Soldier Scarred

by D. K. Holmberg

  He looked past Endric, over his shoulder, and Endric turned to see what Urik was staring at. It took a moment for him to recognize what it was, and when he did, he almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Cut into the side of the rock was another opening. Surrounding it on either side was a massively ornate sculpture, clearly intended to depict the gods. He was reminded of similar sculptures that he had seen in the Antrilii lands, as well as sculptures that he had observed while in Thealon and their temple.

  “It is the temple,” Urik said with a whisper.

  “If it’s a sacred temple of the people of Salvat, are you sure that we should enter?”

  Urik glanced over at Endric. “We’ve come this far and now you’re beginning to question?”

  “I was questioning from the beginning.”

  “This is something that none within the historian guild have ever seen, Endric. Do you know what this means?”

  “I suppose it means that you think you deserve to be granted access to the Conclave.”

  “Of course, but that’s not what it means. It means that the guild was right. The temple did exist within the mountain itself. Think of that. In order to reach this place, we had to travel all the way through here.”

  “I still think that’s strange. There would have to be some other entrance. Especially if this is a temple, it seems as if there would need to be another way in that isn’t quite so difficult to reach.”

  “Then we need to go into find out where it is,” Urik said.

  Endric looked at the entrance. He didn’t know why he had such a reluctance to enter the temple, but wondered if it had something to do with the fact that it was sacred to the people of Salvat. Knowing that, could he violate it? Was he willing to risk entry without knowing exactly what about the temple was sacred?

  Yet, if he didn’t, there wouldn’t be any way of finding the answers that he needed. This had to be the reason that he was sent to Salvat for Tresten. Wasn’t it?

  They started ahead, making their way into the temple entrance.

  Maybe it wasn’t the entrance. Maybe it was the exit.

  The heat eased as they went inside. Light glowed around them, and it took Endric a moment to realize that it came from lines in the floor that seemed to be full of the same fire that had poured from the upper reaches of the temple. It created a gentle glowing that illuminated everything.

  There were a few lanterns on the walls, but they were unlit. Sculptures much like he had seen at the entrance to the temple were stationed along the hall. There were no other decorations.

  He turned to Urik. “What do you expect to find here?”

  Urik shook his head. “I don’t know what we might find. This is at least a thousand years old, probably even older than that. This would predate the founding of Vasha. A find like this is valuable for many reasons, not the least because of secrets that might be stored there.”

  “And what if there aren’t any secrets?”

  Urik turned to him, frowning.

  Endric shrugged. “If the Conclave intended for you to come here, it only stands to reason that there might not be any secrets here. It’s possible that the Conclave has claimed anything that might have been here.”

  Urik frowned and then started to nod. “That is possible. Regardless, seeing the temple…”

  There came a steady rumbling.

  Endric turned, looking back to the mouth of the temple. It was the first time that he had heard rumbling like that since entering the mine. Could that mean that the tremors were easing off? If so, what would have changed?

  “I told you it was unsettling being within the mountain when the tremors came,” Urik said.

  “That’s not what is unsettling,” Endric said. “It’s been a long time since there has been another tremor.”

  “I hadn’t thought of that,” Urik said.

  “What do you think that means?”

  “This is a volcano. It could mean many things.”

  “Including that the volcano is nearly ready to erupt,” Endric said.

  “If it were ready to erupt, the tremors would increase in frequency.”

  “Which is what they have been doing,” Endric said. “It’s only been since we entered the temple that they started slowing down.”

  Even that wasn’t quite right. The tremors had been easing off ever since Endric had entered the tunnel. Before that, they had been regular, a steady thundering with frequent explosions that erupted, casting the sky with bright, glowing flames.

  “Neither of us is an expert in the geology of Salvat. The only thing I do know with certainty is that the volcano has not erupted in centuries.”

  Endric looked around. It should reassure him that the ancient people of Salvat had felt confident in building a temple within the mountain. Had they not, they would have feared that the temple would’ve been destroyed, so the fact that it was here—and was as old as it seemed to be—should reassure him.

  Yet, it didn’t reassure him quite as much as he would have liked. If the volcano erupted while he was here, there would be nothing that he could do to escape. At least while climbing the mountain, there was the hope that he could climb back down to safety.

  “Let’s figure out what you need to do here and get out,” he told Urik, who looked around, pausing at each of the sculptures before moving on. At one point, he crouched at a section of the wall and Endric leaned over him to see writing worked into the stone. It was no language that he had seen before, which told him that it was likely an ancient Salvat dialect.

  “Can you read it?”

  Urik traced his finger over it. “This isn’t the ancient language.”

  “I can see that it isn’t the ancient language. I have more than a passing familiarity with it.”

  Urik looked up and frowned at Endric. “Since when?”

  He shrugged. “One of the things that I learned while I was staying with the Antrilii. Much of their records are written in the ancient language.”

  There were others that were written in another language, one that even the Antrilii no longer spoke. It looked nothing like what he saw here, which suggested that there were multiple dialects at one point, all of them eventually progressing to what most knew as the ancient language.

  “Since it’s not the ancient language, I don’t speak it. I have a passing knowledge of many other languages, but not enough to translate.” Urik traced his finger over the writing again before wiping his hands on his pants and standing. “A shame that I don’t have my notebook. I could take notes, perhaps find a place where I could attempt to translate it.”

  “Or, as you believe, you could ask the Conclave.”

  Urik stared at the writing for a moment before he nodded. “Yes. I suspect they would know what was written here, especially with them keeping a sort of headquarters on Salvat.”

  “Come on.”

  They continued into the temple. The strange trail of fire began to fade the farther they got from the central fountain of fire dropping from high above. The inside of the temple became cooler. It wasn’t cold—there was too much heat still coming off the fountain of lava—but it was almost pleasant compared to what he had experienced while making his way toward the temple. A strange breeze blew through, carrying with it a dry heat. It was similar to what he had experienced in the teralin mines.

  Rooms led off the main hall. Most were blocked by stone doors that wouldn’t budge when Endric tried to push on them. A few had no doors and he looked inside, finding massive chambers that spread deeper into the mountain. Endric was hesitant to follow them too far, not wanting to risk the possibility that they would continue to stretch into the distance. It was better to remain along the main corridor. At least this way, there was a sense that he might eventually find some way to leave the temple.

  “You don’t have to rush through here,” Urik said.

  “You think I’m rushing? I’m trying to find whatever way we can to get out of here. I don’t intend to be here indefinitely.”
>
  “Indefinitely? We’ve only just gotten here.”

  “And if we find a way out, then you can return whenever you want. I don’t want to be here when the mountain erupts.”

  “It’s not going to—”

  The walls of the temple began to shake. It amazed Endric that they remained so stout despite the frequent tremors. Unlike when they were on the exterior of the mountain, no debris rained.

  “Perhaps you make a good point. If we find the way out, then we can return whenever we choose,” Urik said.

  Endric had the sense that Urik would remain here—or, at least, return here—and stay for a long time. He had betrayed the Denraen, but he remained the scholar. Regardless of whatever else he might be, that was a core part of him.

  They continued to make their way through the hallway. As they did, the hall gradually opened wider. There were more sculptures along the way, and the inscriptions along the stone became more intricate. Urik walked slowly, his gaze tracing along the writing.

  “You can return,” Endric said. “First, let’s find a way out.”

  Urik looked over at him. “That is the difference between a scholar and a soldier.”

  “And what is that?” Endric asked.

  “A scholar is always wanting to stay and look for answers. While a soldier needs to be prepared.”

  “And you’re saying that I’m more the soldier than the scholar?”

  “It’s not a judgment. Merely an observation.”

  “What about you? You were both.”

  “It seems that I’ve been too far from my time as a soldier. I served the Denraen when I was there, but I have always been a scholar.”

  Another tremor rumbled. There was a distant sense to it, and Endric could almost imagine the mountain spewing ash and fire into the night. He was thankful that he was within the temple rather than outside. At least in here, he didn’t have to smell the horrible burning odor of the ash as it filled the sky. There was only the heat, and that was a dry heat. There was the subtle sense of teralin, but it wasn’t nearly as overwhelming as when he was in the teralin mines.

  Endric looked around. “There should be some way out. Where we came through couldn’t have been the main entrance. Even this hallway looks to be more ornate.”

  “It’s possible that the volcano covered the temple over time.”

  Endric whipped his head around. “What?”

  “If there was an eruption, lava would flow down the side of the mountain, and it might have buried the temple.” He smiled. “Maybe both rumors about the temple were accurate.”

  And if the temple had been buried, it was possible that there wouldn’t be any way to get out. Maybe the only way in and out was through the cut around the fountain of lava.

  Yet, if that were the case, there should be a main entrance of the temple somewhere. They still hadn’t seen it.

  Endric continued following the hallway. If this was like any other temple, there would be a massive doorway. Likely it would be decorative, but given the age of this temple, it was possible that it would have a different structure than any of the modern temples.

  The way ahead was blocked. As Endric approached, he realized that what Urik had said was right. Where an entrance to the temple should be, there was only a gently sloping rock that filled what once must have been a doorway—and entrance.

  Endric stopped. “This would have been it,” he said.

  “Possibly,” Urik said.

  “Possibly? There’s nothing else here. Where else would the entrance have been?”

  “Many temples have both a common entrance as well as an entrance for the priests. Priests generally wouldn’t go through the same entrance as the parishioners. Maybe the priest entrance isn’t blocked in the same way as the common entrance.”

  “What if the priest entrance is the way we came?”

  “I doubt it. That way was far too cumbersome. The priests would have a simpler way to go.”

  “Where do you suggest that we go to look for the priest entrance?”

  “It wouldn’t be in the main entrance. It would be somewhere removed. Likely it would be near a side channel in the temple. If we can find it, then you can see if there’s another way out of here.”

  Another tremor struck, rumbling through the temple. This one was not quite as severe as the last, but it left him with the same sense of anxiety and unease about how safe he might be inside the volcano.

  Urik led them, guiding him back the way he’d come, pausing at each of the doors to try and open them. When he found those that were open, he pushed inside and began searching. Endric waited, not wanting to get caught inside one of the side chambers.

  At the third door they checked, which led to another massive side chamber, Urik hollered for him to follow.

  Endric glanced back at the opening to the temple before stepping inside. It was much darker in here than it had been in the main hallway, and there was no glowing light, nothing that would provide enough illumination. He wished that one of the lanterns was lit, and on a whim, he grabbed one off the wall and hurried back to the trail of fire through the floor. He dipped the lantern inside, and it burst into flame.

  Endric smiled to himself. At least that much would work.

  He raced after Urik, catching up to him in a small alcove leading off the side chamber. He was examining the wall, and his brow wrinkled in a deep frown.

  “What is it?” Endric asked.

  “It’s this door. There’s something behind here, but I can’t see how to trigger it to open.”

  Endric studied the wall. “What makes you think this is a door?” It looked little different than any of the other places they had been, with a long line of script flowing across it, engraved in the stone. Time had not weathered it and worn it away.

  “It’s the way the lettering flows. There is a dip here.” Urik motioned to a section of the wall, and Endric noted that it made sense. There seemed to be a break, as if this section of the lettering was broken off from the rest.

  “Why wouldn’t they make it more secretive if this is some sort of hidden door?”

  “I don’t know this was ever meant to be a hidden door. It’s only hidden to us.”

  The craftsmanship that had gone into creating the temple astounded Endric. If this was as old as Urik said—over a thousand years, possibly much older—then the ancient craftsman of Salvat had known nearly as much as those who had built much of the great cities in the north.

  Unless… Had the gods been involved in creating this temple?

  Endric might not be devout, but there was no questioning the fact that the gods had been real. They had built the tower in Thealon, and there were other places—places like the Lashiin ruins in Vasha along with other similar ruins that were scattered throughout—but none had been quite as hidden as the temple.

  “Have you ever seen hidden doors like this before?”

  “There are other places with similar structures, but they are not difficult to access when you know the trick to triggering the door.”

  “What sort of tricks?”

  Urik ran his fingers along the wall, tracing the lettering. Endric could see how frustrated he was by his inability to interpret it. “On some, there are depressed letters that need to be pushed to slide the door open. On others, there are different sections of the wall that must be pressed. And still others where the entire wall must be pushed, though usually that requires someone with great strength to do effectively.”

  Endric approached the section of the wall. As he did, he saw the way the lettering seemed blocked off from the rest. Though he couldn’t read it, it seemed clear to him that there was more to it than what he could readily interpret. He shuffled his feet, trying to find a place to crouch, and as he did, there came a soft click.

  “What did you do?” Urik asked.

  “I didn’t do anything,” Endric said.

  “I heard it. Didn’t you?”

  Endric frowned. Had he heard something? There had bee
n the click, but that could have been nothing more than his boot on the stone.

  Endric shifted his feet again, but it didn’t return.

  “You triggered something.”

  Endric frowned and moved his feet back into their former position. When he did, the click came again, this time much more distinctly.

  “There it is again,” Urik said.

  “It’s a section of the floor,” Endric said.

  Urik dropped to his knees and began running his hands along the floor. A tremor shook them, and he fell back, colliding with the section of the wall. When he did, it started to slide.

  “That’s one way to find the technique to open it,” Urik said.

  “The floor triggered it?”

  “It’s ingenious, really. There are some priests who feel that they should not be dirtied by touching anything. It makes more sense that it would be set into the floor. That way, they can trigger it and slide the door open without ever touching it with their hands.” He studied the lettering and his mouth moved silently as he attempted to read. “I had not known that the priests of Salvat carried a similar tradition.”

  “Maybe they didn’t. Maybe it was nothing more than convenience for them.” When Urik glanced over, Endric shrugged. “Why not use the floor to trigger it rather than needing to push with your hands. Especially if they happen to be carrying something.”

  Urik grinned and turned his attention to the darkened opening. Endric thrust the burning torch toward it, peering into the darkness. “Do you think this is the priest entrance?”

  “I think this has a high likelihood of being it,” Urik said.

  He grabbed onto the edge of the door and started pushing it off to the side. It moved slowly, with a soft scraping of stone as it did, and finally opened wide enough for them to step inside. Urik glanced at the torch.

  “May I?” he asked.

  Endric handed him the torch and Urik stretched it into the darkness.

  It was a tunnel. Perhaps not a tunnel but a corridor, narrower than the halls they had been walking along. Urik made his way inside, moving quickly but silently, padding along the stone, tapping on sections of the wall as if testing to see if they might slide open. There were no other sections with lettering on them in here, not as there had been inside. After a couple dozen feet, Urik paused and pushed open a recessed door. He reached with the lantern to look inside and then stepped back.