The Blood Thief of Whitten Hall (A Magic & Machinery Novel Book 2) by Jon Messenger

Author:Jon Messenger [Messenger, Jon]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Crimson Tree Publishing
Published: 2015-08-24T23:00:00+00:00

When the vampire bodies were successfully concealed beneath the remains of former townsfolk, Simon hefted the hooded lantern and faced the unexplored far end of the chamber. Despite knowing its ineffectiveness against vampires, Simon drew his revolver once more. Its weight offered him comfort.

They moved forward, the light from the lantern pushing back the darkness ahead of them. Near the end of the chamber, the tunnel narrowed considerably, as though returning to the exploratory tunnel that they had walked through following the barracks.

Immediately after entering the tunnel, the chiseled rock of the walls transformed to exquisitely carved white limestone. Simon paused and placed his hand on the wall. It was roughly worked, with the tool marks still marring its surface. Despite the coarse work, the images were far smoother than would have been possible using the tools they had discovered in the previous room. As he withdrew his hand, Simon noticed a thick layer of dust.

He gazed down the tunnel to where his light diffused. The smooth walls gave way to etched walls and ceiling. Simon walked forward cautiously, despite not seeing any side passages that would have held ambushers. The carvings on the wall caught his eye, and he paused to examine them further. Humanoid figures stood in stoic poses against a backdrop of landscapes unfamiliar to Simon. Mountain ranges that didn’t exist anywhere in their kingdom stood like dragon’s teeth behind monstrous champions in the foreground. Simon touched the face of the carved hero, exploring the expressive snout on the bipedal creature. He didn’t have a name for the abomination in the image, though it appeared demonic in nature.

He stepped away from the wall and examined the curved ceiling above him, towering like a cathedral’s roof. The sculptured walls and vaulted ceiling seemed so out of place compared to the rest of the mine. Everything appeared alien, to include the whiteness of the walls compared to the dull gray of the previous mine shafts.

Beyond the carvings of demonic creatures, the images gave way to hieroglyphics. Simon knelt and examined the writing, despite it being written in a dialect with which he was unfamiliar. Though he knew not what was written, the words repeated along the wall. The same four pictographs repeated over and over again along the wall, reaching as high as the vaulted ceiling far above.

“What is this place?” Luthor whispered.

Simon shook his head. “I don’t know, but this passage seems older than Whitten Hall, possibly even predating the mine itself. It’s… fascinating.”

Luthor didn’t seem to share Simon’s enthusiasm.

Glancing away from the wall, Simon noticed a glow piercing the inky blackness ahead. He lowered the hood on the lantern, casting them in darkness. To his surprise, the gloom wasn’t impenetrable. He could see light leaking from around a doorframe far ahead. He uncovered the light, and the clarity of the doorframe’s edge disappeared once more.

They pushed forward until they stood before a white stone door. Archaic braziers, clearly having not been lit in hundreds of years or more, sat on either side of the door.

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