Part 36 (1/2)
THE REALM OF THE NEETHA.
THEY HAD COME to a point where their ravine met another smaller one-a Tjunction of two ravines nestled among three extinct volcanoes-and suddenly they found themselves in avery wide s.p.a.ce.
A broad lake lay in the middle of what could only be described as an ancient village built into the walls of the giant ravine junction.
It looked like nothing they had ever seen.
Dozens of stone stuctures dotted the walls of the junction, some at dizzying heights, and they ranged in size from small huts to a large freestanding tower that rose up from the waters of the lake itself.
Ladders led to the upper huts while swooping rope bridges crisscrossed the minor ravine to the left, connecting the structures.
For Zoe, it was the bridgebuilding skills of these people that was most remarkable: rope bridges the concealed stone bridges that she had walked on from the main gate she even saw a series of drawbridges giving access to the tower out on the lake.
”Wizard,” she said, ”did these people-”
”No. They didn't build this place. They just moved in. Like the Aztecs did at Teotihuacn.”
”So what civilization did?”
”I imagine the same one that built the Machine. Would you look at that...”
They'd stepped out onto the main square of the town and Wizard was gazing off to the right, out over the lake.
Zoe turned. ”At what-”
She cut herself off.
An incredible structure lay across the lake.
It was utterly immense, literally carved out of the cone of the extinct volcano that lay on the far side of the ravine.
It looked like a modern stadium, an enormous circular arena. A series of round walls could be seen inside it-a maze of some sort. And rising up out of the very center of the circular maze like the needle on a sundial was a superthin yet superhigh stonestaircase easily ten stories high.
Made of hundreds of steps, the thin staircase was wide enough for one person only and had no rail, and it rose precariously to a squat trapezoidal doorway built into the rock face on the far side of the maze.
The challenge was clear: only if you made it to the center of the maze could you ascend this mysterious staircase.
There was one other thing that Zoe noticed about the village area: there was a small triangular island located out in the middle of the lake, in the exact center of everything, as if it were the focal point of the entire ravine junction.
Erected on this little island was a bronze tripodlike device that looked to Zoe like some ancient kind of inclinometer.
And on a pedestal next to the ”inclinometer,” raised for everyone in the village to see, were two very sacred objects: A smokedgla.s.s Pillar and a beautiful crystal orb.
Wizard saw them, too, and he inhaled sharply. ”The Second Pillarand the Seeing Stone.”
They weren't able to stare at the little sacred island for long, however, for just then their guards brought them to a deep semicircular pit off the main square: in it were two square granite platforms that rose twenty feet above the pit's muddy base.
Down in the mud, looking up at Lily and Alby with unblinking eyes, prowled two large crocodiles.
Two drawbridges thunked into place and the group was shoved at sword point onto the granite slabs: the two girls on one, the two men and Alby on the other. Each towerlike platform was about ten feet from the edge and seven feet from each other, so escape was impossible. Both bore frightening axe marks and b.l.o.o.d.y scratches on their surfaces.
The drawbridges were removed.
A crowd had gathered around the platforms-curious Neetha townsfolk, all of them possessing bony growths on their faces, and all staring at the captives, murmuring animatedly among themselves.
But then the whispering ceased, and the crowd split as a series of flaming torches cut through their ranks, and an official party emerged.
Twelve men, led by a great obese fellow whose animalskin outfit was covered in weapons, skulls, and ornaments. His fleshy face was disgusting, covered in growths.
Among the weapons on his belt, Wizard saw a nineteenthcentury Winchester rifle.
The chief of the tribe. Bearing the weapons and skulls of those his line had vanquished over the centuries. Good Lord...
Seven younger men, all standing tall and proud, escorted the chief.
Probably his sons,Wizard thought.
The other four men in the leaders.h.i.+p group were different:three were clearly warriors lean and muscled, with fierce eyes and warpainted faces.
The fourth and last man, however, was just bizarre.
He was old and gnarled, hunched, with the worst facial growths of any of them. He too had a warpainted face and he possessed the most terrifying eyes Wizard had ever seen in his life-this hunched old man had diseased yellow irises that stared crazily at both everything and nothing.
He was the warlock of the Neetha.
Their belongings were emptied in front of the warlock.
Watched by the chief, the warlock rummaged through their stuff, before with a cry he held aloft the clear First Pillar.
”Neehaka!”he yelled.
”Neehaka...ooh, neehaka...”the crowd murmured.
”Neehaka bomwacha Nepthys! Hurrah!”
Wizard didn't have a clue what was being said.
But then, from the other slab, he heard Lily say: ”He's speaking the language of Thoth.
Speaking it. 'Neehaka' is'nee,' 'The First,' and'haka,' 'Great Pillar.' The first Great Pillar.'Bonwacha' means infused or impregnated. 'The First Great Pillar has been infused by Nepthys.'”
”Nepthys is another name for the Dark Star,” Wizard whispered. ”Its Greek name.”
Then the warlock extracted the Philosopher's Stone and the Firestone from Lily's pack and his eyes went even wider.
He shot a look at Wizard and barked a flurry of phrases.
Lily translated timidly. ”He wants to know how you came upon the great tools of cleansing.”
”Tell him, 'After much study and many years of searching.'” Wizard said.