I clapped Beren on the butt as he ran giddy with whatever I had inhaled and was happy to be alive.

“Let’s do that,” I agreed, sliding off his back and getting my feet back under me. I still didn’t feel great but the odds were high that Beren was going to need to fight shortly and would do better unencumbered. Now that I had time to think about it I could admit we had been insanely lucky. My little stunt might as easily have transported us to someplace under water, or where the air was filled with cyanide. It doesn't take much imagination to come up with horrible scenarios, but fortunately it had taken more time than we had to spare. 

Beren led the way through another corridor and ahead we heard the sound of soft, rhythmic, murmerings. I felt fear coil up inside of me as I trailed along behind Beren. I had drawn my own sword as a show of good faith as much as anything, and I trailed my  hand along the strange material of the wall to anchor myself and stop from flying apart in panic.

“I’m not sure we should be running towards the eerie chanting,” I admitted but even as I spoke the words we stepped out into a large open space. It was a strangely inverted and flattened version of the the exterior, descending on four sides in smooth planes to a central pit. It wasn’t too steep to navigate but it wasn’t somewhere I  necessarily wanted to be running. The pit itself was circular and fringed with gold and what might have been polished jade. The edging spiraled out and up the pyramidal declivity in oddly circular ways, as though a circle was somehow at war with a square. The old foe. A shaft of light descended into the pit from high above. The very point of the pyramid must actually have a hole in it, because although I called it light, I could see rain drops from the storm that had been gathering falling in the murky light.

The Dre Costan’s were ahead of us, forcing the travelers toward the pit. It looked like Herronhob had taken a nasty blow to the jaw and his face was purple and swollen. Serpent men stood around the fringes hissing and chanting with red tongues darting back and forth. All held weapons but seemed to be held back by something. One of the Dre Costans was holding a symbol aloft that seemed to compel them to wait. Personally I’d have been down for making a run for it and to hell with the others but there was no way we were getting out of this city without the symbol.

“We have to save them,” I whispered earnestly.