.
“If we keep between the hills,” Jiron says, “I think we might be able to get over there without being spotted.”
“Let’s do it quickly then,” says James.
Jiron nods as he heads out with James right behind. It’s a couple miles of hills they have to work through in order to reach the river. Keeping low, they’re able to cross the distance within an hour while remaining unseen.
At the river, they look with chagrin at a stretch of broken stone over two hundred yards long. “We’ll never find it!” exclaims Jiron.
“We don’t have a choice,” insists James. “Let’s start looking, most likely we’ll find it at the base of a hill or among some trees.”
Nodding, Jiron says, “That does narrow the scope down some.”
Getting busy, they begin combing the area, concentrating mainly within the parameters set up: within a couple yards of the river, by a hill or among some trees. “I think I found it!” exclaims Jiron after a half hour of searching.
James looks over and sees him at the base of a hill that looks as if it had collapsed sometime in the past. Several trees and bushes have overgrown the area, masking the entrance. He goes over to where Jiron stands next to a large boulder.
“I can feel air moving from behind here,” he tells James as he joins him.
James checks it out and sure enough, he can smell the musky odor of the earth coming from behind the large boulder. “Can we move it?” he asks, indicating the boulder.
“I would think so,” Jiron replies. Putting his shoulder against it, he begins to push as James adds what strength he can from his one good arm. The other one has steadily improved, but remains too tender to allow him to use it for this.
The boulder begins to move and then the top rocks to the side revealing an opening with a downward slanting passage behind it. James looks to Jiron with a big smile on his face, “Told you.”
“Okay, so you did,” he admits.
Looking around, they make sure no one is in the vicinity before slipping into the passage. Once they’re both within the tunnel, Jiron manages to pull the boulder back into position, again hiding the entrance. Light suddenly floods the passage as James’ orb appears on the palm of his hand. He takes the lead with the orb held out before him.
The passage is narrow, barely wide enough for them to stand side by side let alone walk next to each other. As they move forward through the passage, they encounter water. The floor of the passage has been flooded, maybe by rains or maybe by just seeping through the ground from the nearby river.
After several yards of first encountering the water, it deepens to the point of where their boots are completely submerged in it. “This better not get much worse,” comments Jiron.
“Whoever built this should’ve anticipated something like this happening,” says James. “The river will at times overflow its banks and this place would then be completely submerged.”
Sure enough, they come to an area further ahead with a grate in the side of the tunnel where the water is draining away. “See,” says James when they come to it. “Stop worrying.”
“Wasn’t worrying,” Jiron replies defensively. “Just stating a concern.”
Continuing past the grate the water level of the passage remains constant all the way through. It’s a wonder smugglers would’ve used such a way to get their goods out of the city. Of course, back in that guy’s grandfather’s day, this passage was probably better maintained than it is now.
It seems a long time before the passage again begins to ascend back to the surface. James realizes they are again moving to the surface when the water level in the passage begins to drop. After several hundred more feet, the floor of the passage passes out of the water and they’re once more walking on dry ground.
Not too much further past where they are again on dry ground that the passage ends abruptly at a brick wall. No handle or latch is visible for opening whatever door this may be. James hunts around for loose bricks, or ones that seem loose. So confident at first of being able to solve this riddle, he soon becomes more and more worried that he’s not going to be able to figure it out as time passes.
Bored, Jiron leans against the brick wall at the end of the passage while he waits for James to finish searching the walls for the hidden mechanism. As his weight comes full against the brick wall, it suddenly swings open with a slight squeal of rusty hinges. Off balance, Jiron stumbles through the opening and falls to the ground on the other side, coming up quick with a knife in his hand.
“Found it!” he says to James with a smile.
As James leaves the tunnel, the light from the orb reveals they are inside what used to be a basement. The place reeks of charred wood, the ceiling having recently collapsed due to a fire that had raged through here, burning most of the wood.
Above them, light filters down through the rubble and wreckage that used to be a building. James extinguishes the orb, as the light filtering down gives them plenty with which to see.
Jiron holds very still as he listens for a sound that may indicate someone is nearby. “Stay right here,” Jiron tells him.
He moves carefully through the rubble, trying not to disturb anything that may cause the wreckage above them to come crashing down upon their heads. He works his way to the other side of the room where a stone stairway still stands. At the foot of it, he turns to James and motions for him to come over to him.
When James reaches his side, he whispers, “I’ll go up and see what’s going on. Just wait here and I’ll be right back.”
“Okay,” James says. Waiting there at the bottom of the stairs, he watches as Jiron moves to the top and then with a quick glance back he motions for James to remain where he is.