James Wyatt - In the Claws of the Tiger

“I see two possible approaches,” Janik said. “One would be to retrace our steps from our last journey. I have the map I made then, though I don’t know how helpful it will be with all the building they’ve been doing.” He pulled the sheaf of parchment out of his coat and rustled through it. “The other option would be to head straight for the ziggurat, assuming that whatever is going on here has its origins in that structure.” He found the map he was looking for, checked the positions of the moons to orient himself, and pulled a small, smooth stone from another pocket. The stone glowed with a dim white light, and he held it near the map so he could read it.

He pointed to a spot at the edge of his map. “I think we’re about here,” he said. “Last time we came from the west and only made it about this far.”

“May I see the map?” Mathas asked, extending a hand.

“Of course.” Janik placed it in the elf’s wizened hand and held the glowstone so it illuminated the map.

Mathas studied it for a moment. “A typical scholar’s scratches,” he sighed. “You can read these notations, can you?”

“You know I can. What are you looking at?”

“Well, I can’t make out a word of it, but if my memory serves-and I have no reason to believe that its efficacy has been dimmed by my advanced age-then we must be almost directly above the place where we located the Ramethene Sword, and not far from the entrance to that underground vault.”

“Let me see that,” Janik demanded. He snatched the map from Mathas and held the light close to it. “Of course,” he said. “You’re right. And we had thought that we might be close to finding an entrance to the ziggurat down there.”

“I’m sorry,” Auftane interrupted, “but could you back up a little bit? I’m having a hard time following you.”

“Forgive me, Auftane. I forget you weren’t with us last time. On our previous expedition, we came in from the west, over here.” He pointed to the map and trailed his finger over it, showing their route through the ruins. “None of this was here-there was no wall, and none of these stacks of blocks. We went straight to the ziggurat and searched for a long time, hoping to find a way inside. We made wider and wider circles around it, and right here-” he pointed to a spot just west of their current position-“we did some digging. We managed to uncover the outline of a large chamber. It was boring work, though, and we gave up on uncovering any more of it-especially once we stumbled onto a passage leading down into the earth, still clear enough for us to pass through. That led us down into a large vault that was pretty much intact, and that’s where we found the Ramethene Sword.”

“When we brought the sword up to the surface, Krael met us,” Mathas said, “and after that defeat we lost interest in exploring the site any further. But we believed that if an entrance to the ziggurat were found, it would likely be connected to that underground vault.”

“And that passage is near here?” Auftane asked.

“I admit that my mapping suffered in the excitement of discovery,” Janik said. “But I believe Mathas is correct. It should be close.”

“Then it could very well be that your two approaches are one,” Mathas said. “By retracing our steps to the vault where we found the sword, we might be able to reach the ziggurat and get to the heart of this.”

“That reminds me,” Janik said. “Mathas, what do you make of the arrangement of these towers, these stacks of rubble?”

“What do you mean?”

“When I was up on the wall, it struck me for a moment that there might be some pattern to their placement around the ziggurat. Does that suggest anything to you?”

“Hmm,” the elf said, stroking his chin. “I had a brief impression of a similar thought when I was scouting the ruins with my spell. But I didn’t discern anything specific.”

“A pattern?” Auftane said. He rested his hand on the nearest block of stone and closed his eyes for a moment. Janik and Mathas exchanged a quizzical glance. “Yes …” The dwarf almost sang the word, surprisingly high and clear, but quickly resumed his normal low rumble. “There are lines of power pervading this place.”

“Binding the rajah?” Dania said.

“I can’t tell their exact purpose, but binding is possible. On the other hand, this structure seems to be designed to focus the power lines. Why would the zakyas be building these towers up if they’re making the rajah’s prison stronger?”

“Maybe something else is going on,” Janik said. “Could they be arranging these lines of magic power in a different way, maybe to weaken the bonds of the prison?”

“Anything’s possible,” Auftane said with a shrug. “I would need to examine more of the structures, try to get a sense of the larger pattern to determine exactly what’s going on.”

“So what should we do?” Janik said. “Should we check out the rest of the towers, or head underground and look for a way into the ziggurat? Dania, what’s your opinion?”

“Underground.”

“Mathas?” Janik said.

“Underground, I think,” the elf said. “While I admit to some curiosity, I also cannot deny a feeling of urgency. I think we should try to get to the heart of the matter as quickly as possible.”

“Auftane?”

“I agree with Mathas. Curiosity be damned.”

“Then we’re agreed,” Janik declared. “Let’s find the way underground.”

They crouched low amid the rubble, trying to stay out of sight of any guards that might be stationed on the wall or patrolling the ruins. They rounded a heap of jumbled stone, and Janik pointed to another crooked tower ahead.

“That tower should be at or near the passage entrance,” he said. “Let’s hope they haven’t covered it.”

“Quite the contrary,” Auftane observed as they neared the tower. It displayed the most complete construction they had seen in the ruins: a carefully built keystone archway leading between two large blocks. Beyond the arch, they could see a stairway descending into the earth.

“Oh, there are stairs now?” Janik said. “And I was looking forward to scaling that drop again.”

“Stairs probably mean guards,” Dania warned. “If this is a well-used route, it will be watched.”

“Weapons ready, everybody,” Janik whispered, and he saw Auftane shift his grip on his mace. “I’ll go first.”

Janik stepped up to the archway and peered inside. He produced the glowstone from his pocket and shone its dim light ahead of him into the dark tunnel. Seeing no sign of guards, he motioned the others forward and stepped through the arch.

Janik felt his foot tug a tripwire and he jumped forward in a flash, keeping just ahead of a dozen gleaming metal blades that arced out of the wall. He hit the floor in a roll and crouched low, ready to jump again if the trap had more to offer.

“Wait!” he hissed. Auftane came up short just before crossing the tripwire. The blades slid back into the walls, disappearing so smoothly that Janik could see the slits only because he knew where to look.

“There’s a tripwire,” he whispered to Auftane, “just in front of you.” He took a cautious step back toward the dwarf, who crouched down to look for the wire.

“Ah, I see,” Auftane said. “Back up, out of reach of the blades. I’ll cut the line.”

Janik took four steps back, checking carefully to make sure he was beyond the reach of the blades’ deadly arcs, and nodded to Auftane. The dwarf was examining the wire carefully and checking the walls around it.

“If you want to do it right-” Janik began.

“Tie off the ends so the tension isn’t released, I know,” Auftane interrupted. “But that’s a lot more work. Still,” he added, “best to be safe. Would you hold one side?”