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Date Posted: 10:12:01 03/20/02 Wed
Author: Marz and crew
Subject: Group A takes off

Marz thought back over his brief conversation with Jade. Since she never came out and told him that she wanted the book kept secret, he didn't see any harm in telling the others about it. He rolled his eyes when Tristan suggested they toss the tome in a fire if they came across it. What the hell was the dragon so damned upset about?

When Rowan let out a laugh, Marz glanced in his direction. His respect for the elf raised a notch since he hadn't said anything to Tristan about what went on between them in the cave. It was only an isolated incident anyway. Marz had no intention of letting something like that happen ever again because it could jeopardize his relationship with Tristan. Life with the dragon was calm at the moment, and he wanted to keep it that way. His earlier guilt at kissing and touching Rowan was gone. In his mind it wasn't wrong to mess around a little with someone he was attracted to. As long as he didn't go all the way, what was the harm in a bit of innocent fun? Besides, Rowan had Jeremy to fulfill his lustful urges with so he didn't need Marz for that. The thought of the skinny youth and the hot elf playing around in bed together made him laugh aloud.

His laugher died abruptly when Tristan glared at him. Oops. His lover probably thought he was laughing at his suggestion to work on the chakras later. "I was just thinking how funny it would be if we managed to get all those chakras closed without any help from Erlic." That brought a smile to Tristan's face, much to Marz's relief. "Well, let's find out what's inside that temple now."

Marz led the group forward to what look like a courtyard. Any greenery that might have once grown there was now covered by salty sand. A few large weeds could be seen here and there, adding to the overall ugliness of the area. A broad cobblestone path, littered with sand, let to double doors etched with strange symbols.

"Wait!" Tia cried. "They might be trapped." Since she didn't have a magic trap negating stone like the one Ravin owned, she tossed handfuls of sand at the doors.

"Why the hell did you do that?" Jeremy asked, frowning in puzzlement.

"Most magical traps are set up to discharge only once," the thief explained. "Many are triggered by motion or by something touching the trapped item. Hopefully, the sand hitting the doors ignited any magic traps on them, making it safe for us to touch them now."

Marz narrowed his eyes at the petite thief. "So, you're not really sure if you negated any magical traps, right? But, you're hoping you did."

Tia grinned then nodded before stepping closer to the doors. After scrutinizing them with an intense gaze for several minutes, she took a deep breath and pulled them open. "They weren't locked or trapped!"

"Obviously!" Marz quipped, beckoning the others to follow him inside. They entered a large chamber, lit by some form of magical light. The tiled floor was decorated with strange mosaic patterns in orange, brown, and blue. Several tapestries hung on the walls, depicting scenes of torture, rape, and humans copulating with animals. Five huge elm tree trunks served as columns in the chamber and a statue of a horned demon, carved from a solid piece of jade, stood mounted on a low dais to the north of the room. Bronze doors were located on the east and west walls.

"That statue is probably worth a fortune!" Tia said, her eyes wide as she stared at the thing. "Of course it's too heavy to carry, but if we could find the proper tools, we could smash it and divide the jade shards."

Marz rolled his eyes. "We're NOT going to waste the entire morning trying to bust up a stupid statue! Everyone split up. Check to see if those two doors are locked and look behind the tapestries for hidden wall safes!"

"I'll go and examine that demonic statue more closely," Tia said, already running toward the thing.

Jeremy led Saras over to one of the tapestries, while Marz made his way to one of the doors. The ex-gang leader braced himself then grabbed the doorknob. It turned easily. "Well, this one's not locked," he called out to the others.

Tia's jaw dropped open when she spotted two black onyx stones embedded in the back of the jade statue. Well, if they weren't going to break the statue into smaller pieces, she'd take the onyx stones as a consolation prize! Tia withdrew her dagger with the intention of prying out the embedded gems. As soon as her blade touched one of the stones a flame shot down from the high, doomed ceiling engulfing Saras and setting Jeremy's shirtsleeve on fire.

Luckily, the fire didn’t harm the genie, but Jeremy cried out in pain. Marz rushed forward, dumping his flask of water over the youth's arm, extinguishing the flames. "What the hell did you do, Tia?" he shouted, his dark eyes glaring in the direction of the thief.

"Sorry," she answered. "I was only trying to pry out a gem embedded close to the demons' ass. I guess touching it triggered a flame spell or something." The thief frowned. "There's another gem back here that I haven't touched yet. Can I try to pry that one out?"

Marz glanced at his companions then ordered them to press their backs against the wall and prepare for anything. Once they complied with his wishes, he nodded at Tia. "Do it."

A look of excitement flitted across the blonde's face as the tip of her dagger made contact with the second onyx gem. The sound of metal scraping against metal was heard as a 5 x 5 foot portion of the floor in the center of the room slid open, revealing stone steps leading down.

"Apparently there's a whole mess of shit underneath this raking ruined city!" Marz chirped. "Let's finish checking the tapestries and see what lies behind the two doors up here before we make our way down those stairs." He crept up alongside of Tristan and ruffled his hair. "Are we having fun yet?" Marz tossed his lover a wink then moved toward a tapestry, carefully avoiding the opening in the floor.

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