The Prophesy: Book 1 - Cave Lupus

 

As Yamato began the arduous task of figuring out the contents of the library on the wall with the help of Sitar, whom held Mitsuko on his lap as a source of light, Harp and Paschal worked on other issues.

"We have to find out how to get out of this place now. First, let's walk the circumference of the cave, Paschal. There must be some other hallways, or an exit."

"That's true, and where does all the fresh air come from? By now, it should be hot and stuffy in here!"

"Maybe we'll find some answers. Before leaving this place, to explore, Paschal, let's tie a rope between ourselves, and walk barefoot. I want to feel this place as much as I can, and sandals cut me off the feeling of the Earth."

The two boys did as Harp suggested, and began circling the cave wall, from where the door was to their left. Greywolf went with them, in case something warranted his kind of expertise. The boys followed the traces of Yamato and Sitar, expecting to catch up with them, but suddenly their footprints disappeared.

"Sitar? Yamato? Where are you?"

"Up here, prince Harp!" answered a distant-sounding Yamato.

The two boys raised their gaze upwards and saw a tiny spec of light from Mitsuko.

"What are you doing up there?"

"I happened to notice that this bit of text I'm reading did not make sense with the previous one, and Sitar suggested it might be longer and start higher. I've moved to the ceiling of the cave, Prince, and it effectively resumes at its top. There are huge drawings on the walls behind me, and we only see their bottom as we walk the floor, with text below them. I will ask Prince Paschal to join us later today so he can reproduce these drawings. Their nature is escaping me because we only see part of them at any time."

"I will join you later, Yamato. Just mark the sand with a stick, when you come back. I do not want to damage the engravings on the walls with any of our own," replied Paschal.

"I will do so."

As the boys resumed their circumnavigation of the cave, Harp kept an eye out for any indication of an opening, while Paschal followed five feet behind him.

"I'm glad Yamato has grown in his powers too. Levitation is one of the most useful ones, along with teleportation." Paschal remarked.

"Yes. He probably was scared initially. I suspect Sitar guided him into folding the field slowly so he did not end up ejected from this planet, or, in this case, crushed against the ceiling."

"He is lucky, there are no side-drafts here! I remember my first try!" Paschal mused. "It ended with me in a tree, because I forgot to compensate the wind!"

"You are lucky! I ended in the pound, from fifty feet up! I never knew water was hard!"

"Ah, the joy of discovery!"

The boys continued talking about the joys of discovering their new powers and the incidents they had experienced in mastering them. Finally, a dark hole appeared in the wall, and the boys stopped. They noticed that the fires of the camp were dim and far, indicating the size of the cave was much bigger than initially ascertained. The light from Mitsuko was too dim to be seen.

"Should we continue following the wall, or explore this dark hole?"

"Let's continue along the wall, Paschal. How far have we travelled?"

"I would say a quarter of the circumference, given how the magic field feels, it has rotated almost perpendicular to its axis Remember, it is aligned with the door, and seems to be keeping this orientation everywhere in camp. We can assume it is very stable."

"I agree, Paschal. Even the stick pulls perpendicular to how it does near the door."

The boys resumed their walk, and after about three hours, had made the full run of the wall of the cave.

"Whew! Well, it's time for a quick break and lunch. Paschal, am I right in feeling there are three exits from this place, plus the one leading to the plateau?"

"Yes, Harp, and each is located at specific points on the circle. There is one opposite the one we took to enter, and then there are two that ate along the grand axis perpendicular to the one joining these two. I also noticed that only two doors show a locking mechanism. The other two seem to be not only opened, but unlocked."

"Could it be there are two doors leading out, and two doors leading deeper in the mountain?"

"We need to talk to Samson. He told us there were some areas that protruded over the abyss, he said three, but maybe he doesn't remember right."

The two boys walked to the royal section of the camp, located dead center of the arrangements.

"Ah, here you are boys!" Harold exclaimed. "I was going to look for you."

"We walked around the cave, it is huge. It could easily contain twice our army."

"That is nice to know, Paschal, but what I want to know is how to get out, once the storm is finished."

"We won't be getting out the same way we got in, dad. Our exploration revealed three additional doors, one of which matches the one we entered through, right across the cave. I plan to explore the two other doors, which are open, to see where they lead. And I'm waiting on Yamato and Sitar to finish reading that library."

"It's going to take years!"

"Actually, no, it's three copies of the same story, Yamato told me this morning. So he only needs to read one third of the stuff. As he gets better at reading this, he is also speeding up, from what I can sense. By the end of the day, we should have the whole story."

"And he wants me to draw the images to a more convenient scale. He believes they have meanings," added Paschal.

"I see. Well, before you boys go exploring these doors, let's have a family meeting at sext."

"All right, dad. We came back to talk to Samson anyways. Where is he?"

"Discussing with Enron about things concerning the upcoming campaign, I think."

"OK. I need to check something up with him. I'll be right back!" replied Harp, taking off on a run towards the tent that sheltered king Samson.

As the boy ran off, Paschal sat with his dad and Williams, while Greywolf took off on a round to check on everything, accompanied by Silver Moon, who had become quite friendly with the huge wolf.

"I have been wanting to know something, Paschal, ever since we came in here."

"What, dad? If it's the bees and flowers stories, I can give you lessons!"

Williams, whom had been drinking a cup of tea, sputtered as the hot liquid took a wrong turn down into his lungs. Dunbar almost missed cutting his throat with his shaving blade.

"Paschal, I know that already. I've helped to make Ian, remember? Anyways, that was not what I was intrigued by. Look around you. Where does all that light come from? It's diffuse, like the sand itself was glowing. And did you notice? The moment a fire goes out the sand, which should be vitrified by the heat, absorbs the ash, the residue and recovers its original whiteness. This is not normal."

"Dad, how do you feel today?"

"Like I'm floating on a cloud. I've never felt so well in my entire life! But why do you ask?"

"Before I answer, dad, have you tried tapping on your magic today, or, for that matter, since we entered this cave?"

"Well, yes. I thought we might need a fire to heat up water, and it sprouted out of nothing, burning wood and all. When I thought, a kettle of water, it materialized, and I did not even have to try. Williams wanted ordinary tea, and it flowed out of the kettle, perfect according to him, but I wanted mint, and it flowed out of the same kettle, right after I finished pouring Williams' cup. Where are you leading with this?"

"Did it take you any effort?"

"None I can even remember."

"Williams, did you do any magic today?"

"Apart from creating my breakfast out of thin air? Let me see, I talked to the equines. One donkey complained of a back pain, and I felt it, a strap shafted on his skin and tore the hair. I thought about healing it and it vanished right in front of my eyes. Francesca has been doing the same with the other animals all morning, checking on minor ailments."

"And I saw Yamato levitating right to the ceiling. The man never had done much magic until today, but he took to flying like it was second nature."

"I must admit, Paschal, that I've never had, until now, much ease talking to the canines and equines, but today, it feels different," added Dunbar.

"This confirms what I told Harp while I was polishing the cliff. This cave floats on a pool of magic, and we tap it directly without even knowing we do. What you see is the magic glow. It is triggered by the stave Harp carries, or the two blades we have with us already."

"You say that like you expect more magical items?"

"Why would it be limited to three, dad? I have a feeling we will each have our dedicated impediment of magic. Harp carries that stave like it's a part of his body. Sitar is handling Mitsuko more and more fluidly, and you seem to be able to handle Excalibur, but, for some reason I cannot fathom, I feel attracted to it, like a magnet. I've not touched it, yet, because I am not ready to bind with it, but I know this is what will happen. You, on the other hand, must have your own tool. What? We do not know yet."

By then, Harp, Enron, and Samson were walking back towards them.

"I was right, there are actually four rock overhangs above the abyss, each located around the base of the wall of Kantar. When I asked Samson, he remembered. The other one is less known, because it is located on the opposite side of the road traveled to reach the back door of Kantar, where we should normally have ended up."

"OK, Harp. Ready to explore the other exits?"

"I would be, but I think we need to involve Yamato. If the crocodiles could booby trap their temples, nothing could have stopped the builders of this place doing the same. I want to make sure we get through safely."

"One thing really amazes me here, boys." Dunbar remarked.

"What?" all boys chorused.

"Did you happen to strip and lay down in the sand? It's like I took a refreshing bath. And we should be feet-deep in animal feces, but I noticed the moment a dropping hits the sand it vanishes. I peed and the sand did not even become wet!"

"Come to think of it, I noticed that too!" piped up Samson, "but I was too overwhelmed by what I was seeing."

"The soreness in my legs, especially my thighs, from riding day in day out, simply vanished the moment I sat down for water the first night. I didn't notice, but now that you mention that, yes, I've never felt so good!" Harold added.

"I feel like I could do miracles!"

"Aren't we doing just that, Samson? What is magic, if not what the Ancients called miracles?" Harold replied.

"There is one thing that amazed me," Harp said, getting everyone's attention. If something amazed Harp, it must be really big.

"What is it son?"

"When I closed the door, I ran my hand on its external surface. The bricks are false, or so I think. The entire face of the mountain is finely polished, and they inserted the mortar, a very thin layer of it at that, in slits carved into its face, to give the impression of a construction. The feeling is like everything is vitrified, glassy, and just about impossible to alter."

"That would explain something, Harp. Have you noticed how perfectly the veins of the rocks seem to continue from one block to another? I was wondering how they could have managed that. And I think that the greyish matter, which I think is basalt, is an add-on to complete the illusion. The entire mountain is granite, but they wanted to give the impression they built this from the bottom up."

"Enron, you are right. I remembered wondering about that too. It fits, but why did they bother doing all that?"

"To scare people away, I think. The more impressive an apparent fortification, the more scary it is for people," proposed Harold. "A mountain, on the other hand, seems to attract the two-legged mountain goats trying to climb on it."

"I noticed that the abyss was artificial as well, while polishing it. It's coming back to me as we talk about this." Enron added.

"Hey! That's true! I didn't click on it, but it did seem strange how it dropped vertically for a mile on both sides, like the rock had been cut with a giant meat knife. The river bed then began digging itself at the bottom, in a very narrow, sharp V, but still, its sides are not vertical like the rest!"

"Harp's right. And the V is striated, well was until we made it like a mirror, like any riverbed dug into a rock by natural processes," completed Harold.

"Talking about polishing, our four-legged friends have completed the task by polishing the riverbed completely. They used water and the dust it carried to do the work. I suspect the orcs that try to stand on the river's bottom will be in for one fun toboggan ride to the exit at the canyon's face!"

"What about the boulders at the bottom?"

"Out they went, rolled down and pushed over the side. It's now slicker than a baby's ass."

"You have images, dad!"

"Enron, I wiped your ass long enough to know what I'm talking about!"

***

The banter continued until sext, when Sitar and Yamato floated down from the ceiling for a quick lunch.

"I wonder how much these doors weight?" mused Samson.

"Let me see," began Paschal with a distant look, granite weights 2.75 grams per cubic centimetre, and this door measures something like fifty feet high by ten feet wide per panel, and are twenty feet deep, which is ten thousand cubic feet of granite. A cubic feet of granite weights about one hundred and seventy-two pounds. That means a panel weights about one million and one hundred seventy-two thousand pounds, or eight hundred and sixty tons. Double that, and you have the total weight of this door, one thousand seven hundred and twenty tons. Not a pleasant thing to drop on your foot, Samson! I rounded the numbers upwards, I think it should be more like eight hundred and fifty-eight tons per panel."

"Paschal, you make me sick! You do all these calculations in your head, in units we never even heard of!" lamented Dunbar.

"This means I moved nearly two thousand tons with a slight pressure of my finger, and I didn't even use magic," wondered Harp.

"Those doors must be exquisitely balanced, and there must be a hidden mechanism to help move them. You forget that you retracted that moving bridge as well, and that too must not be a feather!" added Harold.

"How is the reading of this library progressing, Yamato?" wanted to know Enron.

"I'm getting faster and faster. I should finish by vespers. Harp, while I'm here, do you think you could increase the ambient lighting? I would like Paschal to start copying the drawings. I feel that they show things I can only guess from what light Mitsuko gives. I did not want the sword to be too bright, because I fear getting blinded by the reflections. I noticed the drawings are covered with a fine glossy varnish protecting both their colours and their forms."

"Before you joined us for lunch, Yamato, we discussed the outside appearance of the cave. We came to three conclusions," Harp started to explain.

"Oh?"

"Yes. First, the giant blocks of granite are an illusion, with the mortar being a frame-up to give the mountain face the looks of an artificial construction. Second, the entire surface is highly polished, and the mortar, the granite, and the basalt, which is there to complete the illusion, and is vitrified. Third, the abyss is artificial except for maybe its last two or three feet, which were really dug out by the river. The abyss itself is vitrified, that is why it was so easy to polish it."

"That must have taken a huge amount of energy!"

"Given the sea of magic this mountain sits on, the ancients probably had more than enough to spare. We polished the entire abyss and the horses and canines finished the work by removing any fallen rocks and polishing the riverbed so well it was probably blinding when the sun reached its zenith today."

"Why the zenith?"

"Simply because it is the only time the rays of the sun are likely to reach the bottom, given how narrow that abyss is."

"Narrow? It averages a hundred feet wide!"

"But a depth of a mile at its shallowest! Got it?"

"How polished is the riverbed now?"

"First, they protected it with magic, so it will no longer be getting any deeper. Second, it is so polished that if you drop a fifty-ton rock down, it will slide all the way to the gorge face, gaining speed, and be ejected down into the valley, which separates Ka from Ma. The water itself will even act as lubricant. It's now the biggest water slide ever built. Unfortunately, it's a one-way trip!"

"That's nice work, boys. I should get back to reading. I want to finish by vespers. Harp?"

Harp rose and lifted his magic stave high above his head.

"Lux maximus!"

The light in the cave suddenly rose to the shine of a bright sunny day, revealing the full splendour of the cave's frescoes. Huge drawings of divinities could be seen, but even more intriguing objects were drawn, which seemed to be coming out at them from the walls, clearly showing to tall that the builders of this place had mastered the notion of perspective fully, far outperforming the artists of the Ancients. Colours were vibrant, the outlines sharp, the shadings perfect, and the choice of colours left them breathless.

Everyone was speechless. This was far more than a library. It was a museum, a testimonial to the vast advances of the people who had built Kantar. Paschal immediately materialized drawing material and frantically began to draw what he was seeing, creating a view that gave the impression that the observer was laying on his back looking around himself.

"Funny way to draw this?" enquired Enron.

"It's called a polar zenith projection, I read somewhere in one of Dunbar's books. It's used by astronomers to draw maps of the sky."

"I see. And it does seem to fit. Good luck."

Sitar and Yamato, after a cursory peek over Paschal's shoulder, returned to the point they had stopped reading for lunch and resumed their work.

***

At vespers, the royals regrouped for their family supper and exchanged about their day. As they ate and exchanged with the canines and horses, with Silver Moon bugging Harp for carrots and apples, they seemed thoughtful. The first to talk about what was bothering them was Enron.

"The question I've been wondering about is how do we get out of here?"

"Not the way we came in, that's for sure," answered Dunbar. "We have no idea of the orc situation outside, and I do not want to tip them about the existence of this cave. With all the dust moving around, all traces of our presence must have vanished, so it would be counterproductive to reveal it."

"I agree there, Dunbar. But remember, Harp revealed the existence of three more doors. From his observations, he concluded the one opposite to our entry point also leads outside, if only because it shows the same lock mechanism. That leaves us two doors, one left and one right. Now, which one to follow?" Samson asked.

"I noticed that each door has a drawing above it. The one we used has Horus as its mantelpiece, and the one opposite has Ra. The other two have, on the right, Osiris and Anubis, while it's opposite has Thoth and Isis."

"And what are they?" asked Harold to Yamato.

"These are Egyptian divinities. Horus is the Pharaoh, or king, so we can say we entered by the door of the King. Ra is the sun god, the giver of life, and father of all gods. I suspect the pharaoh entered the way we came and left the through the other door, renewed god of the sun, but this is pure speculation. The one on our right has two gods associated with death, which leads me to believe they lead to a necropolis. Osiris is the god of the dead, and, is followed by Anubis, the god of embalming, which makes sense, since you must be dead to be embalmed. The left door has Isis, the god of Magic, and Thoth, the god of Wisdom. This probably is likely to lead upwards, since wisdom and magic are seen as elevations of the mind over the earthly considerations."

"That means we need to turn left to leave this place and reach the city above," concluded Paschal. "They must not even know we have arrived, with the dust storm hiding everything."

"I agree here. Although necropolises can be interesting, they will only give us the age of this place by counting the number of dead. That is secondary."

"I disagree, dad. Knowing the age of this place may help us figure out some problem later on."

"Prince Sitar is right. There is quite a story on these walls, and quite a few unsolved mysteries also. Maybe it is time I tell you what I made out of this, today."

"Would you mind telling us? We do not have much to do tonight!" suggested Williams.

"Sure. Let me collect myself and I will start."

Every animal, sat in a circle around the royals, avid to hear the story of the place they were in. The canines lay on their belly, while the equines lay on their side offering comfortable belly chairs to their two-legged counterpart. Silence gradually descended on the cavern, as everyone waited for the story to start. Suddenly, everyone heard a deep voice in their head, as Yamato began projecting to them what amounted to how he saw things from the story. It amounted to a movie of sorts, directly in the head of the listeners.

«Once upon a time (aren't all good stories supposed to start this way?), a great people existed east, way east from here, across the vast seas that separate the worlds. They were governed by magicians, whose wisdom was not put in doubt, and by warrior kings, whose role was to protect their people from the invasions of the barbarians. The mages tried to expand the sagacity of their people outside of their island, but, time and again, the barbarians rejected their efforts and turned the knowledge they had gained against each other, or tried to assault the mages' people. However, the protection of the King's armies were effective, and the richness gained by selling salt, a major food preservative, as we all know, gained from the Salt Falls fed by the vast Ocean, kept their kingdom safe. Envy by other kingdoms was rampant, and time and again, vast armies tried to walk the narrow land bridge that led to their kingdom. However, the narrowness of that land bridge was such that men were forced to walk in line to pass on it, along a narrow path that was guarded by high cliffs. It was a simple matter of having observers at both ends and a signal system for the defenders to climb up tunnels dug into the cliffs and end up on their top to defend the passage.»

«The Salt Falls?» wondered one of the horses, interested and licking his lips.

«Dark Shadow, I figured it out from the drawings. It seems there was a narrow channel, which the ocean could follow across the land bridge and fall deep into a closed basin, some ten miles deep. The drop was such, and the heat so intense, that the water never reached the bottom, evaporating well before then. Only the salt, as a fine shower, reached the bottom, and they would collect the salt in buckets on wheels. Their own kingdom was located within this huge cavity, atop a plateau that was downwind from the channel, The water would evaporate, raise above due to updrafts, condense, and fall back as fresh water rain on their rich and fertile plateau. The mages had managed to create vast tunnels linking the plateau, through the salt domes, and up within the wall keeping the ocean from penetrating the basin their kingdom occupied,» Paschal informed them.

«Anyways, back to my story. This kingdom lasted until a great natural catastrophe occurred. It seems, from the drawings, that the second planet orbiting the Sun, which we know as Venusia, came to visit Ra, the sun god, and got captured by it. It took some time for the visitor's orbit to stabilize, and even today, it is still a bit erratic. Anyways, the appearance of Venusia had dire consequences. For one it robbed the War God of its shield, which I would think means that the new planet stole its atmosphere. The second consequence was the collapse of the orbit of a small moon that had been keeping company to our current moon, the Child Moon. That moon was composed mostly of ice and gases, and it shattered, creating a giant snake-like trail of debris. The moon captured some of these pieces. Their impact created vast molten areas, called seas by the Ancients, because, from the pictures of the moon I saw in one of my dad's books, that is what they were called. But the deepest gravity well is our planet, and it got a pummelling, capturing the vast majority of these pieces.»

«How long ago was that, do you think?" wanted to know Dunbar.

«Nineteen thousand years ago give or take a few hundred, according to the star chart I found.»

«That wasn't yesterday!»

«True, Harp, very true. The story doesn't end there. These people, who had explored the entire planet, and domesticated the wolf and the horses, developed agriculture and writing we know as hieroglyphs, were not dumb. After the first shower they got from the major tidal wave caused by the passage of Venusia near Earth's orbit, they realized that the collapse of the small moon would have unstoppable consequences. The mages decided to have their people migrate, abandon their kingdom and move across the Ocean, to install themselves in high mountains, out of reach of the barbarians that occupied the area. Thus was born this city, able to shelter their riches, their kings, their mages, and their people. The building began and took years upon years to complete. Finally, the people began to migrate from their kingdom to this place. It was a long, difficult voyage, as the weather, the seas, and the tribes they had to cross fought them. They had to establish safe passages and protect them across vast, inhospitable lands. They traveled north, crossed on a now lost land bridge and made their way to here. Unfortunately, the orbit of the small moon degraded faster than they had calculated and, some seventeen thousand years ago, it began entering the atmosphere. The result was catastrophic. The ocean level rose suddenly by several hundred feet, closing the passage north, and driving the ocean over the dam that kept it separate from the abyss. The sudden surge ate through the wall and it collapsed catastrophically, creating a huge fall eleven miles wide, with two huge columns marking each end of the passage, Hercules's pyres, as some survivors of that tragedy named them. The waters began to fill in that budding sea, finally overflowing the top of the kingdom and bringing it below sea level. This also created major flooding. Imagine that some of the most populated areas were located right next to the lip of the abyss, as rivers coming from the mountains and flowing into it fed them. Initially the people were not worried, but as the water rose, and they rose fast, believe me, they were forced to run for the hills. Even today, in our fables, the Flood is a major element, and that occurred so many years ago it is hard to imagine. The barbarians regressed to nomadic ways, as agriculture failed. Entire coasts disappeared, and, as you know, it is the coasts that offer the best agricultural lands. Famine was widespread. Some of the mages managed to survive and found new empires. Thus was born the second Egyptian empire, which flourished for a while. But these weren't the only survivors. Some made it to the southern tip of Americus, and founded a civilisation, which began to build pyramids, much like the Egyptians. However, these were very dispersed, and counted few members of the educated castes. This led to a degradation of knowledge, and the loss of contact with their most advanced members led to a regression, both in the nature of their religion, as well as their techniques. All this was documented here, and even the reason why nothing was done to recover the lost tribes. There simply were not enough survivors in Kantar to do it.»

«This story is so sad!»

«Yes, Sitar, it is. Four out of five humans died during that time. However, not all knowledge was lost. The Egyptians did their best to preserve what they could, and a colony of mages established themselves on the summit of a mountain, that finally got encircled by the ever-rising ocean, Britannica. They are the ancestors, the founders of the Mage schools around the world. One name stuck me in the chest very hard. It is Merlin. It seems he accompanied the last Pharaoh to this place and then returned to the kingdom to salvage what he could, never to be heard of again. Now we know where he comes from.»

A sobbing mage could be heard in the crowd, as Ambassador Ferriday lost it at learning of the true origins of his profession. Harp hugged the man and tried to comfort him.

"I will inform Nestor of this, Ferriday, do not worry. I am sure he will be interested. In fact, I think I will do it verbally, by bringing him here. I do not trust how focussed your telepathy is, and we have many enemies who would love to know what we know."

Ferriday acquiesced by a movement of the head, not trusting his voice.

«We saw a falling star near one of the royal cartouches, as you call these groupings, Yamato. Can you tell us more?»

«Yes, Prince Harp. That was the next part of my story, and is also one of the most troubling. The second part recounts the future, as viewed by Far-seers. They do not see far physically, but in time. They see the future. It is they that had predicted the upcoming catastrophe. However, they had not had enough of a far sight to warn the people in time. It seems that viewing the future can be foggy at times, and they named these foggy intervals nexuses. However, after the passage of Venusia, their visions cleared up, and they could see far in the future. One of their first visions concerned this place and its necessity as a preserver of knowledge of history. This, I admit, it has fulfilled perfectly. The next aspect they revealed was the rebirth of civilization and its ultimate destruction by the Great Catastrophe, the Fire of Ra, or, as we know it, the Atom God. Yet another aspect which revealed itself to be true was the regression of many species, of which they called one the sons of Sobek, the crocodile God; and the orcs. They also confirm what we had deduced. According to them, the crocodiles created the orcs to help them reproduce, but the orcs escaped their control. They also predicted a quantum jump in the evolution of our species, the emergence of a new species, Homo Magicus, namely us. The funny thing is, they used Latin, a language that did not even exist at the time of their writing, to name that species. That made me sweat a lot, believe me! They say this new species will be able to fuse life into a coherent consciousness crossing species boundaries, transport themselves over vast distances, create and destroy at will, and change shape. As you know, you, well, we, have most of these capacities, and I have no doubt that shape-shifting will come to us in due time. These oracles, which went by the name Oraculum, said that their view of the future showed them the birth of a few new species, which would unite to survive. One was short, well proportioned; the other was tall, and slender, the third, would be the breathers of fire that can fly, and the fourth, which would bring all together, the new mages, Homo Magicus. They would have allies, but many enemies. Their staunchest allies would be four-legged and once enemies. The symbol of the long and tall ones is a tree; the symbol of homo Magicus is a wolf, the symbol of the short ones is a hammer, and the fire breathers is a strange animal, that seems to be a mix of a horse and a bird.»

«What makes you believe that we will be able to bring all that to be?» asked a sceptical Harold.

«Your Majesty, look around you. You have already succeeded in bringing together the canines and equines, once sworn enemies; you have under your command the elves, the canines, and the equines. The mages, represented by Ferriday, are all but sworn to you. The only ones missing are the short ones, the Dwarves, We do not know where they are, but from what I gather, they live in mines, deep under the mountains, way towards where the Sun sets.»

«Do they tell us much about what will happen in our future?» asked Enron, always thinking of his duty as Prince Regent of the elves.

«I am sorry, Prince, but our entry into this cave is a nexus according to them. The next few years are totally dark to them. I admit I wished I knew what is hanging in the balance, but unfortunately, we are in the dark.»

«We cannot ask for miracles, I guess. We must do them ourselves. Is there anything else?» Samson asked.

«I have completed reproducing the drawings. One is a map, showing what I think is the location of six pyramids. Do you concur, Yamato?»

Yamato looked at one of the drawings and studied the hieroglyphs Paschal had reproduced to scale.

«Yes, these hieroglyphs say something like six pyramids flooded. I would interpret that to mean there are six pyramids that are under water.»

«How can you build a pyramid under water?» wondered Williams.

«Who knows, we will find out I hope, because it says that greatest secrets of the builders of this place are hidden there.»

«And what about those drawings? They seem to represent some kind of apparatus, but the drawings seem incomplete. There is also all that strange symbolism, which is totally different from the hieroglyphs. It's like it's a rebus like the stuff written on these walls, but with the missing parts elsewhere.»

«Paschal, you may be right, but for now, I think it's time we took our leave and rested. I have had a headache for the past ten minutes, which tells me I need a break. Water bowl for everyone! Then we sleep.»

The water bowls were welcomed and filled until thirst was quenched then vanished. Everyone lay down where they were, and shortly, the only noise heard was the snoring and snorting of sleeping animals.

***

The next morning, during breakfast, the discussion of the symbols found on the walls of the cave resumed, started by Harp.

«Last night, Yamato, you escaped dealing with the reference to Ian in there. What does it say exactly?»

«I spent the night thinking about this, Prince Harp, and I did little progress. However, I figured that Ian is referred as the right hand of Destiny, and Prince Enron as the left hand of Destiny. What this means remains a mystery to me. There is also this drawing that leaves me lost.»

«Show us.»

The Second Hieroglyph Code

«In the middle is the Moon Child, which we identified as Ian. He seems to be encircled by six other children. If I read this right, we have from the top, the wolf child, the dog child, the dwarf child, the griffon child, the eagle child, and the horse child. I think I can safely assume the Horse Child is Harp, and I have found a bit of text, which equates Enron with the Eagle Child; from how wolves react to Sitar, he is likely the Wolf Child, which means the Dog Child as Paschal. This leaves two positions open. Who will be the dwarf child and the griffon child?»

«What is a griffon?» Dunbar asked.

«A big flying animal. That is all I know.»

«A dragon! One of the children is a dragon child!» Enron wondered aloud.

«That may be correct, Enron, but what about all those other symbols around the Star of David?»

«The Star of David, Dunbar?»

«The Star of David is the symbol of a people that lived a long time ago. It is a six-pointed star, as you can see. It is also a symbol of fertility, the up-pointing triangle being the male and the down-pointing one symbolising the female. The Hebrews, for such was their name, knew of the Egyptians, because they shared a common living area and time. Therefore it goes without saying that the Egyptians also knew of the Hebrews.»

Harp, which had been studying the drawing, finally spoke.

«Remember we all vowed to protect Ian. Could it be that this complicated drawing is the symbol of that vow? Look at it. We encircle Ian, and then, the first line of protection are the dogs, the six pups of Blackie and Cleopatra, all named according to kings and queens of Egypt! Then the second circle is composed of wolves, and finally the last circle is made up of horses.»

«You mentioned that my son Ian is the right hand of Destiny. What do you mean?»

«I have no idea, King Harold, no more than I know why they refer to Prince Enron as the left hand of Destiny. However, these diviners must be taken very seriously. They have not been taken at fault so far by events.»

«That will have to wait. Breakfast being over, we must resume exploring this place. I will go explore the necropolis with Paschal and Greywolf. Sitar and Harp, along with Silver Moon, you take the other gallery. Yamato, you stay here, ready to read any symbol we see. Meanwhile, Dunbar, Williams, verify all our stuff. We will be leaving this place tomorrow morning, whatever the results of these preliminary explorations.»

«You were right, Samson, give someone an once of power, and he becomes pushy!»

«Don't remind me, Harold! But we better be quiet, he has forgotten us!»

«I haven't forgotten you oldies. Go play chess!»

«Oldies? I'll show you if I'm such an oldie!» Harold and Samson exclaimed at the same time.

***

The necropolis revealed a long line of sarcophaguses, each with a king's name, and all located to the right of the vast continuous hallway; on the right were the sarcophaguses of mages. The further one progressed along the corridor, the more recent the date, according to Yamato, since the first indicated something like twenty years, the next forty-five, and so forth.

«I assume this indicates the number of years since the founding of the necropolis, so this tells us the first king died some twenty years after the city was built and occupied, and the next one died forty-five years after its foundation. At least I hope it's how this should be interpreted, because it might also be an indication of the length of reigns. That was a common practice well into the last Japanese emperor.»

«I will keep a running count of both, and we will have two estimates when we reach the end» offered Paschal.

«No, Focus on your task. I will write the numbers on a scroll, and we will do the maths when the team comes back out of the necropolis. Boys, beware of gases. If you feel dizzy, back out.»

The boys resumed their progression, and Paschal rapidly noticed that the hallway spiralled slowly downward, ever deeper. The sarcophaguses, at first very elaborated, became more and more simple, to become, in the lowest reaches of the necropolis, simple boxes of wood rather than carved granite. The dead pharaohs were still wrapped in fine bands of linen, and seemed to have undergone elaborate rituals of mummifications, but the quality of workmanship definitely degraded over time. The mages' sarcophaguses degraded even faster, indicating a loss of status. At the last level, the only sarcophaguses found were those of kings, and they were simple wooden boxes put on the floor, aligned on both sides. A name and a date were painted on the box, not even engraved in a tombstone.

The walls themselves showed a loss of ability. First, they lost their gloss, then the decorative paintings became more primitive, to finally disappear entirely. The polish became rougher, and finally, in the end, the walls showed raw cut marks, and revealed the nature of the rock itself.

The boys finally entered a section of about thirty feet, which ended in a cul-de-sac. There were no sarcophaguses, and the stonecutting tools, mere bronze impediments, were left strewn all over the place, as if the workers had abandoned their work suddenly, not even bothering to pick their tools and leave with them.

«We reached the end. It's a six hour-long walk, so we will teleport out of here. I am hungry, and I don't feel like walking back up.»

«Fine, Enron. Is Greywolf able to do it himself?»

«Yes. Thank you for your considerations.» Greywolf replied.

The three explorers got a fixed point from Yamato and teleported themselves to it, right through the rock.

Meanwhile, Harp and Sitar took the ascending corridor, as they decided to name it. Their progress was rapid, and revealed that it too spiralled, but upwards. It took them eight hours to reach the end of the hallway they were following, and it ended in a door that seemed to be made of heavy, bright, grey metal. Harp touched it and felt a powerful force field keeping it closed.

«I think we found the exit. The door is pure mithril, and is locked by a magic mechanism. I figure it's probably a similar lock to the one we had to face down below. In fact, I think I recognize the symbols.»

«Show me.»

Harp and Yamato locked minds and Yamato accessed Harp's vision, confirming his deductions.

«Do you want a lock to teleport, prince Harp?»

«No, we will stay here and wait for the first members of the forward units to join us tomorrow after sext. I will feed Silver Moon with mare's milk, and some grain. We will then rest. Sitar will assume first watch, Silver Moon the second, and I the last. It is very quiet here, and I sense no danger whatsoever.»

«With all the delays, expect us around nones.»

«Agreed, Dunbar.»

***

The rest of the day progressed slowly for Harp, Sitar and Silver Moon. They found what seemed to be a guard station, with beds, and a table to one side, containing rather shabby weapons, and stagnant water, which was quickly disposed of by Sitar. The basin was murky and Harp cleansed it using magic. Its bottom, once cleansed, revealed a fine ceramic that portrayed fishes and dolphins playing on a deep blue background, probably a sea.

The night passed slowly, with a nervous Silver Moon not used to keeping guard. The young horse missed his mother, but vowed to himself that he would honour his guardian and stay calm for his three-hour long watch tour.

Prime came, and Harp saw to Silver Moon's needs, feeding and brushing the nervous colt. Sitar kept an eye on the progression of the column as it left the cave and slowly progressed upwards toward their position.

As the last unit left the cave, under the supervision of Enron and Paschal, the two boys noticed that the light slowly faded and the sand seemed to comb itself, removing any trace of their passage. The width of the hallway allowed for two horses to travel side by side, or four humans, or six wolves, and the units followed this organization.

As things progressed, Yamato quickly realized things were going a bit more slowly than anticipated, so he notified Harp and Sitar of the delay.

«Prince Harp and Sitar, expect us a bit later than Dunbar said. I estimate we should reach you around vespers.»

«Fine. We will wait.» Sitar replied.

After a while looking around, Sitar just couldn't hold it anymore.

"Harp, did you notice that there is light in every room we entered?"

"Yes, and I just can't find the source. It seems to be diffused evenly by the walls, the ceilings, and the floors. I also noticed another thing. If I intend to enter a room, it lights up, if I do not, it stays dark! It's like the room reads my intentions. I also noticed if I want brighter light, I only need to think about it, and up goes the luminescence."

"There is no soot to indicate the use of torches, and, come to think of it, nowhere to put a torch! This place gives me the creeps!"

"Ventilation is as good as in the cave, and I noticed that dust is non-existent. There should be a thick layer of it."

"It goes further. Silver Moon's droppings vanished the moment they touched ground, and so did mine. Didn't you notice?"

"I did mine in the water basin, and it flushed the stuff using water seeping from between the tiles! I've never seen that before."

"We might as well explore while we can, waiting on the others doing nothing will get boring."

"Yes, there are many rooms we haven't inspected yet. Let's do that."

The two boys explored a good portion of the area near the door, only stopping for a quick lunch at sext, and to feed the ever-starving colt.

«You know, Silver Moon, you are worse than me!»

«I take after my master!»

«Silver Moon? Is that you?»

«Yes, I finally figured out how to do what the others did. I have wanted to thank you for so long and I just couldn't do it.»

«It's nothing, Silver Moon. I could and I did.»

«Nonetheless, you did, and thank you.»

«You are welcomed.»

The first units reached Harp and Sitar at vespers, and the progress was halted for the night. The royals regrouped in the guard station, along with Greywolf and the canine general staff. The colt, after a quick visit to his mom to nurse, returned to Harp's side.

"So, how long has this place really been occupied?" Harp wondered, looking at Enron for an answer.

"The last pharaoh got added to the necropolis less then two hundred years ago. They stayed within this mountain all those years, totally hidden across all of seventeen thousand years. This is incredible. I am not sure they actually abandoned the place or just forgot how to enter. If it is a verbal command to come down here, and the last person did not tell an apprentice the secret, it got lost."

"Anyways, let's rest. It's our last night before we enter Kantar. Let's hope the reception will be good. I am in no mood to be taken lightly."

"Don't worry, Enron, I'm sure the size of the army you are bringing here is going to make sure they receive you with all the trimmings of a royal visitor."

The night passed very quietly, as everyone was thoughtful about the upcoming day. Prime crept slowly around, and breakfast was expedited.

"Time to test your hypothesis, Harp. Open that door."

Harp moved towards the door, and put his right hand on it, testing its magical field. Remembering the lessons of Yamato, he began saying friend in Egyptian, and sensed the magic field adjust itself as each consonant came out in order. Finally, a swoosh sound was heard and the door backed away from him revealing a huge room with a big opening at the other end. Not a sound could be heard, as if the area had been abandoned.

"This is what gives me the creeps. This place is so silent you feel there is not a person alive."

"You aren't the only one, Harp." Paschal replied. "Imagine how I felt in the necropolis!"

The column followed Harp in the newly discovered room.

«When I exit with the last cohort, should I close the door?» asked Williams, who had taken rear guard duty.

«Yes, we know how to open the door, so it should not be a problem, but I do not anticipate going back that way,» replied Enron, in the lead.

The column progressed upward, slowly following a grand hallway that kept climbing regularly, turning on itself at regular intervals. Suddenly, Harp and Sitar, accompanied by Yamato, emerged in a grand hall, taking by surprise the people that were in it, and raising the alarm considerably. Drums began to beat, horns to blow, and trumpets to blare as the alarm was sounded and general battle stations called. The confusion in the city was total, as everyone thought the city was assaulted from the outside and the defence units moved to their assigned position only to notice that the storm had not even fully abated below their walls.

The duke of Ka, Imhoteph, finally figured that the invaders were coming from below and moved with his elite unit to protect his family which happened to be deep below the normal city. The duke had taken quarters in what where once the Pharaoh's suite, finding it more than appropriate for his own rather rustic needs.

Meanwhile, the column progressed across the room, as Harp gently disarmed the ever more panicked people and soldiers. Finally, the two groups, the one led by the duke and the one led by Harp, collided in a hallway leading to the royal chambers.

"Halt!" ordered the duke, trying to sound more imposing than he felt.

"In the name of the King, it is I that order you to halt!" replied Harp, adding a show of fireworks to make his point.

The fireworks did impress the duke, but he grew even more frantic to protect his family against that fiery demon! As he tried to string an arrow, he was astounded to see it vanish along with his bow and sword, to see them reappear right at the foot of the one that had talked. He looked around and noticed all his men were in a similar state of disarmament.

"In any negotiation, disarm first and talk later," said Harp, sententiously. Looking at the man that seemed to be in charge, he continued talking to him. "Are you duke Imhoteph? At least that is the name King Samson gave me this morning."

"Well yes, I am. Where do you come from?"

"Below."

"Below? There is a fable about the door of the Pharaoh, but we never discovered it!"

"Well, it's not a fable. It is how we entered Kantar. Now, how about cutting the noise so we could talk without yelling at each other? Or do I need to silence the place myself?"

«Complaining about the noise level, you, Harp?»

«Bite me, Paschal!»

«Don't tempt me!»

The exchange completely escaped the duke, who just couldn't figure out why everyone in that demon's party exploded in laughter. Nonetheless, he gave the order for the stand-down from the alert, bringing the noise level several notches down to a more bearable level.

By then Enron and Samson had made their way to where Harp and Sitar were confronted by the duke.

"Ah, duke Imhoteph, finally! I gather you met Prince Harp, our pyromaniac? And his brother, Sitar?"

"We haven't been properly introduced, your majesty. Things began on the wrong foot."

"As is usually the case when people do not know each other and make wrong assumptions. Well, better late than never. Duke Imhoteph, it is my immense privilege to introduce to you Prince Harp of the Wolf Throne, and Prince Sitar of the same. Besides me is my son, Prince Regent Enron, that you only met while he still refused to wear diapers. Besides them is Lord Duke Greywolf, Supreme commander of the canines, and besides Prince Harp is Silver Moon. King Harold of the Wolf Throne is slowly making his way up the column, along with his other son, prince Paschal. Duke Dunbar and Williams are presently at the rear, making sure there are no strays before closing the door to the cave. Given the size of this column, I figure we still have about half of our units on the other side. Ah, here is Duke Yamato, captain of the Royal Cavalry and countess Theresa, whom you already know, commander of the royal elven guards."

The duke was more than impressed now. He vaguely knew the length of the passageway leading to the last accessible room, where the door of the Pharaoh was rumoured to be hidden, and if the column was less then half engaged in it, he had to admit this army was huge.

"What is the strategic situation?" asked Enron, always the practical one.

"Dire. But first, let's move up out of the way and get to the upper sections of the city. This way, your army can continue progressing and entering. Please follow me."

With that, the duke turned and invited the royal party to join him on his climb towards the upper reaches of his city.