Brian Pratt - Shades of the past

Okay, suppose there is a rhyme or reason to it. How did Jiron and I trigger it the first time? Could it be set up to trigger for anyone who does magic? That wouldn’t make a whole lot of sense. The warrior priests have made many enemies over the years who can wield magic. They surely wouldn’t want anyone other than themselves to take advantage of their teleportation system. So the trigger must be something that has to do with them and that only they and their agents would have. Maybe some ability they posses or an aura or something?

“James?” questions Jiron softly.

Eyes opening he glances to where Jiron is still keeping an eye on the stairs. “Someone coming?” he asks.

Shaking his head he says, “No. I was thinking we might want to get out of here.” Grinning he adds, “Seeing as how you are awake and all.”

The headache has subsided to a dull throb. He feels a little bit rested and able to continue, though the thought of using magic makes his headache throb even more. “Doubt if I could do anything if we were to be attacked,” he says. Getting to his feet, he says, “But I am fit enough to walk without your support.”

“Good,” he says as he comes to him. “Then let’s get out of here.” He moves past James and crosses over to the corridor. There he pauses and glances back to make sure James is following before leaving the room.

He proceeds down the corridor until he comes to where another corridor crosses the one they’re in. Remembering the way from last time, he takes the corridor to the right. They don’t go far before coming to the three skeletons of the dead priests lying on the floor. The whole area of the corridor has been blackened as if by fire.

Jiron steps over the skeletons and continues down the corridor. He stops when he realizes James isn’t following him. Looking back he finds him standing before the skeletons, staring at them. He starts back toward him when he hears James exclaim, “I got it!”

“What?” Jiron asks as he rejoins him by the skeletons.

Reaching into his pouch, he removes the amulet he acquired here the last time. Emblazoned with the symbol of the warrior priest, he holds it up and shows it to Jiron.

“So?” he asks. Puzzled as to why James is standing there with a wide grin, he waits.

“Don’t you see,” he says as he shakes the amulet slightly, “this is the key!” He looks to Jiron as if that should explain it all. When Jiron shrugs that he isn’t following him, he adds, “The dais. This is what triggered the teleportation.”

“Still not sure I’m following you,” admits Jiron.

“Do you remember me telling you about my time in the City of Light before it fell?” he asks. When he sees Jiron nod he continues. “Ol’ One Eye was sure interested in this when he found it in my possession, said it ‘changed things’. I didn’t understand it at the time but it makes sense now.”

“Also, back in Mountainside when we were taken into the jail back when Tinok and Cassie were still with us, the officer there was mighty interested in it as well. I think it’s no small coincidence that the dais sent us here. After all, this is where it belonged.”

“So…” Jiron begins as he tries to work this out. Shaking his head he says, “I still don’t understand.”

Holding the amulet up before him he says, “This is a portal key! It activates the magic in the dais. That’s why we ended up here, it’s keyed to the dais below. When we jumped on the dais back in that other place, it sensed this key and sent us here.”

“But, why didn’t we come here first then?” he asks.

“I don’t know,” he admits. There his reasoning breaks down. He considers it for a minute then says, “But the fact that I found the amulet here and that we were ultimately sent here has to be connected in some way. It could be that each key is set for a specific temple and will always return the wearer to that temple.”

He can see the doubt in Jiron’s eyes. “Of course,” he tells him, “the only way to test the theory is to take another ride through the portal.”

Jiron laughs at that. “I don’t think so,” he says shaking his head.

“I agree,” James states.

“Can we go now?” asks Jiron.

With a nod of his head, James indicates for him to lead on. As he follows Jiron, a memory of what he told Aleya during their last visit when she had asked about the amulet: “Maybe it was only given to a priest once they achieved a certain level of the temple hierarchy,” he had suggested. “Simply having one may have afforded them some privilege or it could’ve been a sign of rank or trust as well.” If that is the case, then only the higher ranking priests would have access to the portal, which would make sense.

Jiron continues to lead until they come to where another corridor converges with the one they’re in. James shines the light of the orb down the left to reveal the cave-in they ran across last time. Knowing they are on the right path, Jiron continues straight ahead.

Twenty feet or so they come to another cave-in. A space just large enough for a man to crawl through has been cleared at the top of the obstruction. The last time they were here, they had crawled through that hole and found themselves out among the trees on the mountainside. Taking a look at the ground on this side of the cave-in, they find impressions in the dirt from where they previously rested until it had grown dark outside.

Jiron immediately goes to the opening and crawls a short way through before stopping. He pauses a moment before coming back inside. “It’s dark,” he says.

“That’s fortunate,” comments James and indicates for Jiron to continue on through to the other side.

He cancels the orb before he follows Jiron through the hole. It takes his eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness before he’s able to see the moonlight filtering in through the opening. Making his way through he finds the half moon to be high overhead. Jiron offers him a hand as he crawls out and helps him to his feet.

“Now,” he says, “let’s see about finding our way back to the others.”

They work their way along the mountainside toward the south. Somewhere ahead in the dark lies the road running along the southern edge of the mountains which will take them toward Madoc. The last time they came this way, there was a sizeable presence of the enemy along the road.

It doesn’t take them long to reach the road leading down from the summit, appearing in the moonlight ahead of them. Carefully looking in both directions, they determine the road is empty. With Jiron in the lead they move onto the road.

Traveling upon the road affords them much better speed than forging their way through the forest. “We need to find a couple of horses,” James whispers.

“I know,” comes the all but silent reply.

The road takes them quickly down the mountainside. It isn’t long before the lights from the encampment of the Empire’s soldiers at the base of the mountain come into view. The number of campfires indicates there isn’t nearly the number of men there were the last time they passed this way. “Maybe they don’t feel a large presence is warranted here,” suggests Jiron.

“Could be,” agrees James. “Or they could have sent most of their force to deal with Illan and the others.”

“That would make sense,” he says with a nod.

They continue following the road until it begins to approach the perimeter of the enemy camp before moving into the shelter of the trees. Working their way through the hills at the base of the mountain, they make their way closer to the enemy lines. Pausing a moment upon the top of a hill overlooking the enemy camp, they have a commanding view of its layout. Off to their right they see where they have their horses kept.