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“But where did it go?” I asked him.
He swept his eyes over the area around us. “Perhaps the flood tore it from the ground.”
Something struck me and I took a step back to get a full view of the hole. “Ben?”
“Hmm?” he returned as he turned his face to me.
“How big would you say the Kneeling Stone is?”
“About five feet square,” he replied as he stood and joined me at my side. His eyes widened as he recognized what I had seen. “About a perfect fit for this hole.”
“Then the Stone came from here,” I guessed as I gave the area another look with clearer eyes. I nodded at one of the nearby columns. “Do those look like serpents to you?”
Ben slipped over to the ruins and plucked a piece from the bits that he held up to his face. “A coiled serpent.”
“Like what Dakin said the serpent temple had,” I reminded him as I tilted my head back to look up at the dried mud that encased the area. “And this doesn’t look like it ever had a roof, either, so it was open air.”
Ben stood and turned in a slow circle. “It’s curious that such a space exists around this particular location. It’s almost as if someone had tried to protect it during the deluge.”
I scuffed my foot against the ground around the hole and discovered an indentation that had been filled in with dirt. “Ben!” I called out as I used my foot to reveal more. “There’s something in the floor here!”
Ben moved to my side and knelt near my foot. He brushed away more of the dirt to reveal a row of letters that made up words I couldn’t read. My companion must have been able to read them, however, as his eyebrows crashed down. “This is a chant to Eanif, the serpent god.”
“So the one Maram worships?” I guessed.
He nodded as he followed the words, removing the dirt and reading them out as they were revealed. “To the Great Eanif, may the sacrifices upon this stone replenish your body and soul and keep you to the end of your days. May you absorb their life and make yourself great, and keep us under the protection of your benevolent hood.”
I shuddered. “I don’t think I like where this is going.”
Ben reached the top center above where the Kneeling Stone had lain and brushed aside the dirt to reveal a couple of pictographic scenes. Two images represented one person kneeling on the stone and the other holding up what looked like an aqara. In the next image, the kneeling person lay flat on the ground while the standing figure turned to a giant snake. In their hands, they offered a glowing orb of brilliant light emphasized by the many rays coming out of the ball. The final one revealed the snake having grown larger than the worshiper, with the second human completely gone.
Some of the color drained from my face as I beheld these scenes. “Okay, now Ireallydon’t like where this I going.”
Ben leaned back and pursed his lip as he studied the scenes. “The Kneeling Stone was a sacrificial altar.”
“That doesn’t sound like some benevolent god,” I mused. The familiar chill drifted past me and I shivered.
Ben noticed. “Can you tell where it’s coming from?”
I turned my face to the rear of the temple where a huge stone block stood. The rock was as dark as night and shaped into a rough rectangle where the height was the long side. The pitch-black surface somehow reflected and swallowed the torchlight, like a void that stared back.
Ben moved over to the stone while I reluctantly followed. We reached the block and Ben studied the smooth surface. “I’ve never seen a stone quite like this,” he mused as he reached out to touch the stone.
“Don’t.”
My voice was sharp and revealed my fear. Ben stopped and turned his head around. “What is it?”
I bit my lower lip as my eyes flickered over the stone. “I-I don’t know, but something’s not right. Something aboutthis-” I nodded at the stone, “-isn’t right.”
Ben drew his hand back and nodded. “Then we should look elsewhere before we leave.”
He draped his arm around my lower back and guided me away from the stone. We reached the top of the stairs and a voice caught our attention.
“How kind of you to find it for us.”
My heart dropped into my throat as both Ben and I stiffened. Diana stood in front of the entrance we had made with a half dozen of her diggers behind her. They all held pickaxes in their hands and grim expressions on their faces.
Her cold eyes were full of wonder as she gazed at the ruins around her. “The Temple of Eanif. How long I’ve wanted to see it.” She walked over to the stairs and tilted her head back to look up at the ceiling. “How ironic that it would be just below the Thaqiba.” My eyes widened and she grinned at me. “Yes, that’s where we’re standing.”
