by Jeremy Dwyer
“Yes, in the center of the island,” Carter said, and he pointed toward the corresponding location in the material world where they would be haunting.
“That’s also where we need to go. The temple is that way, according to the thoughts of those priests,” Yared said.
“Carter, can you send the spirits away from us, or at least keep them away from us?” Tomiko asked.
“I can keep them away. I can do that much. But we shouldn’t overstay our welcome,” Carter said.
“Can you let us know before things get dangerous?” Tomiko asked.
“Yes. I can do that,” Carter said.
“Tristan, Stephan, Carter and Yared – I need you all to come with me. Nina, Genevieve and Nerine should stay on the Escapade,” Tomiko said.
“Under the authority of the Chronicler’s Oath, I will come with you,” Niels said. He drank anew of the waters of the Ursegan Ocean from his own vial to be energized, slowing time both to live long years and to be aware of events around him, no matter how quickly they happened.
“Don’t forget me. I’m here to look for information about exactly what happened to the fleet under my command. The pirates who attacked my fleet were also the pirates who were stealing from the Ihalik Empire’s shipping businesses at that time. That’s what I was assigned to defend. And that’s when things went from bad to worse,” Gabrielle Ramalaxis said.
“Do you have a specific idea of where to look? It sounds as if you know a bit more than what you’ve already told us,” Tomiko asked.
“It’s not so much what I know, but what I know how to do. We have to think in terms of puzzles…and traps. Don’t forget those traps I mentioned,” Gabrielle Ramalaxis said. She drank once again of the waters of the Medathero Ocean from her vial and was further energized.
Tomiko drank anew of the waters of the Medathero Ocean from his own vial and was energized. “Is there a specific kind of puzzle you are referring to?” he asked.
“It could be anything. In fact, I’m not even sure we have enough waterbindings represented here for every challenge we might face. The temple architects were very clever…clever enough to not reveal any secrets. And the pirates, despite their bravado, could be crafty, but not enough to come out alive,” Gabrielle Ramalaxis said.
“We’ll do what we can and improvise for the rest,” Tomiko said.
“You’re going to want to bring your navigator…just in case,” Gabrielle Ramalaxis said.
“If that’s what you suggest, then we will. Nina, I need you after all…if you are willing. It’s your choice, but reward requires taking risk,” Tomiko said.
“Are you sure you don’t need me to stay on the ship? That way, the survivors can still escape,” Nina asked.
“This could get complicated. There’s a chance we are going to need you. I can’t be certain what we’re going to find,” Gabrielle Ramalaxis said.
“We have advance notice of many dangers. If a hazard appears insurmountable, we’ll return to the ship. But there is no sense in getting lost for lack of a navigator, when we already have that navigator with us,” Tomiko said.
“I’m not going out in front, but I’ll go,” Nina said. She wanted to get paid in full, whatever full was. Of course, any percentage of zero (0) was zero (0), and that’s what she would get if she were killed.
“Yared and Carter, since you have a sense of where this temple is, you should lead the way,” Tomiko said.
Yared continued his telepathic probing for malevolent intent – whether of people or animals – and Carter watched the movements of the spirits ahead. They both maintained awareness while walking slowly and carefully into the jungle.
Tomiko, Gabrielle Ramalaxis, Nina, Stephan and Tristan all followed them. Niels walked alongside them, watching and recording everything into his book.
After three (3) hours of slow progress through the jungle of Vobarin Island, Yared sensed something.
“Wait! Snakes! They’re very close! Do not move a muscle!” Yared said. Tomiko, Gabrielle Ramalaxis, Tristan, Carter, Stephan, Nina and the Chronicler, Niels, all stood still behind him.
A twelve (12) foot long cobra stood up to a height of (6) feet, staring them all in their faces. Seven (7) more cobras sprung up as well.
Yared focused on the minds and emotions of the serpents, telepathically controlling them and he thereby sent them slithering away.
“There may be more. We have to move slowly,” Yared said. He drank anew of the waters of the Elanatin Ocean from his vial to refresh his telepathic powers for the rest of their jungle trek.
Niels paid close attention to the encounter with the cobras and recorded the details into his book…after they were already gone. The snakes were no danger to him because he was an Oath-keeping Chronicler, so he didn’t need to wait. However, the slightest motion on his part might have startled the snakes and caused them to bite anyone else, which would have constituted interference under the Chronicler’s Oath.
After another four (4) hours of slowly walking through the jungle, with Yared probing carefully for other dangerous wildlife, he, Tomiko, Gabrielle Ramalaxis, Tristan, Carter, Stephan, Nina and the Chronicler, Niels, all found themselves at the base of an old, hexagonal pyramid with dozens of steps leading to the top. There were carvings of snakes and jaguars along the sides of the thirty (30) foot wide steps.
“This is a temple of Havatissa – the serpent-jaguar deity,” Gabrielle Ramalaxis said.
“And it’s dangerous – evil spirits are all around it,” Carter said. He drank anew of the waters of the Zovvin Ocean from his vial to be energized and ready to defend, or at least to warn everyone else before the spirits attacked.
“I believe that, but I don’t believe that’s the whole story, or the entirety of the danger. Let’s take a closer look,” Gabrielle Ramalaxis said. She began walking up the steps.
Tomiko walked alongside her, followed by Carter and Yared, then by Nina, Stephan and Tristan. Niels followed, sketching the design of the temple’s exterior into his book.
They climbed seventy-eight (78) steps, each eleven (11) inches in height, and found a hexagonal structure at the top, with pillars around it that extended another thirty-nine (39) feet into the air.
Four (4) spirits appeared before them as they reached the top – they were translucent beings dressed as corsairs. “Everything here belongs to us! We found this temple centuries before you!” One of the spirits pushed Tomiko, knocking him backwards and he fell down five (5) of the steps before twisting his body to stop the fall.
Carter reached into the spirit world and was able to push the spirits away because of the power of the Zovvin waters flowing through him. As he did this, the spirits screamed, saying: “We’ll leave now, but then we’ll return. Your debts will not be forgiven! Everything you steal from us will be repaid in heart and mind!”
Tristan and Stephan hurried down the steps and approached Tomiko to help him stand up.
“I’m alright. A little bruised, but nothing beyond that,” Tomiko said as he stood up with their help.
“Maybe we need to take a break. Let’s get back to the ship. Nina knows how to navigate to this place, so we can come back later,” Tristan said.
“You need rest and peace to heal,” Stephan said.
“Nothing’s broken; just bruised. Let’s see what we can find here. After this, we’re heading back to Emeth, so we can rest there,” Tomiko said. He headed back up the steps to the top of the pyramid with Tristan and Stephan standing behind him.
“These spirits that attacked us came quickly…they’re not even the spirits I detected before. Those are just waiting and watching, not coming any closer,” Carter said.
“Were you able to send away the spirits who did attack us?” Tomiko asked.
“Yes…for now,” Carter said.
“It could have been worse. We need to move through and out of here quickly and efficiently if we’re going to find what we came for,” Gabrielle Ramalaxis said.
Niels recor
ded all of what he could see and hear into his book. His eyes definitely witnessed apparitions and he was able to sketch them into his book. He even heard what they said. Whether they were illusions or ghosts, he could not tell. Although he could infer by Carter’s Zovvin waterbinding and expulsion of the apparitions that they were likely ghosts – rather than illusions, which require the darkness powers of the Ikkith Tar waters to dispel – he could not write this inference into his book. The source of their voice could have been a person hiding in darkness, or projecting their voice with the Pirovalen waters, but this was all conjecture. The alternative possibilities were, in fact, the reasoning behind not being allowed to make any inferences at all.
Tomiko proceeded to walk into the hexagonal structure at the top of the pyramid and the others followed him.
Inside that structure, they saw dozens of statues of snakes and jaguars, some as large as twenty-nine (29) feet in height, which were much larger than the ones along the outside steps, that were only four (4) feet tall.
Tomiko counted these statues and said: “There are thirty-five (35) of these larger snake-jaguar statues.”
Niels counted the snake-jaguar statues for himself and came to the same number He recorded these details into his book, along with sketches of the statues and the hexagonal structure which contained them. He had also recorded the details of the smaller statues alongside the steps outside, and their number was fifty-two (52), with twenty-six (26) on each side, positioned at every third step. He used measurement tools and trigonometric tables to estimate the snake-jaguar statue heights at twenty-nine (29) feet for the largest interior statue and four (4) feet for all of the exterior statues along the steps.
“They’re hideous, all thirty-five (35) of them…but not as bad as some of the men I’ve had flirting with me,” Nina said.
“If you make a wrong step, you might even look worse,” Gabrielle Ramalaxis said. She then pointed to several places on the stone floor where the square tiles had seams around them.
Tristan looked closer at one of those indicated square stone tiles and realized that it was differently connected. He drank anew of the waters of the Kazofen Ocean from his vial and was energized. He then began to mold the edge of the stone so that he could reshape it, slowly reforming its mass so that he could roll it away from the opening in which it was situated, as if were a lump of clay. A ladder was revealed, leading down into a dark pit.
Niels watched as Tristan performed these manipulations, and he looked down into the dark pit, but was unable to see anything.
“It was securely placed, so I don’t think it would have fallen under our weight just by stepping on it, if that’s the kind of trap you were talking about,” Tristan said.
“However, that doesn’t mean the other stones are safe. Any or all of the rest of them could be traps. Don’t get too comfortable here,” Gabrielle Ramalaxis said.
“Fair enough. Let’s assume everything requires close examination. What is down there? All I see is a ladder leading into the darkness,” Tomiko asked, looking down into the pit.
“It’s dark. Like I said, we don’t have all waterbindings here. You need a more diverse crew to thoroughly explore – if you can’t see, you won’t know where to step. That is, unless you can bend the outside light with a crystal, of course,” Gabrielle Ramalaxis said, looking first to Tomiko and then to Tristan.
“For which I always come prepared,” Tristan said. He carried several cheap crystals – zircons – with him in his pockets and began molding them, manipulating their low-level structure as well as their optical properties. He placed them at key points inside this hexagonal structure and then outside, at the top of the steps, so that the light of the many suns overhead shone through them, reflected and then sent a beam of light into the darkness of the pit in the floor.
“We should go only as far as we can see. I know you can read thoughts, but that won’t be enough. I’ll go first,” Gabrielle Ramalaxis said, looking to Yared.
Tomiko watched as Gabrielle Ramalaxis then climbed down the ladder, which descended fifty-five (55) feet. She found herself in a large hexagonal room – now well-lit because of the careful crystal bending work that Tristan did – that was filled with more snake-jaguar statues, some as tall as forty-nine (49) feet. She was able to estimate their height by counting the number of rungs on the ladder and their separation, then visually comparing.
Niels went down the ladder next, after he saw that it was clear.
Gabrielle Ramalaxis walked around the room, looking for tiles that appeared or felt different, which could be traps. Some of them slid as she walked, but nothing dangerous happened.
Standing near the top of the ladder, Stephan said: “I hear something down there. High-pitch tones and low-pitch tones…not like when people talk.”
“Take a closer look, then. Just take the ladder a rung at a time. There’s no need to be hasty and get bruised up. One of us getting hurt is more than enough,” Tomiko said.
Stephan climbed down the ladder and stepped onto the stone floor of the large hexagonal lower room. “What are you doing down here?” he asked.
“Just walking around. Why?”? Gabrielle Ramalaxis asked.
“I heard some noises – high pitch, low pitch – that people don’t make when they talk,” Stephan said. He then took a couple steps and heard them again. “There! Something’s making noise,” he said. Stephan then took a few more steps and now the sounds were audible to Gabrielle Ramalaxis and to Niels, as well.
Niels began recording this information into his book, recording where Stephan stepped, as well as descriptions and approximate measurements of the larger snake-jaguar statues in this room.
“I heard that,” Gabrielle Ramalaxis said as Stephan took a step.
Stephan took more steps and Gabrielle Ramalaxis said: “But I didn’t hear that.”
Stephan continued walking around the room. He could hear different musical notes play, at various octaves, with each stone tile that he stepped on. Some were audible to all of them; some were audible just to him.
“It makes every different musical note, high and low, like it’s a giant piano that you can walk on. But some of the notes are out of your range,” Stephan said.
“Look. The statues are moving slightly, up and down, as you walk. I think the floor is more than a piano. It’s a puzzle box, and we can unlock it, if we play the right music,” Gabrielle Ramalaxis said.
“I can figure out where to walk to make a note, and what notes sound out the music, but I don’t know what music to play,” Stephan said.
“Let’s start out by making the lowest pitch note, then go higher, and higher, as high as you can,” Gabrielle Ramalaxis said.
“The musical scales, then? I’ll try it,” Stephan said. He then walked around the room, stepping on tiles as if they were piano keys, looking for the lowest pitch note, and then the next higher one, until he could figure out how they were all arranged. Many of them were outside ordinary hearing range, but many of them were within it. However, because of the Pirovalen waters flowing through him, they were all audible and clear. Once Stephan determined the positions of the low notes and the high notes in order – they were arranged along a strange and winding path – he walked on them in order to play the musical scales.
The tall snake-jaguar statues in this lower room – all fifty-one (51) of them – noticeably rose up out of the floor. Gabrielle Ramalaxis looked underneath them and saw that there were narrow columns covered with yellow-green gems. When the statues halted in their climb – rising six (6) feet up from the floor – she went to the base of several of them and was able to remove the gems. She took three (3) of them, but counted the total: each statue’s base had a column of gems eighteen (18) high, with thirty-nine (39) such columns, giving seven hundred two (702) gems per statue. With a total of fifty-one (51) statues, that gave a total of thirty-five thousand eight hundred two (35802) gems.
Niels observed and recorded all of this. Rather than multiplying, how
ever, he came to the number of thirty-five thousand (35802) gems by directly counting them very quickly, which included the three (3) that Gabrielle Ramalaxis had in hand.
“If these yellow-green gems are worth anything, we’ve found a fortune. Take these three (3) back up and have him examine them,” Gabrielle Ramalaxis said, handing the yellow-green gems back to Stephan.
Niels took two (2) of the yellow-green gems, recording their description into his book, and keeping the gems to be submitted along with the book.
Stephan took the three (3) yellow-green gems, placed them in his jacket pocket, and climbed up the ladder to meet the others.
“She found a lot of these yellow-green gems under the statues when they lifted up because I was stepping on the tiles – they’re music blocks, like big piano keys,” Stephan said.
“Tristan, look at these, tell us what they are,” Tomiko said.
Tristan drank anew of the waters of the Kazofen Ocean from his vial and was energized. He inspected the low-level structure of the yellow-green gems closely, trying to identify them.
“I can tell you what they’re not – they’re not citrines, they’re not emeralds, they’re not yellow or green diamonds, they’re not jade, they’re not rubies, topaz or sapphires. And they’re definitely not a different form of gold, platinum or other precious metal,” Tristan said.
“Does that also mean they’re not valuable?” Tomiko asked.
“I don’t know what to make of them…yet,” Tristan said.
“How many were there?” Tomiko asked.
“Hundreds. Maybe thousands,” Stephan said.
“Let’s get them…if nothing else, we can learn something,” Tomiko said.
“I’ll help her get the rest,” Stephan said.
“So will I and Nina. Tristan should stay here to keep the crystals in place so we have light. Yared and Carter will keep watch. We’ll take as much as we can back to the ship,” Tomiko said as he climbed down the ladder, with Nina and Stephan following.