He turns to face it and in a flash, releases the magic.

Crumph!

The ground in front of it explodes upward, startling it. Roaring loudly, it comes to a stop. Taking advantage of its startlement, they move further away and hide behind some trees. They wait for several minutes in their hiding place but fail to hear any noise that might indicate it had come their way. Looking out from behind the trees, Jiron says, "I don't think it followed us."

He motions for them to remain there as he gets up and moves back toward where they encountered it. Returning quickly, he says, "I can't see it anywhere. It must have gotten scared when the ground erupted and ran back to the others."

"Others?" asks Miko, nervously.

"Yeah, there were several of them over there," he tells him. Looking to James he says, "We can't go that way either."

"Now what?" asks Miko.

"Seems we are faced with several unpleasant choices," he says as they gather around.

"East are the rhino-lizards, west is the river which may or may not have those flesh eating fish in them," he says. "South are the natives, and I'm sure they'll not welcome us back. Finally, to the north is that odd pyramid of skulls that feels like it's radiating magic in some way."

"South and east are definitely out," Jiron says. "We could never survive unscathed if we take either of those routes. Not in our present condition."

Nodding, James says, "I'd have to agree with you there."

"Not the water!" pipes up Miko. "I couldn't go in there!"

Sighing, James says, "Then we must chance the pyramid and whatever lies beyond it." He glances at each of them before continuing, "This could prove worse than any of the other choices, you know."

Shrugging, Jiron replies, "We don't know that for sure. Until we do, it's our best route."

"Alright then," James says as he gets up and readies his stick for travel. "Lead on."

Taking the lead again, Jiron takes them back toward the pyramid of skulls. Worry and dread fill their hearts as they make their way through the dead and withered trees. The ground around them seems almost grey in the light, the gra.s.s and bushes upon it are twisted and warped, just like the trees. When they can at last see the pyramid ahead of them once more, Jiron pauses for a moment. Glancing first to James and then Miko, he gathers his courage before continuing down toward it.

When they are but scant feet away from it, Miko gives James a weird look. This close to the skull pyramid, even the other two are able to feel the magic of it. Miko stays as far away from it as the ground will allow him. Any further and he'd be in the water.

Jiron reaches out to touch it as he pa.s.ses by, but before his hand can connect with it, James cries out, "Stop!"

Startled, as though he didn't even realize what he was doing, Jiron s.n.a.t.c.hes his hand away and quickly hurries past. "Thanks," he says. The others step lively as they too pa.s.s the pyramid. As the pyramid disappears behind them, the vegetation slowly begins to regain some life, but none of it looks remotely healthy.

The telltale p.r.i.c.kling of magic subsides, but doesn't disappear altogether. Even when they've put distance between them and the pyramid, far enough so he shouldn't have been able to feel anything, still the sensation remains with him. James comes to the conclusion that there may be other sources of magic here other than just that lone pyramid. Keeping his eyes open, he follows Jiron as he continues his way north.

Everyone is on edge while they make their way through such a desolate locale. "Something's not quite right here," says Miko in a hushed whisper.

"I agree," states Jiron.

James begins to notice that there are no animals here, not even birds high in the trees. Never in all the time since being washed upon the sh.o.r.e have the trees been silent, there has always been a bird or some other kind of animal calling out. This eerie silence just makes his anxiety grow.

Jiron suddenly comes to a stop ahead of them.

"What's wrong?" James asks when he and Miko come to where he's standing. Looking over Jiron's shoulder to what lies before them, he says, "Oh."

The gnarled and withered trees end a short distance ahead at a large clearing. In the middle of the clearing sits a large complex of buildings which have long since fallen into ruin. Portions of some of the buildings remain intact, while others have collapsed completely. Several of the buildings look to have once stood over two stories tall, sections of some still do. The buildings form a semicircle around a weed infested courtyard. All the vegetation within the clearing and bordering it show the worst signs of the withering.

Within the center of the courtyard sits a larger pyramid of skulls, two, maybe three times the size of the one they'd encountered earlier. Looking at it makes James' skin crawl. "Looks like we may have found what's killed all the trees," he says.

"What should we do?" Jiron asks him, not once taking his eyes off the scene ahead. Unconsciously, he's drawn a knife and is holding it ready in his right hand.

"Can we skirt around this place?" James asks.

Jiron looks around and then nods his head as he begins to move to the right.

James and Miko stay right with him as he slowly makes his way around the area, remaining within the vegetation.

Miko suddenly trips on an exposed root and looses his balance. Trying to remain upright, he ends up stepping out of the vegetation and finally falls upon the ground within the clearing, coming to land a couple feet from the edge of the vegetation.

As soon as Miko's foot first steps into the clearing, the p.r.i.c.kling sensation suddenly spikes. James' attention is drawn to the large pile of skulls and it almost seems as if he can see an enormous pulse of energy suddenly erupt from the pyramid. Moving fast, the wave washes over them as it moves away into the swamp.

"Miko!" he cries. "Get out of there!"

Getting up lightning quick, Miko scrambles back over to them as he quickly looks around for the reason for James' warning. "What's wrong?" he asks, not seeing anything threatening.

Both he and Jiron look to him as he replies, "When you stepped into the clearing, I felt and I think, saw, a pulse emanate from the pyramid."

"A pulse?" Miko asks, eyes widening in fear.

Nodding his head, he says, "Yeah. It seemed like it fanned out, moving out into the swamp."

"What does that mean?" asks Jiron, nervously.

"I don't know," he says. "I've never encountered anything like this before."

"Well, let's not wait here and find out," Jiron says, as he looks around. "Let's move!" Without waiting for a reply, he heads out and they make it around the complex, everyone taking extra precaution not to step within the clearing.

Upon reaching the far side of the clearing, they put it behind them as they move quickly away from it and the ominous pyramid of skulls. As they leave it behind, the vegetation begins to improve slightly, though only for a while.

Soon, the vegetation once more begins to show drastic signs of withering and decay as they see another of the smaller piles of skulls appear before them. The p.r.i.c.kling sensation grows as it did before when James approaches it.

As Jiron begins to pa.s.s the midpoint of the pyramid, he suddenly cries out as he falls backward into James, knocking them both down.

"What happened?" James asks as he picks himself up.

"I ran into something," he says.

"Let me see," James says as he cautiously approaches the pyramid of skulls. Holding his hand out, he walks slowly toward it. He moves around the skulls to the right, still holding out his hand. When he comes next to the pyramid, his hand touches a barrier.

Stopping, he places both hands upon it and pushes. It feels solid, smooth. He runs his hand along it as he walks several feet to his right. Pausing, he takes his hand and moves it along the barrier as high as he can reach. Unable to find an end, he turns back to the other two. "I think when Miko tripped and fell into the clearing, it activated some kind of barrier," he explains.

"What do you mean?" Miko asks, confused.

James places his hand against it and says, "Come here and feel it."

Hesitantly, Miko comes and places his hand upon it, eyes widening. "What is it?"

"Some kind of force field I'd imagine," he explains. Then he turns to Jiron, "Kind of like the dome I used to keep the sandstorm out, remember?"

Nodding his head, he says, "Yeah, I remember."

"What does it mean?" Miko asks.

"It means we're trapped inside," explains James.

Chapter Five.

Miko and Jiron have been sitting back from the little pyramid while James has been attempting to breach the barrier. After standing motionless in front of it for several minutes, he cries out as he stumbles back away from it.

Coming to him, Jiron worriedly asks, "What happened?"

Losing his balance, he sits down abruptly. James shakes his head as he tries to clear it and then says, "There's too much power here." Resting his head in his hands, he tries to still the aching in his head.

"Can you get us out?" Miko asks.

James glances over to him and says, "Not like this. Every time I try to do something, a surge of magic would come and counter whatever I tried."

"What now?" Jiron asks.

Thinking a moment, he says, "I suppose there's a chance there could be a spot where the barrier isn't working, where we could slip through. But I doubt it."

"How would we know?" Jiron asks him.

James thinks a moment before replying, "Only one way to find out. Someone has to walk along the barrier all the way around and feel it with their hand as they go."

Getting up, Jiron says, "Then I better hurry, it's going to be getting dark in a couple of hours." Then he walks over to the skull pile and places his hand against the barrier. Moving slowly, he begins walking along the barrier, away from the skull pile. He moves his hand up and down the barrier in the hopes a breach may be found.

"No telling what could happen here when night falls," James mumbles to himself.

"What?" Miko asks as he continues watching Jiron until he disappears in the withered vegetation.

"Nothing," he replies, not wanting to give him anything more to worry about.

They move back a ways from the pyramid, finding a spot where they can sit and wait for Jiron's return. A half hour later, they hear him approaching from the other direction. As he nears the pyramid of skulls, he begins looking around. When he sees them there waiting for him, he leaves the barrier and makes his way over to them.

"Well?" James asks.

Shaking his head, he says, "It's solid all the way around. There were two spots I had to leave to avoid entering the water, but other than that, it's solid."

"Now what?" asks Miko looking as if he's about ready to panic.

"We go back to the clearing and the large pyramid there," he tells them, glancing from one to the other. "That's where the pulse originated from, so it stands to reason that is where we could possibly remove the barrier."

"How?" asks Jiron.

Getting up, James says, "I haven't the faintest idea. But there's only one place where I might be able to figure it out."

"Back at the clearing?" Miko asks voice quavering.

James nods his head as he says, "Back at the clearing. Maybe getting a closer look at that pyramid will give me some idea on how to bring it down. Or perhaps there may be something in one of the buildings that will do it. Won't know for sure until we look."

"Let's get going then," Jiron says. "We've only got a couple hours left until dark."

As they walk back, James asks, "How many pyramids were there along the barrier?"

"Five all together," he replies. "Why?"

"Just curious," he explains. "I doubt if that would have any bearing on anything though."

Upon reaching the clearing, James grabs Jiron's arm before he leaves the trees and indicates that he should be the first to enter. More than happy to comply, Jiron steps back as he allows James to precede them.

Stepping slowly into the clearing, he braces himself for another energy pulse from the large pyramid. He's quite relieved when another pulse fails to materialize. With Miko and Jiron right behind, he makes his way over to the large pyramid. It's similar to the other one at the barrier, a tiered pyramid of human skulls. He closely examines it, but doesn't see anything that might help in bringing down the barrier. The thought occurred to him to smash the pyramid, but was afraid of the repercussions that might ensue.

He glances over to the other two and shakes his head, "Better try the ruins." Turning his attention to the collapsed structures for a moment, he starts walking over to the one on the far right.

"Something there?" asks Miko hopefully when he sees their destination.

James glances back at him and replies, "No, just being systematical is all. It's as good a place to start as any."

This building had been a single story structure at one time. The roof had fallen in so long ago that small trees have begun to grow among the rubble. He walks through an opening in what's left of the wall and looks around.

He gives the interior a quick once over as he moves around within the building. Poking through the rubble, he finds nothing but stone and a wooden crossbeam, which looks to have once been used to support the ceiling.

Glancing at the other two, he shakes his head then leaves the building. He then makes his way the short distance over to the next one. It's a two story building, half of it having collapsed, leaving a section still standing. He goes up to the opening where a door once stood, though is now long gone, and looks inside.

The floor is choked with rubble, but off to one side, he sees the remnant of the stairway leading up to the second floor. It's not in the best of condition, but he figures it'll hold his weight. Making his way through the room over to stairs, he begins climbing to the second floor. Two small sections of the stairs are missing and he has to stretch across them in order to continue.

When he finally reaches the top of the stairs, he comes to a hallway. The entire right side has fallen away leaving only a foot and a half span still attached to the left wall. A room lies further down, and the only way to get there is by walking upon the broken section of the hallway.

He looks down to see Jiron and Miko there looking up at him. "Be careful!" Miko hollers.

Waving back in response, he steps out gingerly upon the narrow section of hallway still usable. Cautiously setting his weight upon it, the board creaks but he finds that it will hold up under his weight. One step at a time, he slowly makes his way across.

He begins to think that maybe he shouldn't be doing this, what with his leg in the shape it's in and all. But he's only a dozen feet away from where the collapsed section ends and the hallway once more is whole.

Taking it slowly, he makes it to the other side. Pausing a moment as he glances briefly down to the others waiting below, Miko gives them a smile and a thumbs up. Turning his attention back to the hallway, he quickly moves down to the only room left intact on the second floor.

He comes to the doorway and enters the room. Over upon one wall is a large bronze plaque. Crossing the room to where it hangs on the wall, he realizes that it's engraved with a picture of the five small pyramids along the outer perimeter and the larger one with the buildings next to it.