Darkvision - Bruce R. Cordell [6]
Ususi completed her circumnavigation of the structure. No paths or clear entrances presented themselves. On the other hand, several of the larger cracks revealed tufts of animal hair caught in rough edges. Evidence that beasts of the grassland used the cavity to shelter from the day's heat, the night's cold, or the rainy season's torrential downpour. Or so she supposed.
The wizard debated calling on one of her many prepared spells, which, like obedient soldiers, waited patiently, even eagerly, to be called into existence. A brief existence, but long enough to enact a startling change upon the world of the real.
Better to exhaust mundane approaches first, Ususi decided. Each prepared spell represented an expenditure of time, and in some cases, expensive resources. She approached the largest fracture that split the dome. The morning sun rose from the other side, and the cavity was dark. She reached up and brushed her finger against her circling delver's orb. Steady white light woke in the stone and poured forth in a concentrated, directed beam. The illumination shone in whatever direction she willed. Crouching down on elbows and knees, she wormed her way into the side of the dome.
No mud-Ususi was grateful for that. With the light of her orb, she easily crawled forward. The space remained wide enough, and she made her way into a large pocket, where she could stand.
A flurry of tiny wings sent her reaching involuntarily for a spell, even though Ususi had expected to disturb wildlife. The dome made a perfect place for the large southern bats to roost during the hot days. She was sorry to bother them. The sharp smell of guano was all they left behind.
The dome's central feature was a five-sided obelisk of rough, puce-colored stone. The obelisk's significance was enhanced by the elaborate symbology inscribed on every surface. Runes; pictograms; and depictions of idealized emperors, gods, and demons-typical images for the ancient Imaskari. The wizard had spent years learning the language of the ancients and automatically interpreted the meaning behind this elaborate facade: "Entrance restricted to authorized agents of the empire. Intruders will be punished by automatic safeguards. Expect no mercy."
"Bring me my pack," Ususi murmured, and the uskura silently offered her its burden. Ususi opened and rummaged through it.
"Here we go." The wizard produced a lilac-tinged stone shard that was a little shorter than her hand in its diameter, and about the width of her thumb in thickness. The shard was a fragment of a larger, heavily inscribed tablet, though many symbols remained on the broken piece. Ususi checked the fragment, then started searching the obelisk for matching symbols. The tablet chip, which Ususi thought of as a reference list, was something she'd unearthed about six months earlier in a crumbling spire in southern Mulhorand. Since then, it had proved invaluable.
The wizard located the runes she sought, the ones matching those on her list. She pressed each one on the obelisk, hoping the order was correct.
The ground shuddered and the dust of centuries rained down from the ceiling. The inscribed runes she'd activated lit up with brilliant blue light. Ususi stepped back, poised to flee in case she'd guessed incorrectly. Another shudder accompanied a familiar grating sound of stone on stone, and the obelisk slowly slid upward. A hiss of equalizing air blew a spray of milky dust in all directions. When it settled, a smooth-sided shaft angling steeply into the earth was revealed. A narrow stairway was chiseled into the side of the shaft, descending in tight loops out of the reach of Ususi's light. Demonic sculptures squatted at the head of the stair, one on each side of the shaft, their claws raised threateningly but immovably.
Ususi stood her ground for a hundred heartbeats, waiting to see if any summoned guardians or ancient