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“Yes,” he says. “I can have a diagram made for you that would show the quickest route to the room you have to reach.”

“That would be great,” James says.

“You might wish to make the attempt two nights from now however,” the Slavemaster says.

James looks at him curiously. “Why?”

“In two nights is the dark of the moon,” he explains. “Every temple performs special rites to Dmon-Li when the moon is black. It’s considered holy to them.”

“Killian’s shroud blinds the giant’s eye,” he murmurs.

The Slavemaster hears him and nods. “Yes that’s what some call that time of the month.” When he sees that James is lost in thought, he adds, “The priests will all be in attendance in the sanctum before the altar. However that’s not to say the halls of the temple will be empty. They have over a score of temple guards that will be roaming the grounds, even within the temple itself. You’ll have to somehow get through them without alerting the rest of the temple to your presence. I’ve heard stories of your prowess, but I doubt even you would prevail against a temple’s worth of priests all working in conjunction to kill you.”

“Probably not,” agrees James.

Just then, the young man enters through the archway and whispers something in the Slavemaster’s ear. Nodding the Slavemaster says something to the young man who then leaves the room. “Seems your friends have followed you,” he says.

“Did they?” James asks innocently.

The Slavemaster isn’t fooled. “Don’t worry,” he says. “They’ve been taken care of.”

“What does that mean?” asks James.

“They won’t be bothering us here,” replies the Slavemaster.

“What did you do to them?” demands James.

“Oh, nothing harmful I assure you,” he says.

James meets his gaze for a moment and then gets to his feet. “I should be going now,” he says.

“As you will,” says the Slavemaster. “I’ll have someone drop by sometime tomorrow with a diagram I’ll draw up to help you reach the teleportation dais.”

“Thank you,” he says. Now worried about what may have happened to his friends, James wants nothing more than to get out of there.

The young man makes his appearance and the Slavemaster says to him, “Escort him back out.”

Giving the Slavemaster a slight bow, the young man turns to James and says, “If you’ll follow me?”

James gives the Slavemaster a brief bow then turns to follow the young man from the room. They leave through the same doorway and are again in the darkened passage. They proceed for a ways then James feels the young man’s hand on his shoulder as he directs him to stop and enter a narrow opening. It’s on the opposite side of the passage than the one he trailed his hand along on the way in.

Moving through this new passage which is barely wide enough to accommodate them, they continue for a ways until the passage turns to the right. Then the young man takes him another hundred paces and brings him to a stop.

“Give me your hand,” the young man says.

James holds out his hand and feels the young man take it. Moving it to the side of the passage, he places James’ hand in a recess in the wall. “You must climb this until you get to the top,” the young man says. “There you’ll find a small wooden panel to your left. Push it open and crawl through.”

“What’s on the other side?” James asks.

“A chandler’s shop,” is the reply. “The shopkeeper has already left for the day. Do not touch anything and be careful when you leave not to let anyone see you.”

“Aren’t you coming with me?” he asks.

“No, you go by yourself from here,” he says. “Good luck.”

“Thanks,” replies James. Then he hears the footsteps of the young man moving away in the dark.

Turning back to the wall, he feels around and finds a series of recesses moving from the floor up the wall. Putting his hands in the ones at eye and chest level, he then finds two for his feet. Then very carefully, he lifts one of his hands above his head and feels around until he finds the next one. One by one, he slowly makes his way up the wall in the dark.

After what seems like twenty or