of the bone temple, saluted Rotapan's guards, shook his spear at them, reminding them again of his name, and waited for them to swing the heavy doors open. Cheyne mentally sketched the enormous building, thinking that someday, if he lived through this, he would put down it on paper for Javin.
They moved into a dry, dusty yard, where a few stone-and-shell dwellings had been irregularly scattered and several ragged squadrons of ores drilled with hooks and chains. One or two bodies lay along the sidelines, casualties of the day's practice. Yob dismissed his group and came back to Og, who still stood cowering in Womba's awesome shadow. Cheyne and Claria kept their distance; every time Claria came closer, Womba bared her huge teeth and roared her deafening jealousy.
"We will see Rotapan now," said Yob, yawning. "Womba, go to the western sentry and wait for me. Tell the arms master I will see her when I have delivered my report."
Yob's daughter moaned and let large tears form in her eyes. Yob glowered at her, shaking his spear, and
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she left, obviously pouting, now and then hissing at Claria, until she disappeared behind the temple.
Relieved to be rid of his would-be paramour, Og fell in beside Cheyne and Claria as they mounted the threescore marble steps that led to the temple's main entrance. Oddly, the stairs seemed to vibrate beneath their feet with a kind of keening, a doleful wail coming from deep under the temple. Og placed his hand over his heart for a moment until the tones died away. Claria shivered, unable to make sense of the sound. Cheyne took her arm, and they continued up the stairs.
"This will be tricky. Rotapan can be, uh, difficult," Og said. "He's not very impressive upon first glance, but he's a deadly fighter, more ferocious for his lack of size. Nobody can beat him with an edge. That's how he got to be overking, actually. |ust don't panic when we get to the top; I'll take care of it. And, well, watch where you put your feet," Og assured them.
Cheyne nodded, noting that the bone temple was really a secondary structure, built on ruins perhaps as ancient as the ones he had just deserted in Old Sumifa. Cemented into broken walls and between tall, scallop-shell-capped marble columns, the rib bones of huge sea creatures served as the building's major supports. Some kind of long tusks framed many of the windows. The temple's friezes and archways were decorated with the skulls of all kinds of beings Cheyne could identify, and many more he had never seen before, each reverently housed in separate niches formed of long bones. Despite Og's admonition, at the last step Claria shrieked, pointing to something in the darkness of the main doorway. Yob turned around, laughing nervously.
"That is Sister Krota. Rotapan keeps her out here because she is so mean. Rotapan says if she likes you, she will not try to strike. But I don't think she likes anyone. Every time I come to make the tribute, she bites me. Takes me days to get well."
Yob sighed and motioned them toward the biggest