“This is extraordinary,” she said. “I have never seen the like.”
“Everything looks so different from up above,” he agreed. “This must be what birds see as they fly.”
It took little time at all for them to reach the outcropping of land on which the broch sat. Much like other brochs all across Orkney, it was round and had thick walls. Many believed brochs were defensive towers, where people in centuries past could gather if under attack. Their wooden steps could be pushed away and the door sealed.
When Soren put her down, she looked at the entrance and realized what had bothered her. The steps led up to the first story.
“What is beneath the floor?” she asked, walking up the steps.
“I think it is only the earth,” Soren answered. “My grandfather never mentioned any cellar or storage room.”
They opened the door and went within. The steps that led up sat within the inner and outer walls. Soren pointed at the floor adjacent to the stairs. It was a different color wood and did not fit well into the space. Ran stepped aside and he reached down and pried one of the slats free.
Then another one. And the last, which exposed a set of steps that led down. She smiled at Soren, knowing that this hidden chamber must be significant. Einar must have left something behind for them.
A torch sat in a sconce at the top of this newly found stairway, so Soren found a piece of flint and lit it. Holding it out before them, Soren led the way down the stairs.
The air was damp and dank as though water regularly filled in from the nearby strait. But when they reached the bottom, the dirt floor was hard packed and dry. Lifting the torch to light the room, Soren’s expression spoke of some great discovery. She climbed down from the last steep step and turned around to look.
Not an inch of the wall around this chamber was empty.
Most images were sketched in black, charcoal most likely, but some others had colors around them, too. Some symbols matched ones they knew—like the marks that she, Soren, Brienne and William carried on their arms. The one marking Ander and the priests and the other man Roger appeared all across the drawings. The most amazing part of it was the perspective, for this seemed to be an elaborate map left for them.
“Soren, this is a map,” she said, pointing to the way the mainland and islands appeared.
“Different though,” Soren said. “Almost as if he’s looking out in each direction with this as his focal point. Look. See here,” he said, pointing to one wall where a large city was drawn. “If we were to break the walls down and lay each out flat, it works clearly.”
“But this is different from the one on parchment,” she said. He took it out, opened it up and they both studied it. “See here? There’s much more detail on the wall than on this.”
Soren nodded, comparing the sketch to the wall. “Not so much to the north or even south, but out to the southwest, there are markings for places I do not remember. Mayhap this was his practice piece? Or his notes for the wall?”
“I think we need to show this to Aislinn and Marcus,” she said. “They have scribes who can copy this so it can be examined and deciphered.”
“I will bring them here or it will take days for them to travel here.”
He left, climbing carefully up the narrow steps as she remained there studying the marks. She would not know what they meant until the priests looked at them, but she noticed several things quickly.
There were eight different marks around the perimeter and ones like those of the priests scattered about. The eight marks were placed around the chamber and they were somehow imbued with magic or power. She could feel it when she touched the one matching hers. And Soren’s was exactly opposite of hers. The war hammer lay opposite the flames. The sun and the tree lay opposite of each other. The last two—the horse and the moon—as well.
Aislinn carried the crescent moon on her arm.
If all was as it seemed, Aislinn would be called to close one of the circles. Did she know that?
Ran heard someone above and climbed the stairs, leaving the torch in a sconce in the stairway. And she found the female priest waiting there.
“It is both frightening and exciting being carried that way,” the young woman said in a breathless voice. “It was almost how I see things when I am dreamwalking.”
“Dreamwalking?”
“It is something I can do. A gift from the gods. I travel in my dreams, walking to find places or people,” Aislinn explained.
“Down this way,” Ran directed, going first down the steps. “We have only one torch so it is not very bright.” She heard the fast intake of breath behind her when Aislinn first glimpsed the chamber.
“Do you feel it?” Aislinn asked, holding her hands out as she turned round and round the chamber.
“Do you?”
“Only if I touch that one,” Ran said, pointing to her mark on the wall.
