the mountain. At the time they were being pursued by soldiers of the Empire and were just looking for a place to hide.
“Not that way,” says James as they come to the stairs. “Better leave the same way as last time.”
Jiron nods at that and continues down the corridor. They pass by another corridor extending into darkness on their right and shortly after that arrive at a small room. Standing in the room are two pedestals, upon each sits a statue of a demonic creature. They give them but a cursory glance as they pass through the room to the corridor on the right. Hurrying along, they pass three more corridors branching off to the right before entering the room at the end. So far there has been no telltale indication that the warrior priest has appeared on the dais.
Just as they remembered, they find the stairway leading to the room above them. The only exit from the room is an opening in the right wall where a corridor begins. At the top, James pauses and says, “Let’s rest a moment.”
“You sure?” asks Jiron. “There could be more coming.”
“I know, but I need to.” James leans against the wall by the stairwell and sags to the floor. “Just for a minute or two,” he tells him.
Seeing just how tired his friend is, Jiron nods and takes position at the top of the stairs to keep an eye out for anyone approaching from below. He’s not doing too great either. His chest throbs from where that dead creature blasted him, not to mention the multiple strikes of those small flying creatures that burn him like acid. Nothing would please him more right now than to lie down and fall asleep.
He turns his attention from the stairs to James and says, “You know, those dead creatures really weren’t that hard to defeat.”
“I know,” James replies. “I don’t know if you noticed, but a warrior priest appeared on the dais before we left.”
“I saw something but didn’t realize it was a warrior priest,” he admits. Getting a confused look on his face he asks, “Then why didn’t he come after us?”
“I don’t know.” Shrugging, James leans his head against the wall and adds, “I suppose we shouldn’t question our good fortune.”
Grinning, Jiron returns his attention to the stairs. “I suppose not,” he agrees. He absentmindedly rubs the arm that fell numb when the creature touched it.
“Arm okay?” James asks.
“The feeling is beginning to come back,” he says. “What would cause something like that to happen?”
Shrugging, James contemplates what happened a second before answering. “One of the theories that were kicked around back home was that the energy needed to keep a dead body ‘alive’ would have a detrimental effect on the living,” he explains. “When it touched you, the energy suffusing it entered your body and ‘shorted out’ your nervous system.”
“Shorted out?” he asks perplexed.
James gives him a grin. “Sorry, it’s a term from my world. It simply means it stopped your arm from communicating with your brain. If the contact had lasted for any length of time, the damage probably would have been permanent if it didn’t kill you outright.” He indicates the arm that’s numb and adds, “Since the feeling is coming back, it stands to reason nothing permanent was done.”
“That’s good to know,” he says.
Closing his eyes, James tries to relax a moment to quiet the headache that throbs painfully behind his eyes. His restless mind continues trying to make sense of the last few hours. First, Jiron and I are in a city buried by sand and are about to kill each other. Then we wind up in that other place where the little demonic flying creatures were trying to kill us. If the dais is some kind of magical transport device, why did we end up here? It makes no sense! It can’t be a random transporter, such a thing would be useless to the warrior priests. There has to be a way to control it.
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
