Mission To Mahjundar (10 page)

The jewels in the shaft of the key flashed, and there was an audible click. Howling wind shrieked through the canyon, buffeting them all. Mike's ears were keen enough to hear the grinding of some inner mechanism as the door prepared to open. Grabbing Shalira unceremoniously, he carried her down the stairs, joining their fellow travelers, now scattered about on the far side of the canyon.

When the noise stopped, the wind and miniature dust storm died away. Mike gazed across the canyon to see the door hanging wide open, suspended on invisibly set hinges.
 

“All right, door’s open,” he said, jaw clenched. This spooky stuff made him nervous. “Now what?”

“The princess goes into the tomb and retrieves her clan insignia.” Vreely slapped his black riding gloves against his thigh. “I suppose you want to accompany her into the tomb, as you did at the temple, outworlder? Be my guest! My men and I’ll stay out here while you consort with the dead.”

With an air of having lost all interest in the proceedings, the Mahjundan shouted orders to his troopers to light a fire and make him something to eat. Mike stared after him speculatively, then glanced over to meet Johnny's narrowed eyes. His cousin’s furrowed brow and thinned lips suggested he felt the same concerns Mike had about what Vreely might be planning.

“Please, come with me,” Shalira begged, apparently mistaking his silence for reluctance. “Saium and Sergeant Danver may come also, but I don’t want others to intrude on my mother's sleep.”

Unconcerned, not offended at his exclusion, Rojar handed Johnny the two torches he’d brought along from the temple. “You’ll need these.”

“Keep an eye on things, will you?” Mike said in a low tone meant for Rojar's ears alone, before taking the princess’s hand to lead her to the steps once more. Together, they climbed the small incline and waited for Johnny and Saium to catch up.
 

Shalira raised her head, sniffing the air. “Do I smell moss blossoms?”
 

Reaching inside his tunic, Saium yanked out a slightly crushed, wilting bouquet. Glaring at Mike as if daring him to laugh, the old warrior said, “Lindia loved flowers.”

Stretching her hand to brush the blossoms, Shalira smiled. “So she did.”

Johnny lit the torches and held one out to Saium, which he took in his free hand. Then the quartet stepped into the entrance of the tomb.
 

The air inside was cool. Mike remembered having been told once that caves maintained an even temperature in the fifty-degree range.
Tomb like this must be similar to a cave.
The torches only partially alleviated the total darkness, but did reveal murals on the walls of the vestibule. The vertical surfaces had been smoothed and painted with an intricate pattern of bright green leaves and tiny pink flowers, creating a realistic effect in the uncertain, flickering light.
 

“Wait a minute,” Mike said as Shalira tugged at him to keep walking. “Hadn’t we better take some precaution to keep the door from closing by accident?”

She shook her head. “The door would resist any force on Mahjundar right now.”

Saium nodded to reinforce Shalira's words. “Go outside, try it, if you doubt.”

Even though both the princess and her guard were convinced, Mike wasn’t taking their safety on faith. “Johnny, go check.”

In a silence broken only by the hissing of the burning torches, Mike waited with his companions until Johnny rejoined them, his face a study in bewilderment. “She's right. I couldn't budge the door an inch, even with Rojar pushing too.”

Struck by a new problem, Mike touched Shalira’s arm to get her attention. “How are we going to shut the portal when you're finished? Surely you don't plan to leave your mother's tomb open for any passerby to trespass?”

“According to the legend, the door will stay open for three hours before closing itself, the key vanishing.” Shalira smiled. “Don't worry, we'll complete my errand and be on our way before you know it.”

Glad she can sound so calm about it all.
Setting foot in the tomb had apparently steadied her nerves while the surroundings had the opposite effect on him. Concerned, he gave his cousin a once over, but Johnny avoided his gaze.

“Any other questions, or can we proceed?” Saium edged toward the dark mouth of the tunnel.

“Hell no, no more conversation,” said Johnny, waving him on with an extravagant gesture. “Let's get on with the tomb raiding.”

Only one passage led out of the vestibule. After setting the timer on his wrist chrono, Mike took Shalira by the hand to walk down the ramp leading deep into the canyon side. The torchlight illuminated intricate floral paintings on both sides.
 

Like being in an arbor on a moonless night
. “Are all the family tombs decorated this way?” Mike asked.

“I’ve never seen the tomb,” Shalira responded. “But it’s been described to me. I was told my father put his finest artists and craftsmen to work on the task as soon as he realized Lindia was dying.”

“Not much farther now,” Saium warned.
 

Mike stumbled over an unseen threshold as the passage ended abruptly in a large open room. There were brass sconces set into the wall on either side of the entryway. Johnny and Saium stuck their burning torches into the waiting sockets.

“Incredible.” Mike visually quartered the room. “If I hadn't seen this myself, I wouldn't have believed it.”

A perfect oval, the chamber resembled the inside of a white lattice gazebo. More of the trompe l'oeil flowering vines had been painted as if twining through the latticework. Here and there, tiny jeweled, birdlike creatures like the myrdima which had serenaded them at the sacred glade were set into the foliage. Even the roof above was painted to mimic a dark blue starred sky, with the planet’s two moons rising on the far side of the vault.
 

Mike stared for a long minute.
Some Mahjundan Michelangelo gave his all to this effort.

“After Shalira was born, her mother never regained her health. She’d lie by the hour in her gazebo, reading or napping.” Saium spun in a tight circle, staring at the walls. “The gazebo was Kajastahn's favorite trysting place. Lindia used to say it was their private world, away from all the troubles of the court and the harem.”

Shalira dropped Mike's hand, taking a tentative step toward the sound of Saium’s voice. The old man folded her into a bear hug and Mike heard the princess choke back a sob. Unseen by her, the grizzled warrior wiped away a furtive tear with the back of his hand.

Motioning to Johnny, Mike walked out into the center of the “gazebo,” where the pure-white marble sepulcher had been placed. A life-size figure of a woman had been carved on the top as if lounging on a couch, waiting for expected company. Delicately colored stone resembled living flesh in the torchlight. Glancing at the effigy’s face, Mike retreated an involuntary step.
 

The lifelike brown eyes were half-open, the coral-colored lips parted as if to speak.
 

Annoyed at himself for being so jumpy, Mike walked closer, examining the statue. Lindia was an older version of Shalira all right, but to his eyes, the princess was more delicately featured than her mother, with a sweetness of expression lacking in Lindia. The stone face, though undeniably beautiful by any human standard, displayed a hint of something off-putting.

“Probably the sculptor's fault,” he muttered, then checked his chrono. “We've used up about half an hour, folks. I think we’d better find the clan insignia. Do we have to move this statue, open the casket itself?”

“Oh, no!” Shalira’s horrified exclamation echoed in the small room. “My mother's remains are not to be touched.”

“Merely asking,” Mike said, without apology. “I don't see anything in here but the bare walls.”

“You wouldn't.” Shalira shook her head. “Burial possessions are hidden in secret niches to deter grave robbers should any manage to breach the door spells.”

“I don't see any sign of niches, either.” Frowning, Johnny rested his hands on his hips and kicked at the edge of a flagstone. “Can't anything be simple on this damned planet?” His voice rose.

“Why don't you take a run to the door and assess the situation outside?” Concerned about his cousin’s edginess and knowing Johnny was uncomfortable in enclosed spaces nowadays, Mike thought it might be wise to send him back to the exit.

“Good idea.” The sergeant contemplated the two torches, but didn’t reach for either. “Guess I don't need a light. That passage was the definition of straight and narrow and my enhanced night vision works under these conditions if I just remember to activate the implant.” Chuckling, he headed out the single opening, running one hand along the stone wall as a guide.

With Saium’s help, Shalira doffed her lightweight riding cloak, laying the garment gently on the floor. The guardsman withdrew a small leather pouch from his broad belt and placed it safely in her cupped hands. Unknotting the cords by touch took her a moment of fierce concentration, but then she withdrew an object swathed in rolls of velvety cloth. While Saium hovered, making small hand motions as if he wanted to take the bundle from her and open it himself, Shalira extracted a small glass vial. An emerald-green stopper flashed in the smoky torchlight. Even in the gloom of the “gazebo,” the liquid contents of this unique container shone and glowed golden.

“What do you have there?” Mike stepped to her side.

Shalira tilted her head in the direction of his voice. “My mother's nurse was a wise woman, a healer, an initiate in the goddess Pavmiraia’s secrets. After my brother was killed and I was left blind, she worked tirelessly to gather the ingredients for this potion. Some she had to commission from across the Great Sea, which took several years to acquire. When she had the recipe complete, she secretly left the palace to brew this mix. Whether from the sorcery involved, or whether it was a coincidence, she was near death when she returned, dying within a sevenday.” Shalira shook the vial in her hand. “All for the liquid in this bottle.”

“What’s it supposed to do?” Mike had a sneaking suspicion what Shalira was going to say.

 
“Restore my sight for the space of an hour. She bade me to keep it safe and use it only if my life depended on my eyes.”

“Then perhaps you should save it. Tell me and Saium what to do,” Mike suggested urgently, not liking the ominous appearance of the bottle, golden glow or not
.
 

“Don’t fear for me.” Shalira regarded him so warmly he forgot what he’d planned to say next. “My life does depend on this. If I fail to get the clan insignia, Bandarlok won’t marry me. Then I’m doomed to return home and enter the Abbey of the Obedient Sisters, which is a virtual death sentence. The empress will have me killed.”

“Shalira—” He stopped, shaking his head.
What am I planning to say? Am I going to offer to take her away from all this, go back to my home world with me?
Mike swallowed hard, surprised into silence by a flood of unexpected emotion choking him.

Not waiting to hear more of his opinions, she unstoppered the little flask, sucked in a breath and held it, drinking the contents in one quick swallow.

Gagging, Shalira staggered backward, dropping the bottle, hands rising to her throat. The vial shattered on the stone floor, spraying shards and droplets of moisture everywhere. Mike rushed to her side, catching her one-handed as she swooned toward the cold floor. “Bring me the cloak to wrap her in. She’s convulsing.”

Avoiding the broken glass, Mike sat on the freezing stone floor, cradling the unconscious princess while she shook. “Damn it, we never should have let her drink that stuff. What if it’s poison?”

“Her nurse would never have poisoned Shalira,” the older man answered, his face calm, voice low. “Have faith, as Her Highness does, and wait, outworlder.”

Skidding on the stone floor, Johnny came running into the chamber, gun in hand. “We got major troubles.” He stopped short at the sight of the unconscious Shalira. “Lords of Space, now what?”

Holding the princess tight against the tremors racking her body, Mike frowned. “She drank something she believes will restore her vision and the side effects are pretty bad. What's happening in the valley?”

“We’ve been double-crossed. Vreely showed his colors all right. Heard shots when I was walking to the door, so I double-timed it out to the steps and found Rojar in a helluva fight with three guards. Next thing I know, they're all shooting at me, so I returned fire and ducked inside.”

Not good, not surprising. I should have taken more precautions.
Mike shifted to create a more comfortable position for Shalira, whose tremors were decreasing. “What happened to Rojar?”

“Don't know. Last I saw, he was surrounded by guards, yelling for us to get out of the tomb before it was too late.” Johnny was keyed up, eyes wide, movements jerky.

“Any other way in or out of here, Saium?” Mike asked.
 

The guardsman shook his head.

Mike gathered Shalira in his arms and carefully stood. “Here, take the princess. Johnny and I are going to the door to check things out. You stay put, understand?”

Accepting the princess’s limp form while she began to murmur indistinguishable words, perhaps beginning to revive, Saium said, “As soon as she wakes, we’ll search for the insignia.”