“How are the flames still burning?” Jiron asks. As he begins moving into the room, James grabs his arm and stops him.
“I should go first,” he says.
Nodding, Jiron moves aside as James passes him on his way into the room.
He moves slowly and cautiously toward the closest of the burning braziers. They are about a foot in diameter and when he comes closer can see they’re partially filled with what looks like some kind of oil. The braziers themselves are stone and their base runs all the way to the floor. Turning to the others, he says, “It’s possible there could be a storage tank with the oil somewhere and they’re being fed from it through pipes.”
“It must have one massive storage capacity for them to still be burning after so long a time,” Jiron says as he comes to stand next to James.
James just nods his head as he moves toward the dais. He comes to a stop and gasps when he sees what’s inscribed upon the face of the dais.
“What?” asks Jiron before he too, notices.
Aleya comes to them and asks, “What’s wrong?”
Upon the dais is a symbol they’ve seen before, three dots forming the ends of a triangle with lines running between them, yet not touching them.
“Then that would mean this was once one of his temples,” Jiron says.
“It would have to be an old one,” he replies.
“Who’s temple?” asks Aleya. “What are you talking about?”
Pointing to the dais and the symbol inscribed upon it, James says, “Dmon-Li. One of his warrior priests that we ran across a while back had been bearing this symbol.”
“But what can it mean?” Jiron asks. “Why would this temple have been abandoned?”
Looking to him, James replies, “We really don’t know that for sure, do we? The lights here would indicate something has been going on, though just what I can’t for the life of me figure out. But whatever the reasons, we’ve got to get out of here, and right now.”
Turning around James makes a beeline for the door. Once outside, he again creates the orb as he presses on down the corridor away from the room with the dais. The light coming from the room suddenly goes out when Jiron closes the door behind him.
Now he understands why this place has bothered him so much since they arrived. The presence or maybe the old signatures of evil which must have been practiced here still resonate within the halls.
“What’s wrong?” Aleya asks when she stops James by taking hold of his arm.
Turning to look at her, he says, “Dmon-Li is the god whose warrior priest has been pursuing us,” he explains. Casting a quick glance to Jiron, he returns his gaze back to her as he adds, “For reasons we can’t go into right now, suffice it to say it would be extremely bad for us to be found by them.”
She studies him for a moment before nodding her head.
Jiron rushes past James as he once again takes the lead. “Just cursory looks from here on out,” James says from behind him. “We no longer have the luxury of satisfying our curiosity.”
“I hear you,” he replies.
The corridor ahead of them suddenly ends at another corridor cutting across the one they’re in. Jiron automatically turns to the right and continues moving. Shortly they come to a set of winding steps on their left going down. “I think this is the way we came up,” he announces, pausing for only a second.
“I think you’re right,” agrees James.
Leaving the steps behind, they continue down the corridor and come to a branching corridor to the right. Jiron pauses a moment and glances back to James.
Shaking his head, he says, “This just leads down the other side of the room with the dais in the middle. Remember the doors that were on the other side?”
Nodding, Jiron turns back and continues moving down the corridor. Another thirty feet and it opens up into what James is beginning to realize as ‘anchor’ rooms, rooms of similar design lying at the corners of a level. He always had them in his dungeons, but never really thought they would be used in actuality.
Another corridor exits the room to their right. Passing by two pedestals with statues of demonic creatures, they quickly cross the room to the other corridor. Once the room is behind them, they go down twenty feet before yet another corridor branches off, again to their right.
“Just keep going,” says James. “I think there will be another stairway leading off the room at the end.”
“Now how do you know that?” Aleya asks.
James shrugs and says, “Just sounds reasonable. It’s how I would have done it.”
She shakes her head and continues following Jiron.
Sure enough, they pass two more right hand branching corridors and come to the fourth ‘anchor’ room. This one is completely bare. Across the room from where they enter lies the stairway James foretold.
Aleya looks back at him and he gives her a grin. “Always trust his instincts,” Jiron says.
“I can see that,” she says.
Moving across the room, Jiron takes the stairs and they wind up to the next level. When they reach the top, James says, “Wait!”
The others stop as they turn their attention to him. “Do you feel that?” he asks. He holds his hand out in front of him as a smile comes to his face.
“A breeze!” Jiron exclaims. “That means a way out!”
“Exactly,” agrees James, nodding his head.
The light from the orb shows the room to be just like the ‘anchor’ rooms from down below, only this one has but a single corridor running off to the right. Several faded and tattered tapestries adorn the walls.
Not taking the time to closely inspect them, they cross the room and enter the corridor. Jiron leads them down fifty feet before it branches, with passages going either to the right or continuing straight ahead. He pauses a moment until he determines the breeze is originating from the corridor to the right. Pointing to that passage, he glances back at the others and says, “It’s coming from this direction.”
James nods and says, “Lead on.”
Turning down the right corridor, he continues fifty feet or so before coming across an area of the corridor which has been blackened by fire. Three skeletons lie in the middle of the floor, all are wearing what at one time could have been an exact match to the robes found in the room below.
Coming to a stop, James examines them a moment and then takes a good look at the corridor itself. “It looks like fire killed them, but there’s nothing here to burn,” he says.
“Magic?” suggests Jiron.
“Maybe,” he says. “A temple such as this had to have made its share of enemies, I’m sure.”
“What, you think the priests were eradicated by someone?” asks Aleya.
“Possibly,” reasons James. “It’s the only explanation which seems to fit.” A glint from the midst of the three corpses catches his eye and he leans forward for a closer look.
“What are you doing?” asks Aleya nervously. Her nerves have been on edge ever since they first entered this place and being around the dead priests hasn’t calmed them down any.
Taking out his knife, he begins moving the rags and bones away, “There’s something here.”
“You shouldn’t disturb the dead,” she warns. “It isn’t good.”
James suddenly stands up with a chain dangling from the point of his knife. An amulet is attached to one end of it.
Coming closer to take a better look at what he found, Jiron suddenly gasps when the face of the medallion comes into the light. He glances to James.
“I thought so,” he says. Holding it up, they all see the three points with the lines running between them. “The sign of the warrior priests, or at least something to do with them.”
Taking it from his knife, he takes a closer look and says, “I once had an amulet exactly like this one that I bought from a merchant in Cardri.” Removing it from his knife, he places it within the pouch at his waist. “I’ll not lose this so readily this time,” he announces.
“Why take it?” asks Aleya.
“Never know if it’s going to come in handy or not,” he tells her. To Jiron he says, “Now, shall we continue?”