James shrugs and says, "Just sounds reasonable. It's how I would have done it."

She shakes her head and continues following Jiron.

Sure enough, they pa.s.s two more right hand branching corridors and come to the fourth 'anchor' room. This one is completely bare. Across the room from where they enter lies the stairway James foretold.

Aleya looks back at him and he gives her a grin. "Always trust his instincts," Jiron says.

"I can see that," she says.

Moving across the room, Jiron takes the stairs and they wind up to the next level. When they reach the top, James says, "Wait!"

The others stop as they turn their attention to him. "Do you feel that?" he asks. He holds his hand out in front of him as a smile comes to his face.

"A breeze!" Jiron exclaims. "That means a way out!"

"Exactly," agrees James, nodding his head.

The light from the orb shows the room to be just like the 'anchor' rooms from down below, only this one has but a single corridor running off to the right. Several faded and tattered tapestries adorn the walls.

Not taking the time to closely inspect them, they cross the room and enter the corridor. Jiron leads them down fifty feet before it branches, with pa.s.sages going either to the right or continuing straight ahead. He pauses a moment until he determines the breeze is originating from the corridor to the right. Pointing to that pa.s.sage, he glances back at the others and says, "It's coming from this direction."

James nods and says, "Lead on."

Turning down the right corridor, he continues fifty feet or so before coming across an area of the corridor which has been blackened by fire. Three skeletons lie in the middle of the floor, all are wearing what at one time could have been an exact match to the robes found in the room below.

Coming to a stop, James examines them a moment and then takes a good look at the corridor itself. "It looks like fire killed them, but there's nothing here to burn," he says.

"Magic?" suggests Jiron.

"Maybe," he says. "A temple such as this had to have made its share of enemies, I'm sure."

"What, you think the priests were eradicated by someone?" asks Aleya.

"Possibly," reasons James. "It's the only explanation which seems to fit." A glint from the midst of the three corpses catches his eye and he leans forward for a closer look.

"What are you doing?" asks Aleya nervously. Her nerves have been on edge ever since they first entered this place and being around the dead priests hasn't calmed them down any.

Taking out his knife, he begins moving the rags and bones away, "There's something here."

"You shouldn't disturb the dead," she warns. "It isn't good."

James suddenly stands up with a chain dangling from the point of his knife. An amulet is attached to one end of it.

Coming closer to take a better look at what he found, Jiron suddenly gasps when the face of the medallion comes into the light. He glances to James.

"I thought so," he says. Holding it up, they all see the three points with the lines running between them. "The sign of the warrior priests, or at least something to do with them."

Taking it from his knife, he takes a closer look and says, "I once had an amulet exactly like this one that I bought from a merchant in Cardri." Removing it from his knife, he places it within the pouch at his waist. "I'll not lose this so readily this time," he announces.

"Why take it?" asks Aleya.

"Never know if it's going to come in handy or not," he tells her. To Jiron he says, "Now, shall we continue?"

"Yeah," he replies. "Let's get out of here!"

As they continue past the dead priests, Aleya says, "You know, if that is the sign of these priest, why didn't everyone have them?"

"Maybe it was only given to a priest once they achieved a certain level of the temple hierarchy," suggests James. "Simply having one may have afforded them some privilege or it could've been a sign of rank or trust as well. We may never find out conclusively."

The tingling sensation of another doing magic suddenly comes to James. It isn't very strong and it feels like it's far off, probably the mage up on the surface hunting for them. Whatever the reason, he doesn't mention it to the others, he can tell Aleya remains quite agitated about being in here. No sense giving her more to worry about when nothing can be done about it anyway.

They come to another junction of converging corridors branching off to the right and left, or they can continue on straight. Shining the light from the orb down the left corridor reveals another impa.s.sable cave-in. To the right the corridor extends further into the dark, as does the one continuing on straight.

A moment's hesitation is all they need before feeling the breeze once again coming from straight ahead of them. Not worrying about the corridor to their right, they continue on down the corridor ahead of them.

From where Jiron leads, he suddenly says, "I think there's light coming from up ahead." Glancing back at James he adds, "Douse the orb."

"Right," agrees James as the orb disappears, plunging them into darkness. It takes their eyes a few moments to adjust before they can make out the faint light from up ahead that caught Jiron's eye.

As they move closer, their excitement mounts as they realize it is in fact sunlight coming in from the outside. The corridor is blocked by a cave-in except for a small opening near the top.

Jiron climbs the rubble pile and looks through the opening. Turning back, he whispers excitedly, "I see trees out there!"

"Can you make the hole bigger?" asks Aleya, anxious to get out of the underground temple.

"I think so," he replies. Soon rubble begins to cascade down from the top as he begins widening the opening.

"Jiron," James suddenly says, interrupting his excavation.

Glancing back at him, Jiron pauses in his labor and asks, "What?"

"Maybe we should rest here until night and continue this once the sun goes down," he suggests. "Then we could get out without anyone noticing."

Aleya gets a panicked look in her eyes at the prospect of spending any more time in this old temple which is now more of a tomb.

James lays his hand on her shoulder as he says soothingly, "We'll be okay. We're right next to the opening." He can tell she has a strong desire to simply get out of here, but her expression begins to soften as she realizes the logic of his suggestion.

Nodding, she says, "I guess we could all do with a rest before trying to reach Kern."

"That's the spirit," he says, giving her a big smile.

As Jiron comes down from the top of the pile, he says, "If it hadn't been for all we've already come through, I wouldn't want to stay down here either."

"You've seen worse?" she asks.

"Oh yeah," he says, coming close and sitting down next to her. "I'll tell you about it sometime when your imagination won't run away with you."

"That bad, huh?" she asks, unconsciously scooting slightly closer to Jiron.

"Oh man, yes," he says with a laugh. "You get into interesting situations if you stay long enough with James."

They sit down along the sides of the corridor and break out what little rations they have left. Most of what they had from last night is still on their horses. James sits along the wall on one side of the corridor while Jiron and Aleya sit on the other.

"I'll take first watch," offers Jiron after everyone's done eating. "You two try to get some sleep."

"Very well," agrees Aleya. Resting her head against the wall, she closes her eyes and tries to relax.

James stretches out against the wall, lying on his side and trying his best to use his arm as a pillow.

Jiron sits there next to Aleya and listens to her breathe as she slowly slips away to sleep. He's never felt this way about anyone before. Oh sure, he's had his share of girls, but none had ever touched him as this one has.

Once Aleya at last succ.u.mbs to sleep, she begins tipping to the side until her head at last rests on Jiron's shoulder. He moves slowly and works her head down until it's resting on his lap. Using his fingers, he gently moves the hair off of her face and watches her as she sleeps.

Chapter Twenty Four.

Jiron's tired. He'd let the others sleep while he kept watch the entire time. It isn't that he didn't want to rest and allow James a turn at watch. It was just that every time he tried to get up, Aleya had stirred so he settled back down so as not to disturb her.

When at last the light had faded from the opening at the top of the rubble blocking the corridor, he waits another hour until night has completely set in before waking the others. He almost doesn't want to, Aleya using his lap for a pillow gives him a warm fuzzy inside.

Shaking her shoulder gently, he says, "Time to go." When she fails to wake up, he shakes it a little more vigorously and repeats himself a little louder. "Let's wake up!"

Coming awake, she sits up and at first begins to panic in the dark until James' orb appears to dispel the dark. "You stay awake the whole time?" James asks him.

Nodding, he replies, "Yeah. You two seemed to need the sleep more than I."

Aleya produces three strips of jerky and hands each of them one. "This is the last I have," she tells them.

"Thanks," they say in unison as they rip a piece off and begin to chew the hard, stale meat.

Leaving his...o...b..with the others, James climbs to the opening at the top and gazes out. He can't really make out anything outside in the dark of night. Some light filters down through the trees from the stars overhead, but it doesn't do more than make indistinct shadows.

"I don't think anyone's out there," he says. Finding a hand sized flat rock, he begins sc.r.a.ping away the debris, enlarging the hole.

"Just be careful," Jiron tells him. "Don't make too much noise, or someone may hear you."

"I will," he replies as he continues clearing away the dirt and rock. When he at last has a hole large enough for him to squeeze through, he sets his rock down and turns back to the others. "I'm going to cancel the orb so it won't attract anyone's attention," he explains. After seeing Aleya's nod, he plunges them back into darkness.

"Follow me," he says as he begins moving through the opening.

Once he's through, Aleya moves to follow next. She removes her bow and quiver from behind her back and holds them in front of her. At the opening, she whispers to James, "Here, take these." When he's taken them from her, she squirms through to the other side. Standing up, she reclaims her bow and arrows, slinging them once more behind her back.

Jiron worms his way through the opening next and soon they're all standing together on the other side. In the faint light from above, they can make out walls that had at one time been a room, possibly underground before erosion or other forces had opened it up.

The entire area is overgrown with trees and vegetation. Someone just happening upon the area would've thought it was just another part of the ruins dotting the mountainside.

"Now where?" James whispers to the others.

"I don't think it would be a good idea to try to work our way through to Kern from here," Aleya says quietly. "Most likely, if they're still searching for us, it'll be between here and there."

"She's right," agrees Jiron. "We should try to skirt around the forces and cross into Cardri west of Kern. Go around the Empire's forces rather than through them."

"I like that idea," replies James. "Lead on."

Keeping the downward slope of the mountain to their right, they move carefully southward, hoping to avoid the forces in the area. Where Jiron moves quietly through the woods, Aleya is positively silent. James makes more noise than the other two combined, much to his embarra.s.sment.

They work their way further through the woods and eventually come upon the road leading down from the summit. Jiron pauses a moment as he asks, "Should we follow the road or keep to the woods?"

"If we follow the road, won't we run the risk of coming across the Empire's men?" asks Aleya.

"Probably," states James. "Let's stay to the woods on the other side of the road and follow it down until we run into someone."

"Alright," says Jiron. He then moves across the road and enters the trees lining the other side. The others follow right behind him.

The woods begin to thin out the further west they go. As they pace the road, they begin working their way down out of the mountain as well.

Jiron suddenly stops and holds up his hand, indicating the others to stop as well. In the faint light, they see him gesturing ahead of them and when James looks, can see the light from a campfire flickering through the trees.

A camp with an unknown number of enemy soldiers lies a hundred feet ahead of them. Taking it slow and quiet, Jiron heads off to the left and leads them around the camp, making sure to keep adequate distance between them so they won't be discovered.

At one point, they come to a halt when raised voices can be heard coming from the camp. They hold still as they listen to two men begin shouting at each other. Then the sound of fighting can be heard as other voices start calling out, as if encouraging the fighters onto greater bouts of skill.

"Let's move!" whispers James and they resume skirting around the camp. The brawl which had erupted for some unknown reason allows them to move faster than before. Any noise they're likely to make now will be drowned out by the ruckus going on back there.

Once they reached the far side of the camp, they continue moving alongside the road and soon the sound behind them diminishes altogether. Moving far more slowly and cautiously now that every sound seems to resonate throughout the forest, they soon begin to see the lights from the main force encamped within the hills at the base of the mountain below them.

Judging by the number of campfires dotting the hills, the army there must be over a thousand strong. The camp itself seems to stretch almost a mile along the base of the mountain, and extends almost half a mile across.

James has them pause a moment and gather close around him. "Think we can make it around this?" he asks, indicating the large force ahead of them.

"Don't really have much of a choice," replies Jiron. "If we stay up here as we move around them, it may be possible." To Aleya, he asks, "How much further is Kern?"

"I'm not really sure," she explains. "I haven't actually been here before. But I'd say maybe another five miles to the west." Which is on the other side of the army encamped before them.

"Alright," James says, coming to a decision. "We'll work our way around as best we can. We need to make it around them before daylight. If we don't, we're going to be sitting awfully exposed up here." The trees have been thinning out continuously as they've worked their way down the side of the mountain and would give them limited cover in the daylight.

"Then let's move quickly," states Jiron. He then begins moving through the trees as they start making their way around the enemy army below them.

The army looks as if it's been there a while, the smell from the latrines would tell them that if nothing else. Soldiers move from place to place, many are seated around the fires, either having a meal or talking with their fellows.

Jiron stops suddenly and motions for James to come closer.

"What?" asks James when he comes near.