The valley acts like a funnel for the wind coming off the mountain. They build a large roaring fire to ward off the chill and spend a very cold and uncomfortable night. The person on watch never wanders far from the fire and makes sure to keep the blaze going well throughout the night.
As the morning brightens with dawn’s approach, they quickly get underway. Everyone is anxious to get there, find what they came here for and then get out. They definitely don’t want to be here should snow begin falling. The trip back, over the terrain they just navigated would be most treacherous indeed if covered in snow.
Two hours after dawn, the sun finally rises over the peaks to the east. The sun does little to warm the riders as they make their way along the river. Throughout the day, Kiliticus continues to rise ever higher as they draw nearer.
The river, beside which they’re riding, is little more than a glorified stream. There are two places where they have to leave its banks in order to make it around boulders jutting out of the ground. The whole valley is a rugged wilderness, a place James feels sure few people have ever been.
After a brief stop for a bite to eat around noon, they head out again and ride another hour before the lake at the base of Kiliticus comes into view. Sitting as it does at the base of the mammoth mountain, it appears small by comparison. But as they approach, it’s revealed as being fairly large.
The miner brings them to a stop and when they’ve all gathered near says, “If you look on the far shore of the lake, you will see the ruins.”
Sure enough, when James looks he can make out several structures. Excited, he urges them onward and they move as quickly as they can. It takes a little over an hour before they reach the southern side of the lake, the area from which the river they’ve been following issues forth.
James takes the lead in his impatience and hurries around the lake. The ruins grow ever closer and his excitement and anticipation mounts. He glances back to the miner and asks, “Where exactly did you see the symbol?”
He points to the largest structure situated in the middle of the ruins. “It lies within that building.”
Kicking the sides of his horse, James bolts forward.
“James, wait!” Jiron hollers but he doesn’t pay attention in his excitement. Kicking his horse into a gallop, he and the others race after him.
The ruins are the size of a small village. There’s even evidence of a dock which had once extended out upon the water, small pilings protrude from the water. All the buildings are moss covered and overgrown with vegetation. Many of the buildings have plants growing within their interiors, as well as a few trees growing right through what used to be the roofs of two of them.
Jiron scans the area for any dangers, but doesn’t find any. The only danger he feels they’re likely to find would be some large predator that may have made one of these buildings its own.
James flies around the dilapidated buildings until finally arriving at the large structure in the middle. He brings his horse to a stop near the front entrance and dismounts just as Jiron arrives next to him.
“You shouldn’t run headlong into unknown territory like that,” chides Jiron as he gets down from his horse. The others arrive and begin dismounting shortly after.
“Sorry,” apologizes James. “I just got caught up in the moment.”
The building before them has to have been a temple at one time. No statues or other adornment are visible but the feel of the place brings them to that conclusion. The front doors are closed tight and blazoned upon each is the Star of Morcyth.
“This is it,” breathes James. Excitement rising like an irresistible tide, he steps forward toward the three steps leading up to the doors. Jiron moves to go around him but he lays a hand on his arm and says, “Not this time.”
Jiron nods and allows James to be the first to enter.
James takes the steps to the door with the others following close behind. Hand trembling in anticipation, he reaches out and takes hold of the door handle. Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he turns the handle and opens the door.
The ravages of time have not spared this building either. The door opens several inches before stopping. Turning back to the others, he says, “Feels like there’s something blocking it.”
“Push harder,” Uther suggests just as Jorry asks, “Need any help?”
Turning back to the door, he shoves hard with his shoulder and the door suddenly bursts into the room. Something hits him in the leg, a little sapling is growing before the door and had snapped back after the door was pushed over it. “Just a tree,” he says to the others.
Inside the building, one of the large windows has been broken out and a pile of leaves as well as other dead vegetation lie beneath it from where the wind deposited them over the years. The room he walks into is a large central meeting area. It looks nothing like any church or temple he’s been in before. This may have served as more than just a meeting place to worship Morcyth.
Tables and chairs are situated about the room, many having fallen prey to insects and lie rotted upon the floor. Off to one side is what has to be the altar. It’s made of wood and shows the wear of time as everything else does.
Jiron makes his way toward it and asks, “Doesn’t this look familiar?”
James comes over and takes a closer look. It’s a roughly four foot high pedestal with a small platform atop it. Upon closer examination, the platform has the Star of Morcyth engraved within it. Glancing back to Jiron he shakes his head, “No, I can’t place it.”
“It’s the same as the one we found back in the City of Light when we first met,” he explains.
“Right, under your hideout,” he says. Now it comes to him. When he and Jiron first met, they ended up having to flee through an underground secret passage which the medallion had opened. There they found a room with a marble pedestal with a crystal platform on top similar to this one. Only that one, instead of having the Star of Morcyth engraved within it, had an open space within it in the shape of an inverted pyramid.
He reaches up and tries to remove the platform but it is an integral part of the altar and doesn’t budge. The one in the City of Light had revealed a secret door when removed. He tries putting the Star diagram of his medallion on the Star of the platform but that fails to yield any results.
The others have spread out to search the building, Fifer and Qyrll take the stairs to the upper level and return shortly. “Nothing up there but a couple rooms filled with moss covered furniture.”
“Let me see,” says James and he takes the stairs up. Two rooms sit across from each other at the top of the stairs and after a brief examination, turns up nothing.
As he comes back down, Jiron says, “I don’t think you’ll find anything in here.”
“Why not?” James asks.
“Remember the riddle from Saragon?” he replies. “It said ‘At the foot of the king, bathe in his cup.’ Seems to me the ‘cup’ would be the lake out there.” He then points out the open window to where they can see the lake a short ways away.
He contemplates that for a minute, and after another quick glance around the temple says, “You may be right.” He then turns to Fifer and says, “Take the others and see if you can find a building we can use as a headquarters while we search the area. Get the horses settled in and gather wood, we may be here a while.”
“You got it,” he says. Taking Qyrll, Jorry and Uther with him, he takes care of it.
Leaving the temple, James and the rest move toward the lake. Jiron turns to the miner and asks, “Is there another way out of here?”
“Why?” he asks.
“In the event the Empire’s forces show up, we may not have the option of returning the way we came,” he explains.
“I’m not sure,” he admits. “I only came here once and that was years ago.”
Glancing around at the area surrounding them, he hopes there may be another way out. The fact that the Empire’s soldiers had been camped around Ironhold makes him nervous. Despite not having seen any evidence of them being followed, he knows they’re out there somewhere.
At the water’s edge, James comes to a stop and looks around. He mumbles to himself, ‘At the foot of the king, bathe in his cup. Pull his beard to make him sit up.’ Gazing first one way and then the other, he doesn’t see anything which could remotely be considered a beard.
The water doesn’t even come to the edge of the mountain. Rather it ends several hundred feet before, most
