Chaos Storm (The Flight of the Griffin Book 2) (26 page)

'
Shhhhh!
' Quint glared up at his grinning friend then turned around to help Elisop back to his feet.

'That's not funny, Pardigan,' he hissed, 'the next time you do that I'm going to…'

'Oh, leave him, Quint, he'll never grow up,' said Mahra shaking her head. She turned to the grinning Pardigan. 'So did you find anything?'

'Oh, yes,' said Pardigan still trying not to laugh, 'but nothing you really want to hear about. What about you?'

'Well, one door off of the main hall led to lots of stairs, they go up a long way, too far for me to check out properly, another was full of these nasty red candles, nothing much else and apparently there isn't much through there.' She nodded to the doorway that Quint and Elisop had investigated.

'I think we have to look inside that chest, don't you?' said Quint.

Pardigan nodded in reluctant agreement. 'It's that, or we grab one of those priests and try and persuade him to tell us where the skulls are, but I don't like the idea of that much. Maybe I can sneak a look while I'm invisible, but I want you lot close, just in case. I think one of the priests could almost see me earlier.' Without explaining further, he turned and headed back into the hall.

Making his way through the maze of benches, Pardigan couldn't hear his friends entering the temple behind him, but he could sense them. He cast about, his eyes straining once again in the deep heavy gloom. The air was thickest with pungent smoke close to the central area and the platform where the priests crouched around the fire pit. The closer he got, the more his eyes stung and watered. He rubbed at them but it only seemed to make things worse so made do with pulling his cloak up to cover as much of his face as he could so at least he wasn't breathing in too much of the noxious fumes, but his eyes still stung. With his chest heaving from a lack of breathable air and trying not to cough or gag, he edged over beside the platform. The meditating priests were on the opposite side of the fire pit and as far as Pardigan could see several were now carefully chalking a design on the floor while two remained kneeling, hoods covering their faces as they continued to mumble and chant their incantation. Flickers of red energy moved about the pattern as it grew occasionally sending small puffs of coloured smoke twisting and turning like writhing snakes up into the darkness. Pardigan decided he had to try and ignore the priests and whatever it was they were doing. He slipped around some benches and up onto the platform behind the huge chest. As he glanced over to check that the priests were still busy, he felt his eyes drawn to the pit of flickering fire.

Part of his brain was immediately captured, mesmerised, by the lapping flames that swirled and danced, spiralling downwards, dragging his eyes into the impossible depths. However, there was still enough of his mind that remained his own, wishing he hadn't looked, screaming at himself to turn his eyes away. The heat of the flames now began to register on him, blistering his face, the smoke reaching back into his head trying to sear his eyes from their sockets. Swaying, he tried to fight the incredible pull and, with difficulty, finally managed to wrench his attention away. As soon as his eyes broke contact the spell was broken, and the heat disappeared. He flopped back down behind the chest gasping for breath and dropped his invisibility spell.

After a few moments, he was able to pull himself together enough to blink into invisibility and once more turn his attention to the chest, this time refusing to let his eyes wander towards the pit.

The chest was large, constructed from some heavy dark wood carved with what looked like pictures. He ran his finger over the carvings and realised, with a sense of revulsion, that they were scenes of terrible violence and torture. It reminded him of a big coffin, and for one awful moment he pictured it full of dead putrefying bodies. Withdrawing his shaking hand, he decided not to study the carvings any more, but just concentrate on getting the Source cursed thing open. Moving around to the side closest to the priests and still invisible, he did his best not to look into the flames and turned his back on both flames and priests. He was delighted to find there was no lock; just a simple wooden peg holding the lid in place, he smiled. A quick glance behind to the silent priests confirmed they were still busy, so he slipped the peg, lifted the top and peered inside, ready to drop the lid quickly if there really were bodies in there.

Two things became immediately apparent once the lid was raised, firstly, the chest was empty and coming a close second, was that someone had just drawn a sword. The sound of metal sliding against metal had rung loudly into the darkness. Pardigan sighed and slowly lowered the lid, then turned around and gazed up into the shadow of a priest's hood. Behind the priest, five others remained motionless, still crouched down, their work with the chalk pattern halted as they followed the distraction unfolding.

The priest's sword sliced the air above Pardigan's head, it was badly aimed, and he only had to duck a little, feeling it swing harmlessly over him, it then stabbed out to skewer him, but he stepped neatly to the side trying to work out what was happening. The priest cut the air several more times, his blade searching the shadows and then turned away… Pardigan realised that the priest might suspect he was there, but couldn't actually see him. When it was apparent his sword hadn't connected with anything, a skeletal hand slowly drew back the hood revealing the priest's face set in a scowl, his dark eyes flickering about, searching.

'I sense you…' the priest's voice was soft but rasping as if he had inhaled too much of the smoke and incense. 'Who are you that desecrates this Holy Temple of Chaos?' The sword flicked forward once again and the priest frowned as once again it touched nothing more than empty air. 'Brothers,' his voice remained low, but three of the other priests rose and drew swords. 'We have an intruder.' Once again the sword flashed out, and this time the priest was rewarded with a cry as the blade cut into Pardigan's arm forcing the thief to drop his spell and become visible, clutching at his arm, blood seeping through his fingers - four of the priests now converged on him.

'That hurt,' spat Pardigan and flung his smaller knife backhand at his grinning attacker. The blade found its way past the raised sword and into the priest's neck. With a sudden look of shock and surprise, the priest dropped the sword and fell to his knees uttering a strange gurgling cry as he fumbled at the deeply embedded knife trying to stifle the rapid flow of blood. Without a second thought, Pardigan scooped up the sword and tossed it through the air to Quint, who had leapt up onto the platform brandishing only his knife. The fighter caught it in time to meet with two of the other priests as they ran in.

The temple sang with the sounds of metal clashing upon metal. Despite the priests now fighting, the chanting continued to echo about the chamber becoming faster and faster, driving the fighting priests to greater efforts. An angry banging came from the back of the temple adding to the confusion, the noise of fighting was rousing more priests from their chambers, but their doors, of course, were locked.

Mahra glanced from her two friends and Elisop, who was doing little more than hanging around the edge of the fighting, and then to the two remaining priests who had remained sitting in a state of chanting meditation. She approached them slowly, still in her human form, expecting them to rise and attack her at any moment, yet as she got closer, it dawned upon her that what she was seeing wasn't quite right. Reaching out hesitantly, she pulled the hood back from the closest priest. There, on a frame of wood, sat one of the crystal skulls. Strange symbols and markings had been drawn upon it, but, through whatever ordeals it had recently travelled, it did still appear to be whole. She snatched it up and placed it in a leather sack, deliberately rubbing the skull to smear the symbols and then retrieved the second skull, wrapping it separately to protect it before placing it with the other.

Up on the platform, Quint parried a wild cut to his head and countered with a stab that he felt slide home into the Chaos priest's chest. However, rather than fall to the floor, the priest took a further swing at Quint, sliding his body further along Quint's blade as he did so.

'You will find it takes much to kill a priest of Chaos,' spat the priest through clenched jaws. Blood ran between his teeth and his eyes were wide and crazed as they reflected the red glow of the Temple. Quint heaved the priest around and kicked him off his blade into the fiery pit, covering his eyes as both the priest and his high-pitched shriek died in a roar of flames.

'Well, it didn't take that much really,' muttered Quint as he watched Elisop stab at the last remaining priest. He jumped in to help and wondered for a moment where Pardigan had gone. The priest was fighting with a grim determination, slashing and hacking with huge blows that had been pushing the smaller Elisop back. When Quint joined in and forced the priest to retreat, Elisop stood to the side out of breath, gasping.

'Quint we have to get out of here! We have the skulls,' the cry came from Mahra, and Quint did his best to finish the fight, but the priest hung on.

He turned to Elisop. 'Go! I'm right behind you.' The little spy scuttled off the platform and was immediately swallowed by the darkness. Quint, forced to step back by a stinging attack, saw his opponent's determined posture crumple as a knife entered his temple with a hollow crack. The man's eyes rolled up, and he crumpled to the floor.

'Come on Quint, the other priests are getting in, we have to go!' Pardigan was nursing his arm, looking up at Quint on the platform above him.

'Thanks for the knife,' said Quint, smiling down at his friend. The sounds of splintering wood came from somewhere close and Quint jumped down, running to his friend's side.

'Come on, let's go!'

Pardigan guided his friend over to where Mahra and Elisop were standing in the gloomy outlines of a doorway, and they hurried through. The door banged closed behind them, and Elisop pushed two heavy bolts home. They were in a stairway.

'More priests were trying to come in through the main door, we had to come in here, but now we're trapped,' explained Mahra. 'These stairs are our only way out.' They all flinched as something heavy banged into the door and then started a regular pounding. 'We can only go up, come on.'

'Lead the way,' said Quint, waving her on. He watched as they disappeared into the darkness, led by a small glowing globe. Forcing his tired legs into action, he followed with sounds of banging getting louder behind him.

The stairs wound upwards, sapping their strength as they drove themselves on. However, the sound of the door splintering and a roar as the Chaos priests broke through spurred them on.

They climbed and climbed, and just when they were beginning to think the stairs would never end, they gave out onto a long dark passage leading to a door at the far end. Rushing forward, Mahra shoved it open and was rewarded with a rush of cold wet air. The others pushed her out further, and they emerged onto a wide walkway that circled the temple roof.

A howling wind was driving heavy rain across the rooftop, forcing them to pull their cloaks up to protect their eyes. Above them, the sky was tainted a glowing red as the spike of the temple's central dome pierced the boiling clouds that rotated about it drawing energy from the violent storm.

'
Griffin, Griffin, Griffin!
' screamed Quint, his cloak flapping wildly in the torrential gale, he wiped his hand across his wet face, trying to clear his eyes before turning to meet whatever was coming out to join them.

As the first of the Chaos Priests slammed through the door, Pardigan and Quint met them, Quint using the momentum of the first to turn and throw him screaming over the edge. This checked the others who had probably not been expecting quite such a reception; they certainly weren't expecting a large angry black panther to leap into them sending the whole group scattering. Several retreated down the passage, falling over each other in their haste to get back down the stairs – Mahra followed.

Quint and Pardigan dealt with the few that had managed to get out and then waited for Mahra to return. They didn't have to wait long as a few moments later she limped out whimpering, blood covering her, streaming from some unseen wound. More priests pursued her, these were better armed having had time to gather weapons before climbing to the roof. She staggered to Quint's side and looked up at him as they edged back to where Elisop waited at the furthest edge. The Chaos priests slowly spread out to either side, each clearly unwilling to be the first to attack, but their numbers were growing along with their courage as more continued to emerge onto the rainy, windswept rooftop, hoods blown back and robes flapping around skinny white ankles.

A raucous, ear-splitting screech signalled that
The Griffin
had arrived. She swooped down shrieking angrily, scattering the priests and lashing about her in the confined space. She gripped priest after priest in her golden claws and hurled them, broken and screaming, from the side of the temple. Her razor sharp beak snapping out, swinging from side to side to claim even more shrieking victims as the priests panicked trying desperately to get to the door, bunching up, fighting each other in their haste to escape back inside. As Quint helped send the last on their way, the others clambered up onto
The Griffin's
back, Elisop scrambling up behind Pardigan keeping a fearful eye on
The Griffin
as it snorted and tossed its great beaked head. Wrapping his arms about Pardigan's waist, he buried his face in Pardigan's neck and proceeded to make strange whining sounds of distress.

Quint took one last look down the passage and then dashed over to his waiting friends. He hauled himself up, and
The Griffin
stood, everyone took a firm hold and the strange noises coming from Elisop became more intense. Unfurling her great wings,
The Griffin
took two steps, turned towards the edge of the building and leapt out into the dark void of the city night; its passengers immediately assaulted by driven rain and bitter cold.