Sometimes they had passed through heavy stone corridors, the stone blocks huge, green and smoothed by untold ages, and at other times they crept between rough-hewn rock walls that looked chiseled by hand. Occasionally, there were alcoves holding torches embedded into the wall – none were lit.

Once, Adira had stepped in to one of them and pressed on the stones with her hand, looking for secret passages. She had dabbed a finger into the extinguished torch and rubbed thumb and forefinger together. “This was alight not that long ago.”

“Maybe when Tania and Drummond came through,” Matt responded in a whisper.

“Yes, I think so. They went down and never came back up,” Adira responded.

She motioned forward and once again they continued moving down along the slanting corridor. They next stepped through a large archway with wide-open thick wooden doors, and found themselves in a cathedral-sized chamber. The walls were covered in the symbols Matt had seen in the original copy of the Al Azif, and even now, they remained a mystery to him. As he stared at the glyphs, which were all in a reddish-brown paint, he felt the nub of a headache begin to bloom in his skull. It was if the images alone were like flickering strobe lights acting on some pain center deep within his brain.

Adira slowed and Matt nearly bumped into her. She turned. “It’s getting hotter, and the smell is stronger.”

Matt felt the perspiration running down his body, and he’d noticed the same thing – a corrupt fishy odor permeated the atmosphere, as if they were heading down to some dark beach where the tide was out, and strange slimy grasses and the bloated bodies of sea creatures had been left to rot under a hot, sunless sky.

“Look.” Adira clicked on her flashlight and pointed it.

Matt, relieved to be able to use his light, did the same. There was an altar at the far end of the room, and behind it and around the room’s edges, hidden until caught in the glow of the flashlights, were dark alcoves, these ones entrances to more rooms or passages.

The entire room had a sense of menace about it, and Matt felt his legs trembling. “This place gives me the creeps.”

Adira’s light caught something on the floor. “Hmm, not good.”

Matt frowned and crossed to the glistening fragment. He used his boot to flip it over, and immediately recoiled.

“Gack.” He backed away. It was a part of a face, or skull – an eye socket, eyebrow and nose. He felt his stomach flip.

“Is that…Tania?” He put a forearm over his mouth.

“Maybe.” Adira seemed unfazed by the grotesque body part. She looked up at Matt. “If it is, then this is nothing more than leftovers from something’s lunch.” She stepped over it. “Forget it; let’s go.”

“But…” Matt grimaced, both admiring and fearing the woman. “Wait.” He stood his ground. “Adira, there comes a point where courage starts to cross over into downright stupidity. This is more than we can handle.”