Moonlight lit the ruins. Sunrise still hours away. Half of the temple buildings and walls had fallen into the sea. Many of the remainder had collapsed or been poorly repaired. No torches or lamps lit the ruins. Still, a few guards stood on the wall above the gates or paraded the remaining ramparts.
Kaaleel led Tikk to a cliff ledge several feet below the open courtyard. There, she waved a wing and skreeked quietly. Tikk felt the change, the slight pain as he recovered his natural form. They quickly dressed. Kaaleel took the chrysoberyl eye from Tikk and gave him the chalcedony one to wear. She exchanged her own stones.
"These will lead us to the others and make us invisible to the guards. We must be quiet, however, as the power doesn't hide sound."
Kaaleel said a few words in that strange tongue she used before, then they climbed the short distance to the courtyard. Tikk took the lead. He believed Kaaleel about the power of the stones but kept to the shadows just in case. No one saw them. Tikk followed the throbbing of the stone at his throat. It led him to the temple shrine. One corner of the building had been repaired and there were wide cracks in the entrance arch.
No door or guard barred their entry. No light lit the interior. By the reflected light of the moon, Tikk perceived a hulking form he believed to be the statue of the god. He started toward it when he felt the stone at his throat slightly tug to the right. He looked down a shadowed hallway.
"The eyes are not here," Kaaleel whispered directly into his ear. "They must be with the priest." Tikk nodded.
They crept quietly down the hall and turned a corner. They heard the sound of shuffling feet coming toward them. Tikk pressed Kaaleel into a dark niche. They held their breath. A figure passed, most likely a servant or acolyte rising early to start his day. The person stopped; sniffed the air; turned to get a sense of direction; faced the niche. Though he couldn't see the man's face in the darkness, Tikk felt the man's scrutiny. Tikk gripped the hilt of his dagger, made ready to spring at the slightest sound of alarm. The man sniffed again, then shrugged and went his way. It was several moments before Tikk and Kaaleel drew breath and continued their search.
The nudging of the stones led them to a wide room where moonlight shone through windows onto several worktables. Tikk smelled for the first time that night the lingering sweet scent of an oil lamp and burned incense. On the tables were covered jars and bowls from which emanated pungent, odorous, distasteful smells. There were also small, fired, clay tablets incised with multitudinous marks Tikk didn't recognize. He wondered briefly what arcane rituals were practiced there.
At the back of the room was a beaded curtain across an opening. The stone at his throat pulled Tikk toward it.
Moonlight filtered through the single, lightly curtained window. The room was simply furnished: two woven chests for clothing, blankets and other things; a chair and a table with an unlit oil lamp; a raised pallet. On the pallet slept an old man lying on his back quietly snoring, the covers pulled high, his white beard spread free. Above his head, in a deep niche on the wall, a wide, shallow bowl was piled high with round, softly glowing stones.
Tikk felt the throbbing tug at his throat and the glow across the room seemed to match that throb. Here were the eyes of Gaal.
Kaaleel gripped Tikk's arm, whispered in his ear. "You must kill the priest."
Tikk pulled the dagger from its sheath and eased his way silently through the beads.Kaaleel followed moving to the right until they were on each side of thepallet. The stones at their throats throbbed with the rhythm of their hearts.Tikk leaned forward and reached out his left hand to cover the priest's mouth as he raised the dagger. Suddenly, Kaaleel gasped. Tikk glanced at her then found he couldn't move.
