The two pulled themselves out of the water and onto the island stone. Contrary to Fam's wish, and Ihrie's fear, niether was glowing. Apparently the powder wasn't water soluble and remained on the lake floor. Ihrie thanked the spirits, and helped Fam to her feet. They'd decided to swim across in their undergarments, leaving the heavier clothing on the shore. Which proved to be a good thing as the area around the middle of the lake ended up being more than two meters deep. Ihrie had considered wading across, holding their normal garb overhead and redressing on the island. She'd thought better of it on the off chance that the water would stain her clothes, and leave them sopping wet, not a good idea given the weather conditions outside the cavern.
Now that they were on the island proper, they could fully appreciate the intricate design of the stone columns, which had not been visible at any distance. On each of the pillars, life size human likenesses were carved in relief facing inward, toward the central pedestal. The carvings hadn't been noticable from the water as they were set several handspands up from the base of the respective pillar. Strangely, none of the stone on the island bore the orange fungus that covered the rest of the cavern, yet another reason why it had been harder to spot through the steam clouds.
Of the three figures, two were decidedly female, and the third may or may not have been. Any distinguishing characteristics had long been worn away. While Ihrie turned her attention to the pedestal, Fam continued to study the three figures, as they struck a thread of elusive memory.
"Hey, which eye did you press last time?"
The question brought the cat-girl out of her reverie. "Hmm?"
The raven haired girl scowled at her partner's scatterbrained behavior. "Get over here. I found one of those, three-eyed dragon, things."
"A Satori Dragon?"
"Yeah, now which one should we press that won't try to get us killed?"
"Um, the left one?"
Ihrie scowled again. "You sound awful sure of yourself. Don't you remember which is which?"
Fam cringed, "I do. But, last time I was just guessing so you would let go of my tail!" Naturally mentioning the experience reminded the blonde that her tail was still out of sorts and the pain flared up all over again. She whimpered a bit, and scooted over to the pedestal. There in the center, staring up at them, was a larger version of the Satori Dragon effigy. "I think it opened the floor last time, when I pressed the middle one."
"Okay, good, we can rule that one out then. So," she trailed off, regarding Fam expectantly.
"Left is the eye of Good, and right is the eye of Evil."
Ihrie started to reach for the left eye, figuring that since they were good, it would be best to press that one.
"Wait! Don't press that one!"
Startled, Ihrie snatched back her outstretched fingers scant centimeters from the effigy. "You just said that left was good, what gives?"
"I remembered. Left is the eye that sees Good, and right is the eye that sees Evil. We should press the right eye. If there isn't any Evil to see, then it can't trigger the traps. Right?"
"I guess that makes sense. Speaking of traps, what do you suppose this place might throw at us?" Ihrie glanced at the three statues, mindful of what supposedly inanimate objects were capable of when magic was involved.
But, her friend wasn't paying attention, having decided that she was right, Fam confidently smashed her palm on the right eye of the Satori Dragon.
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(Posted Fri, 29 Dec 2006 07:40)
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