Gamori

Part 9

Events were rapidly making a mockery of my concepts of reality. Part of me longed to have remained, like a sea urchin, in a benighted tide pool. The rest of me thought that risking death and madness was a perfectly sensible move.

Our destination was less than a day's travel back the way we came, at the southern entrance to the Great Wadi. We arrived in the late afternoon, and stared at a cliff face of orange and red striated rock.

Eblis Fenn dismounted his sandstrider and approached our cartographer. "Miss Wentletrap, I intend no rudeness, but are you sure this tomb of yours lies in front of us? My old vulture eyes are still as sharp as ever, and they tell me there is nothing but stone to be had here."

Umbreen replied, "Master Fenn, I do not doubt your visual acuity, but I assure you it is in front of us."

A small, dark green blotch scurried away to the base of the cliff.

"Fret not!" said Jezrin. "My little rapscallion is quite good at looking for crannies and hidey-holes. We may as well start making camp and leave him to it."

At evenfall, as the constellation of the Hunter was rising over the cliff's rim, Backbiter returned. He scampered to the fire where some of us were having ales, stood up on his hind legs, and frantically began gesturing and chattering. Jezrin apparently understood every nuance of her vloon's communication, nodding and encouraging him to proceed with his detailed descriptions.

"Well," she announced, "Backbiter says there's a secret passage, alright. Big, too. Wide enough for three or four sandstriders abreast. Thing is, there's some optical illusion which he can't explain. He's pretty smart, but not a supra-genius. Anyhoodles, he'll show us tomorrow in the light."

At dawn, all were keen on seeing where the little vloon would guide us. He, however, was not keen in the least bit, for Backbiter detested mornings, especially early ones. Torpidly and grumpily he slowly waddled toward the cliff, ears drooping, his eyes half shut. After a painfully long time, the vloon reached the rock face, passed though, then stuck his irritated face out of it.

Jezrin picked him up and put him in her pack to sleep. She vanished into the red and orange stone, reemerged, and indicated where to mark the sides of the invisible portal. By twos and threes we entered, most of us audibly marveling like children. Our Oblej guides elected to wait outside.

My entry was by way of Thok's playful but extremely restrained shove. Our flameless torches showed a wide, straight tunnel, the walls of which were lined with malevolent-looking, inhuman statues and vertical sarcophagi. I am sure I was not alone in imagining those sarcophagi sliding open of their own accord. The tunnel led to a great, dome-ceilinged atrium which had three branching corridors. Jezrin told us to wait there while she took a reconnaissance party further.

I elected to go with them, but she would have none of it. "Stay here, meepling. I'm leery about what's down there, and I don't need your possible gory demise on what passes for my conscience. You can, however, take my pack and make sure Backbiter gets his rest. We may need him later and I want him fully refreshed. Oh, here's a bag of the dried crab meat he likes. Don't give him more than four or five pieces, no matter how much he fusses."

Thok donned his full gladiatorial armor, complete with spiked helmet, and gave his mace a few practice swings. He took the lead, followed by Jezrin, Umbreen and several bodyguards and mercenaries. With Ardat watching their backs, the scouting party's flameless torches faded from view down the central corridor.

Having not much else to do besides ensure the well-being of a vloon, I made some sketches of the atrium. Possessing only meagre artistic talent, I could not readily depict the statuary occupying the room's alcoves, so I paid particular attention to a symbol in the dome's center. It was composed of a silver triangle with a gemstone eye at each vertex. One was of emerald, and appeared ophidian. Another was of smoky quartz and white opal, made in the likeness of a human eye. The third was of chalcedony, and seemed as if it belonged to a cephalopod. All had pupils fashioned of onyx.