Free The Hidden Fire (Book 2) by James R. Sanford Page A

saying at the same time, “How come you can
see her?”
    “Anyone
can see the invisible,” said Aiyan, “if they know how.  There is a way of
looking, out of the corner of your eye.”  He shook his head.  “Never mind, we
don’t have time for that now.”
    They
hurried after her, pushing through fledgling buttonwoods, and wading stretches
of muddy water, never closing the distance, but never falling behind as she
followed the edge of the swamp in a curving course to the southwest.  Bug-eyed
lizards stared at them from the limbs of buttress-root trees as they passed. 
They were well past the Enari village and heading due south when something
moved to their left.  Lerica sprang ten feet sideways.
    “It’s
only a crocodile,” Aiyan said, drawing his sword.  “Just back away easy,
Kyric.”  He looked at Lerica.  “No need to be jumpy.”
    The
ghost, or whatever she was, led them onto a game trail and they made good time
after that, at times having to cut their way through dense walls of shrubs and
vines as they pushed through to another trail.
    “Don’t
touch the vines with the white flowers,” Lerica said.
    “Another
poisonous plant?” Kyric asked.
    “Like
poison ivy, only worse.”
    They
crossed a dozen tiny streams, too shallow to hide any deadly Terrulan fish, and
at length they stopped to rest, the figure they trailed becoming a shadow
behind a patch of bamboo.  The bark of a nearby tree seemed to move, then Kyric
saw that a colony of beetles swarmed over every inch of it.  He tried not to
think of the dream beetles.
    The
sun hung directly overhead.  “We’ve been at this for hours,” said Lerica.  “We
need to turn around now if we’re to make it back before nightfall.”
    Aiyan
shook his head.  “Do what you want, but I’m going on.  There are hidden places
in this forest.  I feel that we are near to one, and I will follow that
perception.”
    They
pushed on, Aiyan in the lead, no longer seeing the spirit woman.  The
undergrowth began to thin, and they moved easily through a copse of
silk-cottons, soon crossing a wide stream bridged by a fallen tree.  The banks
of the stream were too straight, too uniform.  It was a canal.
    Aiyan
led them along an overgrown trail, feeling something close, his stride
lengthening.  Then they broke out of the trees and it all lay before them.
    It
was a dome sitting on a perfectly square island in the center of a perfectly
square lake nearly three miles across.  The dome was a hundred feet tall, and cracked,
the structure beneath it hidden behind a ring of trees and shrubs.  The ruins
of smaller domes sat at each corner of the island, and other square structures
were visible above the undergrowth.
    The
lake had risen higher than the surrounding land, with only a grassy dike to
hold it back.  They climbed up on it to get a better view of the ruins.  The
ground was soft, the crest just a couple of feet above the waterline. 
Crocodiles lurked in the weedy shallows at the corners of the lake.
    “A
great nation,” Lerica said faintly, “out here in the middle of nowhere.”
    They
stood there for a moment, taking it in.  Kyric tried to imagine the power of a
nation that could build such a place — huge stone buildings in a forest where
it was hard to find a small rock.  He was no engineer, but he understood that
constructing enormous domes required advanced mathematics.
    “It
seems to be inlaid with carvings,” said Aiyan.  “I wish we could get a closer
look.”
    “We
have to come back with a canoe,” said Lerica.
    “Much
longer and you won’t need one,” said Aiyan, pointing to where a large swath of
turf had been cut from the crest of the levee.  “Looks like the summer rains
washed over the dike a little.  One more wet season and this will all give
way.”
    Kyric
swept his arm across the view of the ruins.  “What does finding this place
mean?” he said to Aiyan.  “Why were you drawn here?”
    “I
truly do not know.