PART III
I felt joy.
I was standing just outside the column of light that entered through the hole in the roof. Dust tickled my nose as I looked around. Everything was indirectly illuminated at best. I had a moment to daydream of somebody painting this scene and calling it “the Archaeologist.” Or maybe “the Discoverer.” And this Atrium was the barest beginning. Looking around there were no physical signs that anyone had walked here for ... years. Centuries? Sachya must have come in another way. The shadows invited me to wander in deeper and see things long concealed from men and women.
I closed my eyes and took a minute to run my “water meditation.” As you might know, all psionic powers ultimately flows from meditation. At this point, in a pinch, I can center and release my power in as little as one full breath. But as I summoned arcane lights I relaxed and stretched it out. I visualized the north shore of Altheria where it meets the Gulf of Yarris. I pictured it dark and stormy, full of whitecaps, waves, and treacherous currents. Then as I breathed in through my nose and out through my mouth I calmed the waters in my mind. The waves died down. The Gulf grew flat. And I was left with the light of Illiir reflecting off a sea that was mirror calm.
Psionics give off significant sensory displays. As I did this there was an audible hum and, of course, the pervasive smell of oranges. I spontaneously awakened in an orange grove. Everything I manifested came with its smell. Wisps of gold and silver light coalesced into three glowing orbs that orbited my head.
I turned my attention to the floor mosaics.
What am I looking at? I saw a musician courting a lady. Maybe Cadic wooing Larissa? That would be fairly unusual for an atrium. Or I could just be in an ancient brothel, I thought wryly. But no, I was too far from anywhere for that. And it would have been more explicit. I had called this room an atrium automatically, but as I looked around it didn’t particularly seem to be laid out in the Coryani style. I left it and walked deeper into the ruins.
There were smaller rooms that led off to the left and right but a main hallway carried me back into a large colonnaded room with a tiled geometric pattern on the floor. Found them! The walls were covered in red frescos. And such frescos! They were eye grabbing and extraordinary! They wrapped all the way around three sides of the large room. Magnificent figures. My first thought was that it looked like a wild party full of drinking and strange costumes. But then I thought it might be an initiation ceremony with mythic creatures. It really depended on context. Several female figures looked remarkably the same. If they were different figures then this was just a party scene. But if they represented the same women in sequential panels, there was a narrative here.
The art work was sensuous, and it was clear to me that a great deal of effort and expense had gone into it. It was all highly professional in quality. Which I found pretty surprising considering that I was in the middle of nowhere. That made me lean towards a First Imperium date…though the Frescos were remarkably well preserved if truly that old. What was I standing in? This building wasn’t some shack. It had to be the abode of someone with wealth who liked their privacy. Or an organization with wealth.
So many questions.
My attention kept being pulled to the last panel on the right. Next to a winged figure, presumably either a valinor or someone dressed as a valinor, there were four women in two pairs. The first pair featured a woman who was half undressed on her knees sobbing into the lap of a sitting matron. The second pair were of a nude woman dancing while a different matron looked on with a staff or rod. Maybe it was the red background, but I intuitively suspected that it was connected to Larissa. Perhaps actors in a passion play, or an initiation ceremony. If the weeping woman and the dancing woman were the same then what I was looking at was Larissa. First seeing cosmic horrors and weeping into Saluwe’s lap. Then her subsequent attempt to alleviate what she saw through unrelenting sensation.
Lord of Knowledge! What if this was First Imperium and this location was part of where the Sensates got started? Would they have been initially accepted? Might they want an out of the way place to gather and discuss the changes to Larissa?
I was allowing my fancy to get way ahead of the facts on the ground. I reigned myself in. Maybe there was an oasis here at one point and there really was a brothel to cater to the travelers. Or this was an early Coryani era abode. Or ... well anything. I'd only just gotten here.
I pulled out a scroll case with some scraps of paper, a quill, and a tiny bottle of ink. I’d sketch out the figures. It would help me explain what I saw later to others. The prolonged focus might also help me to notice important details. I would have to take my time with this; I wanted a full interpretation. I sat down in ancient dust, long undisturbed by the tread of man, and started my drawings.
This was so much more satisfying than a stash of ancient coins. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
When I saw movement in the corner of my eye I dropped everything and whirled. Nothing.
Nerves, brave hero? I felt embarrassment as my heart sped up. I usually worked with a partner or two when exploring. Now I remembered how very alone I was out here. My previous bubble of joy and contentment popped. Carefully I turned around. I let two of my glowing lights wink out and mentally sent the third away from me to the right as I faded to the left and hopefully into deeper shadows. It was probably nothing, or just a damn lizard. But I shifted behind the columns where I hoped I couldn’t be seen and started quietly retracing my steps to where I thought I had seen movement.
Honestly, if I had only found someone to watch my back I would have dismissed it. But I was by myself. So I kept going. Only my foot prints in the dust. I quietly drew my rapier and flintlock.
There. On the floor was a long thin rivulet of … blood?
What the hell? I’m not bleeding.
I stepped out and over to blood and knelt. And then the first crossbow bolt whizzed over me. My head came up as I peered back down the way I had first entered. I saw figures. Too late, I figured it out. Bloodspider! Someone had used magic to scout out the room.
I didn’t like the implications of that!
I was already diving into a shoulder roll to the right. Kind of a dumb flashy move. Try doing that sometime without stabbing yourself with a drawn sword! Another bolt shot down the corridor to where I’d just been kneeling. Right. Brilliant move. I was past the opening to the corridor and out of the line of fire.
How many were there?
A woman’s voice commanded, “Hold fire!”
Breathe in. Out. The smell of oranges. A flare of silver light. I drew on the Arcanum. I heard the woman shout out, “He’s casting!” as I slipped sideways. I ran toward the figures. They could shoot as many crossbows as they wanted. While this spell was up, for all intents and purposes I was intangible to their attacks. Run out. See what was there. Run back to cover before the spell ended. Not a problem.
I ran out.
It was Sachya. She had a Sorcerer-Priest and four ugly thugs with her. I’m sure my mouth dropped open, but I didn’t have time for questions or curses. Two more crossbow bolts flew toward my chest…and right through me. Goons one and two were already reloading. Goons three and four looked at me in disbelief. Four was bald, I have no idea why that stuck in my head.
“I said Hold Fire!”
Sachya still had a loaded crossbow. I wheeled and ran back for cover.
“Unravel it,” I heard her say.
I had just enough time to think, … uh I’m out of phase with reality here, can slip sideways be unraveled? The Sarishian barked some words in Altherian with a grotesque infernal accent. Then my spell ended prematurely. And Sachya shot me.
_________________ Eric Gorman
AKA Ambassador Tukufu, man of letters, tomb raider and Master Sword Sage . . . and Sir Szymon val'Holryn, Order of the Phoenix Formerly Sir Jaeger val'Holryn. Weilder of the Holy Avenger: Thonanos. Gave his soul to help free King Noen
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