Sword of the Gods - Bruce R. Cordell [81]
“And what will we find beyond?” said Riltana. “More guards?”
“This entrance is hardly ever used. I’ve only seen it open once, and I’ve never been beyond the threshold. All I saw were stairs. No guards.”
Leheren kept her eyes on the man another few moments, then rose. She touched the symbols in the order prescribed. Chant held his breath.
Stone grated on stone, reverberating through the small chamber. A slab of the wall slid away, revealing broad gray steps leading down.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
AIRSPUR
THE YEAR OF THE AGELESS ONE (1479 DR)
DEMASCUS BUMPED HIS HEAD HALFWAY DOWN THE low-ceilinged stairs and cursed, “Burning dominions!”
Leheren paused a step down from him to offer an accusatory glare.
He motioned for her to continue, embarrassed he’d allowed his thoughts to wander so much he’d fumbled his footing. No matter how many times he turned it over in his mind, he couldn’t remember anything about anyone called Kalkan. Or anything about the Elder Elemental Eye. Yet one or both were trying to kill him! It was driving him to distraction.
When he failed to provide any explanation at his outburst, Leheren gave an angry shake of her head. The motion made her sway, as if she was dizzy.
Demascus steadied her with a hand on the shoulder, but she jerked away from his touch. “I’m fine,” she said.
He knew otherwise. Her eyes, which had been the color of the sky when they’d first met, were so bloodshot it seemed her pupils floated in red crystal. She was obviously running on nothing but fumes, and was probably coming down with something too.
Leheren resumed her trek down the suffocatingly narrow, steep passage.
Should he insist the lieutenant go back and rest? If she continued on for much longer, she was going to collapse from exhaustion.
No; Leheren would only refuse, and he’d gain nothing but an argument and further delay.
He checked to see if the others still followed. Chant noticed and gave a little wave. Demascus nodded, then continued downward.
He didn’t care for the confined stairs. Something about the too-close stone made his eyeballs sweat and his stomach hurt. To say nothing of his head where it had struck the ceiling. If something ambushed them in the confined area, their chances would be miserable.
Leheren reached the bottom of the stairs. Thank all the gods of light and shadow! Demascus eased forward to peer over the lieutenant’s shoulder. The tiny stairwell emptied into the dim recess of a wider area lit by smokeless torches on wall sconces.
Three people talked in the wide hall carved from raw basalt. All wore the red of the Firestorm Cabal. Their armbands were stitched with black jagged spirals.
One leaned against a stack of boxes. Two others were gesticulating at her or maybe at the boxes she leaned on. One was pointing at a large exit to the hall, while the other gestured down the hall in a different direction. An argument about where the boxes were supposed to go?
The only other feature of note was a square column. Each face was as wide across as five people standing abreast. The two column faces Demascus could see each revealed carved images of something he couldn’t make out, one black, the other green.
“I don’t care!” yelled a tall watersoul genasi. “Murmur has enough bees. It doesn’t want any more, and I’m not going to be the one to piss Murmur off.”
“We were told to gather as many bees from around the site as we could find,” said a bald man with red szuldar etching his face. His tone was stubborn and defiant.
“That was last tenday, ash-for-brains. Now we’re looking for scorpions and ants. Get these out of here before Murmur finds out how much time you’ve wasted.” The tall watersoul kicked at one of the boxes.
The buzz from a swarm of angry bees was instantly audible. The woman leaning against the stack hurriedly backed away.
“It seems a pity to waste all this hard work,” said the argumentative genasi.
“You know what will be a pity?” said the watersoul. “When Murmur decides to punish you, and me too for being stupid enough to recruit you to the inner circle! Do you want your quarters