NEW WORLD

3

- Hey! Look what we found! Yuller's voice was heard.

The marauders stood in the center of the rectangular hall, and next to them, on a plinth, was a sarcophagus. The broken lid lay on the floor.

“ In the name of Nismass!” Don't you dare! he shouted, pointing his hand with the bola at the southerners. - You know the laws! It is forbidden to open sarcophagi, urns and graves.

Sebastian was the first to step back. The southerner wore a green jersey with brown puffs. He was short, with thick bristles, and was always carrying the mirror of his wicked wife in a case on his belt. The upturned nose and long golden hair made him handsome, and Üller's presence made him dumb.

“ So there was nothing in it,” Sebastian muttered, pulling his comrade along with him, “except for these glass pieces. It's not a grave, your reverend.

Tant looked around the high hall and not noticing anything remarkable except for six arched passages, he approached the sarcophagus. Ten men stood around him holding torches high. Tant peered in, touching a serrated copper disc that looked more like a steering wheel. Nearby lay five jade daggers.

“ There are indeed no remains,” Ravian concluded, running a gnarled finger over the white sand, “but if there were, only bone meal remained.

“ And we won’t bake bread,” Yuller added with a grin.

Tant grabbed the joker by the hem of his knitted shirt. He briefly explained to everyone at once, and to fools in particular, that in ancient sanctuaries one should not touch objects, especially those that stand in a conspicuous place.

- We checked. There are no traps,” Yuller said in a low voice, forcing him to unclench his fingers. We've been languishing in this ass for a month now. I think it's safe here.

" Yeah," Sebastian agreed. “If there were ghouls walking around here, we would have met them long ago.

- Why do you always have one head for two? Rick intervened, sweeping the torch around the slabs under his feet. “There could be pressure plates in here. We are now where the hell, hundreds of miles from the nearest road. If the floor sags or the slab blocks the exit, we will have a hard time.

The others nodded indignantly. The skinny yeoman knew what he was talking about. The mountain path, along which the Rainier squad got here, was broken by a rockfall. It took them two weeks to find her, and then another five days to find a detour. Even if one of the henchmen managed to move to kenovia and call for help, they could expect a detachment from Gotford not earlier than in a week.

While Üller and Sebastian were arguing with the guide, Tant examined a brass disk containing six characters. The same symbols were laid out in white mosaic above the arches. Realizing what was happening, he took a torch and walked around the hall, shouting the names of creatures:

“ Stork, snake, rotten tree, porcupine, frog, crocker!”

– What is it? Mystery? Ravian muttered. “Maybe these animals were sacred to them?”

“ Wistan warned me,” Tant continued, keeping his distance from the aisles. “No fool would worship Crocker. These are guard stamps. The creators mark traps with them.

“ Master, this is obviously not a crocker,” one of the listeners intervened, approaching the arch over which there was a snail.

“ The snake and the rotten tree are dangerous. That’s where the traps are,” Kord concluded innocently, grasping one of the prongs on the disk. “There is a stone notch here. Let's check.

- Stop!

Tant raised his hand in warning, but the fisherman's son touched the disk before Holden could pull it away. There was a dull click from the stairs. Everyone held their breath, but nothing happened. Ravian began to scold the boy and at that moment a scream sounded. The acolyte Silas, who was standing under the mosaic with the stork, grabbed his arm and shied away from the long blade, crawling at an angle into the darkness of the corridor.

Yuller and Sebastian ran up to the wounded man. Cord babbled in horror, saying that he did not have time to turn the disk, but the trap worked by itself. Tant looked into the sarcophagus and found that the boy was not lying.

– Look here! Yuller shouted, pulling an ax from his belt.

He walked over to where Silas stood and slammed the weapon against the slab. The bloody blade appeared again, but not so quickly, barely pecking out of the darkness. Tant instantly understood everything. Reaching into the sarcophagus, he turned the disc once, making sure that the cracker markings lined up with the stone notch.

“ Now check with the Crocker.

Yuller did everything. The blade didn't show up. The plates didn't move. There were mentions of such places in the books. The creators specially depicted animals with sharp forms in those passages where there were traps. They made these notes for priests and builders. Robbers rarely climbed into such deep halls.

“ Wistan found a similar trap once. The stork has a beak, the porcupine has quills, the frog has a sharp snout, and the rotten tree has a stinger. There are definitely traps in these halls.

“ So the crocker and the snake are safe?” the old man clarified, looking in disbelief at the disk.

Tant ordered everyone to wait, and he himself entered the tunnel. Ravian hesitated for a long time, but then he nevertheless followed him. The corridor ran straight ahead and then turned left. Unlike the temples above, it was moderately simple. There was no decoration or stucco, just bare stone with carved projections in the walls.

“ Maybe it’s not a sanctuary at all?” Could this be Mirai's grave? Ravian said as they passed the turn.

Tante shook his head. It is unlikely that such a crypt could have been built for the owner of the amulet, but there was no doubt that Mirai passed through here.

Leaving behind an arched portal, they entered an oblong, low-ceilinged chamber. Here, niches with stone shelves stretched in the walls, on each of which stood skulls. Dozens of skulls. These were already real, covered with transparent glaze, decorated with gold threads and precious stones.

“ Looks like an ancestral chamber,” Tant said, holding the torch close to the niche. “Each one has six heads. They were noble people.

Why expose them?

- For honors. Almers do this too. They decorate their bodies with gold and hang them on the walls of temples.

He took the skull and examined it from all sides. This one had a triangular sapphire on its forehead. Black pearls glittered in the eye holes. The hole for the spine was smeared with something, and the skull itself seemed heavier than usual.

“ Perhaps they are the Lord Rulers. Wistan once mentioned that there could be up to eight cities on the island.

“ Then we can calculate how many years their empire has lasted,” the old man concluded, pointing to the skulls. Look, there's only one here.

Ravian stood against the opposite wall. Having said this, he broke into a cough and fell silent. Tantus dropped the skull. The hand itself reached for the bola case. Ravian was still standing next to the wall, but the torch was on the floor. The old man did not move, leaning with all his weight on the pin that prevented him from falling.

Tant himself did not understand how he ended up in the middle of a forest of blades, but managed to use the bola before the blades rose under his feet. A funnel appeared in the twilight. An invisible whirlwind pulled him in and spat him out already in the garden. Having fallen into the grass near the manor, he lay motionless for some time, and then ran down.

On the way, I had to use the bola again and light the magic firefly. The thought that the friend is no more did not come immediately. Ravian was the first person on the island with whom he found a common language. The old man died suddenly, as expected, but now the rest were in danger.

Tant rushed headlong through the narrow corridors and reached the sanctuary just as Üller entered the tunnel. Holden follows him, oil lamp in hand.

Ravian is dead!

Nine people stared at him in amazement. Catching his breath, Tant explained what had happened and where the corridor with the crocker mosaic led. He could not understand why the trap had worked, but the longer he looked at the disk, the clearer the plan of the ancient engineers became. The creators knowingly carefully embodied the images of animals.

“ What a fool I am,” Tant finally exclaimed, pointing to the nearest archway. “There are indeed two safe passages, but not the ones we chose.

" Explain, Reverend," Rick demanded.

The frog has two stripes on its back. It is similar to the Isabora paca, and the croker resembles an armored leech. With a snake and a rotten tree, everything is also clear.

– So what?

- They are all poisonous.

He asked Yuller to check the entrance to the porcupine room and everything was confirmed. The blade came out of the wall and appeared until the guide turned the disk in the sarcophagus. This time they inspected each passage, and checked everything carefully. It turned out that only the arches with the stork and porcupine protected the counterweights with blades.

– So it means you can freely enter dangerous tunnels. Cleverly thought out! Sebastian said excitedly. He took out a tiny bone-rimmed mirror and peered through it at the brass gate at the bottom of the sarcophagus. Grabbers always drag what is easier to reach.

Tant sat down on the pedestal and covered his face with his hands. He should have thought about it and not rushed, then Ravian would be alive. Kord sat down beside him and patted him on the shoulder, as the old man used to do.

" Clever, smart," Rick agreed, and licking his lips, he added, "I bet there's something valuable buried here." It's a pity, only the old man was pierced, but we will not forget him.

Yuller grinned wryly, appreciating the joke, after which he ordered new torches to be lit. Half of the detachment was about to go into the tunnel with the stork. Holden turned the dial, locking the division against the stone notch.

“ Wait here,” Tant said in a detached voice. “I brought you here. All responsibility is on me.

Only listeners tried to object, but no one considered their opinion. After drinking a strengthening potion, he lit a torch, took his staff, and crossed the archway. The corridor turned right once and led to a new hall. Tapping his stick on the square flagstones, he moved far enough away. Then something crunched under the boot.

Tantus jumped back, pointing the torch down, but it was a black stone. The hall turned out to be small, but with a high ceiling, and resembled the shaft of a well. It was empty inside, except for a stone chute running against the far wall. He didn't like the place. It looked like another trap. Tantus wanted to run, but, noticing a golden arc on the floor, he waited.