They had found a long tunnel leading away from the bottom of the flight of stairs behind the idol. De Loungville reported finding nothing of interest among the slain above, and Calis ordered the rest of his company down to the tunnel.
Seeing how tired the men were, Calis had ordered a halt. They slept for what Erik judged to be several hours on the landing at the bottom of the stairs, before moving along the large tunnel that led away into the gloom.
While waiting, Erik had noticed what appeared to be a large pipe leading along the ceiling of the hall. “Drainpipe?” offered Praji.
Erik tried to inspect it, and finally said, “Hand me a lantern.”
Vaja obliged and Erik looked closely. Erik held the lantern close and said, “It’s no pipe. I think it’s solid.” He took out his sword and gently tapped the blade against it.
A shriek loud enough to cause those awake to cover their ears and to jolt every sleeping man to alertness echoed down the tunnel while an angry green flash nearly blinded Erik.
Praji, who had been standing next to Erik, said, “Don’t do that again,” while Miranda waved her hand, her mouth moving as she softly spoke an incantation.
Erik felt his arm sting to the shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, I won’t.”
Miranda said, “It’s a conduit.”
“For what?” asked Calis.
“Life.”
Erik frowned and looked to Boldar, who stood next to his employer. The alien mercenary shrugged. “I have no idea what she’s talking about.”
Calis said, “We move out, now!”
The men formed up and they moved down the tunnel. Erik heard Alfred mutter, “Given that shriek, no one’s going to be surprised when we show up.”
Erik said, “Given what we’ve seen, anyone who’s surprised by anything down here is an idiot.”
“There is that,” agreed the former corporal from Darkmoor.
Erik said, “Take the rear, Alfred. I need someone with a steady nerve back there.”
With a faint smile at the praise, the one-time brawler stepped aside to let the other men pass.
They followed the tunnel until they came to a large wooden door. They carefully inspected the door, listening for noise, and when they heard nothing, Calis put his hand against the wood. He pushed and the door swung inward.
Calis and Erik stepped into a large chamber, and Erik’s hair bristled, even down to the hair on his arms. The room was filled with strange power, energies that swept through him, filling him with a giddy feeling.
Everything was illuminated by a series of lanterns in the ceiling, recessed so the source of the light couldn’t be seen unless one stood directly underneath. The soft glow was tinged with green, and Erik suspected that the green flash of light he had seen when his blade had touched what Miranda called a “conduit” and the alien light in this room were related.
Five figures turned as they entered, and instantly Calis’s sword was out and he was charging. Erik, Praji, and Vaja didn’t wait for orders, duplicating the captain’s attack.
Miranda shouted, “Back!” to those behind her while she began casting a spell.
Five Pantathian serpent priests began casting spells. A sixth priest, in ornate robes, sat motionless atop a large throne, observing without any change of expression. Erik dove under the outstretched arm of a priest as a blinding blast of energy exploded off the creature’s hand. Erik rolled over on his back, just catching a glimpse of Miranda using some type of mystic shield to deflect the blast down toward the floor.
Calis, Praji, and Vaja were standing together when another ball of energy exploded in their direction. Praji and Vaja took the blast full in the face, and both men fell backward, their bodies erupting into flames. Erik judged them dead before they hit the stone floor.
Calis turned and took part of the blast on his left side, stumbling and howling in pain as the energies flamed around him. For a tortured moment he seemed a living candle, alight and being consumed. Then the magic fire vanished, but the entire left side of Calis’s body was smoking char and weeping wounds.
“Calis!” shouted Miranda, while Erik continued to roll, right into the first serpent priest. He knocked the creature over and slashed past it as he stood, killing another priest. Without hesitation he slammed his boot heel into the throat of the creature he had knocked over, leaving the serpent priest thrashing in pain as it suffocated, trying to breathe with a crushed windpipe.
A third priest turned to face Erik, attempting to conjure, but it died before any spell was realized as Erik severed its head from its shoulders.
Suddenly a shout from the other end or the tunnel alerted Erik that more trouble was likely to descend upon them. He turned toward the remaining three priests. One also was about to conjure a spell when a thin stream of light, a blinding white and purple pulse, slammed into its head as Miranda attacked.