Breath of Dragons (A Pandoran Novel) by Barbara Kloss

Author:Barbara Kloss [Kloss, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-01-08T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

The Portal

The other two venita were waiting for us in the hall, just like the high priest had said. We followed them behind the doors at the end of the corridor, where a wide-brimmed goblet sat upon a squat stem, filled with a clear liquid. The cleansing liquid. Each of the venita took a long draft in turn. Alex took his last and set the goblet back upon the table before we continued through the small atrium and into the main chamber, but I wasn't prepared for what I saw there.

Ven Orelius's directions had been very clear and his description of the portal itself had been simple. But this…I didn't have words for this. I noticed the sphere of glyphs and symbols on the floor, just as he had said, but what had stolen all of my attention was what hovered above.

It looked like a piece of the universe. Thousands of tiny white lights floated above like stars in a galaxy, seemingly frozen in clusters and layers of constellations, interspersed with cottony nebulae of pinks and blues and yellows like holes to some other dimension. It was mystifying, mesmerizing and celestial, having the perspective as if I were some kind of god watching over my universe.

No wonder the people of Gesh only let the venita pass through the portal. If the world knew about this, they'd probably need a small army at the temple just to hold back all the tourists.

There was a strange energy humming in the air like an electrical current, a prickling sensation that lifted the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck like air charged before a lightning storm. I followed Alex out onto the giant glyph that filled the entire floor. In the celestial light, I could just make out the broad sweeping letters and symbols and runes, all in black ink, though some had been artistically crafted as negative images upon the stone. None of it I could read, but I did notice a few images of what looked like dragons, bodies suspended in the air and great wings arched back in flight.

The venita gathered around the broad basin situated at the heart of the glyph. I took a position beside Alex, careful not to stand too close. The venita opposite me raised his hands to the skies, sleeves falling on either side of him like wings. He wore a mask similar to Alex's, which muffled his words as he spoke to the heavens. Not that it would have mattered, because it was all in Saqai, anyway, but once he had finished speaking, a rush of energy pulsed through my body.

Unease nagged in the back of my mind.

Was I doing the right thing? Should I be leaving Mercedes and Vera in the middle of the night like this? Not like I could change my mind now, anyway.

The first venita took out a shining silver blade and ran the tip of it along his forearm, piercing the skin. He let his

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