Troy Denning - Faces of Deception

The creature looked as though it were drinking, but then it began to stretch forward and twist its neck about, searching for something on the bottom of the pool. Seema continued forward until she could peer over the rubble dam down into the pond, and waved her companions forward.

"This is very special," she whispered. "You must see."

Rishi crept ahead without hesitation, but Atreus found himself lagging behind, struggling with his memory of how easily the monster had taken control of him. Only his bodyguard's looming presence, and the certain knowledge that the ogre would interpret any hesitation as further evidence of Seema's trustworthiness, compelled Atreus forward at all.

When he reached Seema's side, he bit his cheeks to keep from crying out in wonder. The bottom of the pool was buried in diamonds, rubies, sapphires, every type of precious stone, all in their natural form and some as large as a man's thumb. The Dweller was rummaging through the jewel bed, pulling out the brightest stones and holding each one to an eye for a closer examination. It threw many stones back, usually those cloudier or less deeply colored than their fellows. It placed the other gems into the scarlet mouths at the end of its tentacles and sucked them up inside the scaly appendages.

"Seema, you are a hopeless liar!" cried Rishi. "Did you not tell me just this morning there was no treasure in Langdarma?"

"This is not Langdarma's treasure." Seema smirked at the Mar as though daring him to steal it. "It belongs to the Dwellers, and you must not touch it."

"Are you mad?" Rishi gasped. "Those are diamonds… and rubies. They are not meant to fill the gizzard of some overgrown snail!"

"They will not," said Seema. "The Dwellers take them down into the mountains and plant them beneath the far reaches of the Yehimals."

"Where they will not be found for centuries?" A larcenous gleam appeared in Rishi's eye, and he seemed unable to rip his gaze from pool bottom as he said, "What good does that do? It is better for me to take them now. I can carry them straight to the finest markets in the Five Kingdoms."

The Mar dropped his bucket and started forward without awaiting Seema's reply, but Atreus quickly caught him by the shoulder.

"Don't you think the Dweller will object to another pair of hands in its gem bed? Seema promised no harm would come to us as long as we did what she said. I intend to see to it that we honor our agreement."

Rishi's gaze ran along the pool bottom to one of the Dweller's scaly tentacles, then up the appendage to the shapeless bulk of the monster's huge body. The larcenous gleam faded from his eyes, and he seemed slowly to return to his senses.

"You are absolutely right. A thousand gratitude's. I was lost in the monster's fiendish grip and would certainly have brought a swift and terrible end to us all if not for your ready intervention."

"The Dweller calls to each of us in a different way," Seema agreed. "I am glad you have heard yours and returned to us whole."

"We will have to wait until after the monster is gone," the Mar said, then sat down on his pebble bucket, his gaze still fixed on the pool. "Surely, there will be a bucketful left for us."

Seema's face grew stern and she said, "Even if you had so many days, that is not why I brought you here." She jerked Rishi to his feet, snatched his bucket up, and thrust it into his hands. "Let us do what we came to do and be gone."

Seema cast an angry look at Atreus, clearly holding him responsible for the Mar's sacrilege, then climbed onto the dam and dumped her pebble bucket into the shining basin. A tentacle snaked over to inspect the stones and rose briefly out of the pool and slapped the surface, splashing Seema with a stream of shining water. It was impossible to guess whether the gesture was one of thanks or irritation. Seema motioned the others over, gesturing for them to do as she had. After dumping their buckets, Atreus and Rishi each received a similar splash. When Yago dumped his cask, the Dweller rested its tentacle on his shoulder and rubbed his face, smearing the ogre's orange cheek with white slime. "Hey!"

Yago knocked the tentacle away and the Dweller responded by flicking the appendage back toward him. When the ogre fell for the feint and brought his other arm across to block, the monster struck, slapping Yago alongside the head so hard that he tumbled backward off the dam. He landed with a deafening crash and sprang instantly to his feet, only to find the tentacle's finger-like end tendrils waving in his face.

Keeping a cautious eye on the tendrils, Yago began to edge toward the marble bench.

"Yago!" Seema hissed, wrapping both hands around the ogre's wrist and pulling him toward the head of the pool. "What are you doing?"

"You saw," the ogre said as he backed away from the Dweller. "That thing went after me!"

"It was only playing," Atreus said, hoping he was right. "If that monster had been attacking, I doubt any of us would be here."

Seema nodded, her eyes as hard as ice. "I pray we are not about to discover the truth of that," she said, and began to edge along the dam toward the granite stairs. "I do not know what the Dweller will do when we pass the Pool of Gems. I have never been beyond here."

Rishi rolled his eyes, clearly believing this was just one more lie designed to protect Langdarma's secret treasures.

Atreus stepped to the head of the line. "In that case," he said, "let me go first… alone. If the Dweller objects, perhaps he will only attack me."

"I'm the bodyguard," objected Yago.

"But it's my quest," Atreus said, then made the small leap from the dam to the first step. "What does it mean if I don't go first?"

Yago frowned, and Atreus ascended the staircase while the ogre was still trying to puzzle out the question. The Dweller raised its tentacles and cocked its head, its dark scarlet eyes growing steadily dimmer as Atreus climbed out of the pool's brilliant aura. He averted his own glance and was careful not to lock gazes with the monster. When the trio of scarlet eyes finally faded to nothingness, the creature let out one of its low belly rumbles and splashed its tentacles back into the water.

Atreus found himself standing alone at the entrance to what appeared to be a narrow, vaulted temple. Down each side ran a low meditation platform covered in the mouldering remains of folded carpets. On the walls hung tatters of silken tapestries whose patterns and colors had long ago vanished into dust and mildew. The shining stream ran straight up the aisle between the meditation platforms, narrowing in the distance until it finally vanished into the darkness.

"Atreus?" called Seema. For the first time since leaving her hut, there was genuine concern in her voice. "Is everything well?"

"It's fine. Come up."

His companions emerged from the cloudy aura one after the other, each entering the strange vault in awestricken silence. Once they had gathered, Atreus quietly led the way up the aisle. A low murmur began to resonate in the back of his mind, growing more noticeable as they progressed. It was not a sound, but rather the perception of a sound, an echo that reverberated inside his head without passing through his ears.

The murmur became a rhythmic growl, then a deep, guttural chant, and finally an eerie pulsing roar as mesmerizing as it was maddening. Atreus looked back and found Yago and Rishi staring wide-eyed at the dark walls.

"You hear it too?"

Though Atreus had intended to speak only loud enough to make himself understood, his voice rang through the silent temple like a thunderclap.

Both Yago and Rishi nodded nervously.

"It says, 'Luck and Happiness to all creatures. May the Serene Ones spread their grace over the world,'" explained Seema. "The ancient monks filled the stones with their voices, and now the walls are ringing their chants back to us."