Temple of the Traveler: Book 01 - Doors to Eternity Read online

  Doors to Eternity

  Cast of Characters

  Tashi’s Map

  Jotham’s Map

  Chapter 1 – Beneath the Altar

  Chapter 2 – The Hunt

  Chapter 3 – The Price at the Tollbooth

  Chapter 4 – Possession

  Chapter 5 – A Tinker’s Damn

  Chapter 6 – The Plague Village

  Chapter 7 – Greeting the Sun

  Chapter 8 — Diving Belle

  Chapter 9 – Apprentice

  Chapter 10 – Assault on the Spirit Temple

  Chapter 11 – The Storm

  Chapter 12 – Wrestling with Giants

  Chapter 13 – The Event

  Chapter 14 – The Closing of Doors

  Chapter 15 – The Fury

  Chapter 16 – House of the Dead

  Chapter 17 – Rhythm of the Road

  Chapter 18 – Like a Thief in the Night

  Chapter 19 – The Power of a Single Word

  Chapter 20 – Heretic in Chains

  Chapter 21 – No Sunshine Since He’s Gone

  Chapter 22 – Interpreting the Dream

  Chapter 23 – Ambush near Innisport

  Chapter 24 – The Interrogation

  Chapter 25 – The Crossing

  Chapter 26 – Blood Feud

  Chapter 27 – The Eve of War

  Chapter 28 – Prisons

  Chapter 29 – The Trial

  Chapter 30 – The King of Semenos

  Chapter 31 – A Very Civil War

  Chapter 32 – Forgery

  Chapter 33 – The Pretender Moves his Pieces

  Chapter 34 – The Green Tower

  Chapter 35 – Trial by Ox

  Chapter 36 – Nigel’s Tune

  Chapter 37 – Royal Scouts of Zanzibos

  Chapter 38 – The Shadow of House Kragen

  Chapter 39 – A Trip to the Library

  Chapter 40 – Research

  Chapter 41 – Glass Daggers

  Chapter 42 – Courier

  Chapter 43 – Dream of the World Maze

  Chapter 44 – Stone Monkeys

  Chapter 45 – Sieges

  Chapter 46 – The Offer

  Chapter 47 – Interrogation

  Chapter 48 – The Room without Doors

  Chapter 49 – The Land Between Two Rivers

  Chapter 50 – The Spinning Coin

  Doors to Eternity

  Book One of the Temple of the Traveler

  By Scott Rhine

  Amazon Edition

  Copyright 2012 Scott Rhine

  Thanks to Tammy, my faithful first reader.

  To my line-editor Katy Sozaeva, who thought it was worthwhile despite its length.

  To Weston Kincade for high-level and structural edits.

  This all started from a photo of Mount Girnar and the song “While the Earth Sleeps” by Peter Gabriel and Deep Forest.

  Cast of Characters

  Kingdoms

  Bablios – a small, fertile kingdom in the southeast known for its wine and the Great Library.

  Intaglios – country to the northwest, known for its swamp-gas lights and intrigue.

  Kiateros – the fallen, mountainous kingdom of the far north, known for its mines and metal forging.

  Mandibos – country to the east known for its cattle and grain.

  Semenos – country to the northeast, known for its trees.

  Zanzibos – the large country to the southwest, bordered by desert to the west and plague lands to the south.

  Followers of the Traveler

  Brent – a twelve-year-old newly apprenticed to Jotham.

  Calligrose the Traveler – the writer of the six holy books, the messenger of the gods, silent for the last 49 years.

  Jotham the Tenor – historian from the Great Library of Eskelon, half Imperial.

  Nigel the Actor – a wandering rogue who recites plays and trades news for his room and board.

  Tashi the Sheriff – the head of the military arm of the Temple of the Traveler. Missing large chunks of his memory. Student of Jotham.

  House Kragen

  Bunji – a southern mercenary who betrays the Kragen family to save his own life and get rich.

  Dvardoc the Artificer – a dwarf from the north skilled at repairing artifacts from the Dawn people.

  Humi – the half-Imperial concubine of the wizard Kragen, a diver known as the Lady of the Deep.

  Morlan – Kragen’s chief Imperial bodyguard, made mute.

  Navara the Ferret – chief inquisitor and whip of Kragen.

  Kragen – Imperial Lord, underworld kingpin, and head wizard at the Temple of the Unseen.

  Necrota the younger – a ki mage, cousin of Vlekmar.

  Tumberlin – Imperial wizard apprenticed to Lord Kragen, and overweight son of an ambassador.

  Vlekmar – senior ki mage, cousin of Necrota.

  Wrathrok – the mad fire mage.

  Executioner’s Guild

  Babu – backup swordsman. A comedian.

  Baran Togg – a smith whose name means ‘the Last Messenger’.

  Dhagmurna – the guildmaster, Nerissa’s husband.

  Gallatin – an archer who dreams of retiring to a vineyard.

  Hon Li – the well-dressed, fop lieutenant of Sulandhurka, a swordsman.

  Nerissa – noblewoman, wife, and guiding force behind the guildmaster, Tashi’s adopted sister.

  Sulandhurka – an ex-slaver, head of the fourteen-executioner team sent after Tashi.

  Southerners

  Borchart – King of Bablios in name, but fonder of wine than ruling.

  Darius – a steward at the Great Library.

  Khalid – the Prefect of Bablios, head intelligence officer, de facto ruler.

  Onira – captain of an ill-fated company of the King of Zanzibos’ Scouts, sent to deliver an insulting message to Kragen.

  Pinetto – an Imperial astronomy student turned wizard, friend of the smith.

  Sajika – a female spy, member of the Bablios secret police.

  Shima – corporal in Captain Onira’s Zanzibosian Scouts. Born near Barnham.

  Strellikan – the superintendent of the Royal Mint of Zanzibos in Innisport, an old, Imperial, precious-metal worker.

  Zandar – King of Zanzibos, whose clan owns the silver mines.

  Northerners

  Beryl the Wise – the priest of Semenos on Sandarac’s council.

  Garad – the General of Semenos’ army on Sandarac’s council.

  Ginza the Keeper – the sergeant at arms in Sandarac’s council.

  Harkan – an old priest of Semenos who starts a heresy.

  High Gardener – the head of the church of Semenos.

  Hisbet the Viper – the head of the Intaglios Intelligence Service, on Sandarac’s council.

  Lavender – elder sister of King Renald.

  Lugwort the Jeweler – the next official king of Kiateros, in exile.

  Renald – boy king of Semenos, puppet of the High Gardener.

  Sandarac the Pretender – self-proclaimed emperor of the north, an Imperial unable to walk.

  Urgot – the Intagliosian High Priest of the Sacred Flame.

  Vinspar – an Imperial scholar from the Inner Islands on Sandarac’s council.

  Zariah the Seeress – the green-eyed high priestess of the Temple of Sleep.

  Historical Figures

  Akashua – the last warlord of Myron, a marqui retired in protest.

  Archanon – the archfiend who guards the Spirit Temple.

  Gamael the Wise – a former abbot of the Spirit Temple who sometimes advises
Tashi.

  Myron – the last Emperor of his dynasty, whose mistakes precipitated the Scattering.

  Nieral – the chief bodyguard of Myron who carried the Defender of the Realm.

  Tas

  hi’s Map

  Jot

  ham’s Map

  Cha

  pter 1 – Beneath the Altar

  “Why are we doing this, teacher?” Tashi hissed. Gripping his crossbow tightly, he studied the dwindling candles near the entrance to the sanctuary. They’d been trying to find the altar’s relic for too long.

  “Patience,” Jotham the Tenor responded in a high voice. The tall man reached deep into a hole in the floor. He pressed his ear against the polished wood, and his white hair fanned out beside him wildly like the rays from the sun. A hammer, chisel, and fencepost lay within reach of his right hand. The priest had disassembled the stone bench of the altar and pried up several flooring sections. “The guards don’t make rounds often. We have at least ten bits longer.”

  Tashi wanted to say, “Patrols are infrequent because only an insane person would try to rob the Brotherhood of Executioners in their own headquarters.” But that would be disrespectful. Instead, he counted the heartbeats they had left.

  The priest saw his lips moving. “Your disguise is flawless. You’re dressed in one of their uniforms with a set of their chainmail. You have the same olive skin tone as most of the locals.” Finding nothing of interest, Jotham placed the fencepost under the next section. Another floorboard cracked loudly as the priest pushed on the lever.

  Tashi didn’t argue. They’d see through his disguise. The last time he’d dealt with the Brotherhood, they’d left him for dead in a ditch. “It helps me to know why, teacher.”

  “For the last forty-nine years, since the Great Silence began, what question have people been asking?” inquired the priest as he wrecked more of the finely crafted wood.

  “Why has the Traveler, the messenger of the gods, decided to cut off all communication?”

  “But hasn’t he been an excellent friend and helper to our race in the past?”

  “Yes,” Tashi agreed.

  “The Lord of the Doors?” The priest pointed to a stone doorway set into the floor at a forty-five-degree angle. It was etched with a repeating, geometric pattern that decreased in size as it spiraled inward. Though one could reach out, touch the surface, and know that it was flat, the illusion created by the engraving and spells was of a tunnel stretching off to infinity.

  “Yes.” Tashi wanted a simple answer, b his teacher was determined to make him learn logic.

  “Why?”

  “The magic of gods seeps into our world through these portals when they’re open.”

  “Who can use that magic?”

  “Anyone in the temples that we built to contain the Doors?”

  “Who would that be right now?”

  “The people who slaughtered his true followers.”

  “Are you not a sworn follower?” Jotham asked, pointing to the prominent tattoo on Tashi’s forehead. The tattoo was a stylized representation of three roads crossing, the sign of the six-fold path of the Traveler. Tashi’s jet-black hair, cut so short that it stood on end, did nothing to hide this mark.

  “Yes.”

  “Then we should be asking ourselves: how can we help the Traveler while he’s gone?” Jotham fixed him with a disconcerting gaze. One eye was Imperial ice-blue and the other Mandibosian brown.

  Tashi hated when his teacher made him do thought exercises. He wanted to massage the scar over his right ear, but couldn’t do that while he held a weapon. “By cleansing the heretics from his temples?”

  “You’d be busy killing for the rest of your life. There will always be more people, as long as there are doors,” Jotham explained.

  “Then we close the Doors to Eternity, so there’s no power to abuse,” Tashi concluded. It was the right thing to do, but a lot of important people were going to be angry.

  At last Jotham delivered his short answer. “If we remove the sacred relic, we make certain no one else can reopen that door.”

  Tashi sighed as he considered the ramifications. “They’ll send hunter teams after us.”

  “So?”

  “We’ll have to split up for a while. Together we draw too much attention.”

  Jotham raised an eyebrow, searching for a polite response as he continued to remove flooring. Tashi suffered from a marked lack of subtlety. “Won’t your tattoos still draw attention?”

  “That’s all right. I’m better equipped to outrun the hunters; I’ll draw them west around the Inner Sea while you head east. We’ll meet at the apex of the Emperor’s Road, at the College of the Bards.”

  Jotham wanted to protest that he wasn’t as old as he looked. Indeed, his hair had turned white early due to certain drastic life experiences. But a discovery interrupted his reply. “Ah, there’s the latch.” A secret panel in the floor opened to reveal a tiny cubby. The priest pulled out the contents and displayed them proudly.

  Tashi stared in disbelief. “Gloves? I risked my life for gloves?”

  “They were made by the Traveler himself,” said the priest, absorbing information from the object with his extra sens. “No human has ever worn them.”

  “What do they do?”

  Jotham shrugged, stuffing the dark-blue gauntlets into a hidden pouch in his cloak. “No clue.”

  “Let’s go!”

  “First, Sheriff, we have to find a way to destroy this altar, to make sure this Door will never open again,” Jotham said, calling Tashi by his religious rank, the head of the church militant. It didn’t matter, as they were the only two members still belonging to the church. But it reminded the younger man of his duties.

  Tashi picked up the massive stone bench and flung it over a balcony to the flagstones three stories below. It shattered with a loud crash. “Done.”

  “We’re going to have to work more on that immediate gratification problem.”

  Alarm gongs sounded.

  They could hear boots running their direction. Tashi asked, “Do you still have that diplomatic pass from the Great Library?”

  “Yes...”

  Before Jotham could stand, Tashi pulled the trigger and pinned the priest’s robe to the floor with a crossbow bolt. He then climbed over the same balcony from which he’d launched the altar stone.

  Jotham slid a patch over his brown eye an instant before guards pounded into the room. “I’m so glad you’ve arrived. I came into the chapel to pray and that thief surprised me.” Then he pointed in the opposite direction from Tashi and announced, “He’s getting away!”

  One of the guards pulled the bolt out and helped him to his feet. Jotham quavered, “That was most frightening; I may need to use the privy. Could you please direct me?”

  Once at the front gate of the fortress, Jotham strode boldly up to the guard and presented him with identity papers from the Great Library. The huge double doors were already barred. Only the man-door to the side remained open.

  “Hurry through, sir,” ordered the guard who’d admitted him earlier. “I’ve got orders to lock up.” Once Jotham obeyed, the guard bolted the door behind him. Through a tiny grill, the man asked, “How’d your historical research go?”

  “I dug up something small that’ll require considerable legwork to verify,” Jotham said.

  “Rotten luck.”

  Jotham shrugged. “That’s how it works with history. But you never know where even the smallest bit of evidence can lead you if you’re persistent.”

  Chapter

  2 – The Hunt

  An old, balding mason in homespun pants worked to repair the retaining wall. The Emperor’s Road was an ancient highway of rock that had been magically leveled to be as smooth as glass, and which traveled the entire circumference of the Inner Sea. The entire civilized world bordered upon this great body of water. The Myranosos Dynasty once ruled from the Imperial Islands at the center of this almost perfectly round sea. Due
to the recent, heavy rains, water now poured through the crumbling dike in countless places, submerging the road for as far as the eye could see. A few feet beyond his wheelbarrow, the road was now a lake. Because of this, the mason could only work on the dry, upper portion of the wall.

  The sheriff stopped and looked back over his shoulder. A hawk hovered below the sun, well out of range of a crossbow, pinpointing his position for the hunters. “Pardon me,” the sheriff said, trying to get the laborer’s attention.

  The unexpected interruption caused the mason to drop a brick into the water on the far side. He swore profusely. “What kind of moron sneaks up on a man like that? That could’ve been me.” The Inner Sea was a cursed place. In addition to the great waves accompanying the earth shaking, there were unpredictable storms. The waters often bubbled or emitted sulfurous fumes due to the demons that infested its depths. The men on an unwarded ship could be ripped to shreds by evil spirits.

  Then the mason glanced up at his visitor and fell silent. The first things he noticed were the hilt of the ancient sword, gray linen uniform, and the chainmail vest. Apologizing, the workman climbed down and bowed as deeply as his back would allow. “Forgive me; my eyes and ears are no longer strong. How may I help you, sir?”

  “Is the water passable?”

  The old man shook his head. “For the next league, it’s waist-high. Trying to plow through would be suicidal, sir. Even ignoring the danger from stray spirits, there are huge snakes, unseen holes to twist an ankle, and buried logs to trip over.”