North of the flat stone square they had uncovered, the foliage was taller and thicker, more substantial than anywhere else. But it was all vines and creepers, with no trees visible. Instead, there were massive stone pillars, at least two meters across, with enough space between them for the dragon to pass without fear of getting stuck or knocking the structure over. Khollo rose and walked between the columns.
There were more columns behind the first row, four more rows in fact. Above, the sky was blocked by a ceiling of vine covered stone, though there were large patches where the stone was clearly visible. Then, after the fifth row of columns, a solid wall of green seemed to rise up right to the top of the world. Khollo placed a hand on the wall and tugged at the creepers. They held, but he could feel the stone beneath them.
“It’s no use,” Khollo muttered. “This growth is too thick for me to rip apart.”
Step back.
The dragon nosed past Khollo and opened its mouth. There was a pause, then a small stream of flame struck the vines on the wall. They shriveled and crumbled, but did not burn and the fire did not spread. The dragon moved in a circle, charring vines and creepers, until there was an isolated patch of vines. These he ripped down with ease, peeling them away from the wall and revealing the same flat, unadorned gray stone as they had found in the clearing.
“Brilliant,” Khollo murmured. “But where is the entrance? Surely there’s an entrance somewhere.”
The dragon looked about curiously. The center of the wall is to your right, he observed. What is behind the plants?
Khollo moved to his right and dug through the vines, searching. He found stone again, so he moved further to the right. Still stone. Then, he found a vertical crack, running straight up and down.
“It’s here,” Khollo murmured.
He stepped back quickly so that the dragon could flame the vines away again. The dragon eagerly blasted the clinging creepers and ripped them down, revealing a wide archway, sealed by two tremendous doors. On the doors was carved a curious cross shape, the top and bottom ending in leaf-bladed protrusions, the left and right sweeping up and out, coming to points. Around the symbol were scenes of combat, dragons in flight, on the ground, facing armies, flaming foes, ripping apart enemies with tooth and talon. On each dragon’s back was a man, and each was different. Directly below the cross symbol was a dragon sitting, wings outstretched, towering over the small figure of a warrior.
Khollo reached out a hand and shoved the door tentatively. It budged slightly, swinging inward. He looked back at the dragon. “What is this place?”
I do not know, the dragon replied. But I would very much like to find out.
“I agree,” Khollo whispered. The place seemed to be calling to him, tugging at his heart, and every fiber of his being felt alive. He knew this place and yet he had never been here, understood it and did not know a thing about it. This is what the dragon must have felt: coming home, Khollo realized.
Taking a deep breath, he shoved the double doors open and entered the ancient hall.
Chapter 25
Darkness. That was all Khollo could see at first. Then his eyes began to adjust, so that the light filtering through the now open door was enough to see by.
He was standing in a cavernous room, the ceiling lost in the distant shadows, and all of the walls as well. Khollo squinted into the gloom searching for any sign of the room’s boundaries and found none. It seemed to stretch on and on endlessly.
The dragon stepped into the hall and kindled a small flame between its jaws. Light spilled outwards, illuminating a stretch of stone floor. Like the stones outside, the floor was done in a pattern of repeating squares, marching off into darkness.
Khollo stepped forward tentatively. The dragon followed, increasing its flame, throwing light farther into the vast room. Khollo began moving forward confidently, though he still could not see the walls or ceiling.
Roughly a hundred meters from the door, the pattern in the floor changed abruptly. The squares were interrupted by a wide circular collar, which appeared to be a single piece. On the other side of the collar, radial paving stones tapered towards a point that Khollo could not yet see. He continued moving forward, eyes on the ground, wary of traps.
The circle of light from the dragon swept over another circular collar, this one carved with an intricate pattern of flames. In the center of this collar was a circular stone, painted with the same strange symbol that had been carved into the door. Khollo knelt and ran a hand over the surface.
Who were these people? he wondered. I have never seen buildings built on such a scale. And preserved despite the jungle outside! Surely they were master builders to achieve these feats. And how big is this place? He looked upwards again, but still could see no sign of the ceiling.
The dragon growled and turned in a circle. This is a waste of time. I want to see this hall! There must be torches somewhere. The dragon wandered off to the right. Khollo watched it go, saw it eventually come to a solid stone wall that reached up into darkness. The wall was some fifty meters away, easily.
The dragon suddenly shot flame from its mouth. There was a pause, then a bright glow flared up where the dragon had flamed. As it moved on, Khollo caught sight of a tremendous lantern, half as tall as Khollo himself. The dragon continued moving around the perimeter, lighting lanterns. Finally, Khollo could see three of the boundaries of the
