Read Online Princess of Amathar by Wesley Allison - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Wesley Allison
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, adventure, Science Fiction - General, Fiction - Science Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy
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water. It leads four kentars back into the mountain, where it opens into a large chamber."
"I believe that we should explore the cavern," said Norar Remontar. "My people leave caches of weapons and food many places, much like the one you found before you met me. I believe that your swords were left along with the other supplies as an emergency cache some twenty or thirty generations ago. Perhaps we may find a similar cache here."
My friends had already gathered their gear. I had only my weapons. So after making sure they were secure; I plunged into the cool, clear water and dived down into the underwater passage. It was indeed a tunnel leading back into the mountain. I held my breath and swam into it. I am a fair swimmer, but not when fully clothed. Just as I was beginning to feel desperate for air, I reached the other end of the tunnel, and surfaced to find myself in a dark cavern. It was, just as Malagor had said, about four kentars, or seventeen feet from the outside pool.
I climbed out of the water, which on this side of the passage, was merely a round hole of about three feet in diameter. My Amatharian friend was looking around in the darkness with some type of small flashlight. It seemed strange that I had never seen the light before, until I realized that in all the time that I had known Norar Remontar, we had never been in darkness. The eternal noon day sun of Ecos had been our constant companion.
The cavern was roughly circular and quite large, some forty feet across. There seemed to be nothing in it, with the exception of the small pool from which we had made our entrance, and several large round boulders. However at the end of the room, farthest from the pool, Norar Remontar found something. I stepped over to where he was carefully examining a section of the cavern wall. Malagor followed. In the beam of the Amatharian's small light was a patch of stone, which had been artificially smoothed. Within this flat area was carved a series of symbols. There was nothing about them that seemed in the least familiar to me, but then I was from another planet after all.
"This isn’t written in Amatharian, is it?" I asked.
"No," replied Norar Remontar. "If I am not mistaken, this is an example of the petroglyphic writing of the ancient Orlons."
"I am not familiar with those people," said Malagor.
"The ancient Orlons occupied much of the area that we of Amathar now call our own. They were long dead in the time of Amath, but they left many ruins scattered around the area. We Amatharians study their remains in our schools. They existed for many thousands of generations, and in the last stages of their civilization, the Orlons were quite technologically advanced, using aircraft and high speed ground transport systems. Of course their early sights are quite primitive by comparison. This certainly looks to be a very early example of their writing."
"Can you read it?" I asked.
"I am no expert in archaeology," Norar Remontar replied, "though I do remember a few of the symbols from my school days."
He carefully examined the writing for several minutes. There were twenty two symbols in all on the smooth section of the wall. The first was a simple triangle, but others were squiggly lines, circles with little pictures in them, sun symbols, and a thing that looked a lot like a cow's head. Finally Norar Remontar pointed to a square with a stylized arrow running through it.
"This is the only one that I recognize," he said. "It is the symbol for a door."
"Perhaps this is an indicator that there is a door within this chamber somewhere," offered Malagor.
"A doorway to where?" I asked. "Into the mountain? Maybe it's indicating the water passage we just came through."
"Why would some one put a message that there is a door, in the one place that a person would be in, in which they already know there is a door?" demanded Malagor. "Why put a "door" sign on the inside of the room?"
"Maybe they are not pointing out the door," I replied.
"I believe that we should explore the cavern," said Norar Remontar. "My people leave caches of weapons and food many places, much like the one you found before you met me. I believe that your swords were left along with the other supplies as an emergency cache some twenty or thirty generations ago. Perhaps we may find a similar cache here."
My friends had already gathered their gear. I had only my weapons. So after making sure they were secure; I plunged into the cool, clear water and dived down into the underwater passage. It was indeed a tunnel leading back into the mountain. I held my breath and swam into it. I am a fair swimmer, but not when fully clothed. Just as I was beginning to feel desperate for air, I reached the other end of the tunnel, and surfaced to find myself in a dark cavern. It was, just as Malagor had said, about four kentars, or seventeen feet from the outside pool.
I climbed out of the water, which on this side of the passage, was merely a round hole of about three feet in diameter. My Amatharian friend was looking around in the darkness with some type of small flashlight. It seemed strange that I had never seen the light before, until I realized that in all the time that I had known Norar Remontar, we had never been in darkness. The eternal noon day sun of Ecos had been our constant companion.
The cavern was roughly circular and quite large, some forty feet across. There seemed to be nothing in it, with the exception of the small pool from which we had made our entrance, and several large round boulders. However at the end of the room, farthest from the pool, Norar Remontar found something. I stepped over to where he was carefully examining a section of the cavern wall. Malagor followed. In the beam of the Amatharian's small light was a patch of stone, which had been artificially smoothed. Within this flat area was carved a series of symbols. There was nothing about them that seemed in the least familiar to me, but then I was from another planet after all.
"This isn’t written in Amatharian, is it?" I asked.
"No," replied Norar Remontar. "If I am not mistaken, this is an example of the petroglyphic writing of the ancient Orlons."
"I am not familiar with those people," said Malagor.
"The ancient Orlons occupied much of the area that we of Amathar now call our own. They were long dead in the time of Amath, but they left many ruins scattered around the area. We Amatharians study their remains in our schools. They existed for many thousands of generations, and in the last stages of their civilization, the Orlons were quite technologically advanced, using aircraft and high speed ground transport systems. Of course their early sights are quite primitive by comparison. This certainly looks to be a very early example of their writing."
"Can you read it?" I asked.
"I am no expert in archaeology," Norar Remontar replied, "though I do remember a few of the symbols from my school days."
He carefully examined the writing for several minutes. There were twenty two symbols in all on the smooth section of the wall. The first was a simple triangle, but others were squiggly lines, circles with little pictures in them, sun symbols, and a thing that looked a lot like a cow's head. Finally Norar Remontar pointed to a square with a stylized arrow running through it.
"This is the only one that I recognize," he said. "It is the symbol for a door."
"Perhaps this is an indicator that there is a door within this chamber somewhere," offered Malagor.
"A doorway to where?" I asked. "Into the mountain? Maybe it's indicating the water passage we just came through."
"Why would some one put a message that there is a door, in the one place that a person would be in, in which they already know there is a door?" demanded Malagor. "Why put a "door" sign on the inside of the room?"
"Maybe they are not pointing out the door," I replied.
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