Chapter 23
“We may have a problem getting light into the sub-basement areas,” said Harkon, when they went back into the temple.
“We’re fairly lucky any of this temple was above ground, to be honest,” said Kaz, staring with dismay through the window of the outer corridor at root-filled earth. “It’s good rich earth, you know, it would be good for growing things in, look how dark it is.”
“Leaf mould,” sighed Harkon. “Blew in, drifted, and was held inside the circle. The centre is probably the same. It’s going to be easier to build that new temple on the road.”
“It can be dug out,” said Kaz. “Maybe not now, but with enough labour. We need to steal some trógling.”
“They’ll start wondering if our sacred weapon is a spade,” said Lelyn.
“The land-mother’s spades are sacred weapons,” said Svargia. “They can be used to fight undead, and I was wishing I had brought a spade with me when fighting. They are blessed so that those who are buried are immune from being made into undead, and that blessing extends to fighting undead, too.”
“Nobody likes the foul practice,” said Protasion. “We have more pitch; I suggest we make more torches, and come back tomorrow, fully rested.”
“I agree,” said Kaz.
Harkon nodded. “I think, however, I would like to spend time in the temple to re-sanctify it; it should weaken any further undead which are here.”
“Then we will take turns to guard you,” said Kaz.
Harkon felt that the resanctification of the temple went suspiciously fast, and he could feel that he had definite help, but he was not about to complain.
The younger ones moved camp into the temple, having made a lot more torches.
“You’re going to sleep in the temple?” said Harkon.
“Where safer?” said Kaz.
Where safer indeed! thought Harkon. The commandant’s quarters between inner and outer circle were mostly undamaged, and if the drains had filled somewhat, at least his latrine might be used by a few people and anything would soak away. The upper floor seemed to have fallen in, but the earth between the walls was perhaps holding the outer circle up. The commandant’s main office also appeared to have been lost to nature, as there was a tree in it.
But the temple was sanctified.
The night was without alarum, and with pitch torches, they set off to explore the basement level.
“Bodies,” said Kaz, laconically. “No digestion or breathing. Possibly zombies.”
Moving forward, the bodies were found to be recent, in clothing recognisable as being from one or other of the city states of Limnesthos, a woven band in one woman’s tunic recognisable as being unique to cloth from Kallos.
“I presume these are the unfortunate adventurers who were abandoned by the scribe,” said Harkon. “They have been exsanguinated – drained of blood,” he explained, “And presumably used to feed the bloodsucker. It is unlikely that they would rise as undead with the full blood moon, but we should still cut of their heads, stake them, and burn the bodies.”
Much of the rest of the basement level had fallen in, so, having checked that there were no further passages, they carried the bodies up, and did all that was necessary, saying the prayers for the dead for them.
“I suppose there was nothing left of the library?” asked Kaz.
“I don’t know,” said Harkon. “Apart from knowing that the vampire had been sleeping in the treasury, we hadn’t looked.”
“Armoury first, then,” said Kaz. “Library last.”
Harkon laughed.
“We won’t understand the languages they used,” he said.
“No, but we can have them translated, if anything remains,” said Kaz. “Make a trade of knowledge with the Polosi.”
“I doubt anything will,” said Harkon.
The armoury was well-stocked, in quaint, old-fashioned armour and weapons.
“Of some use in emergency, but better to put on display as curiosities,” said Harkon. “How they carried that heavy, unwieldy stuff, I do not know.”
“Swords, at least, have not changed significantly,” said Kaz.
Harkon went ahead into the vampire’s sleeping chamber, in case he had any minions in there to serve him.
It was in some ways a little disappointing, in holding a narrow camp bed with a bed roll such as Harkon himself might use. However, the vampire seemed to have revelled in the fact that the treasury had been left unplundered.
“When I was re-sanctifying the temple, Alethos told me that the guardian spirit had remained faithfully, keeping out intruders until this interloper managed to drive it off. There is a new guardian spirit as the old one deserves his rest in the halls of Alethos,” said Harkon. “So, the bloodsucker had not removed the temple reserves of cash or treasures.”
A ring flew from a box and insistently pushed its way onto Kaz’s right hand. She gasped as it flashed like fire.
“It is a ring of fire blade,” she said. “He wants me to have it. Thank you!”
Harkon stood stock still, listening.
“We are to take a bag of coins back to Mesolimnos to sell, and keep for clearing out this menace,” he said. “Evgon, perhaps you will collect some?”
“I will,” said Evgon. “And collections of all kinds will please those who seek knowledge and make collections more than just gold.”
“Wise,” said Harkon. He gasped as an arm ring slid off a pile and tenderly closed on his upper arm. “An amulet of power storage; thank you, my lord. He says each of the rest of you shall take rings from this box, which are rings of protection.”
“He is good to us,” said Zon.
“You pulled your weight to do what you could,” said Harkon. “With magical armour, we shall worry about you less.”
“Our linen armour is better than anything we have had before,” said Rynn. “And it is silent.”
“And better with the ring than many bronze suits of armour,” said Harkon. “This can be locked up, and used at need, now it is under the protection of the new guardian spirit.”
The library was dry and reeked of protection and preservation spells, and contained many scrolls.
One scroll case lay open on a table, with a sheet of parchment held flat with stones.
“Hey, I can read this,” said Protasion. “My tutor beat old high Sunscript into me. It’s a load of tosh, though.”
“Read it out,” said Harkon. “I have a feeling we were supposed to see this.”
“I think it’s prophecies,” said Protasion. “When the night-born chooses the light of truth and death, look ye for the portents. It will begin with the Healing of the Wound of Shame and will tie the Beloved to Death. Look for those who were bound to be freed, those who suffer to be liberated, those despised to be loved, and look then for the terrible vengeance of the Wronged on those who will bring disaster on us all. Those of the gods who are able will gain power when the judge of the three fools brings wisdom, and she who embraces his wisdom will gain in many ways.
She who weeps in the dark will find freedom forever if the brave can break the curse that holds her. It goes on in a similar sort of way, but it seems pretty disconnected.”
“Put it in the scroll case, which will have preservation spells on it, and bring it,” said Harkon. “It reiterates some things we already know.”
“We do?” said Protasion.
“Kaz,” said Harkon, laconically. “Called the Daywalker. Will live forever and desire death. We freed the bound ghosts. I can’t interpret all of it, but some is clear enough and refers to rescuing tróglings.”
“Kaz healed Alathan, too,” said Protasion. “Why the wound of... Alethos’s balls! Does that mean....”
“Yes, it does, you knuckle-head,” said Lelyn.
“Well, I’m damned,” said Protasion.
“Not yet,” said Lelyn.
“Take a few scrolls in the same script, and we’ll see about translations back in our own temple,” said Harkon.
“There’s an engineering treatise; I noticed that the sanctum above the altar is a fine dome, larger than anything we can build today, and I’d love to be able to reproduce it on our temple on the Ghostlands,” said Protasion.
“We know what he’ll be doing during rest periods,” laughed Kaz. “You will be a famous engineer, Protasion.”
“I’d love to be the hero of engineering for the cult,” said Protasion.
The Alethosi spent two more nights in the temple, tidying it up, and cleaning, to make it a suitable place for worship.
“I suggest we put runes of warding on the door along with the glyphs of truth and death, so that only a true worshiper can open it without dismantling them or battering the door down, and then we half bury it until we can return,” said Kaz.
Harkon nodded.
“Your Toróg runes seem to work, and it would be an unusual group who could manage to undo them,” he said.
Kaz went to work, and Protasion added inscriptions in old high Sunscript.
“Some of the writings which remain are temple wards,” he said. “They are a bit formulaic and must be written in a circle.”
“I think they call that a sigil,” said Kaz. “When writing is also in a pattern. How many adventurers are likely to have linguists with both Sunscript and Darkscript!”
“Not many, if any,” laughed Harkon. “Usually held to be mutually exclusive.”
“I want to go through every temple for their knowledge, but it’s not really feasible,” said Kaz, regretfully. “We have a duty to report that the undead are dealt with.”
“There are a lot of adventurers out there,” said Harkon. “Their devotion to wealth will see much knowledge unlocked.”
“And much lost because there will be those idiots who discard knowledge and grab the gold, or empty the scrolls out of protective scroll cases to use as coin-carriers,” said Kaz, tartly. “Really, it is the duty of the temple of Polos to search cities like this as a religious duty, not leave it to every ragtag scum of the earth that many adventurers are. Or if every cult took responsibility for its own temples, there would be less for them to do, and they would have to get honest jobs.”
Harkon chuckled.
“Your prejudices are on display.”
“Before I found the temple, I sat in a few bars, to learn more,” said Kaz. “As far as I could see, the adventuring troops are loud and arrogant, ill-disciplined, and venal. There was one female, Polia by name, who sneered at everyone. She’s not hardly any bigger than I am, but she is extremely tough. In a way, she showed me that I need not be weak just because I am small. But she and her big, brawny friend were pushing other people around. I found that... disturbing.”
“Oh, I know Polia,” said Harkon. “I know she hasn’t had an easy life, but you are right, she is vainglorious and a bully. Revenge for being bullied for being small, I suppose.”
“Is it not the pleasure and the duty of the strong to protect the weak, not to push them about?”
“It is; or it should be. I won’t stop you from picking a fight with her, when we get back. I should think you have learned enough to take her down,” said Harkon.
“Oh, do you think so? I do feel I am learning a lot,” said Kaz. “I should like to move to a hand and a half sword, though.”
Harkon sniggered.
“The average hand and a half sword on you is about two thirds your height.”
“And maybe some of my enemies will die laughing before I kill them,” said Kaz.
“You’ve good muscles and your balance is superb. I have no trouble in thinking that you can handle it,” said Harkon.
“What are we going to do about the temple site at halfway?”
“Put it in the hands of Pythas, and ask him to arrange it. Your map of the buildings should more than pay for it – if you’re willing to sell that for the cult, no, it should go to you tróglings.”
“If the cult will hire tróglings to build, it will do something for us all,” said Rynn.
“Another trip to Kallos to buy as many as we can,” said Kaz.
“And some raids,” said Rynn. “We all know that the trógling pens are not as well-guarded.”
Kaz gave a mirthless smile.
“I know just the place,” she said.
“You can draw us maps,” said Protasion. “With the rings of dark-seeing, two of us can help out inside.”
“Good point,” said Kaz. “Well, we have a lot to be getting on with.”
Some of what they had to be getting on with was making it seem as if the temple was well buried in rubble, whereas the moving of a stone or two would permit access in squeezing past the rubble they enthusiastically threw down from the upper storey, once Kuros had climbed up to set up a rope. It looked very convincing.
“We’ll camp one night over,” said Harkon. “We’ve all worked hard, getting the temple protected and then semi buried in rubble. We’ll go back to our first camp site here, by the waterfall, and leave tomorrow.”
