limited. Are they familiar to you? Any resemblance to Masig language?”
“Not the slightest. I’ve never seen anything like this. They don’t look like any of the symbols our culture uses.” Iruki searched for meaning, but without success. Those markings were completely incomprehensible and alien.
The Assassin passed his hand over the markings, tracing them from left to right. He concentrated and summoned his Gift. A red flash ran along his arms, and Iruki guessed he was trying to feel the essence of those signs.
“These symbols have been carved into the rock, but not by the hands of men. Interesting… look there towards the bottom…there’s another engraving on the opposite side, between the two waterfalls. I have no idea of their meaning, or the intention behind them, but I’m sure they’re not ordinary inscriptions. They’ve been made with some kind of ancient power. My instinct warns me of danger… stalking dormant, waiting…” Seeing the look on her face, he explained: “It’s part of my own power and training. I can perceive danger where others don’t. This place, in spite of its amazing beauty, conceals danger, and it’s lethal … We must keep alert and move very, very carefully.”
Iruki tensed. She nodded, looking around nervously, suspicious now of the beauty that surrounded them.
The Assassin looked towards the entrance to the cavern, and Iruki’s heart raced at the thought of their pursuers. The entrance was empty, but the northern warriors would not be too far behind. They were wasting too much time in that cavern, they had to go on. Their hope lay in finding a way out to the surface, or somewhere they could hide from those dogs of war. The Assassin led her to the next cavern, and darkness closed in on them once more. This cave had five openings, like fingers on a giant granite hand. The Assassin stepped into each of them as if he were trying to measure, or sense, something from inside. Finally he selected the one furthest to the right.
“This way,” he said gravely. “Follow me, quickly and in silence,”
They went deeper still into the innards of the mountain, toward the heart of the rocky giant itself. They passed other caves and followed a sequence of sinuous passages, always turning right. Iruki was sure they would be impossible to find in that labyrinth of tunnels and caves. She herself felt totally lost and disoriented, with her sense of direction gone. Luckily the Assassin seemed to know which way they had to follow. Every once in a while he turned back to erase the trail of footsteps behind them and create new false ones, so as to mislead their pursuers.
After endless turns and narrow passages they reached a large cavern, and the Assassin grabbed her arm to stop her. Before Iruki could ask why, a sensation of freezing struck her body with such intensity that for a moment she thought she had fallen into a frozen river. The temperature in that cave was so low that it seemed as though this was where Winter itself was born. She looked closer at the walls and ceiling and realized that like the ground, they were covered in a layer of shining white ice. Frost had taken possession of every boulder and rock from floor to ceiling, nothing escaped the piercing cold.
“What’s wrong with this place?” said Iruki, her teeth chattering from cold and fear. “How is it possible for this cavern to be completely frozen? It’s hard to believe, it defies every law of Mother Nature. I don’t like it one little bit, my people’s legends are true after all. This is an accursed place.”
The Assassin pointed at new golden symbols above the entrance they had just crossed.
“I don’t think it’s accursed,” he said, “although it’s true that something against Nature is going on here. See? There are more strange markings here and at the bottom of the cave, down there by the way out.”
“So what are we going to do? Go back? We won’t be able to stay here for long in cold like
“Not the slightest. I’ve never seen anything like this. They don’t look like any of the symbols our culture uses.” Iruki searched for meaning, but without success. Those markings were completely incomprehensible and alien.
The Assassin passed his hand over the markings, tracing them from left to right. He concentrated and summoned his Gift. A red flash ran along his arms, and Iruki guessed he was trying to feel the essence of those signs.
“These symbols have been carved into the rock, but not by the hands of men. Interesting… look there towards the bottom…there’s another engraving on the opposite side, between the two waterfalls. I have no idea of their meaning, or the intention behind them, but I’m sure they’re not ordinary inscriptions. They’ve been made with some kind of ancient power. My instinct warns me of danger… stalking dormant, waiting…” Seeing the look on her face, he explained: “It’s part of my own power and training. I can perceive danger where others don’t. This place, in spite of its amazing beauty, conceals danger, and it’s lethal … We must keep alert and move very, very carefully.”
Iruki tensed. She nodded, looking around nervously, suspicious now of the beauty that surrounded them.
The Assassin looked towards the entrance to the cavern, and Iruki’s heart raced at the thought of their pursuers. The entrance was empty, but the northern warriors would not be too far behind. They were wasting too much time in that cavern, they had to go on. Their hope lay in finding a way out to the surface, or somewhere they could hide from those dogs of war. The Assassin led her to the next cavern, and darkness closed in on them once more. This cave had five openings, like fingers on a giant granite hand. The Assassin stepped into each of them as if he were trying to measure, or sense, something from inside. Finally he selected the one furthest to the right.
“This way,” he said gravely. “Follow me, quickly and in silence,”
They went deeper still into the innards of the mountain, toward the heart of the rocky giant itself. They passed other caves and followed a sequence of sinuous passages, always turning right. Iruki was sure they would be impossible to find in that labyrinth of tunnels and caves. She herself felt totally lost and disoriented, with her sense of direction gone. Luckily the Assassin seemed to know which way they had to follow. Every once in a while he turned back to erase the trail of footsteps behind them and create new false ones, so as to mislead their pursuers.
After endless turns and narrow passages they reached a large cavern, and the Assassin grabbed her arm to stop her. Before Iruki could ask why, a sensation of freezing struck her body with such intensity that for a moment she thought she had fallen into a frozen river. The temperature in that cave was so low that it seemed as though this was where Winter itself was born. She looked closer at the walls and ceiling and realized that like the ground, they were covered in a layer of shining white ice. Frost had taken possession of every boulder and rock from floor to ceiling, nothing escaped the piercing cold.
“What’s wrong with this place?” said Iruki, her teeth chattering from cold and fear. “How is it possible for this cavern to be completely frozen? It’s hard to believe, it defies every law of Mother Nature. I don’t like it one little bit, my people’s legends are true after all. This is an accursed place.”
The Assassin pointed at new golden symbols above the entrance they had just crossed.
“I don’t think it’s accursed,” he said, “although it’s true that something against Nature is going on here. See? There are more strange markings here and at the bottom of the cave, down there by the way out.”
“So what are we going to do? Go back? We won’t be able to stay here for long in cold like
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