Warrior Priest of Dmon-Li: The Morcyth Saga Book Three (25 page)

“If we go back up, as likely as not we’ll
fall through again,” he explains. “Plus, they’ll never find us here
unless they stumble upon the opening. Which, in the dark is
unlikely.”

“How do you know there’s even a way out?”
Miko asks.

“I don’t,” he replies. “But the dead had to
be brought here somehow.”

“The two chambers we fell in were
connected,” Jiron says. “Stands to reason there would be a way
out.”

James moves closer to Miko and says
soothingly, “Just stay close and we’ll make it out, okay?”

Miko nods his head.

James moves to the opening of the burial
chamber and takes the lead. Before leaving, he glances over his
shoulder and says, “Follow me and stay close.”

Jiron nods his head and Miko says, “Don’t
worry about that.”

He turns back toward the opening and leaves
the burial chamber.

A small crude path extends from the burial
chamber. James steps out and follows it as it passes by another
chamber. They can see the hole in the roof where Jiron had fallen
through and the rubble on the floor from the collapsed ceiling as
they make their way past the opening.

“Wonder why they dug it so close to the
surface?” Jiron muses.

“Probably wasn’t when this had been done,”
James replies. “Over time, when the walls of the canyon had eroded
away by wind and rain, the distance between the chambers and the
surface gradually diminished. Now there’s only a thin layer
remaining, which we broke through. No telling how long this has
been here.”

They continue past more of the chambers, all
feeling incredibly old, the air musty and stale. James is glad it’s
still breathable. As they pass one chamber, Miko hollers out when
he sees something shining within.

James backs up and lets the orb’s light
shine into the room, and they see several gold coins lying on a
bier next to a corpse. “You going to take them?” James asks
him.

Shaking his head, Miko says, “I don’t think
that would be a good idea.”

“Why?” he asks.

“Robbing from the dead is wrong,” he says.
Then he glances to James and says, “Everyone knows that.”

Giving him a slight smile, James nods his
head as they continue down the dug out pathway, leaving the coins
where they found them. They come to where the way splits to the
right or left, James takes the right.

After passing three more chambers of the
dead, the passage abruptly ends. “Looks like they just stopped
digging here,” he guesses. Turning around, he leads them back to
where the passage had split, this time following the left fork.

When they pass the next chamber, something
else catches his eye. Stopping, he returns to it and finds a corpse
lying there with a sword across his chest. The sword, which at one
time had been finely crafted, has now been eaten away by rust. The
man had been laid out in his armor, obviously a warrior of some
sort.

Returning to the passage, they continue down
past several more chambers when again, the passage diverges. Either
straight, or to the right. Being methodical, James again turns
right.

This passage extends quite a ways, winding
to the right and left as it comes to different chambers. All of the
chambers are in the same crude style, some of the occupants are
wrapped in cloth, while some are laid out as if sleeping. All of
them have the look of having been here an awfully long time.

The interesting thing about the dead here,
is that some are fairly well preserved while others are almost
rotted away to skeletons.
Maybe different embalming techniques
for the different social classes. But if that is the case, why are
they all together? Never heard of different classes being mingled
together. Interesting.

As they move through the catacomb, Miko
begins relaxing. He doesn’t lose his nervousness, but the panic he
originally felt upon entering has long since subsided.

The passage they’re following abruptly ends
again, so they again turn back. Coming to the juncture of passages,
they turn right.

They follow this passage down past six
chambers until it suddenly ends at a crude stairway going up. “This
is encouraging,” James says as he begins to ascend the stairs.

“I hope it leads out,” Miko says from behind
him.

“Me too,” agrees James.

Coming to the top of the stairs, they enter
a small room, with more biers of the dead. This room looks to be
constructed slightly better than what they saw down below. Where
the area below had looked to have been just dug out of the earth,
here it looks more constructed. The walls are more uniform, though
still consisting of dirt and earth.

The biers here aren’t just dug out of the
walls. Instead, some are lined with linen and wood. The dead here
looks to have been better preserved than those below.

“This area looks newer than the other,”
observes Jiron.

“Yeah,” agrees James. He moves through the
chamber to the opposite side where a doorway leads to a connecting
hallway. The hallway is wider and slightly higher than its
counterpart below. “We may be getting closer to the exit,” he
announces.

“That would be wonderful,” he hears Miko
exclaim behind him. He can’t help but smile at him.

Moving along the hallway, they pass more
chambers. These contain more gold and other valuables for the dead.
In one, he sees gripped in a corpse’s hands that are crossed upon
its chest, a finely wrought golden chalice.
The Holy Grail?
He smiles at the thought.
I doubt it!

Continuing on, they come to where the
hallway they’ve been following intersects another. Now faced with
three choices, they pause a moment.

“Which way?” he asks, glancing back to his
friends.

“Doesn’t matter,” Jiron says.

So James turns again to the right and
follows the hallway. After passing by several chambers, it opens up
onto a large chamber, the largest they’ve yet seen.

A large sarcophagus rests in the center of
the chamber and a chest sits at the foot of it. He moves into the
chamber to inspect it more closely.

“What are you doing?” asks Miko from where
he stopped at the entrance.

“Just taking a better look?” he replies.

“Why?” he asks. “Let’s get out of here!”

“Just a moment,” James replies. He moves to
the sarcophagus and holds the orb over it as he examines the
artwork. His eyes are drawn to the chest and he really wants to
open it. If this had been a role playing game, he’d not even had
hesitated. But he dares not risk it, he remembers the last time
they opened a chest and the results.

The room itself is fairly unadorned, a lone
tapestry which has long since fallen to rot hangs on one of the
walls.

His curiosity satisfied, he leaves the room
and they move back to the juncture. Turning again to the right he
follows the hallway down past burial chambers until it ends at a
stone door set in the wall.

He gasps when he sees what is upon the door.
The Star of Morcyth. “This must be a burial chamber for a priest of
Morcyth,” he says. Taking out the medallion, he puts it into the
recess of the Star on the door and the door begins to open.

Before he replaces the medallion back within
his shirt, he notices a subtle glow emanating from it. He shows it
to the others. “Never saw it do this before,” he says.

“Maybe it’s like back when we were trapped
in the place with the skull pyramids,” suggests Miko.

“Perhaps,” James agrees, “but I’ve yet to
encounter anything bearing the Star of Morcyth to be harmful.”

He moves through the doorway, holding the
medallion out before him and enters a large chamber. A single
sarcophagus rests upon a stand in the center of the room, the Star
of Morcyth engraved upon the top.

The medallion flashes in his hand and the
room seems to begin to glow with a soft, warm light. Next to him,
he hears Jiron suddenly gasp. He looks toward the sarcophagus and
sees a light begin to form next to it.

“James…” Miko begins to say as he tugs at
his arm.

More curious than fearful, James continues
to watch as the light turns into a ghostly apparition.

The ghost is a man in robes, hovering there
next to the sarcophagus, and upon its breast is a medallion similar
to the one James is holding. It’s face, hard to make out but looks
human, is facing them.

James steps forward and says,
“Greetings.”

The ghost nods its head and replies in a far
off sounding voice, “Greetings, fellow priest of Morcyth.”

James glances at the medallion he’s holding
and replies, “I’m not a priest.”

The apparition reaches out, almost touching
the medallion he’s wearing. “The glow only comes from his priests,
it manifests for no others,” the ghostly voice says.

“Who are you?” James asks.

“I am no longer,” the ghost explains. “I
wish no longer to be.”

“Why are you here?” he asks the ghost.

“To guard, to watch, to bar, to wait,” the
ghost replies.

“Guard what?” James asks.

“That which must not be found,” he says.
“That which must never leave.”

“What must never leave?” he asks.

“The fire, the scourge, the ending,” moans
the ghost.

“I don’t understand,” James says.

“Stolen it was,” the apparition says.
“Stolen by us, never to leave. No, it must not be found!”

James glances back to his friends who look
back at him nervously. Returning his attention to the ghost, he
says, “Who did you steal it from?”

“The name that shall not be spoken,” the
ghost wails with great anxiety.

“What would happen if it is found?” James
asks.

“Death! Much death at the hands of his
followers,” cries the ghost.

Suddenly, the ghost begins wailing. The
wailing increases to such intensity that they’re forced to cover
their ears. When the wailing stops, the ghost cries, “One has
come!” Again the intense wailing.

“Hope is lost!” it wails and begins moving
in an agitated manner.

“What?” yells out James. “Who has come?”

“One who belongs to him that shall not be
named,” cries the ghost. “He shall find it!”

Suddenly, in his mind, he understands.
Abula-Mazki has entered the catacomb.

The ghost moves suddenly and comes to stand
but inches from James. “You must take it!” it wails to him. “Take
it and hide it!”

“Where is it?” James cries out to the
ghost.

“Above us,” the ghost replies. “You must
find the Room of Stars.” He moves to the side of his sarcophagus
and placing a hand upon it, says, “Within here, is the key.”
Beginning to wail again, the ghost begins shimmering until finally
dissolving into nothingness.

When the apparition is gone, they glance at
each other.

James walks over to the side of the
sarcophagus and tries to remove the stone slab covering it. “Help
me!” he hollers back to the others.

Moving closer, they both grab a hold of the
stone slab and with all three working together, manage to raise one
side. Pushing the slab away from them, they begin to slide it
across the sarcophagus where it drops over the other side, smashing
into the floor.

Within, they see the body of the priest
whose ghost had just spoken to them. Upon his breast is a golden
key, three inches in length with a large diamond at one end.
Reaching in, James picks it up.

“Come on!” he says as he runs from the
room.

“What’s going on?” Miko asks him as he
follows.

“Didn’t you hear what the ghost told us?” he
asks.

“All we heard was wailing,” Jiron
explains.

“He said that there is something here that
the priests of Morcyth had been hiding from someone,” he tells
them. “He also said that a follower of that someone is now here. I
think Abula-Mazki has found the entrance to the catacomb and is now
within it, hunting for us.”

“The priest told me I must find the ‘fire’
and keep it from him. It’s above us in the ‘Room of Stars’,
whatever that means.”

“What happens if he should get it?” Jiron
asks.

“The priest said ‘Death! Much death at the
hands of his followers’. I don’t think we have much choice.” James
hurries back to the junction and again takes the right.

He follows the hallway and comes to a set of
stairs leading up. Taking them two at a time, he reaches the top
and enters the hallway at a run. The hallway is constructed better
than the ones below. It has worked stone for sides as well as
frescoes and tapestries.

Rushing down the corridor, he comes to a
door in the right wall. Upon the door is a faded picture of a
diamond. He pulls out the key and finds the diamond on the door is
a direct match to the one on the key. Placing the key in the lock,
he turns it and opens the door.

The room on the other side is octagonal,
with upraised sarcophagi upon the other seven sides of the room.
Upon each is emblazoned the Star of Morcyth.

“This must be the room of stars,” he
announces. Turning to Jiron, he says, “Keep watch here and if
anyone comes, let me know.”

“You got it,” he says drawing his
knives.

“Come with me,” he says to Miko as he drags
him through the door and into the room.

The medallion on his chest begins to glow
once more, the Stars on the sarcophagi begin to glow as well. The
glowing of the Stars reveals that another Star has been engraved
upon the center of the chamber floor.

James grabs Miko and they move to the center
of the room.

“Why do I have to be here?” Miko asks as
they approach the center of the Star.

“Quiet,” James tells him. Upon reaching the
center, he takes the medallion and holds it up high. A high pitched
note begins to be heard coming from all around. It grows steadily
louder and louder.