Darkvision - Bruce R. Cordell [21]
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