Chronicles of Han Storm - Leilaka #1 (Fantasy, Adventure, Dragon Riders)

Leilaka *** Chapter 20 ***

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*** Twenty ***

    Morning found me moody and irritable. Pressure to move was foremost in my thoughts.

The Elfes were tending the horses and the rest of my companions were still asleep.

I woke Connor.

"We need to prepare for the day. Elbien will meet us at the Temple. He is taking us to their Holy Site himself. Habieb has relayed our episode on the mountain peak to his father. Our attitude towards holy places did not come out as extremely respectful."

Leaving Connor to his morning routine, I sought out the tent that had the food available last night.

Habieb was having breakfast. I helped myself to a small amount of food and found an unobtrusive spot to sit down and eat.

Habieb eyed me all the while. As soon as I had finished, he joined me outside where we waited for Connor.

There was an uncomfortable silence between us and neither was prepared to break it. Both of us were stubborn.

Connor did not want any breakfast, but had a mug of weak tea before joining us outside in the melting snow.

Habieb guided us out of the main area of the village to the entrance of the Temple against the side of the mountain where a few stone columns were barely holding up a roof.

Elbien joined us and we followed him into this hall. Walking between the two rows of columns took us deeper into the mountain.

Elbien lit a torch and led the way down a flight of stairs.

At the bottom, we came out into a square room with chiselled rock surfaces on all sides, including the roof.

In front of the furthest wall stood a coffin on a rock platform. It was the exact same type as we had seen on the mountain peak. This one was just much better preserved.

Elbien lit all four the torches that stuck out of niches in the walls, lighting the whole room in dancing firelight.

There were inscriptions on all the walls, and on this coffin, too. It was in the same dialect that I had to unravel on the previous coffin.

Elbien addressed me. "You may examine the artefacts in my presence. Please handle everything with reverence. I do not want to displease the gods."

"What does it say?" Connor wanted me to read the inscription on the coffin.

"It says exactly the same as the other one" I replied. I really still did not have any clue as to what was meant by the inscriptions on the coffins.

Using his dagger, Connor carefully removed the tarry substance that had kept the contents of the coffin in an airtight condition. After prying the heavy lid open he pushed it over just far enough to have a good look inside.

Elbien stepped closer with the torch to throw light on the subject.

Again, there was no body, only closed bags filling the coffin. It looked like finely weaved flour bags, but on closer inspection Connor found them to be filled with fine, black dust.

He stepped back from the coffin, holding a hand of this dust out to me.

"I do not understand. This one is filled with a lot of dust, where the other one had only a tiny amount."