Trail of the Gods_ The Morcyth Saga Book Four - Brian S. Pratt [135]
“Open it slowly,” he tells him. “I don’t feel magic or anything like that, and I seriously doubt if anyone is still inside.”
“Then where’s the light coming from?” he asks.
“Open the door and find out,” Aleya tells him. “Or stand aside and let me do it.” She begins moving toward the door when Jiron holds out his hand to stop her.
Taking a deep breath, he slowly pulls open the door. Aleya has an arrow knocked and even James has unconsciously pulled a slug from his belt. As the door opens, the light from within again spills out into the corridor and James cancels the orb as he no longer needs its light.
They gasp when the door finally opens enough for them to see what lies within. To their right and left are two rows of three wide columns stretching all the way to the ceiling. A large open space lies between the two sets of columns.
Four large braziers are evenly spaced, forming the points of a square within the open space between the two rows of columns and from these is where the light is originating. A flame burns atop each of the braziers, casting sufficient light to illuminate the entire room.
Within the square formed by the flaming braziers is a raised circular pedestal, five feet in diameter. Rising two feet off the floor, it dominates the room.
“What is this place?” breathes Aleya from behind him.
“I don’t know,” replies James. “Considering the robe you found in that other room, it could very well be a temple of some sort. This could be the room where the priests would perform their rites.”
“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