The Jackal Dreaming -- Chapter One

The Jackal Dreaming

J. A. Caselberg

One

Deep beneath the Akkaran Temple complex, Tarith caught her breath and pressed back against the cool stone walls. She hadn't been mistaken; there were sounds coming from around the corner. Something or someone was moving up ahead. Had she been discovered? She listened for a moment longer, but the strange scratching noises came no closer. Her heart sounded loud in her ears.

She didn't want to risk being caught. A lowly temple scribe such as herself could expect no mercy from the priests. Carefully, she edged closer to the corner and poked her head around. She glanced up the corridor beyond, but nothing moved along its length. Quickly she pulled back and, steadying herself with her back against the wall, sought within for calm. Then, plucking up her resolve, she bit her bottom lip and popped her head around again.

A doorway lay to the left, about ten paces along. The corridor ran on beyond into dimness. Her heart still pounding in her ears, she checked the floor. The ever-present layers of dust blanketed the surface, undisturbed except for the tiny tracks of desert hop-rats that made these underground passages their own.

She let out her breath slowly. It appeared that she was truly alone after all. Another noise came from inside the doorway and made her start. She listened carefully, keeping her breathing as still as she could. There again, a faint scratching and tearing sound. Then she recognised it for what it was; somewhere beyond the doorway was a group of hop-rats going about their business. Tarith gave a sigh of relief and stepped towards the door, with a faint smile.

She should have realised that this place would make an ideal home for the small rodents. The massive temple walls and pillars concealed numerous entrances and passages, many now disused since the descent of the city from its time of greatness. Vast storehouses held the goods and commodities that took the bulk of the temple dealings. The grain stores held an obvious attraction for the hop-rats and provided a ready source of food.

The temple priests made sure the stores were kept as full as possible for most of the year, for they controlled the trade sourced by the life blood of the muddy river meandering through the centre of Akkar. The healthy commissions they gained kept the temple prosperous even in lean times such as these. Little wonder that the hop-rats should seek the bounty of the temple.

Slowly, she leaned round the edge of the doorway and looked inside. Beyond lay a vast chamber. But this was not a storeroom. She hesitated, trying to take in what she saw. Row upon row of shelves lined the walls—and they were full of . . . books! What were books doing down here? Light filtered from above, and made square patterns on the mosaic floor. Whatever the room had been used for, it had clearly sat forgotten for a long time. Piles of rubbish littered the floor, and where it lay clear, hop-rat tracks criss-crossed the dust.

The rubbish lay heaped in larger piles close to the room's corners, along the edges and inside the bottom-most shelves. She wrinkled her nose at the smell. Tiny black droppings lay scattered amongst the detritus. The hop-rats had obviously found themselves a convenient nesting material in the tomes of this old archive and they had used it to advantage. The lower shelves lay bare except for the odd fragment of a binding and the shreds of what had once been books. Clearly, the hop-rats had only been able to reach so far, for above the vacant spaces in the lower shelves ran row upon row of volumes, all reasonably intact. Tarith could hardly believe her luck. It seemed she might at last have found something to occupy her time. Even if they were merely records of the temple's past transactions, it would give her something to do other than simply wandering empty passages.

She had first discovered the entrance to the passageways below the temple some weeks ago. A small winding staircase led down behind a storeroom that sat behind the main temple altar. Tarith had used a rest period to explore it, and at the bottom discovered--to her delight--the maze of corridors winding beneath the temple itself. She soon took to extending those explorations in her still and quiet times, musing over the daily boredom of temple existence and walking off her frustrations. The passages wove, long cool and deep beneath the temple stone. And they travelled further, she was sure, but she had never had enough time to test her suspicions. She wondered to what they might lead. Beyond Akkar, there was only parched desert.