CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

FARCHRIST TALES

BOOK TWO:

THE FORGOTTEN TEMPLE

The guilt over what he had done plagued Sir Gildegarde Brisbane II constantly and eventually reached a point where he could no longer bear it. He loved Amanda, and was amazed at the amount of release and pleasure their hasty lovemaking had brought, but he was a Knight of Farchrist, and all he had ever been taught, all he had ever believed in, all he had become, called their passionate act only one ugly world. Fornication. He was compelled by tradition and respect for his position to confess his sin and he requested a private audience with the new King, Gregorovich IV, to do just that. But Gregorovich IV had no absolution for Brisbane. The King was sickened at the thought of what one of his knights had done. He stripped Brisbane of his knighthood, banished him from the kingdom, and hoped to contain these events before scandal resulted. To the King the affair was an embarrassment. To my father, it was the beginning of the end.

+ + +

They followed the corridor for a long time, longer than Brisbane would have believed possible. He had never seen a passageway so long in his life. It went on and on and Brisbane became pessimistically sure it would continue to go on and on until they all dropped dead of exhaustion. And then it would still go on and on.

The corridor curved and twisted around so much that Brisbane was no longer sure in what direction they were traveling. Shortwhiskers, who was good at underground navigation, kept the party informed of their direction, but Brisbane had no compass to check the dwarf so he didn’t know how true Shortwhiskers’ reports could be. Fortunately, the passage never split into more corridors, so they had no fear of getting lost. Ahead and back were the only two directions they had to worry about and those were more than enough for Brisbane.

But worse than the potential of getting lost was the fact that the corridor had a steady and unrelenting slope upward. They had been climbing the endless grade for hours and the muscles in Brisbane’s legs were beginning to whine in submission. Shortwhiskers, who evidently was also good at judging depth under the surface of the earth, said they had climbed over a thousand feet, and the end of the corridor was still nowhere in sight.

No one in the group seemed very talkative as they pressed on against the slope. Brisbane’s lips grew welded together and his tongue became stuck to the roof of his mouth. Like the others, he supposed, he was lost in thought to take away from the drudgery of the march. Even Angelika, whom Brisbane had taken back from Roystnof when he came out of the meditation chamber with Stargazer, was silent and far from his thoughts.

Predictably, Brisbane’s head was filled with thoughts of Stargazer and Roystnof and the difficulties he had and might have between the two of them. Foremost in his mind was what Stargazer had most recently done, asking Roystnof to call her Allison. He was not sure he understood all the ramifications, but he was sure it was a good sign. It was too much to hope for that Stargazer might have relaxed her view on magic and allowed for the possibility that Roystnof might be able to work magic without being a slave to Damaleous. More likely, she was just extending a courtesy to the wizard on Brisbane’s behalf, but Brisbane could still hope relations were getting better between the two people he cared about most. He tried not to think of Stargazer and Roystnof clashing, and was only glad things had been going as well as they had. It might be considered foolish for him to sit back and watch what happened, but Brisbane found himself too confused to do anything else.

He loved Stargazer and she loved him. That was now official after their exchange at the bottom of the ladder. Brisbane felt good about his admission, and was dizzy over what Stargazer had said. He was sure their relationship was going to grow by leaps and bounds now. It was somehow as if they had gotten a stodgy formality out of the way and would now be able to grow and live together without a nameless pressure.

But once again, his joy over his love for Stargazer was coupled with a fear over the possibility of disaster caused by his magical past and, as he had been reminded by his mystical torch lighting, present. It was cowardly, he knew, to go on with Stargazer pretending his magic skill did not exist, and he knew the problem would not go away if ignored, but he could not fathom a delicate way to present his problem to Stargazer. He was afraid, he supposed, afraid of her response to him, and afraid of what may come to him afterward.

Brisbane’s mind continually presented arguments for and against coming clean with Stargazer and the whole process left him befuddled beyond his own belief. He couldn’t make this decision himself, he was beginning to understand. He needed advice on how to go about breaking the news to Stargazer, or even if he should break it to her at all.

But to whom could he go? Brisbane would have liked to go to Roystnof for advice, but he wasn’t sure if he should bring the topic up with him. After all, in a real sense, Roystnof was intricately involved in this problem with Stargazer. It was he who had taught Brisbane his magical knowledge and, because of Roystnof’s atheistic beliefs, Brisbane was sure he would not understand the magnitude of the problem.

Roystnof, not having the instruction in Grecolus’ doctrine, would not realize the extent of Stargazer’s revulsion of the magical craft. He may have experienced the hatred of the faithful against him in his life, but Brisbane did not think Roystnof could appreciate the depth from which that hatred came.

Talking to Roystnof would bring up another problem that Brisbane was not sure he was ready to deal with. The wizard had already said he was looking forward to restarting Brisbane’s apprenticeship after this journey was finished. Brisbane knew this was going to be a problem if Stargazer heard about it and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to continue his magical studies in the first place. He liked Roystnof, and his magic intrigued Brisbane, but now with his relationship with Stargazer, Brisbane was willing to give all that up. He did not want to end his friendship with Roystnof, but he did want to end his potential career as a wizard. He wondered if he could do that without alienating Roystnof from himself.

That was the only solution that made any sense to him. To stop his magical contacts now and forever, but it was a solution filled with potential dangers and possible disasters. The worst case scenario was one in which Roystnof disowned him because of his denouncement of his magical training, and then Stargazer left him anyway, unable to deal with what he had done in the past. It was this possibility, this worst case scenario, that kept Brisbane on his course of inaction in this matter. His fear of losing these people, whom he cared about so much, forced him to bide his time, to watch the events of this melodrama of a life pass by, and to hope, somehow, that everything was going to come out right in the end.

Brisbane supposed he would have to talk with Shortwhiskers about his problems. The dwarf, Brisbane felt, was close enough to be sympathetic, but far enough away from the triangle to give Brisbane objective opinions. But now, buried deep in this lost temple, was not the time to bring these things up. Afterwards, when their adventure was over, perhaps on the journey back to Queensburg, Brisbane would make it a point to take Shortwhiskers aside and ask his opinion in these matters.

But for now, the endless corridor wore on, climbing higher and higher inside the guts of one of the Crimson Mountains. The party began to take short breaks to rest their tired muscles, but these rests were quiet and hurried, and it wasn’t long before they were on their silent way again. Wherever this corridor was leading, Brisbane realized that it had to be sealed at the other end. The corridor was completely empty. Brisbane had seen no other life along the way, no rats, no insects, nothing. It occurred to him that they were most likely the first living creatures to be here in centuries, and he was once again filled with a soft sense of awe. How could such a place, a place once so important to the culture of an ancient people, be forgotten and abandoned for so long?

But finally, the corridor came to an end. The party was making its way around a curve in the passage, a curve like hundreds of others they had passed, and suddenly they came up against a solid wall. The last twenty feet of the corridor was level, no longer inclined upward, and then it just ended in a plain gray stone wall.

No one said anything, but the looks on all their faces clearly expressed the anger that was going to erupt if this turned into a colossal dead end. Shortwhiskers stepped ahead and began to explore the surface of the wall. A short time later he quickly turned around and addressed the party.

“It’s another secret door,” the dwarf said. “Like the one at the entrance. But I think it’s meant to be secret from the other side. It’s too obvious from here.”

“Can you open it?” Roystnof asked.

“Sure.” Shortwhiskers just stood there.

“Then do it already,” Dantrius called from the back of the group. “Let’s see what we’ve walked all this way for.”

Shortwhiskers turned silently away and went back to work on the wall. He found a certain spot, and this time not needing Brisbane, applied his muscle to the wall and a small section of it began to push outward.

Brisbane and the others watched carefully as Shortwhiskers opened the secret door. The first idea Brisbane had was that the door opened onto the outside, meaning that they would be leaving the mountain, and then he saw this idea came from the drops of rain that began to drip into the corridor. During the time they had spent inside the temple and the mountain, it had begun to rain, a light spring shower that fell from a cloudy sky and quickly soaked the earth. When Shortwhiskers had the door opened far enough, he stepped out into the weather and the rest of the party followed him.

They found themselves nearly on the peak of a mountain, on a flattened-off area overlooking an almost perfectly circular mountain lake. Brisbane stared down the sheer face of a cliff, at least a hundred feet down, to the surface of the lake, and he realized the lake was the source of the waterfall they had seen before. He could just make out the drop-off through the mist of rain at the far edge of the lake. The temple must be right over that edge, he thought, hidden from view here just as this mountain top was hidden from view down below.

But the view down to the lake was not the most spectacular sight to be seen. Standing upright on the platform they stood upon, carved out of solid stone, was a gigantic hand, cupped slightly, with the fingers thrusting up towards the heavens. And here, in the palm of this tremendous hand, was the only evidence they had seen of living creatures using the deserted remains of the temple. Here was a huge nest, made from branches and rocks and river mud. The nest rested above their heads, and the party could not see into it, but it seemed that nothing was residing in it at the moment.

The party stood quietly in the rain, looking out at the panoramic view they had of the wet mountain range, and then turned their attention to the immense hand towering over their heads. Brisbane remarked that the stone hand was nearly a duplicate of the small iron one that topped Stargazer’s staff. Everyone agreed.

“I’ve never seen a nest so big,” Brisbane said, guessing it must be ten feet across. “I’d hate to see the bird that built it.”

“You think there are any eggs in it?” Shortwhiskers asked.

“Why?” Brisbane said.

“Exotic eggs can bring a high price on some markets I know,” the dwarf said.

Roystnof was looking up into the rainy sky. “Well,” he said. “Someone scramble up there and see before the mother bird comes back.”

“I don’t think we should take any eggs away from the mother,” Stargazer said, putting up her hood. “No matter how big she might be.”

“We’re just going to look,” Roystnof said. “There could be something else in there as well. Let’s find out what’s in there before we start arguing about what to do with it.”

“So go check already,” Dantrius said, exasperation in his voice.

The rest of the party tried to ignore the mage.

“I’ll do it,” Brisbane volunteered.

“Be careful, Gil,” Roystnof said.

“Okay, Dad,” Brisbane said sarcastically as he moved out on the rainy peak.

The crook between the hand’s thumb and index finger was just above his reach and Brisbane had to jump up to grab it. He caught it and slowly began to pull himself up, surprised at how heavy his chainmail made him. He first chinned himself and then he was able to get a leg up on the palm of the hand. A bit more effort and he was entirely over the lip, laying next to the nest itself. He stood up slowly, holding onto one of the fingers to keep his balance. The footing was uneven there and the hand was placed dangerously close to the edge of the cliff. Brisbane experienced a fleeting feeling of vertigo as he looked down on the mountain lake. He had to hold tightly onto the finger until the sensation passed. The rain made the stone slippery and the wind seemed stronger up here than it had been on the platform.

“What’s in the nest, Gil?” Shortwhiskers asked him.

Brisbane turned his back on the view of the lake and looked into the nest. There were indeed eggs in there, two of them about the size of melons with blue-sparkled shells. But they were not the only things to be found in the nest. Laying beside the eggs was the body of an ork, long since killed and partially decayed. The way the ork had been killed was obvious. His heart had been ripped out.

Brisbane leaned over the edge of the nest to tell Shortwhiskers what he had found when a terrible shape came screaming up the side of the mountain, swooping up and hanging protectively above the nest on flapping wings. The body of the bird was the size of a man with dark green wings extended for yards in both directions. But, freakishly, atop the body of the massive bird was the blue-black head of an angry elk, with rakish antlers studded with countless sharp points.

Brisbane only got a glimpse of the beast before it pounced on him with a shriek. He fumbled at his side, trying to pull Angelika from her scabbard, when the thing collided its antlers against his chest. His chainmail protected him from the sharp points, but the force of the blow knocked him off balance and caused him to teeter for a moment, and then fall from the gigantic hand of Grecolus.

The world seemed to slow down to Brisbane and he suddenly felt slightly apart from himself. With a sickening horror, he saw that as he fell, he was going to miss the platform entirely, and he wasn’t going to hit anything else but air until the surface of the mountain lake, hundreds of feet below.

Brisbane’s hand was still around the pommel of Angelika as she extended halfway out of her scabbard. With amazing speed, one thought raced through his mind. If he did not secure Angelika in her scabbard, he might very well lose her when he crashed into the water below. He did not consider that he may not even survive the fall, or that it would be hard to stay afloat in his chainmail if he did survive. In his moment of crisis he was only concerned with Angelika. He had to make sure he did not lose her.

As he passed by the level of the platform, he could see the looks of shock on the faces of his friends. They had been as surprised as he at the appearance of the bird-monster. He could hear Stargazer calling out his name in a long, drawn-out moan, and he thought, just as they disappeared and a wall of rock dominated his vision, that he saw a sly smile spread across the face of the illusionist Dantrius.

And then his companions were gone and he was alone in a world of rain and gravity. Almost unconsciously, his hand pushed Angelika back into her scabbard and quickly buttoned the small securing strap into place. With Angelika safely belted at his side, his thoughts turned momentarily to those of his own safety, and then he smashed into the water of the mountain lake.

The impact caused him to lose consciousness for a moment and he plunged down deep into the depths of the lake. His velocity downward slowed and eventually stopped. As he slowly began to rise back to the surface—the amount of air in his lungs winning out, for the moment, over the weight of his armor—the strong currents toward the waterfall grabbed him and began to drag him away from the mountain from whose top he had fallen.

Brisbane regained consciousness as he resurfaced, coughing water out of his lungs and flailing his arms in a desperate struggle to keep his head above water. Thoughts of his impending doom filled his head as he watched himself be pulled nearer and nearer to the edge of the waterfall. In those moments, he realized how silly his thought about death had been when he felt trapped in the meditation chamber. Death, thought to be so close then, was a million leagues away compared to the way it brushed up against him now. He was actually shocked when he realized just how much he wanted to live and how little he had really understood that when he had been in the meditation chamber. With this desire burning in his mind, Brisbane was dragged over the falls.

+ + +

FARCHRIST TALES

END OF BOOK TWO

+ + +

This post appeared on Eric Lanke's blog, an association executive and author. You can contact him at eric.lanke@gmail.com.

The Wife by Sigrid Undset

This is the second novel in Undset’s three-novel series Kristin Lavransdatter. The first novel, The Wreath, took a high prize from me, as I named it the best book I had read -- or at least the book I most wanted to re-read -- in 2023. The Wife was a different experience.

If you’ll forgive the analogy, as the middle volume of a three-volume series, The Wife is a little like The Empire Strikes Back, in the sense that it seems to serve mainly as a vehicle to move the characters forward while setting things up for the final conflict. Will that final conflict come in the third volume, The Cross? We’ll have to wait and see.

Other than that, my main disappointment with The Wife is that it wasn’t as much about the wife, Kristin Lavransdatter, as I would have liked, and seemed to focus more on her husband, Erlend Nikulausson. Thematically, it reaffirmed again and again the need for women to remain pure…

“Dear sister -- all other love is merely a reflection of the heavens in the puddles of a muddy road. You will become sullied too if you allow yourself to sink into it. But if you always remember that it’s a reflection of the light from that other home, then you will rejoice at its beauty and take good care that you do not destroy it by churning up the mire at the bottom.”

And…

“I was thinking about … women. I wonder whether any woman respects the laws and beliefs of men as we do among ourselves -- when she or her own kind can win something by stepping over them.”

And…

Erlend threw back his head, his eyes blazing and fierce. “There is a law, Tore, that cannot be subverted by sovereigns or tings, which says that a man must protect the honor of his women with the sword.”

…but in that regard, it isn’t Kristin but her husband Erlend who is tested throughout the novel. Indeed, in the climax, Erlend nearly loses his life as a result of his sins of adultery and ambition. In fact, I think it would have been a far better novel if Erlend had lost his life. It would have at least given its title, The Wife, a little more relevance and meaning.

+ + +

This post appeared on Eric Lanke's blog, an association executive and author. You can contact him at eric.lanke@gmail.com.

Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King

This post was originally published on a now-retired blog that I maintained from roughly 2005 to 2013. As a result, there may be some references that seem out of date. 

+ + + 

Another King novel and another good one, although the first two stories were far more engaging than the final three.

+ + +

This post appeared on Eric Lanke's blog, an association executive and author. You can contact him at eric.lanke@gmail.com.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

FARCHRIST TALES

BOOK TWO:

THE FORGOTTEN TEMPLE

On the night King Gregorovich Farchrist II died, Sir Gildegarde Brisbane II, stricken with grief, fled from the castle, into the city below, and into the waiting arms of his only love, Amanda. She took him inside her humble home and in the back bedroom, apart from her mother, she did the best she could to console the man she loved. Brisbane felt his world coming to an end, as the sorrow he felt for the passing of his King was only compounded by the sorrow he felt for the separation from Amanda his position demanded. In a fit of anger at the world, of misery for himself, and of passion for his beloved, he took Amanda as a man takes a woman, and Amanda gave herself to him. His climax thundered through his body and into his mind and, in that moment, he knew the end he was rushing towards. When he left Amanda that night with a sweet kiss on her lips, she was already pregnant with his child.

+ + +

They decided to use the staircase on the side of the chapel they had entered on, the same side of the river they had been on since the beginning of the adventure. The pack mules, who had followed them readily enough through the secret passage and into the temple, refused to go down the stairs. Shortwhiskers had expected that, and he said they would have to leave them there. They leashed the animals to spikes they drove into the stone floor and the dwarf felt they would be safe enough that way until they could come back to pick them up. Dantrius, however, seemed more concerned about the gold the mules carried than the mules themselves.

They weren’t sure if the two stairways went to the same places, but it was doubtful, as after going down a flight, they turned in opposite directions away from the river. If the two staircases did not meet, they planned on exploring the first one as far as they could before going back to the second one.

They gathered again in a small group, like the pips on the five of a die. The staircase was wide enough to permit this and they slowly descended, Roystnof and Shortwhiskers up front, Stargazer in the middle, and Brisbane and Dantrius bringing up the rear. Brisbane’s thoughts were on the demon they had encountered when they went downstairs at the shrine down the river. He did not want to meet such a beast again, but as he padded down the stairs, Angelika coolly reassured him that no evil could stand against them.

They reached a small landing at the bottom of the first flight and a second one continued on after a turn to the left. They continued down these stairs and then entered into a large underground chamber. The room was a fifty foot square with a ten foot ceiling, and all surfaces seemed to have been carved smooth out of the solid rock of the mountain. The corners weren’t sharp but were rounded slightly and gave the chamber an odd look to it. Every ten feet, all along the walls, a small archway was spaced, each barely large enough for a man to pass through.

Stargazer stepped out in front of everyone else and stood by herself with a look of partial amazement on her face.

A strange and unpleasant feeling sunk deep into Brisbane’s stomach. The chamber made him very uncomfortable and he was not sure why. For the second time that day, he had an unfamiliar pang of claustrophobia. He tried to push it aside, but it continued to nag him at the back of his mind.

“Allie?” he asked. “What is it?”

Stargazer waved her arm at a wall of archways. “They’re the meditation chambers,” she said. “Where the priests would come to meditate and to pray. In the ancient times, it was said Grecolus sometimes visited the most faithful priests in their meditation chambers.”

Stargazer ran to one of the archways and the rest of the party came out to the center of the room. She looked into one of them and then turned around to look at her companions.

“Come and see,” she said.

There were five chambers against one wall and each person went to a separate arch, with Stargazer at the middle one. Brisbane looked into his and saw that after going in for a few feet, it ended and a very narrow shaft went down into the floor. Carved into the face of one of the walls of the dark shaft were the footholds of a ladder.

“They go down to a small chamber,” Stargazer said. “The priests would go down there to meditate. Sometimes for days.”

Brisbane marveled at the size of the shaft. Even Shortwhiskers would have a hard time squeezing down there. As he was leaning over, looking down into that dark hole, his head suddenly started to spin and he had to hold onto the stone walls to avoid falling in. He backed away from the hole and his head started to clear.

“How big are the chambers down there?” Brisbane asked.

“Very small,” Stargazer said matter-of-factly. “They are really just large enough for one person.”

She suddenly went into her archway. Brisbane ran to her. He saw her poised on the first step of the stone ladder.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

Stargazer looked at him oddly. “I’m going down. I want to see what it’s like.”

Brisbane looked to his sides. Roystnof and Shortwhiskers had joined him.

“We should probably search them all,” Roystnof said. “We don’t want to miss anything.”

Stargazer started down the ladder.

“Wait!” Brisbane said.

Stargazer stopped. “Gil, what’s the matter with you?”

Brisbane felt sweat bead up on the back of his neck. He wasn’t sure why he was so jumpy, but he felt very uneasy about him or anyone else going down into the meditation chambers. Especially him. He just could not imagine anyone willingly going down into those chambers and sealing themselves away into the earth. He didn’t see how anyone could be relaxed enough to meditate under such circumstances.

“Nothing,” Brisbane said eventually to Stargazer. “Just be careful.”

Stargazer smiled and then disappeared into the shaft. Brisbane turned his back on the arch. Roystnof and Shortwhiskers were standing right there and Dantrius was off in another corner of the chamber.

“She’ll be fine,” Shortwhiskers said. “We’ll probably have to drag her out of there. I think this is one of the reasons why she wanted to come along.”

Brisbane nodded his head weakly. His throat was dry.

Roystnof unshouldered his pack again. As he rummaged through it he spoke aloud, loud enough for Dantrius to hear him if the mage cared to. “We will each go down into one of Miss Stargazer’s meditation chambers, and each of us will need his own light source.”

He brought out of his pack a handful of unlit torches. He handed one to Shortwhiskers and one to Brisbane. Surprisingly, Dantrius came over and took one as well. They all stood for a moment in a small circle, each with a short, fat stick in his hand.

Roystnof turned to Brisbane. “Do you still remember your fire cantrip, Gil?”

Brisbane said nothing. He met Roystnof’s eyes and then looked around the circle. He placed his hand around the end of his torch, closed his eyes, and said the magic word Roystnof had taught him. It had been years since he had done it, but Brisbane remembered and pronounced all the inflections perfectly. He pulled his hand away and the end of the torch began to burn with a bright flame.

Roystnof smiled as he put his torch into Brisbane’s fire and fed off the flame. Shortwhiskers and Dantrius did the same. When they all had lit torches in hand, Roystnof called for them to move out and reminded them to check all the chambers. They set off in different directions and, as Brisbane stood there, he saw each of them choose and arch and disappear down a shaft.

Brisbane tried to swallow and coughed because his throat was so rough. He went over to the arch next to the one Stargazer had gone down. He held the torch out and peered down the shaft. The firelight flickered down and he saw the floor of the meditation chamber perhaps twenty feet down. He looked back into the large chamber, saw it empty, and turned back to the stone ladder.

Brisbane tried to build his confidence. It wasn’t working.

—Go, Brisbane,— Angelika whispered in his mind. —Yours is an honor all would desire. Go down and face your fear.—

Brisbane stepped onto the first rung of the ladder. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest.

—I am with you, Brisbane. You need not go alone.—

Brisbane started down. The walls of the shaft seemed to swallow him immediately. He had to hold the torch almost straight up above his head to keep from burning himself in the enclosed space. The end of Angelika’s scabbard scraped against one of the walls as he went down, making a shrieking noise and running chills up and down his spine. Each step became more and more difficult and Brisbane became sure the walls were closing in on him. He shut his eyes tightly and let Angelika weave her spell of confidence around him. Her seductive voice did not slow his beating heart, but it kept the organ in his chest.

Brisbane touched the bottom. He stepped off the ladder and slowly opened his eyes. He found himself staring at the footholds of the ladder. He spun around in place—there was no room to make a turn—and met another wall with his gaze.

—Down, Brisbane. Farther down.—

Brisbane brought the torch down next to his head and looked down. The bottom three feet of the wall was an open space.

—Through there, Brisbane. The meditation chamber.—

Brisbane felt beside himself. Without Angelika, he did not think he could have made it this far. He had never known he was this claustrophobic, but the truth was now being drilled into him. He began to bend down to peer into the open space, but the angle of Angelika’s scabbard at his belt prevented it. It caught against the walls of the shaft and would not let him crouch. He tried time and time again, but it just wouldn’t work.

—You’ll have to take me off, Brisbane.—

No! Brisbane’s mind screamed. I couldn’t move without you here.

—Young Brisbane.— Angelika’s voice was sweetness in his head. —I will still be able to speak with you. Just set me here against the ladder.—

Brisbane found himself doing so before he realized it. He undid the buckle that secured the scabbard to his waist and gently set Angelika, point down, against the wall in which the ladder was carved. He was now able to bend down and peer into the meditation chamber. What he saw when he did so frightened him more than anything he had seen so far. Carved into the rock, dropped slightly below the floor of the shaft, was a space of about three or four feet on a side, a tiny little chamber of air buried thousands of feet under the mountain. There was nothing in it.

—Go on in, Brisbane. Go on in and commune like the priests who lived here centuries ago. They saw their god. What will you see?—

It’s empty, Brisbane thought. There’s no need to go in. There’s nothing in there. I should go up and check another one.

—Grecolus, young Brisbane. The priests found Grecolus in there. What will you find?—

Brisbane began to crawl into the chamber. He put the burning torch down on the floor of the shaft and scraped his chainmail poncho against the stone on the way in. He positioned himself in the chamber, his head touching the ceiling and his knees brought up with his toes bent against the wall. His right hand still dangled out into the air of the shaft and now he drew even that into the chamber.

—There. Now. Close your eyes and let yourself go.—

Brisbane closed his eyes and tried to clear his head. He tried to imagine himself as one of the ancient priests, coming down here to meditate. These chambers must have been the most important part of the temple when it was alive with people. In these tiny cells buried in the earth, men who had devoted their entire lives to the worship and study of Grecolus came to meditate on what they had learned and what they believed. Some of them reached such a state of tranquility that they evidently saw and conversed with this god. Brisbane knew plenty of places in the realm that were considered holy. The Peoples Temple in Raveltown. The Pool of Cleansing in the land across the Sea of Darkmarine. But he now realized he was in, perhaps, the most holy place of all.

And so he tried to tune in on the spiritual channel that was reported to exist here, to feel the power of revelation that others had felt here. From the beginning of his attempt, however, there was something in the way. At first, he couldn’t tell what that something was, but as he sat there, and the something grew in his mind, he began to realize it was his own intense and ever-present feeling of claustrophobia that was getting in his way.

The rock, the rock, the rock pushing in on him from all sides, pushing, pushing, pressing in on him from all sides but mostly from above. The ceiling bending under the impossible weight on top of it, threatening to cave in and crush his fragile body flat. His breathing grew very quick and then stopped altogether. He opened his eyes in shock and saw in the dim torchlight the impossible space he had wedged himself into. He could feel the stone surface against the top of his head, against the back of his neck, against the crook of his back, against the tips of his toes, against the heels of his feet. The tears began to stream down his face as he sat in absolute terror, trying to draw life-giving breath.

He was going to die, Brisbane was sure of it. He was going to die down there in that tiny chamber and the only mystery left was whether he would run out of air first or his heart would burst. But what was worse than the fact that he was going to die was the fact that he was going to die alone and before he really learned anything about what life was really all about. Even Angelika had left him. Brisbane had forgotten about her in his fright and her voice could not reach him. He tried to call out for help, but his jaws were frozen and he still could not breathe. Brisbane’s vision began to pop and fade in the corners.

“Gil?”

The voice was distant and far away.

“Gil? Are you down there?”

It was Roystnof. Brisbane could hear Roystnof. He tried to speak but couldn’t. Roystnof was right there and Brisbane was going to die anyway.

“Gil, I can see your sword. Are you down there?”

My sword!

—Answer him, Brisbane.—

“I’m here, Roy,” Brisbane was suddenly able to say, his voice echoing strangely in the small space. He was also able to breathe and move. He quickly crawled out of the meditation chamber. He picked up the torch and looked up at Roystnof’s face.

“Gil,” Roystnof said. “Miss Stargazer won’t come out of her chamber. She wants to talk to you.”

Brisbane restrapped Angelika to his side and began to climb the ladder. Stargazer wouldn’t come out of her chamber? She wanted to talk to him? The terrors of his experience were gone and his only concern was for Stargazer. In an instant, he was back in the main chamber and looking down the shaft Stargazer had descended. She had not taken a light source with her and only darkness stared back at him.

Roystnof, Shortwhiskers, and Dantrius stood behind him.

“We’ve searched them all,” Roystnof said to Brisbane. “We found nothing except for Nog, who found a passageway at the bottom of one. We want to go on but she says she won’t come out until she talks to you.”

“Forget her,” Dantrius mumbled in the back. “Let’s go.”

Brisbane ignored the mage. He leaned over the open shaft again.

“Allie?”

Her voice came back very softly. “Is that you, Gil?”

“Yes.”

“Come on down. I want to talk to you.”

Brisbane straightened up. He looked at Roystnof for a moment and then slowly started down the ladder, his torch held high above his head.

“Don’t bring the light,” Stargazer called out. “The light will spoil it. It really is quite wonderful.”

Brisbane froze on the ladder, halfway into the floor. Roystnof came over and crouched down in front of him and took Brisbane’s torch from him.

Roystnof nodded. “Go get her out of there,” he whispered.

Brisbane pursed his lips. “Just a minute,” he said and then began to unfasten Angelika from his waist. He handed the scabbarded weapon to Roystnof. “I’ll be right back,” he said. He swallowed a lump in his throat and started down the ladder again.

It was a little better in the dark. The walls didn’t seem to swallow him as much and his heart didn’t thump as loudly. But he still felt uncomfortable as he descended the ladder. He was again seized with a tremor of claustrophobia.

“Allie?” he said as the sweat began to bead on his forehead.

“I’m here, Gil,” Stargazer said, her voice closer. “Come on down.”

Brisbane steeled himself and eventually touched the bottom. He looked up at the little square of light so far above his head. He then crouched down, this time unhindered by his sword, and peered carefully into the meditation chamber. His eyes could not see Stargazer.

“Allie?”

“Gil.” Her voice was very close but he still could not see her. “Roystnof said you searched the other chambers. Did you go into one?”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t it wonderful?”

“What do you mean?” Brisbane thought he could see her vague form in the darkness.

“Well, I mean the others can’t appreciate it. They don’t have the faith. But we do. Can’t you feel the holiness of this place?”

The terror wasn’t as strong with Stargazer down there with him. In his position just outside the meditation chamber, Brisbane could also always see the world of light above him.

“Yes,” Brisbane said. “I can.”

“I’ve never felt closer to Grecolus in my life. I feel completely at ease with myself and the world. It’s all so beautiful, don’t you think?”

Brisbane did not answer. He wished he could feel the things Stargazer felt. He wished he could feel the glory and grandeur of Grecolus. He wished he could see the pattern of the Grecolus-created universe and the possible endings that universe would lead to. He wished he could take joy in all these things. But he couldn’t. When he was down in the meditation chambers, he realized all he could feel was the smallness of his being and the helplessness of his situation.

“Gil?”

“Come on, Allie. We’ve got to go.” He could see her form now and he reached out and took her hand.

“Gil, what’s the matter?”

“Nothing, Allie,” Brisbane said, tugging gently on her arm. “Nog has found another passage. We have to move on.”

“Okay, Gil.” She shuffled around inside the chamber and stuck her head out in front of Brisbane’s. There were tears on her cheeks.

“What is it, Allie?”

Stargazer shook her head.

“What?”

“It’s just so…” Stargazer said, trailing off. “It just all seems so wonderful.”

Brisbane smiled. “I know it does. I know.”

He pulled her out of the chamber and they stood at the bottom of the ladder for a long time in a silent embrace.

“I love you, Gil,” Stargazer said into his chest.

“I love you, too, Allie.”

They kissed and then started back up the ladder, Brisbane first because he was closer to it. They were quickly back up in the main chamber with the others in the party.

“I hope everything is all right, Miss Stargazer,” Roystnof said to her after she emerged from the shaft. “You gave me quite a scare the way you refused to come up.”

Stargazer smiled oddly at the wizard. “Everything’s fine,” she said to him. “It was just something I wanted to share with Gil. I am fully prepared to continue on our exploration of the temple.”

Roystnof returned her smile. “I’m glad to hear that.”

“And Roystnof?”

“Yes, Miss Stargazer?”

Stargazer stepped closer to him and lowered her voice. “I don’t think anyone here will mind if you call me Allison.”

Roystnof’s eyebrows flew up. “Very well, Allison,” he said, trying out the name. “Our friend Nog has found a rough stone passage at the bottom of one of these meditation chambers. We have searched them all and Nog’s discovery is the only one worthy of mention. Shall we move on?”

“We shall,” Stargazer said. She took Brisbane’s hand and followed Roystnof over to the arch that Shortwhiskers stood beside. It looked like any one of the others.

They extinguished all the torches they had lit and relied only on Roystnof’s magic lantern before going deeper into the earth. Curious about it, Brisbane asked Roystnof how long his crystal ball would give off luminance for them, and Roystnof said it would shine until he dispelled the magic.

“Or until you die,” Dantrius added tonelessly.

“Well, yes,” Roystnof said. “The power comes from me, so that when I end, so will the light. But I don’t think we’ll have to worry about that any time soon.”

Brisbane gave Dantrius an angry stare and held back a desire to punch the mage in the nose.

“The passage is much larger than the shaft,” Shortwhiskers cut in. “And it looks like it goes on for quite a while. It appears to have been carved in a hurry but it seems secure enough.”

There wasn’t much more to say. Shortwhiskers went down the appropriate ladder first and the rest of the party went down one by one after him. Roystnof, Stargazer, Brisbane, and finally Dantrius. The bottom of the ladder did not give into a tiny meditation chamber, but instead into a corridor with a vaulted ceiling, fully ten feet off the floor and ten feet wide as well. The party gathered momentarily at the bottom of the ladder, arranged themselves into a marching order like the pips of a five on a six-sided die, and them started off down the corridor.

+ + +

This post appeared on Eric Lanke's blog, an association executive and author. You can contact him at eric.lanke@gmail.com.

Cousin Pons by Honore de Balzac

I don’t remember how I stumbled on this one. Surely I read about it in some other work, and I remember why I put it on my to-read list. It was held up as one of the finest studies of humanity ever portrayed in fiction.

Well, yes and no, as it turns out.

…in 1829 he launched upon the most ambitious project which a novelist (who claimed also to be a philosopher) had ever yet undertaken. The ‘Human Comedy’ was the result of this. He only found a title for his collected works about 1840, and he only began to edit or re-edit them under this title from 1842. But he had the whole scheme roughed out at least as early as 1834. It was an ever-expanding project. Disease and death caught up with him before it arrived at completion. Yet, as it stands, it comprises about ninety-seven novels, short stories and other ‘studies.’

This from the book’s introduction by Herbert J. Hunt. Cousin Pons is, evidently, only one-ninety-seventh of the finest study of humanity ever portrayed in fiction.

I flirted with the idea of placing all ninety-seven volumes on my to-read list -- not quite understanding that had I done so and had I managed to read them all, I would most likely be only one of a handful of people on the planet ever to accomplish such a feat -- but after wading through Cousin Pons I decided not to bother.

+ + +

This post appeared on Eric Lanke's blog, an association executive and author. You can contact him at eric.lanke@gmail.com.

The Ancestor’s Tale by Richard Dawkins

This post was originally published on a now-retired blog that I maintained from roughly 2005 to 2013. As a result, there may be some references that seem out of date. 

+ + + 

It is the story of human evolution, from the present day back to the very origin of life, told in the format of The Canterbury Tales, as though humans and all our evolutionary ancestors were travelers on a pilgrimage back through time.

Six million years back in time, we meet the common ancestor we share with chimpanzees, another million beyond that we meet the common ancestor we and chimpanzees share with gorillas, and another seven million beyond that we meet the common ancestor (the “concestor”) we, chimpanzees and gorillas share with orangutans.

It goes back like that all the way through 39 such “rendezvous” to the common ancestor all other forms of life share with eubacteria some uncounted number of millions of years ago. Along the way different tales are told by different life forms, each illuminating a different and interesting aspect of the evolutionary story.

The story is fascinating, but so is the raw chronology of it all, so much so that’s it’s worth repeating here.

• Rendezvous 1 - 6 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Chimpanzees
• Rendezvous 2 - 7 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Gorillas
• Rendezvous 3 - 14 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Orangutans
• Rendezvous 4 - 18 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Gibbons
• Rendezvous 5 - 25 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Old World Monkeys
• Rendezvous 6 - 40 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with New World Monkeys
• Rendezvous 7 - 58 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Tarsiers
• Rendezvous 8 - 63 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Lemurs
• Rendezvous 9 - 70 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Shrews
• Rendezvous 10 - 75 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Rodents
• Rendezvous 11 - 85 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Laurasiatheres (mammals from “Laurasia”)
• Rendezvous 12 - 95 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Sloths, Anteaters and Armadillos
• Rendezvous 13 - 105 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Afrotheres (mammals from Africa)
• Rendezvous 14 - 140 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Marsupials
• Rendezvous 15 - 180 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Monotremes
• Mammal-Like Reptiles
• Rendezvous 16 - 310 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Reptiles and Birds
• Rendezvous 17 - 340 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Amphibians
• Rendezvous 18 - 417 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Lungfish
• Rendezvous 19 - 425 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Coelacanths
• Rendezvous 20 - 440 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Ray-Finned Fish
• Rendezvous 21 - 460 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Sharks
• Rendezvous 22 - 530 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Lampreys and Hagfish
• Rendezvous 23 - 560 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Lancelets
• Rendezvous 24 - 565 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Sea Squirts
• Rendezvous 25 - 570 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Starfish
• Rendezvous 26 - 590 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Protostomes (including insects)
• Rendezvous 27 - 630 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Flatworms
• Rendezvous 28 - ??? Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Jellyfish, Anemones and Coral
• Rendezvous 29 - ??? Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Ctenophores
• Rendezvous 30 - 780 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Placozoans
• Rendezvous 31 - 800 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Sponges
• Rendezvous 32 - 900 Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Choanoflagellates
• Rendezvous 33 - ??? Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with “DRIPs”
• Rendezvous 34 - ??? Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Fungi
• Rendezvous 35 - ??? Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Amoebozoans
• Rendezvous 36 - ??? Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Plants
• Rendezvous 37 - ??? Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Remaining Eukaryotes
• Rendezvous 38 - ??? Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Archaea
• Rendezvous 39 - ??? Million of Years Ago - Common Ancestor with Eubacteria

What’s so fascinating about this evolutionary table? Well, several things.

First, how detailed it is. Something that became apparent to me as I read this book which I would say is not part of the common man’s everyday understanding of evolution is just how much credible, scientific evidence there is for it. In this Christian Nation, one would have Joe believe that evolution is a theory full of holes. And sure, there are some holes on the chart, but look at how much of the chart is complete. Ninety-nine percent of the scientific community agree with the connections and chronology back to about 500 million years ago, and beyond that there is some disagreement about dates and the order of the connections, but virtually none about the general trend. That’s the fossil record, sure, but more and more that’s molecular data from the genomes of different species, and seeing which are similar and how similar and which are different and how different.

Next, note that it takes 70 million years to find a common ancestor with something that is not a primate and 310 million years to find one with something that is not a mammal. That’s an incredible amount of time and a testament to the true diversity of life.

Next, what’s up with the mammal-like reptiles stuck in between rendezvous 15 and 16? Well, they’re a branch of the evolutionary tree that died out completely and didn’t make it to the present day the way human did. There’s nothing alive today that shares a common ancestor with us from this branch, but the branch was once there and for hundreds of millions of years those life forms were just as real as we are. How many other evolutionary branches are like that? Don’t they say that over 90% of the species that have ever been have gone extinct and aren’t around today? You think 850 different species of cartilaginous fish is amazing? What about the 7,650 species that have gone extinct?

Just how big is this tree of life anyway? And exactly when did “we” branch off from plants, and what were “we” when we did this. Look at the rendezvous on either side. Amoebas and Eukaryotes. Simple, single-celled creatures today and however many millions of years ago the rendezvous took place. That’s what “we” and “plants” were both then, but today we are both infinitely more complicated, infinitely more diverse, and infinitely different from one another. Like compounding interest, it really shows you what evolution can do if you give it a few billion years.

And that’s what a friend of mine has grown fond of saying after reading this book. When you think of the six million years that have passed since our common ancestor with chimpanzees, or the 60 million years that have passed since our common ancestor with lemurs, or the 600 million years that have passed since our common ancestor with flatworms, you begin to realize that the differences that we think of as separating us today are infinitesimal specks of flotsam on the currents of time.

+ + +

This post appeared on Eric Lanke's blog, an association executive and author. You can contact him at eric.lanke@gmail.com.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

FARCHRIST TALES

BOOK TWO:

THE FORGOTTEN TEMPLE

In Farchrist Year Eighty-Five, eighty-one years after his birth, King Gregorovich Farchrist II died. The whole of the valley felt and grieved the passing of such a great and most-loved ruler. Born four years after the start of the Farchrist Empire, he was the son of the people as much as he was the son of his father. He was the first sign that the Empire would continue, that it would not expire like so many other temporary monarchies. He founded the Order of the Farchrist Knights and later, as King, had conveyed that title upon countless deserving young men. He had orchestrated the attack against Dalanmire and lost his only son to the winged lizard. He had opened trade with the dwarven nation to the north and ruled his kingdom with a gentle and loving hand. But of all who loved and respected him, and were saddened at his passing, when the crown was passed on to Gregorovich Farchrist IV, no one grieved more than Sir Gildegarde Brisbane II.

+ + +

Brisbane drew the last watch that night. He would guard the camp in the final hours of the night and wake the rest of the party when the sun rose. When Shortwhiskers awoke him after the second watch, Brisbane did not even think about the lost temple and what mysteries it might hold. But when he found himself sitting awake outside, listening for noises in the night, he found it hard to think of anything else.

This was no little shrine. That thought occurred to him time and time again. This was not a tiny place where people passing through could stop and pay their small respects to their god. This was a temple, where a group of ancient people spent and lived out their lives in devotion to a mythology that pleased them so much, they accepted it as doctrine. Who knew what these people had left behind? Who knew what Brisbane and his friends would find inside? Brisbane was not so uneducated that he did not realize his journey and search for the lost temple of Grecolus was not also a journey and search for Grecolus himself. But he also knew this was not a search for the Grecolus of today, the one he had been taught to fear and love, the one who had been turned into the ultimate protective father by the leaders of his religion; but it was a search for the Grecolus of yesterday, the one who used magic to battle Damaleous, the one who gave Stargazer her healing powers, and the one who had angels on earth in the shape of unicorns. Whereas Brisbane was firmly convinced that the Grecolus of today was a sham and a device to instill moral behavior on the populace, he was still open to the possibility that the Grecolus of yesterday might still be alive, stranded out here in the wilderness and abandoned by his own worshippers.

It was one of the longest nights in Brisbane’s life, longer than the nights he had spent beside his mother’s death bed, and when the sun began to lighten the sky, he quickly went over and shook the rest of his companions awake. Only Dantrius seemed annoyed at the disruption of his slumber, and as Brisbane took a small delight in that, he supposed the rest were just as eager as he to begin exploring the temple they had finally found.

The business of breakfast and packing up camp was quickly attended to and it wasn’t long before the party was gathered before the entrance to the temple on their side of the river, ready and anxious to go in.

The portal was almost an exact replica of the one at the shrine down the river. It was ten feet high and five feet wide, placed in the middle of a wall thirty feet wide and twenty feet high. The doorway had the strange and ancient runes bordering it on three sides as well. What was different about this portal was that it did not open directly into the temple itself. Inside there was a small, narrow antechamber, and inside that, directly opposite the entry portal, was a massive stone door.

Stargazer, dressed in a blue tunic and tan trousers and holding her iron-tipped staff before her, stepped up to the portal and examined the runes that surrounded it.

“They’re nearly the same as the ones on the shrine,” she said. “These on the left proclaim this to be a temple devoted to Grecolus, and these on the right warn that entrance to this temple is possible only for the faithful.”

“Does that mean it’s trapped?” Roystnof asked, dressed in red and black, his own staff in hand.

“It doesn’t say so specifically,” Stargazer warned. “It just says only the faithful can enter.”

“The trap is implied,” Roystnof said.

“How can we be sure?” Brisbane asked. His chainmail poncho twinkled in the sunlight.

“We cannot,” Roystnof said. “The warning means one of three things. One, it means exactly what it says. The entrance is magically barred and only the truly faithful to Grecolus can pass through. Two, the entrance is trapped so that one who knows the trap can enter and those who do not cannot. And three, it means nothing. It is an empty threat. Since only the second meaning contains some sort of potential danger to us, it would be wise to operate under that stipulation until something compels us to change that viewpoint.”

“Sounds sensible to me,” Shortwhiskers said. He already had his sword out. “What sort of trap should we be looking for?”

No one seemed to know and they looked at each other helplessly. Finally Dantrius, his black hair falling in his hollow face, spoke.

“The deadly sort.”

“Well,” Shortwhiskers said. “I’ll go take a look at the way this thing’s constructed. Maybe I can find a secret way in by looking at the stonework.”

Roystnof said that was a good idea and Shortwhiskers went off to inspect the outside surface of the temple. He returned shortly and proclaimed the place seemed solidly constructed to him.

“On this side of the river, at least,” the dwarf said.

“The place has a certain symmetry to it,” Roystnof said. “I would assume what is present here will be present there.”

Shortwhiskers shrugged. “Doesn’t matter, really. Unless we want to get wet.”

“We will just have to proceed carefully and hope for the best,” Roystnof said. “Nog, you have the best eye for stonework. Why don’t you lead us in?”

Shortwhiskers swallowed visibly. “All right. But don’t crowd me and don’t step anywhere I don’t step. Single file. Get it?”

Everyone agreed and they quickly decided on a marching order. Shortwhiskers would lead the way, followed by Roystnof, Stargazer, and Brisbane. Dantrius would bring up the rear. That wasn’t where anyone wanted to put Dantrius, but he put up his usual stink and this time, instead of arguing, they let him have his way. Brisbane would make it a point to watch his back as well as his front.

Before proceeding, Shortwhiskers sheathed his sword and took Roystnof’s staff. The dwarf then approached the entrance and used the staff to poke the earthen floor inside the portal. He jabbed it sharply in several places and then quickly withdrew it before it could be damaged by whatever trap might have been sprung. Lastly, he set one end of the staff in the center of the antechamber and leaned on it heavily. Still, nothing happened.

Shortwhiskers gave Roystnof back his staff. “Light, please,” he said, and Roystnof waved his hand and filled the small antechamber with one of his light spells.

Brisbane held his breath as Shortwhiskers stepped into the antechamber. This was a nervous business and it was starting to get to Brisbane. He did not like the danger the unseen trap posed for him and his friends, but he knew one thing because of it. There had to be something pretty special inside the temple for the ancient worshippers to build a trap in order to guard it.

Shortwhiskers stood in the center of the antechamber, his hands on his hips and turning in a circle, examining everything he saw. He touched nothing. The antechamber itself seemed to be a perfect ten foot cube of empty space, with hard stone for its ceiling and walls. One wall was cut with the open portal and the one opposite that had the heavy stone door chiseled into it.

The party waited as Shortwhiskers went on with his examination. He looked at the door for a long time, studying the hinges and the small cracks between them. It looked unremarkable to Brisbane but Shortwhiskers seemed absorbed by it. When he was done, he examined the flanking walls, one at a time. With the second one, he got down on his knees before it and crouched way down to peer at the line where it met the earth floor. He still hadn’t touched anything.

He sat back and began running his fingers through his beard. The dwarf isolated one of his short whiskers between his thumb and forefinger and, with a quick jerk, pulled it out of his chin. Bending back over, he brought this hair next to the wall way down by the floor and held it steady.

Brisbane stood on his tiptoes to get a good look at what Shortwhiskers was doing. He could just see the hair in the dwarf’s fingers and he saw it wiggle around in a soft current of air.

Shortwhiskers stood up and craned his neck to look at the ceiling. He walked slowly about the antechamber, holding his head up the whole time. Just when Brisbane thought Shortwhiskers was going to get a neck cramp for the rest of his life, the dwarf stopped looking up and stepped back out of the antechamber.

“What’s the news?” Roystnof asked.

Shortwhiskers pondered to himself for a moment longer. “Near as I can figure, that ceiling block is rigged to collapse. I’m not sure what triggers it, but I would assume it has something to do with the door. I mean, the floor is obviously not the trigger. Also, there is a passage behind that one wall. There’s most likely a secret entrance there. That’s probably how they got in without crushing themselves.”

“Are you sure?” Roystnof asked.

“No,” Shortwhiskers said. “But I’d bet on it.”

“How do we get in?” Stargazer asked.

“Somebody has to figure out how to open the secret door into the hidden passage,” the dwarf said. “They’ll have to touch it to do that, and that might trip the stone block, too.”

Brisbane looked up at the ceiling of the antechamber. There was the tiniest of cracks running all around it, less than an inch from the tops of the walls. Without Roystnof’s light spell, he didn’t think anyone would have noticed it. The ceiling of the antechamber was ten feet high and the temple itself was twenty feet. That meant the block could be as much as a ten foot cube of stone. That had to weigh several tons and would surely kill whomever it smashed down upon.

“You’re the stone mason, dwarf,” Dantrius said from the back of the group. “Why don’t you do it?”

Shortwhiskers looked angrily at the mage and then dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

“You’ve taken enough risk, Nog,” Roystnof said. “One of us will search for the hidden entrance.”

“No, Roystnof,” Shortwhiskers said. “It’s my game. I set the odds and now I’ll roll the dice. Give me your staff.”

Roystnof gave the dwarf his staff. Shortwhiskers stood outside the antechamber and rapped the end of the staff against the side wall, much like he had done to the floor. When nothing resulted, he gave the staff back to Roystnof and stepped inside the small chamber. He began to run his hands over the surface of the stone, covering as much of the wall as he could reach. He started from the bottom and worked his way up, running both his hands over every inch of stone. When he got up to a spot about four feet off the floor, about even with his forehead, he stopped. He put his finger on the spot and then leaned away from the wall to get a different view of the stone. Lastly, he moved in close and, standing on his tiptoes, placed his nose against the spot and inhaled noisily, sniffing the stone like a bloodhound.

“Gil,” Shortwhiskers said. “Come here.”

Brisbane exchanged glances with the rest of the party. Roystnof’s and Stargazer’s eyes were saying be careful. Dantrius’ were saying so go already. He stepped into the antechamber and stood behind Shortwhiskers, trying not to think about the rock above his head.

Shortwhiskers still had his finger on the spot. “Put your finger here.”

Brisbane placed his index finger next to Shortwhiskers’ and when the dwarf pulled his away, Brisbane moved his over a little to cover the exact same spot. It looked like any other part of the wall to him.

“That’s the spot,” Shortwhiskers said. “It’s too high for me so you’ll have to do it. You have to push on that spot with a hard and constant force. Don’t push against it in jerks, it has to be slow and steady and even. Understand?”

“I think so,” Brisbane said.

“And push directly into the wall,” Shortwhiskers went on. “Don’t push into it on any angle, that’s why I can’t do it, it’s too high for me to push on it right. Slow, steady, and straight into the wall. Okay?”

Brisbane nodded. “Anything else?”

“Just one more thing,” Shortwhiskers said as he looked up at the ceiling and began backing out of the antechamber. “Good luck.”

Brisbane dryly thanked him and turned back to the spot he was saving on the stone wall. He certainly hoped this worked. He placed both hands against the spot, braced himself, and began to push, hard and steady. At first, nothing happened and Brisbane was just glad the stone block didn’t come crashing down on his head. But as he continued to apply pressure, the wall began to turn inward, revealing cracks that were invisible before as the whole slab of rock turned slowly on its center pivot support.

“Keep pushing,” Shortwhiskers reminded him and Brisbane kept pushing. Fairly soon, the wall had been turned ninety degrees and the hidden passageway was open for their travel.

“Well done, Gil,” Shortwhiskers said as he again took his position at the head of the line. “Was it heavy?”

“Not too bad,” Brisbane said as he took his own place in the line-up.

The passageway they had found was a narrow one, and even walking in single file, it was a tight squeeze. Brisbane’s broad shoulders brushed both sides of the corridor and his head nearly touched the ceiling. He suffered a momentary pang of claustrophobia but he put it aside when he realized the passageway must open up into a larger room eventually. The corridor went in a few feet, turned to the right, went on for a few more feet, and then did open up as Brisbane had hoped.

Shortwhiskers stepped out of the secret corridor and into a dark room. He stood in the way and let no one else in.

“There’s nothing warm in here,” he said after a while, his voice echoing strangely in the open space. “Light it up, Roystnof.”

The dwarf stepped aside and let Roystnof in. The wizard set his backpack down, rummaged through it, and pulled out a small crystal ball, about the size of a grapefruit. He also brought out a small sling made of gold chain with a specially-designed ring, meant to carry a small round object. He put the ball in the sling and held onto the end of the chain. The ball hung from the chain’s length a foot below his hand.

“What are you doing?” Stargazer asked him, slipping her way into the room.

“You’ll see,” he told her.

Roystnof cast his light spell, but this time, instead of casting it into the room, he cast it into the crystal ball. The ball flared with an inner light and began to illuminate their surroundings like the most powerful lantern.

Brisbane and Dantrius stumbled into the room as their heads looked around, with those of the others, at their newfound surroundings. The room was thirty feet square with a twenty foot ceiling. To their immediate right was the stone door Shortwhiskers had said was trapped, still shut, and thirty feet away, on the opposite wall of the room, was an archway leading into another chamber. Running down the other two walls, creating a sort of hall down the middle, were lined a great number of tall slender statues. They were all of men, they were all ten feet tall, and they were all squeezed next to each other like peas in a pod.

For a moment, the sight of the statues reminded Brisbane of the run-in they had with the basilisk and the sorry fate from which Roystnof had to save Roundtower. But almost immediately, Brisbane saw these could not possibly be the victims of such a creature. They were much too tall to have once been human. Their slender figures could not have existed in the flesh. Their arms ran down their sides and their vertical lines only enhanced their thin height. Most had long beards and all had their heads bowed as if to watch people walking through the room.

Stargazer stepped out to get a better look at them.

“What are they?” Brisbane asked.

“They’re the ancient prophets,” Stargazer said, counting them with her finger and mouthing their names with her lips. “All twelve of them.”

She spun around to look at the twelve against the other wall. They were the same but they were in the reverse order.

“The ancient prophets?” Roystnof asked.

Stargazer nodded. “The men who wrote the scriptures. Grecolus made his will known through them. They now all reside on the highest thrones in the heavens.”

Brisbane knew all this from his childhood teachings. He tried to remember all their names now, but could only come up with three or four. They were men who had devoted their whole lives to the worship of Grecolus and to the teachings of his religion. They were men whose lives were to be emulated by all devoted children of Grecolus. They were often called saints.

They also made Brisbane nervous. He thought of the centuries these statues had spent in the dark before they had come along with Roystnof’s magic lantern. He imagined the ancient priests of the temple looking up at their stone faces in awe and wonderment. To elevate men so far above their fellows felt somehow wrong to Brisbane. These prophets were just men, uneducated men largely, who, because of their ravings about Grecolus speaking to them, were now remembered as great men, more than men and less than gods. Brisbane wondered how a man who claimed Grecolus spoke to him today would be received. He would be called blasphemous or insane, and could be thrown into prison for either.

Shortwhiskers called for a search of the room and everyone began to investigate all the corners of the chamber. All kept a discrete distance from the stone door they had bypassed. After several minutes, it was obvious the room contained nothing but the statues.

They moved on, this time in a small group instead of single file, with Roystnof and his magic lantern near the front. They went through the archway in the far wall and entered into a large chamber that could only be the chapel room of the temple. It was much wider than it was long, the far wall being another thirty feet away, the left wall ten feet from the arch, and the right wall lost on the other side of the lantern’s range. There was a stairway leading down into the mountain in the visible corner.

The party walked out into the center of the room so that the lantern could illuminate all of it. They stood on the floor that was suspended over the Mystic River and saw that the hall was fully ninety feet wide. Two pillars supported the arched ceiling and between them were the chamber’s two main features. The first, hanging against the wall through which they had come, was a gigantic tapestry, depicting a scene much like the one back at the shrine, that of titanic, powerful hands parting a cloudbank against a blue sky. The second feature, sitting near the opposite wall, was a solid stone altar, five feet high and ten feet long, decorated with the strange runes seen around the entrance portal. There was a matching staircase and archway on the far side of the room.

No one said anything for many moments. There was a stale smell in the air and not a sound to be heard.

“I’ll go check the other arch,” Roystnof said and everyone looked at him as if he had shouted.

The wizard went over to the arch, held up his lantern and peered in. When he came back to the group he reported the room inside to be an exact duplicate of the one they had come through.

“Looks like you were right about the symmetry of this place,” Shortwhiskers told Roystnof. “I hope that keeps up. We’ll only have to search half of it.”

Roystnof laughed nervously and another silence fell over the group. Stargazer went over to examine the altar and Brisbane went with her. The others looked around the room aimlessly. A detailed search would not be necessary. It was obvious this place was as empty as the last chamber.

“So where is everything?” Dantrius asked the air. Brisbane was sure it was a question on everyone’s mind. “Where’s all the treasure and gold?” He turned to Shortwhiskers. “Wasn’t this place supposed to be full of treasure?”

Shortwhiskers shrugged. “Those were the rumors I heard. Rumors aren’t always true.”

“Well, what the hells kind of religion was this, anyway?” Dantrius said, his voice much too loud for such a long silent place. “Did they make everything out of stone? Don’t they have anything made out of gold? Sacramental candlesticks or bowls or something? Jewel-eyed idols or jewel-handled daggers or something? Anything? I mean, look at that altar. It could be a snack table.”

A very uneasy silence settled down among them after Dantrius’ outburst. Shortwhiskers broke it.

“This place has been deserted for quite some time. Who knows how many times it has been looted?”

Dantrius shook his head and moved away from the group.

Brisbane was still with Stargazer at the altar. She stepped closer to him.

“Grecolus does not require such baubles for his worship,” she whispered to him. “They serve no useful purpose. Flashy things only cause trouble and take minds off Grecolus and puts them on greed and sin.”

“You don’t have to tell me, Allie,” Brisbane said. “I didn’t say anything about it.”

Stargazer smiled at him. “I know, Gil. It’s just that Dantrius. He makes me so mad.”

“Well,” Brisbane said, “you won’t have to worry about him much longer. Once this adventure is over, Roy plans on giving him the boot.”

Stargazer shook her head. “He must be truly evil if he can’t even get one of his own kind to tolerate him.”

Brisbane stiffened.

“I’m sorry, Gil,” Stargazer said. “You know what I meant.”

Brisbane nodded. “I know,” he said, forgiving her. He thought again of what he was going to do when Roystnof really did give Dantrius the boot, and he expected Brisbane to officially continue his training as Roystnof’s apprentice. He didn’t know what he could do. He only knew that he couldn’t tell Roystnof no and he couldn’t say yes and continue to see Stargazer. It was not going to be an easy time for him.

“Come on, everybody,” Roystnof called out to the group. “Let’s go check out downstairs.”

It was the next logical step in their exploration of the temple, and if it hadn’t brought the time in which Brisbane would have to make his difficult decision another step closer, Brisbane might have welcomed it. 

+ + +

This post appeared on Eric Lanke's blog, an association executive and author. You can contact him at eric.lanke@gmail.com.