Chapter 32

The last trail was a fairly good sized chamber, with no obvious chasms to fall into, tight spaces to bar their way, or icy pools to freeze them solid. No poisonous gases, no signs of imminent geological activity, no unsteady ground. Just a large room with a few solid lumps here and there. Maitreyah advanced to inspect the lumps more closely. "They look like bag chairs," he whispered to Shakilah. "Made out of fur and skins. Not very well made, but..." he shrugged, and shone the light on another lump.

Maitreyah swallowed bile with effort as the light shone upon the corpse of a humanoid creature. It may have been human. Or maybe not. The species of the victim was undeterminable after having been flayed of its skin and drained of all its blood. He shone the light on other lumps, which proved to be other corpses of a multitude of species. All of them both flayed and desiccated.

Then... something moved.

Maitreyah shone the light on the movement. A fur lined bag couch,