Part 56
It began with a whisper.
Rinius Thorwold spread his arms, and as he slowly lowered his head in prayer, the hundreds of robed figures before him drew their hoods over their faces. They cast their eyes to the rough stone floor; their lips moving.
The words flowed almost silently... an invisible fog that thickened the air in the chamber.
The whisper gained a slow, undulating rhythm, becoming a chant. It gained volume and speed as it transformed.
Rinius stepped forward to stand at the foot of the altar and faced the assembled townsfolk.
"THE PEOPLE OF THE COVENANT HAVE COME! THE PEOPLE OF THE COVENANT BEAR TRIBUTE! THE PEOPLE OF THE COVENANT SEEK HONOR!"
"HONOR AND TRIBUTE!"
The words spun out of the undulating chant like a single voice, as if they'd been incorporated into the prayer itself and timed to appear at just that instant.
"WE SUMMON YOU, LORD OF THE WASTELAND!" Rinius continued.
"WE SUMMON YOU!" The single voice of the townsfolk replied.
"WE SUMMON YOU, PRIDE OF SHADOWS!"
"WE SUMMON YOU!"
"WE SUMMON YOU, GREAT DEVOURER!"
"WE SUMMON YOU!"
"WE SUMMON YOU!"
"WE SUMMON YOU!"
"BY WORD AND DESIRE... BY FLAME AND STONE...BY THE POWER OF OLD... LET THE DOOR STAND OPEN!"
A tangible shudder went through the room, radiating outward from the flat wall at the front of the chamber and passing through the assembled townspeople. Then it passed through the crowd AGAIN in the opposite direction, flowing inward from the walls toward the altar where David lay bound and gagged. The air thickened. The stench of sulphur and ancient things reached out from the flat wall and filled the room.. The torches... and began to flicker in time to the shouted, almost frenzied chanting from the crowd. Their red flames continued to burn... but the light began to dim.
Darkness crept forward from the edges of the room. Shadows snaked across the stone like ravenous living things.
Rinius moved forward again. Now standing beside the altar, he faced David and extended his arms horizontally above the trembling boy...
"LET THE DOOR STAND OPEN!"
Rinius raised his arms in quick, lifting motion. The crowd's chanting rose to a deafening volume. They weren't just shouting now... they were SCREAMING the words...
A shadow fell across the wall behind Rinius. Deep, black, and formless, the shadow hovered for a moment and then retreated.
"LET THE DOOR STAND OPEN!"
Rinius repeated his motions... holding his arms above David and then raising them toward the chamber's low ceiling as the crowd screamed words of power back at him.
The shadow returned. It lingered longer this time... almost seeming to reach OUT from the wall before it faded...
Rinius thrust his arms over the sacrifice a third time.
"LET THE DOOR... STAND.... OPEN!"
Darkness converged on the flat wall... this time with enough strength to remain even as the shouting crows fell silent. The front of the chamber was now a roiling sea of utter blackness. Waves of midnight undulated across the stone, reaching out toward the altar with an increasingly bestial hunger.
Rinius glanced back at it, then folded his arms over his chest. He reached each hand into its opposite sleeve, and when he pulled them back out, each fist clenched a slender golden dagger.
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