Maylin's Gate (Book 3) (44 page)

"Baerinese ancients were a war-like people."

"Were?"

A smile appeared on the general's face. "Point taken."

"I don’t know where to begin looking," he said. "It could take weeks."

"What we seek, we'll find in the heart of the central spire. On the third floor."

"You sound so sure."

"I'm sure of the history, but not as much the historians." The general's smile tightened. "People use history to conceal lies."

The weight of unseen eyes bore down from the shadows. A slight shiver rolled along his spine. "We should make the remaining daylight count."

General Demos nodded and held the torch high as they made their way across the outer ring.

"How do we get in?"

General demos glanced at him but kept walking forward. "The ancients knew how to guard a secret."

"Oh?" He glanced over his shoulder and scanned the ruins.

Two trampled paths of grass stretched out behind him.

General Demos passed by one of the temples making up the ruin's inner ring. "A series of pressure plates triggered by the right combination opened a door at the temple's apex."

"You can't possibly know the combination," he said.

General Demos didn't answer and the silky sound of shifting grass filled the silence.

"I hope you have a backup plan," he said.

"The exact combination was unique to each city," General Demos said.

"City? I don't see anything resembling an entire city."

"The ancient baerinese were a subterranean people. They built their cities beneath their temples."

"Why?"

"Easiest to defend from warring tribes." General Demos paused at the base of the central spire and glanced upward.

A four-hundred foot pyramid built from white stone blocks stood before them. Unlike the temples surrounding the pyramid, time and weather had not eroded the stone.

Any sign of a door or an entry point eluded his initial scan. "You're sure about the entrance?"

General Demos shook his head. "The past month has caused me to doubt everything I once believed. I know what the historians wrote. That is all I can promise."

"Then we climb." With a low grunt, he heaved his body over the first of a hundred stone steps leading to the top.

General Demos leaped and landed beside him on the first step. The general offered a hand. "Let me help you."

"No thanks." He waved off General Demos. "I can make it."

General Demos gave a short nod and hopped upward landing on the next step.

He stood and pulled himself over the second step, his breath coming in short hard pulls.

Thirty minutes later, his tunic clung to his back and droplets of sweat rolled from his brow. Perspiration splattered the white rock beneath him.

The sun disappeared behind the horizon. A field of stars littered the night sky casting a thin veil of light across the rolling grasslands.

With his breath coming in heavy strained pulls, he rolled sideways and clawed to a seated position. He leaned against the stone marking the pyramid's apex and paused to catch his breath.

General Demos circled the apex stone, a broad flat triangular stone. "I wouldn't have believed had I not seen it with my own eyes."

He staggered to his feet and mopped the sweat from his brow. "What is it?"

A high-pitched scream broke the silence and echoed across the ruins.

He whirled tugging at the blade on his belt.

A steel blade appeared in General Demos's hand. The general's eyes turned into a hard squint.

A woman's scream. Adrenaline poured through his body relieving the fatigue.

The low rumble of shifting and sliding rock reverberated from a nearby temple. Which one he couldn't determine.

"Look," General Demos pointed toward the ground.

His skin prickled and went ice cold.

A heavy white mist smothered the high grass below.

"It's like the first night," he said.

A loud clang sounded from behind and he whirled searching the pyramid's face.

General Demos let loose a low hiss and faced the triangular apex stone.

From within the mist came a low growling.

The sound of heavy dragging stood the short hair on his neck straight up. He stole a glance over his shoulder. "Hurry, we can't stay here."

"These symbols, I've seen them before." General Demos touched the stone's smooth surface. "The translation escapes me."

"There isn't time for a history lesson." He whirled left and glanced across the ruins.

Standing on the edge of the outer triangle, the shrouded figure hovered like a specter inside the mist.

His heart hammered and he tightened the grip on his blade. "The faceless man. Hurry General Demos."

"If I trigger the wrong order, we face severe consequences."

He blinked and the faceless man appeared standing inside the inner triangle. "We already face them. He'll be on us any second."

General Demos pressed a pressure plate at the triangular symbol's apex.

A low rumbling noise came from inside the pyramid and the stone beneath his feet shook.

"I don't know if this is the correct order," General Demos said. "I need time to translate the inscriptions."

The shrouded figure appeared at the base of the pyramid and tilted its gaze upward to meet his.

His breath caught and he glared over his shoulder. "We're out of time."

General Demos pressed a pressure plate on the apex stone's lower left corner.

The pressure plate slid away. An empty socket appeared beneath.

General Demos’s eyes widened. “It’s missing.”

“What’s missing?” He glanced between General Demos and the faceless man.

“The trigger stone,” the general said. “Someone stole it.”

The blood drained from his face. “What does it look like?”

“It’s a smooth, flat stone,” General Demos said with eyes narrowed.

Zeke’s words came back to him and he fumbled in his belt pouch.

“What are you doing?”

He found the stone Zeke gave him and held it high. “Is this it?”

“Yes.” General Demos gaped at the stone.

“Here.” He tossed the stone and General Demos caught it.

The general pushed the stone into the socket and stood back.

An echoing click and a deep rumble set the pyramid shaking. Loose stone rattled down the steps and the white stone cracked. Splinters appeared on the stone nearest them.

His stomach sank and he jumped backward. "This is wrong."

General Demos's gaze flashed across the stone.

A high-pitched shriek split the air and his skin crawled.

General Demos stepped forward and twisted the trigger stone.

The rumbling stopped and the pyramid fell silent.

With ears perked, he turned in a slow circle. "Did you open the door?"

"I —" General Demos's eyes widened in shock.

The stone beneath his feet disappeared. A sickening falling sensation sent his insides tumbling.

Blackness of a kind he'd never experienced blotted his vision. He fumbled outward trying to find a handhold. Nothing.

He plummeted falling faster and farther than he'd climbed during his ascent. He cried out for General Demos, but his words came out as a scream.

With a low grunt he slammed into the ground and a sickening crack echoed around him. Pain raced through both legs, hot and merciless. Pain flared across his back and chest before he settled to a stop.

A field of white stars flashed across his vision before the world snuffed out.

CHAPTER FORTY-NINE

Elan’s Great Library

Tara's gaze followed the marble column's smooth lines.

Four white columns stood before Prynesse's grand cathedral. The cathedral stood at one end of the city's government circle. Tourists and politicians bustled across the cobblestone circle.

She turned in a slow circle and took in the grandeur.

A pair of hooded monks strode past her and Jo.

The clip-clop of a wagon team clattered against the cobblestones. A sleek black-lacquered wagon appeared beside her. A fresh-faced girl, not much younger than Jo, peeked through the drawn curtains.

She tucked away an errant strand of blond hair and tore her gaze from the girl's prying eyes. Of everywhere she'd visited in Meranthia, Prynesse had left her feeling the most out of sorts.

Jo turned her back on the monks before they disappeared into a monastery beside the cathedral.

A monastery decorated with gleaming silver ornaments. Its high beveled walls stood near as tall as the cathedral.

Either the notion of piety had changed during the centuries, or her memories had faded. Elan, not a religious man by any measure, would've found himself out of place in this version of Meranthia.

"That's not it." Jo tugged on her sleeve. "You'll find nothing but trouble inside those walls."

She gaped at the stunning buildings crowding the city center.

Behind her, a statue of Elan stood perched atop a thirty-foot marble base. Opposite the cathedral, an ivory building with a golden dome loomed over the city center. A modest gray-stoned building stood near the statue of Elan.

Jo pointed toward the gray-stoned building. "That's it."

"How did you know where to find the library?" She said.

Jo's face flushed. The girl glanced past her toward a group of passing nobles. Jo leaned in and spoke in a hushed voice. "I've spent some time in this city."

More secrets. "You're sure it holds Elan's original writings?"

Jo nodded. "People travel from everywhere to visit the Great Library."

She needed more than Elan's original notes. In fact, those notes wouldn't help her at all. But, her notebook would. "What about other tomes?"

"You have to trust me Tara." Jo's eyes shifted right then left. The girl spoke again, voice lower than before. "I've spent time inside the archives."

"How? Aren't Elan's writings guarded?"

"I'm...resourceful. Besides, I don't give two hoots about Elan's writings. I've spent hours reading stories of the ancient knights of the Order."

"Who let you in?"

Jo glanced toward the monastery. "The brothers tend the stacks. But, they would never let someone like me through the front door let alone inside the ancient archives."

Someone like her? "You know another way in?"

"Why do you need inside anyway? If we're caught they'll lock us up."

"My journal might help the king," she said. "If what you said is true, there's a good chance it's in those stacks." She gazed across the crowded city center toward the library.

"Help the king?" Jo's eyes widened. "What is it? Tell me."

She bit her lip and kicked a loose stone sending it rattling across the street. "The king needs more knights. He'll lose this war otherwise. My journal contains notes he might find...useful."

"Come on Tara. I can tell when you're holding back." Jo's gaze shifted right and left before leaning in close. "I can keep a secret."

She studied the teenage girl. Her only friend left to her in the entire world. What had she left to lose? "My notes outline a process to imbue others with Elan's power."

"The king can already do that. You've seen the knights of the Order."

She shook her head. "Those knights took segmented power from the shards left behind when the sphere shattered."

Jo's brow furrowed. "Segmented. What does that mean?"

"It means, this realm has never truly seen a knight imbued with the sphere's full power." She shuddered at the thought of facing an army of fully empowered soul knights. Ten thousand pets would face a daunting task taking down such a formidable opponent.

Jo stared at her jaw agape. "Who can take the power? You have to tell me Tara. I told you, I can keep a secret."

Her journal might also provide clues that would lift the curse eating away at her soul. She chose to keep that fact to herself. "I compiled the journal many years ago. Much of what's there I transcribed from Elan's research. I can't remember every detail." Truth told, the hunger to imbue herself with dark magic left her with no desire to reverse its flows. She never thought she'd need the information.

Jo stared across the city center at the monastery.

Several gray-robed monks appeared outside the monastery's doors. The group set a path toward the cathedral.

Jo's expression turned icy and the girl turned away.

What had they done to Jo? "How do we get inside the library?"

Jo nodded. "So long as they haven't fixed the way in. Come on." Jo circled around the statue of Elan and wound through the tourists clogging the city center.