>>6063569>>6063570>>6063609>>6063610>>6063781>>6063784>>6063793>>6063796>>6063797>>6063800>>6064011>>6064077You begin to back away toward the tunnel entrance, but not before the light illuminates the high perch of the oracle.
There is a flawless cube of <span class="mu-i">something</span> clear, viscid, and luminous, interred within a cage of glass, and itself interred with precious things, silver things, golden things: amulets, torcs, rings, crowns, and jeweled knives, all suspended inside like flies caught in amber. The cursed sight arouses such a heartless immensity of avarice that you would sooner cut your own sister's throat then let the greed go unsated one more second.
Then the seer's gaze falls briefly upon your face and you feel yourself shrink. The weight of all the shame you have ever felt, all the guilt and disgrace, pulls your stomach all at once. You stagger backward and fall, and then scramble on your hands and knees out of the chamber as fast as you can. Those lidless yellow eyes seem to burn from within your mind, and not until you reach the pools, and splash its cool water on your face, do they begin to dim and fade. But it is a long time before the guilty feeling passes. And you are certain that the wrinkled, horribly gaunt features that surrounded those eyes, shall remain forever in your memory.
You drink your fill of the water. You fill the waterskins. After a quarter of an hour without word of Helmod, you decide to go for a quick wash. Stripping your shirt, boots, socks and trousers, you wade in up to your knees into the pool, sighing with pleasure as the water moves between your toes and washes away the accumulated grime, sweat and filth. You wipe yourself down with an embroided handkerchief (courtesy of your sister) that you wet and wring out several times in the pool. You sit down on a small boulder by the pool to dry, and, feeling a bit peckish, decide to open the tin of food Syla had prepared for you. There's pickled turnips with dill and some raspberry jam and a few pieces of hardtack. It's a bit tart, but absolutely delicious. Almost as good as your mother can make--and she's the cellarer for the village reeve. You'll have to remember to complement her when you meet her again.
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